Allies and Enemies Duology - Dust Shadow Insurgence #5 & Allies From Dust #6
Dust and Dark Water

A decade earlier... (Damein's death in Climates of Changes and Damien's Lost Years)

The blue glow of the portal swirled as wind sucked things into the Void. Dr Daisy Cane had struggled to her feet and stepped on the pressure plate to activate it. She was clutching at her upper right arm as blood flowed down it from a gunshot wound.

“Now Kars,” she shouted.

Battling, Karstien drove Damien into the portal but Damien grabbed Dr. Cane’s injured arm, trying to drag her through with him.

‘If I am going to lose this kingdom, I am going to take the person most responsible for destroying it with me. I will torture her for the rest of her days,’ Damien’s mind growled but she didn’t follow him through the portal.

Damien could feel his brother Karstien holding onto his lover’s other arm, pulling her back toward safety.

“Let go,” Damien heard her shout at Karstien.

“Never,” Karstien responded over the wind. Damien thought his brother was a fool, to risk forever death for a human.

‘If I die today, my brother and his beloved will die with me,’ Damien vowed.

Damien felt himself slipping, he had one chance to kill Karstien and Dr. Daisy Cane. He raised his sword in the void, preparing to strike with lightning. Damien tried to tighten his grasp Dr. Daisy Cane’s tiny, blood covered wrist, but it was jerked away. He slashed, and too late he realized Karstien had done the same. Lightning double strikes and the power of the portal exploding killed him.

He felt his body being reduced to dust, but something whispered to him. His shadows pulled him into the darkness and to safety. Damien’s body laid in the debris of the portal, forever dead and turned to dust, but his soul survived. The Darkness told him a truth, a truth about his enemy. Dr. Daisy Cane was, is, and will be the Oracle, his nemesis until either the Darkness or the Light was victorious. His shadow promised to make him a new body, one that could not be destroyed so easily. It led him into his new kingdom, a Kingdom of Dark Dust.

The pool of dark water shifted and stirred, the thick liquid may have appeared as black oil to some but had a consistency closer to honey. However, the substance was neither oily nor sticky nor wet. It just was. It existed beyond the rules of normal matter because of what it was made of, and that was the most terrifying part, it was made up of the life essence of the darkness itself. The essence had been collected carefully over a hundred centuries for this one purpose.

A bulge appeared in the smooth surface and slowly the dark water drained away revealing as skull covered in muscle and sinew. The skull grimaced, in gruesome display, as unlidded eyes stared into the dark abyss beyond. Red glowing shapes floated above, they looked like abstract eyes. The skinless being remembered something, the shapes were like those he had seen carved into stone temple walls in a kingdom of priest and slaves ruled by a powerful and beautiful golden queen long ago. He had hated her, but she had served a purpose. sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

His memories returned, but he did not realize how tainted they were. He remembered all the women he hated; a female warrior who had beaten him in battle, another female warrior and a witch who had trapped him, twin servants who had tried and failed to help him gain a kingdom, the beautiful golden-haired princess who chose his brother over him, a woman who took him as her son and taught him to be weak with concern for others, a wife and daughter who had lured him into the folly of love, a passive artist who had caught his eye only to let herself be murdered, and lastly, the Oracle. He burned with hatred for those lavender eyes, so like his mother’s.

He would have smirked if he had lips, she thought he was dead. As he stared at the floating shapes, he wondered how much time had passed and if the Oracle still lived. The shadows shushed him, promising his revenge would come, and told him to sleep. The cadaveric being exhaled out of some long remembered but unnecessary habit, black water oozed between two perfect rows of white teeth as it sank. The thick ebony liquid filled in the depression left by the abomination until only the dark mirror of the inky pool’s smooth surface remained.

A storm swirled in the pool of dark water. Black lightning surged through the oily liquid, creating strange black, red, and purple streaks of glowing iridescence. Within the pool, the flashes allowed a thrashing form to be seen below the smooth surface. The body was being forced to grow skin, the process was slow and painful as newly made nerves felt for the first time. The flashing faded and the pool rippled, a geyser spewed forth, lifting the now complete body. The man floated on the oily, black surface, naked and hairless. He inhaled deeply, his red eyes glowed as he began to laugh malevolently. Finally, he lived again after over a decade in the dark water.

He stood on the polished surface of the pool examining his new body in the light of an ancient, nearly dead star. Once he began using his muscles, he would be stronger than he ever was. He held out his arms and swirls of dark dust particles surrounded him, molding themselves to his will. Soon, he was dressed in black boots and pants, and a simple black shirt. He looked at his reflection and frowned, it would do for now, but he would have to acquire more suitable clothing for his station.

In the darkness around him, the dust shifted and stirred, shadows lingered, watching. The ghosts of a long dead people who had been waiting for him for over 12,000 years. First, ‘she’ came forward, then one by one the others came and bowed to their prince. Damien smiled his kingdom had finally come.

A few months before Karstien arrived on Aetheria...

Prince Damien stood in the dark fortress, it was the only structure that had survived the calamity that had raped this world and reduced its star to a shell of its former glory, only the core remained. He surveyed his kingdom and the living nebulae that swirled around it. Until 3000 years ago, to harvest resources his kingdom would simply devour the surface of a living world. Now, it would place a pillar of Dark Dust stone on the world. The tech inside it would create a field of accelerated time, which would age the planet to death.

The only side effect of the dark energy time field was the ice it created, but the corrupted ice helped concentrate the energy, so the unexpected effect was welcomed. As soon as the world would shatter and before the debris could spread out along the orbital path, the nebulae would open the gate and take what it wanted from the remnants. It was a much more efficient method of harvesting than scraping away the surface and sorting it. Prince Damien had recognized the ice as the same that had surrounded the ancient city of Atlantia. He watched as the gate between the dimensions opened.

Oddly, the world was still intact, frowning Damien looked at the gate display the dark dust had made for him. The towers were not reading but something else was, a small metallic object was orbiting the planet, a ship. Damien tipped his head observing it, now he knew who had been destroying the towers for the last few centuries. He ordered the nebulae to bring him the ship, and tendrils of dark dust reached toward the ship, attempting to grasp it.

A glowing sphere appeared around it and the ship shot away at faster than light speed, escaping. Damien had the pieces ripped off its hull brought to the fortress while the nebulae scraped off the surface of the world. He examined the metal strips, it had a familiar feel, then he found what he was looking for. On one surface was a partial symbol, but he did not need the whole to read it.

It said ‘Pathfinder’ in ancient Aetherian, the dialect of his childhood. His Princess’s kingdom still existed and was thwarting his kingdom’s advances into the overworld. He would just have to pay her a visit, his brother was still on the other side of the stars with the oracle, as far as he knew. He now knew what had happened to the beautiful Princess of Atlantia and it would not take him long to find her and claim her as his own. Prince Damien smiled in the darkness. Princess Allura and the Flame of Aetheria was the last thing he needed to make his kingdom complete.

One month before the Royal wedding...

Damien appeared in the House of Thanosi, it was dark. He stood on the upstairs balcony, looking out over the new city of Azimuth on the once devastated world of Aetheria. His princess and her people had done well. It was beautiful, a worthy kingdom for him to conquer.

“Who is there?” Came a gruff voice from within the home behind him.

“Don’t tell me you have forgotten your prince so quickly, Tudot,” Damien drawled smoothly, turning to face the man in burnt yellow robes. His eyes bulged. He looked aged and bent, stringy white hair hanging down his back. Time had not been kind to Elder Tudot.

“Prince Damien, is that you? They... they said you were dead!” Tudot croaked, falling to his knees.

“They did?” He couldn’t hide the slight amusement in his tone. “Who are they?”

“The... the Oracle and the Guardian and... and the P-princess,” Tudot stammered.

“They were mistaken,” Damien sneered.

“P-please come into the library.” Tudot looked around nervously like he was afraid someone would see his visitor.

Damien strode arrogantly into the library, with a wave of his hand the fireplace lit with an unnatural orange-red flame. He thought it odd that this room was called a library, but there were no books in it, just walls of empty shelves. He turned back to Tudot, who had not moved. “Tell me of my Princess and my servants.”

Tudot swallowed nervously, “Most of the... those who s-served you... I’m sorry, my prince, the Oracle and the Guardian overcame them. Tabot killed those captured before they could reveal us, then he was slain by the Oracle and the Guardian, but... but still somehow they knew who we all were.”

Damien’s breath hissed through his teeth, “Lady Eva and Lady Ava? Your cousin Trudot and Elder Kunkle?”

“All dead, except Kunkle and Trudot who swore their allegiance to the princess and her betrothed, my prince... I alone remain who carry the presence of the shadow, I have tried to influence as many of the younger generation as I can... bu-but the Guardian, the Oracle, and their students inspire many of them to be selfless and serve the Princess and the kingdom, and not their own desires,” he explained, not daring to look up. Truthfully, he had done very little in the last four centuries except observe his prince’s enemies, because he was a coward and enjoyed his lazy, easy life as an elder.

“Who are these you speak of who help my Princess? This Guardian and Oracle?” Damien asked in a low voice. Suspicious that Allura’s childhood protector, K’eth, the Guardian of the Princess, who was supposed to be dead and rotting ages ago at the bottom of the Divide Ravine, still lived.

“The Guardian who was known as K’eth is... is...” Tudot stammered to a stop.

Damien cursed internally because the greatest warrior of his generation lived.

“Is who?” Damien demanded, seizing the shoulder of the cowering man’s ochre robe.

“Please...please... my prince, none of us knew until after your banishment...He is the High Lord Kaleth... your... your father,” Tudot pled like a scared child. Damien threw him to the floor.

“I know who my father is!” Damien hissed enraged. He stood trembling for a few moments. For over 400 years, his own father had protected the Princess in old Atlantia, and he had not suspected. He did not think his father had possessed magic powerful enough to disguise himself, it must have been the work of his grandfather.

Suddenly, Damien remembered the words of the lavender-haired oracle, ‘I come with a message from Lord Kaleth and Lord Adamos. Atlantia is not to be yours.’ Damien realized the oracle called Little Flower must not have known who the Guardian was either, her grief over his father’s death was too real to be pretended with Damien’s ability to read souls.

“And this oracle you speak of?” Damien demanded cruelly.

“H-his wife, my p-prince. They married in the first year after we came here, forgive us, we tried to stop it, to murder her b-but her power s-saved her many times,” Tudot groveled. “Even now the Oracle works to resist the will of my lord and his kingdom.”

Damien shuddered with hatred, The Oracle called Little Flower had lived after the portal explosion that trapped him in the Infernal Realm and left him stranded in a flooding city surrounded by a wasteland of melting ice. He took a deep calming breath. ‘No matter, the human is long dead. My father buried her centuries ago I imagine,’ Damien thought cruelly, savoring the thought of his father losing the one he loved, he asked, “His wife now is an oracle too?”

Tudot looked confused by the question but nodded rapidly. Damien questioned him about his father’s family. His father was married again to an Aetherian oracle. They had twin daughters, Lady Betha and Lady Jenna. Kaleth had also fathered a daughter with Karstien’s oracle only two years after arriving here, Lady Asha was a healer.

‘How long had my father grieved the human before marrying again?’ Damien wondered. He also wondered, for only a moment, what it would be like to have sisters, then remembering bitterly the pain having a daughter had caused him, dismissed the thought with a snort.

Finally, Damien asked, “And my Princess?”

“She marries your brother in a month, my prince,” Tudot whispered terrified. “The Oracle and your father brought him here from Terrearth.”

Damien’s eyes glowed red with rage, coldly he growled, “I expect you to stop that wedding, Tudot. Allura is to be mine!” Damien summoned his shadows, “I will give you power to meet your needs.”

The shadows seized Tudot, who screamed in terror and pain as they infused themselves into his soul, devouring what light was left in it. Moments later, he rose, his demeanor greatly changed and eyes glowing red.

“How may we ssserve our prince?” the new Tudot asked with a slight hiss.

“Spread yourself to others, kill my brother and father, and stop that wedding,” Damien commanded. “I want my princess brought to me. We will acquire my sisters later.”

Tudot bowed, grimacing a demented smile. “It shall be done, our prince.”

Damien checked on his servant the day before the wedding, Tudot had set a trap for the royal family. The floor under the wedding area should collapse at the start of the ceremony before Allura could descend the stairs to Karstien. She would watch him fall to his death in magical lava, along with the Lord and Lady of Adamos, who would be first on the stage. It made him happy to know that the traitor, Shadz, son of Lady Eva, was Karstien’s best man and would die with them. If the trap failed, Tudot’s shadow had been instructed to kill them all.

Damien had discovered that he could not enter the city. Some sort of alarm always sounded when any active dark magic got too close. He was only able to enter Tudot’s estate because the detectors near it had been sabotaged. The guardsman, under loyalty to Tudot, had explained that it was part of a sensor array created by the Oracle to detect dark energy and its dust to protect the city and the princess.

The entire system had been sabotaged by Damien’s followers in the past, now had several redundant fail-safes. A few of the devices could be tampered with unnoticed but the entire grid could not be disabled so the dark prince could pass. It annoyed him that he could not watch the death of his brother and family in person. He existed as a being of Darkness now and nothing could change that, but Tudot’s shadow could lay mostly dormant in its Aetherian host and walk, undetected, through the streets. Damien returned to his kingdom to watch through his creature’s eyes. He was looking forward to the show on the morrow.

The day of the Royal Wedding...

The next morning at dawn Aetherian time, Damien watched his brother marry HIS princess through Tudot’s hazy eyes and his servant did nothing. The trap had failed. Trembling in a jealous rage, he watched as Karstien pledged himself to Allura and their kingdom, and Allura place the Flame of Atlantia in his hand, while her eyes shined with love for him. Damien watched as his brother swept HIS Princess into his arms and kiss her too soon, while the people laughed and murmured that his father had done the same. Their happiness made his blood boil. He stormed to his blood altar, summoning the shadow within Tudot and ordering it to kill them all. In the obsidian scrying bowl, he watched the mayhem begin through his creature’s red-tinted view.

“Prince Damien ssssaid not to permit thissss!” hisses the shadow-enveloped form of Elder Tudot. “I sssee you dissscovered my trap.... but I will desstroy you!”

Damien watched Shadz place an ancient sword in the Oracle’s hand, it was his grandfather’s sword, and she stepped forward, glowing with the power of her kind. “Now, I get to kill the one who tried to destroy our family,” she announced.

Damien stared in disbelief, it could not be, but it appeared to be the same woman who thwarted his destiny thrice. Dr. Daisy Cane was the Oracle Little Flower. He could not understand how she was still alive, there was no magic to make a human immortal, as only the Aetherians were. He knew because he had spent centuries looking for it. His mind raced for explanations, perhaps she was moving through time as the oracles seemed to do. It could not be the same woman, but it was. He ground his teeth together.

“I don’t know how you did thisss, Oracle, but your daysss are few. The dark lord will come for hisss princess,” Tudot hissed, he sounded like a large serpent.

“He will not have her ever,” Daisy declared coldly, just as she had in ancient Aetherian.

Damien trembled in anger and frustration. He was impotent to interfere or aid his creature against his enemy.

Karstien responded calmly, “Princess Allura is the people’s princess and as her prince, it is my duty to protect her.” He was holding his sword, he nodded slightly and then they all attacked Tudot. The impact of the powers blinded Damien and he knew it was over.

Silence hung over the fortress, then it was replaced by an enraged howl. Damien smoldered, his servant was too weak. He would have to start building an army of dark creations stronger than any he had made before. He would get his princess back, Allura was to be his and Karstien would die.

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