Prologue

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[You were supposed to be the hero who killed me! It was you who was chosen to be the Eminence of Light yet here you are, a pathetic excuse. Not only did you fail in your duty, you failed to protect the world!] Kalos thundered as he dragged Vinaar's listless body across the now empty oceans of the realm of Nar Agrun.

He moved at such a great speed that he tore the air apart, creating massive shockwaves that sent tremors across the Dark World.

[Useless!] Kalos barked while smashing Vinaar's head into the obsidian ocean floor which were said to be the cradle of all darkness.

Kalos then raised a battered Vinaar using one of his four arms.

Kalos was a terrifying two hundred centimetres tall, had dark skin which stood in start contrast to his glowing blue hair and eyes and as if his muscular frame wasn’t enough, two extra blue ethereal arms floated above his bodily ones and while they held dark swords that warped the space around them with their power, his bodily right hand gently cradled a swaddled infant with his left grabbing Vinaar head with almost enough force to crush it.

Kalos wore a pair of baggy pants and an old blue woollen vest that revealed his sculpted torso.

His face was a frozen, expressionless glare that looked at vinaar as if she was a tool, a thing that had failed the simple purpose it was manufactured for.

Vinaar, unlike Kalos, wore the shattered remains of a steel suit of armour, was covered in blood and scars and brandished a broken spear.

Her bruised and swollen fair skin was hidden beneath a veil of long, silky blond hair and her once brilliant white irises were flickering as if to forever lose their light.

But none of these details mattered to Kalos who threw her hundreds of kilometres a across Nar Agrun.

The battered woman then crashed into the Spire of Sin – a dark tower which stood at the exact centre of the Dark World.

At its foot was a citadel which had since fallen to ruin.

Kalos, in an instant, dashed towards the Spire, entering its highest point through the hole Vinaar had made when she crashed.

The hole led into the throne room which held a grand seat made purely of obsidian, much like most things in Nar Agrun.

Laying and convulsing at the foot of the throne was Vinaar who could only wheeze as Kalos sat atop the throne, an act which was followed by a thousand claps of thunder born of the speed at which he had just travelled.

[Well? What is your excuse?] Kalos breathed coldly. His voice blared out of the remnants of the obsidian throne room and into the ever turbulent skies of the Dark World.

Vinaar then, while ignoring her innumerable broken bones and mind numbing amounts of pain, crawled onto her feet and faced Kalos once more.

“You…” She coughed enough blood to cover her chin.

“You failed your family too. So mock and belittle me all you like, at least I’m not the god who brought about the apocalypse!” She barked through bloody teeth and this was enough to make Kalos’s blinding gaze widen a little.

Vinaar then raised what was left of her spear and pointed it at the Blue God once more.

“Because they would be alive right now if you weren’t such a narrow minded, arrogant asshole!” She spat as her face twisted into a scowl.

Kalos lightly scoffed before glancing at the sleeping infant. A baby girl.

[I won’t deny that.] He said as the faintest, dimmest glimmer of regret graced his stone cold face.

[Still… you were supposed to kill me. But, since you can’t, I will entrust you to find and raise those who can.] Kalos instructed while offering Vinaar the child.

“Oh- no, you don’t! If I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna do it myself!” She snapped even as she struggled to remain standing but this just made Kalos sigh.

[I’m not giving you a choice.]

The child then seemingly floated from Kalos’s hand to Vinaar who shakingly accepted it.

The little girl had a head of blue hair and little blue eyebrows.

Vinaar wanted to protest but before she could even open her mouth, Kalos raised his right hand and, with an unseen force, sent she flying out of the throne room.

She tightly clutched the now weeping child as they shot past the clouds and it was here that Kalos released them.

Kalos then rested his head on one of his arms as he thought back to where it all began.

The time before the world he knew ended.

The time before his divine ascension.

The time before he damned a third of all living things to death.

A single tear fell from his left eye and within it were glimpses of a small farm in the not so distant past.

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Chapter One – The Song of the Unborn

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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It was as if the course his life would take had been set in stone from the very day of his birth.

Kalosýni was born with blue hair and eyes, something which wise widely regarded as an omen of the apocalypse but while most children who bore this mark were killed shortly after birth, he was not only alive but had seen his nineteenth summer.

“Dad, I think this batch is gonna be better than last summer's!” He cheerfully announced while working away in the small field in front his home.

After receiving no response from his father, the young man turned towards his home and saw that his father had dozed off on the porch as the setting sun soared above.

Kalos smirked a little before continuing his work on a field of short bushes that were dotted with small blue berries that were dangerously sweet which were known as Þiestruberries. The bushes were also poisonous so Kalos had to be careful when he handled them. Skin contact with the prickly leaves would result in a rash that would permanently damage the skin and ingestion would result in death.

Kalos, while tall and muscular, only had two arms at this point although his frame was still quite imposing.

After tending to the field with gloves on hand, he walked over to his father who was almost as tall as him but had since shed most of his muscle mass after reaching his middle ages.

His dark skin was lined with wrinkles and his lips were hidden behind a full beard of greying hair along with his ears which were beneath a mop of unkempt hair.

He wore drab, baggy clothes and slept with his arms crossed. Each of his breaths were heavy with the smell of alcohol.

Kalos on the other hand was fairly proper in his appearance with the only thing of note being his cotton vest which he wore specifically to show off his arms.

“Gonna sell yesterday’s batch and maybe give a handful to Aunty Estella.” Kalos whispered and although his old man’s were closed shut, Kalos knew very well that he had been heard so he entered the cosy wooden home and retrieved a small sack of berries which were enough to make an entire barrel of what was known as Þiestrubrew, a few small barrels of which could be seen dotted around the small wooden space.

He then left the house and made his way down the path that led to the village. A path along which stood the only other house which wasn’t explicitly a part of the village.

Sitting on the porch was a woman who Kalos walked up to.

She was small, even compared to giants like Kalos, had pale blond hair, soft grey eyes and covered by her gown and cardigan was her pregnant belly.

“Good afternoon, Aunty Estella!” Kalos greeted excitedly and this made the woman glow with a smile.

“Hello, Kalos. Let me guess, you brought me goodies.” She greeted while greedily rubbing her small hands.

“Yep but you know the rules. Only three!” Kalos handed her three berries which were about the size of a grape and without hesitation, Estella threw one in her mouth.

“Mmm! So good!” Estella’s face grew red and she winced a little but it looked like she was enjoying it so Kalos didn’t display his concern, choosing instead to simply shake his head in disbelief.

“Anyway, how are you feeling?”

“I’m alright and if you’re asking about the little one, they seem to be doing alright as well.” Estella let out a satisfied sigh.

“Good. Hopefully Uncle Leeden gets back soon.” Kalos muttered.

“I hope so too. Now, don’t you have somewhere you need to be going? The sun is setting and I’m sure Raymond wouldn’t want you wandering about at night.”

“Oh- you’re right! See you later!” Kalos yelled while running back to the path and downhill toward the village of Comienzo which was further south.

He greeted any villagers he came across energetically and with a glowing smile as they tensed to their own fields or homes.

Their reactions to him, however, were mixed.

Some were just as happy to see him while others looked at him apprehensively.

Like one would look at a distant carnivorous beast which had just eaten.

It was unlikely to attack but it was best to keep a safe distance.

Kalos was used to this.

He didn’t know why people were afraid of him.

Well… his hair and the superstitions surrounding it didn’t help.

Kalos walked past a handful of homes and other small wooden buildings before arriving at the town’s centre where he walked up to a particular merchant’s cart.

This merchant, a short, round and jolly fellow who had nary a hair on his head, sold a variety of alcohol beverages although sitting front and centre by his side was a fancy glass bottle which contained a dark blue liquid.

“Hey, uncle Neal. I have something for ya-“ Kalos didn’t even get to finish his greetings as the man rushed over to him, ignoring his potential customers.

“Boy!” Neal greeted jovially while trying to snatch the sack of Þiestruberries from Kalos but the young man’s grip was far too strong for the merchant.

“Looks like the last batch didn’t come out quite right.” Kalos glanced at the fancy bottle without releasing the sack.

“Yeah and we’ve tried everything but no matter how many times we strain it, it still comes out murky as all heck!” Neal kept struggling to get the sack and Kalos, who was amused by the merchant’s struggling, eventually let go.

“What do you think the problem is?” Kalos crossed his arms as Neal sniffed the sack’s contents, adding to Kalos’s amusement.

“No idea. The Order of Light are able to get it almost crystal clear but I guess it’s my fault for trusting a brewer from Llendor of all places.” Neal sighed while reaching into one of the pockets of his ornate, grey velvet vest.

He then handed Kalos a handful of silver coins before shooting the young man a grin.

“Bah, Doesn’t matter! The small folk don’t really care if it looks like muddy water, so long as it taste good, haha!”

Kalos shook his head with a disapproving smile while turning to leave.

“Yeah, well good luck with that.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sell me more?” Neal asked as Kalos walked away but the boy simply waved him goodbye.

“No, thank you! The rest are for my dad!”

Kalos then continued north as the sun sank further into the horizon.

However, just as he began making his way uphill towards his home, he heard a scream that sounded like it was coming from Estella’s house.

Without taking even a moment to think, Kalos ran up the path at a speed that was just around the upper limit of what a normal person could run at.

He quickly arrived at Estella’s house to see a dark, humanoid creature violently bashing at her door.

It was about as tall as an average man, had a small, bold head that was covered in dark, leathery skin which was liked with spikes. It had a pair of red eyes which burnt terribly and had dark claws that were about an inch long.

“Aunt Estella!” Kalos cried before tackling the creature, sending it to the ground where it hissed at him with countless needle like teeth.

The creature tried clawing at Kalos but he forced its hands above its head as he straddled it, keeping it from moving.

“Kalos, are you alright?”

A panicking Kalos glanced to his side to see that a teary eyed Estella was peeking out of her door.

“Get back inside!” He snapped while trying his beat to immobilize the creature.

“What is that thing?” She wept after ignoring Kalos’s plea.

“It is a Dark One. Born in the depths of the Ocean of Malice in the Dark World of Nar Agrun, it is a violence made manifest.”

Kalos and Estella both turned to see his father walking onto the porch with a bottle of a pale blue liquid in one hand and a small knife which he offered to his son.

“Raymond!” Estella cried but Kalos kept his widened gaze locked with his father’s.

“Kill it.” The older man instructed unfeelingly. His eyes half closed and his words clear.

Kalos bit his teeth.

He had always obeyed his father’s every instruction.

From when he trained him in all kinds of combat techniques and tactics to when he taught him how to hunt.

Kalos looked at the creature as it struggled beneath him.

He knew that he could but…

Kalos glanced at Estella and the gashes on her door.

He then let out a frustrated roar before grabbing his father’s knife and stabbing the creature in the neck, aiming to sever the connection between its head and body.

Thanks to the force from Kalosýni’s arm, the short blade plunged into the creature’s hard flesh and it stopped moving shortly after as it’s black blood poured onto Kalos’s hand.

He then watched as it’s dark life slowly drained from its body, leaving behind its dark red glare.