Read Online Darkin: The Prophecy of the Key (The Darkin Saga Book 2) by Joseph Turkot - Free Book Online Page B

collective energy of evil. Only those with knowledge of Vapoury can use that power, and tap into it for their own malevolent designs.”
    “You mean, all the evil wizards of the world were, once Vapours?”
    “Yes, to put it very simply. But it can be much more complicated than that. The man who harbors evil intentions in some remote part of Darkin knows not that he contributes to the powerwell of dark wizards far away—think of your country’s oppressor…”
    “Grelion.”
    “With his evil, he has contributed an immeasurable stock of dark energy to the very being he fought so valiantly to destroy—in turn allowing Vesleathren the strength he needed to return to life from the brink of death.”
    “I think this is too much, too much for tonight—I need to forget about this all,” Adacon said, feeling frustration and fear seep back in.
    “I’m sorry, it wasn’t my intention to burden you further.”
    “It’s alright; it’s difficult to feel any negative thought in this place,” Adacon said. He forgot the foreboding talk of evil, and gazed once more at the flower-lit ceiling, splaying its dim spectrum of color, radiating gently, enveloping the whole room.
    “At least know your secret will stay with me,” she said, smiling.
    “Do you think very differently of me?”
    “Well,” she chuckled. Adacon’s face began to droop with despair. “I thought you had a special power—but I didn’t realize you were this powerful.” Calan said, winking. She slipped underneath the water.
    “Hey, where’re you going?”
     

VI:  OMEN OF THE STAR
     
    Circular roofs atop massive stems blocked out the stars, and hanging from a long thin vine, dangling close to the ground, was a slimy, clear tube—a hardened carapace, in which sat a slowly awakening gnome. Remtall opened his eyes and recoiled in disgust at the slime he felt oozing all around him; it dripped from the roof of the small sack. He was imprisoned—Remtall knew it at once, and he looked around to see anything at all. His tiny sack, swaying slightly, was clear and he could see through it with ease, but night still blanketed the Endless Forest, and it was hard to make anything out.
    “Hello! Vile Fiends! Let me out!” Remtall screamed, thrashing at the hardened inner wall of his cell. The inside of the shell was transparent, but Remtall saw veins running vertically down its length, appearing as an oversized leaf. He panicked, then calmed himself. He knew if he was to get out of this trap, he would need to collect his wits. He felt his inner thigh and realized his captors hadn’t searched him—at least not thoroughly. Remtall didn’t know they’d made the same mistake with Ulpo, who’d almost escaped, only to be caught again while running aimlessly in circles through the maze of the forest.
    Remtall wiggled out his tiny diamond-shaped dagger. After a brief struggle to change position that left his pod swaying, he held the blade in his hand.
    “This ought to do it,” he muttered to himself, his senses yet to recover from the gaseous slumber his captors had induced. Powerfully, he thrust repeatedly at the pod wall, stabbing again and again, but to his agony, the hardened shell did not break—it did not even tear.
    “Blast this,” Remtall cried, his voice muffled by the damp pod. He reached instinctively for his liquor, but found it empty. “This is exactly what I planned,” he grunted sarcastically. In his frustration he thought of Ulpo, and he wondered if his dwarven friend could still be alive.
     
    *            *             *
     
    Ulpo writhed in agony against the inner wall of his pod—it was no use. Whatever material was entrapping him, it was too strong to break through. As he gave up in exhaustion, a creature wobbled into view nearby. Ulpo looked up to see it through his clear pod-cell wall: it was one of the plants—it had soft-glowing yellow eyes, mounted on a long thin neck that seemed to have vines running its