Baleful Betrayal
Baleful Betrayal
Overworld Chronicles
Book Twelve
John Corwin
Table of Contents
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Demonicus Chapter 1
- Demonicus Chapter 2
- Conrad Edison Chapter 1
- Conrad Edison Chapter 2
- Chapter Meet the Author
Copyright © 2016 by John Corwin.
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The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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To my wonderful support group:
Alana Rock
Karen Stansbury
My amazing editors:
Annetta Ribken
Jennifer Wingard
My awesome cover artist:
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Thanks so much for all your help and input!
Books by
John Corwin
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The Overworld Chronicles:
Overworld Underground:
Overworld Arcanum:
Conrad Edison and the Living Curse
Conrad Edison and the Anchored World
Stand Alone Novels:
No Darker Fate
The Next Thing I Knew
Outsourced
Seventh
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PAYBACK IS HELL
After the crystoid incident nearly destroyed all magic in Eden and killed a dear friend, Justin Slade wants payback. That means invading the angel realm, Seraphina, and squashing the usurper, Cephus, like a bug.
Unfortunately, another crystoid in Seraphina is preventing the Alabaster Arch from opening a portal into the realm. Using a sky portal from the last remaining crystoid in Eden, Justin launches a desperate bid to open the portal from the other side.
Cephus, however, is more than ready for a counterattack. Not only has he fortified his fortress, but he's built a new arch and plans to open a portal to the Void, releasing the Beast and Armageddon.
Enlisting the help of the Seraphim sky fishers and their fleet of flying ships, Justin has to repair the Alabaster Arch leading back to Eden and bring through the mightiest supernatural army Seraphina has ever known.
Chapter 1
Falling from a magical hole in the sky and into another dimension wasn't exactly how I thought I'd spend the day before my best friend's wedding.
I had way too much going on with my calendar, but that was expected nothing new when planning an interdimensional war that could determine the fate of angels and man alike. Glowing eerily far below us lay the ultraviolet dome of Murk erected by Cephus, usurper of power and traitor to his own people, the Darklings.
Tarissa, the capitol city of the Darkling nation, Pjurna, lay in ruins for at least a mile radius around the dome, many of its exotic structures, organically twisting skyscrapers, and gravity-defying designs nothing but rubble. The city had a violet crystalline sheen to it, the result of being constructed from the primal force of creation, Murk, the power favored by Seraphim of the Darkling persuasion. Their opposing kin, the Brightlings, used white Brilliance, the force of destruction, as their primary tool.
Though the forces seemed opposites, they were merely two sides of the same coin. During my first visit here, I'd learned more about Murk than I'd ever thought possible. Even the furnishings in most buildings were created effortlessly through the use of magical gems that focused aether into desired forms.
Cold wind whistled through my ears, tore at my hair, and pressed my goggles against my skin. The Templar Nightingale armor insulated me a little, but as I angled out of the lone beam of magic powering its charms, its protection began to fade.
"I thought the ring Shelton bought Bella was a little gaudy," Elyssa's voice said through my earbud. "And it all feels a bit rushed."
I gave my girlfriend a disbelieving look. "Is this really the best time to talk about that?" I spread my arms to let the webbing between my armpits and my legs catch the wind and angle me to the west.
Elyssa paced my flight as easily as if it were something she did every day, and raised an eyebrow. "Why is it such a touchy subject for you, Justin? Every time I bring it up, you talk about something else."
"It's just weird thinking of him getting married and having kids."
"You're sad, aren't you?" Elyssa dodged around a golden bird and flitted through a cloud. "You think he's going to leave you and the bromance will be over."
As usual, she hit the nail on the head, but I was too proud to admit it. "Nah, of course not." I pretended not to care and focused my vision on the ground still far below. The squirrel suits, as Shelton called our modified Nightingale armor, gave us enough lift to stay airborne until we were in range of our objective, a crystoid meteor soaking up all the magical energy in the vicinity.
Cephus had hit Eden with hundreds of crystoids nearly two months ago in an attempt to keep our army out of Seraphina so he could remain in power. The crystal meteors nearly drained Eden of all magical energy for good. As a backup insurance plan, Cephus had used a couple of the crystoids in his own city, Tarissa. Not only had it crippled the local militia, but it had taken the skyways out of service as well.
Our only way of transporting our army was by using the skyway connecting the Alabaster Arch on the floating island of Kdosh to the mainland of Pjurna. I had to take out the crystoid so the skyway would work again.
Elyssa groaned. "Boys are so weird when it comes to expressing their feelings."
"Hey, I express my feelings all the time," I shot back. "Like this morning when I kissed your nose and said you were my sweet little booger."
A snort sounded in my earbud. "I'm talking about with guy friends."
Lights glowed from within the shield dome protecting the Ministry of Research, offering a blurry view through the translucent material. Towering in the middle of the plaza outside the ministry building stood an arch that definitely hadn't been there the last time I'd visited. Even from this bird's eye view it looked larger than the Obsidian Arches we used in Eden for instant transport from one part of the globe to the other. Through the haze of the ultraviolet barrier, it looked almost purple.
I pointed it out to Elyssa. "Do you see that?"
"Cephus built an arch?" she said. "That must be how the crystoids opened those sky portals."
A hole opened in the top of the shield dome. Four Darklings on blazing wings of ultraviolet fire streaked our way. They wore black uniforms and creepy masks like something out of a cosplay convention. Unfortunately, they weren't a group of harmless nerds.
"Uh, stupid question," Elyssa said, "but how are they flying without any aether?"
I switched to incubus vision, which allowed me to see things invisible to the naked eye. Daemos—demon spawn—used it to scout for soul essence like the brightly blazing halo around Elyssa. Since I was also part Seraphim, it allowed me to see aether, the magical energy imbuing the air, the earth, and everything around me.
Seraphina was a realm so abundant with magical energy that sometimes chunks of land broke free and floated in the air over a vortex of aether. The concentrations of aether grew so great in some places it was visible to the naked eye. The sky should have seethed with energy. Instead, it looked depressingly normal. A bright beacon of aether glowed to the west, the aether beam from the crystoid. The meteor sucked up the energy and beamed it through a hole in the sky and back to the Ministry of Research, supplying the dome and those within with an endless supply.
It quickly became apparent what powered the Darklings pursuing us. Thin beams of aether speared from the dome and into the Seraphim, keeping them supplied with all the power they needed. The lead Darkling swooped upward and for a moment, the beam wasn't on him. Instead of faltering, he continued to steadily rise. The aether beam swiveled to intersect him once again and it was then I realized why the brief lack of connectivity hadn't affected him.
Each Darkling wore small fanny packs glowing with concentrated aether. "They're wearing batteries on their butts," I told Elyssa. "They're being recharged by directed aether beams."
"They're catching up fast," she said. "How far to the crystoid?"
I looked west toward the beam of energy cast skyward like a Hollywood spotlight. "Another mile." The entire city of Tarissa floated over an aether vortex and the meteor rested near the edge of the skylet—the local term for a sky island. While the crystoid sucked up all the aether above the skylet, it apparently wasn't enough of an energy sink to disrupt the vortex.
Elyssa grimaced. "They'll catch us long before that."
I glanced at one of the sai swords sheathed on her thighs and wondered how she'd use them in an aerial battle. If we folded our arms or legs for even a moment, we'd plummet to the ground. Already the skyscrapers in the undamaged western section of Tarissa loomed only a few hundred yards below. If we lost much more altitude, we'd never clear the city without dodging through the maze of high-rises.
Elyssa seemed to read my mind. "Plan B?"
Beams of ultraviolet Murk whined past us. One struck Elyssa's rocket stick. Sparks showered from the tip. Another salvo speared past us, narrowly missing the webbing of my squirrel suit. We leaned left and right, dodging shards of energy.
