Magic Dark Magic Divine Read online

  Table of Contents

  Content Warning

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Glossary

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Discover more Amara titles… Hunter’s Hope

  Pirate’s Protector

  The Cursed King

  Fury Unleashed

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by A.J. Locke. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

  Entangled Publishing, LLC

  644 Shrewsbury Commons Ave

  STE 181

  Shrewsbury, PA 17361

  [email protected]

  Amara is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

  Edited by Jen Bouvier

  Interior illustrations by A.J. Locke

  Cover design by LJ Anderson/Mayhem Cover Creations

  Cover photography by NeoStock

  PytyCzech and kdshutterman/GettyImages

  Speedskater/DepositPhotos

  ISBN 978-1-64937-245-1

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition November 2021

  At Entangled, we want our readers to be well-informed. If you would like to know if this book contains any elements that might be of concern for you, please check the book’s webpage for details.

  https://entangledpublishing.com/books/magic-dark-magic-divine

  For my Mother, Aunts, Grandmothers, and all the Warrior Women in my life whose souls shone bright while they walked this earth.

  Now, I imagine you to be the brightest stars in the sky.

  Chapter One

  I’ve taken many journeys across the ocean on a beast made entirely of water, in a seat assembled with driftwood and kelp, and those trips were way more comfortable than taking the subway during rush hour.

  Though even on a good day I’d take an archaic mode of transportation over these tightly packed metal tubes. At least on the back of an Omnara, there was enough space to keep you from becoming too familiar with your fellow travelers.

  I reached my stop and extricated myself from the subway’s sticky embrace, and after a quick call, tracked down my friends waiting outside a gelato shop.

  Gideon was dressed in patterned Bermuda shorts and an aqua blue T-shirt that looked great against his dark brown skin. He held a small cup of something that was rapidly melting. His husband, Toji, was dressed similarly, in cream-colored shorts and a T-shirt with ginko leaf graphics.

  “Late, as usual,” Gideon said, looking at me reproachfully over the rim of his glasses.

  “Hello to you too,” I said, rolling my eyes as I gave him and Toji hugs. “You look nice, that’s normally how you greet your friends.” I pulled away, then fished a small leaf out of the curly, Afroed hair that haloed his head. “I see Toji got his summer haircut, what about you?” Toji’s straight black hair had been down to his mid back, but he now sported a flattering crew cut.

  “I’ve grown fond of the ’fro, as you’ve grown fond of braiding it and will be doing so for me very soon.”

  “Duly noted,” I said as he lifted a couple plaits that were trailing over my shoulder. I made a show of turning around so he could see the complicated pattern of cornrows. My version of breathable summer hair was to braid my natural hair. Maybe next summer I’d finally take the plunge and cut it short.

  “Masterful,” he said.

  “So.” I glanced at his hands, then Toji’s. “Where’s the picnic stuff?” I was starving.

  “Here.” Gideon offered me the small cup he’d been holding, which turned out to be gelato. Although it was closer to gelato soup at this point.

  I took it and frowned. “You’re kidding, right? You said we were doing wine and a charcuterie board in the park.” I looked from him to Toji, who was picking imaginary lint off his T-shirt and not meeting my eyes. “I even put on a dress because you said we were going to be fancy.”

  “No, I said we were going to a street fair. Now come on.” He grabbed my hand and started towing me down the sidewalk.

  “Those two sentences sound nothing alike. Liar!”

  “Would you have come if I’d said we were going to a magic-era street fair?” he asked. I groaned. “Precisely. You should be grateful I enjoy your company so much I’d lie to you.”

  “That is a very unstable compliment,” I muttered. I finished the tiny cup of melty gelato and gave a resigned sigh as we turned a corner and plunged into the street fair.

  Forty-five minutes later I was standing outside yet another vendor tent with Gideon’s shopping bags clustered at my feet while he and Toji checked out textile-based goods.

  Gideon already had a canvas bag and two tunics draped over his arm, and I heard him talking to the shop owner about selling some of her items at his consignment store. My lips twitched. Gideon never missed an opportunity to network.

  My role as shopping bag guard gave me time to people watch.

  The fair spilled into Brooklyn Bridge Park, and I could see a plethora of games, puppet shows, and performances.

  There was a “Tamer’s” farm clustered with houseplants and herbs that didn’t hold a candle to the giant flora real Tamers grew, including carnivorous plants eager to relieve you of a finger. Soft bleating drew my attention to the adjacent enclosure where another “Tamer” had a petting zoo with a mini pony, a baby lamb, and a goat. A far cry from the horned, tusked, magic-spewing creatures authentic Tamers reared, but you made do with animals that weren’t extinct, I supposed.

  Tamers were one of the five classes of Talent magic.

  There were also time manipulators known as Temporals; Conjurers, who specialized in creating and controlling elemental-based magical constructs; Diviners, whose celestial magic had various uses, one of which was prophetic card readings; and Shapers like me, who could manipulate physical objects. My Talent lay with metals and wood.

  As I amusedly watched the “Tamer” make a fake rose grow larger, a tingling sensation crawled across my skin, flushing my body with warmth.

  My pulse started racing. That had felt like…magic.

  And not my own.

  I scoured the area as I forced myself to relax. It couldn’t possibly have been magic. Magic did not exist anymore, and I should know that better than anyone. The forces that allowed for people to be born with magic had been sealed shut for three hundred years. I shouldn’t be alive and kicking right now, but an almost three-century, magic-induced slumber had brought me to the present day, and I was keenly aware that I was the only magic user left.

  When Gideon and Toji finally
emerged from the tent, I contemplated telling them what I’d felt—but it was probably nothing. Gideon would get overly excited, since he lived and breathed for anything to do with the magic-era, and Toji would be in for a long night of hearing about it. Best to stay quiet.

  I shook off the strange feeling as we moved away from the vendors and perused the entertainment area. My lips quirked when they landed on a “Diviner” sitting at a low table in front of a flimsy tent, using playing cards to tell prophesies. There was also a bubble artist creating huge bubbles that children, and even a few kids at heart, were chasing around. A real Water Conjurer would be impressed. And then make bubbles three times as big.

  “A Fire Conjurer’s act!” Gideon exclaimed.

  My loud, exaggerated sigh was ignored as Gideon made a beeline for the front of the stage. “Do we really need to see another pyrotechnic illusionist? I was hoping we could finally eat.”

  “Fine, fine,” Gideon said. “You two hold our spots, I’ll get you something to eat before you take a bite out of me.” He dropped his shopping bags at our feet and hustled off.

  “Did Gi tell you that he took a DNA test from the magical ancestry site and found out he has an ancestor who was a Wind Conjurer?” Toji asked.

  “He’d told me he was doing it, but I didn’t know he’d gotten the results,” I said. “Was he excited, or was he excited?”

  “Understatement,” Toji said with a laugh. “He can’t stop talking about how cool it is to be descended from someone who could create Zaphyr. He is looking forward to the opening of the magic museum on Friday so he can see if any Wind Conjurer artifacts will be on display.”

  I recalled being a child and playing with Wind Conjurers my age who could create tiny Zaphyr we’d play chasing games with. Adult Wind Conjurers could create Zaphyr large enough to travel on. Who needed airplanes when you could take a ride on a magic bird that looked like it was made from clouds?

  “Did you take the test too?”

  “Yes, but no hits came back for me,” Toji replied. “I was more interested in seeing if I had any family I could get in contact with, anyway. I tried all the other DNA sites, so I figured I had nothing to lose trying the magic one.” Toji had been adopted at birth and his records were tightly sealed.

  “I hope you find someone soon,” I said, giving his hand a quick squeeze.

  Gideon returned and handed me a plate. “Here, spicy Iloxi pieces in honey and garlic sauce.”

  “These are chicken wings,” I said flatly, shaking my head. Part of the reason I shunned away from events like this wasn’t because I had a dislike of the magic-era. How could I when that was the time I’d first lived?

  It was because I was always in danger of slipping up and dropping facts amid all the replicas and I didn’t want to make myself out to be some sort of expert.

  For example, Iloxi were incredibly fast creatures raised by Tamers. They were about the size of an adolescent elephant with the lithe anatomy of a gazelle, downy pelt in pastel shades, impressive horns, and bulbous, slit pupil eyes that ran the gamut of jewel tones. They were used as land transport. We did not eat them.

  Suddenly, dramatic music blasted from the huge loudspeakers.

  Bursts of flames erupted across the stage, and when they died down, a man stood in the middle of the dissipating smoke, arms up dramatically and chest puffed out.

  “Thank you for coming to witness my sizzling fire! I am Conjurer Blaze!”

  Good grief, he couldn’t think of a better name?

  “I will show you feats of magic you’ve never seen before!” Blaze made a circular motion with his hand and a wheel of fire appeared.

  He moved forward, using hand motions to make the wheel bigger and smaller, go faster and slower. He bent his knees, then sprang up, throwing the wheel upward. It burst, and sparks flew down around the stage.

  Next, Blaze did a series of tricks where he lit a row of candles with the snap of a finger. After that, he juggled fire, then there was the tried and true bit of swallowing a flaming sword.

  “Now for my grand finale!” Blaze announced. “The most amazing sight your eyes will ever see! I will Conjure a beast of fire!”

  The stage was cleared of all props, and Blaze moved to the back corner.

  He faced the center of the stage and started moving his arms around wildly. I almost released a bark of laughter. No type of Conjuring involved this much arm flailing.

  “Behold, the legendary Suniksu!”

  People started cheering, and I waited to see the vaguely horse-shaped, fire-breathing hologram that would appear, looking like a rejected Pokémon design.

  Real Suniksu were a formidable sight, and were used for carefully controlled brush and woodland clearing. Fire Conjurers also offered their use to Earth Conjurers for heat treatment on the crystals and stones they mined. They also worked with metalworkers, as the heat of a Suniksu’s fire was unrivaled by any forge. I’d used them a time or two when Shaping some of my swords and battle-axes.

  A scream suddenly pierced the air somewhere behind the stage, followed by an intense blast of heat that washed over the crowd. More screams resounded, and some people were knocked down.

  That blast of heat had been magical, there was no doubt about it.

  It was just like what I’d felt earlier, only stronger.

  I thought my jaw would hit the ground when a stream of fire coalesced into a fiery creature that threw its head back and bellowed before going on a rampage, leaving licks of blue-black fire in its wake.

  “A Suniksu,” I breathed. “A real Suniksu.”

  It towered over ten feet tall, with thick, pillar-like legs and a head that looked like a mash-up between a gorilla’s and a lion’s, with a crest of fiery horns and a long tail made of fire.

  I snapped my gaze to Blaze, wondering if he’d actually Conjured a Suniksu, but Blaze was cowering in a corner of the stage and screaming in terror like everyone else.

  I could try to figure this out later. I turned to Toji and Gideon. To say they looked terrified was an understatement.

  “Run!” I gave them both a push, then took off toward the Suniksu.

  “Pennrae!”

  I ignored Gideon and kept running.

  Being a creature of fire, the Suniksu had soon set everything ablaze, flames racing across the grass and catching the tents. I choked on smoke as I tried to navigate through.

  I wasn’t trying to get closer to the Suniksu, though. Even with my Shaper magic, there was little I could do to bring it under control. The only way to stop it was to incapacitate the person who’d created it.

  But it was no easy task trying to find a Fire Conjurer in this chaotic haze. As more people got out of the area, it became easier to move around, but at the same time I was jumping, dodging, dropping, and rolling to make sure I stayed out of reach of the Suniksu’s blaze.

  An anguished scream turned my attention to a silhouetted figure about twenty feet away. I jogged over, almost tripping over debris, feeling fire magic itch across my skin more intensely the closer I got. A man’s entire body was engulfed in blue-black fire magic while he staggered around, his head in his hands as he screamed.

  This had to be the Fire Conjurer. And it looked as though he was being burned alive by his own magic. What the hell?

  The Suniksu charged at me and released a shower of sparks that scorched the grass just feet away. I threw my body to the side and had a jarring impact with the ground as it shook its head back and forth, sending a continuous stream of fire in every direction. If I stood up, I was done for.

  So I remained in a crouch, my hands searching for something that could be useful.

  I grabbed hold of a jagged piece of wood and hastily used my Shaper magic to smooth and blunt both ends. I wanted to knock the guy out, not skewer him. I took a second to zero in on the Conjurer and time the Suniksu’s spray of skin mel
ting magic. Then I rose up on my knees and threw the stick.

  It slammed into the side of the man’s head and he fell over, but he was still conscious, because the Suniksu was still raging. Damn it.

  I started to feel around for another piece of wood when I heard a noise off to my side and a feeling like sandpaper across my skin rippled over me.

  There was a sudden stillness to the air, and the shadows below a fallen tent started shifting, wriggling insidiously, giving shape to a creature that, like the Suniksu, I’d never expected to encounter again.

  A hulking beast stepped from the shadows, its beady red eyes piercing the cloud of smoke like headlights.

  Its growl sounded like it was coming from a collapsed and rotten throat. It was darkness made tangible, twisted into a lumpy, four-legged creature that was vaguely wolf-like in anatomy, but way more nightmarish.

  A Jigori.

  Black smoke spewed from its nostrils as the darkness that surrounded it roiled at me.

  Jigori were magic-eating monsters created by dark magic users known as Necromajin—the only type of magic user that wasn’t gifted with magic at birth. Necromajin were created during a gruesome ritual and sustained themselves by feeding on magic. If that Jigori got me, I was dead.

  But the Jigori wasn’t focused on me. It opened its yawning mouth and began to draw the Suniksu’s flames into its body, like a macabre vacuum.

  Every lick of magical fire blazing through the park was channeled toward the Jigori. Within seconds, the Suniksu broke down until it became a formless mass that the Jigori swallowed down. When it was done, it turned its attention to the Conjurer. I had to try to help.

  I found and Shaped another piece of wood and got to my feet, running toward the Jigori and launching my crude weapon at it. It slammed into the Jigori’s side, which caused it to pause and turn to me. It crouched low and sniffed in my direction, and its eyes pulsed brighter for a moment. It had scented my magic; there was no way I could have avoided that. What I needed to avoid was ending up sucked dry and dead.

  The odds weren’t in my favor, though, because only Divine magic was effective against creatures of dark magic, and Diviners had disappeared with the collapse of magic centuries ago.