Prologue
Several Years Before
Emperor Aldritch
Red-hot rage fills my veins from the groaning of my bedchamber door slowly opening.
“Who dares—” I fist the black silk covers and toss them from my legs, then spin around to sit on the edge of the bed.
I glare over at my attendant, Lorn, as he bends into a deep bow of apology. I do not care for his act of contrition, though, since the only thing which might staunch my fury in this moment would be to toss something at him.
“Your Majesty, a messenger has just arrived from the southernmost border with urgent news.”
I wave a hand at him in annoyance to hurry and deliver his message.
“It seems a young sorcerer has been discovered to have force magic stronger than Imperial Lead Guard Hendry.”
My knees creak as I rise to stride toward him, summoning my force magic to surround me in a billowing cloud, preparing to strike should he say anything to anger me further.
“Are you suggesting I am capable of failure?”
“No, Your Eminence.” He shakes his head vigorously. “There is no doubt your elite team of scouts were exceptionally thorough in their search for the strongest sorcerers born during the Anomaly.”
I lift my chin to stare down my nose at him. “Then what, exactly, are you insinuating?”
“According to the messenger, the young sorcerer’s magic has only now proven its exceptional strength, meaning it would have been impossible for your scouts to have identified him prior to this incident.”
But not for the Dragons. The Elders possess knowledge of the future that the rest of us can only hope to access, bringing up the question: Why would they approve of every sorcerer I appointed if they knew this other one would one day ruin the image I have so carefully constructed?
“How old is this disruptor?” Every syllable I utter drips with venom as I wish to strike this moment from ever having occurred in the first place.
My diligence in appointing only the strongest sorcerers born during that strange time in our history will not be for nothing. Three years we dealt with the very atmosphere sizzling with electricity, the sky lighting with solar flares, and the ground shaking with near-daily earthquakes. Though our search was limited to those born during the time of the Anomaly, I cannot comprehend how even one with such power could have been overlooked.
“He is merely seventeen, Your Eminence.”
“Impossible. Someone that young could not be stronger than Hendry. The Anomaly was concluded by the time of his birth.”
“He is reported to have obliterated the entire school building.”
My dark cloud of magic recedes into my body, while my eyebrows rise toward my hairline at the sheer immensity of this young sorcerer’s power. Strength greater than I would have imagined possible.
“How many casualties?”
“None, only injuries.”
I storm forward, closing the distance between Lorn and myself, needing to look him in the eye with the threat of harm should he dare to fabricate his response to what I am about to ask him next.
“Am I to understand this youthful sorcerer can discern between an object and a living being when using such high levels of blasting force? Am I expected to believe that he can somehow decimate property larger than any force sorcerer has been known to topple alone, all while sparing lives that any other highly trained sorcerer would have taken had they used the same level of propulsion?”
Lorn nods as memories of my own training invade my mind. Lauded for the strength I wield, yet it is nothing compared to this child’s.
Fury courses in and around my organs as the carefully crafted image I have created around our Imperial Grand Witch all falls to ruin. How my proclamation of her Imperial Guards only consisting of the strongest will no longer represent my unwavering belief in her powers being our Empire’s greatest asset. How our rivals will no longer fear us the same way. How they will no longer cower in submission, but instead laugh at me, making a mockery of my incessant need to be the first to have anything worthy. Being so careful to make our offensive strategies live in the minds of every enemy, causing them to lose sleep due to the power we wield as we plot our methods to secure their land. All to be ridiculed, now that this youth has developed an ability far surpassing anything ever known to be possible before this incident his magic supposedly caused.
“Why would the Elder Dragons have approved Hendry when I appointed him if it was known that another sorcerer would come to outpower him?”
Lorn shakes his head with caution. “Perhaps they were unaware.”
“Preposterous.” I ask the same question I have just posed to Lorn inside my own mind and wait for my blood-bound Dragon, Kresmea, to respond telepathically.
