Everlife. Gena Showalter
Читать онлайн книгу.
chapter twenty-one
“The time will come, the time will not be long in coming, when new ties will be formed about you—ties that will bind you yet more tenderly and strongly to the home you so adorn—the dearest ties that will ever grace and gladden you.”
—CHARLES DICKENS, A TALE OF TWO CITIES
All hope has been lost. Our armies have been defeated, our spirits crushed. We are helpless as night smothers day, choking out Light. We have nothing. We are nothing.
Or so our enemy would have us think.
If seeing is believing, they would be right. But we must trust the promise in our hearts. We are like a tree firmly planted by a riverbank, our roots so deep no storm can blow us down. We might bend, but we will never break.
Through trial and tribulation, victory will be ours.
After all, diamonds are made with pressure.
Soon a time will come, a time for every man, woman and child to make a choice. When you’ve been beaten down—physically, mentally and emotionally—when you’ve been betrayed, all hope gone, where will you find the strength to stand, and march on?
How far will we go for the sake of our realm?
Darkness may descend, but our Light can forever shine. Though we fall one by one, we can rise together. One body. One heart. One purpose.
One eternity.
Glossary of Terms excerpted from Myriad’s Book of Evernight
Abrogate—
In the darkness, greatness is born.
★The highest rank of General in Myriad.
★Once rare, their numbers are now growing exponentially.
★Those who extinguish the Light in Troikans as well as in humans.
Conduit—
In the Light, destruction awaits.
★The second-highest rank in Troika, accountable only to the Secondking.
★Currently on the verge of extinction.
★Someone with the ability to harness sunlight and share its power through the Troikan Grid.
Covenant—
The solid foundation on which we stand.
★Any blood oath agreed upon between two separate parties (i.e., a human and an Everlife realm), legally voided through court or loopholes.
★If terms are broken illegally, a human can be put to death and a spirit enslaved.
Everlife—
The end will always justify the means.
★The afterlife, where Myriad and Troika are at war.
★Also known as the Unending.
Firstking—
He that shall not be named.
★Creator of the realms, spirits, humans and the Land of the Harvest.
★Father of the Secondkings: Ambrosine, the Prince of Ravens, and Eron, the Prince of Doves.
★Let the name Eron forever be a curse.
Firstlife—
Let the countdown begin.
★A human life (i.e., a spirit encased inside a body).
★Dress rehearsal for the Everlife, when a human soul should be won by any means necessary.
Firstdeath—
What was shall no longer be.
★The demise of a human body.
★Occurs the moment a spirit cuts ties with its body.
Fused—
And two shall become one.
★When a spirit experiences Second-death, it joins to another—brand-new—spirit (or even multiple spirits) to be reborn in the Land of the Harvest.
★A fact disputed by Troikans.
General—
A dragon with ten heads cannot be defeated.
★Accountable only to the Secondking.
★One of ten individuals who oversee teams of Leaders, Headhunters, Laborers and Messengers.
★Responsible for planning battle strategies and leading armies into war.
Grid, the—
One for all, and all for one.
★A spiritual bond between every citizen of a realm and the realm’s Secondking.
Kennels, the—
Betray