Wisdom, p.1
Wisdom, page 1
part #7 of Beginning's End Series
Wisdom
Beginning's End Series, Volume 7
W.J. May
Published by Dark Shadow Publishing, 2023.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
WISDOM
First edition. March 13, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 W.J. May.
ISBN: 979-8215180907
Written by W.J. May.
@Copyright 2023 by W. J. May
THIS E-BOOK OR PRINT is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book/paperback may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2022 by W.J. May
Wisdom, Book 7 of the Beginning’s End Series
Cover design by: Book Cover by Design
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.
Have You Read the C.o.K Series?
The Chronicles of Kerrigan
Book I - Rae of Hope is FREE!
BOOK TRAILER:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILAwXxx8MU
How hard do you have to shake the family tree to find the truth about the past?
Fifteen year-old Rae Kerrigan never really knew her family's history. Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed.
Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter?
As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future.
Find W.J. May
Website:
https://www.wjmaybooks.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-WJ-May-FAN-PAGE/141170442608149
Newsletter:
SIGN UP FOR W.J. May's Newsletter to find out about new releases, updates, cover reveals and even freebies!
https://www.wjmaybooks.com/subscribe
Wisdom Blurb:
USA Today Bestselling author, W.J. May, continues the highly anticipated bestselling YA/NA series about love, betrayal, magic and fantasy.
Learn to fight—it is the only option...
What can you do, when a dark sun rises?
Trapped in a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the mountains, Kiera and her friends find themselves in a fight for survival. But help comes in the most unlikely of places, and the beginnings of a new alliance are set tentatively into place. The sails are raised and the badlands are in reach.
But the fates have several more adventures in store...
In the sun-scorched deserts at the end of the world, the hunt continues for the dragon. The friends are pushed to the end of their limits, but appearances can be deceiving and Kiera finds herself faced with a fateful choice.
A choice that could set the world aflame, and be the ruin of everyone. A choice that could shape the course of the realm for centuries to come.
Be careful who you trust. Even the devil was once an angel.
Beginning’s End Series
Beginnings
Curiosity
Scrutiny
Foresight
Disavow
Trickery
Wisdom
Decree
Influence
Prevail
Dignified
Honored
The Queen’s Alpha Series
Eternal
Everlasting
Unceasing
Evermore
Forever
Boundless
Prophecy
Protected
Foretelling
Revelation
Betrayal
Resolved
The Omega Queen Series
Discipline
Bravery
Courage
Conquer
Strength
Validation
Approval
Blessing
Balance
Grievance
Enchanted
Gratified
Contents
Have You Read the C.o.K Series?
Find W.J. May
Wisdom Blurb:
Beginning’s End Series
The Queen’s Alpha Series
The Omega Queen Series
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
Decree Blurb
Beginning’s End Series
The Queen’s Alpha Series
The Omega Queen Series
Find W.J. May
More books by W.J. May
Chapter 1
The great fables of men were often written in blinding color.
Eyes flashing vengeance, armor polished to a shine. Cloaks were heavily embroidered and seeped in rich hues, pooling sapphires and light-capped amethyst, whipping with anticipation in an ever-present breeze. Horses pranced impatiently, bridles glinting. Blades sang when unsheathed. The sun presided over everything, as hot as dragon breath, burning like a brand, and fierce cries of bravery echoed beneath the clearest splash of sky. Blood was bright, and violent, and inevitable—dripping down silver-tipped blades before sinking with sudden permanence into the ground. Why wouldn’t people remember? Why wouldn’t they spin tales? Things were always most vivid at their end.
It was an illusion, of course, but understandable.
The days were often grim and bleak, so people needed brighter stories. Drips of whimsy, flashes of the divine. An elevation, somewhere heroes drew swords and monsters fell at their feet.
The reality was often quite different.
A true fight was nothing like what was written in the stories. It was a slog. Tripping and gasping and scraping along to an unsettling conclusion, both opponents locked in an unspoken race.
There was only so long such momentum was able to continue. And there was only one person allowed to be standing when that time reached its inevitable end. The trick was often not in beating one’s opponent, but merely staying on your feet until the final clang of the bell.
The bards told it different. It was slightly less believable.
It’s likely why they set their tales to song.
There was nothing poetic or inspiring in what happened next, nothing to convince Kiera there was anything but a lightless cave at her feet. The creature that had risen from the shadows was unlike anything she’d ever seen, yet there was something instinctually familiar as well.
Perhaps it was because it was the same monster every child saw when they peered in sleepless terror towards the shadows. Perhaps it was because it was a shadow itself, stretching taller and reaching longer, unpeeling from the wall of the cavern like a man rising from the grave.
A sucking breath caught in her throat, and words failed her. But the name floated clear to the surface, as though those bards were singing after all.
Grimlock.
It straightened to its full height and appeared to be looking towards her. Appeared, because where the creature’s face might have been, there was nothing but darkness—a blank and lightless void, shaped only by the frame of a tattered cloak and the sharp approximation of a mouth.
Her lungs filled suddenly, and she let out a scream.
The sound broke the silence that had gripped them, shattering the timeless suspension and echoing wildly off the walls. The fox leapt from her lap and sprinted into the tunnels, bounding in between the men sleeping on either side, just as they jerked awake. They opened their eyes in time to see a flash of crimson fur before lifting them higher to the shadowy nightmare looming beyond.
For a split second, all three of them could do nothing but stare. A trio of frozen faces, twists of dancing flames reflected in their saucer eyes. Then an inexplicable gust of wind swept down from the roof of the cavern, and the fire blew to pieces, until not a single shred of light remained.
The grimlock surged forward.
“It’s coming!”
Kiera screamed again, throwing up her hands and feeling the cool rush of air whisper across her cheeks. The words burst forth, but she scarcely recognized the sound of her own voice. Half-dazed with panic, she hadn’t even thought to draw a blade. But she had forgotten the people lying beside her, and they were awake now. Her part was finished. There would be no need for a blade.
“Get back!” Jesse shouted, throwing himself blindly into the grimlock’s path. For a second, she was certain he was yelling at the monster, but his hand flew out and shoved against her, trying to force her towards the mouth of the tunnel. “Get out of here—run!”
He was gone a second later, vanished in a puff of smoke.
“Jesse!” she cried after him.
Eden was already on his feet behind her—a bow lifted to his shoulder, those bright eyes scanning the dark. The creature had been wise to extinguish the fire, but a few of the embers had been scattered across the stone floor. When nothing presented itself, he pierced one of them with a sudden arrow, sending it flying across the length of the cavern in a skittering trail of sparks.
At first, there was nothing. Then—
Holy crap!
The shifter and the grimlock were locked in battle on the far side of the tunnel, wrestling across the slick surface in a tangle of shadow and limbs. At first glance, it seemed impossible they would have travelled so great a distance. Then Kiera remembered a depressing fact about grimlocks.
In the shadowy kingdom of fairytale monsters, nothing could match them for speed.
“Maharet!” Eden cursed, sprinting towards them. They were moving too fast to use the bow, he would just as likely kill his friend. “You cannot fight them like that!”
Kiera scrambled to her feet and raced after him, tripping over jagged pieces of stone.
It appeared the grimlock had not merely drifted along the labyrinth of tunnels, but burrowed through the rock, like a worm chewing its way through an apple. There was a jagged tear in the wall not far from the place where they’d built their fire, and debris littered the floor. How it had known where to surface, how it had been able to sense their presence...? She prayed she would never know.
“What do you mean?” she gasped, struggling not to lose sight of him. “It just took him—”
A second later, the answer was clear to see.
While a grimlock was faster than most anything in the realm, years of moving at such a pace had given it a strength to match. Despite Jesse’s own gifts, those lean muscles and the bursts of raw lupine power that guided them, there was very little that could be done. After only a few moments, it was clear the fight was already over and the young wolf desired nothing more than escape.
He writhed and panted beneath the creature, trying to free himself, but it wrapped itself around like a persistent shadow—lunging down every few seconds with a startling display of teeth.
“Hang on!” the fae shouted, closing the distance between them.
At that point, it was more to distract the grimlock than anything else. But the creature had latched on with unnatural intensity, wrapping its long fingers around the back of his head to keep it steady, then leaning closer to whisper something into the shifter’s ear. Jesse’s face went still, then his body stopped moving. Those hands, which had been curled desperately around the grimlock’s cloak, fell limp to his sides. A ripple of shock passed over him, then something worse. A kind of dread.
“N-No...” he whispered, shaking so hard his teeth chattered. “That’s not possible...”
What is it doing?!
Kiera picked up speed, careening full-tilt towards the terrifying image, though she had no idea what might happen when she arrived. If her boyfriend had been unable to dislodge the beast, there was no way she’d manage to do it herself. The most she could do was distract it for a short while and buy the others some time. But the others had never been receptive to that idea.
And for all their wicked games, the fates had allowed the friends a protector.
There was a flash of silver, then Eden leapt into the air—flipping just over the grimlock’s head and raking those sharp blades down its back. There was a grating cry, like a piece of stone being ripped down the center, then it pulled away from the shifter, turning to the fae instead.
Kiera reached them a moment later, grabbing Jesse by the wrists.
“Come on,” she gasped, “wake up.”
The fae and grimlock pitched into the darkness, whipping around like ghosts or spirits, as she started heaving him across the floor. Wild sounds chased the shadows as they made the slow journey back to where they’d started—back to where the embers had gathered thickest on the ground. There were echoes of shouts, a few hair-raising howls, but she kept her mind on the task.
It was a trick she’d learned, one that had seeped into her very bones. Whenever the world was crashing down around them, it was best to make it smaller, keep her eyes on something steady.
Halfway back, Jesse’s eyes fluttered open. He pulled free of her grip, blinking in a daze.
“Kiera?” he stammered, white as a sheet. “I thought—”
“It’s all right, Eden’s taking care of it,” she interrupted hastily, hoping very much this was the case. “Let’s just get you back to the—”
“Light the fire!”
Two heads whipped up as they stared in the direction of the voice. They could no longer see anything that was happening, as a thick darkness had enveloped the room. But there was no mistaking the desperation in Eden’s voice. It was a strain they seldom heard, edged with increasing panic.
He cannot see it.
Like the sun emerging from a cloud, the answer was suddenly clear to see. A thousand times, the fae had pitted himself against such creatures and won. A thousand times, over the course of near a thousand years. But his people never ventured into the caverns. And he could not fight it blind.
“Quickly—the fire!”
She froze a split second in horror, then scanned frantically over the floor of the cave.
There was precious little to coax the flames. For one of the first times since they’d set out from Farion, the friends were not camping in the woods. There had been a few old sconces still mounted to the wall, but Eden had burned those the night before. Aside from that, there was nothing except those quickly dimming embers...and whatever happened to be stashed in the bags.
In a moment of blind panic, she ripped open the nearest one, dug wildly in the folds, and then pulled out the canvas tent—throwing it swiftly upon the nearest coals. There was a chance the others would kill her for it later. Actually kill her, they’d always been depressingly clear about things like that. But they’d need to be alive to do it. And that wasn’t going to happen without a bit of light.
It took what felt like a lifetime for the embers to gain traction—the tunnels were chilled and damp, and they already begun to fade. But a fledgling crop of flames sprang to life.
She looked up eagerly, then cried out again.
“Eden!”
At first, it was impossible to make out anything in the darkness. Those flames scorched the backs of her eyes, bare and blazing, and for a moment, she was able to see nothing past them. Then a gradual image began to take form. An image distressingly similar to the one she’d just left.
For all the fae’s attempts to keep his distance, to fight the creature from the length of a blade he’d been swinging at shadows, and those swords were swiftly knocked from his hands. Now, the two were pressed together like ill-fitting pieces—one trying to grip harder, the other trying to escape.
It was perhaps the most frightening thing yet: seeing the fae clench his teeth and push with all his might against those imprisoning arms, seeing the grimlock hold fast.
The fire had helped a little, piercing those impenetrable shadows and giving him a belated chance to fight back, but the monster already had a better grip on him than it should—and that was half the battle. From where she stood, Kiera saw it grab onto the side of his tunic, those dark fingers slicing through it like warm butter, and digging themselves into the delicate skin just beneath.
