Akira Knightley - The Cursed and the Anointed

2021 Akira Knightley

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Book layout by Joanna Japo

Book Cover Art stock photography modified by Grzegorz Japo for The Cursed and the Anointed.

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All rights reserved Akira Knightley 2021

In Memoriam

To all those we lost in the battle with Covid 19,
including my sister
who stood by me through my darkest hours
and with whom I shared so many loving memories.

May your souls be comforted in a much kinder place.

See you all in Dreamland.

Prologue

Allesandra, concentrate! You must be able to think of every detail and every nuance. Otherwise, the ruse will be discovered, an old raspy voice said sternly.

I am concentrating! Its just copying you is extremely difficult, the girl in her late teens protested.

You must will yourself to go beyond the flesh but before the spirit. Expand your magic to extract from your subject and project what you touched. Everything you need, you can extract in the tiniest specimen of that object, answered a bent, scraggly, old woman with stringy gray hair hanging down from within her tattered cowl.

The girl sighed in frustration, shook both her hands to clear tension, then replaced them back on wrinkled, unsteady, up-turned hands of her Nana. She closed her eyes. Her forehead scrunched as she summoned power, and forced will into her spell.

Thats good. I can feel your energy flowing. Now concentrate. Remember, every detail, every nuance of my appearance. Dont cheat,

said the woman. Suddenly she said, tersely, Be Careful! You must stop before the spirit beyond the flesh but before the spirit or your subject will die! She heaved and started to cough as if the air had all of a sudden become thinner. She was suffocating, yet she kept her hand under Allesandras, maintaining the magical connection.

The young lady pulled her hand away forcibly from the old womans crooked hands and sat down in defeat.

This is too hard and pointless! Why do we have to do this? What does this have to do with me getting my kingdom back? You promised me, she whined.

It takes discipline and maturity to run a kingdom. They will never trust you, much less give you one if they think you cant do the job. You need to train more, explained the old woman as she grabbed her cane and hobbled over closer to the earthen stove, still visibly shaken from the experience.

That last comment upset the girl more. She got up and got in front of the coughing woman with no notice of her weakened condition and yelled, I think youre lying, Nana! I dont theyre going to give me a kingdom. You say you were a Queen of the Adinor family, then why are you in this hobble, in a rat-infested underground cave far from the castle? You say Im a princess too, but Aunt Esmelda doesnt even want me around when there are guests, she cried.

I am tired, Allessandra. Just keep practicing your magic, and everything will come to you, the old woman said, gently tapping the girl away from the fire with her cane.

The girl was very annoyed and stomped away from the old woman and screamed in frustration. Once she was done screaming, she turned to the old woman again.

Youre a liar! Youve already taught me everything you know. Everything! But we havent made any plans to take over the castle. I think youre just pretending I still have a lot to learn, so Aunt Esmelda will not throw you out, accused the girl.

You think you have learned all that I know? The old woman cackled derisively in between coughs. She turned around slightly and laughed, pointing a gnarled finger at Allessandra.

You are pathetic. Your magic is not even close to mine. You cant perform a simple shape-shift into me and you think you already know what I have in here, yelled the woman, tapping her head with her cane, and her voice nearly giving out from her anger. She shook her head slowly and almost imperceptibly said, Get out. I have already wasted too much time on you.

Without waiting for Allesandra to respond and without so much as a warning, she waved her bony hand. The girl was forcibly sent flying out of the door of the chamber.

Allessandra was beyond mad. She got up from the ground and tried to get back in again, but she was unable to take down the old womans protection. She tried all the magic she knew, but the shield didnt go down. Screaming once again, she stormed out of the cave.

The first fight was over in a few minutes, but the damage was already done. The old woman forgave and took Allesandra back and kept teaching her black magic. Allessandra buried herself into practicing. The more evil the power, the more she craved it, and as she acquired more of the wicked knowledge, the greater her ambition grew. Her demands became more grandiose and the arguments intense.

But magic requires sacrifice, and for evil magic, the cost is more than immense. The bile from the unholy pursuit manifested itself on the young woman. Every mutilation, every demonic incantation, every innocent life offered exacted their cost in spades, emotionally, physically, and mentally.

Several years later, Allessandra again visited her Nana. Once again, the people outside the cave reported a loud and severe disagreement. Some time that afternoon, the old woman was seen leaving. She was taking tiny, shaky, unsteady steps out of the cave. She was bent over her cane, her trembling, wrinkled hands with nails blackened by magic showing from the tattered sleeves of her smelly robe. As she had done so countless times before, she was seen dragging the torn and frayed hooded cloak on the dirt floor of the cave corridors; her crinkled face barely visible inside the cowl.

The soldiers outside the cave didnt pay her any attention. They are familiar with eccentric old Kulam, a derogatory term for a sorceress in that area. They also didnt bother her because she was known for her extreme cruelty. But more than that, they were afraid of her evil and dark magic.

The woman kept her laborious pace towards the edge of the main road, towards the thick and uncharted forest of Hulo. Everyone saw her leave. But no one saw the Kulam ever return.

CHAPTER 1

The appearance of secrets

People keep secrets. I have secrets, but I will tell you everything. I do have to warn you that my mind is not entirely my own, and you may not believe what Im about to say to you. But I will tell you anyway because you might see something there, between the splinters of visions, fragments of dreams, and slivers of memories. Maybe you will find the truth of who I really am. That perhaps if you believe, then I can also believe. It all started...