Dearest Mother of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF

caught my eye, and caused my breath to hitch in my throat.
    It was an Alabaster Arch.
    From what I knew, there were at least five Alabaster Arches in the world, one of which was the prime arch the Seraphim called the Grand Nexus. As far as I knew, the Alabaster Arches connected only to the angel realm, though each supposedly also connected to the Grand Nexus. I had no idea if the white-striped design of these particular arches held any significance. Maybe the creators wanted a little pizzazz. Maybe they really like zebras. Most likely, the material made opening a gateway between two realms easier. The Obsidian Arches—black and shiny as their namesake—only connected to other Obsidian Arches, but didn't seem to have the ability to connect to other realms. Not unless someone counted the accidental fractures in reality, which could suck someone into a dreary dimension called the Gloom.
    Rebel Darklings, Arcanes, Daemos, and humans had banded together to drive the angels from this world by destroying the Grand Nexus. They hadn't destroyed the nexus, but instead removed the Cyrinthian Rune, a vital component. But removing it had caused a massive shockwave which reverberated through every Alabaster Arch in the network, and drained the light from any nearby entity.
    The husked remains of angels, humans, and even shape-shifting Flarks now haunted places like Thunder Rock and El Dorado. So far as I knew, the Grand Nexus remained inoperable. I had to hope Mr. Gray wasn't lying when he said Daelissa didn't have the rune.
    All the same, any Alabaster Arch would supposedly take someone dumb enough to use it back to the Grand Nexus, wherever it was.
    In other words, Lornicus had just given me a map which might lead me to the portal Daelissa would have to repair if she hoped to bring across an army. Maybe there was a way to destroy that arch once and for all. I'd seen the broken remains of the smaller black arches. If the Obsidian Arch in El Dorado had been destroyed, why couldn't we do the same to an Alabaster Arch? Even if it caused another backlash, everything within range of them was already husked.
    This is so tempting .
    That golem really knew how to push my buttons.
    A glowing line on the map led past the Alabaster Arch and into the main cavern where the Obsidian Arch would be. There, the line terminated in an "X". I suspected it didn't indicate pirate booty.
    I touched the "X", but no description rewarded me for the effort. What waited in that dread cavern?
    Curiosity joined arms with irritation, urging me to investigate. I just had to know despite the obvious fact that Lornicus was manipulating me.
    Resist!
    Why don't I just take a quick peek?
    "Off," I said, flicking my hand at the arcphone. The image vanished. I wouldn't go. No way, no how. The only thing waiting in that cavern is death. I thought back to my expedition through the caverns beneath El Dorado. Our first encounter had been with shadow people, the husked remains of humans. Shadows drifted off them like ultraviolet smoke, and they used those wisps to snare people and drain them. Their weakness was light of any kind. One of them had been overexposed and crumbled to dust.
    The cherubs, on the other hand, didn't seem to care about light. I'd kicked them, batted them around, and abused them mercilessly, but nothing seemed to harm them. Hardly surprising since they'd once been angels. Their only weaknesses were lack of speed, and ungainly infantile bodies.
    The most dangerous husk of all, however, might be the one I'd encountered at Thunder Rock—a Flark. Bigglesworth was the only Flark I'd ever seen. He'd been immune to direct magic attacks, and virtually impossible to kill with physical attacks, especially since his skin burned like acid when it touched a victim. When Kassallandra, Elyssa, and I had been swimming the depths of the quarry lake at Thunder Rock in a bid to escape the interdiction spell around the area, an oily tentacle had grabbed me and flung me into the