Krymzyn (The Journals of Krymzyn Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

I replied adamantly, shaking my head. “It’s more like, when they took out the tumor, it left an empty space in my brain that’s waiting to be filled by something more than what I’ve experienced so far.”
    My mom smiled at me then looked out over the ocean. She didn’t answer for a few seconds, contemplating her response.
    “You had to face the reality that your existence is finite at a very young age. Most kids your age don’t think much about death. I know I didn’t when I was a teenager. So I think you want as much as possible out of life at a younger age than most people. Maybe because you know how fragile life is. You felt it firsthand.”
    I let her words soak in before replying, scrutinizing the sunset colors reflected in her eyes. “Yeah, something like that,” I said. “I just wish I knew what it is I’m waiting for.”
    “Don’t worry, Chase,” she replied. “You’ll find it. Give it time.”
    Mom reached her arm around my shoulder, and we silently listened to the waves as they crashed on the beach. Warm amber light danced across white foam crests as the sun sank to the horizon.

Chapter 4
    She slips the tip of her spear from the skull of a dead creature at her feet. Streams of black blood mixed with rain drip to the grass below. Veins that once bulged from the muscular body are now empty, fading lines of charcoal against pale, white skin. Despite being almost twice her size, the Murkovin had little defense against her wrath.
    The girl steps over the body, rain spattering on her head, and walks to the other two corpses in the field. She ignores the second Murkovin but stops over the body of her Mentor, her guide in the ways of her purpose. She stares at the fading scarlet in his short black hair, wondering how one so experienced, so strong, could have been taken by surprise.
    She wasn’t shown a vision of her Mentor’s death, or she never would have left his side. While spending Communal with the children, she’d sensed that Darkness was near. She’d traveled to their usual meeting place, but he’d never arrived.
    Sounds of clashing steel had steered her to the battle. Two creatures from the Barrens had scaled the walls and secretly entered the Delta. Her Mentor had already been slain when she reached him, the two Murkovin still lurking nearby. A fury had ignited inside the girl, was unleashed upon the intruders, and they’d quickly met death at the tip of her spear.
    She looks up to the sky as the churning clouds slow, the rain gradually stops, and fresh beams of light sever the edges of the clouds. Darkness has departed.
    “Watchers will remove the Murkovin bodies,” a woman, the tallest of the Disciples, says from behind her. “I’ll summon a Traveler to take your Mentor’s body to the Bed of Light.”
    “No,” the girl objects. She lowers her eyes to the corpse of her Mentor. “I’ll take him to the Mount.”
    “You know that isn’t the duty of a Hunter,” the Disciple reprimands.
    The girl turns to face the woman, slightly hunches her shoulders, and bows her head in a show of respect. When she speaks, her voice is quiet but firm with conviction.
    “ I’ll take his body to the Bed of Light.”
    She looks up into the Disciple’s eyes. The two silently stare at one another.
    “A Traveler will accompany you,” the Disciple finally responds. “No one should cross the Barrens alone. Not even you.”
    “Thank you,” the girl humbly replies.
    The Disciple kneels, sinks the fingertips of one hand into the black dirt beneath the grass, and whispers a name before standing again. She takes a step forward, towering over the girl.
    “Even with all your gifts,” the Disciple says quietly, “you can’t blame yourself for events out of your control.”
    “I know I shouldn’t blame myself,” the girl answers. “If I’d been shown his death before it occurred, I could have protected him, but I wasn’t shown. I don’t understand why I’m shown some things and not