Spark of Vengeance – The Prologue

Once again I must admit a grand failure… I suck at blogging.

If there was such a thing as a mid-year resolution, I think being better at blogging would be it. I used to love blogging, and I hope I can get back into the swing of that real soon. But that is not the point of this blog post.

The point of this blog post that in my ultimate failure at blogging – I never officially announced what my next book will be. 

And now, here we are, a week away from it’s release and I guess I am not only officially announcing it –I am giving you a sneak at the Prologue!

I know, it’s pretty huge. So, without further ado – and if you haven’t heard already – my next book is:

A Spark of Vengeance, The King of Imdalind – Book One

This story follows Ryland shortly after the attack as they begin to navigate the newly destroyed world, defeat new enemies, and reveal the story of how this amazing boy became a king. I mean, we got a bit of a sneak peek of all his amazing at the end of Crown of Cinders, and in Ilyan… don’t you want to know what it took to get there?

I know I do! So, go grab your copy, because lucky you – you only have to wait a week for this book to come out!

Grab it on Amazon and iBooks Today!

*All following is copyright 2018, Rebecca Ethington, Imdalind Press, Market Street Books. All matter unedited and subject change.*

Prologue

The Ukrainian Army, Mission X, Somewhere in Poland

The plan was simple. Excavate an ancient tunnel system that zig-zagged through Europe and blow the alien’s barrier from the outside.
My team and I had found the tunnel years ago when a mission in Poland had sent us underground. Desperate to escape before our cover was fully blown, we took shelter in the mountains, hoping that trees and caves would be our savior before we could be extracted.
What we had found instead was ultimately more valuable.
An ancient man-made tunnel that weaved through mountains, burrowed under cities, and who knows what else. We traveled through the intricately carved paths for days, carefully documenting the ornate creations that lined the walls, doing our best to mark each turn and fork we crossed lest we get lost, but the further we traveled the more the caves became a labyrinth swallowing us and our hope into the darkness.
We had expected to die in those caves, lost in an underground trove forever. Instead, we found a door.
The surface was carved in stone and iron in a scene full of animals and people who all stood together underneath a sky of stars and explosions; fireworks perhaps. It was beautiful, and I ran my fingers over it in awe, desperate to see what treasures a door the beautiful concealed.
But it was sealed shut.
No matter what we did, we could not open it. The massive thing would not budge.
Eventually, we left the door, sucked back into the maze of dark caverns as we tried to find a way out.
We crawled out of the cave a month later, reported what we had seen and everything was filed away in the military archives to be forgotten.
That was until several years later when an explosion erupted inside the city of Prague and the entire metropolis was swallowed by a large red dome.
The massive thing was like a canker. It’s scarlet walls stretched to the sky, sealing away the city under an opaque barrier that looked as though a massive sun was rising from within the earth. Within weeks every government had rallied together to conquer this foreign invasion, every method of attack used to destroy and banish the aliens.
Nothing worked.
After months of foolishly fighting this stationary enemy, it was determined that the dome, while impenetrable from the top, extended far underground.
It was clear what needed to happen.
A powerful explosion, directly against the barrier, preferably underground where the attack couldn’t be monitored.
Although whoever had created the barrier had not attacked us, despite the dozens of bombs that were dropped on the daily, attacking the wall so brutally and out in the open was not a risk any government was willing to take. Lucky for them, I knew exactly where to go.
It was this mission that had brought me back to this cave.
After wandering for days, we had finally found it. The same bright red barrier that covered the city stretched over the rough hewn tunnel from wall to wall and ceiling to floor. It was just waiting for us. The beautiful red shimmered in the dim light, like a troublesome zit, just waiting to be eradicated.
We were ready to do just that. I could already hear my soldiers begin to retrieve the bombs.
“Klotz!”
As much as I wanted to jump at the loud voice behind me, I stood still, arms folded over my chest as I stared at the wall of red. The glistening surface sparkled as I stood before it, as if it knew I was here.
As if it knew what we were here for. I stared at it, wanting to touch it, wanting to destroy it, and knowing that somewhere beyond it that same door was waiting for me.
This time I would be able to step through it.
“Klotz!” The yell came again as the heavy fall of feet ran up behind; Commander Ramdoir and a few of his men rushing up to surround me.
“Sir,” I acknowledged his presence with a snap of my heels and a quick salute, but I still did not remove my eyes from the glistening surface.
I couldn’t look away.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” The awe was clear in his voice.
I wanted to agree, but I couldn’t. As much as the beauty called to me, as much as it enticed me, there was something else I wanted all the more.
“Are you referring to the surface, or to whatever it is hiding?” I finally looked away from the deep red wall to look at the man beside me, his tall frame trimmed perfectly in the deep blue uniform of Ukraine.
Commander Ramdoir had trained me from the moment I had been recruited from my local police in Kiev. I was his pet project so to say, and while I was sure he had interests in me beyond training me as his replacement, I was not interested in entertaining them.
I had a career I wanted to build. My goal was to take over his position as the head of the Security Service, not take over as his wife.
“You are the only woman I know who sees beyond the surface,” he whispered, obviously wanting to keep his voice low enough that the equally mesmerized soldiers couldn’t hear.
The way he spoke drove nails into my spine.
“And you are the only Ukrainian I know who cannot take no for an answer.” I did not hide my disgust and he did not notice it. He only laughed and stepped closer, his voice reducing to a low hum.
“Don’t play coy, Nastya.”
“Don’t be…”
Any retort I had, left as the barrier we stood beside vanished with a pop. A rush of hot air pressed through the cavern at its disappearance, the sound of what I was sure was a scream weaved through the tepid wind. I lost my balance at the pressure, feet stumbling as the air rushed over us in a wave.
“What in the world?” I asked in a panic, stepping toward where the barrier had been a moment before, hand extended in expectation of an impact.
Nothing came.
“It’s gone,” I whispered to myself as the Commanders shouts began to echo over the dark stone.
“Get back to the surface, see if it is indeed gone,” he boomed, my focus still narrowed into the dark in complete shock. “You! Build a team and get into the city if it is! You, and you, get into those caves.”
Sounds washed over me as everyone jumped into action. Orders, cocked guns, the heavy thunder of footsteps. The sound of a prepared war rippled behind me as the sound of death began to echo before.
The sound was like that of stone and wood, grinding together. Smashing together. Screaming at the impact.
The distorted noise sent a shiver through me, the sound growing… growing…
“Silence,” I yelled to the soldiers, holding a shaking hand up as all sound stopped.
All but the ripple of teeth, of stone, of screams. The feral yells thundered down the cave toward us like a pack of animals, they penetrated the dark as a million nightmares were awakened.
I could feel their fear against my back as they heard it too, my own fear nearly crippling me as together we saw what was making the noise.
At first, I thought they were bats, but everything about that was wrong. The way they flew through the air, the way they screamed, the way they looked at us with filthy sphinx-like faces.
They weren’t bats, and whatever had popped the barrier, had released them.
They had sent hell right toward us.
“Run!” I yelled, but the command was too late.
The swarm of flying monsters engulfed me, their claws ripping against clothes and flesh as they screamed, as their teeth sunk into the skin on my lower back.
I felt the teeth, felt the acid that followed, the acid that burned and roared and sent me to the ground in a tangle of pain and screams.
Everything was on fire. Everything burned as the heat raced through my veins, pressing against skin and skull as though it was going to explode.
As though I was going to explode.
As it changed me.

Grab it on Amazon and iBooks Today!