Welcome to Snippet Sunday on Darkling Dreams!

Where writers come together to share a few sentences (8-10) of their current project — whether it’s a recently released novel, a WIP (work in progress), or an older manuscript that’s being revived. Intended to hook readers, gather feedback and build an author’s fan base, Snippet Sunday is the FB group that does all three.

Happy Easter, peeps! Enjoy the time with your family and get hyped up on lots of sugary marshmallows and candy eggs. Don’t forget the jelly beans either!

I am going to continue on with the first book in the Dark Heir Chronicles yet, Fated to Darkness yet. I’m just going to keep rolling with it up through April for Camp NaNo and then switch to something different in May. I know, that’s a lot of Fated to Darkness snippets, but this series is my baby.

Previously on Sunday Snippets: Four year old Heather had been kidnapped from her home by a woman clad in black and whisked off to another realm where she found her kidnapper wanted her to be her Heir. But not just any Heir. After being locked up and put through a ritual that has changed her and her life forever — though she does not yet know it — she has found herself in a small bare essential room with a tiny bathroom, and her new mentor has instructed her to clean herself up and be ready in ten minutes. Having talked of what Ciara finally wants of her, she has now gone through three trying lessons under her mentor’s thumb, and has since passed out.

I’m skipping ahead about two pages from last week’s snippet. From Heather’s defiance, Ciara has once more dragged her off to train with magic, but it hasn’t stopped Heather’s insistent refusal of what Ciara wants of her. Ciara speaks first.

(Some sentences may have been creatively edited and punctuated to try to fit the ten sentence limit. I’m over, again. Can we just agree that my snippets will always be a little longer but not too long?)

~*~*~*~

“You shall be whether you like it or not. Don’t believe in hope that you can overcome it, Heir. I have many a ways to make you listen other than torture. Magic can do many things, including forcing someone against their will. I am being kind in not forcing you, am I not? I am giving you that chance to prove yourself, to listen on your own and earn maybe a small ounce of respect and worthiness of being my Heir.”

“But I don–“

“Hush!” she yelled, cursing Heather again. “I have been generous so far in explaining, Heir. Do not think I shall do that all the time for I will not. It seems since you refuse to listen and accept your fate as the Dark Heir, you must learn the hard way. Get up, now.”

Heather was afraid to, but not wanting the woman’s furious wrath, she got up slowly.

“Here is your wake up call,” she sneered.

Ciara’s mind suddenly slammed into Heather’s with so much force that it knocked Heather back off her feet. Her hands flew to her head as she cried out at the explosion of pain, having no idea what had just happened. It felt as if she had been hit in the head and have it split open all at once. Ciara remained cold and uncaring as she glared at her, pulling up memories of past Heirs she had had doing her reign of terrors with destruction, chaos, and a world of pain to others.

Each and every memory she pulled up passed to Heather through the connection Ciara had made to her. It was a like a slide show of images, sounds, emotions, feelings, and words flashing through her mind at breakneck speeds.

The sounds of panicked cries, the screams of pain, and the shouts of angered and fearful voices. Flashes of a young girl or boy — all seeming older than herself — creating chaos within packed streets, more even of these people torturing or killing someone. Grins of wicked glee playing across their faces, others having blank cold expressions. Blood splatter, the twisted pain of a curse, the sharp sting of a cut. Dark flashes of raw magic destroying homes and fixtures. Running people as they tried to avoid the chaos being wrought upon them.

Through it all was the constant quick flash of Ciara standing behind the child causing the pain in the streets. The same satisfied and twisted smile upon her face as she watched her Heir cause destruction, destroying a town and terrorizing the people within it.

This is your fate, Heir. Who you shall come to be. The Dark Heir, through and through.

The sudden voice accompanied the images in her head and it startled her. It sounded so much like Ciara. No, it sounded exactly like her. She was already horrified by what she was seeing in her mind and this voice in her head only added to the horror. How was it possible she was hearing her voice in her mind? How was it even possible she was seeing all these things so clearly?

~*~*~*~

I think this scene will be ten times more powerful once I play around with it in edits, for it’s more than just a look at the past…

This story is not yet on Wattpad because it is my baby that I hope to publish one day, and if no one will publish me, I am self publishing. But it’s also not on Wattpad because it’s in first draft phases yet. So there will be no “if you wish to read more…”

However! If you wish to read anything else that I do have finished, you can hop on over to  my profile on Wattpad and check out what I have to offer. I love to hear any and all feedback on my work as well. Comments are greatly appreciated, as are the reads.

And if you’re looking for some other great snippets of fellow authors,
hop on over to Facebook and check out Snippet Sunday!