Jordi Villalobos - The Invasion Of The Sombers

The invasion of the sombers.

© 2020 Jordi Villalobos

English edition: December 2019

Intellectual Property Registry: B-3073-15

Cover design: Sarima ( envuelorasante.com)

Map illustration: David Puertas

Layout: Sara García ( tucubierta.es)

Translator: ZionXVI

www.edicionesproust.com

info@edicionesproust.com

The partial or total reproduction of this work by any means or procedure, including reprographics and computer processing, and the distribution of copies by rental or loan is strictly prohibited without the written permission of the copyright holders, under the penalties established by law. The photographs of this work are part of the author's personal archive.

At the end, appendices have been added with general information about Frienia, a description of the races and a catalogue of characters so that it can be of help to those readers who would like to complement the information provided in the narration of the novel.

First of all, I would like to thank my wife and my two children as regards their patience for having endured without protesting, all the hours I have devoted to this work, as well as the support and advice I have been given.

Secondly, I would like to thank Lucia Arca, Sarima and Antonia Cuenca for having introduced me to each other and for their enormous collaboration, professionalism and friendliness, making this publication possible and, above all, improving it.

I would also like to thank David Palacios and Juan Manuel Carmona for their courage in being the first to dare to read this novel to the end and for having given me their sincere opinion and wise suggestions.

Nor can I forget to thank the people of Olmedilla de Alarcón for a good part of the inspiration that has allowed me to write this work, having taken advantage of my holidays in this beloved locality to write most of these pages.

I also want to thank the Bellvitge neighborhood and the city of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat from the bottom of my heart for all the support I received, both from my neighbors and friends, and from the city council and the city's libraries. Moreover, I add a very special thanks to Gemma Isern for all her help.

Another outstanding gratitude to Fran Hernaiz who, with his accurate suggestions and corrections has provoked a good part of this fourth edition.

I could not fail to thank all the readers who, for one reason or another have decided to go into this book, and especially all those who, at the markets where I offer my book, decide to buy it when they realize that I am an up and coming author.

And finally, I would like to thank all the friends and family who have not stopped supporting me and encouraging me to work on the publication of this book.

For the English version, I want to thank ZionXVI for all his effort and great work in translation. And to Olga Núñez her help in the revision of it.

After a century-old war between humans and orcs, both sides are forced to form an alliance to defend themselves from the sombers, a race descended from the predominantly evil elves who struggle to invade and subdue their territories. To seal this alliance, the two heirs of the kingdoms, the brave human prince Syriel and the beautiful orc princess Lirieth promise each other marriage and, against all odds begin a romance of sincere love.

The dark ones undertake an expedition to lands full of dangerous creatures to capture dragons and thus to gain a clear advantage. The alliance does the same to avoid it or also find dragons to match forces. Syriel and Lirieth command this mission, in the course of which they must overcome a mutiny of their dwarf vassals, the attack of a gigantic snake, ambushes of the dark elves and assaults of strange and dangerous creatures.

Syriel must also face the painful suspicion of a perverse betrayal of his fiancée, who seems to have made a pact with the invaders several years ago.

In addition, they meet the White Magician, one of Mazorik's seven disciples, who informs Syriel that he owns two of the objects in the Dragon Armor, and hands him another one that belonged to his grandfather. The White Magician urges the prince to collect the seven magical objects which constitute the powerful armor, as he suspects that someone with not very good intentions also wants to do it.

Both the shadow elf and the alliance's troops gain control of a group of dragons. War is already inevitable: the sombers will initiate an imminent invasion of the orcs' and humans' kingdoms.

About two thousand years ago, a perverse magician named Mazorik sets in motion one of the worst black magic spells that ever existed. With the seven hearts of each of the dragon's races, he creates the seven jewels of light, which have the property of absorbing the essences of the beings who possess them for seven years. To do so, the magician takes a disciple from each of the civilized species that populate Frienia: elves, humans, orcs, sombers, dwarfs, médium and giants, whom he deceives with the false promise of putting an end to all wars.

With the seven jewels already impregnated with the essences of the seven species, he intends to set them in seven objects that will make up the Dragon Armor, which will grant him unlimited power, obtaining the immanence of each race, as well as its total submission, which will establish him as the supreme emperor of all the known earth. But one of his disciples discovers him and manages to thwart his abject plans.

The two threads of argument are intertwined in this novel, leading to a surprising ending.

https://jordivillalobos.es/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ltr1-frienia-ingles.jpg

Between Barvian, the somber's fief and the orc kingdom of Teberion was the forest of Eternal Night. Its trees with large, leafy branches barely allowed the rays of light to pass through, and so a faint, perennial darkness took hold of its immense extension. It was an ideal place for different creatures to meet clandestinely without fear of being discovered.

Snaking through the forest was the Aquos River, the largest river in all of Frienia, which marked the border between the two kingdoms. Its flow was so voluminous that during a good part of the year it could only be crossed by the Rasen fords, at the south of the forest.

In one of its darkest areas, a small médium rogue breed wandered in search of the prized monarch mushrooms, good sized milk caps that, cooked skillfully, became one of the tastiest dishes in all of Frienia, especially for the médium ones.

Bellamir, the mushroom collector was not used to coming alone to this forest, as it was one of the most dangerous, both for the beings and vermin that inhabited it and for the kind of individuals that used to frequent it. He was usually accompanied by his inseparable friend Frodin; however, that day he was indisposed due to an indigestion provoked by cakes and decided to venture on his own.