Serial 10

Malice in the Shadows is the tenth Proposed Serial in Spectral Shadows. It is preceded by Serial 9 - The Mask of the Great Deceive r and succeeded by Serial 11 - The Planet of Genetic Misadventure. It is not currently in progress, and therefore the only material is available on the Synopsis Page.

The Summary is as follows:

While attempting to return to his own time, Raelian chooses the wrong door and finds himself transported back to the year 1756 on a ship bound for the far away country of Beravia. On board the ship he meets the young and idealistic Lucious Rhoades, whom he quickly befriends. Lucious is on his way to Beravia to marry his love, an opera singer named Elisa who is native to that land.

Raelian helps Lucious survive all manner of seafaring dangers to reach his love. But shortly after the wedding Elisa falls prey to a gypsy’s curse. And when Rael’s magic proves insufficient to counter the curse, Lucious entreats the assistance of a traveling magician, who turns out to be Rinne Le Ciel in mortal human form, before becoming the raven winged Omman Lord Of Death.

Rinne and Raelian together attempt an exorcism of the evil magic, but fail to save the opera singer. Devastated over the death of his wife, Lucious becomes obsessed with the idea of finding a way to bring the dead back to life. A gypsy tells him of a fabled text containing such secrets.

Following clues given him by the gypsy, Lucious goes to a certain lake and chants an incantation, which promises his soul to the service of darkness for eternity in exchange for the secret knowledge he craves. And, like Excalibur, the book rises from the lake.

Then, like Nicolas centuries in the future, the good intentions of Lucious gradually draw him into a life of darkness and depravity, gaining him many mystical powers of transformation and immortality, but becoming a creature of evil in the process.

Yet, with all his powers, he remains unable to resurrect his wife. All he can do is construct a soulless doll in her likeness that witnesses his descent into depravity with emotionless eyes.