Desolation

*Desolation* is the third Volume in The Legacy of Sorrow series, and continues forward from the timeline of *Sorrow*. As opposed to Affliction, Desolation establishes the forward motion of the story instead of continuing the historical account of the Sorrowverse the way *Affliction* did. *Desolation* is considered by the author to be the most grim of the four books, and revolves heavily around themes of tragedy, trauma, and loss. *Desolation* also introduces a few new characters, enhanced plot-lines, and new primary antagonist, although the general theme of the antagonists' goals branch heavily from the first two Volumes and build on existing lore. The novel is the first book to entirely follow the new *Legacy Edition* franchise. As such, there is no *Trilogy Edition* of this book.

## Synopsis

A sacrifice resulted in the destruction of an enemy research lab and the release of a weaponized virus: a modified version of the same virus that makes Vampyres what they are. The country is ravaged by a deadly outbreak that threatened to obliterate sentient life on Earth, leaving nothing but a shadow of the world before. Kara's family, separated by distance and strife, now finds renewed purpose after a period of mourning and loss. After twenty years and the reshaping of what it means to be a Vampyre, a mission is established to seek out the source of the disruption and conquer the last threats to both human and Vampyre alike.

Unexpected alliances and new members of Kara's counsel evolve into the ultimate war between good and evil, as pieces set in motion centuries ago begin to show their fangs. A brutal enemy hides in the shadows behind the facade of a reigning government, poised to finish what his predecessor started and defying the odds of what was previously believed to be possible. A single mistake would turn the world to dust, and on the path to prevent total annihilation, no one will make it to the end unscathed.

## Storyline

**Spoilers for *Sorrow,* *Affliction,* and *Desolation* will be contained in the following section.**

Krystal awakens to memories of darkness and torment, feeling physically damaged and emotionally scarred by the events of her long sleep. Not expecting to have survived her sacrifice in the Raven Biopharmaceutical lab's crumbling explosions, she finds herself in an abandoned Aerael: a place she once called home now empty, dark, and hollow. Violet, who had been supervising her medical recovery from the confines of the city's nightclub, finds her wandering in a hallway confused and disoriented. Taking her to see Valterius, who Krystal is elated to see having survived the same events she did, the pair explains that she has been comatose for nearly twenty years.

Krystal struggles to accept their story, but listens as they explain that the same lab she dies within had released the weapon they all feared: a deadly and highly contagious version of the Vampyre Virus. While The Outbreak was contained to the United States and Mexico, the U.S. was largely left to its own devices as the rest of the world began to guard its borders in fear of spread. Over the span of Krystal's coma, Aerael's leadership had worked with the United States Government during its collapse (due to the high death rate and lack of command succession) to defer local authoritative leadership to major cities. Of the fifty million remaining Americans, all of them are Vampyres, and their secret is known to the world as a whole. Amelia, Kara's daughter and cause of death (until her resurrection via Project Catalyst), played a major role in Aerael's reaction to the Outbreak and its subsequent abandoning due to internal conflict.

After hearing of her sister Alice's struggles in keeping her alive, Krystal is given a medicine known as Factor Five to aid in her recovery. Violet explains that Alice had created Factor Five as a way to speed up cellular regeneration with science taken from project Catalyst and used to help the population fight the deadly effects of the virulent Outbreak. Another contributing piece to Factor Five was the effects of Amy's supernatural healing abilities, the mere existence of which seems to be an impossible miracle. Shortly after she had awoken and been informed of the past twenty years' events, Krystal has a seizure and is evacuated to Alice for further medical care. On the way to Krystal's mansion, where Alice had taken up residence, Violet and Valterius are attacked by an unknown group and rescued by a singular Vampyre of exceptional skill. As they fled, they uncovered little of their savior's identity, but relayed the information to Alice upon their arrival.

Krystal awakens once more and tries to settle in with Amy's help while Alice explains that another, separate group had abducted Kara and Jalix for an unknown purpose. Alice explains the criticality of getting them back, as she is close to uncovering a cure to the Vampyre Virus. Their discussion is interrupted by Violet and Val's savior appearing on the doorstep of Krystal's mansion. With an aggressive investigation, Valterius discovers that it is none other than Raven who saved them, although she had been presumably killed by Jalix in a bid to recover Kara many years ago. Raven explains that larger evils are at work, but is scant on details and cites that her personal safety is the reason for her vagueness. Two teams set off on their own missions: one to recover Kara and Jalix, and the other to retreat to Raven's place of safety. With reluctance, Alice, Krystal, Violet, and Amy form a trust with Raven, as she claims to be even further toward the cure than Alice is.

Sonya, Tony, and Valterius arrive in Washington, D.C., the place where Raven advised that Jalix and Kara were being held, to find a small army awaiting them. They are brought into captivity and Sonya is introduced to their leader, a man known only as The Legacy, who sits in the White House as the acting President of the United States. He reveals that he had been feeding information to the global community regarding Kara's Counsel and the united States as a whole that kept them from providing aid and allowed Legacy to continue building an army without the interference of the outside world. During their encounter, Sonya experiences a diminished form of Schillinger's powers at Legacy's fingertips; a form of telekinesis lower in potency but overpowering the natural resistance that Sonya and Kara previously had toward Schillinger. This makes him an exceptionally grave threat to Sonya, and this forces her to listen to Legacy's demands. He states that Kara or her daughter would hold the reigns of the new world, but only once he cleansed it through atomic fire to reduce the global population. Seeing that Legacy did have control over the nuclear weapons of the country, she concedes that there is little else she can do than to comply. Legacy references that Amy is a part of the cure endeavor, but fails to explain how and demands the delivery of her person.

Sonya is escorted to the rest of her group, to include Jalix and Kara, by a Ukrainian man named Yuri. Yuri claims to have worked with Sonya in the past, but her amnesia prevented her from recalling the events. He advises that she be prepared for a jailbreak, and that in siding with Sonya, he was defying Legacy's orders to execute her family. Sonya meets with Jalix, injured and bloody beyond recognition. Legacy's army, Jalix explains, was build by the remnants of the Pyrates torturing randomly selected Vampyres and healing them with Alice's Factor Five to create an addiction fueled by psychological break. This gives the Tortured a resistance to pain and a lack of survival instinct as they believe they will heal from any injury. This form of advanced torture was inflicted on Jalix, who resisted for the sake of his wife and daughter. As Jalix explains the workings of Legacy's Tortured, Yuri and his militia attack the Tortured and free them from their prison. The group escapes with Tony near death and Kara still unconscious.

After Tony's injuries from the fight, a phone call ensues to give Alice a change to guide the other team through emergency surgery. Raven's presence is confirmed during the phone call, and both Yuri and Raven reveal that they are working together in their goals. Both sides explain to their respective teams that they have been combating Legacy's efforts for many years, and only now reveal themselves because of Krystal's awakening. With the Counsel intact, Raven and Yuri believe that there is a chance to stop Legacy from his goals. Raven explains that their destination is a city called Vanaheim: a near-replica of Aerael underneath the very hospital that Kara and Jalix founded to research treatment during the Outbreak. Further along their journey, a nuclear detonation takes place on the horizon of New York City as a retaliation by Legacy and a warning to any who would oppose him. Traumatized, they continue their journey until confronted by a group led by Rachel, Krystal's ex-girlfriend. Rachel threatens Krystal over previous events, and both Rachel and Krystal are seriously injured. When Amy attempts to heal Krystal, her abilities go haywire and force her into a catatonic state. The remaining Tortured defy Legacy's orders and attempt to rape the group of women, who are saved by Kara and Sonya's arrival.

Separately, Yuri explains that the majority of Legacy's military might is housed at Quantico, and that an attack could rend his army with heavy losses in both resources and personnel. A surprise attack jointly led by Jalix, Yuri, and Valterius is launched, and the ambush is successful. A massive conversion facility for Legacy's army to create more Tortured is liberated, and the freed Vampyres side with their saviors to overthrow Legacy's seat of power. Most critically of those saved are two F-35 combat pilots, Layla Goss and Andrea Scott: former U.S. Marine Lieutenants with specialized air combat training. Yuri stays to keep Quantico defensible and prepared while Valterius and Jalix leave for Vanaheim.

After Jalix and Val arrive at Vanaheim, the family celebrates their reunion and is introduced to Raven's counterpart and driving force behind their efforts: Tony's brother, Eric. After explaining his absence, Eric initiates a plan to fool Legacy into believing that Kara and Amy have fled to avoid capture. Legacy is convinced that an internal conflict has been created by these events and that Kara and Amy are somewhere on the west coast of the United States. Violet is portrayed to be killed for the sake of realism during the video call, and Legacy makes the passing remark that no more of Kara's daughters should be killed without good reason. Shocked, Kara is forced to reveal that Violet and Raven are twin sisters, forcibly conceived by Schillinger more than forty years ago, and became the reason that Kara's personality had temporarily devolved into the persona of Sorrow.

Shocked and in disbelief, Amy and Krystal spend time together to figure out the cause of Amy's earlier response to healing Krystal. Amy explains that there is some mysterious way her abilities are affected by Krystal's experience with death, and the pair attempt to re-create the experience. Amy fully experiences Krystal's death, as well as some of Krystal's memories and personality before witnessing a seemingly impossible state between life and death that Krystal suffered for most of her comatose state. Amy explains that Krystal's strength is nearly unmatched, and that she admires Krystal for having the fortitude to make it through such harrowing experiences. While Violet suffers the realization of her lineage, the city of Vanaheim prepares to go to war.