The second novel of Jack Heckel's Mysterium series, The Darker Lord
follows beleaguered former Dark Lord Avery Stewart as he is forced to
take up his cloak and his Imp once again and travel the doors between
realms in order to keep the fabric of the universe intact. More or less
intact, anyway.
In The Dark Lord, Avery had an epiphany about the Mysterium. Only now
he can't remember what it was, no matter how much coffee he drinks or
how many times he reads the novel published from his notes. What he does
know is that he has become the most famous mage in the multiverse, and
no one is happy with him. His fellow mages are upset at his rapid
promotion, Dawn and Eldrin are tired of him spending his days on their
couch watching bad TV, and Harold the Imp won't talk to him.
Luckily, things can always get worse. And they do when the
Administration's enforcer, Moregoth, arrives at the first lecture of the
semester to apprehend two of Avery's new students for undoubtedly
sinister reasons. In a fit of foolishness and heroism, Avery defies the
university and flees with his friends into subworld. There, he reunites
with his former allies from Trelari and thus begins a frantic race
through the multiverse to escape Moregoth.
But as Avery's amnesia begins to fade, he realizes his loss of memory is
no accident, that he is caught in a conspiracy as terrifying as
Mysterium University's Student Records Building--and that his friends
might not all be on his side.
