Marina Surzhevskaya’s "The Imperial Hunter," a summary Automatic translate

The novel about the dark mage Lex Rauth continues the chronicle of survival under the harsh imperial order. This book is a direct development of the plot lines after the central characters’ escape from the Thunder Wasteland, published in 2017. The author throws the cynical warlock into the camp of his ideological enemies.

Lex Rauth is forced to serve in the Imperial Hunters’ Bastion under the strict control of Squadron Oscol North. The magic of his chest amulet keeps the warlock tightly bound, completely depriving him of any chance of successful escape. Rauth’s relationship with the Light Hunters remains openly hostile. Fly Hart, Nick Shilo Galakhan, and the other guardians of order despise their dark colleague. Lex reciprocates their scorn. Bastion Commander Alin Boldo appoints Rauth as the leader of a combat squad to investigate an anomalous magical surge in the provincial town of River Tina.

Anomalies in the River Mud

Upon arrival, the warlock first heads to the local tavern. There, Lex meets a girl named Lyra, who hides her facial defect behind an amulet of optical distortion. The dark mage gets her drunk on hot wine and spends a wild night with her. The next morning, Raut leaves Lyra the address of a detective he knows in the capital, in Caier. A squad of light mages begins a routine investigation. The local hunter, Bernard, has disappeared without a trace. Other practicing mages in the provincial town have also vanished.

Raut breaks the dimensional barrier on the outskirts of the city, noticing a strange glowing stone. Later, in an old cemetery, Raut and Hart are subjected to a massive attack by translucent creatures — marashers. Fly generates a powerful light wave, and the monsters’ corpses dissolve without a trace in the bluish glow. Hart insistently asks Lex to conceal the cemetery incident from Bastion’s high command. The warlock correctly deduces that the light guardian knows far more about the terrifying beasts than is permitted.

In Caiera, Audrey Lloyd struggles to come to terms with Lex’s sudden disappearance. Audrey lives in her deceased parents’ mansion, formally engaged to the werewolf Rihior Armon Jade. Audrey visits the luminous Monastery of the Goddess of Balance, where she was raised from childhood. Audrey honestly confesses to the abbess her depraved attraction to the dark mage. Meanwhile, the werewolf Armon continues his manic search for his former battle partner.

Lyra arrives in Caier. She tracks down the man she needs at the address he left behind and learns a terrible truth. The Nightstalker who seduced her is the warlock Lex Rauth, the brutal murderer of her own father.

The Threat of the Fire World

Lex secretly summons a familiar demoness, Lantaareya, to the cemetery at night. She tells of the Marashers — the incorporeal guardians of the Fiery World of the Upside Down. According to ancient treatises, the dual god long ago created seven energy circles of creation. Opening the seventh circle grants complete control over the spectrum of creation, potentially capable of granting new life. Lex analyzes the recent words of the necromancer Shinkar the Marked. Someone is methodically trying to open the ancient circles by physically eliminating powerful mages.

That morning, in the tavern hall, Hart drinks the venom of a Rion snake. Lex urgently saves the hunter with an infusion of necromancer blood. The warlock discovers the source of the threat: the poison was slipped by a comrade. Raut forces Hart to make an unspoken deal: Fly guarantees Lex the removal of Bastion’s control. During dinner, the warlock, through a cunning bluff, identifies the poisoner. The culprit turns out to be the hunter named Mud.

Audrey and Lyra encounter each other by chance on the streets of Caiera. Illusion saves the provincial girl from imminent arrest after a spontaneous release of ice magic. Audrey leaves Lyra to stay at his mansion. Armon gathers information and discovers Raut’s coordinates. Audrey, Armon, and Lyra purchase a pass and travel to River Silt through a stationary portal. During the journey, the guide mage rudely interferes with the route setup. Armon falls out of the corridor and disappears into an unknown space.

Call of the Wasteland

Rikhior awakens inside the First’s tower on the Wharf in the Thunder Wasteland. A mysterious, short, robed mage demands that the werewolf conceive a child with the winged girl, Soylin. Armon leaves the tower in a rage, but the spilled wolfsbane clouded his feral judgment. With a tremendous effort of will, Rikhior restrains his primal instincts around Soylin. He decides to play along with the First’s demands, planning to find a way out of the trap. The snake, Intioria, promises Armon support in arranging his escape in exchange for a joint journey to the capital, Caier.

Audrey arrives in River Tina. She deliberately smashes a shop window with a rock, hoping to encounter the local hunters. The town guards mistake her for a wanted thief and lock her in the dungeon. Lex descends there on duty. The warlock coolly pretends not to remember Audrey. Desperately, she tries to reach his mind. Raut manipulates Audrey, forcing her to promise to grant him one wish, and seals the oath with an irrevocable magical seal.

Lyra catches up with Lex in a tavern and falsely proposes further intimacy. The girl plans brutal revenge. The warlock quickly sees through her crude game. Suddenly, the marashers storm the dungeon, killing the guards and kidnapping the captive traitor mage. One of the transparent creatures bites Audrey. The wound instantly opens a wide channel for draining the illusionist’s life force. Lex shares his own magical reserves with the dying girl, saving her from rapid decline. The warlock quickly creates a runic binding on the blood of the convicted criminal Toadstool to reliably track the marashers’ precise route.

Armon selflessly protects Soilin from the bullying of spotted earth cats. The local settlement is attacked by aggressive winged warriors from ancient Elhaon. Soilin bravely distracts the patrolling guards with his own person. Rikhior saves the girl, methodically shooting the attackers with heavy crossbow bolts. Armon officially embraces his innate alpha blood. All the men of the Haven unconditionally submit to the power of the new leader. Rikhior and Soilin finally become a true couple, their energetic consciousnesses transferring to the Ancestral Forest.

The Bloody Battle of Elhaon

The Toadstool Beacon points directly to the Thunder Wasteland. Lex, Hart, Nick, Big Man, Lyra, and Audrey are instantly transported there. Lantaareya steadfastly accompanies the group. The mages fall onto the scorching red sands. Raut kisses Lyra, provoking a fit of uncontrollable, cold hatred in her. The girl’s ice storm chills the desert, saving her companions. Lyra completely loses her amulet of distortion, and the ugly scar on her cheek becomes visible. The girl furiously vows to kill Lex.

Lex draws a portal with his own blood. The party is transported to the border of ancient Elhaon. Armon and Soylin meet the travelers. Winged guards attack the Dock again and successfully kidnap Soylin, following a tip from the traitor Intioria. Hart discards his ordinary hunter disguise. The mage reveals himself to be the eldest prince of the empire, Harleontiy. The former also discards his gray robe. Under the cloth was the youngest princess, Sylvia. The monarchs briefly recount the story of the snow sapphire. This unique mineral grants immense superpowers. The Emperor has gone missing, and the middle twins, Sheila and Well, have seized absolute power in Elhaon by force.

Armon summons thousands of earthen predators. The beast army aggressively storms the city. Lex erupts in pure fire, breaking through the dense defenses of the winged sentries. The squad fights its way to the central square. There, a protective magic cube towers. Inside, an altar with a column made of a single snow sapphire is located. A bound Soylin lies on the sacrificial stone. Nearby, the necromancer Shinkar the Marked looms, calmly manipulating the monstrous power of the creation circles.

Lex engages in a brutal battle with Shinkar. Marked One shocks Raut by admitting his true paternity. The warlock refuses to believe the necromancer, furiously attacking him with a fiery energy whip. Harth engages in a massive magical duel with his siblings. The twins are obsessively eager to become the new all-powerful gods. Rikhior Armon quietly frees Soylin from her powerful bonds.

The Rift of Reality and the Valley of Oblivion

Shinkar takes Audrey hostage. Raut loudly demands the girl fulfill the wish she promised in the dungeon. Audrey sincerely confesses her love to the warlock. Lex’s fiery whip grips Shinkar’s neck tightly. The necromancer hurls black artifacts onto the cobblestones, opening an unstable, spontaneous portal. The warped space instantly swallows Marked One and Audrey.

Lex unleashes the power of the Upside Down on the sapphire pillar. The stone cracks deeply. Harth plunges the blade into Princess Sheila’s chest. Her sister’s blood activates the remaining magic, and the pillar explodes with a roar. The primal power of the Upside Down erupts into the human dimension. Raut manages to burn a rune into his own hand, desperately grasping the fading vestige of Shinkar’s portal.

After the altar’s destruction, the twins’ absolute power crumbles. Hart imposes strict order on Elchaon, officially appointing Armon as Supreme Commander of the Wasteland. Lyra abandons her plans for revenge against Lex forever thanks to the miraculous help of Princess Sylvia, who completely heals her disfigured face.

The warlock hastily heads north into the Wasteland, straight for the Valley of Oblivion. Rikhior accompanies the mage to the dangerous border of the blighted lands. Lex advances alone, clinging with all his might to his personal memories. A trail of magic leads Raut to a hill. The mage finds the surviving Audrey, holding a crude, homemade bow. Goldilocks confidently takes aim at the warlock. The mystical magic of the Valley of Oblivion has completely erased her memory. The girl doesn’t recognize Lex at all, angrily demanding that he leave. Raut, with a wry smile, declares that he is her lawful husband. And Audrey abruptly releases the bowstring.

At this point the events of the book end.