D I V I N I V M

There was the No-Thing, and then there was the Spark. And Things grew from the Fertile Blackness.

Offspring of unfathomable energy, incubated in terrible light and heat, They began to multiply.

Time stretched to great lengths, and the matrix of creation took on an energy of its own. Kyr created life.

And They were drawn to it. And They were jealous.

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“Do you see them, Heror?”

“You see them. I know you do…”

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“That boy needed your kindness,” Thaeolai told Ucankacei. “And I think… he needs it even more now.”

“Stop talking about him like he’s still here..."

“That boy is gone.”

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Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

And then Adjaash opened her eyes. And all at once, the rush of the wind and the hum of the waves left her. Her mother was gone. Her sister was gone. The chill and silence of the cave settled in and pressed against her skin. The embers of the torch leered at her – a mocking remnant of the warmth long passed.

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“Elesvii, elesvii… so predictable. Like moths to a flame.”

From white to green. From green to orange.

“Tell me… why is it when you are afraid, you prefer the light to the dark?”

From orange to brown.

“They mislead you all the same.”

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“The whelk… is a predator. It secretes stomach acid onto the surface of a mollusk’s shell. It bores a hole in the shell with its radula. Then it extends its proboscis and feasts on the flesh within. It consumes its prey until there is no more, and then – like a parasite – it invades and lives among the bones of its sin.”

“So perhaps it is not so dissimilar from you.”

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And now they stood at opposite ends of a duel circle, as fires dotted the matted dirt and grass, and climbed the westward trees. The Ardysi whyzard sidestepped left. Scibu sidestepped right. The whyzard readied his stance and summoned a torch of fire in his palm. The Serpent raised his sword in challenge – his downturned dragon visage leering at its prey, as the kea cord coiled around his medial blade.

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“What is your name?”

Heror readied his wrists. His nose twitched.

“Heror.”

“Heror… do you pledge yourself to Knepfr?”

Heror tore the ropes free and surged to his feet. His hands lashed for his twin swords, and he unfurled them both at once...

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BOOK TWO - COMING SOON