Introduction

Unemployed after graduation, Kenneth McNary seeks inspiration on the Appalachian Trail. He never suspected that it would find him first. Ken is transported to a fairytale world by a god-like sentience and is tasked with uniting its denizens for a coming war-a war with eternal consequences for every soul consumed by the Enemy. While grappling with his strange surroundings, Ken learns that humans are slaves to near-immortal beings who have lost their magic. Complicating this situation is a mysterious new race of magic wielders and the reappearance of subterranean, flesh-eating creatures long thought extinct. To survive and embrace his destiny in a land hostile to humanity, Ken must discover the Fire within. But he faces two problems: he is a novice pitted against masters, and the magic may kill him before the masters do!

Editorial Review

No editorial review at this time.

Excerpt

PROLOGUE

Fire, death, and the dust of lives forever extinguished. Black smoke blotted out the sky, an artificial night shrouding pitiful scenes being played on a world drawing its last tortured gasp.

Qualin waited at the Gateway for the inevitable confrontation. Here they would come, at the end of all things. He looked at the two trees, growing side by side, and the magical doorway bridging the gap between their soot-covered trunks. Even now, it wouldn’t be too late.

Escape... he thought.

He leaned toward the portal, longing for its saving embrace.

No.

He wrenched away at the last second.

It must stop here. No other world must suffer our fate.

He had been a fool and now bore the guilt for thousands upon thousands of souls. He threw himself down, seeking a hole in which to hide, or maybe a place in which to pray. Finding neither safety nor salvation, Qualin cried hysterically. After a while, his crying subsided.

Then the anger replaced the emptiness; revenge became an oasis for his sanity. They had lied, tricked him into destroying his race. They would pay. Qualin rose from the lifeless soil.

Wait. Can it be?

Beautiful color interrupted the formless gray of destruction. A lone flower had blossomed in the cradling roots of one of the Gate’s trees. He marveled that anything so fragile could thrive so magnificently. The air was poison now. The sun was naught but a faded memory. Yet this flower survived.

Then a petal fell.

And another. And another.

They disintegrated before touching soil.

Qualin screamed and then lapsed into a moan. The stem, verdant and healthy, sickened into a moldy hue. It curled earthward, becoming one with the putrid ash burying his world.

They had arrived.

Turning to confront his doom, Qualin could barely see them. Their images were blurred with those of the ghosts screaming in his consciousness. Just as had been foretold, he was the Ruler of all.

Sire of this emptiness, this place of the dead.

The deception was complete. But he had power yet, and it might be sufficient for redemption. So he lingered, dwelling on the only task left to the forsaken.

As the group neared, Qualin returned the blank stare of his once mentor. He bore witness to a sinister visage that ere now had taken refuge from the light of day within an encompassing cloak. Midnight in color, the cloak’s uniquely opaque fabric had been much sought after by the ladies of fashion. Little did they fancy that such would be their funeral garments.

Nekros grinned. His mottled yellow skin was bloated, glutted after the feast. It alone gleamed in the ubiquitous dismal haze, a symptom of the pestilence ingesting Qualin’s world. The light no longer existed to do Nekros injury.

Qualin brushed his fear aside and then said, “I will not allow you to enter the Gate. Your dark god must look elsewhere for souls to swallow. He may even find pleasure in your worm-ridden half heart.”

“Dost thou intend to stop us?” The amused whisper vibrated through the languid air.

“Yes.” Qualin regained his former arrogance. “I can and will.”

They had given him the tools and the training. He was a master in his own right. Qualin focused his will upon the Gate, seeking, one last time, to command the planet’s consciousness to forever seal the doorway.

A laugh echoed, resembling the keening of women, the howling of dogs, and the raving of the insane. Nekros had enjoyed the game and savored this final move. “What was thine is now ours. The Gate heeds our bidding. Did thou think we would share our purpose and the fullness of our powers with thee?”

The full extent of their duplicity crashed inward upon Qualin. In desperation, he wheeled around to the Gate. Before he could leap, the pain piercing his skull brought him to his knees. Nekros had breached his defenses with ease.

“Now the master truly teaches the pupil,” said Nekros in a cold, dispassionate voice.

Qualin fell to the ground, writhing. The agony would last long. He knew. He had drained many himself. As Qualin thrashed about, feeling his life force being ripped away, his last vision was of the Nosferu, one by one disappearing into the Gate. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

1. What would you do if faced with a choice, absent any forewarning, to enter an unknown world, potentially leaving all that you hold dear in this life? Would you really take that door? Under what conditions, if any?

2. Do you believe in true magic in our world? Whether affirmative or negative, do you find support for your belief based upon science, religion, or something else? Do you find Ken's discussions on magic convincing or illusory, and if so, why?

3. We place our faith in our chosen religion that supports God's existence (or not), but what if like Ken you directly encountered a spiritual entity so powerful as to be God, but also so strange as to repudiate our religious constructs? Do you have the capacity to embrace a new vision of God or is there no such possibility in that our God is all encompassing?

4. The Elder Race's lifespan is comparatively immortal to that of mere humans, and yet, which race has the more meaningful existence? Would immortality lessen the richness of our lives, our passions… our ability to embrace risk and evolve beyond our limitations?

5. Free will or fate… why is this debate so important to Ken, and to us as humans?

6. Ken is the reluctant wizard… more accustomed to relying upon his wits than the ability to conjure, especially when it comes with a price. Would you be able to resist the temptation of magic? Are aspects of our life truly in balance or does human nature inherently lead to chaos?

Weblinks

»	Book's website
»	Author's Blog

Book Club Recommendations

Recommended to book clubs by 1 of 1 members.

Member Reviews

Rate this book