Book One: Darkness
Many years ago…
It was a dark night in the Northern Mountains. The clouds covered the stars as guilt devoured my soul. From cave to lifeless cave in the mountains, I wandered aimlessly. I searched for sustenance, warmth, and any meaning to this life. Seasons have come and gone, falling leaves and frigid air returning only to remind me how much time I’ve passed here, alone.
I’ve spent years roaming the Northern Mountains. The only place that allowed me to become invisible, hiding from any civilization. I’ve climbed Tourmon’s Wall and traveled to and from Dragon’s Foot. I scavenged through the remains of Isenstad for nothing more than the sake of my own curiosity. Recently, I headed west toward the sea.
“To go where I might fit in,” I told myself, hiking to the Settlement of the Dead.
It’s where I’d belong. The only whiskers that would accept me are the ones who’ve perished. The dead would understand. Especially the ones that fought Mother, the largest dragon in the Great Pond. I bet their ancestors were grateful. Unlike the King of Wisteria. Did I not succeed? No. No, I didn’t.
My failure of duty to these ungrateful whiskers. Failure to become a vigilante of the light. Failure to save my father. Every ounce of my body was built to become the strongest warrior of magic and protection.
Andromadus: The Prodigy
The sacrifices I’ve made. The sleepless nights studying for the sake of strength. Only to be cast out as an abomination.
“What have they done?”
My anger haunted me. Beyond every hill, behind every tree, waiting patiently to strike at my self-loathing personality until there’s nothing left but hate. And hate for who other than myself? I’ve only tried to help.
A snowstorm began rushing down from the mountains around me. I could hardly see the skeletons of the Settlement of the Dead. It was colder than usual. My breath seemed to crystalize before my eyes. Hopefully, this was it. Hopefully, this was where I had come to leave this wretched reality. To join my father at his side once again.
“If you want it, you can have it!” I yelled as I threw the vial of demon’s blood into the storm.
My last bit of unnatural magical ability flew into the distance as I fell to the ground on my knees. The frigid night had come to claim another soul. I looked down towards the ground, only to see a skull of another whisker, when suddenly, the vial was tossed back to me.
I stood up. “Show yourself!” I shouted.
“What about justice for your father’s death?”
I knelt to the ground, succumbing to the snowstorm and the beast in front of me. How could he know of my father? What does this beast want?
“My father is none of your concern, beast!”
“Is it not? Your father’s death shaped one of the most powerful whiskers The Great Pond has seen in centuries. You should use your power. Take revenge on those who cast you out. Take revenge on the whiskers who killed your father!”
“I can’t!” I shouted as I fell back down to my knees.
“Then I shall find someone else to become my immortal champion,” the shadowy beast said as it began to fade back into the snowstorm.
“Immortal,” I whispered. Does the beast really mean that? I could save countless lives, including my own, if I were immortal.
“Wait!” I shouted as the shadow began to disappear. “How does one become immortal?”
The shadow stopped and turned around. “I’m glad you asked,” it said as all of its eyes fixed themselves upon me.
Chapter 1
It was then a shadow, darker than the night, appeared, towering over me. I took a couple of steps back and braced myself for certain death. Two blue lights appeared within the shadow, then another, and again. Six sets of blue lights, but they weren’t lights. They were eyes. Glowing amidst the snowstorm atop three long necks.
I took a few steps back. When I was welcoming death, life threw one more challenge I had to accept.
“Andromadus, don’t be afraid,” the shadow said in a deep baritone voice.
“He should be frightened,” another voice said, this time in a higher-pitched nasally voice.
“Don’t scare him away,” another one said, in a warm, motherly voice.
“Who are you?” I shouted.
“I am your sword. I am your shield. I am your vengeance,” the deep voice said as the snowstorm’s wind began to sweep through.
“What do you want?”
“I want what you want, justice,” the deep voice said.
“I’m done with that.”