First 10 pages of 90K Epic Fantasy
Amidst family secrets and a world on the brink of chaos, Shamira must unravel the truth behind her father’s death, her brother’s mysterious involvement, and keep the creatures of darkness and unfathomable power from escaping Pandora’s Gate to consume everything she holds dear.
In a world of magic and intrigue, Shamira’s life takes a dramatic turn when she inherits her father’s magical powers following his sudden and violent death.
Suspecting foul play, Shamira seeks guidance and learns that her soon-to-be sister-in-law has a questionable bloodline. Shamira sets out to find answers about her father’s death and who is behind everything, and to ensure that Pandora’s Gate stays locked up tight so the ancient evils cannot escape to plague and destroy her world. Along her journey, Shamira faces challenges, confronts mythical creatures, and unravels a web of deception. Love, loyalty, and betrayal shape her path as she taps into her magic to protect herself and her world. Will Shamira uncover the truth, find answers, and save her world and all those she loves from the encroaching darkness? The answer lies within her courageous heart.
First 10 Pages –
Shamira pulled back on the reins of her striking midnight black horse, slowing down as she waited for her guard to catch up so they could go over what was left to complete their patrol. She hoped the guard wouldn’t want to push to check Pandora’s Gate because she wanted to return to the village to nap. She had been up late at the tavern with Rais, Nila, and their friends. She desperately needed a nap to help prepare for Nila’s bridal shower in the next couple of days.
Her guard cleared his throat, sounding annoyed, and she realized he’d been there waiting for a few minutes. She sighed and turned to face him, blowing her unruly lavender hair out of her face. She should have waited for her friend, Anahera, to braid her hair last night, and then she wouldn’t have it falling in her face now.
“Okay, what’s the plan – to finish up this patrol, then?”
The guard shrugged while surveying the surrounding woods, which were full of towering elder trees and said to house the spirits of ancient beings.
“It’s up to you, isn’t it? You are the Princess. Like so many others assigned to you, I’m just a guard.”
Shamira shifted in her saddle and raised an eyebrow while looking at him.
“Uh, okay, then. I’m not sure what you seem to be getting upset about here. I’m asking for your opinion because you are the captain of the guard, are you not? I asked for your opinion because you are known for being one of the best trackers and guards here.”
He said, “Good to know I’m recognized for being the captain of the guard, at least.”
She let out an exasperated sigh.
“Is there something I’m missing here?”
He huffed quietly.
“No, I suppose there isn’t anything you’re missing here. Obviously, you place such significant importance on someone with whom you once had a dalliance.”
She wrinkled her brow as she studied him for a few minutes. She could not figure it out. Did she know him as he claimed? Or did he have her confused with someone else, perhaps? She had thought he was familiar when they saddled up and headed out on patrol, but she was too tired. She couldn’t get her brain to process or think clearly enough to know if she’d spent time with him, as he suggested she did.
“For the love of seven heavens, could we just finish this infernal patrol already? Or must you discuss this now?”
She rubbed her forehead, feeling the beginnings of what promised to be a throbbing headache if she didn’t get relief from the village healers soon.
He started to speak when everything went deadly quiet. The birds stopped chirping and singing in the nearby trees. The wind stopped mid-breeze, and all the wildlife had disappeared. Even their horses went silent, only slightly pawing at the ground and shifting their gaze around them as if they knew something was amiss.
Just then, it was as if something awakened in her, some new magic she wasn’t sure of because it felt so strange. She felt like a foreign being was trying to align with her and attach itself to her soul. It was like an invasive feeling and a loss of self that was happening while every fiber of her being, every cell, was coming alive and being charged with so much magic and power. It was as if someone had infused every part of her with an ancient and incredible power.
And then she started losing consciousness for a moment before she seemed to have double vision. She could see where she was and the village at the same time. The village, her village, was in chaos. She needed to get back there, and they needed to get back now.
She looked at the captain of the guard. He nodded, and they both slapped their horses and snapped the reins, urging them to go faster. She hoped they could get back to the village in time.
***
When they reached the village, everything was burning or broken. Some huts and the Alarca trees that they had shaped living quarters around and through lay scattered on the ground. The smell of burning ash permeated the air and everywhere around them as they surveyed the scene.
Suddenly, she realized what this foreign magic was trying to control her, and she looked, searching through the rubble until she saw her father’s bow lying on the ground. The bow had a history of being passed down from generation to generation to the one who inherited the Elfin magic when the High Elf crossed the veil to the next life, but it wasn’t supposed to be her. It was supposed to be the eldest, her brother. Their father trained, prepped, and raised him to follow in his footsteps, not her, never her. Her father wasn’t supposed to die now either. How was this happening? The Oracle had told them not that long ago that he wouldn’t die soon and not in this way. She said he still had a long, prosperous life ahead of him. What went wrong?
She heard herself sobbing as she felt the tears streaming down her cheeks. She was in shock as she surveyed their village and slowly made her way, crawling over to where her father’s body lay. Soon, he would finish fading away as his essence joined the others, who had already passed on into the afterlife.
She kissed her father and felt that his skin had already gone cold. There was no life left in him that could bring him back now. It was too late, and now she was stuck with this power. She could feel the heavy weight of responsibility as the mantle of leadership settled on her.
As she looked up, she saw him, her brother, standing and surveying the damage and death that he had caused. He gazed out over what he’d done with such pride. It made her sick to look at him. Her own brother had done this, but how? She didn’t understand what had happened. Her own brother? It was a nightmare to see everything in such a state. She stood and walked over to where he was.
“Rais, what did you do?” she asked.
She stared in disbelief at her brother and the destruction surrounding them. He had always been the one who was gentle, loving, and kind. He’d been a perfect big brother and an ideal successor to her father to lead their people. Now they would label him a traitor and throw him in prison. Of course, if luck were on his side, they would exile him, or they could also put him to death. She stepped closer to her brother and gazed up at him, trying to understand and wondering if she might see or sense something in him or his face.
She tentatively and carefully reached out to touch Rais on the arm, to see if she could get him to talk to her.
“Are you going to answer me? If you talk to me, maybe we can figure something out and I can help you.”
She circled her brother, looking at him from every angle and trying to discern what was happening in his head. They could mind-link, but they hadn’t since they were children. It was too much of an invasion of privacy now that they were both older, especially now that he was engaged.
When Shamira tried to connect her mind with Rais, she felt as if he pushed her back and forcefully expelled her from his head. She was clearly not welcome in his mind, which, even though it made sense, was also strange in this situation.
She had to clear her mind and reorient herself after attempting to mind-link with Rais. Her mind had felt muddied and slow after brushing against her brother’s mind. She wasn’t sure what to make of this strangeness, but when she looked at him again, she noticed he looked unfocused and lost. Also, she saw a subtle, distinct odor emanating from him and then realized that someone had drugged him and was controlling him. Someone had been using him to get to their father.
“Rais, look at me. Focus on my voice. What did you take? Did someone drug you? What do you remember? Answer me,” she snapped.
She kept shaking him and trying to get a response. Slowly, he raised his head to look at her, blinking to clear his eyes and orient himself. His pupils appeared a bit dilated and off as Shamira inspected his face.
“Shamira, what are you doing here? I thought you were going to do your shift and patrol. What is going on? I don’t…”
He stopped as he turned and noticed their village was in disarray. Children were crying and clinging to their parents. Others called on the dragons to help put out the fires and bring them any wood or food they could use. He paused as he saw one of the old dragons swooping down to drop water on some fires because they had never seen the dragons. This dragon had an enormous wingspan that covered their entire village in the shade when it spread its wings. They had only ever heard of the dragons, as they were told not to bother the dragons with their trivial matters. They were only to call for the dragons if there was a dire need or the death of the Oracle, the council members, or the High Elf.
Rais licked his dry lips. He felt parched and woozy.
“What happened here, Shamira? I don’t understand,” he said.
“You might want to prepare yourself. If you don’t know what happened, you’ll need to take this slow,” she said.
Rais took a deep breath as he continued to survey the village and take it in. All this smoke, ash, smashed huts, damaged trees, and buildings were overwhelming to see. He rubbed his eyes and looked at Shamira like a lost, frightened little boy.
She remembered when he had looked like that last. It had been quite some time, and it had been when they’d been unable to find their father one day while children played hide and seek. Rais had panicked that their father had disappeared and left them alone when he’d turned, and their father had dropped from the nearby pine tree, where he’d been sitting in his owl form, waiting to be found. They’d been fine and gone to bed after that. Shamira knew that would never happen again, but she knew Rais didn’t realize their father was gone now, save for a few lingering wisps of his spirit.
“Shamira, where is Father?” he whispered, hoping he would turn to see his father beginning to clean up and fix things. He hoped that when he turned, he would see his father.
She led him to the spot where their father’s body had lain, and only the wisps of his spirit were visible there now. Rais’s breath hitched, and tears came as he took it all in. He walked over to their father’s body and dropped to his knees beside him as the grief overtook him. He was so pained, and the grief tore through him as she watched. She knew it hadn’t been her brother, but someone else. Someone here was even more cruel than she thought her brother had been when she thought it could have been him.
As she stood, watching her brother realize his crimes as if he were waking from a nightmare and the last of their father fading away, her friend Nila appeared out of nowhere. She ran over to Shamira and Rais, breathless. She hugged Shamira and, looking at Rais with pain etched on her face, she called out to the guards.
“Guards, guards, why are you standing there?! You must carry out your duty. Guards, guards, why are you standing there? You should have already taken him. He committed an unforgivable crime.”
Nila wrung her hands while pacing and waited for the guards to respond and do their duty. She was clearly distraught, but everyone had seen what they’d seen, and there wasn’t much room left to misunderstand what had happened. They’d all seen Rais set the fires, cause destruction and chaos, and end the High Elf’s life.
Shamira approached Nila and grabbed her to look her in the eyes.
“Nila, look at me. You know, Rais, he’s your intended. You love him. You know he could never hurt a fly. Just wait a minute, it wasn’t him. It couldn’t be.”
Nila looked away, having a tough time meeting Shamira’s gaze.
“Are you sure it wasn’t him? He could be acting right now until he gets what he wants. Shouldn’t you take him away while you consult the Oracle and decide what to do?”
Shamira turned to Nila and hugged her to comfort and calm her.
“Nila, it’s okay. If you don’t trust your feelings for Rais and how long you’ve known him, think about me and how long we’ve known each other. We’ve been best friends since we were children. Remember how we used to play pranks on everyone in the village, especially the stuffy old council members? Remember how one time I got in trouble, they accused me of trying to damage the Council building, but we knew it was that troublemaker, Ruchy, and then we proved it. Do you remember the pact we made then? We always trusted and defended each other whenever something like that happened again, when we were unfairly accused. Have faith in that pact now. Have faith in me and our friendship, if you don’t know how to believe, Rais. Trust me, Nils, Rais is innocent.”
Nila tried to take deep breaths, calm herself, and stop pacing. She looked at Rais, standing by, lost, forlorn, confused, and at Mira. She sighed deeply as she tucked her jet-black hair behind her ear.
“Okay, you’re right. I should be able to put my faith in Rais and our love, but it’s hard to do that with what I saw so that I will put my faith in you and our pact, Mira. But even if I do that, shouldn’t we follow proper protocol to avoid other problems or issues?”
Shamira sighed while biting her lip and looking at her brother.
“Yes, I suppose you’re right. I don’t feel right about it, though. I don’t want them taking him away or punishing him when I know he’s innocent.”
Nila said, “Well, you must hurry and figure out what happened then, Shami. You know how the wheels of justice can turn rapidly with something like this. His innocence must be proven soon, or he’ll have to at least leave and live life as an exiled noble.”
“You’re right, of course, Nils.”
She turned and nodded at the guards to do their duty.