“How to Divide the World is a fantasy novel at its finest. Mashing alternate history, religion, science and magic, truth and mythology all into one is a brilliant way to make us, the readers, want to delve into this tome full force. Leaving nothing sacred, J.D. forces us to be fluid in our interpretation of how religion and apocryphal books blend together to make this book brilliant and compelling.” – Amazon Vine Voice
“Even though this is a work of fiction, seeded within the framework of the book are truths, some known while others are hidden in the shadows. J.D. Thomas is either a genius or a madman, or just maybe, perhaps a little of both.” - Dennis Waller, Top 500 Amazon Reviewers
“There are multiple layers of good and evil all the time coming into play so the novel keeps moving and drawing you with it. No one rests for long in a world at war.”- Linda D., Author
“When and how does the moral man act when the difference [between right and wrong] isn't clear? To pose the questions and others, he draws from a variety of religious, historical, mythological and philosophical sources. And, he has no hesitation in manipulating these sources to provide a compelling framework for his story. In this sense, the author draws upon the "alternative history" model made popular by Henry Turtledove.” - Fleury Sommers
“Full of adventure and plot surprises, with major conflicts arising continually. The book was hard to put down, and I kept thinking about the story and its implications whenever I couldn't read.”-Deborah Van Horn, author
“A new refreshing approach to mythology that leaves you wanting to read more of his work. It was the first time I have read anything from this author and I must admit, he didn't let me down.” – Pennie Cartawick, author of Sherlock Holmes: The Sirens Collection
“It's pleasing to find a book that delivers on its premise and then some. A very good fantasy novel and a thoroughly great read.” -John Bowen, author of Where The Dead Walk
“Challenges reality as we know it and often defies logic while asking us for understanding of the characters, rather than hasty judgment.” – Yvonne Crowe, author of The First Madonna
Back Cover Description
In a world where humanity is caught in wars between powers beyond their understanding. A world where science and magic, mythology and truth, angels and gods, and ancient religions and history are one…
The greatest conspiracy in history is that angels continue to live amongst us, sometimes pretending to be gods, sometimes pretending to be humans. They are here, and have been here, since the beginning of time.
This is a story of their secret wars. Wars fought in the shadows, and wars fought before our very eyes but hidden in plain sight.
Circa 2000 B.C. After the sky warship—the Tower Ship of Babel—is destroyed, the knowledge to rebuild it is scattered all over the world. These pieces are called the Ten Fragments of the Sephiroth, their location hidden in a book called the Zohar, and no matter what happens these ten pieces must never come together. Because if they do, it will lead us all to the destruction of the world.
Circa 30A.D. Two thousand years later. It has happened before, and it can happen again. Just as Lucifer destroyed the first heaven in ancient times, now Earth too is in danger. Judas Iscariot the infamous Betrayer, with the help of the Serpent Dragon of Eden Nacash, must do everything in his power to save the world from self destruction.
But even as the angels battle against each other, and even as humans struggle to survive and rise up with their own power, a greater war rages on. One of such immense scale that even the angels know nothing of it. Battles between two races more powerful than the angels: the High Serpent Prophets, who are the only beings who can stand up against the Slayers, and the Slayers who seek to destroy the True Creator, and in the process destroy them all.
Teaser Page
Judas turned to see what remained of one of their warships, as a large azure beast from beneath the sea hurled it high into the air and struck it with a gargantuan fist. The ship exploded in timbers.
“A sea demon has flanked us,” Macro cried over the noise of battle. As the sea demon rose it sent waves that almost toppled the ships. By the time it reached its full height, it was probably larger than the red demon Moloch.
“Men, get to dry ground!” Emperor Tiberius commanded. “Don’t bother with your armor, better die fighting than drown.”
Back on the shore, another demon gave out its last cry as it fell with thousands of arrows protruding from its body. Behind them, another ship sank as the sea demon struck again. Two groups of archers fired at the sea demon, but, with the distance between the ships, archers were ineffective in such small numbers. They were at severe disadvantage if they had to defend on two fronts. At sea, the azure demon could pick them off one by one. Many of the Praetorians had jumped overboard, leaving their armor behind and taking only their sword or spear and swam towards land.
Then the red demon’s voice boomed again.
“My Master is almost here,” Moloch’s voice echoed throughout the entire island. “The Lord of Chaos is coming.”
A shadow enveloped the entire fleet.
Macro pointed to the skies above the Isle of Capri. “What in the world is that?” Above the isle, there was a tear in the skies that spanned the entire island, as if the sky was a piece of cloth and something ripped it apart. Several of the oarsmen began screaming hysterically as if driven mad at the mere sight.
Tiberius’s expression was grim.
“That, I presume, is the gateway to the demon world that we’ve been warned of,” Tiberius said. “We need to defeat the demons before it opens fully.” Something seemed to move inside the rift.
A Black Guard close by yelled, much more composed than the oarsmen non-combatants. “It’s a demon’s eye! I saw a giant eye trying to look into the rift!”
What is that? Judas thought to the dragon Nacash. But even the dragon was silent. The truth was, even Judas did not know what Moloch had planned in detail. He felt cold and tried his best not to shiver. Whatever the creature was, it must have been as big as the island itself.
“If a demon of that caliber comes out into our world,” Tiberius said, “I fear that not even all the armies of the world combined can stop it.”
This was not part of the deal that Judas had made with Moloch. Judas cursed mentally. So much for making a pact with demons. In all the battles he had fought, he had never faced pressure of this magnitude. For a moment, even Judas felt afraid.
THE LOST BOOK OF CHAOS:
HOW TO DIVIDE THE WORLD
Book One of THE SECRET WARS OF ANGELS
J.D. Thomas
Copyright May 2014. All rights reserved.
To my parents, Alfred and Cecil, and to my wife Blessy, for being there all throughout the process of writing and editing this book.
To the ever-growing list of people who helped improve the book and gave their thoughts and suggestions and gave positive words that kept me going. For the beta-readers who gave detailed feedback and their emotions at different parts of the book. Your help has been very valuable in writing and self-publishing the book.
And borrowing from Einstein’s words: to the people, alive and dead, whose works I continue to use and draw inspiration from even today.
Thank you. Without you, this book would not have been made possible.
Table of Contents
Back Cover Description
Teaser Page
Table of Contents
Other Books in the Series by J.D. Thomas
Prologue
ARC 1, HUMAN: The Our
oboros
Chapter 1 - Judas the Betrayer
Chapter 2 - High Priestess
Chapter 3 – The Zohar
Chapter 4 – Demonness
Chapter 5 – The Ancient
Chapter 6 – The Chained Land
Chapter 7 - Thirty Shekels Of Silver
Chapter 8 – Shaul The Persecutor
Chapter 9 – The Great Serpent
Chapter 10 – The Inquisition
Chapter 11 – The Legendary Sword: “Spirit Of Truth”
Chapter 12 – The Backlash
Chapter 13 - The Death Of Judas Iscariot
Chapter 14 - Gabriel
Chapter 15 – How To Divide The World
Chapter 16 – The Immortal King
Chapter 17 – A Sea Of Blood
Chapter 18 - Al-Kain
Chapter 19 – The Zohar And The Angel
Chapter 20 – Death
Chapter 21 – The Cloth Of Portals
Chapter 22 – Sky Jerusalem
Chapter 23 – Archangels And Overlords
Chapter 24 – Dream Shard
Chapter 25 - Training
Chapter 26 - The Golden Serpent Bracer
Chapter 27 – The Fountain of Eternal Youth
Epilogue
A Word From The Author – Judas D. Thomas the Dragon, also known as Judas Iscariot the Betrayer
Other Books in the Series by J.D. Thomas
THE SECRET WARS OF ANGELS
BOOK ONE: The Lost Book of Chaos: How to Divide the World
COMING SOON
BOOK TWO: The Book of Light: Uniting the Divided
BOOK THREE: The Book of Wars: The Great War
BOOK FOUR: The Book of the Outcast: Author Immortal
BOOK FIVE: The Book of the Past: Jasher
BOOK SIX: The Book of Messiahs: A World of Messiahs
BOOK SEVEN: The Book of Visions: A World Without Outcasts
BOOK EIGHT: The Book of Healers: A World Without Wars
BOOK NINE: The Secret Wars of Angels: A History
BOOK TEN: The Book of the Seeker: In Search of the Creator
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Quotations from various ancient scriptures such as the Jewish Torah, the Book of Jasher, the Midrash, the Christian Gospels, the Apocrypha, Islamic Qur’an, Indian Mahabharata, and the Vedas are merely there to enhance the reader’s experience. The story is entirely fictional.
Prologue
Circa 2240 A.D.
Darkness. It was everywhere, pressing in from all sides, weighing him down like an invisible mountain. The silence, deafening, he could hear the rhythm of his heart. Then, even the rhythm faded away, and the darkness with it, and once again the void consumed his consciousness. But out of that nothingness came a thought, and out of that thought came a word: Time.
Awareness rushed at him from all directions, a raging torrent that drove him from the river of darkness. He gasped, momentarily out of breath, as he struggled not to drown.
A sequence of memories flooded him: a snake biting it's own tail; the broken horns of an ox; a city in the sky; a blue rose surrounded by clouds; a broken sword marred by his own blood; the wings of cherubim; and the sea of people gazing up at him as he stood over them, crucified.
Then everything became still, and there was only clarity.
“The world must not end,” Judas managed a whisper. “We have to buy the world more time.” His voice sounded hoarse, even unfamiliar.
Judas Iscariot opened his eyes. He was surrounded by bright white walls, the glow of which came from within the walls. On one side of the room there was a metal door with a square peering hole. Leather straps held him tightly against an immovable chair.
Judas was now only a shadow of a shadow. To think that mere straps could hold him in place, when there was a time that nothing in Heaven or Earth that could stop him. Not the Archangels of Light, not even the Overlords of Chaos. Now, he was nothing.
But he needed to try.
“The Slayers are coming,” Judas began, at first, a hoarse whisper, then his voice became louder and louder, “The slayers are coming... The slayers are coming. The slayers are coming!”
Judas heard the footsteps. The man who peered inside the room had his mouth and nose covered by a white cloth and wore a shiny thing on top of his head. At the sight of Judas, the man shook his head and let out a curse.
“Always up to something,” the man grumbled before calling out to the others.
The door gave beeping sounds and unbolted—Judas observed that this was the power of today’s time, for humanity had risen a small step closer to uncovering the power of angels. Not that such power would do them any good.
Three men, all dressed in white, entered the prison-room. One of them sat in front of Judas and looked him in the eye, though the man appeared like he would rather be elsewhere than here.
“What’s wrong this time?” the man dressed in white said, feigning concern in his voice. The man’s eyes, however, looked distant, aloof, and indifferent. To the man, this was just a job.
“The Slayers are coming,” Judas said calmly, ignoring the man's tone of voice. “You need to let me out. The fate of the world depends on this. If I can recover my strength, there may be hope.” The man nodded, as if understanding, then he wrote down something on his paper and murmured some words.
“Mmm-huh,” the man said finally, and he made a dotting gesture with the pen in his hand.
Well, it was worth the try. All he could do now was do his best, which wasn't much when tied to a chair. If only... If only he could reach the others. If only they knew where he was.
The man opposite Judas signalled to the others. Judas understood that signal, it meant it was time for them to stick him that large needle. It was what took his strength away. It confused his memories.
As the needle pricked into his arm, the man sitting in front of him tried to calm him down. “There is no such thing as a Creator, and there’s no such thing as Slayers. Why is there a need for beings like angels, demons, Creators, slayers, gods? We have colonized Mars, and have gone on to expand to the next planets. Unfortunately, humanity is all there is. We created the gods from our imagination, but now, we have become the gods. Do you understand Judas?”
These men, they thought they had any form of control over him, over their world, yet what they didn't realize was that the universe was too big, and the problems of humanity was insignificant. The real wars were raging on in the heavens, beyond the star system of man.
“The angels,” Judas said, “are fighting outside your star system. And while you are caught up in your own wars on Earth, a bigger war rages on outside. If the angels lose, you too will lose. We have been waiting for you to join the war, but you have never been ready. Not two thousand years ago, not today.”
One of the men snickered. “Oh so now we start at medieval folklore, then it later turns SCI-FI!” the man on the left said. “How old does that make you now? Two thousand years old?”
The other on the right sighed and whispered, “Why do you even bother explaining doc? I’m tired of getting pulled here for this nonsense. I've got a lot to do and we're not paid enough for this.”
The doctor dismissed what the other two said and pulled out the needle. “In a moment, everything will be all right.”
Judas sighed in resignation. Perhaps there
was another way. Maybe not these people. Maybe... her?
The foolishness of these people, to think they now considered humanity as the gods. Judas chuckled.
How wrong they were. The angels were already here, they have been here even before humanity existed.
Emptiness consumed his thoughts again, and the needle came and slowly took away his strength. Judas lost all clarity in his thoughts and drifted.
Judas woke again, and this time, he heard many voices. But one voice stood out from it all, it resonated and shook the core of his being.
“You have failed the world, and you will be stripped of immortality and all your powers. You will be forever forbidden from entering Sky Jerusalem.”
Judas shuddered at that voice, then faded away into nothingness again.
When Judas woke up, he found himself face to face with one of the volunteers. One of the prison-guards was close by, glancing at him occasionally to make sure that he didn't try anything funny.
“Who... are... you?” Judas asked, pretending. Let the guards think he was a lunatic, it might later give him some leeway when the time was ripe.
“It’s me, Fielle,” the volunteer answered. “I have been coming here again and again to visit you. You told me last time that you had a story to tell and you wanted me to promise that I would come back today.”
Fielle was always kind. Compassionate. She listened. And she always had that smile ready for him. But Fielle had no idea what this place really was. She thought this was some place for the “mentally challenged”. In some sense, it was. The people here were mentally challenged, but Judas was the exception.
“Come closer... and I will... tell you,” Judas said. “My voice... is a bit hoarse.”
Without hesitation, Fielle moved closer to him.
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