The crush of Orgs overwhelms even my stalwart dragon mind. There are just so many of them. Even with our dragon powers, we could never defeat this many. It would take months of continuous blasting to make a dent. In that time, they would surely break through and invade the lands to the north, brutalizing the people of Endor.
My heart sinks, and I feel we have already lost. Trav sends me a blast of motivation through our link, and I regain some of my strength. We come to the base of the dark mountain. Rivers of blood boil and slide down the face of the black rock. The smell of death and decay come in waves from the inner heat of the mountain.
Freshly made Orgs pour from a crack in the rock face, and we fly toward it. Landing above the womb of the mountain on a cliff ledge, we watch the activity below. Org after Org is born from the red sludge in pits dug into the rock.
Trav lets out a shrieking roar. Conyac and I answer with our own. Trav swoops down and burns the birthing pits and the helpers around the edges. Conyac and I let our powers blast over the blood and rock, annihilating every living thing in sight.
But the Org keep coming. It is a never ending stream of birth, coming from some endless supply of dark power. Conyac freezes the pits, halting the advance for one brief moment. When the Org army realizes what we have done, they advance back up the mountain, coming to take us down.
Trav stands at the entrance, burning the oncoming horde at the narrow opening in the rock face. I shift to my mortal form, looking around the birthing chamber for answers. Conyac shifts with me, and we give each other confused glances as we inspect our surroundings.
“What do we do now?” I ask him.
“I don’t know, my dear queen,” he says.
“Why is this happening?”
Trav has set a fire to the entrance that continues to burn, keeping the army at bay, for now. He shifts and joins us near the frozen birth pits.
“The legend says that an angry wizard cursed the dragon born long ago and created the Org as punishment. He planned to overtake the land with his army, but the dragon born always beat him back,” Trav says.
“What happened to the wizard?” I ask.
“No one knows. Some say the wizard became the mountain,” says Conyac.
“Why did he hate the dragon born so much?” I say.
“Power. He wanted the power of dragon born but could never have it. The curse of greed, I suppose,” Conyac says.
I feel overcome with a sense of despair and fall to my knees. What can I do now? All the fighting and death won’t help anything anymore. War begets war. Greed begets greed. If we continuously fight and kill, then we are no better than the Org or the dark wizard who set these events in motion. There must be another way.
A tear slides down my face, and I begin to sing. My voice rings out with such intensity as images of peace and beauty play through my mind. I superimpose images of war with images of peace and beauty.
I place my hands to the ground as the pictures play through my mind, and my song rises over the sound of angry shouts and war drums. The power of my song spreads out from my hands and voice. Below me, the rock face turns to a natural color. The black seeps away and the Org birthing pits are covered over with rock.
I continue to sing as Trav’s fire fades. At the entrance of the cavern, I see the Orgs outside transforming. They grow into trees and animals and birds. Grass spreads out and down the mountain. We step out of the cavern and begin to walk.
Singing with all my heart, the army of Orgs, one by one, change into something natural and beautiful. Nothing dies. It is reborn into the most ideal image of itself, contributing to the beauty of life.
Trav and Conyac shift, and I jump on Conyac’s back. We fly over the land as I sing. A green forest spreads over the barren plain. Behind me, the dark mountain has been transformed. It is no longer pitch black, but cast in blue with snowcapped peaks.
As we make our way home, every time we see a legion of Orgs, we stop and sing them into their healed form. All this time, the hate of the dark wizard had sucked the life from Endor and turned it into hate. My healing song has put the energy back into life.
As we approach Skyland, I see flower garlands on the parapets, welcoming us home. We touch down in the gardens, and the kings shift. My servants run out to greet us and ask what happened. Conyac tells Hammon and Gizmel the news, and I smile gleefully as I gaze up into the blue sky.
Out on the horizon, I can see a thunderclap and dark clouds roll in. The wind picks up and blows wildly through my hair. I feel electricity in the air and turn to grasp Trav’s hand.
“What is it?” I ask him.
“I don’t know, Dani,” he responds.
“Look!” Conyac shouts, pointing toward the sky.
Clancy barks uncontrollably as the dark figure descends in a black cloud. He is tall like a dragon born and his eyes glow fiery red. As he lands, he sweeps his staff across the grass, causing it to blacken and die.
“What do you want?” I shout at him.
“You think you’ve won do you?” he asks. “This is not even close to over.”
Clancy lunges forward, and I grab his collar just in time before he crosses the dead patch in the grass. I shout to Hammon to take my dog inside, and I stretch into my full height, facing the dark wizard.
I open my mouth to sing with the kings at my side. My healing song regrows the grass and moves toward the dark wizard. He laughs viciously at my attempt. The healing stops short, just at his robe.
“You cannot change what is natural, Dani Storm. I should have known the Skylands hid you on Earth. I could have killed you long ago,” he sneers.
“Why isn’t my song working?” I ask the kings, grasping their hands as I face the wizard.
“He is evil. You can’t heal what is his nature. I’m sorry, my queen,” Trav says.
“I don’t accept that. There doesn’t have to be evil in the world.”
The wizard lunges forward as I begin to sing again. The kings shift and strike him. The fire and ice and song mingle in one blast of power, knocking the wizard backward. He screams and begins to shrivel, shrinking until all that is left is his robe and staff.
“What happened?” I ask.
“The combination of our power together defeated him,” Conyac says.
“Is he dead?”.
“I’m not sure pure evil can die. But we sent him away from this world, our world,” says Trav.
“Then we have won,” I say, taking both kings hands in mine. I kiss them on the cheeks. “Together we have cleansed the land. It is a new day.”
Epilogue
Four years later
We walk in the blooming gardens of Skyland and watch our twin daughters playing in the soft grass. I know one girl is Trav’s and the other is Conyac’s. They look just like their fathers. In the four years since we healed Endor, we haven’t see a single Org or any sign of the dark wizard.
I’ve come to be content with our life. The kings are more like brothers now than rivals, they have come to love each other as much as they love me. We rule the land with justice and peace. The Endorians love us as much as we love them.
The world has become fertile again, and crops grow abundantly across the land. We enjoy a great sense of freedom and pleasure the Endorians haven’t experienced since the dark wizard cursed the dragon born many generations ago.
I take Trav and Conyac’s hands as we watch our beautiful daughters play. Trav leans in to kiss my cheek. He’s become more patient and kind in the years since the end of the war. It makes my heart glad that he has found himself in fathering. He teaches the girls dancing and swordsmanship. I love to watch him with the girls.
Conyac teaches them writing and poetry as well as mathematics and philosophy. My little girls are as smart as they are beautiful. I am blessed.
Clancy comes bounding out of the castle, followed by Gizmel. The little wizard has been working on a portal back to Earth. He knows I miss my adopted home and want to go back. Someday, I hope to see it
again.
Clancy jumps on my lap and licks my face affectionately. “My lady,” says Gizmel. “I think I’ve found the door.”
I stand. My world is complete, but the thought always lingers in the back of my mind. Do I want to go home?
“Really?” I ask, looking at my husbands.
“We could try it out if you’d like.”
I let out a long sigh and gaze at my daughters who are picking flowers in the well-tended gardens. “Maybe someday, Gizmel,” I say. “But not today.”
The Event
Dark Sun Dragons 1
In a world transformed, their greatest power is each other
When the sun goes dark, magic comes back to the world … and so do ancient dangers. Nerdy librarian Lucia Amador wasn’t expecting the world as she knew it to end while she was out getting coffee. Now she’s trapped in her apartment with her cat … until a dark-haired man with silver blue eyes appears with shocking news.
Alpha dragon Orion Silverdrake has lived without his magic for thousands of years. When his powers return, he detects the tantalizing scent of his late wife’s magic. He follows the trail to Lucia’s apartment, where he must convince the startled young woman that she’s the reincarnation of a powerful witch.
The reunited couple have much more to deal with than getting reacquainted. An evil alliance of vampires and dragons called the Surge is determined to rule the planet and everyone on it. Can Orion and Lucia rekindle their relationship and use their powers to defeat their enemies and protect all the newly-awakened witches flocking to Orion’s fortress?
Chapter 1
Countdown sequences ran across the screen of the control terminal. Xander Valdis stood from his chair and walked toward the wall of windows looking out at his creation. The second attempt at the Dark Sun Machine powered on just beyond the windows. Protons accelerated down the tubes, flying faster than the human mind could comprehend. Xander licked his lips and ran his tongue over his sharp canine teeth. He ached for the feast. Now was the time, no more test runs.
His lab assistant Brone counted down behind him at the dashboard. Xander stood in reverence for the genius of his machine, his creation. He threw his head back and laughed, his pin-straight hair a black curtain over his lab coat. Xander smiled broadly at his lab assistant, feeling the adrenaline building inside him. For a ten-thousand-year-old vampire, it took a lot to make Xander feel alive, and he had never felt it as strongly as he did in that moment.
“Where is Esher?” Xander said to his half a dozen vampire and dragon lab assistants. They were dutifully focused on the operation of the Dark Sun Machine.
This was the moment of Xander’s crowning achievement. After two thousand years of weakness, the immortals would rule again.
The elevator door slid open and the dragon prince Esher Poisonclaw strode into the room wearing a black pinstripe suit and a big gold watch. Esher crossed the room and grasped Xander’s upper arm, smiling broadly. Esher’s sharp white teeth showed behind his curled lips and his eyes glinted red in the laboratory light.
“Xander,” he greeted.
Xander stood back from Esher’s grasp, straightening his lab coat and tie.
“Soon we feed,” Xander said. “Our strength will be returned to us.”
“I have waited so long for this, blood brother,” Esher said.
Infinitesimal protons moving at infinite speed crashed together, deep in the bowels of Xander’s accelerator. The machine throbbed and moaned. Wires buzzed with molten energy.
“We achieved fission,” Brone said.
Xander’s heart pumped thick red blood. Two thousand years of imprisonment were over. Time for the true rulers of this world to take their rightful place. Xander scratched his long fingernails over the bulletproof glass. He bit his cheek, tasting his own blood. His weapon hummed to life. It was a thing of beauty; a particle beam strong enough to bounce off his satellite and impact the sun.
Blood slid down his chin as he bit his cheek harder. His eyes grew as he waited for The Event. Esher’s voice boomed behind him as Brone counted down to fire. Xander licked the blood from his lips, panting with excitement.
“Three…two…one…fire,” Brone said from the control terminal.
The beam of translucent energy shot through the tubes, accelerating from the underground lab and into space to hit the satellite that would then redirect the beam at the sun. Xander flew to the terminal, sitting in front of the screen to watch a video feed from the surface. The sun still shone. It would for roughly ten more minutes. Esher slapped Xander’s back, but Xander couldn’t feel it.
The video feed flickered.
“Are we losing power?” Xander demanded.
“That was just static, sir. Our zero-point generators will keep us online when the world goes dark.”
The video feed showed a bright clear day over downtown Denver. Normal human life moved on. Xander smiled.
Then it happened.
The sun grew bright, burning red and shooting toward Earth in a flash. A massive booming vibration resounded throughout the scene. The blue sky burned orange from the massive coronal ejection. On the highway, in the distance, cars stalled on the road, crashing into each other.
Xander could almost hear the screams. He laughed, clenching his fists. Any moment now. Seconds ticked on and the light from the solar flare dimmed. A circle of blackness emerged from the center of the star. The great cooling of the sun had begun. The hydrogen of the sun bonding with nuclear oxygen particles from the particle beam made water. The nuclear water doused the outer layer of the star.
The black spot grew wider and wider, moment by moment, as the world grew dim. Soon, a faint pink glow covered the once bright world. The black center circle inched over the sun until only the outer rim remained, casting the world in twilight.
Xander had felt a surge of magic right behind the veil from the moment the sun flared. As the nuclear water put out the fiery sun, the world went cold.
The coronal ejection had knocked out the human electric grid at the same time it took out the veil. Access to the dimensions of magic and power had returned to Earth.
Xander stood, screaming gleefully. The vampires and dragons around him howled with newfound strength. All were on their feet, power coursing through their long deadened veins. Esher hissed beside him, his dragon wings stretching wide.
“It is time we emerge from this prison,” Xander said, walking toward the elevator.
Xander and Esher stepped inside and the zero-point powered elevator shot upward from the deep underground lab. Xander could already smell the scent of human fear, death, and destruction.
They emerged in the lobby of Valdis Enterprises. Light illuminated the marble tile on the lobby floor. The zero-point generators had weathered the electromagnetic storm. Xander took off his lab coat and threw it at Brone as he emerged from an elevator.
Striding to the front doors, Xander fixed his tie. Tonight, the hidden would become revealed.
Chapter 2
Lucia Amador brushed a lock of light brown hair behind her ear and pushed her horn-rimmed glasses up the bridge of her nose. She squinted at the load screen on her computer. The entire library had simultaneously installed another new operating system, and it had locked up yet again.
The library computers had been impossible all week. What a nightmare. Lucia jiggled her mouse, hoping that it would wake up the stalled system. Why couldn’t they just go back to card catalogs? Those never broke down. She pushed her rolling chair away from her desk, deciding to leave her stack of books until later.
She pulled her fuzzy wool sweater over her hips as she stood, thinking of the microwave teriyaki chicken she had waiting in the refrigerator in the librarians’ lounge. It was better than dealing with Windows-version-whatever.
Lucia walked through the stacks and turned into the hall that led to the librarians’ lounge. Passing a locked door, she entered the small square room with an aging blue corduroy sofa and two retro arm chairs that dated f
rom the last century. She opened the fridge, pulled out her lunch, and threw it in the microwave. Yum…
As her meal heated, she walked across the small room to the window. The view from the third floor of the Palo Alto Street Library stretched out over the bay and the tip of the Golden Gate Bridge. On the street below, a bus sped by and dust and exhaust rose up in its wake. A man yelled at a tree trunk, his long gray coat swirling in the wind from the passing bus.
The microwave dinged and she hurried back to the kitchenette to grab it. She peeled off the lid, the steam biting her fingers and the scent of it making her question her life choices. With a clean fork from the tiny dish drain, she sat down on the blue couch and started to eat.
It had looked better in the commercial, that was for sure. Taking reluctant bites, Lucia finished about a quarter of the box before she decided to throw it away. The door to the lounge pushed open and her colleague Harriet Chen popped into the room. Her nose curled at the smell of Lucia’s discarded lunch in the trash can.
“Are you still eating microwave lunches?” Harriet asked.
The shorter woman passed her on the way to the fridge. Her straight black hair in a neat bun on top of her head. Harriet wore loose linen pants and a tailored button down shirt, buttoned to the top. She opened the fridge and pulled out a glass jar full of salad greens and vegetables.
“What is that?” Lucia asked.
“It’s a salad jar. Mr. Chen makes them for us three times a week. We always have a fresh lunch on the go. You should try it.”
“I’ll have to do that.”
Lucia considered chopping all those vegetables three times a week. It wasn’t that she was lazy. Far from it. She’d graduated summa cum laude from Berkeley with a Masters in Library Science. She’d worked hard to get where she was today. But cooking had never been her thing. The only person she had to cook for was her cat Felix, and he wasn’t exactly a person.
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