Dawning Chaos (Paldimori Games)
T.L. Callahan
Contents
Also by T.L. Callahan
Connect With Me
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Leave A Review
Waking Chaos
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Published in United States by Dragon Mountain Press, LLC
1250 W. Ohio Pike # 199
Amelia, OH 45102
Dawning Chaos (Paldimori Games) by T.L. Callahan
Copyright © 2018 T.L. Callahan
All rights reserved.
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9991225-2-5
Edited by Meredith Tennant
Cover Design by germancreative
Cover Art by janko_m
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Also by T.L. Callahan
Dawning Chaos
Waking Chaos
Connect With Me
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Dedication
For Masen
* * *
My brave and amazing son who would totally bring a dragon home as a pet.
Prologue
Atlantaionia 1209 BCE
December 18th
“Can you not sleep this night either, little queen?” Gently I placed my hand upon the swollen mound of my wife’s stomach. My daughter nudged against my palm, and a smile spread across my face.
Lyannìa shifted uncomfortably on her side. Her long brown hair draped around her sleeping form like a cloak, obscuring her from my view. I pushed the silken tresses aside to gaze at the face of the enchantress who had managed to capture the heart of such a hardened being as I. Just as it had from the moment I saw her, my heart beat hard in my chest. My breath lodged somewhere in my lungs. The first time this had happened, rage had filled me that anyone would dare to use their powers on me. Lyannìa had been quick to disabuse me of that notion. Now, these six years later I could identify my malady.
Love.
For all of the eons I had walked this Earth, I had called this emotion a myth. I denounced its existence even as I witnessed its strength over and over again. Until I became enthralled by a laughing sprite of a girl dancing in the moonlight of the winter solstice, her head thrown back in wild laughter as she sensuously moved to the rhythm of the night. I had been struck down hard, and there was no cure. When she gave me a son soon after our marriage, I was struck once more, and my heart filled to overflowing. Now my beautiful wife will bring a daughter to our family, and my heart grows fuller still.
My calloused finger traced the porcelain perfection of her cheek. “Rest easy, my star.”
I let a trickle of power call to the moonlight shining through the open archway of the balcony across the room. I watched in satisfaction as the beams crept across the floor toward our bed and began to slowly climb the side. They trailed along Lyannìa’s long white gown until they touched her face. She sighed deeply as the moonlight caressed her skin, and a contented smile teased her plump pink lips.
She shifted once more, turning toward the moonlight and pulling it around herself like a blanket until she was fully illuminated. Her moon-kissed skin began to emanate a faint glow as she soaked in the light. The worry eased from my shoulders as she settled contentedly into a deep sleep. As a daughter of Artemis, the moon was hers to call upon. It gave her strength and comfort. As it would one day for my daughter.
As if the baby heard my thoughts, warmth seeped into my palm where it still rested against my wife’s stomach. A gentle light flared to life within the womb. In amusement, I caressed the hand my daughter pressed against me. “I see you, my daughter. Such strength you have already. Your gifts surely will one day near my own. Soon all of our people will rejoice in the winter solstice and your birth. You will one day take your place beside your brother as leaders in my stead. You will be the purest light to guide us, and he the might with which our future is shaped.”
My thoughts turned back to the raid at Tiryns earlier tonight and unease settled on my shoulders like a boulder. Although the human city was well fortified with its massive walls, I had ordered a small group of Chaonians to help the Greeks who were under my protection. These invaders were relentless, attacking all along the coast of the Aegean. They had been driven away tonight, but the raids were becoming more frequent. Many of the countries we traded with were already suffering drought and earthquakes. I could taste the winds of change, and they were bitter.
My daughter pushed against my hand once more. The urge to protect what was mine roared through my blood with a fierce battle cry. “A darkness stalks our people. I cannot see its face or what destruction it will bring. The visions are blocked from me. I can only trust my maker keeps this from me for reasons of his own. I know only this: A time will come when you will be needed, daughter. You must hold the light for us all.”
1
December 19th
* * *
“Nikomedes!”
The young woman crashed through the forest gasping for breath. Branches had snagged her blonde hair, pulling it from its elaborate pile on top of her head. Her pale skin was flushed, and red scratches marred her bare arms. Her blue dress was stained across her rear with caked mud. The hem that usually skimmed the ground ended in tattered burn marks, revealing an indecent amount of slim ankles.
“Where has that boy gone?” She scowled at the bark of the tree she leaned against as she tried to catch her breath.
From the branches above her, a soft giggle issued. Sapphire blue eyes filled with mirth peered out from what looked like just another part of the tree trunk. Then little bare feet became visible on the branch above her head, followed by sturdy, dirt-smeared legs. Small hips circled in black cloth appeared and next a bare, mud-streaked chest. Finally, a cherubic face filled in around the eyes, topped with messy black waves of hair. The little boy crouched down and gripped the branch he was standing on with mud-caked hands. He excitedly wiggled his little butt as he eyed the woman below.
Like a falcon, he launched himself gracefully through the air directly at the back of the woman still grumbling against the tree. Cloaked in shadows twenty feet away, I silently chuckled. The boy was fearless and strong. One day he would be a great leader for his people. Today, however, it was time for him to learn a valuable lesson. The wind whistled by as I teleported and snatched the boy from the air just inches from the woman’s back. Releasing the shadows, I became visible and watched with amusement as the boy gulped heavily.
When his expression changed from contrite to the most innocent in creation, I fought hard not to sh
out with laughter. He would sway many with that smile one day. A fine leader indeed.
“Were you playing prey again?” I asked.
The woman squealed in surprise and whirled around to face us. Then she sank into a low bow. “K-king Titan, I did not hear you approach. I-I was just taking Nikomedes to get cleaned up from our play.”
“Hmm. I did not know of your enjoyment in playing prey, Nerine.” I eyed her curiously. “Should I leave you to your fun?”
She glanced up at me from her bowed position, emotions passing across her face too rapidly to define. Finally, a look of apprehension settled over her, and she jerked upward as if prodded. For a moment, her eyes appeared to flicker an electric blue. My senses tingled in warning, and I inspected her more closely. Nerine lurched awkwardly toward us with her hands clasped in pleading. “No! I mean, that is not necessary, my king. We are done with our play.”
Whatever I had sensed had disappeared. “Just as well. You appear to be in distress.” I motioned toward her ruined dress. “What has happened to your peplos?”
Nerine’s cheeks turned red with embarrassment, and she tried to pull her dress down to hide her ankles. Her eyes darted quickly to my son then back to me. “It was an accident, my king. Please excuse my appearance. I will change at once.”
This particular accident had a helping hand no doubt. I turned toward Nikomedes. “What say you, son?”
Wide sapphire eyes assessed me. I managed to keep my stern expression in place. Pride and amusement warred with the desire to not lose another nursemaid. Nerine had lasted longer than the previous two, and Lyannìa did not need the burden of finding a replacement right now. I also didn’t want another lecture from my very pregnant wife about not laughing at our son’s antics because it only encouraged him. I had put up with Eros’s antics plenty without ever cracking a smile, but this was my son. He brought joy and amusement to my life the likes of which I had never known before. But right now, I had to be the king and not a father.
When Nikomedes saw that I was not laughing this time his little shoulders slumped. “We were playing prey, Father. But Nerine is not good prey. She is very noisy.”
“Hmm. Was the mud one of the weapons you used to take down your prey?” From the way it covered most of his body, it looked like he had used it as a disguise as well.
His face lit up with excitement. “I gathered the best mud for a feast! Women are to make the sweets, right, Father? Nerine did not want to. She made fluttery eyes at Cook again. I made the sweets in her chair. But then she smashed them with her—”
“Yes, I believe I know how they were smashed.” Choked humor laced my voice, and my lips quivered against the force to contain a laugh. “And the burns?”
Nikomedes glanced at his nursemaid. Then he bravely met my gaze and my chest swelled with pride. “I did the fire, Father. Nerine wanted to send me to my room. I threw the fire at the chair. It got really big. I ran to the woods. I did the dis-disdapear magic so Nerine could not find me.”
My humor fled as I eyed the bedraggled young woman who had been our nursemaid for only a month. Tears gathered in her blue eyes as she trembled in her ruined dress. She looked like a frightened rabbit that had caught the scent of a wolf. In the days before Lyannìa came into my life, I would have had her whipped for her incompetence or passed off to my men for their entertainment. Clearly, she was no match for my strong-willed and powerful son. Heat suffused my chest that this wisp of a girl would so blatantly disregard her duties. My hand involuntarily gripped around a sword that I no longer carried.
The thought of having to find another nursemaid this close to Lyannìa’s birthing time stayed my hand. The girl was lucky I was now a merciful king. Poseidon had sent Nerine to us, although I cannot imagine why. I had been tempted to turn her away given my annoyance with the Olympians of late. However, I had chosen to view the gift as an act that they had finally accepted our new way of life.
The girl vexed me nearly as much as her great-grandfather, though. Nerine was weak in power and character. She whimpered at my very presence, and she was lax in her duties. Perhaps it was time to ask Gaia for one of her handmaidens. Surely those warrior women would be able to keep up with a five-year-old boy, even one as powerful as my son.
“Nerine, you may go. I will watch over Nikomedes. Come to the throne room at first light, and we will discuss your duties as my son’s nursemaid.” My voice cracked through the air with a thread of power. She flinched like I had taken a whip to her. Nerine then bowed deeply again and stumbled in her haste to straighten back up before scrambling through the woods to get away from me.
In the wrong direction.
I sighed. These younger generations were so soft. The Olympians would never have flinched at such a command. My treatment of Nerine would likely be the topic of many conversations this day. The whispers would start again about the return of the brutal battle lord. My people, who were just beginning to not tremble in my presence, would live in fear of me once more. No matter how many changes I had made over the last several years, my every act was viewed with bated breath to see if I would revert to the man I was before my wife tamed me.
Our people loved Lyannìa for taming the beast but still feared me, the fierce leader of the Chaonians who had taken what he wanted regardless of the cost. The arrogant, battle-hungry tyrant who had callously waged war after war without concern for the bodies left in my wake. The man who had mercilessly trained the Chaonians to use their powers or die trying. That man had been changed by a tiny brown-haired beauty who taught me that fear is not the only way to rule. There were those who thought I had gone soft, like the Olympians. Others still feared me and waited for the beast to break free from his cage. Just like the scared little nursemaid that I would now have to send a guard to rescue from the woods.
I was pulled back from my musings when my son asked, “Father, are the Olympians here?”
I brushed the wild mess of hair back from his eyes. “They will arrive soon enough. For now, we have other topics to discuss. Come.”
We strode through the woods toward the seaport. The warm air whispered through the tall trees and moved across my bare arms. The trees swayed toward me, their long branches brushing gently against me in a caress. I acknowledged their homage with a regal nod. Nikomedes found a sturdy stick with which to begin fighting invisible enemies. I watched his movements, noting that we would have to work more on his advance thrusts.
“Your skill is improving.”
“I will be a great fighter one day like you, Father.” He sliced at a bush and leaves flew all around. “Die, sea people!”
“Yes, you will be a mighty warrior and leader.” The tree at my side scooped up another branch and offered it to me. I accepted it and moved into a stance. “Advance like this.”
I positioned my “sword” hilt next to my ear with the tip pointing straight and moved forward in a short, sharp movement. We repeated the movements until Nikomedes had it down perfectly. “Well done, son. The sea people will be no match for you.”
“I will lead a great battle, Father. The sea people will not kill the Greek humans any longer. I will set fire to their chitons,” Nikomedes replied, his small face scrunched into a fierce scowl as he thrust his sword at a tree.
I laughed at the picture of naked men running away as my son threw fire to burn off their clothing. “That is a bold battle strategy. You will be a hero to the Greek people.”
My smile faded. He would be a warrior someday. Already he showed promise with a sword and spear. His powers were also growing rapidly, but a warrior had to be strong in other ways. My large hand gripped his small shoulder as I bent to look him in the eye. “Nikomedes, your powers are strong. You have gained much control since you have been training.”
He grinned at my praise and I continued on. “Skill and control are important. Either may serve you well, but together they are formidable weapons. Weapons that must be wielded with judgment and strategy. You must know when to still your hand an
d when to strike. Our people will look to you one day as their leader. Fear is not a position to rule from. Your mother taught me that. It is a valuable lesson that I now pass on to you. Do you know why it was wrong to use your power against Nerine?”
An intense look of concentration settled over his face as he thought this over. “My strength must be used to protect. Like I protect Mother from the spiders in the garden?”
“Yes, son. Nerine is your subject and weaker than you. Just as you protect your mother—and soon your sister—you must also protect all of the Chaonian people. It is our duty as their leader.”
His brow furrowed in confusion. “But Father, who would dare attack us? We are powerful gods, not weak humans.”
I knelt to the ground, making a large orb of intense light with a twirl of my fingertips. The light writhed with every shade of color imaginable. Nikomedes dropped to the ground, watching in fascination as it floated up above our heads. “This orb represents my maker, the God of Chaos.”
I took a piece from that orb and created another smaller version below that one. This one was black but pulsed with the same rainbow of colors. “This is me. The God of Chaos took a piece from himself to create me. That is why I have all powers, including creation. I, in turn, gave a piece of myself to create my brothers and sisters.”
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