PROPHECY
THE CHRONICLES OF MEARTH
VOLUME THREE
GREGORY CHOLMONDELEY
Cholmonco, Inc.
2020
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 by Gregory Cholmondeley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in a book review or scholarly journal. Contact Cholmonco, Inc. at [email protected].
First Printing: 2020
Kindle eBook: 2020
Visit www.cholmonco.com/storyteller for more information about this, and other Cholmonco books.
Cholmonco, Inc.
www.cholmonco.com
Dedication
To my wife and family.
Thank you for granting me the time to pursue this endeavor and for all of your support. I appreciate your love and understanding more than you know.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my reviewers for their comments on the story. My son, Tarun, was my first reader and I was amazed how he understood the explanations of multidimensional universes and time in the epilog. Ishaan Garg provided invaluable comments about confusing sections and his book reports on volumes one and two helped motivate me to finish. Finally, this book is not intended for third-graders, but that did not deter my daughter, Anoushka, from reading it cover to cover. Her insightful suggestions about story flow and characters certainly helped improve tale.
Note: Print editions of Cholmonco StoryTeller books contain QR Codes on the first page of every chapter. Readers can scan these codes with their smartphones to hear streaming audio of me telling the story. This feature is not available in eBook format.
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1 Homecoming
Chapter 2 The Order of The Key
Chapter 3 Dr. Price
Chapter 4 Awakening
Chapter 5 Dragon Lair
Chapter 6 Meet the Family
Chapter 7 L. Janus
Chapter 8 Terra
Chapter 9 We Shall be Gods
Chapter 10 Euryale
Chapter 11 The Crystal Orb
Chapter 12 A Legend Appears
Chapter 13 Merlin’s Tale
Chapter 14 Doctor Price
Chapter 15 The Sword in the Rock
Chapter 16 Heart Attack
Chapter 17 The Grail
Chapter 18 Science Fair
Chapter 19 Equous
Chapter 20 Esthara’s Court
Chapter 21 Janus and Juice
Chapter 22 Through the Eyes of Dragons
Chapter 23 The Temple of the Gods
Chapter 24 Jissika
Chapter 25 Prophetic Understanding
Chapter 26 The Battle of Septumcolis
Chapter 27 Aubornis Castle
Chapter 28 Unicorns
Chapter 29 Blame the Lettuce
Chapter 30 Great Saltpeter Cave
Chapter 31 How Magic Works
Chapter 32 Prophecy Fulfilled
Chapter 33 Szalracht
Epilog
Preface
Hi, I’m Mark Panagopoulos, and you’re about to read my third journal. Malik, my best friend, made me summarize the story before I started my last one, but I’m not doing that again. At this point, my summary would fill half the book! So, you’ll just need to read the first two books if you want to catch up with everything that happened on Mearth and Earth. However, he did convince me to list the main characters. That seems like a reasonable request to me. After all, some of them weren’t around much in my second journal.
Earth Characters
This story takes place on both Earth and Mearth. These are the principal characters on Earth.
Marius (Mark) Panagopoulos is a thirteen-year-old boy who conjoins with a seventeen-year-old boy named Staven on Mearth to become the Prophecy Hero Stavius. Mark goes to Walnut Hills High School and excels at math and science, but he is not athletic. He has a deformed left arm and has been overweight most of his life. Mark’s parents immigrated from Greece, and they live in a Cincinnati neighborhood called Mount Lookout.
Malik Washington has been Mark’s best friend since they met when they started at Walnut Hills last year. He is the de facto leader of their group of friends. Mark’s mom claims she finds Malik in their refrigerator as often as Mark as they spend their weekends playing their favorite fantasy game. Malik’s heritage is African, and he lives in Avondale.
Ethan Feldman is the third member of Mark’s close-knit group of friends. Ethan is white, Jewish, and lives in Pleasant Ridge. He first met Mark, Tyler, and Malik last year when he entered Walnut Hills.
Tyler Price is the last member of Mark’s circle of friends. He is a bit OCD and is terrified that Mearth Agents on the payroll of the seven families will discover his mother. She is a pediatrician who is investigating dead or comatose Mearth dreamers. Tyler is African American and lives near Mark in Mount Lookout.
Dr. Elizabeth Price is Tyler’s mother. She is the head of pediatrics at a local hospital.
Nancy Wellington is a thirteen-year-old girl. She conjoins with a girl on Mearth named Luciana to become the Prophecy Hero Nariana. Nancy is one of Mark’s classmates and is pretty, athletic, and popular. Nancy is white, her family lives in Clifton, and Mark has a crush on her.
Veronica Meyers is a mixed-race, image-conscious, Walnut Hills cheerleader who lives in a Cincinnati suburb called California. She is smart, competitive, and already planning a career in cardiology, even though she is only in the eighth grade. Veronica combines with a girl on Mearth named Nusera to become the Prophecy Hero Versera.
Janet Shontelle Jackson is an eleven-year-old girl who conjoins with a thirteen-year-old boy on Mearth to become Janus. She is also in the eighth grade at Walnut Hills despite her age. Shontelle prefers to use her middle name to avoid all the pop star jokes. She is a math genius, hacker, fantasy game fanatic, and is socially awkward due to her interests, and skipping two grades. Shontelle is of African descent, and her family lives in Clifton.
Mr. Satish Narwani teaches eighth-grade American History. He conjoins with a man named Urnest to become a hero instructor named Urtish on Mearth. Mr. Narwani does not remember his dreams, so he doesn’t know anything about Mearth. Mr. Narwani and his wife, Sarra, are from India and live in Hyde Park.
Ms. Sarra Datta is Mr. Narwani’s wife. She is a retired math teacher who volunteers to host the gang’s Math and Science Club. Mark’s friends asked her to start this club so that he could enhance his math and science skills. Strong math and science abilities on Earth increase magical prowess on Mearth. Ms. Datta conjoins with a Mearth woman named Tessop to become Terra.
Mearth Characters
Mearth has several intelligent races. Here are the Mearth humans who play significant roles in this story.
Staven is Mark’s Mearth host. Staven’s mother is a high-powered wizard for the Aubornis family. She kicked him out of her house when he was a young boy, forcing Staven to grow up living alone in a village on the outskirts of Septumcolis. Staven has no magical skills, is treated as a family embarrassment, and eventually became a dragon hunter, which is an occupation more commonly known as a pest exterminator.
Bor is the heroes’ trainer who focuses on teaching fighting techniques. He is a huge man who has seen too many battles and too much death. Bor would prefer to spend the remainder of his life training young fighters and hosting competitions on his lush, tournament g
rounds than killing on a battlefield.
Bohrach is a vampire who lives in a hidden house in Septumcolis. Septumcolan parents tell their children terrifying stories about the treacherous vampire Bohrach.
Larsa is a woman who helped Stavius and Janus sneak into Septumcolis before trying to lure them into Bohrach’s lair. She subsequently hunted Stavius, and he barely escaped.
The King is the ruler of a kingdom of small towns and villages called Lachia, located south of Septumcolis. The King is a woman, and her husband is known as The Queen. Their titles became their names and are based upon their roles and not their genders. She and General Jairmee are rallying troops to attack Septumcolis in the spring to win the war between their two peoples.
General Jairmee is the leader of the Lachian army. He is a wise and crafty warrior who respects the Prophecy Heroes. Nariana defeated him in hand-to-hand combat, and the heroes subsequently used magic to save his life. Lachians are forbidden to use magic. Still, General Jairmee and The King are hoping the Prophecy Heroes will use it to help them win the impending battle.
Mearth Prophecy Heroes
Dreamers from Earth are called travelers on the planet Mearth. The people sharing their minds on Mearth are called hosts. Eventually, the travelers’ and hosts’ minds meld together, and they become conjoined. This typically begins on their thirteenth birthday.
Stavius is the combination of Mark and Staven. He cannot perform magic like other humans on Mearth, but he has some other skills. He can see through illusions and can manipulate raw, magical power into thunderbolts and shields called battle magic.
Nariana is one of the three, girl Prophecy Heroes. Her Earth visitor is Nancy Wellington. Nariana is a powerful magician, competitive, and a natural leader.
Versera is also a Prophecy Hero. She is conjoined with Veronica Meyers from Earth. Versera is a strong warrior and magician who is often vying with Nariana to lead the group.
Elisa is the third female Prophecy Hero. She is the quietest of the three girls and is the strongest healer of the group, with an intense interest in animals and nature. She has not shared any information about her Earth counterpart other than that she does not attend Walnut Hills.
Janus is a combination of Shontelle and a Mearth boy, also named Janus. He is supposed to do something with the talismans somehow once the heroes acquire them, but no one is certain of his exact role. Janus is a troublemaker, like all Keys in History, and is also the most powerful magician in the group. Janus’ Mearth host has been an outcast his entire life due to his annoying personality.
Urtish is not a Prophecy Hero, but he is conjoined with Mr. Narwani on Earth. Urtish is an overweight bureaucrat who teaches Mearth History and handles Prophecy Hero administration, such as assigning their conjoined names. Mr. Narwani is not aware of Urtish or Mearth.
Terra is a former Prophecy Hero who is a combination of Ms. Datta and a Mearth woman named Tessop. Tessop is Staven’s aunt. Terra is a powerful magician who is assisting the Prophecy Heroes in their attempt to retrieve the seven talismans.
Mearth Dragons
Dragons are highly intelligent creatures who fly, breathe fire, and live for over a thousand years. These creatures communicate telepathically rather than through speech.
Dragons appear to have evolved from birds in much the same way that birds have evolved from dinosaurs. One trait they share with birds is that they chew their food in gizzards containing gastroliths. These gastroliths are commonly called dragon stones, and they store magical energy much like a battery. Dragon stones are highly-prized on Mearth.
Saiph is a female dragon who was chained and caged as a prisoner of the Admian family for a hundred years. Stavius freed her, and she is recovering with her mate, Juice, and their family.
Juice is an unusually-large, male dragon who once went on a date with Saiph. He helped Stavius reenergize a unicorn horn and is quite particular about his front lawn and garden.
Nari, Sera, and Mintaka are three young dragons who are unique for two reasons. First, they were conceived by Saiph and Juice over one hundred years ago but only hatched a few months ago. Dragon eggs will not hatch unless their mother is near, and Saiph had been in captivity. Second, they are imprinted on the three Prophecy Hero girls. Nari imprinted upon Nariana, Sera imprinted upon Versera, and Mintaka imprinted upon Elisa. This means that all of the girls’ memories and personalities were passed to the dragon babies. This human/dragon bonding has never happened before.
Mearth Unicorns
Mearth is also home to a few equine races. Unicorns primarily live in a kingdom called Equous protected by an impenetrable wall guarded by centaurs. Equous is located in an expansive region on Mearth near where Lexington, Kentucky, is found on Earth. The unicorn kingdom is also home to flocks of flying horses called pegasi and a village of satyrs who serve the unicorns.
Unicorns communicate telepathically like dragons. However, unicorns can also empathetically transmit emotions to others. Only unicorn mares have horns, which contain magical essence, much like dragon stones. Unicorn horns fall off when they die, and these horns retain their magical essence for many years.
Queen Esthara used two of her ancestors’ horns to restore Stavius’ and Janus’ depleted energy before their rescue attempt. She let them keep the discharged horns, and Stavius used his powers to reenergize them to free the girls.
Queen Esthara is the queen of the unicorns and is the recognized ruler of the kingdom.
King Ajdahl is Queen Esthara’s mate, although stallion and mare unicorns prefer to reside in separate pastures, and stallions have little interest in governing.
Mearth Religions
There are several religions on Mearth. But they all involve one demigod and four gods who created and maintain the magical worlds Mearth, Venus, Mars, and the moon.
Terra (not to be confused with Staven’s aunt) is the goddess of Mearth. She is credited with bringing and sustaining magic to the world.
Luna is the goddess of Mearth’s moon, which they call Luna. Mearth’s moon has green continents, blue oceans, air, and clouds. The Mearth religions maintain that magical, living creatures, much like those found on Mearth, also live on their moon and the other planetary bodies.
Venus is the goddess of the planet, Venus.
Mars is the god who created and rules Mars.
Janus (not to be confused with Stavius’ friend) is a demigod who is usually blamed for destroying the four worlds before the other gods arrived to banish him and rebuild. A few sects believe that he played a vital role in eliminating the unworthy, sparing the righteous, and preparing the worlds for the gods. Most, however, consider him to be a jerk who the gods kicked out as soon as they arrived.
The Prophecy is a Mearth prediction that three teenage girls and two boys will gather seven sacred talismans together to transform the world. Groups of Prophecy Heroes have been attempting to fulfill The Prophecy for thousands of years. Still, no one is certain what will occur should they succeed.
The seven talismans are magical relics crafted from dragon stones. They connect with Mearth’s energy flows, providing immense power for their owners. The Prophecy Heroes are attempting to acquire all seven, and Janus will determine what the heroes are supposed to do with them. The seven talismans are called:
The Spear of Mars
The Necklace of Venus
The Crown of Helios
The Jewels of Luna
The Ring of the Air
The Cradle of Gaia
The Core of the World
Other Useful Mearth Information
Septumcolis is a large Mearth city located in the area corresponding to Cincinnati on Earth. It is home to the Septumcolans.
The seven families are the rulers of Septumcolis. Each family controls a magical talisman, which gives them their power. The names of the seven families are:
Admian
Ringheld
Aubornis
Clivana
Faerinod
Claerith<
br />
Meissa
The Lachians are the people who live in a loose confederation of towns and villages south of Septumcolis called Lachia. The Prophecy Heroes helped the Lachians free dozens of their citizens who were enslaved by the Septumcolans as farm labor. The Lachians are working with the Prophecy Heroes to build an army that will attack Septumcolis in the spring.
The Soul Reapers are ancient and terrifying creatures. No one knows what they are. And, every being on Mearth has lived in terror of them for thousands of years. The Soul Reapers are the entities that select and teleport heroes to the training cave.
Chapter 1
Homecoming
December 11, Mearth
A small group of people shivered on a clearing halfway up a steep hill. The three older men and four, nineteen-year-old former slaves were trembling more from the thunderous roar emanating from the cave in front of them than the frigid, late-December wind. However, the other six, Elisa, Nariana, Versera, Stavius, Janus, and Terra, could all communicate with dragons and recognized the voice of their friend, Juice.
A moment later, a giant dragon called an eagon, charged out of the cave mouth, and skittered across the frozen gravel where the path widened. He spun to face his friends and slid to a stop at the edge of the precipice.
Prophecy Page 1