So it’s been 9 months and the revised edition of my book is finally finished! The characters have different names that suit their culture, every culture is more defined and developed, and the plot (hopefully!) flows a lot better. I’m excited to share this with you! Here’s a sneak peek at what you can expect. Let me know what you think!
PROTAGONIST: FEAR HEDEKIRA (THE MAIN CHARACTER)
Begin excerpt
“It’s Fear, right?” the Knight speaks.
I hesitate, squinting. “Uh-huh.”
“Do you know where you are?”
My mouth opens. I can see—through the ever-moving torrent of rain—my house behind him. But I bow my head. No…it just doesn’t make sense.
“You’re dead, Fear.”
I wince at the words, keeping my head bowed and closing my eyes.
“You know this.”
Tucking my chin to avoid as much water as possible, I open my mouth, breathing deeply. Dammit. I have no response…because I know he’s right. Dead…I’m…dead. I just can’t believe—
An image of Aislin stumbling away from me in the cave, her blood spurting, flashes in my mind. Then an image of Arik, roaring at me. The feeling of the arrow ramming into my back. Being alone in the forest, feeling cold, losing feeling in my body. The darkness suffusing my vision. It all comes back to me.
A harsh, burning sensation fills my chest…my heart aches, so depressed, so full of regret, so lonely…
“I’m here to make a deal with you.”
I grunt, raising my head and opening my eyes. I regard the figure before me, fully attentive.
“You can call me Alitheo. I can rescue you from here and give you a second chance at life…but you need to promise me something.”
I swallow, staring harder at the Knight. Alitheo? What does that mean? Finding my tongue, I blurt, “Okay!”
A second chance at life. Can he really do that? Can anyone really give me that? I’m certain I’ve never met this person before. I have no reason to trust him. But, at this point, nothing else really matters to me. I have nothing to lose. I’ll give him anything he wants!
Nodding, Alitheo seems satisfied. His voice once again comes to me from the shadow beneath his hood: “I need you to give me, when I ask for it, your heart.”
The sound of the rain beating against the ground, splashing against puddles, pervades the air.
I frown. “My heart? What do you—?”
“In every way you can think of.”
I exhale, staring into the darkness beneath the hood. Does he mean literally? Like cut it out and give it to him? Or does he want me to fall in love with him? I don’t get it.
“When the time comes, I’ll show you how. Do you promise?”
Lowering my gaze, I shift, scratching my head and wiping off several rivulets of rainwater that were headed for my eyes. I really don’t even understand what I’m promising. My eyes rise to the figure before me. But…does it really matter? Am I going to turn him down just because of uncertainty? “I’ll be alive again?” I ask. “In the same place where I died?”
“In the forest, midway between Sunnan and Noroan, less than a league from the cave where you left your friends.”
I grunt, deciding not to question how he knows all of this. What…are you?
“Do you promise?” he asks.
Swallowing, I look over my shoulder, back to where the glorious, wonderful version of myself had been standing. Then my eyes fall once again to the puddle. An image of what I saw fills my mind.
I look back at Alitheo, my face tight and brow narrowed. “I promise.”