Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga) (2 page)

And to all my fellow authors at the WG2E, Addictive Reads and Broad Universe who've given me education, encouragement, a sanity check, and support. Thank you!

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(Synopsis of Book One: The Chosen One and Book Two: Prince of Tyre)

Mikhail
awakens in his crashed ship with no memory of his past. He is saved by
Ninsianna
, a young woman who can speak to the goddess. With a broken wing and no way home, he is forced to integrate into her stone-aged village, a task made difficult by her jilted lover,
Jamin
. When young women start to disappear, Mikhail trains eight archers, including
Pareesa
, a young woman with a preternatural ability to master any weapon, and later the village warriors, including
Gita
, a peculiar young woman who happens to be Ninsianna's cousin. Leadership does not come easy, and Mikhail's formidable self-control begins to slip under the onslaught of human passions, revealing he has far darker urges lurking in his missing memories than simply his half-remembered mission. Things come to a head when a vindictive young woman
, Shahla
, claims Mikhail fathered her illegitimate baby.

Ninsianna's people have prophecies of a winged champion who will defend her people against an
Evil One
. Love blossoms and they marry, but each night the goddess sends nightmares of a white-winged Evil One who will cut Mikhail's child from her womb. As her power grows, Ninsianna begins to view her people … and her husband … from the godlike perspective of
She-who-is
. Although her mind says Shahla’s accusation is a delusion, in her heart, Ninsianna cannot forgive Mikhail even as she pushes him to train her people.

The
Eternal Emperor Hashem
may be a god, but neither his knowledge of genetics, nor his godlike powers, has enabled him to fix the inbreeding which has rendered his four species of genetically engineered super-soldiers sterile. If only the human root race had not gone extinct! Then Mikhail gets out word a remote colony survived, somewhere in the grasp of his ancient adversary,
Shay'tan
.

The Emperor orders
Raphael
to launch a manhunt, but the need for secrecy undermines his control over his dying armies. As Raphael disappears into the uncharted territories, the mother of his offspring,
Supreme Commander-General Jophiel
, dreams of a day when the armies of heaven can marry freely, just like the naturally evolved species the hybrids were created to serve. If Raphael finds the humans, will the Emperor rethink his policies which forbid her species from ever knowing love? The same breathtaking coup d'état which strips Jophiel of her command also gives her the opportunity to follow her heart and declare her love for Raphael.

Shay'tan
is thrilled when his Sata'anic navy discovers humanity has survived on a remote planet, far from his adversary’s nexus of power. Whoever controls access to humans will control the fate of the galaxy. He orders his armies, including the lowly
Lieutenant Kasib
, to annex the human homeworld, but it's been a long time since hybrids diverged as a separate species. Has enough genetic drift occurred that they are no longer genetically compatible? He orders
Ba'al Zebub
to find out and, in the process, why not tweak his ancient adversary's nose? Shay’tan knows just the disgruntled adopted prince who’s been having difficulty siring an heir…

Unbeknownst to either emperor,
Lucifer
cuts a deal with Ba'al Zebub to purchase not just one human female, but hundreds of them. Fearful his adopted father is more interested in winning his pissing contest against Shay'tan than saving his species, Lucifer secretly match-makes humans to other sterile hybrids, including
General Abaddon
and
General Kunopegos
while he orchestrates a breathtaking coup d'état. But lately, Lucifer has been experiencing blackouts, leaving even his henchman,
Eligor
, wondering who is really pulling Lucifer’s strings? Lucifer? Or his sycophantic assistant,
Zepar
? After Lucifer orchestrates what appears to be his death at the hands of Emperor Shay’tan to incite the two empires to go to war, they torture the coordinates of Earth out of
Lieutenant Apausha
, leaving Abaddon and Shay'tan to duke it out while Lucifer absconds.

Unable to get past Ninsianna's betrayal, the Chief's son
, Jamin
, seeks proof that Mikhail's own people are the ones buying women from the lizard demons. But in the course of dancing with his enemies, Jamin makes a terrible mistake, one that
Shahla
uses to blackmail him into marriage. When Shahla instead claims her baby was Mikhail’s, an enraged Jamin beats her and causes her to miscarry. Now banished, Jamin has no place to go but into the arms of his enemies.

And then Jamin is sold to the Sata’anic lizards…

As intrigues roil the heavens, a white-winged Angelic promises Jamin he'll deliver unto him the heart of his enemy in exchange for one unfaithful former fiancé…

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The savage, like ourselves,

Feels the oppression of his impotence

before the powers of Nature;

But having in himself nothing

that he respects more than Power,

He is willing to prostrate himself

before his gods,

Without inquiring whether they are worthy

of his worship.

Pathetic and very terrible

is the long history of cruelty and torture,

Of degradation and human sacrifice,

Endured in the hope of placating the jealous gods:

Surely, the trembling believer thinks,

When what is most precious has been freely given,

Their lust for blood must be appeased,

And more will not be required.

The religion of Moloch —

As such creeds may be generically called —

Is in essence the cringing submission

of the slave,

Who dare not, even in his heart,

Allow the thought that his master

deserves no adulation.

Since the independence of ideals

is not yet acknowledged,

Power may be freely worshipped,

And receive an unlimited respect,

Despite its wanton infliction of pain.

Bertrand Russell -

A Free Man's Worship

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This story is epic fantasy/space opera. As is typical of the genre, it has numerous, intersecting plotlines and is told through multiple points of view. All time within this novel happens more or less sequentially unless explicitly stated otherwise. The two galactic empires use a calendar which dates back to the signing of the Treaty of Nibiru 152,000 years ago which divided the galaxy between the Sata'an Empire and the Alliance. Earth-times are referenced using our current Gregorian calendar.

152,323.11 = November 3,390 BC

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