The Champions

Clad in Shadow
(Poetry for a Burdened Soul)

The Choosing
(Book One of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)

The Chosen
(Book Two of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)

The Changing (Book
Three of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)

Crimson (Book 3.5
of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)

The Contention (Book
Four of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)

The Champions (Book Five of the Blood and Brotherhood
Saga)

Beyond The Mask
(The Beyond Book One)

Beyond The Flesh (The Beyond Book Two)

Beyond The Soul (The Beyond Book Three)

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

Within the span of a few months the entire future of the
world had been rewritten. Out of obscurity two new champions blessed by the
gods had arisen upon the face of Thurr. Believed twins, these champions had
special abilities that made each of them an asset in battle. Heeding the call
of their kingdom, Seth and Garret had marched to war against the black horde, a
formidable army comprised of orcs, trolls and goblins.

*****

Using his unparalleled magical abilities, Seth created a new
race of men to serve the kingdom of Valdadore, melding wolves with men to form
werewolves. At their head, Seth appointed Borrik, a once-human priest to the
goddess Ishanya, who now served loyally as the alpha werewolf, a vicious
predator designed for killing. Garret, trained by the mighty Knights of
Valdadore, became a warrior unlike any other, impenetrable to physical harm by
any weapon. Together with their allies, the brothers faced the previously
undefeated black horde. Though the battle had eventually been won so, too, had
much been lost.

Taking an arrow to the neck, Sara, Seth’s young wife, had
fallen in the battle. Losing control of his powers in his anguish and rage,
Seth unleashed his magic with devastating effect to both friend and foe. In
that final blast, the battle was won as thousands of enemy troops were
obliterated. However, the King of Valdadore and several of his blessed warriors
were also destroyed by it. Seth and Sara were nowhere to be found. Most assumed
them dead, as no trace remained of the young couple.

*****

His brother, king, and mentor Lord Sirus all slain, Garret
had no choice but to ignore the emotions threatening to overwhelm him as his
new duties begin to stack up in service to the kingdom. Witnessing the suicide
of Sirus’s wife Sasha, he was charged with looking after their beautiful
daughter, Linaya. Each overcome with their own sorrows, Garret and Linaya
sought solace from one another and became closer by the day as a deep-seated
love began to grow between them.

*****

Seth and Sara found themselves transported to a foreign land
following the magical blast that had ended the battle with the black horde.
Though Sara had been mortally wounded, Seth managed to save the woman he loved
by using his powers to combine her life force with that of a species of bat
with amazing healing abilities. However, he soon began to realize that his
magic came with untold and sometimes devastating consequences. As Sara was
restored, it quickly became apparent that their lives together would change
immensely. Sara had become an agile, powerful, bloodthirsty predator who could
no longer tolerate the sun. Together the pair set out to find their way back
home, but were captured and delayed by a tribe of miniature warriors. Hearing
these people’s sad tale of persecution by the mysterious Zoomba, Seth and Sara
allied themselves with the small race in hopes of defeating another immense
enemy. Little did they know that the enemies were cat-sized insects that
numbered in the millions.

*****

Borrik, the alpha werewolf, sent his hybrid troops in all
directions to seek out Seth following the battle with the black horde,
confidently believing his master still alive. Leading a small contingent of
wolf troops himself, he was approached by more of Seth’s creations in the
night. A pair of feline girls Seth had shaped prior to the battle swore that
they knew the location of their creator. Changing course, Borrik followed the
trail laid before him by the sisters, racing east towards the mountainous
border of Valdadore. As he and his men raced day in and out to reach their
master, the lunar cycle progressed. Under the influence of the twin full moons
in the sky, the contingent of hybrid wolfmen were filled by lust-induced rage,
and brutally raped the inhabitants of a small community before fleeing the
scene to again seek out their master.

Cresting the mountains the pack of werewolves were accosted
by a giant and took several casualties before finally bringing the immense
beast down. Rejoined by another pack of his troops, Borrik led his men onwards
and soon witnessed Seth’s magical fire in the distance. Leaving his injured men
behind, Borrik and his troops raced with no regard for their own safety to his
side.

*****

Reunited with his troops, Seth formulated a plan to defeat
the insect army. Together with the help of the werewolves and the miniature
warriors, Seth and Sara managed to destroy the queen of the insects. Their
leader lost, the remainder of the Zoomba dispersed as Seth, his wife and his
hybrid soldiers headed back to the capital city of Valdadore. Along the way
they were rejoined by the remainder of Seth’s small personal army of mutated
men before reaching their destination.

*****

Garret sought to help repair the kingdom, and now, as a
member of the royal council in his role as a Knight of Valdadore, he had the
means to do so. He used his meager influence to help vote good people into
positions of worth within the kingdom with the help of allies in the council.
When it came to selecting a new king, however, two unexpected events occurred.
First, Garret made an enemy of the powerful battle mage Vladmere who fled the
city after setting the mages’ tower ablaze once he realized he would not be
elected as king. Second, Garret was tricked into the most powerful position
within the kingdom, and within weeks a crowning ceremony was held in his honor.

If being crowned king of a mighty kingdom was not enough to
make a memorable day for Garret, Linaya had also professed her love for him the
night before. To top that off, little over an hour after being crowned, Garret
was surprised yet again as his brother apparently returned from the dead with
his resurrected lover in tow. But that was still not the end of the most
memorable day of his life. No sooner was the new royal family reunited than a
messenger from the western border of Valdadore arrived to announce that the
kingdom was being invaded by their neighbors led by King Sigrant. Bloodshed, it
seemed, would not remain a thing of their past.

*****

Having learned to enchant inanimate objects, Seth helped to equip
warriors with weapons and armor with magical attributes. Beyond that he began
to create his own champions out of those loyal to his cause, blessing them with
size, strength and more. The kingdom of Valdadore marched out to meet the
approaching foe but was caught off guard by magic unlike anything ever seen
before. The enemy, it seemed, had abilities at their command that could destroy
Valdadore.

*****

The brothers and those who serve and love them are in for
the fight of their lives as minds and relationships are strained and
Valdadore’s weaknesses are exploited.

Ash and soot coated everything as the scent of charred flesh
permeated the air, clinging to the nostrils of all those that survived here.
Screams of agony and shouted orders blended into incoherent ghoulish howls, and
beneath those that issued the sounds the ground shook. The newly made shore of
the magically frozen lake served as a battleground for giants and men, and
other unholy creations never seen before upon Thurr. Here fire and lightning
flashed as magic was thrown between foes and blood was brought to the ears by
the ringing clangs of steel upon steel. Yet here, for the first time in months,
Seth had only minutes ago found a moment of clarity.

The death mage, called a walking god by some, had a
realization so profound that for a moment he stood lost to the battle that
raged around him. Here was the gods’ playground. Here among the souls of
mortals a battle was being waged in the heavens. Here a game was being played
out where mortals were the pieces, and the players were the gods. Here, upon
the world of Thurr, Seth realized that the very gods who created all life had
no respect for it. It was a sad realization, but Seth knew in that moment that
the gods were flawed. The highest beings in all of existence had become
corrupted by their greed and fear of one another. Seth vowed silently, and only
to himself, that he would find a way to correct the wrongs done by the gods.

Seth shook his head to clear it. His chestnut hair settled
to either side of his face. He needed to deal with current circumstances first.
Blazing a trail of destruction before him through King Sigrant’s foot troops,
Seth again took stock of his surroundings. For a second time in the short
battle his brother, King Garret, called a retreat. His voice boomed across the
battlefield. Though all of Valdadore’s common troops had retreated earlier, it
was now that the champions of Valdadore worked to extract themselves from the
enemy lines. Common men of the invading force fled beneath them for fear of
being trampled by the giants.

Seth stood in a sea of ash, a lone island cut off from both
sides of the battle. None dared to venture too near to him. He smirked at the
thought. Looking beyond his ashy perimeter he watched as Sara leapt high above
her foes, twisting and twirling through the air, a deadly whirlwind of fangs
and blades. Her armor was coated in blood, as were her face and hair, yet she
sprang time and again from amongst the enemy troops, cleaving men to pieces
each time she landed. It would be sickening, the mindless destruction she dealt,
if Seth did not love her so completely. As it was, Seth simply watched the
woman he loved a moment as she worked to return to his side.

In the sky above the battle, Seth observed two great beasts
that circled through the air currents and updrafts. With his huge leathery
wings flapping, Seth’s greatest creation, Borrik, commanded his troops from the
air. Not only was Borrik the alpha among Seth’s werewolf troops, but he was
also at present Seth’s closest friend and trusted guardian. He was one of the
most fearsome warriors upon the battlefield, and certainly the most
frightening.

Winging low to cleave men in two with his enchanted swords,
the four-armed werewolf would then rise into the air before lancing fireballs
into his enemies. Seth had blessed him well. With his vantage from above,
Borrik could command his troops flawlessly and warn them of impending dangers.
When the men encountered more than they could handle, Borrik could lend himself
to the fight from above and even out the odds. Yet Borrik was not the only one
in the skies this day.

With the wolven monstrosity of a warrior flew a female
vision unlike any other on Thurr. Though her torso retained the appearance of
her humanity, the twenty-foot-tall woman was more bird of prey than human. Her
legs and head were covered in feathers, and great wings like a hawk’s sprouted
from her back. A sharp beak snapped and clicked while she flew, and as she
swooped low into the enemy, she grasped her foes in her talons before winging
away again. Once secure, high above Sigrant’s army, she released those she
carried to rain down upon their brethren. Though deadly and effective these
were but two of Seth’s creations.

Seth still had a hundred and twelve werewolves who were
temporarily blessed with increased size and strength, as well as other troops
that were blessed likewise. Even with so many, his brother’s army had been
outmatched and outclassed. Now he simply hoped he could keep what troops he had
alive as they retreated back to the city of Valdadore. He had no idea what
Garret had in mind, so for now he shouted to Jonas, one of his werewolf
captains, to have the men gather before they began their retreat. Instantly he
saw that the order had been relayed telepathically among his troops. As if of
one mind, each and every one of his men began to converge upon him. All of them
cleaved a path with blade, teeth, and claws. They were a menacing sight, and
Seth was beyond proud of them.