Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One (92 page)
Read Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One Online
Authors: Anna Erishkigal
Tags: #Fantasy, #Romance Speculative Fiction
Lucifer
cover art by Rochelle Greene aka Caelicorn
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Story
Book 1
of a new series:
Children
of the Fallen
Azrael Thanatos wants
nothing more than to follow in the footsteps of his scientist mother. Sent to
study humans on a wager between the Eternal Emperor and Shay'tan, he has no
idea Earth is gateway to a fiery prison. Far from home, he is befriended by
Elissar, a precocious child with silver eyes. When Moloch instigates the
invasion of Carthage to escape, Azrael sacrifices his life to snatch his friend
from the Devourer of Children's maw.
Saved by a mysterious
goddess, Azrael is given a new mission. Watchman. Roaming the Earth without
shape or form, he searches for those who would help Moloch escape and drags
them to a prison where only Lucifer holds the key. It's a hellish immortality,
for who wants to serve alongside the Fallen or exist when no living creature
can survive your touch? Haunted by Elissar's death, he despairs of never
finding love or friendship again as time grinds civilizations into dust. For
who would love Death?
Then one day a child
takes his hand and lives…
Life for Elisabeth is
not easy. The Angel of Death took her entire family the night a drunk driver
plowed through a stop sign and left her in a wheel chair. Azrael is forbidden
to interfere as she bounces through foster homes, hardship, and grueling
rehabilitation. Then one day he is forced to reveal he is not a figment of her
imagination. Oh, how she hates this angel who has taken everyone she ever
loved! She will beat him if she has to squeeze the life force from her own
body! The invasion of Iraq inspires her to join the Army as a trauma nurse, unaware
that Death has fallen in love with the woman who can defeat him.
Will she take his hand
a second time?
Angel of Death: A Love Story
Available now in Print and
at various eBook distribution
platforms
Cover photograph by ~xartez
© 2011
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Did you enjoy reading
this book? If so, I would be most grateful if you would do me the honor of
revisiting whatever distribution platform you purchased it from and leaving a
written review. This book took more than a year of my life to write working
diligently for 5-6 hours each day. Unfortunately, without the multi-billion
dollar advertising budget of a big commercial publishing house, most
independently published and small-press books don't make back the cost to
produce them (much less eat while writing them) …
unless …
readers such
as yourself pass along word to others that you enjoyed it. In this day of
online shopping, websites rank which books you see and readers decide what
books to buy based on reviews left by other readers. I would be oh-so-grateful
if you would do me the honor of leaving a written review.
If this book came your
way via a gift or a loan from a friend, you can still share the love by leaving
a review on one of the reader-centric review websites:
Feel free to contact
me or leave feedback at my Facebook page. I love hearing from you and I
do
write
back!
Be epic!
www.facebook.com/anna.erishkigal
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Anna Erishkigal is an attorney who writes fantasy
fiction as a pleasurable alternative to coming home from court and cross-examining
her children. She writes under a pen-name so her colleagues don't question
whether her legal pleadings are fantasy fiction as well. Much of law, it turns
out, -is- fantasy fiction. Lawyers just prefer to call it 'zealously
representing your client.'
Seeing the dark underbelly of life makes for some
interesting fictional characters, the kind you either want to incarcerate, or
run home and write about. In fiction, you can fudge facts without worrying too
much about the truth. In legal pleadings, if your client lies to you, you look
stupid in front of the judge.
At least in fiction, if a character becomes
troublesome, you can always kill them off.
Her general-purpose Facebook page is at:
www.facebook.com/anna.erishkigal
Or view book extras, including maps of
the real-life village of Assur, fantasy casting calls, artwork of the different
species, inspirations, bits and pieces of research, and excerpts from upcoming
books at:
www.facebook.com/pages/Sword-of-the-Gods/266590273421583
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Sword of the Gods Saga:
--The Chosen One
--Prince of Tyre
--Agents of Ki (September 2013)
--The Dark Lord's Vessel (coming soon)
--The Fairy General (coming soon)
Knife of the Gods Saga:
--
The Cherubim Queen (coming soon)
--Mercenary of the Empire (coming soon)
--Queen-Regent of Chaos (coming soon)
Children of the Fallen:
--Angel of Death: A Love Story
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[1]
Both the Galactic Alliance and the Sata'anic
Empire compute time from the day the Eternal Emperor ascended to the Alliance
throne and signed the current Galactic Agreement which divides the Milky Way
between the two empires (i.e., 152,000+ years). A.E. stands for '
After
Emperors.'
The decimal point after the year is the month, i.e.,
02=February. All GS dates run concurrently with time as it occurs on Earth
unless specifically noted otherwise.
[2]
A
cubit
is an Earth unit of length running
from the tip of your finger to your elbow, approximately 18 inches or 46
centimeters. Mikhail is approximately 7.5 feet or 2.3 meters tall; and his
wingspan is approximately 30 feet or 9 meters wide.
[3]
A Forward Operating Base (FOB) is a secure military
base positioned closer to a local military theatre to support tactical
operations and increase reaction time. Although temporary in nature, some
FOB's are operated for the duration of a military action.
[4]
Mikhail is from an advanced civilization and thinks in
terms of machines. He would explain this concept to a Neolithic person as a
golem
,
a soulless creature fashioned from the Earth.
[5]
A
golem
is an animated anthropomorphic being
created entirely from inanimate matter to perform a set task, usually through
magic or will of the gods. There is a connotation that the golem is incapable
of deviating from their set duties even when warranted. The modern-day
equivalent would be a robot with limited programming.
[6]
A 27-foot/8.2-meter long sea-serpent type creature
meeting this description washed up off the shores of Gourock Island, Scotland
in 1944. Perhaps it's a descendant of one the Eternal Emperor seeded here?
[7]
Brood pouch or carrying compartment.
[8]
çok puan
ile
mızrak
translates literally into
spear
with many points.
Weapon of mass destruction is used hereafter for
Pareesa's nickname as that's what Mikhail thinks of her in his own mind when he
translates from Ubaid into modern Galactic Standard.
[9]
Despite Mikhail's use of modern tactical designations,
the concept of breaking large groups of warriors up into smaller units or
'teams' pre-dates Mikhail's visit to Earth. The earliest cave paintings depict
groups of men hunting mammoths from more than one side. Mikhail is merely
perfecting their ability to coordinate.