Destiny's Kingdom: Legend of the Chosen Read online

  Contents

  Follow us

  Dedication

  Isbn info

  Title Page

  PROLOGUE

  BANTER

  THE LEGEND

  MAP OF THE KINGDOM

  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

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  ACCOLADES

  Preview A Prophecy Revealed

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  Daniel_M_Huber

  JenniferJSelzer

  Other Books by Jennifer Selzer and Daniel Huber

  Destiny’s Kingdom: A Prophecy Revealed Coming September 2012

  To my parents, who gave me wings to fly.

  ~Jennifer Selzer

  I’d like to thank my entire family. Without their love and support none of this would have been possible.

  ~Daniel Huber

  Copyright © 2012

  TwoFold Press

  Jennifer Selzer & Daniel Huber

  All rights reserved.

  Cover designed by

  Derek Murphy of Creativindie Covers

  www.creativindie.com

  This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental.

  ISBN-13:978-0-9857172-1-6

  ISBN-10: 0985717211

  PROLOGUE

  At moments like these when doubt threatened to overtake his resolve, all Jame needed to do was think of his son. In his mind’s eye, just the memory of how Tyler looked at him made Jame feel as if he could accomplish anything. Even something as effortless as reaching the top pantry cabinet for a forbidden sugar biscuit was an exalted ability in the eyes of a toddler. With a giggle, Tyler would gaze up at Jame and see a hero, an invincible god. When he was very little, Jame would whisk Tyler up to the top shelf to retrieve his coveted prize. Once back on the ground, a crumb-laden smile would stretch over his face, wide eyed with admiration for his father, simply for having the ability to lift him so high. Now, years later, watching space tumble past, sprawling deep and endless, with only inches of metal and tempered glass between him and its depth, Jame felt fragile, nothing like what a god might feel.

  Reaching out to the console Jame requested a destination update.

  “2 minutes, 45 seconds until destination,” his ship replied in a cold, automated voice.

  Only 30 seconds had elapsed since he last checked.

  “Not fast enough,” Jame muttered.

  As he continued to stare at the blur out the side window, Jame tapped his fingertips on the control board and sighed impatiently. The war appeared to be over but Jame knew it was not. All galactic factions had gathered for the signing of a peace treaty but none of them really knew what awaited them once they arrived. Nobody but Jame, and three others whose destiny it was to save them all.

  The possession of the Centurion had happened over a month ago and that was the sign that Jame’s destiny had come to fruition. In the span of that month his life had totally changed. Always having been a man of carefully planned innovation, Jame had embraced his fate and gone into action. What else could he do? His family, his world, his very galaxy would soon come under the ultimate attack from an ancient predator. Never mind the decades-long war throughout the sectors, never mind the small, personal arguments and disagreements. The SanFear had arrived, had possessed the Centurion, had probably by now also possessed the King. Jame wasn’t sure yet. He would have to see them to know for certain and this far out in space he had no visual communication. For because of the role he had in this destiny, Jame was the only one who could actually see what was occurring.

  He glanced to the seat next to him at the sphere that had caused his delay, but contained the magic that would help to defeat this ancient foe. The gathering of the magic had to be done at the core of the galaxy where magic was wild, strong and most abundant. The center of the galaxy housed the only access point to the dimensional portal into the pocket realm where the magic could be harvested. But the time dilation between that pocket dimension and Jame’s own reality was warped and it left him with less time than he’d planned to get back. Much less time. Only eight hours had passed for him since he’d been gone but when he had gotten back to the leylines more familiar to him he found that it had actually been two days. He keyed the destination updater again.

  “Twenty seconds to destination.”

  Anxiety twisted in Jame’s stomach. He took a deep breath. Leila was with Tyler; she would keep him safe. She too had risen to her destiny. Her own magical abilities had always been powerful, and now with the treasure trove of wild galactic magic at her disposal, Leila would be more than just powerful; she would be unstoppable. The radiance of the nexus point glowed in the distance then was upon him. His heart pounded in his chest. Then the leyline opened up.

  Jame had readied himself for almost anything. Most of his worst-case scenarios involved different factions of the galaxy again at war with one another, but in all his worrying he still expected to see the familiar round celestial body silhouetted by the darkness of space behind it, the recognizable greens and blues peeking amid white clouds. No matter what the turmoil, in his thoughts, his home planet would endure.

  As the nexus point thrust him into open space, he froze at the sight before him. Black clouds roiled from the planet, flanked by plumes of white vapor, which Jame instinctually recognized as the aftermath of what once were oceans. Orange flame licked violently over most of the planet’s surface and a steady stream of starships flew in all directions away from their home world. All this, but something worse that all those fleeing ships in their desperate chaos couldn’t see. The SanFear hovered, inky black, encompassing over half of the planet, the unseen cause of all the destruction below. From it, thousands of black streaks raced after those trying to escape, latched onto the ships’ hulls, ate away at them until within seconds, they were devoured. Jame’s paralyzed mind screamed only one thought:

  “Tyler!”

  Jame instantly dove to the communication board. Keying it on, his terminal paused before reading out over 10,000 lines of communication. A moment ticked by and the number changed to over 200,000 and kept climbing. Realization numbed Jame for a heavy second. Everyone on the planet was calling for help. His familiar celestial body was in its death throes, screaming out to the universe.

  Ignoring the panic that leapt into his chest, Jame leaned closer into the communication board. Overlapping signals made the communication lines look like thousands of tiny threads, all different colors and patterns to most. But Jame knew what he was looking for, what he had to find. He focused, then relaxed his mind. Something deeper than reason, more intuitive and basic than logic took over. The strings started falling away. Line by line faded from his view until a single thread stood out to him, and he tapped into it, hailing the ve
ssel from which the signal had come. He thanked the gods for this gift of telepathic sight they had given him as his son flashed on the screen.

  “Tyler! You’re all right… where’s your mother?”

  “Dad…” Tyler’s voice quivered. “Mom died.”

  “What…h-how?”

  “The SanFear spawned. Just like in your vision.”

  Words came, despite the icy sickness that spread through his chest. “And Annick?”

  “She’s here.”

  Jame cleared his throat. “Annick? What is your position?”

  The viewer changed its orientation as Annick began to speak.

  “We’re just outside planetary orbit. Once the spawning occurred, everyone ran, those who could, took to space. We barely made it out. In the frenzy, everyone started to turn on each other.”

  Jame glanced back to the wide range viewer to see all the ships in their chaotic confusion, some of them firing on each other, some firing impotently at the black streaks that were the spawn, the only element of the SanFear that they could see. The SanFear itself pulsed and spread languidly over the surface of the planet, already growing in size from the life force that it had consumed even just since Jame had first seen it a minute ago. It’s spawn streaked through space, destroying and devouring, then bringing that sustenance back to its host before streaking out for more.

  “Jame, I’m sorry about your wife.” Jame looked away from the commotion around the planet and back to Annick. He noticed she was bleeding from her temple. “When the SanFear spawned, she tried to hold it at bay. But it was just too much for her.”

  He glanced to the bundle in the seat next to him. If only he’d gotten back sooner.

  “Jame,” Annick’s voice began to break. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “You have to get to me,” he said. “I can’t come any closer. I’m sending you the route to take. Lock onto my coordinates and come this way at top speed. Jump into the nexus point and follow this course.” His hands flew over the keys as he fed them into her ship’s computer, which immediately changed course, heading away from the panicked madness.

  “Tyler?” The viewscreen flashed back to the boy, who hastily wiped his eyes. “I have everything we need now. Are you ready to use it?” He nodded, quickly finding his resolve. Pride rose in Jame’s chest.

  “We’ll meet up at the center of the galaxy and together we can still fulfill our destiny. We can still destroy it once we’re all together again.”

  Tyler started to say something, but stopped short and reconsidered. “Mom always thought we could succeed.”

  “And I believe we still can.” On the viewers, Jame saw their ship, only moments away from where he was. “I’ll see you on the other side of the leyline Tyler.”

  “Yes, Dad. I’m ready.”

  As soon as their ship came into visual range, Jame reached for the helm control, more to steady his shaking hand than to actually engage. With one last nod to his son, their communication was broken as he dropped into the nexus point and the guiding suction of the leyline took over control of his ship.

  Jame held his fisted hand against his forehead, eyes shut tight. This was the moment he had silently promised himself the instant that Tyler told him Leila was dead. His eyes squeezed together involuntarily as he saw her form in his mind, her long auburn hair, the prominent features of her determined face. Inhaling, he smelled the scent of her skin, the warmth of her hand. All of this, gone, devoured by this ancient enemy that devours everything, was devouring his very world. Ire mixed with heartbreak froze and melted all at once inside his chest but still, little time to grieve. For an entire year they had readied for this moment, this day, and even without Leila’s powers, the magic Jame had harvested should still be enough for Tyler and Annick to wield against the SanFear. Once it made its way to the center of the galaxy, they would be ready for it, and they would stop it before it could move on to destroy other worlds.

  A chime sounded, alerting Jame that the leyline was ending. He could see the glow of the nexus point fast advancing and he immediately sprung into action. He touched the bundle next to him and the protective magic imbued in the cloth wrapped around the sphere zinged over his skin. Dropping from the leyline, Jame quickly scanned the area. As he’d hoped, he was alone, and he knew that his son was only a moment behind him. Traveling a bit closer to the galactic center, he lost visual range of the nexus point and keyed on his long range viewers so he could watch Tyler’s ship arrive. The nexus point glowed its beautiful green, vibrant in this dark and deserted area of space. Suddenly, the ship dropped from its ethereal light and Jame felt a surge of hopefulness. Opening a hail, he spoke before the visual came onscreen.

  “All right,” he said, “lock onto my coordinates and let’s dock.”

  “Dad!”

  Jame snapped his head over to the viewer as Tyler came onscreen.

  “It’s too late… the SanFear is right behind us.”

  On the long range viewer, the nexus point began to dim, its vibrant green fading to a sickly gray, and then a mossy black when suddenly, the SanFear emerged, dark and inky, pouring and pouring from the deadened nexus point, spreading and spreading, infinitely blacker than the blackness of space.

  “Annick! Lock onto my coordinates and come quickly! Full power! Get away! Get away from there!”

  But it was too late. The SanFear surged, energized from the power of the nexus point and attached itself to the tail of the tiny craft.

  “Tyler!”

  Behind his son, Jame could see the bulkhead quaking, instruments failing, equipment falling. He heard Annick scream, but all he could focus on was Tyler’s face.

  “Dad, you have all the magic… take it and get away! We weren’t the ones to stop the SanFear but there will be others after us. If you can get to them… maybe you can help them stop it.”

  Startled by these calm words from such a young boy, Jame couldn’t speak and before he could regain himself, he saw the bulkhead behind Tyler singe black and a squeal began to build.

  “I’ll see you again, Dad.”

  The hull burst open, and everything inside the ship blasted outward. The last thing Jame saw was Tyler grabbing for the console, only to be jerked away and sucked into open space, along with Annick and everything else onboard.

  A roar filled Jame’s cockpit, a scream so primal and raw that it deafened his own ears for a minute. Jame jumped back from the pilot’s seat, backed against the wall of the cockpit, staring blindly at the tiny remnants of debris that was only a moment ago, a ship, but now had been absorbed by the SanFear. It moved toward him now, more importantly, toward the black hole that indicated the very center of the galaxy. Against his chest, Jame felt a tiny orb vibrate, and he pulled it out. His eyes glittered, stared with sorrow, anger, moist and bloodshot. There was no need for this little trinket now. He ripped it from his neck, opened a small panel on his console and dropped the glowing sphere down the chute. As the SanFear advanced Jame changed his course, headed straight for the black hole. Warning alarms blared but he silenced them. Auto pilot kicked in but he switched to manual to override the failsafe. The intense gravitational pull of the black hole could be felt inside his ship; but Jame barely noticed. He increased power to enter the darkness. Reason left him; and he uttered an ancient prayer that he himself could not believe he was about to say:

  “Sorrows to the old and wise, with heavy hearts, we die. It was not us; we are not the true Chosen. And so, it ends.”

  And so, it begins…

  Always different…always the same. It seems like forever I have seen this drama play—

  You mean we. You always forget me.

  It seems like forever we have seen this drama played out again and again. The beginning and the end are always the same. Tragedy and death followed by hope but always, inevitably, there is failure. I have never seen…

  “We!”

  We have never seen it end any differently. We have all but lost hope.

  There
never was hope.

  That’s not fair.

  When have we seen fair? Take for instance now. How many times have we seen this happen, what we see now? Once? Twice? Thousands?

  Millions.

  So there is no hope.

  Why then do we still watch?

  I…

  Why did we begin to watch, to help?

  Wait…

  Have you so quickly forgotten our purpose?

  Stop

  Have you so easily let go of the dream?

  The plan. The scheme. Of flawed gods and flawed beings.

  Let us speak of the legend. Perhaps in its telling we can garner some hope?

  'Tis doubtful.

  Indulge me. Let us ponder the plan, see what prospect it brings. Let us unfold what’s known as the Grand Scheme of Things…

  As scribed by the first Keystone, Fionn Crittendon

  Handed down from verbal history

  Legend of the Chosen

  When time was young

  and humans were innocent

  evil besieged the land.

  Hungry for the power of the gods

  It sought to corrupt what once was pure

  The high Avè was called for his wisdom

  and the Chosen were formed.

  One who is the Keeper

  who holds the power of Destiny

  There will be a Seer

  the tie that binds the chosen three

  One that is a Risk

  a world to lose, a world to gain

  And among them all, a Wild Card

  whose life will be not ever changed

  The Chosen called upon the magic of all reality

  to cast the menace into oblivion.