Happy Blog Day Everyone!
I've got some exciting news to share today for Daemon Soul, as well as Chapter 3 of Phantom Dawn. So there's a lot to talk about, so let's get into it with our favourite man and rat duo!
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
Okay, originally last week's was a stop gap due to time constraints but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to continue the little storyline. Next weeks is the final part of it. If my planned third panel pays off, it'll make the whole event worthwhile.
Writing Challenge
There will be two days left by the time this post goes live. I have definitely failed to get the draft finished by the end of February (I think I got bogged down in a few chapters, wasting words on events that weren't strictly necessary). However, I'm on track for 90k by the 28th. Shame the two goals couldn't have coincided! That said, I can see the finish line with maybe three-four chapters to go. Luckily I've given myself a few months to get the draft polished.
Daemon Soul Awakening
So what's the big news?
How about it's yours to read on the 31st of March!
My brilliant publisher has even made a book trailer to mark the occasion, which you can see below:
Pretty good eh? How about that Cypher on the front, not bad for a day's work!
Want your copy?
Hit up these links!
There will be a print version, but it may take a couple of days to appear.
In my next few blog posts I'll talk more about it, and share some fact files I'll be making to advertise the book.
Till then, I'll leave this section with a message from Gabriel:
Short Diversions: Phantom Dawn- Memories of a Rose Chapter 3
Chapter Index
When we last left the red haired girl and Neal, the Phantom Dawn had appeared, awakening a monster too. Quite the perilous position to be in. How will they deal with the situation, read on to find out!
Oh, this is the red haired girl by the way:
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Chapter 3: Awaken
At Neal’s urging, the red haired girl was running for her life. The beast that was chasing them seemed to be no further away than when it started but at least didn't seem to be getting closer.
“Where are we running to?” The girl asked, hoping for an answer that was close by.
“At the moment, we're just running away! Sometimes these creatures are territorial, it might stop chasing us if we leave it's area,” Neal stated between breaths.
“And if it doesn't?”
“Then it's hungry and we're in trouble. The Phantom Dawn alters their behaviour, and size, making them hyper aggressive!” Neal had to steady himself.
To the girl, it was clear that he was running as fast as he could, hampered by his age, but for her, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was going slower than she should. It felt like every part of her body was covered in tar.
“Can we try hiding?” The girl asked, risking a look over her shoulder. The beast was still fixated on them with its clouded over eyes.
“No, not while that blasted thing is hanging above us.”
The girl didn't need to think much about what he was getting at. She longed for the moment that the world would make sense, that what was happening to her now would make sense.
There was another rumble, the sound of the ground splitting. The girl risked a look behind her, and the last she saw of the beast was its long tail disappearing into the ground.
“Is it gone?” She said with surprise, allowing herself to stop. Neal also stopped, almost keeling over, coughing as he did, the exertion catching up to him. Things seemed to fall silent, with nothing but the wind picking up. Neal and the girl stood back to back not knowing what was going on at all. This continued for about a minute, with neither of them daring to breathe, till there was a low rumble from beneath them.
“Move!” Neal grabbed the girl and then threw her and himself to the ground as a large rock burst upwards. The girl rolled as Neal ended up falling the other way. No sooner as the first rock shot up, more soon followed as the girl scrambled to her feet, her heart beating frantically, there was another sensation embedded within it, one that was begging for attention, but right then, she wanted to survive. Neal was standing again, and though his movements were a lot more sluggish, he too was running again.
The pair linked up but found more rocks blocking their path, and with every turn they tried, the creature reacted with more makeshift walls till eventually, there was only one path to perceived freedom. The pair naturally headed this way, but then the monster burst up from the ground, blocking the escape route, and now headed right for them.
It came running at full pelt, its feet pounding the ground, pushing itself forward to consume the prey before it.
Neal froze like deer in headlights, and instinctively, the red haired girl leapt in front of him, and pushed him to the ground away from where they had been standing. To Neal’s surprise, he went further than he thought he should have, leading several feet away from the red haired girl who now stood staring down the creature. As the monster neared her, it spun round, using its tail to perform a sweeping attack. Neal couldn’t bear to watch as the attack connected, the girl had raised her arms in an attempt to block.
The next sounds he expected to hear was of the girl’s cries, or the sound of her being crushed against the rocks, but he didn’t hear any of that. Instead, he looked up, and saw that she was still standing, her arms still raised. He gasped in amazement when he looked down and saw the ground that had been dug up by her feet as the beast had managed to push her back, but that was it. The girl lowered her arms, and Neal’s amazement turned to fear as her eyes were glazed over, losing the spark they previously had. The red haired girl never said anything, and ran over to the monster, and the two started to brawl. The monster tried to snap at her with its jaws, but couldn’t catch her, while the girl rained blows on it that caused it to shudder and howl in pain. Nothing the monster could do could hurt her, she was too quick and jumped over another tail sweep, getting close to the monster and punching it in the gut before delivering a high kick to its face.
Neal couldn’t believe any of what he was seeing, the girl wasn’t just holding her own, but beating back the creature, one several times her size. Beaten and bruised, the monster crawled off, digging back into the ground. Waiting with bated breath, Neal looked nervously at the ground, in case the creature was trying to launch another surprise attack, but nothing happened, and as the seconds rolled into minutes, a new calm fell on the area.
“E-Excuse me?” Neal called out to the red haired girl who hadn’t moved since she let the monster go. “A-Are you okay?”
The girl turned to face him, with those dark eyes, but didn’t reply.
“Uhh…” Neal tried to think of something, anything that might have helped in the situation. The girl took a step forward, and then collapsed to her knees, her eyes returning to their normal state, and she dropped down so she was now on all fours.
“W-What happened?” she asked, almost crying. In that moment before the tail had hit it, she had finally given in to that strange feeling that was shouting for her attention. There were glimpses of what she’d done but it didn’t feel like it was her who did any of it.
“Y-You saved us.” These weren’t the real words that Neal wanted to say, but he could see that even she didn’t know what happened, so by saying that, it was something positive at least.
“I-I did?” She looked around, realising that the monster had well and truly gone. Instead of feeling happy though, she felt awful. She didn’t know where she had come from, she didn’t know what this place was that she had found herself in, and now, there was this power that seemed to exist within her, that almost turned her into a different person. Worst of all, she still didn’t even know her own name.
Neal sensed that she must have been deep in thought, as he got closer to her again, trusting his intuition that despite her abilities, she was just as she looked, a deeply upset woman who needed help, rather than another monster. There wasn’t a lot he knew he could say, at least nothing helpful.
“Is there anything you’d like me to call you?” he said finally. This was a gamble in of itself, but it was one he was willing to take. It was also a practical one, as it meant that he could stop referring to her as ‘girl’.
“I don’t know my name though,” the red haired girl replied.
“I know, but I still need to call you something, so choose a new name, one that will do until you can remember what name you were given,” Neal smiled. Anyone else would have called him mad for standing there, let alone choosing to still help her after all the weirdness.
“What name can I choose?” the girl asked herself, looking around confused.
“Any name that you want. Maybe it could be something that’s precious to you, Doesn’t have to be fancy.”
The girl thought hard, going through what limited information she had, then she remembered the rose on her jacket, and took it out, looking at it perfect beauty. The colour of it’s petals matched the colour of her hair. The more she thought about it, the more the obvious answer to her question was.
“Rose,” she said, in a low voice at first.
“What?” Neal asked, genuinely unable to hear her at first.
“My name, please call me Rose,” she said again, raising her voice. Neal was taken back by the intensity, but he had to admit, it was a good choice.
“Okay then Rose, as we can’t leave you out here alone, how about you accompany me for a bit. At least till you have your bearings and can decide what you want to do. I’m meeting up with my grandson and our mutual business associate in the next town. It’s where I was heading to when I met you. Will that be okay?” Neal asked. Seeing as there was no way he could just leave her alone out here, even if she did have a strength that rivaled the monsters, this was the next best solution. There was also a slight resemblance that was affecting him but he pushed that one out of his mind. He wanted to do this for Rose. He didn’t think his grandson would mind too much.
“As long as I won’t be a burden to you,” Rose answered.
“It’s more likely I’ll be a burden to you! At my age, I can’t do half the things you can. Let’s go, hopefully we can avoid any more surprises caused by the Phantom Dawn.”
“Okay…”
With that, Rose and Neal headed on, not knowing what events had been set in motion.
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Next Chapter (not ready yet!)
Well, she has a name now at least! This is the end of this mini arc, next time, it's time to get to know the world better and introduce some fresh new characters!
Till next time...
Keep on writing!
Peter James Martin
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