I'm sharing part of the first chapter of Daemon Soul 2 with you all today, a sneak peak at where Cypher and Serena end up after the events of the first book. There's a slightly more depressing update as well, but before we get into all that, let's see what Brennan and Riz are up to.
The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz
Tried black and white again here, and it didn't really work out. I think I needed the darks to be a lot darker. Still, it was fun experimenting and was a little throw back to an older issue.
Update
Argh, I wish I had more to say here. I was severely tempted to put Phantom Dawn on hiatus (despite things having a habit of never coming off hiatus) so I could focus solely on Avalon, but feels like that's a cop out when what I'm facing is a failure of time management. Looking at the stats, Phantom Dawn is enjoyed by several of you out there which is slowly filtering out through to the rest of the blog. I should be on the clean up phase, I've still got another couple of chapters to rewrite!
It's going to be an interesting month, that's for sure.
Sneak Peak
I thought it would be nice to share something from Daemon Soul 2 (despite my trouble with it as stated above!)
This extract is from the first chapter and is presented here completely unedited. It may or may not appear in this form in the finished book (probably won't!)
We join a hapless human called Trey, who was supposed to be going home...but alas, he's caught some demonic attention. If only there was two heroes to save him eh?
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At first, Trey mistook them to be fellow night goers, also on their own journey. It never occurred to him that they meant harm, till he got an even closer look and saw their inhuman appearance. Each of them was an ashen grey in colour, with an emancipated look. On each of their hands, were sharp claws that seemed ready to rend flesh. Their teeth were poised in anticipation. A sound escaped Trey’s mouth, and were his reactions what they should have been, he would have made a break for it. Instead, he fumbled with his coat pockets and fell as he turned to get away. The creatures gathered round him, fully prepared to eat him in the middle of the street instead of hiding away with their meal, that was how hungry they were, that they would put their desire to hide below the ever present hunger.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” This voice cut through the silence that smothered the scene.
“H-help!” Trey shouted out, remembering what sounds he needed. “Don’t let them eat me!”
“Food shouldn’t talk!” the lead creature said as he kicked Trey in the stomach, hard. “Who’s there! Who would dare risk their life for this trash!”
“Oh, you know, just your friendly Daemon Soul.”
Trey couldn’t believe his eyes when seemingly from above, a lad wearing a dark coat dropped down. His hair was blonde and a little bit spikey, and his tongue seemed as sharp as the sword he was wielding.
“W-who are you?” Trey stammered.
“Please hold all your questions until after the demons are dead, though just call me,” the guy said with a grin. “Now, as for you lot,” he turned to face the demons, resting his sword against his shoulder as he stepped confidently towards them.
“Pretty bold of you to act so openly! Did you think that there was no hope so you might as well go out in a blaze of glory? Or are you just mad?” He directed his curiosity at the demons, who looked at their own leader, the one that stood foremost ahead of the group. This was the same one who had done all the talking for their side.
“You are the one who’s being bold! You don’t even realise that you’re the one being toyed with!”
“I’m sorry? Have you killed an Arc Demon? I have, and that’s kind of a big deal isn’t it? You’re not exactly going to be giving me much of a fight are you?”
Trey watched as the guy took a step forward, putting himself between Trey and the demons.
The lead demon nodded at one of his subordinates, and the creature willingly threw itself at the sword wielding guy, who met it close up, and ducked under the swipe of its claws. With an opening a mile wide, the Daemon Soul attacked and took its head.
“One down, three to go. Still feeling confident?”
“I am,” the lead demon sent the next demon out, and as Trey watched, it was cut to ribbons.
“Look, there’s two of you left, and unless either him or you are rocking a major power boost, we may as well get this over with, so I can get out of here,” the guy was acting quite cocky, which Trey either put down as the folly of youth, or that he was that much stronger than the demons.
“You’re not aware of strategy are you? Half breed,” the lead demon said, letting his words fall out slowly.
“Strategy? This is a strategy? What’s your plan? Bore me to death? If I sensed any other demons around here I wouldn’t be letting you breathe, let alone talk about your diabolical plans.”
“So there is a limit to your senses then? Good, then our success is assured. I’ve done my part to ensure my allies victory!” the lead demon laughed, throwing his head back in riotous glee.
“Yeah, let me stop you there,” the guy said, leaving Trey clueless as to what was going on. The demon stopped laughing, angry that his opponent was still being defiant.
“What?”
“So, quick question. How many Daemon Souls are there right now, like, right this second?”
The demon’s expression changed in an instant.
“Where is she!”
“She? ‘She’ is dealing with your friends that thought they were being so smart as to go and attack that housing estate on the outskirts of town. I mean, kudos to thinking outside the box, but minus fifty points for trying to attack defenceless people,” the guy started walking towards the last two demons, who seemed to be in shock, knowing their plans had failed them.
“Wait! How can you be so sure that she’s not the one who’s dead! Do you know how many of my kin went on this raid! You may be stronger than us, but numbers care not for strength!”
“Oh, I’m sure she’s alive, and you want to know how I know, besides implicitly trusting her to the end of the world? Take a look behind you,” the guy pointed, and Trey peered round him to see what he was looking at.
“Do you think so little of us that you expect us to fall for that trick-!” the demon’s tirade was stopped as he was sliced in half horizontally from behind, the other demon already on the floor with its head lying next to it.
“Right on time,” the guy smiled, resting his sword against his shoulder again. “Did they put up any fight over there?” he asked the newcomer, who Trey saw was a blue haired woman, who looked no older than the guy.
“I had the element of surprise, is this the person the demons were threatening as a diversion?” the woman asked.
“Yeah, I almost forgot about him there! You can run along now, and try to forget everything you’ve seen here, please?” the guy turned and asked. Trey silently nodded, his eyes fixated on the guy’s sword. He got up, and ran out of sight, leaving the two demon killers alone.
“Cypher, you know what I’m going to say, don't you?” Serena said, as she watched the guy they’d just saved run off into the night.
“I know, I know. Don’t talk too much to the person and focus on the job?” Cypher replied. “I’m just, trying to put them at ease. It’s traumatic enough that they’re face to face with these demons.”
“I understand it, and I don’t think I need to tell you again why it’s unwise. Unless you want more scrutiny to fall on us.”
“You mean those groups you were telling me about back in New York? Majestic and Avalon?”
“Yes, the less we have to do with them the better. They have their own goals that I rather we not get caught up in,” Serena said as she stared up into the sky. “It’s a cloudless night, perfect hunting weather.”
“So, we’re moving on already?” Cypher asked, joining her gaze skyward.
“The night is young, and there’s always more demons.”
“Can’t argue with that!” Cypher smiled at his partner, and she offered one back, one that caught him by the heart. He knew why she was still being strict with him, this wasn’t the profession where you could let your guard down. One wrong move could end it all.
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That's it for this week!
There should be some more Phantom Dawn next week, but till then...
Keep on writing!
Peter James Martin
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