by A. C. Cobble
Ben hitched his belt, feeling his longsword bump against his leg. “Eldred’s dead. That’s one monster down.”
“Don’t forget the Purple,” reminded Amelie. “No one knew the true threat they represented, but we stopped them as well.”
“Monster fighters,” smirked Ben. “Do you think that’s what they’ll call us? It’s not very catchy.”
Amelie smiled at him. “I think they’ll call us heroes.”
Ben stood beside Amelie, looking down the hill at Akew Woods. They stayed there for several long moments, basking in the normalcy of it.
“I hope they don’t call us anything,” said Ben, finally. “I hope they never know what happened in that quarry, and that they never have to worry about the darkness that exists in this world.”
“I understand,” responded Amelie quietly.
They watched as a group of children raced out of the town gates and scampered over the rocks and moss that lined the road. They were playing a game of tag or running for the simple joy of it.
“Those children are innocent,” said Amelie, gesturing to them. “I wish we could keep them all that way.”
“We’d better get to it then,” replied Ben with a grin. “The Veil, the Alliance and the Coalition, and the demons. We have a lot to do.”
“We do,” agreed Amelie, “but first, breakfast.”
They made their way down the hill and to the town of Akew Woods, watching the children play in the sun-drenched field.
18
Reviews, Thanks, and my Newsletter
I’m an independent author, and it’s a tough world out there. If you enjoyed this book, please consider making it a little easier on me and leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Then go tell your friends.
Special thanks for this book go to James Z for his beta reading services. I encourage everyone to hold him responsible if any logical inconsistencies that remain. I also have to thank my wife for allowing me to stay holed up in my office while she dealt with the kids – including a brand new baby! She let me sleep at night, battling the little guy alone. I can’t overstate how important that was to getting this book finished.
I’ve had the same professional team involved in all of my books. My cover and social media package were designed by Milos from Deranged Doctor Design (www.derangeddoctordesign.com). Milos did a great job of creating covers that match the feel of the books. The cover for Empty Horizon is easily my favorite from the set of six covers Milos has done for me. Inside the cover, Nicole Zoltack yet again did great work proof-reading (www.nicolezoltack.com). She’s proven that I know almost nothing about the English language. I met her in person for the first time at a writer’s conference the day after I e-mailed the Empty Horizon draft. She refrained from sharing with our fellow authors just how bad those drafts are before she does her magic. I’m grateful for that as well. Tantor Media is my audiobook publisher. After reading this, I’m certain you’ll want to give it a listen as well. The audiobooks can be found on all major online outlets. Eric Michael Summerer is the narrator and he did truly amazing work.
For updates on the next volume or just to chat, please check my Facebook page or my website. On my website, you can sign up for my monthly newsletter and receive FREE Benjamin Ashwood short stories every month. Just one e-mail a month, no spam, I promise.
Thank you for reading my book,
AC
