The Warrior Race: Book One (The Enhanced Universe)

by T. C. Edge

  “Yes,” snapped Vesper.

  Lucius bowed quickly, eyes flashing on the guards hidden away in the shadows of the room.

  “It’s um, Redmane, Empress Vesper.”

  Vesper smiled wide, and threw her head back in a wild laugh, echoing suddenly around the chamber.

  “Oh, how perfect,” she chuckled. “Redmane verses the Red Warrior. It has a certain ring to it, don’t you think, Lucius?”

  Lucius nodded quietly, and his voice came out equally so.

  “Of course, my Empress. A…fine idea.”

  Vesper’s eyes flattened and her smile faded. She had a knack of turning from jovial to threatening in the blink of an eye.

  “It is a fine idea, Lucius,” her voice rumbled. “You will alter your seedings appropriately, and set your red-headed giant loose on this girl from Haven. I cannot have her defy me again…do you understand me?”

  Lucius cowed and nodded and inched backwards just a little.

  “Yes, Empress Vesper. I understand fully.”

  Vesper relaxed, loosening her tight chest and expelling a long breath. She raised a hand, and flicked her fingers, and Lucius knew it was time to leave.

  “Go,” she said, smiling to herself. “And don’t let me down.”

  Lucius nodded, bowed, and turned away, feet rushing faster the closer he got to the door.

  And sitting alone, Vesper shut her eyes and imagined Kira’s death.

  A smile hovered on her thin, pale lips.

  Oh how sweet it would be.

  The Warrior Race will continue in Book Two – The Red Warrior

  Next Up - The Red Warrior

  Thanks so much for reading!

  Next up we have book two - THE RED WARRIOR - which will hopefully be coming out towards the end of July, or early August at the latest. The preorder will be available a couple of weeks or so before release.

  If you’ve been keeping up with The Enhanced series, then that’s awesome! If not, then go ahead and find out where Kira came from by getting stuck in right now.

  You can grab The Enhanced (Book One) here.

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  By doing so, you’ll also get access to the first book in The Watchers Series (The Watchers of Eden) completely free of charge, as well as a short story that’s only available to those who join my list.

  Thanks for reading!

  Author Notes

  Written 14th June

  As always, a huge great thank you for everyone who’s been along this journey with me. This book represented the first spinoff from the main series, and so it’s great that you’re reading these words now and have been interested enough to find out more about Kira’s story.

  If you haven’t yet caught up with the main series, then there’s no time like the present to do so. I tried my best to be as spoiler-free as possible writing this book, so that it gave possible readers and fans another entry-point into The Enhanced Universe. I hope I achieved that, and if you haven’t yet, you can go right ahead and find out what’s been going on across the sea in Haven.

  This book also represented a change of narrative style for me. So far, all my work has been first person, present tense. I felt like changing that up in this book, and going for third person, past tense. Obviously, there are ups and downs to both, but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge I have to say.

  Most of all, I enjoyed being able to swap between characters and their viewpoints. I always had it in mind to have Kira coming to the city of Neorome not knowing anything about it, and being a prisoner of the system, while using Dom as a way of showing the higher side of life. Obviously, life is hardly perfect for Dom, and including him as the prince of the city and son to the empress gave a nice balance to the two main characters I thought.

  The addition of Merk, however, wasn’t really planned! Yet, as I was writing the book, I began to realise that Merk had another interesting viewpoint on it all, showing the poverty of the city and the way it had been impacted by Vesper’s mental deterioration. In the end, I really enjoyed bringing all three characters together for the finale, showing the games from all three viewpoints and the various motivations they have.

  Of course, you might note from the story that I have an interest in Ancient Rome! I studied it at school, and took Latin as one of my major subjects, and was always interested in writing a story within that era. Of course, given the genres I write in, I couldn’t really do that, so instead I realised that reviving it, while also including the modern flourishes that speak of a world hundreds of years in the future, was the way to go. And then, of course, there are all the powerful characters that populate the world with their weird gifts and abilities, which made for some fun action set pieces within the arena and ludus. In the next book, I’m sure we’ll see far more of that!

  I truly am blessed to be able to do this as a job. I mean, in what other line of work could I combine my love for superheroes, ancient history, and movies like Gladiator and actually make a living? It’s mad that I’m able to do this, and I cannot thank all of you enough for keeping this crazy ride going. Without you reading my work and leaving great reviews, I’d surely get swept away by the sea of competition out there. You guys are the raft that keeps me afloat, and I’m truly grateful for that. And who knows, maybe one day that raft will become a yacht…one can dream, right?

  Now, this book was, for the reasons mentioned above, something of a departure from the norm for me. I won’t know until it’s released whether it sells well and gets good feedback. Right now, I’m hoping to make it into a trilogy at least, but if it does well, it might be longer.

  Next, however, I’m moving onto Book 9 of the main series, tentatively titled DEFENDER. It’ll be a little jarring at first going back to Brie’s present tense perspective, but I’m sure I’ll warm straight back into it (hopefully)!

  I said at the end of Book 8 that it would be out in the first week or July. Seeing as this book was a week later than expected, I suspect DEFENDER will be as well. So, we’re looking at mid July unless I can really get on a run.

  Anyway, thanks again for getting this far and, as always, drop me a line at t.c.edge@hotmail.co.uk if you want to give me any feedback on my work or ask any questions. If you want to leave a review on Amazon, too, then that would be extremely nice of you :)

  Ramble over for now.

  Speak soon.

  With love,

  Toby