The Return To Erda Box Set
Page 63
In the restored Erda, the entire village of Dalry had never been touched, and no one other than a few of us had a memory of the thought-worms that had destroyed it.
Beru was back in her village of Kinver with her parents who had never left. Of the five men from Kinver that had helped us defeat Shatterskin and Deadsweep, only James and his daughter Liza remembered. Kit, who had died in the past, was still there. That sorrow had been lifted from my heart.
I continued to think of Kinver as a second home. They no longer called me Hannah because I am happy to be Kara Beth. But they still call me daughter, and that is all I need.
I returned the star necklace to Liza. Seeing 4D is something I can call up at any time now. Like most of the magic I had forgotten, it all came back to me after Leif and I stopped the being that was calling himself Abbadon.
Instead of being afraid of my gifts and the responsibilities they carry, I am grateful. I know I won’t abuse them. I have been tested, and I have passed that test. Not that I don’t think there will be more, but my team, my friends, will be here if I need them.
Aki and Professor Link are now living together in the Castle, and Niko is enjoying not needing to hide his identity anymore. Both Aki and Niko carry the memory of their time in Abbadon’s prison, but I’m not sure they realize it was Leif that had helped them escape.
I do know that Leif and Sarah still have many secrets that I don’t know—yet. After all, Leif is a wizard and Sarah is an oracle. At least in Erda. Perhaps in the Earth Realm too.
Cahir stays in Eiddwen with his family most of the time. My father’s housekeeper, Berta, is happy caring for my parents, who really don’t need it anymore since my mother returned. But Berta and her skills keep their home and the village safe and happy. The only time the three of them left the village was when they traveled to the Castle for our wedding.
In royal terms, it had been a small wedding. Zeid and I didn’t need anything other than our friends and family around us, and they all came. Even Teddy and the Ginete brothers had been there. Teddy cried huge tears the whole time, and couldn’t stop whispering his favorite names for me as he watched the ceremony.
Even though my parents had stepped down from the throne and had turned the Kingdom over to us, neither of us wanted to be anything other than Zeid and Kara Beth. The fact that we are now King and Queen hasn’t changed us. It has only made us more grateful for what we learned and for the ones who supported us.
As we stood on the hill, remembering the past, the Priscillas got tired of waiting. They had made it halfway down the meadow before Zeid and I followed them, ready to continue our life together.
The danger had passed, but the thrill of traveling had not left me, and Zeid knew that, so I wasn’t surprised when he asked, “Do you think you will want to do more traveling through portals, Kara Beth?”
As Lady streaked overhead heading to Eiddwen, I realized that answer was yes. But when, and where? That I didn’t know. I had all the time in the world to find out.
Author’s Note
As I wrap up this Return To Erda series I am thinking about where I want these characters to go, or are they happy where they are?
When I wrote Karass, the first book in the Karass Chronicles, I had no idea that it would turn into a series. If I had, I probably would have picked a different name. However, the series grew because readers and I liked the characters and wondered what happened to them.
Then when I wrote Paragnosis, the last book in the Karass Chronicles, I wondered what happened to some of the characters in the dimension they kept talking about. What was it like? Who lived there? And so I followed Hannah and a few of her friends from the Earth Realm to Erda.
Now another character from these two series has moved into the next one, The Chronicles of Thamon. Check out the series to see who it is.
If you have a character you would like to see more of, please let me know. Who knows, it could shape future books!
I have learned so much about writing these last few years. I hope to get better and better at the craft of writing as I write more stories. One thing that I have learned is how to follow the story and not try to force it.
That means there are many, many times—especially in Abbadon—where I was clueless as to what was going to happen next. Until I wrote it. Then I was as surprised as a reader would be. It was both terrifying and delightful. Or maybe it is as Suzanne says, beautifully terrifying.
If you would like to read a short prequel to these three series I’ll send it to you for free.
It answers a few questions about the brothers who seeded Earth and Erda, and a little bit about where Suzanne really came from.
I’ll tell you a secret: Earl and Ariel are not Suzanne’s blood parents. And she has a sister Meg. More mystery. And another series, The Chronicles of Thamon.
Get this free short story here: becalewis.com/fantasy.
Love, Beca
PS
Be the first to know when there are new books, join my mailing list at becalewis.com/fantasy. Plus, I have some free giveaways. (Including that prequel to Karass and Erda and Thamon.)
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OTHER BOOK SERIES BY BECA
The Karass Chronicles - Magical Realism
The Return To Erda Series - Fantasy
The Chronicles of Thamon - Fantasy
The Shift Series - Spiritual Self-Help
Perception Parables: - Fiction - very short stories
Advice: - Nonfiction
A Woman’s ABC’s of Life: Lessons in Love, Life and Career from Those Who Learned The Hard Way
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I could never write a book without the help of my friends and my book community. Thank you Jet Tucker, Jamie Lewis, Diana Cormier, and Barbara Budan for taking the time to do the final reader proof. You can’t imagine how much I appreciate it.
A huge thank you to Laura Moliter for her fantastic book editing.
Thank you to the fabulous Molly Phipps at wegotyoucoveredbookdesign.com for the beautiful book covers for the Erda series.
Thank you to every other member of my Book Community who help me make so many decisions that help the book be the best book possible.
Thank you to all the people who tell me that they love to read these stories. Those random comments from friends and strangers are more valuable than gold.
And always, thank you to my beloved husband, Del, for being my daily sounding board, for putting up with all my questions, my constant need to want to make things better, and for being the love of my life, in more than just this one lifetime.
ABOUT BECA LEWIS
Beca writes books that she hopes will change people’s perceptions of themselves and the world, and open possibilities to things and ideas that are waiting to be seen and experienced.
At sixteen, Beca founded her own dance studio. Later, she received a Master’s Degree in Dance in Choreography from UCLA and founded the Harbinger Dance Theatre, a multimedia dance company, while continuing to run her dance school.
After graduating—to better support her three children—Beca switched to the sales field, where she worked as an employee and independent contractor to many industries, excelling in each while perfecting and teaching her Shift® system, and writing books.
She joined the financial industry in 1983 and became an Associate Vice President of Investments at a major stock brokerage firm, and was a licensed Certified Financial Planner for more than twenty years.
This diversity, along
with a variety of life challenges, helped fuel the desire to share what she’s learned by writing and talking with the hope that it will make a difference in other people’s lives.
Beca grew up in State College, PA, with the dream of becoming a dancer and then a writer. She carried that dream forward as she fulfilled a childhood wish by moving to Southern California in 1969. Beca told her family she would never move back to the cold.
After living there for thirty years, she met her husband Delbert Lee Piper, Sr., at a retreat in Virginia, and everything changed. They decided to find a place they could call their own which sent them off traveling around the United States. For a year or so they lived and worked in a few different places before returning to live in the cold once again near Del’s family in a small town in Northeast Ohio, not too far from State College.
When not working and teaching together, they love to visit and play with their combined family of eight children and five grandchildren, read, study, do yoga or taiji, feed birds, work in their garden, and design things. Actually, designing things is what Beca loves to do. Del enjoys the end result.