Convergence (The Dragon Within Saga Book 1)

by Roberto Vecchi

  Convergence

  Book 1 Of The Dragon Within Saga

  Roberto Vecchi

  Convergence

  Book 1 Of The Dragon Within Saga

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2017 Roberto Vecchi.

  All Rights Reserved

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of Robert Vecchi except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Roberto Vecchi

  poeticblade@gmail.com

  Contents.

  Prologue.

  Gainoth (Festival).

  Unglasio (Isolation).

  Shios (Home).

  Hun (Knowledge).

  Akin’Dra (Warrior Poet).

  Soliney (Fireborn).

  Gainey (Feast).

  Bidainsio (Devotion).

  Accutsio (Abduction).

  Lacorion (Dragon King).

  Enoay (Broken).

  Merco Enon (No Mercy).

  Atuun (Journey).

  Dualoin (Worship).

  Rashios (Rescue).

  Dra’utro (Scripture).

  Majund (Branded).

  Solinido (Firestorm).

  Secrekil (Assassin).

  Suun (Alone).

  Comeract (Mercenaries).

  Uulin (Council).

  Dua’dra (Dragon Within).

  Solin’dra (Dragon Fire).

  Dilengen (Convergence).

  Uunbrish (Assault).

  Drahin (Father).

  Prologue.

  Recently, I had the rare opportunity to look myself directly in the mirror of my soul and see exactly what it reflected. I reference rare only because I took the opportunity on an objective level by removing all of the external preconceptions of existence out of the equation of life. Being honest, we are presented these opportunities much more frequently than to warrant usage of the term rare; however, on most occasions, we (mortals) are too inured into our small and subjective lives to realize that we have been given an immortal life extending not just beyond the point of our death, but into the realm of life. This immortal ability was given to us by God when the veil was torn by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ thus restoring the world to the pre-sin era where favor and right standing with God abounded. What He did was allow the power and principles of faith to operate in our lives through the movement of the Holy Spirit.

  Faith is the same power that God called forth when he created the Light as well as all the substance of the universe from literally nothing. Faith is the same power employed by Jesus to perform the multitude of miracles responsible for spreading His message. It is that which allowed His disciples to perform their miracles, and that which allowed Paul to write the inspired words later to be collected into parts of the New Testament. Faith allows us to step into the fullness of God's intent for our lives.

  God's will exists above and beyond all and is the exact reason for the placement of each and every one of us into the wonderful web that is His creation; however, we as mere mortals are not privy to all of the knowledge and inner workings of His vast and marvelous mind. It is that reason alone that necessitates faith. We cannot possibly fathom the depth of He Who Is All. His being, the fullness of everything encompassing God is incomprehensible for us through logical deduction because our logic is not based on the divine understanding of EVERYTHING. Instead, our powers of reasoning are subjected to every bit of our mortal shortcomings and failings. True, we have been given powerful minds, but because they exist in the confines of the finite, physical realm (for there is an infinite, non-physical realm) they are only powerful when applied to the finite and physical. To ask, let alone expect us to understand the principles and innermost workings of God is tantamount to insanity. But in His ultimate wisdom, He gave us something that voids our need to understand what we cannot understand. He is so magnificent, that He knew we would fail in His creation unless He provided us with the power and applicable ability to exercise our immortal and infinite existence while yet still alive within His finite construct. He does not want us to simply love Him, but also to experience the overwhelming love He has for us! But since there is no mortally logical means we can employ through the physiological functioning of our brains to even come close to understanding the vastness of His love, in His benevolence, he gave us a tool, when employed, will surpass all logical deductions. He gave us Faith.

  He gave us access to calling forth from the unseen that which is seen. He has created us so much in His image that we have the potential of calling into being (physical) that which has yet to be revealed to the senses! Through faith we can believe, feel, experience and enjoy the boundless, matchless, limitless nature of His love in spite of our fallible, mortal nature. But faith does not end with our own singular experience of God's love for us. Because of its very nature, divine love is selfless and meant to be spread throughout the entirety of His kingdom. So by applying faith in the same manner to believe God's personal love, we can then express God's interpersonal love to all who cross our paths. Hope is the intent, faith is the power, and love is the reason.

  Yet who am I to claim such understanding? Truly, I have not studied either of the two predominant paths to divinity through either of the two devoted schools of theological study, The Righteous Few Foundation for Religious Studies or The Sons and Daughters of Destiny. Consequently I have not received either a degree or certification claiming my worthiness to be listened to with any amount of intentional and earnest heed for my words. Nor have I walked in the steps of His Son, The Christ, and obtained firsthand knowledge of all Godly principles. In fact, I have absolutely no formal education in the Word of God whatsoever, and should, by all rights, be utterly ignored.

  Rather, my education has come through one of His most devout followers. Though the deeds and stories you will read in the following pages will likely stand as unbelievable, I will assure you of their validity. Most of the events, I have either borne witness to with my own eyes, or revealed with years of delicate, diligent, and devoted research, quite a bit after the fact, and sometimes placing myself in direct peril. Notwithstanding this, all accounts following have been vetted as correct and true to the best of my humble abilities, even the accounts I was not privy to directly observing or those contained within the minds of others. Yes, there is some speculation regarding others' thought processes and plans; however, the spiritual leading of God through His Son, The Christ, has lead me down a path where any and all doubt, regardless of the apparent impossibility of the unwitnessed events, has been removed from even those which were unseen.

  So who is responsible (beyond God that is) for both my current understanding of God and Christ as well as the fantastic tales you are about to read? His name is Eriboth Dordrosis, and he comes from and dwells within the land of Avendia, the same land where I herald from. Where is this land of Avendia? It exists in the transitional place between the realm of lost innocence and that of belief. Its very fabric is intricately woven together by everything unseen by the eyes of our duality with the primary construct of Faith as its governing dynamic. Not everything unseen is not real, nor is everything seen firmly planted in reality.

  Avendia represents the best and the worst of us all pushed together by the powers of Good and Evil. It is the tangible reality we like to ignore because we cannot face what the truth means. It is a place where legends and myths are alive to breathe and walk amongst us. It is a place of majestic kings and queens, princes and princesses, wizards and witches, deities and d
emons. Its landscape, from the Great Green Forest of the Elves in the far northeast to the expansive Silver Empire in the distant southwest is wrought with treachery and mystery, pleasures and treasures. It is a land of towering mountains, vast oceans large enough to birth the most vicious of leviathans, great and desolate deserts, merchants, gypsies, elves, orcs, dwarves and men all interwoven under a thick and marvelous blanket of Faith based magic not found in any other realm before or after.

  Ah, Avendia. I could talk about her many wonders for hours upon hours and days upon days, but I must apologize because I have forgotten myself and my manners. Here I am, going on and on about the land of Avendia, but have forgotten to introduce you to the mortal reason for my ramblings. Yes, his name is Eriboth Dordrosis, but simply knowing his name reveals no more about him to you than you to he had he been on the receiving end of the information of your name. After all, our identities are steeped in a greater revelation than what we are momentarily called. As Eriboth would say it, "Our identities are derived from the convergence of our three circles of existence; The Mind, The Body, and The Will as reflected by the objective centering of God's expressive intention imbued within us from the moment of our creation. We are not told to do, we are told to be. Therefore, we must focus our will to achieve His intent. We must allow our minds and bodies to do what His Will has already done. We must become, In Jesus, and all else will follow."

  However, this story begins well before the introduction of Eriboth to my life and the lives of those fortunate enough to be called by His Will in regards to this chapter in Avendia's existence. While the battle was yet looming, and I was hiding in a merchant’s wine cellar, the walls of the Silver Empire’s preeminent stronghold were preventing its vast lands from stretching nakedly before the evil horde of Lord Jesolin Kahl. I had not yet met he who would broaden my miniscule understanding of divinity; as such, my perspective of this battle now greatly differs from what it previously had been.

  However small my understanding was years ago, I was still able to understand the magnitude of the past season's cascading events. They fell into place so effortlessly and systematically, I was never given the opportunity to wonder, as so many do in times of war, how it came to this. I knew. But what I did wonder was why. Why had Lord Kahl advanced his evil horde now? What greater purpose was he endeavoring to establish in this moment in time that he would go against the singular code guiding all evil considered as holy (in their unending belief that Satan is the true God). Evil beings and entities almost never openly attack. In fact, all true evil in the world works in exactly the opposite direction. They seek to remain nameless, blameless, and formless. To denounce all things Good and consequently proclaim that there is a greater evil at work in the world is to acknowledge that its only purpose through its existence is to replicate itself thereby attempting to self-promote.

  It has been touted by much more learned men than myself that the greatest accomplishment of evil, and hence Satan, was to erase its existence in the eyes of mortality. But such belief in vampires, ghosts, demons, Satan, and indeed any tangibly manifested evil, was disregarded in such a manner that only those thought to be marginally sane held it as truth. Even the very nature of God himself, while acknowledged, was still largely denied. While fantastic in all things we are able to experience through our senses, Avandia’s denizens are equally the opposite in regards to all things we cannot see, with persistent specificity to matters of Faith. The second most advantageous accomplishment by Satan is not the convincing of God’s non-existence; rather it is the convincing of his passivity and non-involvement. And I, like the majority of Avendians, fell prey to both of them. I was one of the segmented majorities who believed that God, while He took great interest in the creation of the universe, held little or no interest in the personal lives of His children, if He considered us His children at all.

  My first encounter with the solidified presence of evil and hence Satan himself launched me into an adventure much too large for a simple farm boy whose only dream was to continue the preservation of his family's well-being. My part in the enormity of the following events was not driven by a desire to become a legendary hero, but was instead done out of necessity. My life’s dream was simple and straight forward. I had no dreams of traveling leagues away to visit all the cities of man. Nor did I hold any interest in visiting the Elves and Dwarfs, or engaging in any battles of any kind. And most certainly did I not wish to have any interaction, either accidental or purposeful, with the most mysterious and quite frankly dangerous of all of Avendia’s inhabitants – Dragons. All men, and I use this term loosely and linked only to the age of sixteen (because there is much more related to being a man than the years survived outside of the womb), must be enlisted in the service of the local Lord in any manner said Lord saw fit. As such, my goal for the moment was to live and serve my time with Lord Henchat, who was a distant third or fourth cousin to High King Yahnaros, and then return to my village and live out my days as my father had done – tending the farm in his childhood home.

  Because of the actions of the very first High King of the Silver Empire, my singular dream was going to have to wait. The first High King, Tregador, had enacted this practice of enlisting all youth men after their sixteenth birthday just one year into his reign at the behest of his First Counselor, Mendron Borlic, in response to the brewing hostilities between the newly formed Silver Empire and the Goblin King Ta’Grin Sron. King Sron was beginning to openly challenge the legitimacy of High King Tregador by stating The King, in fact, had goblin blood in his lineage. No one in the Silver Empire believed the goblin king because of the long history High King Tregador had in unifying the separate city states into what is now known as the Silver Empire. Previously, while it was still known as the Cracked Kingdom (because not even two of the seven separate city states, though they believed in the benefit from uniting under a single banner, could agree upon who’s banner under which to unite), the Goblins enjoyed, for the most part, free trafficking of their goods to the pirates in the ship harbors of the great coastal Port Cities. King Sron, understanding the ramifications of a centralized kingship to lead the other city states, knew a port tariff would be soon to follow thus diminishing his treasury and ability to earn more currency. Though they attempted many complex (some not so complex) tactics to politically and militarily stop Tregador’s momentum, when none of them materialized into the response he desired, he turned to outright lies based upon accusations of outlandish nature.

  You see, goblins covet money almost as much as Dragons are reported to. While in the case of Dragons this is greatly exaggerated, it is equally understated in reference to goblins. Because of their small stature compared to their cousins, the orcs, and smaller still when compared to their other cousins, ogres and trolls, goblins believe that the only way they can promote themselves in value is to own more assets than any of the others. This belief was no more prominent in any other goblin king before or since King Sron. So when he threatened open war against the newly founded Silver Empire, King Tregador had only one option to take – ensure the survival of the Silver Empire.

  But since the other major cities still viewed themselves as mainly individual city states, they were slow in responding to his request of sending a third of their garrisons to be housed in the new High Capital of Pretago Cor. Because he was facing a foe he was unable to defeat with his current army, High King Tregador did what he had to do. He instituted a mandated service law in the Silver Legion, as he would later name it. This policy resulted in a huge increase in his military strength. This influx of men completely thwarted King Sron’s plans of abolishing the Silver Empire through subterfuge and ultimately open war, because while the vast goblin hordes could stand against and possibly defeat the independent city states, they could not, without the help of their cousins, hope to stand against the full might of a unified empire.

  As a secondary effect, High King Tregador’s new policy also paved the way for the development and subsequent rise
of one of the most prosperous empires Avendia had ever seen. Again, because of the vast success of this program not just in peace-keeping but also in requisitioning a multitude of able bodied and sound minded men all teeming with ambition and eagerness to impress, the Empire rallied behind their new High King and his new program. Things previously left undone and unaccounted for by the individual city states that filtered down into the local land-owning lords, were now being accomplished. Things cannot be completed unless there is a will to complete them and bodies through which this will can be exercised. And because of High King Tregador’s new policy, the Silver Empire had vast amounts of both.

  But the continuation of this program beyond the first year happened quite by accident and with no intention exercised in the capital, Pretago Cor. It just arose. Roughly a year after the first Silver Selection (it was not named such until after High King Tregador had passed from life), streams of young able-bodied men started arriving at the capital. At first, only a few entered the gates, but as the weeks passed, more and more came from all corners of the Empire. And each traveler was expecting to be placed into areas of service based on their strengths and weaknesses, and influenced by their desires. What began as an act of necessity that likely would never have manifested had it not been for the gold driven King Sron was turning into a solidified identity for an empire still in its infancy.

  When there were more young men amassed in the city than could be adequately housed and provided for, things took a turn for the worse. Because there was no structured organization, and hence, no placement for these young men to materialize their hopes, they turned to what we all turn to, our vices, to occupy our time. You see, one of the truths of humanity is that we need to be productive and driven by a sense of belonging to a greatness beyond ourselves in order to become and do more than our own mortal schemes would dictate. And when this belonging is taken away, as it was with the thousands of young men (because they believed they would be immediately assimilated into their dream and provided for by the great and shining Pretago Cor) they searched for something else to believe in. And they would find it, or rather, it would find them.