by Jason Kurek
Chronoblood Chronicles:
The Prophecy of the Gladiator
By Jason Kurek
Copyright Jason Kurek 2013
Characters Copyright 2006
Fourth Edition June 2015
Published by Sci-Fantasy Books
ISBN: 9781310038563
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
EPILOGUE
PROLOGUE
A Message to the Prophet
We rejoice that this ancient text has finally fallen into your hands. It is not by chance, that your eyes see these words. It is by fate! For centuries, the greatest sages have attempted to decipher the meanings of these verses. Those that have tried, have only met great sacrifice; emperors have lost their kingdoms and wise men have lost their minds. For the secrets of this tome were meant to only be understood by a chosen witness... That chosen witness is you, oh Great Prophet.
You have lived a life of uncertainty. Constantly feeling lost, out of place, trying to find the meaning of your existence. The truth is, you are more special than you can imagine. It has always been your destiny to discover this lost tome and give testimony of its hidden revelations. This oh Great Prophet, is your purpose!
Behold, the Chronoblood Chronicles!
Let your mind travel across the dark seas of space, deep within the colorful waves of the streams of time, to the crown jewel of the universe: the world of Terrynmen. It was a majestic realm of infinite beauty, where snowcapped mountains overlooked flowering valleys, and golden deserts led to lush tropical coasts. The many species of this world, from the smallest sprite to the largest giant, all coexisted in peace and harmony. Together, they developed wild technologies that were powered by archaic magic, which they used to establish fanciful kingdoms of crystal castles and enchanted monuments.
Sadly, the once blossoming glades and surreal cityscapes of this beautiful world, were burned away by the fires of conquest, when Annukus, the god of the night, viciously invaded Terrynmen. He led legions of vampiric blood demons and undying flesh fiends into the mortal realms to gluttonously feed upon the multitudes of innocent men, women and children. The armies of the living tried frantically to withstand the waves of undead that were flooding their lands, but their swords, cannons and ramparts were not enough to hold back the unholy onslaught. The only real protection that the mortal races had from the creatures of the night, was the temporary light of day. Yet when the sun set, entire nations fell and most who survived were rounded up like cattle and devoured.
Thankfully, a hero arose; a master of both time and space, known only as the Crimson Saint, took desperate measures to defeat the Night God and his blood sucking hordes. He confronted Annukus and nearly died in the process, but found the strength to create a magical explosion that froze the dark deity within the fabrics of time…
Yet, what was supposed to be a moment of triumph, turned into a tragic catastrophe. The temporal shockwave from the blast spread across all of Terrynmen and stopped the world from rotating, cursing half the planet in endless darkness and the other in scorching daylight. The defeated blood demons and other creatures of the night, found refuge on the cold, sunless side of the planet, while the victorious, mortal beings were forced to rebuild their once great cities in the “safe-zone” of the sweltering, sunlit lands. Eventually, most of the civilizations of the light united under a single flag, called the Golden Empire.
Although their world would never be the same, the mortal races still dearly thanked the Crimson Saint for saving them from the brink of extinction. They beseeched the holy warrior to be their king, while many more made distant pilgrimages to worship him. He declined all offers of royalty and humbly asked them not to exalt him as a god. The Crimson Saint’s destiny was always to serve the people, not to rule them. To do this, he divided his essence into what legend would call, ‘The Four Shards’. The Saint gifted these aspects of his consciousness to the mortal races of Terrynmen, to help them prosper in the new world ahead. After doing so, he began to fade into the ether.
Although, just before the Saint vanished entirely, he gave a dire prophecy. He warned that far into the future, Annukus would escape his temporal prison and would then send forth a Dark Emissary to gather the Four Shards in an effort to use their combined power to finally destroy the people of Terrynmen. The Saint then gave a promise of hope: he revealed that the Night God could be stopped during this time of tribulation, if a holy chosen one, known as the Bearer, could reunite the Shards before the Dark Emissary. By doing so, it would summon the Crimson Saint to appear again, and in his second coming he would permanently vanquish all darkness in the realm, and would bring Terrynmen into an eternal age of love and light.
A millennia later, the Crimson Saint’s prophecy began to come to fruition, as the Cult of Annukus unified the blood demon clans within the Veil of Shadows. Unfortunately, the provinces of the sunlit lands were too consumed by the bile of politics and greed to take notice. Someone else would have to bear the weight of the world’s salvation and that person was the most unexpected of all…
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
