Legends of Lemuria: Unpublished Prologue

Keep reading for the unpublished prologue of my fantasy book coming out this spring!

Available for pre-order here: Legends of Lemuria

In a future dystopia, Zia Alexander lives in crumbling ruins playing the world’s most illegal and addictive virtual reality game. After the loss of her mother, she plays the game for her shot at freedom. Zia discovers a map that leads to Lemuria—a real fantasy world full of dragons, wicked faeries and assassins where her mother is alive, and two princes try to win her heart.

Prologue

Long ago, in a land long since forgotten, an elder sat beneath the open skies. It was a night like many others—an ocean of stars swallowed the jagged mountain ridges, the great river flowed lethargically, and the trees swayed with the stubborn breeze.

The elder had spent thousands of years slumbering while her spirit traveled the cosmos. A seer, they called her. The past, present, and future all blurred together. Any moment that had happened or could happen appeared at will in the endless dark. At first, it was maddening. Yet, after nine thousand years of existence, her state of content passivity had gone undisturbed.

Until the vision.

Her withered hands shook as she felt the vision flood her body, rattling her to the bone. Out on the earth’s surface, in a realm she had only heard whispers about, a little girl took her first breath in the world. All she saw was a pair of blue eyes, and the river of magic that ran in her veins—a power the likes of which she hadn’t felt in nine thousand years.

The vision dissolved, and the elder raced to gather the bones and flowers she needed. A human child with magic. The prophecy had been clear, but after all this time, even the elder had believed it to be nothing but the senile ramblings of an ancient oracle.

The elder gasped, clutching her chest as she keeled over. She felt the blades of dewy grass beneath her fingertips and the soft breeze that swirled around her. It had been so long since she was awake, she had to remind herself how to take slow, shuddering breaths.

Finally, she rose to her feet. The elder knew every bump and hollow in the land she had been confined to for so long. Within minutes, she gathered the ingredients needed, feeling her way through the garden. She placed the bones in the shape of a pyramid, gathering helius and corellia flowers. They were rare to find and dangerous to grow, but it was worth the risk. Rubbing the petals between her withered fingertips, she crushed them into dust.

“Deus sermiya,” the elder whispered in the ancient tongue, blowing the flowers from her palm and listening to the dust rain down on the bones. Her breath shortened as the dust settled. A faint glow began to appear. The glittering powder rose from the point of the pyramid, swirling in two spirals up toward the sky. The earth quaked and rumbled beneath her. Cold sweat licked down her spine as the dust ripped open the veil between this world and the next.

The elder felt like her skull was splitting open as the full might of her magic was unleashed. She had sworn not to use it—that which she had been entrusted with long ago, but she needed to see the timelines. If this child could be the one they had whispered of for eons. She peered into the future, and all possible outcomes, seeing flashes of the woman the girl could one day become.

The gathered bones turned to nothing but ash, swept away by the winter winds. The elder listened to the whistling breeze carry the dust up towards the stars and wondered if it may reach all the way to that little girl a world away.

A tear finally wriggled free, sliding down her cheek as she prayed for that baby, as she prayed for them all. And for the first time in a long, long time, the elder felt a fragile feeling bloom in her chest.

Hope.

Available for pre-order here: Legends of Lemuria

Thank you so much for reading! This book has been four years in the making and I haven’t quite found the words yet for how this feels, but hopefully soon. If you’re interested in reading more excerpts and writing tips, feel free to hit subscribe!

Much love,

Your friendly neighborhood scribe