Nightmare (excerpt)

Hi guys, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! I’m glad you stopped by. It’s Thursday, after all, and this month, that means it’s excerpt day!

Today, I’m introducing you to one of my favorite characters. A character I had a hard time writing, all because he’s such an enigma. I think you’ll love him too, once you get to know him.

Today, I want to introduce you to Zion, and to Aedan.

Believe me, there’s so much more to come from both of them.

[love]

{Rani Divine}

Excerpt from Anialych: People of Sand

By Rani Divine

©Copyright RAD Writing, 2019

Zion’s eyes snapped open to see only darkness around him. His body was covered in a sheen of cold sweat and his heart raced, his hands clenched tight into fists. Never in his life had he had a dream so vivid, so lifelike and real. It was as though he was actually there, as though all of it had really happened.

 It’d been nighttime, and all of Tywed had been in a still silence unlike any he’d witnessed before. It was as though they’d known what was coming, as though they’d known all along and done nothing to prevent its coming. The whole town had lain utterly quiet as arrows of fire rained down upon them, as everything went up in smoke and flames. He’d tried to run out and stop them, to put out the fires or shout for people to leave their homes, but he’d been unable to move. All he could do was stand in the center of Tywed and watch as everything he knew, everything their people had worked so hard to build, was turned to ash and dust. The whole valley oasis had gone up in flames, the fire reaching so high that he couldn’t see anything around him, but he heard their screams. Women and children had cried out for a rescuer, for someone to come and lend them aid, for someone to be their salvation from the depths of the flames. Zion had tried to run out to them, to go out into the village and save as many as he could, but still his feet would not move. He was cursed to stand and watch, to look on as destruction rained down upon the land he so loved.

 Then his body had been taken out to the cliffs, to the top of the mountains to where he was looking down over Tywed. He saw the army that surrounded him, their flaming arrows still shooting down into the former oasis below. None had any expression upon their faces, but simply stood there and did as their commander ordered. He was taken to where he could look out over the army, and to where he could see the very face of the man who’d caused such death and destruction. The man was familiar, as though Zion had seen him and spent time with him on many occasions, but his face was somehow different. He was older, more rage and experience in his eyes than Zion had seen before.

 The man had lifted his sword and cried out in a loud voice, again silencing the whole of Tywed. When his cry was complete, he lowered his sword and watched as hundreds of soldiers made their way into the city to destroy what was left of it. Every last man, woman, and child was destroyed. The animals were burned alive. Crops were set aflame. Houses were torn down and ransacked. The city was no longer recognizable, and the valley could no longer have been seen as an oasis. Zion had wondered if anything would ever grow their again, after that amount of death and destruction. After so much fire, would anything ever find a way to live in this place of death?

 When Zion had looked again to the leader, his eyes had shifted to another man on his knees beside him. The man was in chains, tears streaking down his face and catching in his beard, wails of agony and deepest rage echoing through his soul. This was the man that Zion had known. The man, this chained beast, was the man Zion had known since the time they’d left the plains upon this expedition. He’d watched in silence as the man had cried out in grief and looked up to the leader of the army, begging him to cease this madness—but the leader would not hear him.

 Then Zion was carried to another land, through the desert along the path of the river, to a mountainous region of trees and wildlife. He’d seen the army surround the people who lived there, seen the fire that raged down upon them as well, heard their cries as they were destroyed, their deaths coming even faster than the deaths of Tywed. His heart had ached for them. Never before had he seen these people, never had he imagined that they might exist, and still he hurt for their demise. This should not have come here, to this place of peace.

 Then his eyes had opened and he’d known that it was all a dream, the most lifelike dream he had ever before experienced.

 Zion sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, jumping out of bed when he saw the man standing in the corner of his bedroom, beside the only window.

 “Who are you?” he demanded, taking hold of the sword that lay beside his bed.

 “What you have seen will come to pass,” the man replied, hiding his face beneath the hood of his cloak.

 “Show yourself.”

 “May your eyes be opened, that you will believe,” he said before he disappeared from sight, leaving Zion again as the only person in the room.

 His hand gripped tighter around the hilt of his sword and he turned in circles, searching for the man who had been in this room. He’d heard the man’s voice: it couldn’t have been a dream. The fire and destruction had been a dream, but now he was awake. He felt it. With wide eyes, he went to the window and opened the shutters, allowing the moonlight to filter in through the darkness. Again he turned and looked across his room, but no one was there. He was completely alone. But in his heart he believed that the man had been here, that it had not been a dream.

 As quietly as possible, he went out and checked the rest of the house. He scanned the main room and stoked the fire to ensure there would be enough light before going to each of his sibling’s rooms. Aran was asleep on the edge of his bed, Yosef sprawled out over the whole of his mattress, and Delilah slept with open eyes, but they were alone. No one else was here. The house was empty, save the souls who lived within it.