Read Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One Online
Authors: Anna Erishkigal
Tags: #Fantasy, #Romance Speculative Fiction
Sword of the Gods: The Chosen One (2 page)
Angel of Death: A Love Story
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478
A Moment of your Time, Please…
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Other Books by Anna Erishkigal
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I’d like to thank the
people without whose support this novel would have died a plot bunny hopping
around on a hard drive.
To my wonderful
husband … who tolerates my nocturnal writing bouts and strange musings about ‘I
can’t talk now … my bad guy is talking to me…’
To my lovely children
… whose mommy answers their blood-curdling screams about who stole whose toy
with ‘not now … I'm in the middle of a battle scene…’
To my oldest daughter,
who serves our country in the Army National Guard Reserves. I re-watched your
Fort Leonard Wood basic training video and think you’ll see scenes that are
familiar. Yes … I did use that blackmail tear-gas training … but you’ll have
to wait until Book 3 to read it.
J
I'm so proud of
you!
To Rochelle Green aka
‘Caelicorn’ who was kind enough to let me borrow her beautiful artwork
‘Michael’ for my book cover. I hope readers will visit her digital gallery at
http://caelicorn.cgsociety.org
To Sensei Donna and my
talented fellow karate students at Donna Marie's USA Urban Goju Karate dojo in
Wareham, MA, who’ve tolerated my conscripting karate classes into live
re-enactments of fight scenes so I can reality test the action. Especially the
scenes containing real weapons!
To my patient friends,
who tolerate my launching into conversations about fictional characters who
don't really exist and don't call the police when I fade off mid-sentence and
mumble ‘excuse me … I have to go home and kill somebody off now…’
And to my very first
fan, who faithfully read through the earliest draft of this series as it was
being written … Michelle Koller … aka ShellyStark. To you I dedicate your
favorite Fallen general, Abaddon the Destroyer.
~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~
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* ~ * ~
Humans:
a species that went extinct after an asteroid hit their homeworld, Nibiru,
approximately 74,000 years ago. All attempts to reseed humans onto other
planets failed and they died out. It's rumored this is the species which
spawned the Eternal Emperor, but the Eternal Palace has refused to comment.
Angelics:
genetically engineered super-soldiers spliced together from a genetic
base of humans and the keen eyesight and wings of eagles. They carry the
highest percentage of human DNA. They act as the Alliance's air force. Due to
inbreeding to maintain their animal features, fewer than 7,500 Angelics remain
in existence today.
Leonids
:
genetically engineered
super-soldiers spliced together from a genetic base of lions and humans. They
are the most animalistic of the four branches of the Alliance military. They
act as multi-purpose situational forces. When the going gets tough, the
Emperor says, 'Send in the Leonids!' Due to inbreeding to maintain their
animal features, fewer than 3,500 Leonids remain in existence today.
Centauri
:
genetically engineered super-soldiers spliced together from a genetic base of
horses and humans. They act as the Alliance's cavalry. Due to inbreeding to
maintain their animal features, fewer than 4,000 remain in existence today.
Merfolk
:
genetically engineered
super-soldiers spliced together from a genetic base of humans and aquatic
mammals. They were engineered to act as the Alliance's navy. Five hundred
years ago their species merged with a sister-species,
Leviathans.
Only
a handful of purebred Merfolk still exist today. The hybrids are known as
Mer-Levi.
Leviathans
:
a
genetically enhanced species of sentient aquatic mammals originating from the
same homeworld that humans came from, Nibiru. They evolved separately after
being successfully reseeded on a remote planet. Many of their species merged
with
Merfolk
into the
Mer-Levi.
Mantoids
:
a naturally evolved species of sentient six-legged
insects. They have supplemented Angelics in the Alliance Air Force.
Spiderids:
a naturally evolved species of sentient eight-legged insects. They
have supplemented Leonids in the Alliance Air Force.
Delphiniums
:
a
naturally evolved species of sentient frog-like amphibians. They have almost
totally replaced Merfolk as the Alliance's Navy.
Saori:
a naturally evolved species of gazelle-sized sentient mammals. They supplement
and support the Centauri Cavalry, but due to their small size, haven't been
able to replace them.
Muqqibat
:
a
naturally evolved species of sentient serpent-like creatures with short arms
and legs and a head that resembles a dragon. They are an 'ancient species' and
many of their number teeter at the threshold of becoming ascended beings.
Cherubim
:
a
naturally evolved species of fierce, ant-like creatures which dwell in
hive-like colonies of Monks ruled by a single queen. They are the personal
guard of the Eternal Emperor and teeter at the threshold of becoming ascended
beings. Their population has remained stable at exactly 1,000 for the past
15,000 years.