Season of Sacrifice (Blood of Azure Book 1) by Jonathan Michael (ereader that reads to you txt) 📗

Season of Sacrifice

Blood of Azure

In a world ruled by decay, what chance does life stand?

Jonathan J Michael

Copyright © 2021, 2019 Jonathan J Michael

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of quotations in a review.

ISBN: 979-8-5718230-1-2

Some characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Editing by Mary DeSantis https://www.kitnkabookle.com

Cover Art by John Poh

Visit http://jonathanjmichael.com

Contents

Prologue

1 Jaymes

2 Stone

3 Goose

4 Stone

5 Elder

6 Harris

7 Stone

8 Ellia

9 Stone

10 Goose

11 Harris

12 Goose

13 Jaymes

14 Stone

15 Ellia

16 Elder

17 Stone

18 Jaymes

19 Goose

20 Elder

21 Stone

22 Jaymes

23 Goose

24 Stone

25 Jaymes

26 Stone

27 Goose

28 Elder

29 Harris

30 Stone

31 Jaymes

32 Goose

33 Stone

34 Jaymes

35 Ellia

36 Goose

37 Stone

38 Goose

39 Jaymes

40 Stone

41 Harris

42 Goose

43 Stone

44 Ellia

45 Elder

46 Jaymes

47 Stone

48 Elder

49 Goose

50 Ellia

51 Harris

52 Goose

53 Stone

54 Ellia

55 Goose

56 Astor

57 Stone

58 Jaymes

Epilogue

Races & Hierarchy of Azure

Acknowledgments

About the Author

I once lived in a world with unrestricted knowledge for all to consume, expand, and exploit. Appealing? All men sought after the stars—if their passions allowed it. But then, how does one control passion if their boundaries of knowledge are infinite? Our self-indulgent nature doesn’t allow it. That is how we became who we are. The blood of Azure.

Prologue

S tone stirs under the cover of his linens with violent dreams invading his sleep. The elaborately hand-crafted oak bed rumbles, but his posh bed mat absorbs the ruckus, leaving him to the agony within his mind.

The room quakes. His mate, Elder, pops upright and rushes to the open window above his bed where a warm summer breeze tosses the curtains about.

Elder’s careless curiosity plucks Stone from his slumber. “Ugh… Damn, Elder!”

Ignoring Stone’s displeasure, he peers out the window. “St-St-Stone…” he mutters.

Stone reluctantly rises to see what warrants Elder’s restlessness. A thundering boom erupts. A score of rhinos hammers through the impenetrable façade of the McLarin Manor, and Elder tumbles out the window. Stone lurches forward to grab his best mate, but his arms move slower than a honey-drip.

Stone peeks through his eyelids, vanquishing the beasts and the ruckus. He’s back in his bed. His best mate asleep in the guest bed across the room. Feeling warm, he raises a hand to his forehead. There’s a light sweat accumulating. A tension within tells him it wasn’t an ordinary dream.

Stone rises to look out the window. Nothing unusual. No armored beasts. He recoils to the comfort of his linens once more.

Dawn has yet to climb over the horizon, but Cerise, Azure’s mother terra, illuminates the sky with its crimson ambiance, and it creeps into Stone’s sleeping quarters.

A thundering sound strikes.

Stone’s hands tremble. He grips the linens over his head and holds onto a meek hope that one of his parents will come into the room to tell them everything is okay. He peels the cotton shield away. There’s nothing to be seen except the crimson shadows looming in all corners of the room. Then, another resonating beat sounds.

It’s real! The power vibrates through his bones as he tries to persuade himself it’s only fear causing the trembling. Not danger. Except…the cracks and booms of a stampede erupt, emulating the nightmare he just awoke from. Stone struggles to gain function of his senses.

Elder startles from his covers, sitting straight up. He rubs his eyes.

“Jaymes!” Stone cries. He throws the linens off and, following his gut, rushes to grab Life Bringer, a family heirloom recently handed down to him. He straps the cross-sheath of the dual blades over his shoulders and makes his way to the door. The stupor of the early arousal causes him to stumble upon his approach. He falls through the door into the hall as he opens it, creating a loud boom of his own.

The thundering beats stop, only to be replaced with the sound of tramping boots.

Stone races to the end of the hall where there is a balustrade overlooking the foyer below. He creeps toward the rail, crouching low to remain hidden, and presses his forehead through the balusters. A horde of men darts in and out of rooms, searching for something, or someone.

Stone stumbles back from the balustrade and struggles to get to his feet, climbing backward on all fours until courage finds him. He rushes down the hall, past Elder, who’s poking his head out of the doorway, and to the spiral staircase leading to his sister’s quarters. “Come on! Let’s go!” Stone quietly urges as he makes a turn.

Elder hesitates.

Stone’s eyes widen as he looks beyond Elder, down the hall. A group of men surges up the stairs.

Elder’s hesitation vanishes, and he pushes past Stone, nearly knocking him over the rail to get up the stairs.

Two of the men are Sprhowts with healthy green eyes revealing their race. And the man leading them is the notorious Harris Martelli, the Taoiseach, tyrant of the realm.

Harris, a dark and fearsome man, is the type of man you go out of your way to avoid. He’s the type of man children have nightmares about. He’s taller than most with a bald scalp, skin the shade of night, eyes the color of obsidian, and a permanent, cheerless grin. Dark features are typical for Dihkai, but Harris is a shade darker than any other man Stone has ever seen.

The children