Hey guys! I know it's been a long while coming, but here's a taste of what's been happening so far.

As you can see, I have a new Map of Coroleya! You can also check out a few close ups on my homepage. Check out some maps.

I've also updated both books to include artwork as well as a new cover design. For those interested in a copy, you can find them here on Amazon.

Meanwhile for those wishing for news on book 3, it still being worked on with edits, artwork, and cover design, and should be available hopefully at the end of this year. In the meantime, I thought I would continue on to book 4 where Gregor's adventure continues on into the Underworld.

Prologue

Her hands quivering from the cold, Zishal stood close to the flames from the cookpot. The boiling water gave off a putrid scent of rotted meat as she stared down into its murky depths. Flesh, bones, and insects, wiggled about inside to send bile up her throat at the thought of eating anything. Her one glance down at her bare feet, revealed sores and calluses that had still not healed. She could not remember a time when they had been clean, nor a day where she had not felt them ache with pain. Her memories of the surface world were like a fever dream where she would reawaken into this nightmare. Every one of her prayers, falling on deaf ears.

Footsteps rumbling down the corridor, she stared in a blind panic at the doorway across the room. The noise, sending a pang of fear through her. Quick and as agile as a cat, she scrambled to hide behind a cupboard, before a creature bullied its way inside. An obese green scaled monstrosity, it surveyed the kitchen with wary golden eyes as though suspecting something was amiss. The butcher’s knife it held in its chubby round hands was covered in blood, its white apron stained with handprints as it moved to the cooking pot. Tossing what looked to be a dead bird into the mix, its snake eyes glowed with savage hunger. The cook stirred the pot, and smacked his lips, when a voice called down from the stairwell. “Kryl, how long before the stew is ready?”

The monstrous creature’s nasally voice replied, “shut it, Torg, it’ll be bloody ready when I say it is, you find the pink skin yet? Yarlon will not be pleased at losing another child.”

His body the exact opposite of the cook with contoured green muscles, a second lizard man appeared in the kitchen, and shook his head from side to side. “No, but she will not last long on her own. Once we deal with the dragon riders we will find her.”

And as Zishal stood there quivering uncontrollably, she prayed that he was wrong, and prayed that he would finally come and find her…

~*~

His back straight as he entered the blackened gateway, Gregor strode forward with the confidence of a man that knew he was about to die. And yet all the same, he did not care. He would see his Kira again, one way or the other. His thoughts meandering back and forth on what he would do, he couldn’t help but think of the road that had brought him here, and all that time he had wasted. Not knowing that she was within his reach all along. But he knew as well that he had needed that time to better prepare himself. The underworld was a different place to the surface world, and nothing was more poignant of that fact than the sulphur that permeated the air, the strange stone statues that depicted creatures he had not seen before, and a road paved with yellowing skulls in a hollow cavern that stretched for thousands of miles underground.

Feet crunching through bones that must have been as ancient as this tunnel, he took in the rock walls around him, when he heard a faint shuffle. Not needing to know who it was that had come, Gregor spoke aloud, “I thought heroes were supposed to be men of their word?”

“I am not a man, and I did not promise you anything.”

His head slowly swung around to face her, Daria came out of the shadows, her feet pensively touching the ground. “I owe you a life debt Gregor even if you do not deserve it. I also promised Lord Gauldryon I would see that you lived through this ordeal.”

Splaying on a fake smile as he thought of the pompous young lordling, he replied, “And here I hoped you had come because you had missed me?”

Her cheeks flushed a deep red, Daria’s braids clicked and swayed together, her broad shoulders tight with tension as she looked away from him. The statue to the right of her, a leering creature of fangs, claws, and spikes that protruded out of its body. And to his surprise, Gregor was grateful to her for the company. No one should walk this path alone, and yet knowing what was ahead of him, he also knew that there was a chance that she could die here too.

But as if hearing his thoughts, Daria checked the warhammer strapped to her back, and said, “I have made my choice. Time we get on with it.”

~*~

Her gaze set on Gregor’s back, Daria kept a close watch around her. The uneven road that stretched off into the blackness, sending a pang of fear through her spine at the millions of bones that lined this ancient pathway. A place where mortals had dared not tread for thousands of years. Her every breath, coming out as a harsh whisper. All the while Gregor, completely unfazed by this strange new world, strode forward ahead of her. His confident gait, caused insects to scuttle out of hiding. Their black shelled bodies, were like enormous centipedes with far too many eyes that glowed red in the darkness. The fireflies that flew in swarms around them were the only source of light in this godforsaken land. Even the soft cacophony of ticks and buzzes, told her that she shouldn’t be here. That she should be at Gauldryon’s side.

…His deep blue eyes upon her, Gauldryon gently laid an arm upon her shoulder, his blonde hair soaked with sweat. “You must go after him.”

The thought of leaving him, made her heart clench inside. But before she could begin to argue, he pressed a hand to her cheek. “Please, Daria, he must not die. Take this.” And he handed her a scroll with the symbol of summoning. “If you should find yourself in trouble, call upon it, and I shall come…”

It was the last time she had seen the noble paladin, before she had followed Gregor into this dark abyss that her people called hell. And if not for the fact that Gauldryon would have been disappointed in her, she would have used it then. Anything to take her away from this horrid place.

Her head shaking from side to side at the thought, she looked up at the stalagmites that hung over her, and wondered what else could be hiding up there? When she couldn’t help but notice that there was a light that came out of nowhere. It lightened the air around them, and showed large black beetles scuttling across the walls. Gregor, who was preoccupied with his own thoughts, ignored them, whereas Daria unable to help herself, shivered at the size of their mandibles. Every story she had ever heard of this place, replayed itself through her mind. Monsters that devoured children whole, fire breathing creatures, and beasts of legend, all of that existed down here. One in particular had terrified her as a child, and that was the tale of Grimvold, an evil sorcerer that wielded his dark magics to twist children into demonspawn. Children who would then seek out those closest to them and bring them to their dark lord. A tale told to her by her brother, Valan.

Staring at Gregor’s back, she wished that she could still blame him for her brother’s death, but in truth, Valan had changed a long time ago. Ever since the death of their parents, and the decimation of their tribe, he had become cold and dead inside. He had forgotten the meaning of joy, and took far too much pleasure in hurting others. Eventually he had begun joining bandits, telling her that he needed to do this to feed them, but she saw the look in his eyes each time he went out. A burning rage that would not die. A part of her had known then that he was gone, destroyed by the ghouls. But when he had joined the crows, she had still felt shock and sadness at his betrayal. It was also the day she had bumped into Gregor. And what happened next, she no longer cared to think about. But now here she was, underground, with the man she had hated, searching for something he had lost. Perhaps it was fate.

Footsteps echoing loudly, she thought she could hear a light tapping sound off in the distance. The light around them, became a misty gray, when Gregor suddenly paused. His shaggy head lifted up like a wolf sniffing the air, he looked back at her with eyes cold as ice, and pressed a finger to his lips. He then hunched down low and scampered forward ahead of her.

With no idea what was going on, she quickly hurried on after him. The air around her feet, becoming thick with gray mist, before they stopped at two passageways. One opened up to her left, and one to her right. The one on the left looked to be lit up by torches, whereas the one on the right was littered with rubble and debris.

Waiting for her to come up alongside him, Gregor whispered, “we should split up. You take the right, and I’ll take the left.”