It started as a dream I had one night. I won’t say a simple dream because it was actually very elaborate and vivid. The dream was the basic plot line of my book (no spoilers) and a few extra details. So my book (my first one) has been a combination of dreams, whether they be lucid or not or even day-dreams, and the ideas I compiled later on. This form of writing may seem complicated but it’s actually relatively simple…. well, simple for me because my mind works a little different from others. I remember dreams like actual memories, but I can tell the difference. The different ideas for my book(s) came from many different sources: other books, imagining different situations, video games, movies, tv shows, and dreams (as previously stated). Among other things. So every time I sat down to write, I wouldn’t start until I had formed, merged, and/or mentally drafted the ideas I had swarming around in my head. There were some nights where I would stay awake for a long period of time just thinking of one or possibly several ideas to add. But again, the basic, starting plot line for my first book, was one single dream I had one night in July of 2014.
A new dragon species and an order of knights
~Light Dragons~
Light dragons are the second rarest dragons on Drakengaard (before the king dragon, the current one being Beltorrax). They live exclusively in the north most regions where sunlight reaches only during the summer solstice (because of the planet’s immense size which is equivalent to the sun that Earth orbits around). That is also the only time that they can be seen soaring through the sky. It is not recommended, however, to look directly at one during this time because their scales are mirror-like. The rest of the time, the chances of encountering one are equivalent to once in every three lifetimes, also because of the regions they inhabit, which is almost entirely covered in ice and snow. You can be looking at a wall of ice and not see the light dragon standing right in front of you. One of the few things known about them is their ability to absorb, emit, and directly manipulate light. Though they may use this ability for a variety of uses, the only known recorded use is as a way to defend themselves. One recorded occasion stated that an explorer with a lit torch saw one of the dragons in an open area standing several meters away. But as soon as he took one step toward it, the dragon looked directly at him and, before he could blink, the light from his torch “exploded” to ten times its original brightness, temporarily blinding the (un)fortunate explorer. When he was able to see clearly again, the dragon was nowhere in sight. It is still unknown as to whether or not they have any kind of breath ability (e.g. fire or frost).
~Knights of the Golden Heart~
Of all the knightly orders, this one is the most revered and praised for its members, all of whom were recruited for legendary acts of valor and devotion to both God and the code of chivalry. Amazingly, only a few of the members were actually knights or even of noble birth before their recruitment into the order. Dozens of statues have been erected of members of the order. What is interesting about these statues is the fact that the person is shown is never holding a sword or even has one on his person. Instead, he is always shown holding a shield in his left hand and a torch in his right. The reason for this is entirely symbolic. The shield represents the oaths the knight has taken to defend the weak and innocent, and the torch represents both his devotion to God, and how, whenever dark times fall, he will help lead others through the darkness and back into the light. The Coat of Arms for this order are a silver kite shield with a gold heart in the center. This symbol is shown on their cloaks, tunics, tabbards, capes, and shields. The pommels of their swords are in the shape of a heart, but are painted gold. They are made of iron so as to keep the sword well balanced, since the blade is often both long and broad, like a hybrid between a longsword and a broadsword. Because of advanced training in the arts of war, just one of these knights can equal up to six Torelian knights, who in turn can equal up to three well trained and well armed and armored Torelian soldiers (Torelis being the military capital of the western kingdoms of Drakengaard and boasting the best military).
A new character idea for my book
I am thinking he could either be a prince or the son of a dragonknight. He hardly ever speaks to anyone (including his parents), rejects any attempts at pampering him and prefers to mind his own business either in the training room, or sitting by a window reading books and scrolls. Any ideas on what else I can add?
It’s here!
My book is now out on Amazon! Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WH6V3PQ/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. here’s a new character that might be used in my next book
Name: (TBD)
Race: Titan (smallest of the giant races and the one closest to humans)
Age: 42
Sex: male
Height: 10′ 9″
weight: 348 lbs. (muscle, not fat)
Class: gladiator
Background: (need ideas)
Weapons: does not use any. Only needs his hands
The first chapter of my first book. This is just to introduce you to the story.
Chronicles of the Dragon King: Odyssey
By Justin McNabb
Chapter 1: Pilot
~Eli~
I am running through my school. A roaring, white dragon crashes through doors and knocks lockers out of its way as it chases me. I look back and curse loudly. It’s getting closer. I try to run faster, but my legs seem heavy as if cinder blocks were tied to them. Then I run into a locked door and curse again. I slam my shoulder against it, but it doesn’t budge. I look back. The dragon is almost upon me! I slam again. Nothing! No, no, no! You can’t take me! NO!
“NO!” I yell, waking up in my bed. I’m dripping sweat and shaking. My alarm clock says it’s two o’ clock in the morning. I sigh and lay my head back down on the pillow. Same nightmare . . . again.
My mother opens the door, a concerned look on her slightly tanned face, “Eli, is everything all right? I heard yelling.”
“I’m fine, it was just a dream.” I reply, rubbing my temples.
She cocks an eyebrow, “The same dream you told me about? The dragon chasing you through the school?”
I nod, “Yeah.”
She comes over and places a hand against my forehead, “Good gracious, you’re burning up! I think you should stay home from school today.”
“I’ll be fine.” I immediately regret saying that. I know better than to argue, even though I know I’m not sick. I follow up before she can reply, “I won’t go to school, but I’m not staying in bed all day.”
She keeps her gaze on me for a few moments, then goes to the door, “Okay. But you have homework to do in the morning, so don’t get any ideas.”
“Got it.” I say.
Mom heads back to bed, but as soon as the door closes, I grab a pair of black and dark grey camouflage pattern cargo pants, a black T-shirt, and pair of boxer-briefs and hastily put them on. I look over at my sweat soaked sheets and resolve to wash them later. I pull on thick socks and a pair of black boots that come up to just below mid-calf on my legs and tuck the bottom of my pants legs into them. As I tip-toe through the hallway, I open the closet and grab a jacket and a beanie cap. I then head outside.
I’m heading toward my favorite spot, where I always go when I need to think. There’s a hill with a tree growing on it, and a pond at the base on the north side. I live with my mother and father on a secluded piece of land in Alaska, so I’m not worried about anyone seeing me. The nearest town is almost twenty miles away in any direction.
As I walk up the hill, I notice that there are no clouds in the sky and the moon is full. Its light dims the stars near it, but I can still see a few brilliant clusters toward the horizon. I used to try to count them, but soon gave up. And, as I got older, I had less time. My days are often so busy that I go to bed late at night. That’s life in Alaska: chores, chores, more chores, and school. I manage to keep straight A’s in all classes except math, which I can never seem to raise above a C. So most of my free-time is in early mornings before the sun is even up.
Or times like this, when I can steal away without my parents knowing.
I gaze at the moon for a few minutes, or at least I think it’s a few minutes. But then I notice something different. The moon is slowly turning a dark shade of blue. I frown and think how strange it is. Is it normal for the moon to do that? Something to do with the time of year and being so close to the Arctic Circle? I decide not.
My thoughts are interrupted when I feel a prickling sensation on my arm, like something is crawling on my skin. I reach over to scratch it, but remember that I am wearing the jacket. Why is my arm itchy? I pull the sleeve back and stare in shock at what I find: my skin is turning hard and is separating itself into what appears to be scales like a snake or lizard.
“What the heck!?” I exclaim.
The scales continue to form, and I start feeling it in the rest of my body. I start scratching my chest and arms and legs. I unzip my jacket and hurriedly take it off, then lift my shirt. My stomach is covered in white scales!
“This can’t be happening!” I cry out in panic, “What’s going on?”
I fall to my knees after feeling them pop out of socket. Agony spreads throughout my body as I feel myself changing. But into what? I see light swirling around me. The light brings more pain. I hear a tearing sound as my shirt rips. I feel something growing out of my back. I am on my hands and knees, unable to move. I feel like my body is being torn apart from the inside out. I cough and blood comes out. It stains the ground dark crimson in splotches. An agonized cry rips from my throat and the light swirls around me faster and faster until all I can see is streaks of bright yellow in a wall of orange like a fire is trying to consume my body. I feel myself grow larger and larger by the second, my bones crack and split and I feel a pressure in my lower back. I turn and find a tail had sprouted from the seat of my pants. I growl and close my eyes. Trying to ignore the burning pain that courses through my frame. Soon the light starts to fade away, and I cry out one last time. But it’s not a normal cry I hear; instead it’s the roar of some great beast that bellows from my mouth. As the pain leaves my body, I collapse. I feel changed, different . . . alien. I slowly pull myself to the north side of the hill so I can see the pond. When I look into it, I am completely shocked at what I see.
The face of a white dragon.
The adrenaline from the pain is fading, bringing weakness and a darkness to my vision as my mind slowly slips into unconsciousness. The last thing I see before my sight fades away is a distant, hazy figure coming towards me.
I slip away into the depths of my own subconscious, and my mind wanders through a strange world of dreams. I see again the white dragon that chases me through the school hallways. I run again, as I always have. This time I head straight for the gymnasium. I will be safe there. I can hide underneath the bleachers. I slam open the double doors and sprint as fast as my legs can carry me. Then I slam into a wall that had materialized out of nowhere. I try to go around, but it is extending and blocking me. I back away, trying to see if I can scale it. But something catches my eyes. There are glowing symbols on the wall, and they seem to emanate whispering voices. I turn and am startled. The dragon is standing there, looking me in the eyes. It is not roaring or growling anymore, just standing there, looking at me. What does it want? Why is it not tearing me to shreds?
Too many questions flood my mind, and the whispering symbols are growing louder and louder. I try to listen more closely. They seem to be repeating one word: Beltorrax. I don’t know why, but I instinctively know it’s a name. But who is Beltorrax?
The dragon stretches out its neck and touches its snout against my forehead. I feel a tingling sensation like I’m holding a lit match next to my skin.
I hear a voice like a young woman’s. It whispers in my mind, “Remember who you were.”
Then I hear another voice calling me, “Wake up! Please, wake up!”
The voice keeps pleading and the dragon fades as my dream dissolves back into the void of my subconscious. My eyes slowly open to a distorted world. As my eyes adjust, my sight returns, and I see a face I have never seen before. The face is of a girl in her late teens. Beautiful with slightly rounded cheeks, diamond blue eyes, and auburn hair. She seems Asian, Japanese, maybe. But the hair color says otherwise. Her clothes are odd: like she’s wearing some sort of school uniform.
She is clearly worried at first, but then she smiles. It’s the kind of smile I’ve seen Mom give to Dad whenever he comes home from a long day at work or a hunting trip. Then she grabs my shoulders and pulls me upright into a tight hug. She heaves out a breath that is somewhere between a gasp and a sigh of relief.
“You’re awake! You’re here! I can’t believe it! After all these years of searching we’re finally together again!” she says with obvious excitement in her voice.
I push her back, a thousand questions now racing through my mind, “Hold on. Who the heck are you?”
She’s surprised at this, “You mean . . . you don’t remember me? You don’t know who I am?”
I shake my head, “I think I’d remember a red-headed Asian girl.”
I reach over to scratch my arm, and my strange transformation flashes through my mind. Did I really turn into a dragon? I look at my hands and see that they are normal again. I feel my chest and am relieved to feel my shirt still intact. I know it wasn’t a dream. I look around and, for the first time, realize I’m sitting on a cot in a log cabin I’ve never been in before. So how did I end up here, and back to normal?
I look back at the girl and somehow know she is perfectly aware of everything that just happened, “Where am I?”
She replies, “My name is Katrina, and we’re in a cabin that has been abandoned for many years.”
I look at the door behind her and notice it is ajar with rusted hinges, one of which looks ready to break at any moment. The door is also missing a doorknob. I hear a loud creak above me and look up. I immediately find that I do not trust the ceiling would hold for any longer than a few days. When I had finished a quick study of my surroundings, I look back at Katrina, “What did you mean when you said ‘we’re finally together again’? I really don’t know you other than your name. Do I?”
She looks away towards the wall to the left of the door and bites her lip, possibly nervous. After a few seconds of silence, she turns back to me, “It’s a very long story. And a crazy one. You might not believe it.”
I roll my eyes, “I turned into a dragon! I think I’m ready to believe that leprechauns and unicorns really exist.” I then look straight at her, “So start at the beginning.”
She nods slightly and her gaze falls to the floor, “A long time ago on a world very different from this one, we were dragons. But not just any dragons, we were the king and queen of the dragon race, and we were mates. Husband and wife kinda thing. My name was Lucilia and yours was Beltorrax.”
She continues on with how we met. How she knew I had a kind heart because I risked my life to save orphaned hatchling dragons from a burning building. That I used to find her annoying but eventually fell in love with her. How we became engaged at an early age. How we soon found out that I was to be the next king because I started shedding silver scales and growing golden ones. How I was cursed to be a human by a sorcerer. And so many more things. I sat on the cot and listened in silence. So many things had happened that I have no memory of.
When she had finished, dawn was rising. She bites her lip and looks away, blushing, “I’ve told you everything I remember.”
I look up at the ceiling and close my eyes, trying to digest all of this information. Could all of this be true? Am I really a dragon cursed to be a human? What did I do to tick the sorcerer off so badly? So many more questions flood my mind.
My head hurts, and I begin to rub my temples. After a few moments, I realize she’s staring intently at me, her eyes searching mine for an answer. I sigh and glance away. My throat is dry.
This has to be true. It feels true.
I face her again, “I believe you,” I say, and it’s not a lie.
She smiles the same radiant smile I saw earlier. She lunges forward and throws her arms around me in a hug, “I knew you would!” she says, and she tries to kiss me.
I push her back again, “Just because I say I believe you doesn’t mean we’re married. Not now, anyway. I don’t know you.”
She frowns, “But we ARE married. We’re just not dragons.”
“Not anymore. I just met you, and I don’t remember a thing from our life before,” I argue.
“It doesn’t matter,” she replies, her tone hinting annoyance, “We are married.” She then breaks into a smile like she just thought of something, “And I can make you remember.”
I cock an eyebrow, “What are you smil—”
I am not able to finish my sentence, for she suddenly grabs my head and pulls me into a kiss. I try to push her back, but suddenly I feel an intense heat in my skull and everything in my vision grows further away like I’m flying backwards. Then everything goes stark white.
What my book is about
Chronicles of the Dragon King: Odyssey is about the king and queen of the race of dragons on another world. Five years before the story begins, they were cursed by a sorcerer into human form and banished to modern day Earth. The king forgot everything about his dragon past and his memories were replaced with false ones of being human. Whereas the queen retained her memories and spent the five years searching for her husband. When they were banished, they ended up on separate parts of the globe. The king ended up in Alaska and the queen in Japan. The story is told in the first-person from the point of view of several different characters and switches back and forth between what is happening on Earth and on the king and queen’s home world.
The king, during the five years of banishment, goes by the name Eli Kalashnikov since he doesn’t remember his real name. The queen goes by the alias Katrina to avoid using her real name in the unfamiliar world.
The book is primarily about Eli and Katrina trying to return home (after she gains Eli’s trust, of course) and finding a way to break the curse. While on their home world, the sorcerer is being hunted down by the king and queen’s son and his rider.
I will post the first chapter as a taste of my book tomorrow.
On Being Conditioned and in LIMBO
When LIMBO was released in the summer of 2010, the phrase “indie game” was hardly in my lexicon. In fact, at the time, whenever I heard the phrase, only two games came to mind: Braid and Fat Princess. Neither was of much interest to me as I was too wrapped up in “real” (big) games, such as Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, GTA IV, and any number of Nintendo DS games. These “real” games translated into real (really big) time-eaters – games that took weeks to complete, that had you making the tough choices, and that contained monsters and guns and pretty places. I was so engulfed in open worlds and dialog trees that I couldn’t see anything beyond those barriers.
It’s weird when a picture really DOES speak 1000 words.
But seeing a gameplay review of LIMBO that summer made things…different. Not…
View original post 886 more words
Hello world!
My name is Justin McNabb. I am an 18-year-old southern boy with high-functioning Autism. I live in the rural town of New Brockton in the crazy weather state of Alabama, USA. I like to LARP, play video games, tell jokes and stories, and play with my sister’s cat. I also enjoy role-playing online via Facebook chat.
This blog will mainly be about the book series I am writing and some about things that happen to me and the people around me. The first book in particular because I am preparing to publish it. I encourage you to comment anything concerning me or my book(s): questions, ideas, views, suggestions, etc.
I will also post the occasional short story or new character bio from time to time for your personal opinions and suggestions. I will also gladly look over any character suggestions and situations you come up with.
The title of the series I will be writing is called Chronicles of the Dragon King. The title of the book I am working on getting published now is called Odyssey. So it is Chronicles of the Dragon King: Odyssey, or something like that.
jwmcnabb96 