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Books by Jeremy Laszlo
Clad in Shadow (Poetry for a Burdened Soul)
The Blood and Brotherhood Saga
(Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy, Ages 15+)
The Choosing (Book One of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)(**FREE**)
The Chosen (Book Two of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)
The Changing (Book Three of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)
Crimson (Book 3.5 of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)
The Contention (Book Four of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)
The Champions (Book Five of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)
The Crowned (Book Six of the Blood and Brotherhood Saga)
Orc Destiny Trilogy (A Blood and Brotherhood series)
(Dark Fantasy, Ages 13+ for gore and violence)
Twisted Fate (Orc Destiny, Volume I)
Fallen Crown (Orc Destiny, Volume II)
Three Kings (Orc Destiny, Volume III)
The Beyond Series
(Adults only due to extreme mature content)
Beyond The Mask (The Beyond Book One)
Beyond The Flesh (The Beyond Book Two)
Beyond The Soul (The Beyond Book Three)
Children of the After series
(Post-apocalyptic, Ages 10+)
Children of the After: AWAKENING (**FREE**)
Children of the After: REVELATION
Children of the After: EVOLUTION
Children of the After: REBIRTH
PROLOGUE
Many gods there were who gathered to create the world. Each of them lent an equal gift of their own power, of their own life force, to create all things living upon Thurr. This method of creation allowed them all to remain equally powerful, working together to create perfection. Through eons they watched their world grow and prosper.
Civilizations arose and their creations learned and thrived upon the land that had been made for them. With expanding civilizations came the discovery of neighbors. With that discovery came borders. With borders came disputes and ultimately wars erupted from time to time upon the world that the gods had made. Among all of their creations upon Thurr, the many races of man held the gods enthralled. The creatures were but a speck in the shadow of the gods who had breathed life into them, yet the many races of man never failed to surprise their makers. So it was that men were to teach the gods who made them many lessons.
All gods were equal, and being so, many concepts had never occurred to them. The races of man, however, were not all equal. Some of the races had higher intellect, others had more brawn and larger physical prowess, but these differences occurred between different races and thus the gods expected different cultures to arise to fit the needs of the peoples. What they had not suspected came not in a physical form, but from within individuals of individual races.
As time progressed, the gods stood in the heavens watching the races of man, awed by the spectrum of concepts they had never before postulated. Honor, trust, courage, fear, hope, loss, excitement, vanity, greed, lust and ambition were just a few of the lessons gleaned by the gods from their own creations. Above all, however, jealousy was learned by the gods.
Though none of the gods would outwardly show it, each had become jealous of the races of man. Wanting to experience what man experienced for themselves, the gods took council with their brethren. It was unanimously decided that each of them would take the form of a mortal, walk among man and learn firsthand all that they could from their mortal kin. They decided to reconvene later to share all that they had discovered. Each of them was given one lifetime among the many species of men. Thus they set their ethereal bodies aside, wrapping themselves in the flesh of whatever race most inspired them. Leaving the plane of immortals vacant, the gods came to roam Thurr, living among mankind.
Eventually all the gods returned to their realm. Although only moments in the time of gods had passed, it soon became evident that something had gone amiss. A struggle for power had begun in the heavens. Fueled by their newly learned jealousy and greed, the immortals began striking out at one another with the only instruments they held against their own kind. They used man.
Learning that with more followers ultimately came more power, the gods began creating champions of mortals to spread their own worship. In every major battle for thousands of years, it was those champions that led the charge, but as always things were changing.
For all recorded history, battles have now waged upon Thurr to one degree or another, but at long last the heavenly battle brought to mortal soil approaches an apex. Those chosen among the races of mankind to be blessed by the gods are becoming more and more powerful as the gods who control them become more desperate.
With so much on the line for the many races of man, only a few realize what it is that hangs in the balance. Even those races considered primitive have begun to rise up with champions of their own, as the world faces a war unlike anything ever seen before.
But with change comes questions. And with questions comes knowledge. With knowledge comes truth, and with truth comes action.