Demons & Legends: The Bookman

By James G Parkes

Four thousand years ago Lord Kakon and his army of demons were forced back to their home planet Naraka by a powerful Druid named Henge. After a long, hard fought battle, Henge and his followers managed to close the gateway between their worlds. But more importantly, Henge succeeded in imprisoning Lord Kakon’s general; the mighty Brabazon into a book called The Gateways to Hell. Without Brabazon’s powers, the demon army were never able to return.
Even though the portal gates were now shut, the fight still continues as some demon masters managed to escape Henge and to this day they wait for the return of their Lord.
A few hundred years ago Zantan Mundeara, otherwise known as The Bookman and Princess Aarla, Daughter to Lord Kakon had discovered that Brabazon wasn’t actually destroyed by Henge as there were lead to believe, but had instead been imprisoned inside a book.
After torturing many high priests’, Zantan and Aarla finally discovered that the only way Brabazon could be released from the magic binding him was for a teenage boy to read from the book. Brabazon would then be able to link with that child taking control of them and breaking free of his imprisonment. Once free he would then unlock the magic protecting the hidden portal at Stone Henge to their home world where Lord Kakon would once again send his demon armies through to destroy planet earth once and for all.
The only problem was that apart from Henge, who hasn’t been seen for three thousand years, no one knew what child held the ability to read the book correctly and have the strength to sustain Brabazon’s power when their minds merged.
For the last two hundred years Zantan has disguised himself as an old man pretending to be a book salesman handing The Gateways to Hell over to teenage boys in the hope that he had found that special child. To this date the only outcome was for each child to be left brain dead, until now...

• Language: English
• Publisher: James G Parkes
• Release date: Oct 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301758715

Book preview

DEMONS & LEGENDS

The Bookman

By James Parkes

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Published by:

James Parkes at Smashwords

Copyright (c) 2013 by James Parkes

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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Four thousand years ago Lord Kakon and his army of demons were forced back to their home planet Naraka by a powerful druid named Henge. After a long hard fought battle, Henge and his followers managed to close the gateway between their worlds. But more importantly, Henge succeeded in imprisoning Lord Kakon’s general; the mighty Brabazon into a book called The Gateways to Hell. Without Brabazon’s powers, the demon army were never able to return.

Even though the portal gates were now shut, the fight still continues as some demon masters managed to escape Henge and to this day they wait for the return of their Lord.

A few hundred years ago Zantan Mundeara, otherwise known as The Bookman and Princess Aarla had discovered that Brabazon wasn’t actually destroyed as they were lead to believe, but had instead been imprisoned inside a book.

After torturing many high priests, Zantan and Aarla finally revealed that the only way Brabazon could be released from the magic binding him was for a teenage boy to read from the book. Brabazon would then be able to link with that child taking control of them and breaking free of his imprisonment. Once free he would then unlock the magic protecting the hidden portal at Stone Henge to their home world, where Lord Kakon would once again send his demon armies through to destroy planet earth once and for all.

The only problem was that apart from Henge - who hasn’t been seen for three thousand years, no one knew what child held the ability to read the book correctly and have the strength to sustain Brabazon’s power when their minds merged.

For the last two hundred years Zantan has disguised himself as an old man pretending to be a book salesman handing The Gateways to Hell over to teenage boys in the hope that he had found that special child. To this date the only outcome was for each child to be left brain dead, until now…

Prelude

Two weeks ago, somewhere in Western Romania

In the early hours of the morning a man enters the back alleys of a small remote village. It’s raining hard, but he has no intention of seeking shelter; passing up the numerous opportunities offering him cover as the rain continues to engulf him. Although it’s not just the rain he has to contend with; as large concrete slabs are continuously being dropped down upon him from the buildings above.

Not to be deterred, he picks up speed and remains focused as he continues to take each alleyway with the same determination; using the walls from the adjacent buildings to assist him with turning corners and smoothly bouncing off them to change direction to maintain his momentum.

The man is soon rewarded with his persistence, as the sound of another person’s footsteps can be heard echoing towards him, but he is quickly reminded that this isn’t just a two horse race, as more slabs come crashing down from the buildings above; narrowly missing him once more.

Leaping the broken debris, he takes a moment this time to glance up to acknowledge the two shadows skirting across the building walls either side of him and closing in. However he doesn’t have time to concern himself with the terror that is bearing down upon him. The person who he has been chasing for the last hour is of far more importance.

As the rain eventually stops, it becomes visually clear to the man that the alley he has just entered has also come to an end…a dead end.

Knowing that he has fallen prey to a trap, he readies himself to encounter the person who has evaded him all night, but who now openly awaits him.

Without further hesitation the man swings open his long jacket to one side, revealing an immaculate silver sword engraved with unusual markings along the razor sharp blade.

Then, with a look of purpose he places one hand on the swords handle and charges towards his enemy with the aim to cut him down.

Crank…smash…the swordsman swiftly jumps backwards in retreat, narrowly avoiding being hit by a huge gate that appears from nowhere blocking his pathway.

Laughing loudly, the demon master known as Zantan Mundeara slowly approaches the gate to mock the failed assassin. With the knowledge of his own safety, he smiles satisfyingly before vanishing into the dark and leaving the demon hunter to confront the two advancing shadows from behind.

Chapter 1

Present day: The Midlands, England.

Go on, I yelled to Dan, as he pushed his way through the last of Ash Moor’s players to score another try. He then waved to our home fans before putting the ball down to increase our already embarrassing lead.

I knew I would have done exactly the same, but I still couldn’t resist calling him cocky.

Whatever Big Mac, you’re just jealous that you’re not as awesome as me, laughed Dan playfully punching me as he made his way back to our half. To be honest he was right. I was slightly, but I would never give him the satisfaction of admitting to it. The reason behind my jealously was quite simple really - I use to the best rugby player at Goff’s Wood School. Even though he’s my best friend, I still can’t help feeling that way. It took me years to reach a good level, but Dan just took to everything he did straight away. Although it wasn’t always that way. I remember when Dan couldn’t even hold a rugby ball without it slipping through his fingers. He was absolutely rubbish, and it wasn’t just rugby. He was useless at every sport. Dan was always the last one picked for any team game as he was one of the smaller kids in our year. A six stone weakling, but he soon put a whole new meaning to the phrase, late developer.

You wouldn’t believe how quickly he had grown, he sprung up like a giant beanstalk in the space of a few months. It was quite amazing and how dramatically his life changed for it.

The old Dan used to be bullied and had few friends - if any. He was always the butt of the classroom jokes, teased by the girls and to be honest I would have to admit that I was probably one of the people who bullied him the most. Back then I use to believe that you’re either the bully or the bullied. Dan changed that belief the day he was able to stick up for himself and he made sure that he wouldn’t let anyone else be treated like he had been.

He transformed from the school nerd into the schools super hero. He had grown into a fourteen stone, six foot four colossus of a boy - nick-named the brick shit house. With this new build, Dan could have easily taken revenge on the people who had made his life hell, especially me, but he never did. Even though I can handle myself, there was no way I would have wanted to get on the wrong side of Dan. Especially after what the whole school witnessed last year when he took on the two most feared bullies in our school.

Lewis Seymour and Logan Moody were the biggest renowned bullies in Goff’s Wood Secondary School. With a reputation for picking on people who were much smaller than they were.

One afternoon the new beefed up Dan was on his way to a Science lesson when he came across Lewis and Logan roughing up a kid from year two demanding his lunch money. Remembering his encounters with the bullies, he decided that it was time to put a stop to their corridor beatings.

I can recall the anticipation amongst the crowd of kids who had flooded the corridor eager to see someone stand up to them.

The fight, round one

Dan walked straight up to Logan and pushed him to the ground, then turned to Lewis and without flinching squared up to him, dropping the famous saying, Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?

So you want some as well do you? Lewis asked, but not as convincing. Like a typical bully Lewis wasn’t accustomed to someone standing up to him and it was clear that Dan had him rattled. Even with the two-year age gap Dan was bigger.

You may have grown in the past few months, but I haven’t forgotten kicking your arse, taunted Lewis, as he saw Logan getting back to his feet, feeding him with confidence.

The corridor was now packed with kids urging Dan to knock the bullies out, but Dan remained calm. He just coolly told them that he would meet them at the park after school, as he didn’t want to be late for his next lesson.

Before the bullies had a chance to respond they were interrupted by a loud cry bellowing down the corridor.

WHAT’S GOING ON? GET TO YOUR CLASSES. It was Mr Hinckley the head of english and the most hated teacher at school. Within a flash the whole corridor had emptied just as quickly as it had filled.

The final lesson that afternoon seemed to drag on for ages, especially for me as I had history with the boring old oddball Mr Newton. I remember it being impossible to concentrate, but I wasn’t the only person who was counting down each second. The whole school was clock watching, as the news spread like wildfire. This had the makings of the biggest fight in the schools history and everyone wanted to be there.

I was sat at the back of the class next to Jake Butterby and recall asking him who he thought would win. Even though we were all rooting for Dan, no one had actually seen him fight before. The suspense was killing.

The only person who wasn’t excited was Mr Newton who was at breaking point as it wasn’t just the whispers from his class that was interfering with his teachings; it was the constant sound of mobile phones bleeping as people received messages.

Mr Newton kept on instructing us to turn them off or he would confiscate them, but everyone knew that he wouldn’t as he was too soft.

One of the text messages I had received was from ginger Paul Thompson the schools very own bookie. Paul was taking bets on the fight; he priced Dan as the underdog at 3/1. So I text him back to put a few quid down. Even though the odds were against Dan, I still believed that he could beat them.

The moment soon arrived. The clock struck half past three and the school erupted as the final bell rang for home time or in our case…fight time.

Ding, Ding round Two

Everyone had jumped out of their seats as quick as a greyhound from the starting traps. Mr Newton didn’t even have a chance to remind everyone about homework. The class was emptied in seconds.

I rushed down the corridor caught in the stampede of children trying to make their way out of the building and by the time I had reached the park it had already looked like the whole school had turned up. Well, apart from the teachers of course.

Lewis and Logan were there as well, looking as menacing as ever.

Logan was the smaller of the two, but still bigger than most people in the school. He was about six-foot and he always seemed to be tanned no matter what time of the year it was. He had more brawn than brains and everyone knew that Lewis was the one who called the shots.

Logan was stood in the centre of the park with his chest pushed out resembling a giant gorilla that looked like he was about to start beating it.

Next to him stood Lewis who was chewing gum and cracking his knuckles trying to look as threatening as possible. Lewis was tall and gangly, a few inches taller than Logan, but wasn’t as ruff and ready. He had light blue eyes and blond silky hair that just hung over his eyes like velvet curtains. If his knuckles weren’t covered in scars and cuts from punching people, you wouldn’t have thought of him as the fighting type.

I remember thinking that Dan may have chickened out as I couldn’t see him anywhere and Ginger Paul Thompson had already begun telling everyone that all bets were off as it was a non-event. But just as people were contemplating going home, Dan appeared.

He slowly strolled over stepping into the formed circle made up of a crowd of bloodthirsty children.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the first person to make a move. Forget Wrestle Mania, this was the event of the year.

Lewis was the first to break the silence, I thought you weren’t going to turn up, you nerdy freak.

Yeah once a nerd, always a nerd. Mocked Logan.

Ever heard the saying actions speak louder than words, replied Dan, who had an inviting smile across his face.

The crowd went mad; all you heard were chants of, fight!

I was also unable to restrain the excitement, shouting like a crazed lunatic who had just been let out the nut house.

It was Logan who had made the first move, landing a right hook on Dan’s chin. Lewis then followed it up with a fist to the side of his head. The whole crowd gasped, expecting to see their hero fall.

A punch from both lads was normally enough - any other kid would have been out for the count by now, but not this one. Dan never budged; he stood still and just smiled back at the two bullies. We all watched in disbelief as no one had witnessed someone taking one punch, let alone two like that before.

Is that all you’ve got? Now it’s my turn. Dan responded.

I remember being caught in a trance, waiting for Dan to retaliate. And retaliate he did.

Dan pulled his huge arm back and planted one almighty fist into Logan’s stomach. Logan hit the ground screaming in agony. He was down.

Lewis had then tried his luck when Dan’s back was turned, but Dan was too quick for him, managing to turn round in time to catch Lewis’s hand in mid-flight. He then began to twist it backwards and backwards until it couldn’t go any further and then…snap.

I still cringe today just thinking about the sound that Lewis’s wrist made.

I had almost felt sorry for Lewis and Logan at the time, but I knew that they were getting what they had deserved.

Dan then warned them both that he wouldn’t tolerate any more bullying and if he ever caught them picking on anyone again he would badly hurt them.

Even though Dan had been looking at Lewis and Logan, everyone knew that he was laying down the law.

Since that day there was a new sheriff in town and he went by the name of Daniel Philip Holdsworth.

Chapter 2

What are you waiting for Big Mac? Are you going to take the kick? asked Dan, as the referee handed me the rugby ball.

Like it mattered I thought. We were already winning by 35 points and there was only about a second left on the clock. But I love showing off my kicking skills, especially in front of Lucy who was in the crowd cheering me on.

Lucy was the girl of my dreams. She was the kindest and most generous person you could ever hope to meet, with a smile that would warm your heart on the coldest of days. She had long brown wavy hair that glistened in the sunlight and would flick from side to side as she walked. She was gorgeous. Excelling at all sports, she was also the smartest girl in school, but she never craved for people’s attention and never had a bad word to say about anyone. Everyone liked Lucy.

Although I wished we were; Lucy and I are not dating. But everyone knew that we both liked each other and expected us to hook up sooner or later. It was one of those - I like you and you like me so let’s get it on situation - but never do. I have attempted to ask her out on many occasions, but always chickened out at the last moment. Why can’t asking someone out be as simple as this rugby ball I’m now about to kick between these goal posts.

Ok then: three steps forward, lean back, raise my right foot, nice and easy…but just as I raised my leg a high pitched wolf whistle blasted out from the touchline. I lost my concentration and miss kicked the ball hoofing it yards wide and making a complete twat of myself.

I turned round red faced and saw see Lucy standing on the touchline smiling in satisfaction.

Unlucky sexy legs. She laughed.

I pretended to be pissed off, but I was unable to resist sharing a smile.

Our moment was soon interrupted when two of my teammates Dean and Ron jumped on my shoulders cheering joyfully, We’re going to win the cup.

Get off you idiots, I yelled, whilst shaking them off fiercely.

They were both acting like it was the first time they had ever won a semi-final match before. We had already won the cup two years in a row and we were pretty much nailed on to beat Hartington School next week in the final.

All right, all right, calm down, calm down! chuckled Dan in a Liverpudlian accent.

You’re only angry because you missed your kick in front of your beloved Lucy, pushed Dan for a reaction.

You sure it wasn’t you who actually whistled Dan? Trying to put me off because I’m the leading scorer yet again this year, or maybe you just fancy me! I replied.

Ok you got me, I confess, answered Dan in a high-pitched voice. I’m in love with you, now come here and let me tongue you.

I then ran back to the changing