Rylan: Origins

By Kenneth B Humphrey

First, three young heroes prevented the serpent Jormugand from bringing doom to the Norse gods.
Then, they stopped the eight-armed demon Orochi from releasing the undead on earth.
Now, see how it all began. Go back and learn how Raimy discovered his destiny. Read about his first Hunt, with his father Ben. Find out how - and why - Hadley came into the group.

A demon has possessed Hephaestus, the Greek god of fire and invention. Deep in the heart of a volcano, the demon toils, intent on creating the staff of Agamemnon. For whomever holds the staff can control entire armies. So Ben, Piper and Raimy jump back to ancient Greece. Their goal: Steal the staff before it falls into demon hands.
Can they evade the traps set by Hephaestus? Will they catch the demon and get the staff? What if they come across other gods? And what happens to Ben in the end?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth B Humphrey
• Release date: Jan 5, 2017
• ISBN: 9780996365956

Kenneth B Humphrey

It started with an off-hand comment by my 4th grade son's teacher: "There aren't a lot of books for 10 year old boys."I thought: "Really?" By the time the teacher conference finished, I'd already plotted my course. Six months later I presented the first Raimy Rylan book - The World Serpent - to his class and gave everyone a copy. During the writing, I'd also decided I should do one for every grade he ascends, each increasing in complexity, language and theme. For those keeping score, that's a 9-book series. I'd essentially locked myself into a decade of the same characters.I'm not very smart that way.But wait, it gets better. I thought: "Why not take my backlog of adult thriller manuscripts and publish them as well? Kids' books in the spring, adult books in the fall."Told you I'm not very smart. But here we are anyway. The World Serpent came out Spring 2014. Killing the Man arrived Fall 2014. Raimy Rylan, Chase of the Samurai dropped in Spring 2015. The Killing Face came out in Winter 2015.Somebody stop me from thinking of anything else.

Book preview

PART 1

This then, this is where it all began

One

Back When.

Raimy Rylan stands shoulder to shoulder with his dad in the blackest night. Flames roll through the skies overhead, lighting up the earth with flashes of red and yellow. A low humming sound, like an engine buried deep underground, fills the air.

A fierce grin crosses the faces of both father and son as they charge forward. Together they are powerful.

Ben Rylan yells: Take the left side. I’ve got right!

Got it, Dad. Raimy peels off to his left, eyes searching the night. He doesn’t know exactly what they are looking for, but somewhere out there are enemies, monsters of great evil. Raimy can’t see them, but he can sense their presence. It’s that feeling of being watched, a weird sensation that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Sometimes there’s more fear in the unknown than there is when danger is staring you in the face.

The ground is endless and flat, stretching out as far as the eye can see under the flaming sky. It grabs at his feet, as if he’s running on a soggy sponge. He’s slow and no matter how much he churns his legs he can’t gain any speed. Ben has disappeared into the blackness, running ahead until he’s no longer visible.

And the feeling of being watched changes, shifts to something worse.

Now he’s the one being chased. There is a thing behind him, coming for him. It won’t stop until he’s caught. Cold fear runs through Raimy’s body.

Dad? He yells, stabbing his vision out into the endless landscape. He cannot see him.

Here, son, comes the reply from somewhere. Follow the sound of my voice.

Where are you? Raimy hears the hints of panic in his own words and tries to keep it from growing. He can’t let down his dad, but he’s starting to feel real afraid. The voice made it seem as if Ben was nearby, yet he’s nowhere to be seen. There’s something wrong with that. He changes the direction of his feet. Forgotten is the plan to take the left. Now there is only a need to find his father.

The feeling of some horrible thing chasing after him grows stronger. Raimy glances behind him and sees a huge shadowy shape. It moves slowly after him but Raimy can’t seem to outrun it. No matter how much he pumps his legs the shape continues to close the gap. With every step it shakes the ground and any second now it will be able to reach out and grab him.

And so, young Raimy Rylan turns to fight. Like his dad taught him.

He faces the nightmare creature. Even though every nerve in his body screams for him to run, he ignores those voices and struggles to control his fear. In the distance a low laugh rolls forth, laughing at the puny attempts of a boy trying to be a man.

Raimy! Ben shouts, still hidden by the dark yet somehow close enough to easily hear. Don’t! Just run!

But Raimy ignores him and clenches his jaw.

He runs directly at the huge shadow, a thing somehow blacker than the night surrounding them both. The closer he gets the larger it grows, until it seems the size of a building. There are no arms he can see, no legs, yet he can feel it reaching out. It’s going to grab him and squeeze his body until every bone is crushed. The fear blossoms inside of him.

Raimy judges the distance and bites down on his lip. He bites so hard he feels blood dribble down his chin, but that’s good. He’s biting down on his fear, too. With one last step, he leaps up into the air, sailing through the dark.

It should be impossible but he’s flying. Not like a jet, more like a glider catching the air currents. The leap takes him farther than humanly possible but he knows in this land of the flaming sky there are different rules. The ground falls away quickly, disappearing into blackness, until there is only the creature filling his sight from one end of the earth to the other. He stabs out with one fist, readying for the punch.

Then it’s gone and he’s falling.

He lands with a jarring thud on the spongy ground. There is nothing around him. Even the skies have gone quiet, the flames silenced.

Dad, what’s happening?

There is no answer.

Dad? This is worse than the chasing creature. His dad can no longer hear him and it means more than simple distance. In this land, sound travels much farther. If Ben is silent, if no answer comes from him, it means he is gone.

Panic re-surfaces.

Raimy starts to run again. Now he has no direction, he just runs. Maybe if he can outrun the panic a good idea will come to him. He has to find his dad, that’s all that matters.

The darkness starts to lift, changing to a deep gray. His vision isn’t much better though. The land is covered with a vast fog that continues to hide monsters, creatures and unknown fears. Raimy hopes that somewhere in fog his father is waiting for him to come.

The ground starts to change, too.

It’s no longer wet and sucking at his feet. Now he runs through sand and rocks, an unstable surface that threatens to send him tumbling to his knees with every step. It’s dangerous. He knows if he falls, the ground may just open up and swallow him to its depths and then it will be all over.

Raimy focuses his concentration on the ground just ahead of him. Because of that, it takes him a while to realize the fog has thinned out and he can see much farther. He looks up and finally sees Ben. His father is a long way off, on a tall hill. Despite the distance, Raimy can see every little detail. It should be impossible but impossible no longer applies in this place.

A ring of creatures surrounds his dad, still and silent. Though none of them move, there’s great threat in their presence. They are waiting to attack, held off for some unknown reason. Raimy can sense it.

Hang on, Dad. I’m coming! He churns his legs as fast as he dares, trying to close the distance.

His father does not react or respond. He remains turned away from Raimy, facing a large oddly shaped creature as if they are speaking.

Time drags out as Raimy runs. Too much of his attention is needed to watch where his feet land. He’s taking too long. At this pace, he’ll arrive too late to help.

The fog starts to change, growing thick once again. Only this time it’s from a different source. It’s not just fog but an endless crowd of gray, silent monsters closing in on him. They are all identical: bodies with arms pressed tight to their sides, heads without faces, standing like statues. They float over the rough ground, coming towards him until they’ve formed a line on both sides, creating a runway.

At the far end stands Ben. But he’s fading, like a shadow disappearing as the sun rises.

Raimy? His father’s voice is clear. He’s confused. He doesn’t know where his son is. There’s something unseen between them, keeping them separate.

Ben Rylan is slipping away and no matter what Raimy does, he cannot stop it.

Then, suddenly, Raimy is surrounded by the creatures. They close off the runway and circle around him. They begin to press forward.

His father winks out of sight and in his place emerges a creature more dangerous than any other come before. Though its face is blurry, two red eyes peer at him. Horns rise up from the head, crooked and evil. One hand grips a wicked-looking staff.

It uses the other hand to point one finger directly at Raimy. Even across the vast distance, the gesture is clear and menacing. There is nowhere to hide from this most frightening monster of all.

Then the silent ghosts close in on him, humming, and all light disappears.

Two

January 1, 2011

8:43am Saturday

I feel the scream rip from my throat. Dad!

I thrash under the covers and try to escape the crush of gray, faceless monsters, but all I end up doing is falling out of my bed. My head smacks the floor.

Ow!

The winter sun peeks through the window blinds, laying down slices of light across me. Our apartment is small, but nice enough for the two of us.

My dad shoves open my bedroom door. Raimy! I heard you scream. What’s wrong? Why are you on the floor?

Ben Rylan is a big guy. He’s got broad shoulders and looks like the type of guy made to wear flannel a lot. In fact, he has on a blue and white flannel shirt with jeans that show holes in both knees. He always has whisker stubble no matter how often he shaves. He looks like a lumberjack or fireman hero from the movies, the guy that takes control when no one else knows what to do.

I don’t want him to see me crying like a baby. He easily picks me up and I bury my face in his shoulder to hide the tears. He sets me back down in bed. Did you have another dream about the accident?

His arms are strong and they wrap me in a bear hug, so I grab on tight. It’s been three years since a car accident took my ability to walk. I’m stuck with crutches for the rest of my life and there isn’t a day when I don’t think about it. Three years and I still haven’t gotten used to it.

But that’s not it, not this morning.

No. It was a different dream, the worst, I mumble into the warmth of his shoulder. The muscle flexes as he shifts and I smell the familiar scent of him. It’s a mix of leather and the outdoors, and the best smell ever. Who knows where it comes from? We live in downtown Chicago, in a small apartment building. The nearest woods are miles away. I guess this is just his natural scent.

There’s silence in our apartment. We’re the only ones here. Mom died when I was three and I don’t have any memories of her. The room is cold from winter chill poking through the windows.

A nightmare? Dad asks and pushes back to look me in the eye. His own eyes are green and clear, the left one slightly darker than the right. His hair is dark brown and kind of messed up, like he hadn’t yet combed it.

I turn my face to swipe away the tears before meeting his stare and nodding. Yeah. It was so real though. I’ve never had a dream like this.

If I hadn’t been looking straight at him right then, I might have missed the flicker that crossed his face. Creases at the corners of his eyes mean he’s worried. He arranges me so I’m sitting up against my pillows.

Tell me as much as you can remember. Every detail. His voice is different, going from concerned to something else.

This scares me a little, but I don’t let it show and describe every piece of the dream I can remember. It’s hard to recall the right order because so much happened and I have to back track a couple of times to get the story straight.

When I finish, he leans forward. His green eyes are intense. This is very important, Raim. The one with the staff, were there others with him?

I…I think so, but they were behind him.

How many?

Um, I’m not sure.

Think hard, son. Really hard.

I lean back into my pillow, staring at him. Dad, I’m getting weirded out. You’re scaring me.

I’m sorry. I don’t mean to. His shoulders relax but I can tell it’s just for my benefit. For some reason he’s trying to hide his thoughts. Sometimes recalling the details of nightmares can help you master them. Let’s just talk through it.

I nod. Okay. It just stood there, on a far off mountain, holding a staff in one hand, pointing at me with the other. I’m not sure how many others were behind it, maybe nine? Three groups of three, I think? Does that help?

Dad stays silent for a long time, long enough that I feel nervous. His eyes remain locked on mine but I know he’s thinking deep down inside. Finally he shakes his head. There was more, wasn’t there? Feelings, emotions and sensations that you can’t really describe?

How do you know that?

Just a guess. He sighs. I’d hoped we had more time, Raim. More days and months and years to prepare, but I guess no one can ever truly be ready for this.

What are you talking about?

He ruffles my hair with one strong hand. Redness at the corners of his eyes tells me he’s worried, and that makes me worried. Dreams can be scary things, son. Sometimes they mean nothing, other times they carry messages. And of all days to learn this, it has to happen on your birthday. My champ turns eleven today and it seems like we’re going to be having a different kind of celebration.

My dad gets up and scrubs at his eyes. Come on. Let’s go see Abe and Philomena.

As he heads towards the kitchen, I realize I have no idea what’s going on. Why do we need to see my uncle and cousin? What do they have to do with all this? I feel like there is another play going on just out of my sight. I now feel even worse about the dream I had.

What is happening here?

*

Uncle Abe lives with his daughter Philomena, although everyone usually calls her Piper. She’s a year younger than me. We go to the same school, but we’ve never really been close. She doesn’t say much, just stares with her dopey brown eyes. Whenever I see her in the school halls, she’ll nod or give a little smile, but that’s about it. I get the feeling she feels awkward around me for some reason.

It’s not that I don’t like my cousin; we’re just strangers to each other.

Dad calls for uncle Abe’s driver, a guy named Carl. Carl is old and balding. He’s always polite, saying things like ‘Good morning, young sir’ or ‘Fine day indeed’. Other than that, he doesn’t talk much. Our twenty minute drive is quiet. Dad and I stare out opposite windows of the car.

Abe’s building is tall, at least thirty stories, near downtown Chicago. He lives on the top three floors. He’s runs a company and is supposed to