Cloak King: Royal Blood

By DP Bickerdike

The sensual flirtations between Sehn-Shawl and Conner Knight push the edge of being a clean romance.
"Royal Blood" is the first book in the Cloak King Series and begins to document the struggles between the empathy-filled alien Cloak race (who were originally from the planet of Manifest and who also highly embrace honesty and transparency) and their greatest enemies, the narcissistic Narkos race. This story is told through the eyes of human Conner Knight, the Cloak's prophesied King. The home planet of Manifest has unique powers within the natural resources of the planet, aiding Conner in fulfilling his prophesied destiny to become King. Called into a new adventure with the Cloaks, he is guided by a male Cloak, "Mant-Orr" and a female Cloak, "Sehn-Shawl." Initially, Conner is reluctant, not knowing if he can fulfill the Cloak's expectations for him. He then learns about the powers instilled within the sliced Manifest stones which all Cloaks wear, and he then joins in their plight to save their culture against the Narkos race who seek to destroy them. During his training, Conner learns about how he acquired Royal Cloak Blood, about the Cloak's Ancient Society, their various philosophies and Laws of the Universe, and the meanings behind the colored hues surrounding the Cloak stones and coats that are worn. He learns to defensively use "Gray Stone" techniques. Conner learns about his mission to use the Cave of Lost Time to travel into the Ancient Past to redirect the inner cores of Ancient Cloaks to prevent the planet of Manifest from imploding upon itself. Conner begins to admire Sehn-Shawl as he is taught the Cloak ways of connecting with each other, which often includes deep and sensual interactions. While dealing with his own personal life issues as a human, Conner proceeds to research how to save the Ancient Cloak Society as well as how to save Sehn-Shawl by learning the keys toward safely allowing her to successfully complete a round trip though time. Ultimately, Conner Knight learns the skills that help him recover from his personal griefs which in turn enable him to increase the Toh-Sonn levels within his Cloak Blood, a requirement for traveling back into the past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Deep Perspective Books
• Release date: Sep 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648190124

DP Bickerdike

Don “D.P.” Bickerdike’s messages are simple: “Nobody is perfect” and “Everything has a solution.” When you read his books it is like sitting down comfortably with your favorite drink having a casual conversation with him. The reader easily sees Don’s transparency and humility. He is the first to admit that he falls short in measuring up to high standards, but at the same time he shows you that there is always a way out of any mess.His fiction novels and short stories have basic spiritual overtones while Don often focuses on the “human factors” which none of us can avoid. His non-fiction books cut to the chase without all of the sugar-coating. As Don finds his lifetime treasures he freely shares them with other people through his many books. During your casual conversations with him he continues to be authentic.Beyond the overtones which hint to his spiritual insights, Don Bickerdike provides interesting and compelling stories designed to intrigue and entertain both the spiritual and non-spiritual readers. At the end of each story, the readers are often nudged into considering which side of the fence they truly stand on.When not writing, Don enjoys jogging and traveling with his muse near Tucson, Arizona.

Book preview

CLOAK KING

ROYAL BLOOD

by D.P. Bickerdike

Cloak King: Royal Blood by D.P. Bickerdike

www.DPBickerdike.com

Books@DPBickerdike

Cover design, and Interior Layout by:

Deep Perspective Books

Tucson, AZ

Copyright © 2020 D.P. Bickerdike

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any unauthorized information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, except where prohibited by law.

ISBN-13: 978-1-64819-001-8 (e-Book/MOBI)

ISBN-13: 978-1-64819-012-4 (e-Book/EPUB)

ISBN-13: 978-1-64819-002-5 (paperback)

Library of Congress Control Number:

2020932645

This is the first book in the CLOAK KING series. The first Trilogy includes the following books:

CLOAK KING: ROYAL BLOOD (Book 1);

CLOAK KING: INTERTWINED (Book 2);

CLOAK KING: PLUCKED OUT OF TIME (Book3)

A special thanks to my muse and partner, my very own Sehn-Shawl, who has believed in my writing abilities since the beginning, who recognized my need to write it all down for posterity, and who has always shared the hope that these writings will get into the correct hands.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE - The Call of Mant-Orr

CHAPTER TWO - Rejecting Mant-Orr's Promotion

CHAPTER THREE - The Power of the Manifest Stones

CHAPTER FOUR - Moving Beyond Cycles

CHAPTER FIVE - The Cave of Transparency

CHAPTER SIX - The Inner Caverns

CHAPTER SEVEN - Admiring the Queen

CHAPTER EIGHT - Traveling Light

CHAPTER NINE - The Good Father

CHAPTER TEN - Becoming Cloak

CHAPTER ELEVEN - The Toh-Sonn High

CHAPTER TWELVE - Finding the Balance

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - ABOUT DON D.P. BICKERDIKE

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - CONNECT WITH DON D.P. BICKERDIKE

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - OTHER BOOKS BY DON D.P. BICKERDIKE

CHAPTER ONE

The Call of Mant-Orr

I am a human known as the Cloak King. I have not always been known as the Cloak King, but I have gained status since this reference was first used. My story begins in the corner of the Universe inhabited by the alien Cloak race. As the Cloak King, it is my honor and privilege to recount the details of the Cloak’s greatest accomplishments and ideals.

I leaned on victorious endeavors made yesteryear; discerning aliens upheld great hierarchies, though exiled races scorned. I have recorded my life into my Cloak Stone, which preserves my history and allows the details of my journey to be documented for posterity. It is within these Chronicles that I share the history of my journeys with you, often as if I were reliving these moments as documented within the data trails of the past.

Though my current appearance has changed, most remember me as a medium height and medium build human with sandy brown hair. I have grown a long braided tail of hair going down the middle of my back. I mostly keep this hidden from others, as it represents a portion of my past grief.

My Cloak story begins many years ago. I was known as Conner Knight, a Commanding Officer in the Human Security Detail, escorting the Human Peace Council (HPC) to negotiation to resolve yet another conflict between two warring cultures. The war interfered with the valuable resources needed which were shared by these rare planets, causing a threat to vast numbers of inhabited surrounding planets, galaxies, and trade systems throughout the Universe. Though the alien cultures each agreed to a temporary truce, it was not expected to last long.

The Cloak civilization claimed to be a peaceful race, merely defending their source of unique technologies and knowledge to sustain their race. The Cloak beings inhabited two planets: the fifth planet known as Manifest, and the seventh planet known as the Cloak Planet. The opposing alien race was from the sixth planet Narkos, a manipulative culture that could convince others of their good intentions while somehow robbing the resources from those who they so craftily deceived. Negotiations were at a stand-still. It was my duty to ensure the safety of the best negotiation team we had to offer, at the Cloak Klan’s request. The challenge, however, was convincing the Narkos representatives that this was not a biased negotiation team sent to propose an unbalanced agreement.

The Cloaks would only agree to negotiations if the Human Peace Council agreed to observe their culture before negotiations. They insisted that this would make a difference in the success of the negotiations. My duty was simple; I was in charge of the around-the-clock coverage of security for the entire HPC. It was more like assigning and scheduling babysitters for adults, as I had seen very little reason to be on a security alert. Most of our security was automated by computers and integrated within the individual defense systems that we each would wear, and therefore, I felt there was no need for my assignment. Security was automatically regulated.

My Captain, Beauregard Foon, and I walked through the wide corridors that reflected prisms of light throughout the gray halls which then reflected off of our Cloak clothing. Colors were celebrated by the Cloaks. I inadvertently grazed the coat of someone in the hall and apologized as I walked past, not thinking that the graze was worthy of further interaction. I had been conversing with my Captain and had not noticed the Cloak, an easy oversight.

Do you know who that Cloak is? I asked Captain Foon after many steps.

"Which Cloak?’ He replied, oblivious to the interaction. We continued toward the dining hall and found a comfortable seating area.

Being in charge of the security details, I often met elite members of the Cloaks. I was fortunate enough to avoid deep conversations or speak beyond basic greetings, until this particular day when I disclosed an arbitrary piece of information that one of the Cloaks latched onto and would not let out of his grip.

He was an odd Cloak. Mant-Orr was his assumed name. Each Cloak had two names: The name he or she was given at birth, and then the name they assumed based on peer observation as they grew to maturity. The second name was more than a nickname and was usually one of honor, which was taken as a second name out of respect for the Cloak’s peers. Mant-Orr would often gaze around the room at a restaurant or bar, oblivious to the entertainment around him, while occasionally smirking or nodding his head as if he were having subtle conversations with the other members of the room. On this unique occasion, I followed his gaze toward the entrance while my commanding officer droned on about his prowess with the ladies.

Nice shade of orange, I softly muttered under my breath. This redirected Mant-Orr’s gaze to look me square in the eyes. I tried to explain my comment, I meant the hue from the lights reflecting off of the coat of the female that just walked in.

Mant-Orr said nothing but had an odd look about him which appeared to represent a half-disturbed and half-calculating expression. He was not one to talk and ramble on, but his expressions were uncannily sharp with detail. Tell me more, he said, speaking more words to me at once than I recall in any previous setting. We were still in an observation state of the mission, and I found it surprising to have this Cloak latch on to my words as if he were trying to look into my soul. What do you see? Mant-Orr was intrigued.

He’s always been like that, Captain Foon chimed in, apparently distracted by Mant-Orr’s attention wavering from his long-winded stories. A sharp wit to boot. An odd fellow, but smart. He can’t be promoted any higher, otherwise, we’d all be thinking he’d take our jobs, or else my name isn’t Captain Beauregard Foon. The Captain had a few too many Cloak drinks. There was no alcohol allowed on Planet Cloak, but the Cloak drinks may as well have been vodka, as they were designed to cause transparency in one’s thinking. Transparency has always been one of the highest ideals, which I originally learned through my human briefings of the planet’s history. Therefore it made sense that the Cloaks would promote transparency throughout their society.

A Cloak at a nearby table overheard my Captain state his name and softly clarified with his Cloak comrade who was sitting next to him at his table, Did he just call himself ‘Captain Bo Foon?’ To which my Captain overheard and replied, Only those who know me very well call me ‘Bo Foon.’ That’s ‘Captain Bo Foon’ for you… From this time forward, Cloaks appeared to take great care to call my Captain by this variation of his name.

What did you see on her coat? Mant-Orr pried. I never said I saw anything on her outer coat, referencing the attire which was referred to as a cloak that was worn much like a coat. This was required attire within all of the Cloak colonies. The Cloaks had oddities in their culture, and the peculiar habit of always wearing these coats, or cloaks as they called them, was one of these oddities. It had no meaning. At least it had no meaning that had been documented anywhere that could be retrieved from researching our files. The only ritual we observed so far was that these long coats were shared from one Cloak to another as if they were trading friendship bracelets in grade school.

Not the coat, I told him, I see the hue. I can see the reflection from the lights. Mant-Orr smirked and excused himself along with other members of the Cloak Council who followed behind him as he exited.

I think you might have offended him, the Captain said gently. Maybe you should keep your comments to yourself until we learn their culture better.

One of Mant-Orr’s sidekicks, a Cloak named Eck-Leez, stayed behind at our table where he had been intensely interpreting ancient texts. Eck-Leez chimed in, though I was unaware that he had paid any attention to the rest of us at all while he had been engulfed in his studies.

Are you familiar with Planet Cloak’s indigenous fruits?

I stared on and responded with a subtle nod. Even a foolish man can be seen as a genius if he doesn’t speak. Speaking removes all doubt about one’s ignorance.

They are richly ripe as we speak, Eck-Leez added. The dining hall had a portion of the ceiling and wall that was open to view the sky. Eck-Leez glanced at the almost full moon as he spoke.

Perhaps you are not ready to learn about all the flavors that this planet has to offer. Eck-Leez was not affected by my lack of words and easily slipped back into studying his ancient texts.

I kept sipping my drink, recalling the first time I remember seeing the hue reflections. It was following a tragic accident on one of my past missions for one of the Cloak Colonies. The mission was on the outskirts of the Cloak’s primary colony, and I only know that I was saved by the Cloak colonists until humans could arrive to give me further medical treatment. I have no memory of the events, though I had been briefed about my mission there. It must have been the trauma that made me appreciate colors more clearly. It somehow opened my eyes to a new level of appreciation.

Captain Bo Foon droned on but was interrupted by a Cloak Female that had been watching him from the bar. Maybe she merely admired the Captain’s cloak, as she did not seem to make eye contact but immediately touched the garment as she approached. She said no words, but removed her cloak and laid it down across Captain Foon’s lap