Warriors of Amüran: The Dragonlord Rising

By J.R. Russell

War ends, filling the land with chaos within the borders of Amran from the aftermath of the war ending fifty years ago. A young man grows up in a peaceful life, which is taken from him in one night, when murder takes his family and almost his life. He obtains his life from his rescuers, who declare him the fabled Dragonlord, having the power to turn himself into a dragon! He meets new friends and gains allies while finding himself along his journey to defeat Zamra, the greatest calamity of all time!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 5, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503591585

J.R. Russell

I was born in Petersburg, Virginia, and am an Eagle Scout. I graduated from Richard Bland College and am now currently attending Virginia State University. I have three dogs and a bunny. I am engaged to be married.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by J.R. Russell.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2015912351

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-9160-8

                Softcover        978-1-5035-9159-2

                eBook             978-1-5035-9158-5

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 information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/18/2015

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CONTENTS

The Prologue

Amüran War-Song

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

About The Author

TO PATRICIA,

THE ONE WHOM I WILL LOVE AND

CHERISH ALWAYS NOW AND FOREVER

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THE PROLOGUE

L ong ago in the mystical land of Amüran, war breaks out tearing the country apart. Throughout the world’s history, many scholars’ called the war, The Dragon Revolution. The war it raged all throughout the countryside between the Dragon Alliance and the Zamarags. The Dragon Alliance army that consisted of men, elves, dwarves, vampires, werewolves and other mysterious races that live in the world under the leadership of Enrienza. They fought against the Zamarags (Zamaks) who invaded Amuran two thousand years ago under their former leader Zakmar. The Zamaks are ruthless, bloodthirsty beasts in human form that show no mercy to anyone other than their own kind. They would destroy anyone who dares to get in their way, and will do whatever is necessary to accomplish their g oals.

Upon Zak’s death, he left his most trusted second in command, Zamra Larkmor in charge. He took the reins of leadership to continue on his master’s will, ruling over his followers with fear. All fell under his rule when he conquered Amuran. Many capable warriors over the course of years have fallen by Zamra’s mighty power when they challenged him to combat. Therefore, since then no one rose up to fight him. However, legends foretold that only the Dragonlord who are dragon warriors that turn into dragons are the only ones that can stand up and defeat Zamra. However, their existence has been unknown to all for thousands of years. Of course, every era has its heroes, the people of Amuran are waiting, and hoping for the day will come when the Dragonlords appear and destroy Zamra for the last time, bringing peace and prosperity back to the land.

AMÜRAN WAR-SONG

The Dragonlords Call

As the legends foretold

From the kingdoms of old

Of the Zamaks return

Who will pillage and burn

Which some can retell

When the warriors rebel

They are the Dragonlords

That soars through the skies

Only when death is in sight

With teeth as their swords

Striking death in their eyes

We will have victory tonight!

That is our way

When we sing of this day

When war is in sight

We will rise up to fight!

We are warriors who fight through the lands

Only in times of strife

We defend our homes with blood on our hands

That is our purpose in life!

When our swords have rusted

As our bones become busted

We shall never die!

As our spears are braking,

When our shields are shaking

The enemy will never survive!

That is our way

When we sing of this day

When war is in sight

We will rise up to fight!

As the red dawn is rising

Our enemies are dying

Their blood shall spill today

As the men, keep doubting

As we are shouting

That victory is not far away!

When the fields turn red,

As our enemies lay dead

Our fight has just begun

When we are gone

Our brothers fight on

Until the war is won

That is our way

When we sing of this day

When war is in sight

We will rise up to fight!

CHAPTER 1

O ur story begins on a small farm in the Dragon Isles on a late afternoon, in the early summer of the year 152 AC. The farm has ten acres of land to produce many crops and raise lots of livestock on with a large forest full of oak trees standing tall and strong behind their homestead. In the central area of the farm resides a large wooden stable to keep the animals out of the rain and sweltering heat that attaches itself to a storehouse where they keep their extra food and water safe during the winter. The house is two stories tall made of wood and stone with two round glass windows on each side of the dwelling. A roaring fireplace is at the house’s center sending smoke followed by the scent of food cooking in the pit up the chimney s talk.

A young man grabs a metal pail off a fencepost walking towards the stable to milk the cow. This young man is of twenty-one years old, standing six feet tall, with short brown hair with thick silver locks. His gleaming, pearl-blue eyes shine like flawless sapphires in the morning sunlight. An older man, very plain and as skinny as a toothpick, with brown hair, brown eyes, and dust on his tan face, shouts from the back door of the house, Jaze Dragonback! I need you to help me with the crops! The corn is not going to pick itself!

Jaze is at present walking out of the stable from milking the cow carrying a heavy bucket of bitter milk with both hands on the handle. On hearing his father calling his name, he shouts back to him. Sure dad! I will be right there! Just give me a minute. I do not want to spill this milk all over the place and waste it.

Jaze carries the heavy bucket of milk inside the house to his mother so that she can sterilize it. Jaze’s father watches his son from the cornfields carrying the heavy pail into the house. This impresses him by how much Jaze’s muscular strength improves everyday making day-to-day chores much easier to finish. Jaze leaves the house, grabs a hoe inside the stable, and heads out to the fields to work on the crops. The man takes a break for a bit and heading inside the house moving over to the woman at the fireplace cooking supper. He kisses the woman on the side of her cheek. Sinje, how is supper going? Is it ready?

Sinje turns her head to look at him with a smile on her lips. She has hair as golden as the sun as it dangles from her nimble shoulders. Her green eyes sparkle like emeralds glowing in the sunlight arraying it lustful beauty. Sinje is a strong, graceful woman and a very hard worker who can run like a white stallion racing across the grassy plains. Supper will be ready soon, but I need just a few more minutes to make sure that it is cooked well my love, if that is ok?

Solume nods and returns to the field to help his son with the crops. Every day from dawn until dusk, Jaze and Solume work tirelessly in the fields to tend to the crops and gather them into bushels, having them ready for transport to the market in Scale Town.

After they finish their daily chores, Solume looks over at Jaze. He asks, Do you want to practice your sword techniques before supper?

Dad it will be an honor, and I have been meaning to get back at you after last time. Jaze replies with overconfidence in his voice.

Solume laughs at him sensing the boy’s eagerness to spar with him. We will see about that my son.

They walk over to the stables each acquiring of a wooden stave leaning against the wall. Jaze and his father Solume move away from the stables and enter an open grassy area near the house. They stand twenty feet apart from each other with their wooden stave out in front of them facing each other with excitement filling their eyes.

Solume tells Jaze, while readying himself to attack. Stay focused my son, while keeping your mind clear and your eyes open, which will help you in a real fight someday.

Solume lunges forward at Jaze, swinging his stave diagonally at him. Jaze dodges the attack by holding his stave horizontally in order to block the imminent attack. Solume tries for a thrusting attack that Jaze barely dodges the almost fatal blow. Jaze starts off his attack with a summersault landing behind his father, who in turn swings around with a horizontal attack, that Jaze ducks down to evade the blow and swings this right leg tripping up his father, who lands on his backside upon the ground. They spar like this for an hour or two until Solume disarms Jaze and points his stave directly at Jaze’s chest while his stave flies into the air and landing vertically into the ground ten feet away from him. Both Jaze and Solume stand there tired and exhausted with drenching sweat dripping down the sides of their faces.

Solume smiles at Jaze proudly at his progress with a weapon. You are getting better every day my son, but there is so more much to learn and I still have more to teach you. For now, however, you have learned enough from me to protect yourself. Now come, my son. Let us head on inside the house and wash up for supper. All this sparring has worked me up an appetite.

They rest their staves against the stable and drag themselves tirelessly back toward the house to get ready for supper. Jaze stops halfway towards the house to take a bath in the spring near his parents dwelling and washes the dirt off him. Afterwards, he dries himself off with a towel, gets dressed, and heads inside the house to eat supper.

Later on that night after supper, Jaze is in his room reading some journals that belonged to his father when he fought with the Great Alliance during the war. Solume had written during the war and described what he had done and what he had seen. Jaze glances inside one of his father’s old war journals that he had been recently reading of late. Some of the journal entries Solume wrote was in many different languages that are unfamiliar to him, and Jaze sometimes ponders them about what the passage could mean. He asked his father once before about it. Even Solume did not know what the scripture meant.

Regardless of the reason, he just looks at them anyway, regardless of their meaning. Jaze continues reading the passages that tell about the last days of the war, during the battle, which occurs at Zamra’s main stronghold.

December 13,112 AC, it is cold as shit out here. Food is low and the water is scarce. Some of the men are starting to get frostbite on their feet. Our army has just arrived at Zamra’s castle in Endless Void Country. This is it, the final battle; if we win we are victorious!

Jaze continues reading until he reached the passages that tell of his father storming Zamra’s castle. We have searched and searched Zamra’s entire fortress from top to bottom, and the evil cretin is nowhere to be found. We were close so close to getting our hands on him, and he escapes our grasp once again. If he shows up again we will be ready for him.

Jaze’s eyes absorb the written text by the light of the candle in his room. The bedroom is neat and tidy with a bed, made of feather and hickory next to the bedroom door. A solid oak, two drawler, nightstand plants itself on the right side of Jaze’s bed. An old rocking chair is by the fireplace that is across the room from the bed. At the foot of bed, Jaze has a big, round top; cedar chest full of all his clothes, keepsakes, and other items that he stores inside of it. Two large round glass windows shine light through from either side of the fireplace. Jaze can rest in his rocking chair and enjoy the beautiful scenery outside during the day when he has nothing to do in his spare time. The fireplace is big, made of solid stone. The fireplace is where Solume, Sinje, and Jaze would gather during the late evening on occasion to spend time together as a family.

While Jaze is reading, a knock on the bedroom door sounds. Can I come in son? Solume’s voice booms from the other side of the door. I wish to talk with you for a moment.

Jaze turns his head towards the bedroom door. Sure dad, come on in.

Solume turns the door handle and enters the room walking over to the rocking chair by the fireplace to rest him comfortably within the wooden structure, and begins rocking back and forth in the chair. It remains silent between the two of them for a moment until Solume stops rocking in the rocking chair to lean forward in the chair looking over towards Jaze, and says to Jaze with serenity in his tone of voice. Jaze you know that tomorrow is your birthday with the makings of a fine young man, and I am very proud of you my son. Being a man comes with many great responsibilities, and as such, your mother and I have agreed that it is time for you to have this gift.

Solume sticks his left hand into his left pocket of his pants, pulls out an amulet, and hands it to Jaze who holds it gently in his hands, gazing upon its beauty. The pendant is in the shape of a dragon finished in pure silver with small rubies for its eyes giving it animation. The dragon’s main body coils around a long silver sword, resting its massive head hanging from the left side of the guard. The pendant attaches to a long silver scale-linked chain made by a professional artisan. The pendant is warm to the touch, and then Jaze feels the pendant pulsing like it has a life of its own in the palm of his hands.

I found that in a treasure trove in one of Zamra’s abandoned fortresses during the earlier parts of the war. I was about your age at that time when I was helping the Royal Vampire Army sack one of Zamra’s fortresses in the south near the city of Aluze. Solume explained to Jaze.

Jaze goes over to Solume, gives him a big hug, smiling. Thank you dad for this gift, and I will treasure this keepsake forever.

Solume rises from the rocking chair and progresses to the bedroom door to go to bed. I have something else for you Jaze, but that surprise will have to wait until tomorrow. So until then get some sleep we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.

Okay dad, good night, and I will see you in the morning bright and early. Jaze yawned effortlessly.

Solume opens the bedroom door closing it behind him, and heads off to bed. Jaze lay on his bed still holding the amulet in his hands.

I will treasure this forever. He said to himself.

Jaze the chain encloses around his neck, while the dragon pendant lay upon his broad chest. With the scrolls in hand that he was reading earlier, Jaze places them inside the top drawer of the nightstand beside his bed. Once Jaze closes the drawler of the nightstand, he blows out the candle in his room and drifts off to sleep, thinking of how much work he has to do tomorrow before the day began.

At midnight, while in deep sleep, the amulet on Jaze’s neck begins to glow, and instantaneously disappears along with his physical being. He awakens in a dream that places him at a battle in an ashy wasteland that he has never seen before. Jaze is stands on the edge of a cliff, looking out at the battle-taking place below him. He is dressed in beautiful black dragon armor, carrying a big tower shield made of dragon teeth and a longsword made of dragonbone.

Jaze looks up to see dragons and other mythical creatures fighting each other in the sky. One in particular catches his eye of a black dragon soaring high in the air breathing fire upon its foes. He turns his attention back on the battle going on down below him when Jaze suddenly hears sounds of deathly growling coming from behind him. With his sword in hand the sun’s light is shimmering across the blade making it glow, Jaze is ready to strike down any enemies and push back all who stand against him with his shield. Jaze quickly swirls around to meet whatever foe awaits him. Jaze is surprised as he looks up to find the black dragon the same one he saw earlier, hovering in the air looking down at him. From his observation up close, Jaze believes this dragon is much larger than his house with scales black as the darkest of night. Its red and silver spikes aligning all down the dragons back with fiery eyes red as the morning dawn. The dragon lands carefully in front of Jaze showing no signs of aggressiveness towards him.

Do not let my presence alarm you my mighty Dragonlord. The dragon said to Jaze in his mind. The dragon’s presence is calming to him and listens to what the dragon has to say. I am not here to harm you, but to protect you for the long journeys ahead of you; that are pending upon your very feet to take your very first step to begin your journey that will shake time itself for thousands of years. That amulet you wear around your neck is a communication amulet that allows us to speak to one another in your dreams. It will vanish, and when it does the wheels of destiny…your destiny will begin to take form that many will remember your name by many future generations.

Jaze lowers his shield, sheathes his sword, and then walks up to the dragon. He looks up and gazes at the mighty creature before him. What do you mean ‘the journey ahead’?

Ah! The dragon said. That, mortal…no…Dragonlord is a very good question. Only you Jaze Dragonback will know the answer to your question in due time.

I see…wait how do you know my name? Jaze replied with astonishment upon his face.

The dragon stares at Jaze for a long while, and again speaks to him while sticking to the main topic at hand. It does not matter, but what does matter is that I will be watching over you and protecting you since you and I are one of the same. You and I are of the same race, and we must work together and defeat the evil that has arisen once more. Therefore, I bestow you this gift to help you on your journey. It is a special sword technique called ‘Dragon Rage’ with this technique gives you the ability to engulf your enemies in flame within a matter of moments.

The dragon opens its mouth very wide and breathes fire onto Jaze. While being engulfed in flames, thoughts of fear flow through his mind, believing that he is burning to death. However, to Jaze’s surprise, the fire is not harming him at all. The fire swirling around him is cool, comfortable, and pleasant. Then he watches as the fire goes inside of him and Jaze then feels a burst of massive energy flowing inside him, making him feel much stronger than ever.

Well it is now time for me to go. The dragon replied sadly. The amulet is fading and time for us to temporary depart, but remember, I will be watching over you very closely Jaze Dragonback, the savior of our world. We will cross paths again very soon Dragonlord and this I promise you.

The dragon opens its mouth again, but instead of fire, black fog spews out from the dragon’s mouth that swallows Jaze and everything around him into total darkness.

CHAPTER 2

J aze opens his eyes the next morning feeling sweat dripping from his forehead breathing quite heavily as if waking from a horrid nightmare. While catching his breath, Jaze places his right hand on the back of his neck to scratch the itch away. To his alarm, Jaze could not feel the amulet dangling from his neck anymore. It is gone.

Now I know that I put the amulet on last night before I went to sleep. Jaze mumbled to himself.

As he searches for the amulet, hoping that it fell on the floor beside the bed, Jaze suddenly remembers the strange dream he had last night.

Last night must have been a dream. He thought aloud to himself. Or was that all real?

Jaze quickly jumps out of bed, taking off his wet shirt examining himself, ensuring that it was all just a dream. Suddenly he notices a mark of a dragon, somewhat similar to the design of the amulet, appearing on the upper portion of his right shoulder. Jaze just stands there looking directly at the mark in complete shock trying to cope with what he just seen happen before him.

Jaze says to himself in surprise with accepting the reality from the fantasy. Yep it is all real.

The mark on his shoulder begins to burn, and Jaze drops down on his knees. Grabbing his right shoulder, with his left hand, Jaze moans, and groans from the intensive pain. It feels like someone is branding me with a branding iron! Jaze groaned loudly trying to resist the overwhelming pain.

Suddenly the pain stops, Jaze looks at the mark again to see it glowing in a fiery color. Jaze gets up and observes the mark with curiosity. The fiery glow fades away, leaving a scorched mark behind, but a different mark that took the place of the other. The mark is still a dragon, but this one is black, hovering motionlessly in air, with its dragon’s wings expanding out to its sides while holding the sword with its front legs.

Then Jaze hears yelling from outside the house, and walks to his father’s room, peaking out of the open window to see what all the commotion was.

What in the world do you guys want from me this time? A voice said from outside of the house.

Jaze recognizes the voice belonging to Solume from the front door of the house.

That must be dad. He pondered with worry on his mind. I hope nothing is wrong.

Jaze washes his face to remove the sleepiness from his eyes with soap and water from the water trough behind the house. Then takes a towel to dry off his face, and moves swiftly through the kitchen grabbing a bite to eat along the way out the front door to do his chores. Jaze stops cold at the front entrance of the house to witness his Solume holding a spear at his side while arguing with Zamak soldiers. The soldiers are wearing fur armor, while carrying arms at their sides. Their ugly ghoul-like appearances make Jaze feel sick to his stomach unable to look away at their physical features noticing their lifeless eyes, yellow teeth, and the smell of rotten corpses fumigating from their skin.

Fur armor, in this weather? Jaze thought to himself while watching Solume and the soldier’s converse in a hostile manner.

What do you want? Solume asked the soldiers hastily.

The leader of the patrol takes a few steps toward Solume, with a coldly stare in his eyes. Humph that is a much better tone than the earlier one. You know why we are here peasant.

Another soldier of the group steps up beside his leader. This soldier is more threatening than the leader. It is time to pay up or suffer the consequences!

Solume looks at him while the soldier is laughing at him.

He lifts up the spear he uses to hunt bear with the tip in between the leader’s eyes. A dark aura begins to consume Solume that terrifies the soldiers. Get out of my sight! You will receive the money when I have the money to pay you. Now get out of my sight or I will run this spear into your gut!

Dad, Jaze shouted while running up to his father with the attempt to stop him.

We do not want any kind of trouble from them and we do not want to start any. Jaze said warning his father.

Solume looks at Jaze, standing beside him, while pondering for a moment. He then rests his lean hand on his son’s shoulder with heaving a sigh.

You are quite right my son. This is not worth dying for.

Solume lowers his spear from between the soldier’s eyes in the midst of Jaze seizing the spear from his father’s hands and returns to the house to put the spear back in its proper location, which is behind the front door. Afterwards, Jaze leans his right shoulder against the open doorway watching them with his arms crossed. Solume furiously marches up to the leader, until both of their faces are two inches apart, and then threats him.

If you ever bring any harm to my wife or my son, I swear that I will kill you personally with my bare hands.

The leader’s eyes enlarge with sweat trickling down the sides of his cheeks, stricken with fear deep within his soul. His men grab him by his underarms to help him to his feet. While they scurry away, one of the soldiers glances back at Solume with an angry expression on his face. You are going to regret the day you ever messed with us and we will be back to settle the score with you!

The soldiers turn away furiously, heading back the direction from whence they came. Jaze sees something in his father that he has never seen before, a wild barbarian with an uncontrollable hunger for battle and the lust for blood. Solume watches the solders go. He turns his attention toward the house, and sees his son Jaze standing there in the doorway in shock.

You saw did you not my son? Solume said calmly while staring off in the distance.

Yes sir, but will they come back after you threatened them? Jaze asked.

Solume begins to feel pain deep in his heart with his actions that put his family in immediate danger, and he did not know what to say to his son nor to his wife. What Solume does know is that by lifting a spear against the enemy, he made himself a target to the enemy. Yes they will be back and soon.

Jaze then walks up to Solume and looks at him. Dad I know you do not like them but threatening them will get us killed.

Solume then spoke calmly to Jaze. "You are right son. I constantly have bad memories from the war. They resurface once and a while. Therefore, they mostly resurface every time when those evil Zamak soldiers come here to my home and act