The Darkness of Dawn Read online

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Author’s Note and Acknowledgments

  The World of Dawn

  Prologue

  CH 1 – Asher I

  CH 2 – Alexey I

  CH 3 – Black Eyes I

  CH 4 – Alexey II

  CH 5 – Asher II

  CH 6 – Black Eyes II

  CH 7 – Viktor I

  CH 8 – Black Eyes III

  CH 9 – Vaishalla I

  CH 10 – Asher III

  CH 11 – Alexey III

  CH 12 – Asher IV

  CH 13 – Black Eyes IV

  CH 14 – Vaishalla II

  CH 15 – Viktor II

  CH 16 – Asher V

  CH 17 – Black Eyes V

  CH 18 – Vaishalla III

  CH 19 – Alexey IV

  CH 20 – Asher VI

  CH 21 – Black Eyes VI

  CH 22 – Vaishalla IV

  CH 23 – Alexey V

  CH 24 – Black Eyes VII

  CH 25 – Vaishalla V

  CH 26 – Asher VII

  CH 27 – Viktor III

  CH 28 – Alexey VI

  CH 29 – Black Eyes VIII

  CH 30 – Asher VIII

  CH 31 – Black Eyes IX

  CH 32 – Asher IX

  CH 33 – Vaishalla VI

  CH 34 – Alexey VII

  CH 35 – Asher X

  CH 36 – Vaishalla VII

  CH 37 – Alexey IX

  CH 38 – Black Eyes X

  CH 39 – Asher XI

  CH 40 – Vaishalla IX

  CH 41 – Alexey X

  CH 42 – Viktor IV

  CH 43 – Black Eyes XI

  CH 44 – Vaishalla X

  CH 45 – Asher XII

  CH 46 – Black Eyes XII

  CH 47 – Viktor V

  CH 48 – Vaishalla XI

  CH 49 – Alexey XI

  CH 50 – Asher XIII

  CH 51 – Black Eyes XIII

  CH 52 – Vaishalla XII

  CH 53 – Alexey XII

  CH 54 – Viktor VI

  CH 55 – Asher XIV

  CH 56 – Black Eyes XIV

  CH 57 – Asher XV

  CH 58 – Vaishalla XIII

  CH 59 – Asher XVI

  CH 60 – Alexey XIII

  CH 61 – Viktor VII

  CH 62 – Asher XVII

  CH 63 – Alexey XIV

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  The Darkness of Dawn: Book One

  Braden Michael

  bradenmichael.co

  Copyright © 2019 Braden Michael

  All rights reserved.

  Author’s Note and Acknowledgments

  Thank you for sitting down and taking the time to read or listen to the audiobook of The Darkness of Dawn: Book One. It means a lot to me, and I’m not just saying that.

  You might be thinking that writing is my fiercest passion because I wrote a book. However, you would be wrong in making that assumption. Writing, by itself, is not my passion. I am passionate about entertaining people and doing what I can to make them feel good. This is why I am usually happiest as the “class clown” or “court jester” in most of my daily operations. I don’t care if such antics make me appear much more foolish than I truly am: if the people around me can smile or have a laugh, then it makes me happy that I may have made them happy.

  This passion of mine is what also drove me to music. Seeing insanely talented bands and performers amaze a crowd and bring about such pleasure was always a phenomenon that amazed me, and that’s why those two times I was the front man vocalist for two different concerts are two of my happiest memories. Being able to direct the flow and energy of a crowd, start a mosh pit, and encourage people to sing along with Killing in the Name was peak “me.”

  With a passion for making people feel good, I am of course drawn to the art of storytelling. I love seeing just how emotionally invested people get into the characters of their favorite TV shows, movies, video games, and books, and I’ve always wanted to accomplish that with the many stories I have circulating throughout my own head. But since I don’t have the capital, established network, or resources to produce my own hit TV Drama series, the world of literature was the obvious choice for me.

  This book is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself. How do I know this? I’ve read books that bored me to tears, and I made sure to avoid doing the things those books did. A book should only be a massive number of pages if the content on those pages can justify that length—this is something I took great care to do.

  There are five main characters with five main plotlines, and plenty of intriguing sub-plots to titillate your emotional senses. I made sure that this story had a quick and engaging pace despite the high word count. Beyond that, the characters are all unique individuals and I found them increasingly fascinating as I wrote the book and developed them. I believe this book is exceptionally good because I truly believe it. I hope that in reading it you will feel the same way. If you don’t, no harm done—whatever floats your literary boat.

  Be warned: I explored many graphic and terrible themes throughout the story—I put the “darkness” in The Darkness of Dawn. There will be passages depicting violence (sexual and otherwise), that may turn your stomach if you are particularly queasy. I’m serious: I’m about to make Game of Thrones look like Harry-fucking-Potter.

  ***

  Well now, time to acknowledge the people who made this project possible.

  I want to thank my editor, Mike Waitz, for doing a good job in making sure I maintained consistency with grammar, sentence structure, and lore items. This book was made much more readable due to his talents.

  Big thanks to the illustrator of the book’s front cover, Jon Sypher. Seeing one of the best digital artists I found online help to illustrate and bring real life to the characters I created was such a magical thing to see, and he was incredibly easy to work with.

  I need to thank my cartographer/graphic designer, Jennifer Hu, for making the maps to help me and you, the reader, visualize the landscape and true scope of the world of Dawn.

  More thanks to my parents for helping me pay, in large part, for the work of the people above, so that I did not have to completely exhaust my savings.

  And lastly, I want to thank all of my good friends who showed interest in the story and put up with me as I endlessly went on about it. Thank you, Robby, Jim, Devynne, Luis, Kaho, Tommy, and Bryson. Congratulations, your names made it into the book.

  Let’s begin the fucking book already, yeah? Okay, enjoy…

  The World of Dawn

  The Dawnlands (Political)

  The Dawnlands (Key Locations)

  The Deadlands (Key Locations)

  Prologue

  Captain Matthews of the Aquila, the Coalition Command Fleet’s pride, organized a meeting with a handful of the best engineers and soldiers on board the ship after seeing a peculiar reading on the ship’s InfoDesk.

  “Same shit, different day,” said Sergeant Kingsley.

  “Different shit, different day. I don’t expect you to understand anything beyond shooting our problems away, but this is not orthodox!” the lanky head engineer, Davis, exclaimed.

  “Don’t antagonize him, Davis.” Captain Matthews stood up and began pacing around the InfoDesk, studying the data displays. “And Sergeant, your role is to shoot our problems, not ignore them.”

  “I’m not ignoring anything, Captain. I’ve been on more combat assignments than most of the entire Coalition, and I’m telling you, this is just more of the same.”

  “You are ignoring Davis’ interpretation of the data. Do you see Morgan, Ramirez, Johnson, or Jefferson ignoring it?”

 
Corporal Morgan and Private First-Class Ramirez were pacing around the bridge, glancing back and forth between the InfoDesk and the view of space through the window. The engineers Johnson and Jefferson were intently studying the data, taking notes on their TacPads.

  Kingsley twisted his mouth, frustrated. “No sir.”

  Matthews nodded, continuing to study the displays. “Remind me, Davis. How long have you been with the Fleet?”

  “Six years now, sir.”

  “And you were an engineer long before that, yes?” Matthews asked.

  “I was, sir.”

  “You’ve had your doctorate for years, and you studied Precursor Technology, top of your class?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good to know that you know what this data means. So, can you explain to us all why you think it’s different shit?” Matthews inquired. Kingsley subtly rolled his eyes.

  “If you check the holograms, you’ll see that there’s a massive burst of Precursor wavelengths being emitted from a particular star system. The reason it’s different is not the wavelengths, or the strength of the burst, but from where it’s happening…”

  Davis waved and flicked his hands, altering the InfoDesk’s displays. The galactic image zoomed in rapidly, focusing in on a particular star out of billions. The display showed a single system: one star, four planets.

  “What’s special about the system?” Matthews asked.

  “The system is pretty normal, as you can tell. But if there are any history-buffs in the room, you’ll find this quite interesting.” Davis flicked his hands in the same manner as before and the display zoomed in on one of the planets. “The signals are originating from Dawn…”

  Everyone gasped, except for Kingsley, who glanced around quizzically. “Am I just out of the loop? What’re you talking about!?”

  Davis glanced up at the Sergeant with a mischievous smirk. “It was a human colony… The first colony.”

  “I thought the first colony was Artax, no?” Kingsley asked.

  “That was the first colony established by the Coalition. Dawn was colonized before there ever was a Coalition. Back when we still had the Pan-African Union, the Russian Confederation, the Japanese Empire, the Euro-American Cooperation. You know, thousands of years ago.”

  “They had colonies back then? I thought there was just petty squabbles between different nations, not interstellar colonies,” said Kingsley.

  “That’s the thing. This colony was established by all the nations at the time. Some kinda peace-keeping operation during the First Armistice…”

  “If I recall, that armistice went to shit, didn’t it?” Kingsley asked.

  “Yes. It went to shit because of Dawn. Because the colony failed. We lost contact with the colonists as soon as they entered the solar system. No one has ever figured out why, though,” Davis explained enthusiastically.

  “Well, since you’re so enthusiastic, have you figured out why?” Matthews asked.

  With a highly pleased smile plastered across his face, Davis looked at the holographic display of the planet, which glowed furiously. “Those wavelengths… They found Precursor technology! Do you know how advanced they’ll be by now? I mean, it’s been thousands of years since those colonists touched down! Can you imagine what kind of paradise they’re living in?”

  Davis’ enthusiasm infected the others, even Kingsley. Everyone smiled and laughed ecstatically.

  Maintaining his proud smile, Matthews raised his hand, quieting everyone. “Listen. We’ve been on countless important missions. This crew has made me prouder than anything, and we’ve made the Coalition especially proud. But nothing we’ve done before will come close to this. We’re talking about being the ones responsible for the Coalition’s greatest discovery to date. Are you ready for that?”

  “You’re goddamn right we are,” Kingsley exclaimed on everyone’s behalf.

  CH 1 – Asher I

  At the mere age of nineteen, Asher Miller was the Heir-Emperor of the Emberlands, which received their name due to a unique fruit called the Emberberry, which only grew within the empire’s borders. The fruit was known for its spicy kick, numbing one’s tongue with such invigoration that no other spicy food could replicate. More recently, however, the Emberlands’ name was attributed to their global monopoly on firedust, a black and volatile powder.

  Asher’s father, Emperor Harvey Miller, had assigned him to a patrol with three other men, one of whom was his adopted brother, a sick freak known as Black Eyes. His eyes were unnatural—the darkest black that Asher had ever seen. In each eye the iris and pupil amalgamated into one unnerving pit, and a sullen, dark gray occupied the whites of his eyes. Black Eyes’ stare infected Asher with fear and contempt.

  Black Eyes had been adopted by the Emperor ten years earlier, when the boy was only twelve. The first moment Asher laid eyes on his newly adopted big brother, he had observed an incredibly sadistic and hostile aura. The black pits in his eyes had screamed at him with contempt. The Emperor never told Asher why he had decided to add the little creep to his family, but rather chose to dodge questions and change the subject whenever Asher brought it up. Despite his protests, Black Eyes was there to stay.

  Although Asher had many issues with his father’s decisions, especially regarding Black Eyes, he understood why his father wanted him to lead these patrols. Why should anyone respect and obey me if I am some castle hermit? he thought on every patrol. He never enjoyed them, but he acknowledged that gaining experience as a leader and seeing the lands in his future domain were important parts of grooming him for power.

  With neatly made brown hair and fierce green eyes, Asher scanned the wilderness before him. The forest’s tree line was densely packed, a small river ran by a nearby rock bed, and squirrels clambered across trees and ground alike.

  All four patrolmen were on horseback. Danny and Garret carried lances while Asher and Black Eyes both carried longswords. They all wore gray and red armor with a striking image of the Emberland Flame engraved on their breastplates. There was no mistaking them as anything but the Emperor’s men. Asher and Black Eyes were at the head of the patrol, the group trotting in in a square formation.

  “How far away from Steeltower are we, you reckon?” asked Garret, the black-bearded man behind Black Eyes.

  “Around thirteen miles,” Asher said. He was quite good with positioning himself relative to major landmarks—the clues were in the land itself. Asher remembered the shape of the trees and the path of the wilderness they were in. They had been through these parts exactly one week earlier. They had met with a group of villagers and Asher had assisted them with tree chopping.

  “When will we be done? Look around. Nothing is happening,” Danny whimpered from the back of the formation. Danny was the youngest of the group, only sixteen years old, with a head of blond hair and no beard to speak of.

  “The patrol will end when I end it, and I refuse to trust your eyes alone. If you see nothing, it doesn’t mean nothing is happening,” said Asher.

  “But, there literally isn’t anything going on out here,” Danny contested. “Y—your Majesty,” he finished sheepishly.

  Asher was getting annoyed with Danny, but he knew he had to keep his head level. My father never snaps at people. Unleashing anger is unbecoming of an Emperor. He needed to respond to his subordinate thoughtfully with an appropriate level of respect.

  “Isn’t it a bit odd that there is nothing happening out here? We were in these woods just a week ago, at a similar time of day, and we saw a dozen people,” Asher stopped his horse, “and now it is completely silent. There isn’t a single person nearby.”

  A sense of dread crept into Asher’s gut. Something isn’t right.

  “Far be it from me to underplay your unparalleled deductive talents, but maybe they are at their village, and they don’t wanna watch you chop wood,” Black Eyes said, his voice as malevolent as ever.

  Only Asher was absent of laughter. He was well-acquainted with the village’s Elder,
an old man named Kano, who was always impressing upon others the importance of discipline: to make your situation better you must make habits out of productive behavior. One of those habits was gathering materials from the forest at midday when they were energized and capable of the required labor. And yet, no one else is here.

  “Something is wrong.” Asher’s face broadcast mild concern. “We’re going to the village.”

  Asher climbed onto his horse and began to trot forward at a brisk pace, the other patrolmen following quickly. Within a minute the group moved past the tree-line and out of the forest. They went down a small grassy hill and onto a village-bound dirt road.

  “Are we playing ‘rescue-the-poor-villagers’ now?” Black Eyes sneered.

  “Shut up. We’re almost there,” Garret said.

  “Well excuse me, big man, I was only asking our mighty and gracious leader what the fuck we’re doing.”

  “Do you ever stop talking?” Asher impatiently asked.

  “Sure,” Black Eyes replied.

  After a few minutes on the road, they sighted the village’s main entrance. There was a small but neatly crafted wooden gate amid the waist-high wooden wall; each log was sanded to perfect smoothness and all were packed together neatly. As the patrolmen approached the gate, a boy fourteen years old dressed in freshly washed rags rushed to open the gate for them. He looked up at Asher with recognition and admiration of his armor.

  “Hello there, friend, can you tell me where I might find Kano?” Asher asked, a polite smile plastered on his face.

  “Kano is at the market square, your Majesty, same as everybody!” the boy said enthusiastically.

  “I’ll see him at once.” Asher nodded. The boy bowed awkwardly, so Asher gave a subtle grin as he trotted through the gate towards the main square.

  The village contained dozens of hand-made wooden buildings, and some were still being built. Asher admired the craftsmanship of the villagers. This is neat, but nothing like Steeltower, he thought.