Chandrea:
The
Return of the Avatar Queen
Marlene
Wynn
Book Description:
Chandrea Averill thinks she’s
just like any other normal young woman.
But, on the day of her 23rd birthday, her life changes forever. Surrounded by magical creatures, dangerous sorcery,
and insidious political intrigue,
Chandrea desperately wants to
return to Earth and the only life she’s ever known. But, the longer she stays, the more she
realizes that she may be the only one with the power – both magical and
political – to save the people of Lyrunia.
Will she find the courage to
remain and fight for her home world?
Book trailer http://youtu.be/lzJpY3nai34
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The morning sky was overcast and cloudy and a stiff southwesterly
wind blew the grasses erratically. A bank of heavy, dark grey clouds were
visible over the horizon to the south, and it was moving quickly towards her.
The constant flashes and murmur of thunder confirmed that she was in for a bad
storm, and had nowhere to take shelter. She didn’t know how long it would take
for it to reach her, but she wanted to be closer to civilization when it did.
And she did not want to get caught in an electrical storm out in the
open.
Chandrea started to walk, and after a few minutes began to jog,
though it was not easy to do on the uneven ground. Her pulse quickened as her
body warmed up to the accustomed exercise, and she made quick work of the first
couple of miles. But, you can only push an already weakened body so hard before
it starts to reach its limits, and, as she anticipated, she began to labor, her
breaths coming in short ragged pants, her throat hot and dry. She slowed to a
walk until she got her breath back.
Looking anxiously to her right, she saw that, despite her brief
run, the clouds had come much closer, and that the clashing lightning and
thunder were almost on top of her. Flutters of fear crawled down her spine and
made a home in her belly. This was not good. Chandrea looked around for some
place to find protection. Though the grasses seemed to be thinning out and she
was seeing small scrubby bushes here and there, there still weren’t any signs
of civilization, so she continued to walk tiredly east.
The brisk wind turned into powerful gusts, and she had to lean to
avoid being thrown off her feet. Dust and debris were torn from the ground and
swirled all around her, and she was forced to raise her hands to shield her
eyes. Lightning struck nearby, followed by a powerful blast of thunder that
shook the ground. Chandrea cringed and screamed in raw fear.
She felt the first few warm splashes of water on her skin, and
looking up, saw that the bulk of the sky had turned a deep heavy looking grey.
She began to run again, the flight instinct now in full control of her.
The heavens opened up and rain came sheeting down. The drops were
huge at first, but quickly became small and piercing as they pelted her skin.
Her clothing soon became saturated, weighing her down.
Lightning flashed all around her, dazzling bursts of light
followed closely by violent claps of thunder. The strikes blew chunks of dirt
and debris into the wind. The world was shaken by the repeated crack of thunder
and her eardrums throbbed in painful harmony from the overwhelming sounds.
Animal instinct took over. Throwing herself to her knees, she
clawed at the dirt. Her breath came in terrified, ragged gasps, but she was all
but oblivious to it as she dug and tore at the stubborn soil. Every time
lightning struck near her, she screamed and ducked, covering her head with her
arms in an unconscious effort to protect herself, and then continued digging.
She tore at the web of roots, desperate to dig a hole she could
take shelter in, but to no avail. The old grasses had been in the dry plains
for a long time, and had grown their roots long and wide to find any available
ground water. Without a shovel or a pick, she could make no headway, and only
managed to tear her hands to the point of bleeding in the effort.
Gasping, she stopped and looked around with wild, frightened
eyes. The world around her had gone mad. Lightning struck rapidly now, all
around her, for miles in all directions, and the sharp booming thunder was
close on its heels.
A small, sane portion of her mind recognized that she should
hunker down and try to make the smallest target of herself possible, but that
was akin to taking your eyes off the hungry lion crouched nearby and hoping it
wouldn’t notice you. Instead, she knelt and watched with horrified fascination
as the prairie took a beating from mother nature. Her entire body shook from
the fear that washed through her, and she knew that at any moment lightning
would strike and kill her.
Without conscious thought or effort, her magic bloomed to life.
She gasped at the suddenness of it, yet welcomed it with a desperate hope. She
felt it growing and expanding inside her, filling her completely with an eerie,
tingling sensation. What was happening? What would her magic do this time?
Her skin began to glow a soft ethereal white. She held her hands
out in front of her, and, despite the dangers surrounding her, wonder filled
her at the sight. She’d seen her skin glow before, but never so clearly. The
glow rapidly enveloped her until she was encased by a soft white ball of energy
that extended a few feet out from her on all sides. The wind and rain no longer
affected her, apparently unable to penetrate her protective sphere.
Curious, she poked a finger at the ball. It rippled like water
when she touched it. She became bolder and stuck her whole arm out. Once again,
the wind, rain, and nearby grass stalks pelted her tender skin. She pulled her
arm and hand back inside and the sensations ceased.
She looked around with a newfound sense of security. The storm
raged on around her, but in her sheltering bubble, it seemed that none of the
elements could touch her. She gasped as a bolt of lightning struck nearby. She
could only hope that the bubble would protect her against the lightning strikes
as well.
With a frightening intensity, suddenly a new roaring sound filled
her senses, causing her to gasp and duck involuntarily. It was followed
immediately by anther, and another, each successfully competing in volume and
depth with the crashing thunder. But, these new sounds weren’t caused by mother
nature.
It was almost as if a whole pride of hungry lions were
surrounding her, and roaring in excitement of the hunt and the kill to come.
Some had a deep, throbbing quality to them. Others were shrill
and almost metallic. All of them were terrifying.
Chandrea tried to determine what was up there in the deep dark
grey of the clouds. It was difficult to see through the soft glow of her
bubble. When several lightning bolts struck, causing a strobe effect, she
sucked in her breath in disbelieving terror at what she saw.
Silhouetted in brief, white-clad glory, were dozens upon dozens
of dragons of various shapes and sizes. Each time the lightning flashed, it
would cause a still-life effect of the great beasts circling in the sky with an
almost playful air about them. With huge, earth- shaking roars, some shot
massive flames from their mouths, causing the heavens and the ground far below
to be lit by the intense yellow-red flare.
But what was the most astonishing to Chandrea was when one of the
monsters would get hit by a bolt of lightning. It would open its immense,
toothy maw in what appeared to be almost a silent scream, then arch its back
and long serpentine neck as though in ecstasy.
She watched in awed amazement as one of the airborne dragons was
struck by a large bolt of energy. The massive creature’s blue scales briefly
burst into glittering brilliance. Small electrical charges snaked and popped
across their surface. A large, bright turquoise nimbus shimmered around the
rapturous dragon. It temporarily highlighted the dragons surrounding it until
the dazzling luminescence died down to a soft glow. Once the strike was
finished, the dragon would start to swoop and circle faster, almost daring the
lightning to come again.
Chandrea felt her heart would beat its way right out of her
chest. She could actually feel her chest vibrating from the intensity of her
heartbeat. She panted, feeling cornered and very small. Her protective shield
may keep the lightning and elements at bay. But its glow might be noticed by
the serpents in the sky. Would a human make a tasty treat during a dragon sky
party?
God, she wanted to go home.
The storm went on for what seemed like an eternity. Chandrea felt
rather like the little field mouse trapped in the corner of a covey of cats,
hoping upon hope that it wouldn’t be noticed, but knowing in its heart that
eventually it would be. A part of her couldn’t help but be fascinated by the
colorful display of serpentine bodies soaring high above her, at times almost
floating in their deadly dances. Death, it seemed, had a very mesmerizing
effect on her.
Eventually, the storm started to weaken, the lightning and
thunder to come less and less, and the bulk of the dragons began to disperse.
Though it was still quite dark around her, she started to breathe a little
easier, thinking she might just come out of this alive. Her magical ball,
reacting instinctively to the lessening threat, dissipated then vanished
completely.
Then one of the dragons swooped down out of the sky and landed
right in front of her, folding its wings flat against its back.
It was difficult for Chandrea to see the beast clearly in the
gloom of the storm clouds, with only the occasional lightning flash. But, boy,
could she smell it. Its body reeked of moldy ash, its hot breath of
rotten flesh. Its eyes, as large as her body was tall, glowed a sullen dirty
yellow in the grey light of the day. It was immense. Its head and shoulders
were about thirty feet over Chandrea’s head, and looked like it was no less
than 140 feet from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail. Its legs were as
thick as tree trunks, and long, wickedly sharp claws adorned its massive feet.
Its scales dully reflected the dim afternoon light in shades of rusty red,
while the underside of it was a soft tan color. Copper colored spikes of
different sizes ran from its snout, along its spine and down the length of its
long tail. At the end of its tail were numerous long, sharp spikes. Nestled
atop its massive head was a pair of lengthy horns that pointed straight back.
Lowering its head, it sniffed at the air above her, apparently
trying to determine what she was, and if she was edible. Its long, forked
tongue licked the air. Chandrea tried not to gag as its foul breath washed over
her in hot waves.
Rearing back, the beast then cocked its head to the side, and
eyeing Chandrea, it said in a soft, deep voice filled with menace, yet somehow
female-sounding, “Ah…what do we have here? A lone, unprotected human out in the
grasslands.”
Narrowing her sulfur-colored eyes, the dragon moved a bit closer
to her and murmured in satisfaction, “Yes… you’ll make a nice meal for my
hatchling.”
Chandrea blinked up at it in stunned surprise. The creature could
speak!
Belatedly, the dragon’s words finally registered in her mind.
Terror lanced through Chandrea. She was trapped! She could never even hope to
out-run this creature even at her top physical best. In her weakened condition,
it was a laughable concept at best. She had nowhere to hide, and nowhere to
take shelter, surrounded as she was by miles of grass.
Unbidden, her magic rushed to the surface, once again responding
to her fight or flight instinct. This time, though, it came much faster, absent
one moment, there the next. She could feel it rushing through her, instantly
filling her every fiber and pore. Energy snapped around her, and her eyes and
skin glowed with a pearlescent sheen. Her breathing deepened as she stood up
from the ground and faced the beast before her.
The dragon growled in anticipation. Flame and smoke started to
lick out of its snout, and in a rush, it lowered its head, roared, and shot out
a huge column of white-hot flame, aimed right at Chandrea!
Feeling as though she were a distant observer of her own body,
she watched as she raised her hands in a defensive position and her magic
called up a shield.
She had a mental flash of the dream the Dark Fairy had cast on
her, where she drew the energy from all the objects around her to fuel her
magic, and attempted it again. She siphoned the energy from the dragon’s flames
into her body, using the very thing that was threatening her to protect her.
She could feel the intense heat pouring into her body, almost burning her from
the inside out, and, before they could even reach her, the flames from the
dragon sputtered harmlessly out.
Upon seeing this, the dragon narrowed its eyes, lowered its head,
and growled menacingly. Her body throbbed in harmony with the deep resonation
and the very ground seemed to vibrate beneath her.
Chandrea frantically tried to figure out what she could do to
scare this creature away. She was supposed to be the most powerful sorceress in
this world, but her magic was untested and very unreliable. However, she didn’t
see as she had much choice in the matter. She couldn’t very well use her
Taekwondo on this monster! And running was definitely not an option. So,
even as the dragon’s growl was echoing off in the distance, she decided to
stand and fight as best she could with what she had, and hope that the dragon
didn’t eat her before she could conjure anything up. Were dragons like birds?
Did they eat their prey and then regurgitate it for their young? She quickly
banished that horrifying image from her mind and focused on the task at hand.
She would try to use fire again. She would just have to do it better than last
time. And quicker.
Chandrea concentrated. She could feel the dragon’s hot energy
swirling around inside her, growing ever stronger, mixing with her own fear and
panic to create a maelstrom of intense power.
She stopped focusing on the shield in front of her and it simply
disappeared, the energy rushing back into her. Her skin suddenly glowed a fiery
red. She raised her hands, and, as Adelaide had taught her, with a mighty
mental and physical shove, she flung the energy from her own body out at the
beast. Chandrea watched as a great ball of flame materialized and was cast out
at the dragon. Like before, when she’d tried to create fire, this ball was
intensely white hot on the inside and deep yellow and red on the outside.
However, this ball didn’t have as far to go as the first time, and instead of
plowing through huge swaths of trees, it plowed into the dragon directly in
front of her…
…and blew out as it struck, as though nothing had happened at
all.
Unable to fathom what had just happened, Chandrea just stood
there in stupefaction. Her magic had just dissipated on the scales of the
dragon and done nothing at all.
The dragon looked somehow amused by this turn of events. Chandrea
would’ve sworn the beast even smiled. Lifting her mighty head, the serpent then
carried the motion even further and stood on her hind legs. Clawing at the air
in front of her and spreading her massive wings wide, she bellowed out a
trumpeting call that echoed up and down the grasslands and throbbed painfully
in the tiny earthling’s ears.
Chandrea threw her hands over her ears in a feeble attempt to
lessen the sound, but to no avail. Then, the massive reptile lowered its body,
jaws open, clearly intending to finish this one-sided battle by devouring her
whole.
An answering bellow washed over her from above as a second dragon
plummeted from the sky to crash into the first one, knocking it from its feet
with a powerful blow. Chandrea screamed and jumped to the side, narrowly
missing the powerful swipe of a tail studded with spikes. Chunks of dirt and
grass were gouged out of the ground where she’d previously stood, showering her
with grit and hard rocks.
This new dragon was unlike any she’d ever imagined or seen in
fairy tales. It had scales on its belly, but its back and wings were covered
with feathers. Its head and legs were a bright, scarlet red. The feathers on
its legs were short and spiky, while the ones surrounding its head were long
and stiff, and puffed out, making it look both fierce and dangerous. The
beast’s back, body and tail were covered with short, dense feathers in a
striking deep indigo color. Its deep and muscular chest narrowed down into a
snakelike torso and a tail that was covered in spikes. It had what appeared to
be two sets of wings. One was a feathered set, shaped rather like immense eagle
wings and were the same indigo color as its body. The second set were over the
first, and were covered with ocher-colored scales, the same color of its belly.
This second set of wings were much larger than the first, and tipped with razor
sharp claws. Where the first dragon was large and muscular, the second one was
long and slender. The first dragon was the stronger of the two by far, but what
the second one lacked in strength, it made up for in speed and its sinuous body.
Its movements were a blur to watch, as it snaked its way around its bigger foe,
striking with lightning quick attacks and then slithering out of reach of the
larger dragon.
With ear-splitting snarls
and growls, the two beasts flipped and rolled across the prairie, savagely
tearing at each other.
Chandrea, panting from the fear of the sudden attack, scuttled
backwards in the grass, trying to get as far away from the two battling titans
as possible.
When no headway could seem to be gained by either one, the two
monsters backed warily away from each other. Growling fiercely, they flapped
their wings, extended their necks, and slammed their tails on the ground, all
in an attempt to show strength, power and dominance over the other.
The larger dragon rushed the smaller one, but in a sudden blur of
motion, the blue one slithered its body around its larger opponent. Using its
own momentum against it and reminding Chandrea of a javelin toss, the blue one
spun the rusty red beast back around and threw it across the field. The dragon
landed with an earth-shaking thud that threatened to throw Chandrea from her
feet.
Spinning around, the blue dragon jerked its head back and forth
until it found Chandrea. It hunched down, then gave a mighty leap, and flapping
its massive wings, swooped up then back down, heading directly for Chandrea.
With a scream, Chandrea spun on her heels and tried to run away,
but what little speed she could muster was nothing in comparison to the flying
monster. To her horror, its sharp claws grabbed her up and before she knew it,
they were airborne.
Chandrea clutched at the long talons that held her in their
grasp. The grasslands dropped away below and her stomach dropped. The huge
wings of the dragon flapped quickly in an effort to get the beast and its prize
higher in the air. She could feel the rhythmic motion of its muscles working,
and the roaring sound of the wind assaulted her ears.
Craning her head down and around, Chandrea frantically checked on
the whereabouts of the red dragon. Her eyes widened as she saw it taking to the
air in pursuit of her stolen meal.
Dear God…how did she get into these things?
And how was she going to get out? The claws, even though none of
them had actually pierced her skin, were holding her as securely as any jail
cell. And, as far up in the air as they were now, even if she could get out,
she would fall to her death.
Watching behind her in horrified fascination, she saw the larger
dragon was having difficulty keeping up with its prey. But it clearly was not
giving up. With a roar, it doubled its efforts, cutting through the misty
clouds.
Up the trio soared, higher and higher, until they were engulfed
in clouds and Chandrea couldn’t see the ground anymore. Nor could she see the
rusty red beast that had been chasing them, which was particularly worrisome to
her.
Cool, misty air rushed over her as the blue dragon climbed with
powerful thrusts of its wings. Her wet clothes and hair whipped around in the
wind, and she found herself wishing for a ponytail holder. A hysterical giggle
threatened to burble out of her throat at the thought, but at the last minute
she was able to halt it. She knew that if she let it out, she might never stop.
Without warning, they reached the top of the storm clouds, and
with a final flap, burst out into bright sunshine. Once above the clouds, the
blue dragon settled in and took to soaring, only flapping its wings
occasionally to maintain its altitude.
Squinting against the glare, Chandrea couldn’t help but look
about her in wonder. Spread out for miles below them was the massive storm, its
dark clouds large and menacing. Even heading away from the storm as they were,
she could still hear the occasional rumble of thunder and see the clouds light
up with the strobes of lightning encased within. Above them, the sky was
pristinely blue, the sun a huge golden ball of light. Warm air now gently
passed over her as the dragon glided in the stillness of the heavens.
But as beautiful and peaceful as it was, Chandrea could not fully
relax and enjoy it. She knew her life would soon be cut short in a horribly
violent fashion. Against her better judgment, she pictured the dragon landing
amongst its young then standing back in peaceful satisfaction as the babies
tore her to bloody pieces with their sharp teeth and claws. She began to
tremble violently, her breath coming in short, sharp pants.
However, eventually the gentle peace of the heavens did help to
make the mortal fear coursing through her veins a little more bearable. Trying
to make herself as comfortable as possible in the hard claws of her cell, she
did the only thing she could at that point: she settled back for the ride.
They flew for hours. It was rather like flying in a passenger
airplane, but with a much better view. She saw farms, cities, forests, and
hills all passing beneath them. People and animals looked like tiny ants
scurrying around on the ground. Were they even aware of what was flying up
here?
The one thing that she didn’t see, thankfully, was the red
dragon. The speed of her captor must have finally worn the bigger dragon down.
As the day wore into evening, the dragon finally started to
descend toward a large grassy meadow filled with wildflowers. Large leafy trees
surrounded it in an uneven circle, and the sounds of night insects were humming
in the air. Off to the side was a small crystalline lake, the sun glistening
off its gentle waves.
Fear started to flutter again in her chest, and her breathing
hitched. If she’d had anything in her stomach, it would’ve come back up. So
this lovely, serene place was where she would die.
She wondered where the beast’s nest was.
She wondered if it would hurt terribly when the hatchling tore
her apart.
She wondered how long it would take her to die.
About
the Author:
Marlene Wynn is a Utah native -
fondly referred to as "Utonian" by a friend. She transplanted herself in 1992 from the
majestic Rocky Mountains to the beachy shores of sunny Virginia Beach, Virginia
and has been there ever since. Though
she has worked in the benefits field for several years, she finally worked up
the courage to chase her dream as an author.
Website: https://www.marlenewynn.com
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