The Story
Timotheus Ignashet trains to become a level three magician, the rank that will finally allow him to join the army of the Brologhost Kingdom. His biggest desire is to fight the Orc Empire, that has been slowly eating away Brologhost’s territory for over two centuries. One week before the Level Three Exams, Tim and his friends are attacked by an unexpected enemy, only for Tim to discover he has been granted an extraordinary power that will change his life forever. Facing enemies that go beyond his imagination, and tasked with caring for the last pegasus of Addërêa, Tim embarks on a journey he does not fully understand, and that will have consequences spaning the entire world.
Winged Horse Warrior is the first book of The War of Tears Saga. Originally published in November of 2019, R.H. Naranjo is currently working on a new, edited and improved version.
An Excerpt
From Chapter I: Becoming a Hero
Timotheus leaped to the side, the stream of fire close enough to his body he felt the heat pressing against his arm. Raising Ethlören, his sword, he barely had time to spin around himself and hit the arrow with it, saving himself from being impaled on the side.
Next to him, Willuren cried a spell. “Arïnion gûsp!” he shouted, opening his hands as torrent of water poured out of them, smashing itself against one of the dummies. The boys moved back, looking around them frantically for their teammates. The arena, plunged into chaos, made them impossible to locate, forcing Tim and Will to retreat before three more dummies attacked.
“Are you alright?” Tim gasped, taking deep breaths.
Will shook his head. “I think High Master Gronvudd exceeded himself.” He gasped, ducking just in time to avoid a rock thrown at him. Tim traced its origin and found Emerson Khalan glaring at them, throwing his hands towards them and pushing two more stones to attack.
Tim inhaled magical energy, feeling it pour into his body. As soon as it did, he felt himself growing stronger, mightier, almost as if he could do anything his imagination came up with. The magical energy fell on his soul energy, and he began to mix them, all in the fraction of a second. By the time the attacking stone got close enough, the two energies had combined, allowing Tim to use his own attack. “Törshnyum!”
Screaming, he opened his hands and released the combined energies as one forceful attack, sending them straight at the stone and shattering it into a hundred pieces, leaving only dust behind. By the end, he had drained almost half of his magical energy reserves. He cursed. “That wasted far more than I intended,” he said, glaring at Emerson. “He threw that rock with too much strength.” Will clenched his fists. “Bloody Khalan.”
“Aye. Behind you!”
Will spun around and raised his sword Görmion, blocking an attack from a dummy. The dummy spun, raising its wooden arm and revealing another dagger behind it. Cursing, Will tried to block it, but the dummy held Görmion tight before him. “Tim!”
Without thinking, Tim dashed forward and sliced the dummy’s arm with his sword, proceeding to behead it. The dummy shivered as the spell holding it broke, and it fell to the ground. Breathing deeply, Tim looked around at the corners of the arena, where he could barely make out four silhouettes looking at them.
High Master Gronvudd’s instructions had been simple: retrieve the scroll hidden at the bottom of the cave. There was a catch, of course, which became even more evident as Tim had to dodge an axe thrown by a distant dummy. The high master had a thing about making them fight dummies, obstacles, and even worse things. Today, he had thought it would be fun to make them fight themselves as well.
“There!” Will screamed, pointing at the distance.
Tim followed his finger and found them. Aaron and Kathy ran frantically towards the hill, followed by three dummies holding swords and axes. One of them raised a hand that began to glow as fire generated around it. Tim cursed, sheathing his sword and increasing his speed. Chaos loomed around them, explosions shaking the arena as they ran. Fallen dummies littered the ground, unmoving, though Tim did not buy it for a second. Master Karoline could recreate the spell, tying strings of magical energy into them and bringing them back to life.
Will cursed to his left. Tim spun and leaped away as he found himself looking at Emerson and Roderick. They sneered, and Emerson opened his hand, revealing a small blue flame at its center. Blue fire required an extraordinarily homogenous combination of magical and soul energy, making it a lot more powerful. He didn’t even use the spell, bloody show off...
“Get out of our way,” Will demanded.
“Or what?” Roderick sneered. “Are you going to fight us?”
Tim took a step forward. “We’re going to defeat you.”
Emerson laughed, the flame in his hand increasing its size. Tim breathed in even more magical energy, restoring his reserves and combining it with his soul energy. It proved a little harder than before, and when he transformed it into a flame, it came orange instead of blue. “Frynj...” he hissed, still unable to avoid wording the spell. Emerson’s smile widened, but Tim did not let himself be intimidated. In the distance, Aaron and Kathy were surrounded by dummies, though they were still holding their ground.
We’re coming, Tim thought.
