Derkesthai, Part One, Dragon Moon Rising
a novel in progress by Daniel Thomas O’Connor
Dragons & Men… so different? Immerse yourself in a world of true fantasy.
SUMMARY
In Derkesthai, the true story of the race of dragons is traced back to its roots…, over six-hundred years back, before the veil of a violently evil spell was cast over the once honorable dragon race. To a time when man and dragon lived as one, creating a strong world of peace. In this distant past, a young and novice wizard named Imbrasius, and his dragon companion, Hilengard, adventured through the land of Derkesthai together. Their happy days were not to last, as a cruel plague sprang forth and conquered the kingdom of Tlivus like no army could. Its cruel hand took Imbrasius’ family from him before he could become the healer he knew he could be. The embittered and vengeful Imbrasius traveled to the Capital city of Elevstad and arduously learned to defeat the plague with the aid of loyal Hilengard. Word of the young wizard’s miracles spread like an ocean wave, reaching even the oldest and wisest of dragons, Dragon Lord Heridosus. The wise Dragon Lord summonsed the companions to him, then leading them to the human leader, King Argus. The trio arrived to find only a shattered shell of what the King once was, for he had lost his mind with the deaths of his family. Now he stood sobbing tragically over his last child, the dying Princess Lisinda. To the three visitors, it was clear Lisinda was too far gone. Yet Imbrasius couldn’t turn his back and, valiantly, he attempted what was clearly beyond reach. The Dragon Lord Heridosus, seeing Lisinda slipping away, and Imbrasius waning, granted the wizard power that gave the healing the smallest chance, the old dragon sacrificing himself in the process. Through this, and his own efforts, Imbrasius succeeded, and the Princess lived!
Yet, there was a secretly sad and terrible price paid by the great Imbrasius— he had pulled the plague within himself to contain its evil force. Bound to Imbrasius so, the plague would viciously eat away at this otherwise good wizard for hundreds of years. Imbrasius became the embodied scourge of Derkesthai, powerfully melting all good from the land and turning dragon and mankind to solely evil deeds. While he enslaved much of the human populace in his centuries-long rule, the fate of rebellious dragons was unarguably far worse.
Now, at the beginning of our novel, a young and naïve dragon named Lessiam is thrust into the midst of this madness, awakening mysteriously from a spell that had, unbeknownst to him, turned him to stone for centuries. He had taken a “short nap” in his happy world of harmony and fun only to awaken centuries later to find a land of devastation, engendered by centuries of iron rule by the possessed Imbrasius. The narrative flows back and forth from Lessiam’s viewpoint to that of a serious, desperate protagonist named Jos. Lessiam meets Jos early in the book, rescuing the pitiful lad from a nearly fatal encounter with the masters of the slave camp from which Jos has escaped. The book, and series, centers itself squarely around these questions: Can these two lone sparks of Lessiam and Jos form a rare companionship of dragon and man? Can they indeed flame, to firestorm proportions, a rebellion that will save their planet before all hope is lost? Finally, will they be able to kill, or even heal, the all-powerful Imbrasius?
That’s Derkesthai: Dragon Moon Rising.