As a southern creole boy Nathan never took many things for granted. He knew the value of one's dog and a beloved girlfriend so when unworldly puppets kidnap them both he chases them through a twisted portal to get them back! Diving head first into the unknown transforms his body and unravels a new and dangerous world destined for change. With his new body honing the mysteries of the dead gods, Nathan stays true and searches endlessly for his love. His adventurous 'I don't give a damn' attitude paired with pure artistic ingenuity gains our bayou boy a variety of wholesome friends and vile to the core enemies. With beasts, kings, rivals, and his own shadow against him he'll need every ounce of wit and strength to match pace with the changing world of Legend. There is but one saving grace, one that can grant his desire or bring about the end to everything . . .the Warrior Queen. Somehow he must manage to save his girl. Somehow he must get them back home to Earth.

End of Legend

IN SEARCH OF THE WARRIOR QUEENBy DAMON WILLIS

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Damon Willis
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4685-0525-2

Contents

CHAPTER 1 Beyond Belief..............................1CHAPTER 2 Three Years Later..........................13CHAPTER 3 Revenge!...................................23CHAPTER 4 Who am I?..................................33CHAPTER 5 Who are you!?..............................37CHAPTER 6 Again......................................43CHAPTER 7 Zid........................................47CHAPTER 8 The Civilized..............................51CHAPTER 9 The Civilized Part 2!......................55CHAPTER 10 Woah, That's too Cool.....................87CHAPTER 11 Don't be Mean.............................97CHAPTER 12 Port Dorgo................................111CHAPTER 13 Fated.....................................127CHAPTER 14 WTF.......................................145CHAPTER 15 The Real Port Dorgo.......................149CHAPTER 16 Guidance We Must Seek.....................157CHAPTER 17 You got the Juice?........................163CHAPTER 18 Risky Business............................177CHAPTER 19 Inevitability.............................183CHAPTER 20 Game Change...............................211CHAPTER 21 Nathan's Sketchbook.......................217

Chapter One

BEYOND BELIEF

SOMETHING WAS FEELING OFF. PREMATURELY awakened, Nathan tried to clear the nauseating haze clouding his consciousness. He could hear the spattering spray of water and feel its cool dank wetness across his legs. In addition, there was another kind of viscous fluid felt across his cheek. Its stickiness and iron-ish tart had clear indications of not being water but blood. Swelling with worry, Nathan tried harder to pry open his eyes and dispel his light-headedness. He could see his room finally coming into focus. A place that he had called home all throughout his school years. Who knew that four ugly, outdated wood paneling walls, a textured ceiling and a drab carpeted floor could contain the life and essence of those living within. The familiar site should have been comforting and calming, but something was not right. He felt the wall at his back and his feet wedged against the lower rail of his bed. The blankets and pillows above were in total disarray. That in itself was nothing new. The silk sheets and pillows that I fancied were notoriously slippery and more often than not, ended up hanging from the bed like some prisoner's escape route. More than once I almost busted my arse stepping on silk sheets floating on the carpeted floor. This thought was a weak answer as to why was I sleeping on the floor instead of in the bed. The last bit of inkiness drained from his vision. Nathan used his feet to prop his body up against the wall. This vantage was more favorable for his inspection. The bedside dresser was to his left, to the right were his boxing gloves hanging on the wall, and a few paces away, a lump of smoldering plastic resembling something he distinctly remembered paying a lot of money for ... his new flat screen TV. It lay twisted into a fragmented spiral of glass and plastic. His confusion finally manifested itself as words. "WHAT THE HELL!" Nathan spurted. More alarmed than ever, Nathan forced his eyes to take in more of his incidental setting. Where there once was a wall, now stood a gaping hole. The stone, wood, and art that use to hang there were now fused together and just as twisted as his TV. The destruction excavated the earth leading to the front yard, exposing underground water lines that sprayed and gurgled their wasted gallons into the night sky. The wind was abnormally active, almost hostile in the way it blew the tattered curtains and water spray in an odd circular pattern. Nathan became frantic trying to remember what prior events caused this current situation. His fingernails rhythmically scratched the side of his temple. It was his way of trying to coax his memories to surface. The evening had started with him fixing dinner for Ashley; a quick meal of chicken and sausage jambalaya. Smoked deer sausage, which was never in short supply, chopped onions, bell pepper, chicken breast, and of course rice, with a little sprinkling of Tony Chachere seasoning, was one of the first Cajun recipes i learned at knee high. Ashley didn't seem to mind when I felt "domestic". She was studying for an accounting test. It must have been quiet boring as he remembered her tapping out ballet steps under the table instead of focusing on the mound of notes in front of her. Secondly, the dog had eaten yet another sock. Sigh, it was becoming increasingly more challenging to find a matching pair now days. After wrestling my last pair of good socks from Bishop, I took him outside for his nightly routine of peeing on everything that stood upright. According to wolf rules, Bishop owned everything within forty feet of his marked spot. This included my truck, the magnolia tree, tool shed, pigeon coop, compost pile, and the house, all of which he watered religiously ... with pee. I placed Bishop in his kennel and gave him a bowl of Captain Crunch cereal for a treat and bid him goodnight. After returning to the house there was the random attack involving shaving cream. It sparked a frightfully delightful tussle in the shower followed by a bed bound adventure that left Ashley and Nathan exhausted and seeking the lure of sleep. Nathan growled in frustration. Ashley would remember, he'd ask her. "Ashley!" ... no answer. His heart began to race. "ASHLEY!" The yelling caused a wave of pain and blood to revisit his jaw. Overwhelmed with final clarity, Nathan shut his eyes against the horror of reality. Yes, he remembered now. They took her!

[Track 1] Like something creeping out of the gates of hell, four steel- plated fiends orchestrated this destruction. His bed was snug and warm with the body of his beloved. With near sleep eyes, Nathan remembered seeing a convergence of light seeping through the mortar of his brick wall. With ill-born violence, stone, metal, and spindling light twisted and tore the wall free from the rest of the house! Only dust had permission to nip at their cloaks as the falling debris oddly contoured and worked its way around the hulking figures. They came striding through the portal of rubble! Their weighty footsteps strode with purpose. They grabbed at her kicking, loosely dressed body. Their clawed gauntlets were scraping her skin, leaving strands of bright blood down her long legs. Fueled by her screams and his desperation, Nathan grabbed for the nearest piece of armament! The first thing Nathan laid his hands on was a contorted piece of sculpted metal in limbo between his creative processes and the lack of funds. For now, it will serve as a jagged club for chewing through those threatening Ashley! He arched the club overhead and brought it down heavily against the outstretched arm of the nearest fi end. It sounded as you would expect, a cracking of bone, but the sound of tearing ligaments was absent. The arm bent awkwardly at its joint, exposing the shredding of what looked like black taffy oozing a very visible red heat! It was unnerving, the dark being did not scream nor did it cower from the crushing blow! The circumstance caused Nathan to look closer. Shockingly, there was no face within its steel cowl to display such human emotion. There was no skin or teeth, or hair, just a harboring of living flame! Nathan shouldered his misgivings and kept up the attack! Jumping from the bed Nathan launched a sidelong swing at the kidnapper's knee. The dark armor made a horrible screech as it...