The gateway is coming
Hey,
There's just one week left in the Rogue Gods Kickstarter campaign! It ends on July 12 2024 11:59 PM EDT and then the illustrated editions will be gone
We added a new tier for the retail versions that contains no images, just the story and nothing else. It was supposed to be there from the start of the campaign but something happened to it before the launch.
I’ll just blame the dragons since there are so many in the third book of the trilogy and say it was their fault the tier didn’t go live with the others, not some changes to the platform that confused us.
Anyway, that tier is called Just the Story No Images, and it’s the same price as the ebooks will be when released to retailers ($5 each so $15 for the trilogy).
If you back that tier, we’ll get to keep more of the money to put towards future books. Kickstarter takes the least amount of fees of all the platforms our books are available on, and that’s one reason why so many authors are flocking to it. When you buy ebooks on Amazon, etc., we don’t get most of that money.
So I know it’s not convenient to back Kickstarters, but it helps a lot. We’re so grateful to everyone who backed already.
In fact, 11 out of 12 dragons recommend that you back the Rogue Gods Trilogy today. The twelfth dragon wonders if you taste like chicken. (You’ll understand why when you read Storm the Gates, the book with all the dragons in it.)
Before we dive back into chapter 21 from Gateway to Hell, why not head over to the Rogue Gods Kickstarter and back the project before time runs out? Do it for Rosalie. After all, she took on a god with just a dagger to save the world.
And now back to Argeaneal and the Library of Forbidden Knowledge.
Rogue Gods #1: Gateway to Hell
By Melinda Kucsera
Searching For A Spell (Chapter 21) Part 3
“I’ll find the spell. You go rest.” Antares wrapped an arm around his waist to support him.
“The search will go faster with the two of us looking.” Argeaneal tried to evade him, but his legs wobbled. It was so much easier to twist and pervert things in Hell than it was to heal or make something whole.
“Not if you keep throwing books everywhere.” Antares tugged him toward the aisle between the bookcases.
“Then I won’t make a mess. I’ll put them back on the shelves.”
“Please let me help you to your chamber to rest.”
“Why?” Argeaneal didn’t understand why Antares was so insistent, but his steadying arm around him was all that kept him upright. I think I gave away too much of my light. Healing used to be something he could do with little effect on him, but in those days, he could draw from the bottomless well of the Creator. What will happen when I’ve used up all His Grace? I can’t get any more in Hell. The question chilled him, and he shivered.
Some of his kind had embraced Hell and become truly evil, but he’d kept the Grace he had before the Fall. Part of that Grace created the fortress-like library, and still more of that Grace helped him find dangerous objects and knowledge and store them here where he could control access to them.
“The other Fallen fear you, but they won’t if they see you like this,” Antares whispered, and his breath tickled Argeaneal’s ear. “Please let me take you to your tower before someone else sees you.”
That was a good reason. He couldn’t keep the contents of the library out of the wrong hands if the other Fallen didn’t fear him. “All right.” Argeaneal sagged in his grip.
When they reached a marble wall, Antares touched the right part of the swirling black and white design to open a doorway to a hidden stairwell. They stepped inside onto a stone platform, and the door slid closed on silent hinges behind them.
“When will these mysterious allies open the gateway, and where are they opening it?” Antares asked as he started up the spiral stairs, dragging Argeaneal with him.
“They said it would take three days, but they didn’t say on which realm those three days would pass.” Argeaneal glanced up the dark shaft and considered flying to his room, but the stairwell was too narrow for his wings. If he tried, he’d damage them, and that he wouldn’t do because he loved flying too much to give it up for any reason.
“Well, they didn’t mean three days in Hell. That’s for sure since there’s no real day or night here. “Did they give you any other way to know when three days have passed?”
“No, they said I’d know when it happened.” But the only way that would happen was if the gateway opened in the middle of the library. Surely, that’s not what they meant. Argeaneal stopped on the stairs. What if they intended that?
“What is it? You tensed up.”
“Hurry, we must reach my tower.” Argeaneal climbed like his life depended on it, but it wasn’t his life in danger. I must protect the library.
It was a small thing he could do for the Creator that forsook him, but that kept him mostly sane as emptiness and gloom filled him. “I’m such a fool. I should have seen it sooner.”
“Seen what? Slow down before you trip and hurt yourself.” Antares jogged up the steps at his side.
“They want to open the gateway here, somewhere in the library, and I all but invited them inside.” Argeaneal took the last steps at a dead run and entered his personal aerie. This was the seat of his power, and he gathered up the items he needed from the shelving units next to the staircase.
“Why? What do they want to steal?” Antares stopped at the top of the steps when Argeaneal thrust a handful of crystals at him.
“I don’t know. There are too many weapons here to choose from, but we’ll deny everyone their use.” Argeaneal spun on his heel and staggered past the backless padded chairs to a metal humanoid creature made of gears and threads of magic.
“What is that?” Antares asked from the stairwell.
***
We’ll be back with more.
In the meantime, don’t forget to back to our Kickstarter and back the Rogue Gods Trilogy. It’s fully funded, so you are guaranteed to get your copy when the campaign ends.
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