Launch Party!

I just got word that the issue of "Warp and Weave" that will have the first chapter of "Call of the Dreamer" is due out in December.

To Celebrate the launch of it, the UVU English Department is holding a "launch party". This will take place the evening of December 9th, from 7-8:15. It's going to be located in the Student Center, the main entrance just outside the north visitor parking lot. The room number is 206b, right across from the entrance of the Regan Theater.

Each issue is only $4.

Please try and make it if you can, if you can't then don't worry about it, I'm going to be throwing a party that next Saturday at my place in Orem.

Call of the Dreamer

This is the first chapter of my novel. I submitted it into the UVU publication "Warp and Weave". Being published has always been a dream of mine, and I couldn't be more excited to see my name in print.

I have included my submission below for you all to read, but I hope you purchase "Warp and Weave" when it becomes available. I'll keep you updated when I learn more about it.

He shall be guided by visions, but no comfort will he gain from them....

Quote from the Stone of Prophecy

Chapter One ____________________________________________________

The night had been cold, more than usual for autumn, but still Joseph awoke in a sweat. The dream that had been plaguing him these past few weeks had once again haunted his sleep. It was always the same. Fire, all that could be seen was consumed by it. The only thing he could hear above the flames was the screaming of those trapped by it. Yet as hot as the flames were, there was something that burned more fiercely still. The eyes.

The eyes of the Daemon that stood before him. Those cold, flaming eyes that burned with the fury of a hundred suns. The searching, searing eyes that seemed to direct the blaze as the flames gorged themselves upon the helpless room. In his dream he also saw a lone man that stood before the Daemon. In his hand he held a sword that shown brighter than noon-day sun, and with it raised above his head he rushed towards the Daemon. A sword that seemed to emerge from the flames formed in the palm of the Daemon's hand, and the two clashed. And then the dream ended.

Always the same. This dream frightened Joseph. At first he thought that it was nothing more than a nightmare, one brought on by the changing of weather. However, no dream had ever haunted him for so long. This dream must mean something, but Joseph was too afraid to seek out it’s answer.

As he looked out the window he could clearly see the beams of light that the sun cast down through the trees and he quickly realized that he had overslept. Joseph pulled himself out of bed and threw on his clothing. Pulling on his boots he raced out the door and into the early morning autumn mist. As cold as it was inside, outside was colder still. He slapped his arms to try and get his blood flowing, and placing dream in the back of his mind he ran to a worn down old barn. He did not have time to think on his dream, he had work to do.

Running towards the barn he could already smell the all-too-familiar scent of iron as it was heated in the fires of the bellows. He heard the distant sound of metal forming metal as he drew closer. He could clearly see the smoke rising from the stack of the barn, already black from the iron that it had heated.

He burst into the barn, letting in the light of the already risen sun, at least it once was a barn. Over the years it had slowly been converted to a forge and simple ironworks, now only the outside resembled the barn it had once been. Working the bellows was an old Dwarf, not seeming to notice the fact that Joseph had burst in. Joseph knew otherwise.

“You overslept again.”, the Dwarf said, without turning to face him. His voice was raspy, a voice that held years of experience in it.

“I know Kreig, I’m sorry.”, came his reply, panting from his run.

Without saying anything Joseph began his chores. As odd as it seemed, with his dreams troubling him as they did, he had no lack of sleep. Yet when you are the only blacksmith within fifty miles, sleeping in is not a habit you should pick up. Every village in that area depended on them to do any metal work that they needed, they would have to go as far as the port town of Jackson if it wasn’t for Kreig. With winter coming as quickly as it was they were plenty busy sharpening axes and doing other things to help the local villages prepare. Kreig needed Joseph to be at his best , but because of the nightmares that Joseph had been suffering, he could not help Kreig as much as he used to, and they were behind. They needed at least another week to complete what had been given to them, but the villages needed them as soon as the next day. Joseph hung his leather apron around his neck, tied the cord around him, and began on a saw that needed cleaning and sharpening. Silently, the two worked as quickly as they could. Before the nightmares begun, they had used this time to talk. It was once filled with laughter and joy, but after he told Kreig about the dreams things started to change. They no longer spoke as they once did. The Dwarf seemed to be worried, and that is what frightened Joseph the most about it, the fact that Kreig was worried by them.

Joseph was raised by Kreig, for twenty-five years the two of them lived here. Nothing ever frightened the Dwarf. He was tougher than the iron that he made his living with, and no iron in the country could compare. He had fought off bandits that had come to take it for themselves, by himself too. Not only did they leave empty handed, but beaten and broken as well, whereas Kreig didn’t have so much as a scratch on him. When some of the nearby towns were attacked, he came to their aide. Many of the bandits fled at the site of a Dwarf swinging his axe in battle. Yet this dream worried him, and in turn, Joseph was frightened by it.

At times Joseph wanted to say something to the old Dwarf, he felt he should say something, but he never knew the words to say. The minutes passed with only the ringing of the hammers, the scraping of files, and the roaring of the bellows breaking the silence. Slowly the minutes turned to hours and before Joseph knew it, he was finished with the mornings work. He set his hammer down, and looked at Kreig who had almost finished beating a pan out of what was once a hot chunk of iron. Still in silence, Joseph left the barn and returned to their home.

There he grabbed a chunk of cheese and a piece of bread. He dipped his cup into the rain barrel and soon he felt the refreshing rush of water running down his throat flowing and through his body. Leaving the small cabin Joseph sat on one of the small wooden chairs on the porch. Still, the dream haunted him. Try as he would to push it out of his mind, it was always there on the edge of his thoughts. Eating the bread and cheese he sat there wondering if this dream would really ever let him have peace.

Then Joseph heard a sound that he had never heard before, so great was his surprise that he jumped up, knocking over the chair he was sitting on. He tried to listen for it again, but slowly his mind began to realize that it wasn’t a noise, it was a feeling. A feeling that left him empty, one that had tainted his soul. Unlike a normal feeling, one from within, it had come from somewhere outside of himself, and he could tell where it had come from. He stood and looked in the direction that the feeling had come from. He saw nothing.

He stared at that location, trying to peal away bushes with his mind's eye, and still he saw nothing. Maybe it was only his imagination, nothing more than something brought on by the dream that he was having. But nothing in his imagination had ever left him feeling like this. He quickly finished his meal and started back for the barn.

As he was about to enter, Kreig was leaving. With his tool belt slung over his shoulder he looked even more worried, if that was possible. The two passed each other without so much as a word. Joseph silently entered the barn and Kreig went towards the house. Joseph entered and went back to his work. He walked over to the whetting stone, a trapper wanted his hatchet sharpened. He paused and composed himself. Get a hold of yourself, Joseph. he though, I just need to get my mind off this stupid dream. He sat on the stool and reached for the hatchet. However, the hatchet was not there. That's weird, Kreig always keeps the stuff that needs sharpening here. Maybe he already sharpened it, Joseph thought to himself.

He picked up a dagger, another order from the same trapper, and began to sharpen it. As he pulled the blade across the stone, the feeling came back, not as strong as it had before, but it was there. He tired to push the feeling out of his mind, but it would not let him be. Trying to ignore it he continued working, but no matter how often he put it in the back of his mind it would always creep back into his thoughts. Guess I'm just uneasy about that hatchet, it probably won't leave me alone until I find it. He put down the dagger and began to search the barn for it. He searched through the tools that had been sharpened, but he could not find it. He searched the tools that still needed work, but he still couldn’t find it. The hatchet was gone.

Joseph looked again for it, searching places he had already searched. Still he had no luck, he could not find the hatchet. Finally he came to a choice, either sit there and worry about the hatchet, or go and see if Kreig knew where it was. He left the barn and was surprised to see that the Dwarf was not sitting on the porch eating his breakfast. As he entered the cabin he began to ask about the missing tool, but before he could finish the sentence he quickly realized that Kreig was not in the cabin.

“Kreig? Kreig where are you? ”, he begin to search for his friend. He searched the entire cabin, even the locked cellar, before deciding to take his search outside. He was just about to leave the cabin and look for Kreig when the door swung open. He turned his head to see Kreig standing in the doorway, the hatchet in his hand. He was using a cloth to clean it. He was cleaning a dark substance off of it. It did not take long for Joseph to realize what it was. The Dwarf was cleaning it of blood, and the hatchet wasn’t the only thing that had blood on it. Whatever had happened, it had been messy. The Dwarf’s face was smeared in it, as well as his hands.

It did not take long for Joseph to realize what had happened, the feeling. He was not worried about the hatchet, something was there, and Kreig had already taken care of it. He began to run to the door.

“I wouldn’t if I were you, lad.”, Kreig said in his deep, gruff voice. “It’s not something that one so young should see.”

Without saying anything, Joseph ran from the cabin and towards the place where the feeling came from. He burst through the trees and bushes that surrounded their land. It was not long before saw what he was looking for. There, in a blood stained bush, or rather what was left of a bush, lay the corpse of something he had only heard fairy tales about. There, in the bush, was the corpse of a Morlic.