The
Kingdom Lights
by Steven VS
In a world where
cities float, airships sail the skies and mythical creatures are summoned in a
pinch, Celes Vale is distinctly average. Living in the shadow of his talented
cousin and his powerful aunt and uncle, Celes is resigned to a future of soot,
factories and well, more soot.
But on the night of his twelfth birthday everything changes. A blinding light, a whispered voice and in an instant Celes becomes the first ordinary child in history to develop magic, sending him on a fast-track ticket to the greatest of the floating cities, Gardarel. Boasting grand, elegant buildings wrought from shimmering white stone, the entire city appears as though it has been built from light, and so it has come to be called the Kingdom Lights.
Though some welcome Celes, others want the dirt-ridden up-start off their city preferably head first. Nowhere is this clearer than in the attitude and actions of the beautiful and haughty Lady Ban and her sneering nephew, Marcus Blackwood. But Blackwood, with his gang of goons and unimaginative one-liners, is soon the least of Celes s problems.
With a little magic and a lot of detective work, Celes and his group of Scurriers and Wisps unravel the dark truth behind Lady Ban s prim, perfect smile an alliance to the villainous Wardens and the masked man who leads them. However, in his attempt to expose Lady Ban, Celes unwittingly stumbles onto an even darker conspiracy a plan that could lead to the complete destruction of Gardarel itself.
But on the night of his twelfth birthday everything changes. A blinding light, a whispered voice and in an instant Celes becomes the first ordinary child in history to develop magic, sending him on a fast-track ticket to the greatest of the floating cities, Gardarel. Boasting grand, elegant buildings wrought from shimmering white stone, the entire city appears as though it has been built from light, and so it has come to be called the Kingdom Lights.
Though some welcome Celes, others want the dirt-ridden up-start off their city preferably head first. Nowhere is this clearer than in the attitude and actions of the beautiful and haughty Lady Ban and her sneering nephew, Marcus Blackwood. But Blackwood, with his gang of goons and unimaginative one-liners, is soon the least of Celes s problems.
With a little magic and a lot of detective work, Celes and his group of Scurriers and Wisps unravel the dark truth behind Lady Ban s prim, perfect smile an alliance to the villainous Wardens and the masked man who leads them. However, in his attempt to expose Lady Ban, Celes unwittingly stumbles onto an even darker conspiracy a plan that could lead to the complete destruction of Gardarel itself.
Light.
Beautiful, pulsing, bathing him in its emerald glow…his eyes were peering open
now, his mind fumbling for thoughts and memories, a taste like metal upon his
tongue.
“Are you
hurt?” said a voice, faint, distant. “I didn’t want to hurt you, but I didn’t
have a choice.”
“Choice?”
the boy croaked. He tried to reach up, but his hands had been bound, thick
ropes cutting into soft flesh. I’m back
in the Gravity Rooms, he realized, though the chamber itself had been
transformed entirely. The emerald light now dripped with the crimson of
hundreds of Flare Crystals, as though an angry swarm had surged forth against a
far larger beast.
“I know why
you’re here, but I...you can’t stop this.” As his eyes began to focus, Celes
saw the Warden standing before him, draped in a white cloak, his iron mask
half-hidden beneath his hood. It was strange, so strange to find the spectre
amongst shadows for once illuminated.
“You can’t,”
said Celes his lips cracked, his thoughts dizzy. What’s…my head, I can’t think… “You can’t destroy Gardarel. Please. I know you’re working for Lady Ban.
You don’t…you don’t have to do this!”
The Warden
took a knee before him. “I do,” came the whispered reply, soft and sad. “They
made their choice; and I, mine.”
A
resident of the sleepy coastal town of Bexhill, East Sussex, England. Steven
graduated in the summer of 2013 from the University of Southampton with a
Bachelor of Medicine Degree and a Master’s Degree in Global Health from Sussex
University – where he spent the majority of his time in Shawcross writing this
novel!
In
between writing and dreaming Steven is a medical doctor and has worked at the
University Hospital of North Staffordshire and the Princess Royal where he
fights the system with quirky lanyards.
Steven’s
debut novel steampunk fantasy The Kingdom
Lights is out on October 17th published by Neverland Publishing.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteIntriguing blurb and excerpt!
ReplyDeleteTrix, vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com
The excerpt, seems like the book is very interesting!
ReplyDeleteLoved the excerpt...definitely has my interest!
ReplyDeletenice excerpt
ReplyDelete