{"title":"Seraphim Revival POD Only","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"print-bane-of-the-dead-paperback","title":"UNSIGNED PRINT: Bane of the Dead (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Seraphim Revival series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-983566d7-7fff-a834-4b88-3fed374d99ad\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is an unsigned premium paperback, printed on demand just for you!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/bane-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-one\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFueled by the Soul. Commanded by the Dead.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn an empire ruled by the honored dead, seraphs are the ultimate weapons. Fueled by the pilot’s very soul, these colossal humanoid mecha are unstoppable in battle.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack Donolon is the most powerful pilot in existence, a hero of Earth with a mind fractured by his seraph. On the far side of the galaxy, he uncovers a terrible truth about the seraphs and their pilots. Now he must return on a mission no one will understand, to face and kill the people who once called him friend and comrade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut the death he will bring is insignificant next to the destruction that will follow, should he fail…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom national bestselling author Jacob Holo comes an action-packed read for fans of Gundam, Evangelion, Pacific Rim, and anyone who’s ever wanted to pilot a giant robot!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Do you like Star Wars? Did you think it needed more giant robots? Well if you did, this is the book for you!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you are a fan of Gundam, Robotech, giant mecha you will enjoy this book.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Great and entirely welcome mecha novel!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you're look to scratch that mecha itch (like I was), look no further.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Feels like a love letter to the mecha space genre.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium paperback novel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/bane-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-one\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from BANE OF THE DEAD\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe voices in his head were right.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt may have taken fifteen years to find, but here on the far edge of the galaxy was the terrible truth he sought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnly one obstacle remained.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re alone out here,” Jack said, slipping into his uniform jacket. “No hope of support. No chance of rescue. You with me, buddy?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph said nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s the spirit. Let’s do this!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack clasped his storm-gray uniform jacket at the neck. White six-winged hawks adorned the cuffs and the sides of the collar, marking him as a seraph pilot of Aktenzek. His bright blue armband bore the Earth Nation seal: the moon and Earth within a halo of sixteen stars, a testament to his origins.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack rubbed the itchy stubble on his chin. He ran his fingers through an unruly mop of brown hair and jogged towards the \u003cem\u003eScion of Aktenzek\u003c\/em\u003e’s seraph hangar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pressure door slid open, and he watched it part from both sides. With each step, his connection to the seraph strengthened. He entered the hangar and looked up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bay was just large enough to contain the mighty girth of the seraph. Soft white lights illuminated its form. Spindly mechanical arms moved above and around the seraph, transporting its armaments down out of the ceiling and affixing them via conformal pods. When finished, the arms retracted upward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph was truly gargantuan. It stood in the manner of a man, towering high above Jack, who wasn’t as tall as its smallest finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack slowed to a walk. This part of the hangar came level with the seraph’s chest. A slender gangplank extended from the ledge to the cockpit. The seraph’s head swiveled down and watched him approach. Six blade-like wings extended from its back, retracted into tight clusters of three. The armor was a seamless, immaculate white. Designers had given this seraph a smooth set of muscular curves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrings of black runic characters adorned the forearms, legs, and wings. They spelled out the Litany of the Mission, a simple ten-verse invocation held sacred by the Aktenai:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWho are we?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe are those forsaken by our kind.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat is our purpose?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTo repent for our greatest sin.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat was our sin?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe creation of the Bane.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow must we repent our sin?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe must kill the Bane.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWho will judge our worthiness?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Keepers of the Gate.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack knew it by heart. The words filled him with dread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, this might be it,” he said. “We could turn back, you know.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph did not speak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I thought you’d say that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack hurried across the gangplank and entered the spherical cockpit in the chest. He turned and slid into the man-shaped alcove. The seraph’s skin sealed him inside, leaving no evidence of an opening. The walls closed in, contracting around his body, entombing him in darkness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack shut his eyes and took a deep breath. The mundane senses of his body faded. The multi-spectral “eyes” and “ears” of the seraph filled his mind. He clenched the giant hands of the seraph and shuffled from one foot to the other, restricted by the cramped confines of the hangar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack didn’t pilot the seraph. He \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e the seraph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe let a trickle of power flow out from his frail, almost forgotten, human body. Raw, chaotic fury surged through his arterial network, energizing his limbs and wings. The black script of the Litany ignited with blinding blue light. His internal systems came online one after another, sipping at an endless reservoir of extra-dimensional energy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeneath his feet, the first of three doors flinched open. Clamps descended on rails and affixed to his shoulders and wings. With a surge of motion, the launch catapult thrust him down. He passed through doors that snapped open and shut in the span of an eye blink.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe catapult flung Jack into the dark of space. He floated free of the \u003cem\u003eScion of Aktenzek\u003c\/em\u003e: a white, armored figure falling from the vast cylindrical vessel. He spread his wings and redirected power to them. Edges along each blade-wing flared with light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack flew ahead of the carrier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, don’t keep me waiting,” he said. “You know where I am and where I’m going. Time to finish this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe didn’t wait long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first Disciple frigate folded space several hundred kilometers away. The sleek, silver-skinned enemy craft materialized within an expanding ring of distorted light, then turned its nose to face the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. Once aligned, it fired the centerline fusion cannon that took up the bulk of its interior.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA beam of white light smashed into the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e, carving a ragged blister across its hull. Almost immediately, mnemonic armor flowed over the glowing wound, remembering and restoring its original shape. The fully automated carrier had impressive self-repair capabilities, but it was also his only way home. If it fell, so did he.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Here we go, buddy!” Jack shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe rocketed towards the enemy craft. The frigate fired again, but this time Jack swung into the beam’s path.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFocused atomic energy met his chaos barrier in a brilliant flash of competing forces. White ribbons splashed off him like water, leaving his armor untouched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack aimed the fusion cannon housed in a conformal pod along his left arm. The weapon drank in a portion of his barrier, energized the barrel, and focused the nuclear charge into a tight plasma lance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe beam hit with all the force of a capital ship’s main gun, emitted from a weapon one-fiftieth the size. Plasma cleaved the Disciple vessel in half. Secondary explosions snapped across its length and obliterated the rest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo more Disciple frigates folded space, both larger than the first and positioned further out. They fired their main guns and unleashed a steady stream of fusion torpedoes from twin launchers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack turned and sped towards them. He shot the lead ship. His beam hit from the side and punched clean through, blowing the nose off the craft. His second shot stabbed through the center. Two ruined halves tumbled away, shedding life pods like a rain of silver droplets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree more frigates entered the system even further away and commenced their attack runs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eScion \u003c\/em\u003etook hit after hit. Beams seared its armor, and torpedoes exploded against its hull. Damage indicators opened in Jack’s mind. A nuclear inferno breached the outer hull, and radiation flooded two of the aft compartments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good thing that’s not where I sleep.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack closed the alert and fired again. He raked the beam across the closest ship, cleaving it at a diagonal. Explosions brewed up within the wreck, shrouding it in fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFusion beams slashed across space. The \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e spun its hull, spreading the hits across its surface. More damage warnings flashed in his mind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack twisted around and rocketed towards the new trio of frigates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“They’re trying to split me off from the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph did not speak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can’t help it! Their cannons have better range!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack flew across their formation and unloaded shot after shot. Beams carved red-hot holes through the Disciple ships. Superheated alloys cracked the first frigate apart, then the second.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last frigate unleashed a swarm of forty torpedoes from its external racks. Jack blasted the ship apart and swung past its spreading wreckage. He deployed a wave of tactical seekers from the weapon pods attached to his legs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tiny guided projectiles ignited their overloaded drive blades and sped after the torpedoes, intercepting over half of them. The rest slammed into the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e in one infernal detonation after another. The hull heated and bulked. Damage alerts opened faster than he could read them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut when the translucent gauze of plasma dissipated, the \u003cem\u003eScion \u003c\/em\u003eremained.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whew! That was close.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs if to prove him wrong, a Disciple dreadnought folded space almost on top of the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. Its reflective armor gleamed in the starlight. Three whole frigates could have fit within its long, flattened hull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Where the hell did you come from?” Jack shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dreadnought oriented its three cannons on the \u003cem\u003eScion \u003c\/em\u003eand fired. A trio of plasma jets scorched the carrier, opening another breach. One of the two engine compartments vaporized. Radiation polluted half the interior.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack dumped power into his wings and raced in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dreadnought opened fire again. Armor scattered from the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e’s hull in molten globules.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The substructure is exposed!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack aimed his arm cannon and fired. The fusion beam struck the dreadnought amidships. Fierce plasma scarred the armor with a livid orange slash, but it failed to penetrate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can’t punch through that hull in time!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo one responded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh yeah? Watch this!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack closed with the dreadnought, diving in perpendicular to its path. He didn’t slow down. Instead, he crashed feet first into the ship, forming a crater. The impact forced the mammoth warship off course. Its shots flew wide, arcs of plasma fading into the depths of space.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDrive blades along the dreadnought’s rear powered up, reorienting the bow onto its target. Fusion torpedoes deployed from six launch tubes, adding to the incoming fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack grabbed the leading edge of the ship and flipped himself inside one of its fusion cannons. The long tube ran almost the entire length of the craft, lined with gravitic focusing rings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the far end of the dark barrel, the next ignition spark appeared.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, this is going to hurt.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack raised a forearm and shielded his face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cannon discharged. Blinding light filled everything. Plasma sleeted over his barrier, cooking him. He grunted in pain, but his barrier did not waver.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe cannon finished firing, and Jack ran down the barrel, keeping his arm up. More damage registered on the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. Its launch catapults were gone.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA faint glow brightened ahead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, no you don’t!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack sprinted in. The shunts along his left forearm glowed brighter. Blue energy extended from above his wrist, forming a blade as long as he was tall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack stabbed the chaos sword into the ignition mechanism. The spark vanished. Machinery melted and floated away. He cleaved through the back of the cannon, then let the sword fade into a dusting of winking motes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack jammed his hands into the breach and forced the armor apart, exposing over a dozen of the dreadnought’s crewed decks stacked one on top of the other. Startled men and women in dark red pressure suits stared at him. The interior must have already been depressurized for combat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Surprise!” Jack swung a leg through the breach and stepped in, his shin crashing through three decks at the same time. Disciple warriors scattered out of his way as he smashed through the ship’s interior, crumpling the walls and floors of a dozen decks with each stride as if they were made of paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen he reached the bridge, Jack clawed the reinforced exterior aside. The Disciple captain stood in the center of a circular room ringed with tactical displays. Red messages flashed urgently on most, but the captain glared defiantly at the seraph, unwilling to retreat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack pointed his arm cannon at the man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Heh. Nothing personal.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe triggered the weapon. A fusion beam vaporized the whole bridge and everything behind it. Jack emptied his cannon with shot after shot, turning the dreadnought’s interior into a white-hot inferno. He spread his wings and flew out through the giant barrel. Behind him, the dreadnought drifted away, its armor bulging out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack arced towards the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e. The carrier was lacerated with glowing crisscrossed patches of superheated alloy, at least where it still had armor. Several molten holes laid its copper-hued internal systems bare to the vacuum. He opened the \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e’s internal diagnostics and took a long, thoughtful look.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe sighed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Good. Half the seraph bays are intact, two fold engines are still working, and my room is in one piece.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph said nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No need to be mean. It worked, didn’t it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eScion\u003c\/em\u003e sent him a navigational request. Its fold engines were finally charged for the next jump. His internal fold engines were also ready.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let’s see if all this was worth it.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJack and the \u003cem\u003eScion of Aktenzek\u003c\/em\u003e vanished.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45119217828131,"sku":"BANE-PAPERBACK","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/BaneoftheDeadShopifyPaperback.png?v=1686601605"},{"product_id":"print-throne-of-the-dead-paperback","title":"UNSIGNED PRINT: Throne of the Dead (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Seraphim Revival series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e***SPOILER WARNING: Do not read further until you have read \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/products\/audio-bane-of-the-dead-audiobook\"\u003eBANE OF THE DEAD\u003c\/a\u003e!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium PAPERBACK:\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-983566d7-7fff-a834-4b88-3fed374d99ad\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is an unsigned premium paperback, printed on demand just for you!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/throne-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-two\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFueled by the Soul. Exiled by the Dead.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn an empire ruled by the honored dead, seraphs are the ultimate weapons. Fueled by the pilot’s very soul, these colossal humanoid mecha are unstoppable in battle.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin S’Kev was a seraph pilot before injuries scorched her mind and stripped her abilities. Exiled by her people for reasons she does not understand, she lives on without honor or purpose. It is an existence so repulsive to her that she openly considers ending her own life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll that changes when enemy commandos kidnap Quennin and bring her before the renegade Veketon. He claims he can restore her talents, even make them stronger, and offers her a place in his army worthy of her skills. It is everything her heart secretly desires.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis price?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe must swear allegiance to the worst traitor her people have ever known.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom national bestselling author Jacob Holo comes a fun, fast-paced read for anyone who’s ever wanted to pilot a giant robot.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Do you like Star Wars? Did you think it needed more giant robots? Well if you did, this is the book for you!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you are a fan of Gundam, Robotech, giant mecha you will enjoy this book.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Great and entirely welcome mecha novel!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you're look to scratch that mecha itch (like I was), look no further.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Feels like a love letter to the mecha space genre.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium PAPERBACK.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/throne-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-two\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from THRONE OF THE DEAD\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e***SPOILER WARNING: Do not read further until you have read \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/products\/audio-bane-of-the-dead-audiobook\"\u003eBANE OF THE DEAD\u003c\/a\u003e!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin queried her neural link and requested the time. She’d dawdled too much this morning and quickly headed downstairs for breakfast. The Choir and the Sovereign of Aktenzek had not been unkind in their dismissal of her. They had granted her an estate on Earth: a fabulous beach house that overlooked the Pacific Ocean.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLavish accommodations. Sandy beaches. Hot and sunny weather. Plenty of things to see and do.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut however pleasant, exile was still exile. Earth would never be her home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe ordered breakfast from the autokitchen underneath a wide circular table. Her plate rose from the hole in the table’s center. She ate through half of the cold idri ball, which resembled a blueberry muffin in taste and texture, then stuffed two strips of Earther bacon into her mouth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin pulled a loose shirt over her swimsuit, rushed back upstairs, and slipped her sheathed knife into a pocket. She patted the familiar shape, feeling comforted by its presence, then exited the house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer skin prickled from the mild morning chill. She followed a stone path down to the beach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo Nezrii, pilot of Aktenzek and honor guard to its Sovereign, waved excitedly and rose from the sand. She stood a head shorter than Quennin, slight of build with long, black hair twisted together in a complex weave. Her braid bounced happily behind her as she jogged up the shallow sandy incline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin immediately noticed the swimsuit. It was very hard not to, since there was so little of it. “Scandalous” might have been a good word. It looked like an Earther style.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Quennin! It’s been so long!” Zo hurried over and gave her a tight hug.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You been well?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin broke away and held Zo at arm’s length. “As well as can be expected. Where’s Mezen?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Down by the dock. \u003cem\u003eSome\u003c\/em\u003eone—” Zo bobbed her head towards the dock. “—thought it would be fun to go for a boat ride. He has no interest in swimming but wants to ride in some rickety deathtrap made of \u003cem\u003ewood\u003c\/em\u003e! From \u003cem\u003etrees\u003c\/em\u003e! I swear, some of these Earthers are insane, and I think it’s contagious. We should just pitch Mezen overboard when we get out to sea.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin couldn’t help but smile. Zo hadn’t changed a bit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two women walked leisurely down the beach until they reached the dock. Craggy rock jutted up out of the ground, bisecting beach and ocean. Stairs cut up through the rock to the flattened top, where the wooden dock extended out further into the ocean. Quennin spotted Mezen walking back from several vessels. Some of them were so primitive they actually used wind to move.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMezen, another member of the Sovereign’s honor guard, resembled a slab of muscle in storm-gray pants with a white shirt buttoned up to the neck. A crosshatch of scars peeked out near his throat and wrists: grim tokens from his imprisonment at the hands of the Grendeni decades ago. He had never spoken to Quennin about his scars and probably never would.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo cupped her hands around her mouth. “Are you done finding us a deathtrap to sink in?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMezen looked back at the boats for a few seconds, then turned to Zo and nodded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, we can all die out in the ocean later today!” she said. “We ladies are going for a swim!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMezen nodded again before heading back to the boats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh.” Zo gave Mezen’s back a dismissive wave. “Come on. Let’s go.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey followed the shore towards the beach house. Wet sand squished between Quennin’s toes. The morning sun warmed her skin, and a cool salty breeze blew in over the waters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are Kevik and Kiro stopping by?” Quennin asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, the twins will be around later today.” Zo shielded her eyes and gazed across the ocean. A pair of seagulls flew overhead. “My, real planets are something, aren’t they?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If you say so.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh come on. You have beautiful weather, sandy beaches, and a real sun over your head. A real sun!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I can’t tell the difference.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And just look at this ocean! It goes on and on!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Same as ours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on. Ours only look like they’re endless.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin grimaced at this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA familiar shape peeked over the horizon. The fat off-white orb rose into the morning sky, appearing many times larger than Earth’s Moon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was Aktenzek, the fortress planet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMy rightful home, \u003c\/em\u003eQuennin thought with a pang of bitterness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe fortress planet’s surface was a random patchwork of pale armor plains and mountainous machines. Lights twinkled across its cold, airless shell, some of them marking passages into the planet’s subterranean labyrinths. Despite its obvious proximity and mass, the tides remained unaffected by the Earth’s artificial neighbor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My, would you look at that,” Zo breathed, grinning.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin stared at her feet instead.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh,” Zo said. “Sorry. I didn’t mean …”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t worry. I’m used to seeing it from here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Try not to let it get you down, okay?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Mmmhmm.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You should be enjoying yourself more. Have you been socializing with the locals?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not really.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNot at all, to be honest,\u003c\/em\u003e Quennin thought. The cultural rules were so different on Earth. So much hiding behind false words. She didn’t know where to begin, and even if she had, she still wouldn’t bother.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s easy,” Zo said. “You remember Jared? The weird Earth Nation pilot that keeps hanging around my daughter?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, I remember him.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, he explained it to me once. The girl dresses nice and goes to something called a bar. A bunch of guys approach her, and she picks the one she wants.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I somehow doubt it’s that simple.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come on. You should give it a try. It’s better than sitting at home feeling sorry for yourself.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Have you spoken to … to Seth recently?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No,” Zo said too quickly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re lying.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Seth is out of your reach. You need to move on.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo’s words stung like a slap to the face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If you won’t tell me about Seth,” Quennin said, “then tell me how the war is going.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo shook her head and let out a weary sigh. “You know, I’ve just spent six months on the front. This is the last thing I want to talk about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, it’s something I want to talk about. All I get are watered-down news reports. I want to know how the war is really going.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s been tough,” Zo said, her voice growing quiet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are we winning?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hard to say.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin grabbed her shoulder. “Zo, are we winning the war?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Look, I shouldn’t talk about this, but …” Zo’s lips trembled on the edge of a word.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are things really that bad?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSlowly, Zo nodded.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow was that even possible? How could Aktenzek lose when it had the seraphs and their pilots? Were the Dead Fleet and its Outcast allies really that powerful?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin knew the basics of the war, but not much beyond that. Powerful enemies opposed Aktenzek, such as the Dead Fleet: thousands upon thousands of robotic warships controlled from the fortress planet Zu’Rashik. The Dead Fleet answered unswervingly to the Original Eleven: founders of the Aktenai people who were once their most revered leaders.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then there were the Zekuut: Outcasts from the far side of the Galaxy, whom the Original Eleven had called to their banner. The Outcasts continued to send inexhaustible waves of ships and materiel against the increasingly stretched Alliance fleets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Zo, I can help. You know I can. Even if it’s menial work, just let me contribute. Let me help. I want to help!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m sorry,” Zo said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA firm hand squeezed Quennin’s shoulder, startling her. She hadn’t heard Mezen approach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You should respect the wishes of the Sovereign,” he said in a quiet, gravelly voice. “He placed you on Earth for your own good. Please understand this even if you don’t know why.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin didn’t meet his gaze. She felt suddenly ashamed that she’d made her guests so uncomfortable. Zo and Mezen didn’t have to visit her, and they had. But a small flash of anger heated her cheeks. She’d been exiled for her own good? She didn’t believe that for a second.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Mezen said to Zo. “I want to get a few things for the deathtrap.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure thing, Mez.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMezen headed up the stone path and disappeared into the beach house.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo sat down on a wide, blue towel, and Quennin joined her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m sorry about that, Zo.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not your fault. I know this isn’t easy on you. But Mezen is right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It sure doesn’t seem like that.” Quennin buried her toes in the sand at the towel’s edge. “Can you at least tell me about Seth? You’ve spoken to him recently, haven’t you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know better than that. Please take my advice, and leave him in the past.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah,” Quennin nodded, accepting her defeat. There would be other opportunities, but she’d lost this one. “Sorry about being a bad host.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s all right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know this isn’t much of an excuse, but I haven’t felt like myself lately.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Really? What’s been bothering you?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I haven’t been sleeping well.” Quennin lay back on the towel. She gazed up at the crisp blue sky. “I keep having these recurring nightmares.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf Quennin had been watching, she would have noticed an immediate change in Zo, who was now listening \u003cem\u003every\u003c\/em\u003e closely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What kind of nightmares?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin smiled humorlessly. “They’re pretty weird. They happen in these surreal places. One is in the sky. The most perfect blue sky you could ever imagine, stretching up and down and to all sides, with magnificent white cities floating serenely through it all.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sounds nice. How’s it turn into a nightmare?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s strange. I feel so at peace in the beginning. And then this woman appears and forces me to the ground. Her face strikes me as familiar, but I’ve never seen her before, and her eyes are cold with these unusual silver irises. She’s so strong. I don’t even have a chance. She kills me, but I don’t wake up. I just lay there slumped against a wall, watching as she rips open my chest and starts tearing out my organs.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Eww …”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You have that often?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Once or twice a week.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm. Any others?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere was another, more terrible dream, one filled with fire and brass and smoke and that same woman, but just thinking about it made Quennin’s heart race. She had no desire to talk about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just variations of the one,” she lied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A hobby. That’s what you need. Something to take your mind off things. Like Jared and those pointless Earther games of his.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ll pass on that, thanks.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo patted her arm. “Only kidding. Come on. Let’s go for a swim.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sure.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two women stood up and headed for the lapping waters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThunder cracked in a cloudless sky. The booming sound stunned her ears and resonated in her stomach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA fast, sleek shape suddenly appeared. It streaked by overhead and crashed full force into the ocean. A gust of wind threw both women to the ground. Light distorted around them then snapped back to normal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A fold engine?” Quennin rose to her feet. She rubbed an abrasion on her elbow. “That was a ship folding in!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It couldn’t be,” Zo said. “Not this far into a gravity well. There shouldn’t be enough of it left to fill a spoon.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then what did we just see? Did you get a good look at the ship? I didn’t recognize the type.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo shook her head. “Just a glance. If I were to guess, I’d say that ship was an Outcast orbital flyer.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What, \u003cem\u003ehere\u003c\/em\u003e? On Earth?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Doesn’t make sense, I know. Every alarm in the Earth Nation Fleet must be going off right now. We need to get out of here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. My aircar’s in the house.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Better than nothing.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This way!” Quennin ran up the beach. Zo sprinted after her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWater exploded behind them, and a ship like a silver arrow flew out and leveled itself above the water. Quennin glanced over her shoulder to get a good look. The Outcast flyer’s prow was a forward-facing delta with smooth curves and fat wings, all clad in reflective armor. Weapons bristled from the nose and hung in clusters underneath the wings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBehind the triangular front was a long cylinder, three times the length of the main body and encased in the same reflective armor. Quennin guessed it to be some sort of booster section.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIt’s built for speed\u003c\/em\u003e, she thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flyer hovered above the shoreline. A rectangular hatch opened along its belly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZo sent out a message over her neural link. Quennin patched in and listened. “Kevik! Kiro! Are either of you near your seraphs?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re both nearby. What’s going on?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Questions can wait! Get on board and get over to my position NOW!!!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Understood.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Help is on the way!” Zo shouted out loud. Quennin could barely hear her over the flyer’s engine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWatery blurs dropped from the flyer’s bay, hit the ground softly, and ran towards the two women.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOutcast warriors with active stealth fields and gravity harnesses, \u003c\/em\u003eQuennin thought. She turned away and pumped her legs even harder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomething struck the back of her knee, and she tumbled. Zo shouted out, but her voice died against the shriek of the flyer’s engine. Quennin found herself on her back with two Outcast warriors standing over her. Colors and light constantly shifted to conceal their position, but this close, Quennin could just barely see a solid outline. They held their stubby weapons single-handedly, barrels trained on her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe closest Outcast grabbed her and effortlessly flipped her onto her stomach. He bound her hands behind her back and lifted her to her feet. His movements were practiced and precise, without waste, and inhumanly strong.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs her captor held her bound arms, Quennin counted four Outcasts total: two on either side of her and two in front with weapons trained on Zo.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Get out of here, Zo!” Quennin shouted, but Zo didn’t move. She’d stopped running a few strides away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You can’t take her!” Zo shouted. “You have no idea what—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe rest of her words drowned in the flyer’s earsplitting roar. Outcasts kept Zo in their sights but held their fire. This was incomprehensible! A seraph pilot stood before them, and they didn’t shoot? It made no sense!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flyer halted directly overhead. Her captor held her bound arms with an iron grip. The air buzzed with the effects of a short-range gravity field, and she found herself lifted into the flyer’s belly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe four Outcasts and Quennin crowded into the flyer’s interior: a space designed for utility, not comfort. Screen-skin covered the walls, granting a view of their surroundings. As the bay door began to close, she spotted a silvery glint approaching along the shoreline.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust the sight of it made Quennin’s heart skip a beat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph stood roughly in the shape of a man, but was so large it could crush the flyer in one hand. Six blade-like wings extended from its back, their edges glowing brightly. Its armored skin gleamed in the morning sunlight, so polished and beautiful that the Outcast flyer appeared dull by comparison. Delicate curls and curlicues etched across its chest, limbs, and wings, each burning with a fierce inner fire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was one of the six Renseki seraphs flown by the Sovereign’s honor guard, and it bore straight in. The Outcasts had only seconds to make their escape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re all going to die,” Quennin said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bay door sealed, and the flyer accelerated hard towards the seraph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a flash, the two craft shot past each other. The seraph reached out, and the tip of a finger grazed the bottom of the Outcast flyer. Quennin felt the craft shudder and lurch forward before righting itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHe must have launched without weapon pods, \u003c\/em\u003eshe thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Renseki seraph turned about, exhaust from its wings blowing sand off the beach in a great storm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flyer’s booster section ignited with a deafening crack. Quennin instinctively fought against her bonds to cover her ears, to no avail. The flyer punched up through the atmosphere, shuddering so violently she thought it would break apart. Behind them, air friction turned the pursuing seraph into a flaming comet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sound died down to a low continuous thrumming. Quennin couldn’t believe such a craft was capable of outrunning a seraph. She glanced around, appraising her situation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven in this extraordinary plight, her thoughts remained calm. She observed where a lesser person would panic. Since early childhood, she had been raised as a pilot of Aktenzek, and the long years of discipline and constant battle did not fail her now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe four Outcast warriors had switched off their stealth fields and stashed their weapons. They wore flexible body armor that meshed tightly with their fit physiques. Without the stealth fields blurring color and light, Quennin spotted an ornate design painted like a sash across their chests: orange and black dancing in a diagonal swirl.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin didn’t recognize the pattern and took it to represent whatever Outcast nation these four men hailed from. But there was something else, a band across their right arms: black and white in a familiar pattern of tightly packed circles, semi-circles, and arches.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe soldiers wore Veketon’s heraldry. These four were pawns of the Dead Fleet and its leaders, the Original Eleven.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNone of this makes sense! \u003c\/em\u003eshe thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe closest Outcast removed his helmet. He looked human enough, despite being an Outcast. A buzz cut of black hair framed a square face that, if not handsome, was at least not ugly. Dark piercing eyes appraised her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You serve Veketon,” Quennin said. It was not a question.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround them, sky turned into the black of space. Soon the flyer would be free of Earth’s gravity well and able to fold space out of the solar system. Quennin looked back, watching the Renseki seraph fall further and further behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My name is Plaerion,” the Outcast said. “And yes, I serve the First of the Eleven. By delivering you to him, our nation will gain great prestige.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin shook her head. It just didn’t make sense. What value did she have? Why would the Original Eleven bother with a wounded and powerless pilot like her?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin reached into the flyer’s information network. As a pilot, she’d been fitted with one of the finest neural links in existence. Covertly, her implants hunted for chinks in the flyer’s network security. Perhaps she could find something that would explain her circumstances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe flyer folded space. The smiling crescents of Earth, Moon, and the fortress planet Aktenzek vanished from view. Formations of Outcast flyers snapped into existence, glittering in the light of the new system’s star.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why have you captured me?” she asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Master Veketon ordered us to.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin snorted out a joyless laugh. An automaton’s answer: He did it because he was ordered to. What other reason would he need?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer neural link gained some purchase into the flyer’s network. For now, she could covertly monitor several data streams, though actual intervention would alert her captors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLoud mechanical clanks reverberated through the flyer’s hull. The spent booster drifted away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin found a tactical data stream and examined it. Over one hundred Outcast flyers formed up around them. She was now hidden in a swarm of identical craft, escorted by sixteen powerful warships. Ten sleek frigates and five massive dreadnoughts established a tight defense around a stubby negator, which activated its disruptive field effect, disabling enemy fold engines in range.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThey’re going to pin our pursuers in this system,\u003c\/em\u003e Quennin thought. \u003cem\u003eThat will delay the pursuit for when we fold again.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Outcasts were going through great lengths to capture her. Negators were notoriously expensive to build and operate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA fold point snapped open, and the Renseki seraph flew out of a ring of twisted light. With her flyer now hidden in a shoal of one hundred, the Renseki hesitated for a moment, then turned towards the negator. Outcast warships came about and opened fire, but their concentrated plasma beams ricocheted off the seraph’s barrier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph rammed the negator like a kinetic torpedo, buckling the warship’s armor and causing it to spin end over end. The seraph clambered across the exterior until it reached the midsection and raised an arm back. It ignited a chaos dagger from its wrist and sunk the energy blade into the negator’s thick armor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith both hands, the seraph forced the hull open.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo more Renseki seraphs folded into the system.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuennin closed the data stream. “You didn’t answer my question. Why did you capture me?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Master Veketon will explain his reasons to you in person,” Plaerion said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In person? That’s a strange way to talk about the Original Eleven. They’ve been dead for millennia.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlaerion gave her a smug grin. “I find your ignorance amusing, Quennin S’Kev.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eThe shoal of one hundred flyers folded space and vanished.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45121218052387,"sku":"THRONE-PAPERBACK","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/ThroneoftheDeadShopifyPaperback.png?v=1686601709"},{"product_id":"print-disciple-of-the-dead-paperback","title":"UNSIGNED PRINT: Disciple of the Dead (Paperback)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Three in the Seraphim Revival series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eNew to the Seraphim Revival series?\u003c\/span\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/products\/audio-bane-of-the-dead-audiobook\" title=\"New to the Seraphim Revival series? Start here.\"\u003eStart here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e***SPOILER WARNING: Do not read further until you have read \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/products\/audio-throne-of-the-dead-audiobook\"\u003eTHRONE OF THE DEAD\u003c\/a\u003e!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-983566d7-7fff-a834-4b88-3fed374d99ad\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis is an unsigned premium paperback, printed on demand just for you!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/disciple-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-three\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFueled by the Soul. Hunted by the Dead.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn an empire ruled by the honored dead, seraphs are the ultimate weapons. Fueled by the pilot’s very soul, these colossal humanoid mecha are unstoppable in battle.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeth Elexen and a small group of elite pilots have tracked the renegade Veketon to the far side of the galaxy. With only one ship and a single squadron of seraphs, they alone must face the tyrant within the heart of his growing power.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Veketon is no easy mark. Through perverse sciences, he has been reborn as a pilot of terrifying power, and Quennin S’Kev, a woman Seth abandoned for all the wrong reasons, stands by his side and will defend him to the death.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow Seth has one final desperate chance at success, but in order to get to Veketon, he must be willing to kill the only woman he has ever loved.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom national bestselling author Jacob Holo comes the gripping finale of the \u003cem\u003eSeraphim Revival\u003c\/em\u003e trilogy!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Do you like Star Wars? Did you think it needed more giant robots? Well if you did, this is the book for you!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you are a fan of Gundam, Robotech, giant mecha you will enjoy this book.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Great and entirely welcome mecha novel!”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“If you're look to scratch that mecha itch (like I was), look no further.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Feels like a love letter to the mecha space genre.”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium PAPERBACK.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/disciple-of-the-dead-seraphim-revival-book-three\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from DISCIPLE OF THE DEAD\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e***SPOILER WARNING: Do not read further until you have read \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/products\/audio-throne-of-the-dead-audiobook\"\u003eTHRONE OF THE DEAD\u003c\/a\u003e!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDeath had come, and she would have her prize.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer black seraph hovered over the ruined city like a vicious bird of prey, its giant humanoid body full of menace and cruelty. Dark energy crackled about it, cloaking the seraph in an invincible barrier.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSix grand wings unfurled from its back, flexing and relaxing in a slow play of muscular potential. Its armored body was lithe and sleek, its face an indiscernible mask of darkness. The panicked citizens below were barely the size of its smallest finger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That was …” Vierj said in slow, deliberate syllables, “a mistake.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe held another seraph by the stomach, her razor-sharp talons piercing deep into its flesh. The wounded seraph’s body bowed back, bones broken, arms and legs dangling at its sides. Its armor was split evenly down the middle into white and black with the hands and tips of its six wings bearing the opposite color. Crimson blood wept from a deep gash in the chest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj raised her free hand, energy snapping between her fingers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“STOP!!!” Veketon shouted, racing towards the battle, but still over a thousand kilometers away. He swept across the snow-covered peaks of a northern mountain range and headed for the capital. The edges of his six wings burned with black light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe city of Ittai’zen, capital of Ittenrashik, sprawled beneath Vierj like a precise sculpture of glass, silver, and polished stone. Organically smooth towers rose, sprouting walkways and bridges of glass, merging with their neighbors as they reached skyward. Some towers never touched the ground, but simply tapered off above the planet’s emerald fields.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a thing of beauty: a testament to all the Aktenai, the Forsaken of the Homeland, had achieved in the hard years of their Exile. But now, fires raged through six of Ittai’zen’s eleven grandest towers, belching forth greasy plumes of dark smoke. Scores of lesser towers now ended in broken spires or shattered domes, and fleeing aircars blotted out the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ah, Father,” Vierj said. “You have finally joined us.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop this at once!” Veketon shouted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Is that all you have to say? How much must I take from you before you give me what I desire?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t do this!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj plunged her hand into the seraph’s chest. She dug deep, blood spurting around her wrist, and found the seraph’s spinal cord.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a sharp jerk, Vierj ripped the seraph in two and cast the legs aside. The lower body crashed through several crystalline bridges before hitting the ground in a gory splash.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj held the seraph’s upper body by the throat. Organs hung loosely below the exposed ribs. She reached up through the bottom of the rib cage and pushed into the seraph’s soft insides.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now, where is she? Ah. Here we are.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a delicate twist, Vierj broke the pilot alcove free and pulled it out. She held the spherical chamber out in an open palm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a corner of his mind, Veketon felt Dendolet’s weakened pulse. She lay wounded and unconscious in the alcove, but he could still save her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop, Vierj,” he said. “Just stop this, please. I’m begging you. Haven’t you killed enough of us already?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If you wish this to end, just give me the Gate’s location.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know I can’t do that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Are you sure? It’s not as if I hold someone like Ziriken or Balezuur in my palm. You’ve always been willing to sacrifice comrades for your ambitions, so I must strike closer to your heart.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Curse you, she’s your mother!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Such connections no longer matter to me. I have grown far beyond any of you, and I tire of your stalling. Give me the Gate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Veketon stammered. “I cannot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Then she is the first.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“NO!!!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj clenched her fist. A trickle of red oozed through her giant fingers. She flung the top half of Dendolet’s seraph aside, and the giant corpse landed on top of a tower, crushing dozens of aircars and hundreds of people attempting to flee the battle. Its broken remains came to rest on its back, blood draining out of the chest like a grotesque waterfall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No …” Veketon whispered. Within the pilot alcove, tears burned his true eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou must not blame yourself, \u003c\/strong\u003eVeketon’s seraph said, the words echoing across the chaos energy bond he and the seraph shared. Its name was Malael.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My beloved is dead …”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVeketon, the others need us. We must stop Vierj before she kills again.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can we even hurt her?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph paused ever so slightly before responding, and Veketon sensed its uncertainty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe must try,\u003c\/strong\u003e Malael said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, of course we must.” Veketon nodded with dark inevitability. He focused his mind and touched the flow of chaos energy inside the seraph. It frothed around him like a great river of power and potential. He guided that raw energy, shaped it, formed it, then sent it rippling outward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith an unbreakable trust built over millennia, Malael relinquished full control of its body to Veketon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon didn’t simply pilot the seraph. He \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c\/em\u003e the seraph.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe spread his six wings. Their edges snapped with black lightning, and he surged forward, screaming through the sky.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis white armor gleamed under the midday sun, the lines tall and proud, his face concealed behind an armored mask. Black heraldry adorned his armor along the wings and the sides of his torso: a complexly woven pattern of arcs, circles, and half-moons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon hefted the portal lance in his hand, the weapon as long as the seraph was tall. Elegant, continuous writing curled its way around the shaft, the characters now black with his infusion of chaos energy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon reached the capital and found that Vierj hadn’t moved. Her black seraph hovered over the ravaged city, and nine seraphs formed a ring around her, waiting just outside the city’s limits, each armed with a portal lance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I will give you one last chance, Father,” Vierj said. “Give it to me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon found his eyes drawn to Dendolet’s broken seraph, its blood still pouring over the tower’s side, drenching the building’s white flank in crimson. He closed his eyes and steeled himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I will not give the Gate’s location to a disgrace like you,” he said. “Not now. Not ever.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You cannot defeat me, Father,” she said. “And I don’t need you. I can defeat the Homeland and crush the Keepers all by myself.” She stretched a hand towards him, palm up, imploring. “Give me what I desire, and I will trouble you no more.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Vierj, you killed your own mother!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Give me what I desire, Father.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Stop this insanity!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Give me the Gate’s location.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Give it to me!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“NO!!!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj clenched her outstretched hand. She whirled to the right and faced one of the surrounding seraphs. Her wings spread outward, sparking with sudden power, and she bolted towards her target, closing the distance before anyone could react.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe brought her fist around and smashed it through the seraph’s head. Red gore and bits of armor exploded outward. Its body, starkly white with black thorns entwining its limbs, began to fall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj raked her talons down the seraph’s torso, tearing through its chaos barrier, armor, and flesh with equal ease.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe seraph’s ribcage split open. Blood and gore erupted out, splashing off Vierj’s barrier. Vierj slammed her fist through the seraph’s chest. The vitals of both the pilot Xixek and her seraph X’Kuudin flatlined.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Two!” Vierj cried savagely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Kill her!” Veketon shouted. “Whatever the cost! Kill her!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery seraph charged.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj turned sharply to her left and picked another target.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Give me what I want!” She raised an arm, still far from her next victim. Chaos energy danced around her clenched fist in motes of black light. She swung, and a slender whip of black chaos energy extruded from her limb.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe energy whip sliced through another seraph’s torso at a diagonal. Blood pulsed out of the wounds, and the uneven halves spun down towards the city. Balezuur and the seraph Nepheel perished.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Three!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj rushed another seraph, her craft a night-black blur against the skyline. Ziriken thrust his portal lance at her, but Vierj darted above the attack, then grabbed his elbow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer talons ripped through his seraph’s outstretched limb. Bits of white armor, flesh, and bone exploded from the impact. Ziriken flared his wings and pulled back in an attempt to escape.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut the gesture was useless.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj grabbed the portal lance, still held by Ziriken’s severed forearm. Moving so fast everything around her seemed to stand still, she plunged the portal lance into the seraph’s stomach. Vierj forced it in all the way to her hand, then pulled the weapon up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe portal lance cut through Ziriken’s seraph, searing organs and melting armor. Vierj ripped the lance through its head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eZiriken and the seraph Rennai died.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Four! Give it to me, curse you!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj threw the lance towards a foe above her. Its tip struck the white seraph square in the chest and transferred so much kinetic energy that the seraph’s chest exploded. The lance flew onward and upward, having surpassed escape velocity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Five!” Vierj growled. “How many of you fools must I kill?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj turned again, and this time Veketon dove at her, his portal lance gripped with both hands, black energy crackling across its length. He stabbed downward, and she raised her forearm in a reflexive block.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tip of his lance struck her forearm and skidded off in a shower of black sparks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Impossible!” Veketon gasped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEven a portal lance cannot harm her now!\u003c\/strong\u003e Malael said, icy terror echoing across their link.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj lunged for him, reaching with her talons, ready to eviscerate her father.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Veketon was not as weak as his followers, nor was he as slow. He was the oldest, the most powerful, and the most battle-hardened. He had led his followers so close, so \u003cem\u003epainfully\u003c\/em\u003e close to victory over the Keepers, and he had commanded those blood-soaked battles from the front lines. Hundreds of Keeper seraphs had been hewn by his lance, and this terrible power served to save his life now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj’s talons struck his lance instead of disemboweling him, but the force of her attack reverberated up through his arms. Armor ruptured, tendons ripped, and bones cracked. Veketon gasped, sharing Malael’s pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon swung again with his lance, even with these injuries, for he and Malael were not to be trifled with. Every part of the portal lance was a cutting edge, and Veketon brought it around, aiming for Vierj’s exposed side.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lance struck with all the power and speed he could muster. It was an attack that would have slaughtered any foe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExcept this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj didn’t bother to block, and his lance ricocheted harmlessly off her invincible barrier. She sprang forward and sank her talons deep into his chest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon screamed. Every talon burned like a hot iron rod pushing into his body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe other seraphs halted their attack. They saw it too. None of them could harm her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You must understand your folly now, Father,” Vierj said. “Give in to reason.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon’s mind swam with pain. He shook his head, trying to focus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Give me we what I want.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj maintained a firm hold on Veketon and raised her free arm. Black energy collected in her open palm and formed a disc of chaos energy. She tossed it down, letting it float leisurely to Ittai’zen while still joined to her by a wire-thin thread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe disc stopped over the peak of Ittai’zen’s tallest tower, then bloomed outward, shrouding the sunlit city in darkness as if it were a giant airborne inkblot. After a few seconds, the disc’s circumference equaled that of the whole city: over four kilometers across.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe black disc thickened, becoming a large coin-shaped cylinder extruding down further and further. The tallest towers sank into its fathomless black surface as if it were thick oil, and the dark veil kept growing until it swallowed the entire city. When the disc finally reached its full size, it vanished.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon gasped.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe proud and glorious city of Ittai’zen had been reduced to a heap of ruins. Its great towers had toppled into piles of mangled glass and stone and silver alloys, and it was utterly devoid of life. Veketon knew that only a few thousand of the thirty million civilians had evacuated. They couldn’t all be dead! They just couldn’t!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut try as he might, all he found was one corpse after another, each of them gray and cold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What have you done?” he breathed, unable to fully comprehend what he saw.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I pushed the city into an accelerated time axis, and I let them taste the cold ravages of eternity. Surely, you must now see the hopelessness of your resistance.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Vierj, you must end this madness. Please, I implore you.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This represents the merest fraction of my power. You will give me what I want, Father. You have no other option but to submit to my power.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know I cannot. I can give you anything else … but not that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj screwed her talons deeper into his chest. Veketon whimpered in indescribable pain.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You will give me the Gate’s location!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon summoned all the strength he had left and shouted, “I will never let a monster like you into the Homeland!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe empty silence that followed sent a new wave of cold terror through his heart. Vierj finally spoke after almost a full minute of silence. Her tone was completely empty of emotion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So be it,” she said. “Then you and all your followers will die.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Vierj, wait—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe plunged her talons into the seraph’s torso and crushed Veketon’s true body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon died, but that was not the end of him. His soul, an extra-dimensional structure that did not fully exist in any one universe, detached from his corpse. It floated free, no longer bound by his ruined anchor of flesh and blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat would have happened after this, Veketon did not know. Nor did he care, for he had prepared for this eventuality with an arcane construct of his own design.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Choir energized an artificial anchor perfectly calibrated for him and drew his soul towards it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e… pain …\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—discontinuity—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e… light …\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—discontinuity—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e… thought …\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Dendolet’s face, a sad smile gracing features that had once been fair and beautiful but were now old and wrinkled, ravaged by the press of time in this universe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe room in which they existed was black and dimensionless except for a large panoramic display that floated before them. The display was divided into eight sections, each showing Vierj’s butchery from a different angle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The Choir works,” Veketon said, half question, half statement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes,” Dendolet said. “There appears to have been no degradation in the transfer. We remain who we were in life.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon glanced around. Four other Aktenai turned to him, their faces full of shock and grief. A fifth Aktenai flashed into existence next to them. He looked around with a startled expression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Vierj is slaughtering us.” Veketon turned and walked up to the panoramic display. His footfalls echoed loudly despite the room’s limitless dimensions. His fellow Seekers gathered behind him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne by one, Vierj eliminated every last seraph with brutal efficiency. None of them could offer any hope of resistance, and the two that tried to flee were chased down and killed from behind.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour more holograms flickered into existence behind Veketon. He lowered his head and sighed deeply. The full force of this tragedy had not yet sunk in. All eleven of them were dead, killed by his own daughter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What is she doing now?” Dendolet asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon looked up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj dropped to the cold, cracked rubble that had once been the capital. Only the Aktenai fleet in orbit remained to oppose her. They numbered over one hundred ships, but none of their weapons could penetrate her barrier. And so they waited, their armaments trained on a target even portal lances could not harm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj raised her arms and summoned a sphere of black energy between her open palms. The sphere grew until it was as large as her seraph, then it dwarfed her seraph, and then her seraph was nothing but a speck underneath the vast, engorged sphere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whatever she is doing, we must stop it.” Veketon closed his eyes and connected to the fleet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven in this new form, his simulated neural link functioned the same as before. With a mental twitch, he ordered all ships to target the sphere and open fire. As one, the ships in orbit brought their weapons to bear, synchronized, and fired.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo hundred fifteen fusion beams struck the sphere, each a white-hot lance of focused energy, and eight c-cannons joined in a fraction of a second later, invisible projections that, when they struck the sphere, ignited with the blinding light of instant matter-energy conversion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe air around Vierj heated to plasma, and great shock waves rushed outward, tearing through Ittenrashik’s lush landscape. Lakes turned to vapor, and whole forests ignited.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sphere continued to swell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Veketon, what are you doing?” Dendolet placed a hand on his shoulder. The physical sensation felt distant, fuzzy. He ignored it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Keep firing,” he said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All we’re doing is damaging the planet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I said keep firing!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFive hundred fusion torpedoes followed the first barrage, each of them erupting into miniature suns against the sphere. Dozens of phase missiles arrived a half-second later, traversing the distance to the target instantly. Phase ruptures drank in the plasma storm, then spasmed it back out again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeveral phase missiles landed beneath the sphere. These tore mountain-sized chunks out of the planet’s surface, compressed them to the size of pebbles, then ejected them in a storm of speeding matter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj did not move. The sphere did not waver.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Veketon, we must stop!” Dendolet said. “The planet’s biosphere will be ruined if we continue! We must think of the survivors!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon watched the attack in silence. The orbital barrage was a desperate act, but it was all he had left.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj’s sphere reached six hundred kilometers in diameter, now a tenth the size of the planet itself. She looped around to the top and thrust it towards the surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sphere struck and flattened, and part of it sank into the planet. It expanded into a growing blister that rushed outward, the outer edge becoming a black wave that engulfed everything it touched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No …” Veketon whispered, finally realizing what was happening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What is she doing?” Dendolet asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“She’s pushing the entire planet into an axis of accelerated time,” Veketon said. “She is going to kill our home.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBehind him, Xixek gasped. Dendolet bit her lower lip, unable to pull her eyes away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wave of energy hugged Ittenrashik’s surface. It now covered half the planet, and its wave fronts surged towards each other on the planet’s night side.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon shook his head. “Cease fire.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wave fronts met, and for the briefest of moments the entire planet was ensconced within a black egg. And then, with shocking suddenness, the entire field vanished, revealing a desecrated world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGone were the sprawling cities, clean oceans, and emerald landscapes. Now its cities sat in cold ruin. The oceans were drained somehow, and craters pockmarked a bleak landscape. Strange artifices hung in space, impressive in size, but ancient and derelict.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe planet was so cold that its atmosphere had frozen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhat happened here? \u003c\/em\u003eVeketon thought. \u003cem\u003eHow many years did Vierj make our home suffer?\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Any signs of survivors?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDendolet could only shake her head.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDead … all of them … a billion lives …\u003c\/em\u003e Veketon felt numb, unable to fully appreciate death on this scale. He had led his followers to their dooms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And the Cherub Crèche?” he asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not even they survived.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon nodded a wordless reply and let out a slow sigh. He focused on the image of Vierj’s seraph, impotent anger welling up within his heart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe image magnified through the haze of thinning weapon plasma, and he noticed a striking change. Her seraph was still black, but it was not the featureless black of her chaos barrier. Rather, it bore the metallic sheen of armor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Vierj’s seraph is visible,” Veketon said, almost a whisper as if he didn’t fully believe his eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDendolet looked up sharply. The other Seekers gathered around and studied the images intently.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’re correct,” Dendolet said. “Her chaos barrier has weakened considerably.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That attack must have taken a lot out of her,” Veketon said. “Open fire! Hit her with everything we have!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Aktenai ships in orbit fired as soon as the order came in, their guns already trained on the now vulnerable target. Hundreds of fusion beams struck Vierj, tossing her about like a twig in a hurricane. Fusion torpedoes erupted around her, knocking her back with each eruption.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhase missiles appeared next to her and imploded into space-rending distortions. C-cannons struck the barren wastelands beneath her seraph and instantly converted part of the planet into energy. White hot explosions fountained upward with planet-cracking force.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Vierj wove through the fusillade. She didn’t want to be hit anymore.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re hurting her,” Veketon breathed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj flew up towards the fleet, battered and wounded, but not beaten. She lashed out with a whip of energy and cleaved the nearest ship in two.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFusion beams and torpedoes pounded Vierj from all directions, and she tumbled back, explosions blossoming all around her. She regained control and cut through another ship. Its broken halves fell away, rent edges glowing hotly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother coordinated salvo of beams focused on her as if through a magnifying glass, and the armor of her right shoulder blistered and cracked. Black blood trailed out of the wound. Vierj dashed through the heart of the fleet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA volley of phase missiles struck her, warping the space around her, and another crack in her seraph’s armor appeared. Her upper wings bent towards one of the spatial rips, and energized blood poured from the wound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVierj accelerated and flew straight up. She cleared the fleet’s battle lines and shot away from the planet at full speed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVeketon permitted himself a tight grin. His daughter was running.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeam salvos, torpedo shoals, and phase blasts followed her, but Vierj fled the planet at reckless speeds. She engaged her fold engine and vanished in a flash of light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Aktenai fleet did not pursue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45122877817123,"sku":"DISCIPLE-PAPERBACK","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/DiscipleoftheDeadShopifyPaperback.png?v=1686618456"}],"url":"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/seraphim-revival-pod-only.oembed","provider":"Jacob \u0026 H.P. Holo ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}