The Great and Powerful Theme Reveal #atozchallenge #giveaway

Dearest Readers, 

Imagine for a moment, if you will, the wilds of times long ago and far away.

The sun breaks on the horizon ahead as you and your closest grasp your swords and run, screaming into battle. Sweat and other questionable bodily fluids drip down your face... your arms... your legs. You hurl javelins and spears whilst those fighting beside you plow on massive steeds through the ranks of those rising up against you.

When darkness falls on the battlefield, you stand as defiant as you are exhausted. You've lost friends this day, but you didn't give in or surrender. You fought for the right to rule... and it brought you here. To this moment and this truce. You spit into the vat at your feet, weary, wary... but alive.

Between one breath and the next, the scene before you vanishes.

The craggy, snow-capped Caucasus Mountains rise around you like massive fingers reaching toward the heavens. You peer from the mouth of a cave high up on Mount Kazbeck, stunned into silence as a vicious bird wheels over a young man laying defenseless on the rocks. He thrashes, pleading with the Gods for their forgiveness. You're so high up, for a moment, you think the Gods might hear him. They might answer. But they don't. They have no mercy for a man such as this. A traitor. A thief. 

The bird plummets toward the young man, sinking his claws into the poor bastard's flesh. You slap your hands over your eyes, unwilling to watch the poor man's destruction. And yet... you can't help but peek between your fingers, staring in horror as the beast rips through his flesh and begins to devour his entrails.

What macabre scene is this, you wonder?

But your only answer is the pitiful cries of that poor fool bound to a hell unlike any you've ever witnessed before. 

You click your heels three times, hoping the magic bestowed upon young Dorothy has somehow found its way into the soles of your hiking boots...

Everything blurs and fades.

Did it work?!

You whip your head around, desperately seeking your bed. 

But it's nowhere to be found. Instead, you stand, inexplicably, at the lip of a great, cosmic ocean. Gods and demons surround you, and for this one moment, they work together, agitating the starry waters as one mighty force. A great mist arises from the depths, creeping toward Earth like a living, breathing wall of fog. 

The Gods despair until one brave deity rises up and sucks the noxious fumes into his mouth. He begins to choke, gasping and clawing for air. A Goddess rushes forth and wraps her arms around his neck. She squeezes, shaking him as if all the world depends upon it.

With that great ocean seething behind him... his throat turns blue. He takes a breath. And then another.

What sorcery is this?!

You rush forward to demand answers...

But the landscape changes around you. Again and again, you stand, transfixed, as the most wondrous things happen around you. Gods are born. Alliances fail. The world trembles and grows dark. You're awe-struck as tales of old take shape around you. 

Twenty-six of them, in fact. One after another.

Can you imagine such a magical, mystical place?

I can, dear readers. I can!

And if you'll join me right here on April 1st... you can take that fantastical journey with me right through the heart of mythology. I'll introduce you to Gods and Goddess, to Giants and Dwarves, and all those beautiful, tragic things that make such tales a brilliant, timeless (and sometimes terrifying) part of our history.

See you then, fellow travelers. 

xoxo,

Ayden

Know which three myths are discussed above? Leave a comment below! The first person to guess all three correctly will win my first two novels, FADE and FALL, for Kindle or Nook (reader's choice). 

Want to know where else you'll be traveling this April? Check out the themes from other A to Z Blogging Challenge Participants here. 

FALL– The Ragnarök Prophesies: Book Two is now available at Amazon | Barnes and Noble | KOBO. FADE - The Ragnarök Prophesies: Book Two is available at: Amazon US | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | Books-a-Million.