A Clockwork Universe

Hello,

This is the first post on my new blog to accompany my New Adult/YA novels.  If you are looking for my erotic novels written under my pen name Arabella Kingsley, this blog isn't for you.  This one is purely for those who love reading New Adult and Young Adult novels with romance, sci fi, action, paranormal, suspense, steampunk, gothic punk themes and more.

I have been planning my new novel,  A Clockwork Universe for a while now.  I have even written a very detailed three page synopsis for it before starting to write it, something that I never do.  I have been inspired by watching some fantastic anime series such as Black Butler, Vampire Knight, The Irregular and all things thriller, paranormal, gothic punk and steampunk including graphics from video games to set the backdrop and atmosphere of the story.

I would love you to let me know what you think of this short excerpt I have included in this post.  I will be posting more in due course along with new books.

If you don't want to comment here, contact me instead on my Facebook page, Sara Curran.


Until next time. :)

Happy Reading!

Sara

Chapter One

Her life depended on him.  Without him she would die and he was not about to let her down.  Jazon clutched the female baby swaddled in a blanket tight to his chest and raised his sword to deliver another strike against his opponent who was desperate to take the child and murder her.  It was vital he made the time jump and take the Princess off world to the third dimension to hide her until the time was right for her return.

His planet Pallavia was under heavy attack and the coalition of the twelve planets in the system was breaking apart.  The Empress was now dead along with her Consorts and the only hope that remained was the child who would lead the rebellion and conquer the oppressive rule of the pure humans under The Order of The Crow.

The earth beneath his feet was scorched and cracking and splitting from the fire the Order had sent to destroy the citadel and the Empress’s of the twelve planets, seat of power.  The blonde haired young male whom he fought was not much older than his own sixteen years and was as skilled in his swordsmanship as Jazon.  Dressed in his high collared fitted frock coat trimmed with gold over his high white shirt, black tie and waistcoat coupled with his tall handsome dark looks, Jazon cast a regal figure over, Langdon, his enemy in the Order of the Crow’s plain religious black round collared shirt and frock coat uniform.  

Jazon’s refined chiselled features were paler almost deathly white denoting the hybrid mix of blood coursing through his princely veins.  His ebony hair flowed thickly over his head in jagged waves to his neck unlike Langdon’s severe short hair look, a noticeable trait of the monks of the order. 

Jazon wielded his heavy sword easily with one hand twisting it expertly in his wrist to block and counter attack.  The Prince was faster with the inhuman gifts given to him through his blood and several times he had knocked Langdon backwards. But Langdon was tenacious and determined and he refused to yield.  The Prince of the House of Vasseres bent as Langdon swung his sword at him.  He rose quickly spinning his body around to slice his own blade across his enemy’s back deep enough to draw significant blood.  Langdon cried out and staggered.  With a sharp kick, Jazon knocked him to the ground.  The Monk fought hard to keep hold of his sword in his shaking hand as he crawled away over the hot brown earth amidst the small pockets of fire surrounding them. Jazon could see him grit his teeth and pant for his breath. He seized his opportunity and brought his blade crashing down.  There was no time nor reason to show mercy.

But Langdon lifted his sword and blocked the final blow.  He forced his weakened injured body up from the ground to renew the fight.  From the side Jazon could see six other Monks come towards him, their swords raised.  With a flick of his eyes he propelled an energy burst at the six that sent them flying backwards up in to the air dashing three of them against the ragged rocks and slate hills on top of the headland to their death.  But it was of little use, there were more running to join the fight with a robot army and Jazon was fast becoming out numbered.  All at once they surrounded him and closed in on his fight with Langdon who was ready to drop.  Only his anger and frustration that he could not kill the Princess appearing to be keeping him going.  Jazon stood back from the Monk and bending he raised his body clean in to the air high above them to jump on to a slate ledge in a crouch position.  

The small infant let out a cry as though warning him of the sudden high-pitched wailing noise of the drones moving in from the sea and screeching overhead.  Jazon looked down at the baby feeling his heart thump faster with adrenaline.  He couldn’t give up.  He looked down at the pretty child and trailed a leather gloved finger across her tiny cheek as the Monks climbed to reach him.

“I will not fail you, my Princess,” he whispered bending to gently kiss her forehead.

Quickly standing, he adjusted his balance on the thin ledge, wishing he was down on the cliff edge so he could run and jump from it to activate the time vortex and prepared for battle once more.  Using his mental energy, he created a ball of fire from his hand to lengthen and travel down the sword once owned by his soldier father given to him by the murdered Empress two hundred years ago.  His father had been killed in battle, his head removed as was the only way to murder one of his people who would otherwise remain immortal and he was determined this would not happen to him.  He aimed his sword at one of the drones while it fired bullets at him.  These weren’t ordinary bullets.  They were rendered useless against him.  The bullets the drones fired at him were thickly coated in a solution containing a high content of Burdock, a herb that had recently been discovered by the Order as a useful poison to incapacitate one of his race and make removing the head an easy task.

Jazon rubbed the tip of his tongue over his two long sharp incisors thinking of the rich heritage flowing through his blood which had ensured peace and harmony between all of the different races who had seeded the twelve planets in the tenth dimension over two centuries ago.  His own was a blend of human, vampire, angel and more. Now these pure humans who had remained untainted by the rich diversity of culture and race wanted to eradicate those like him and cleanse the coalition’s blood destroying the other races including the hybrids.  Feeling his anger surge, the Prince pointed the sword ignoring the hail of bullets and allowed the fire to charge from the tip of to explode the drone in to pieces and send it falling to the earth in a fiery ball.

Jazon quickly turned to deflect another with the same tactic just as one of the Monks reached the ledge. Lowering the sword, he hissed at the Monk and shot fire from the sword at him.  His body erupted in to a ball of fire before imploding in to dust.  The burnt embers floated past the Prince on the wind that was now picking up and spreading the fire still raging from the Citadel and bringing new life to the small fires around them.  Smoke and fire burned the air making it difficult to see.  His world was burning.  He couldn’t help wondering if there would be anything to come back to in the future when the child had grown to the appropriate age.

Another Monk jumped on to the ledge from behind catching him off guard.  He sliced his blade through Jazon’s arm narrowly missing the baby.  He had to fight to hold his balance and prevent the loss of his footing over the edge.  Once more he rose into the air and struck at the man’s shoulder with his blade still ablaze.  The man sank to his feet and began to burn, screaming with the agony of his fate.

Jazon clutched the baby against him shielding her from the sight and looked down at the headland.  He had to get down there but there were more Monks and the drones over the sea had just about reached him. His mind searched for a solution but he couldn’t find one.  If he jumped down now he would be taken out and he could not move from the ledge because of the drones and the Monks trying to reach him.  He prepared to fight his way through praying help from the twelve Royal Houses would arrive soon.

His prayers were to be answered swiftly after taking out another drone and two Monks.  The ground began to vibrate.  A smooth metallic triangular shaped craft moved in to position not far away and hovered overhead firing lasers at the Monks, clearing a path for him to jump down on to the headland.  He took a flying leap and landed cleanly on his feet amidst the Monks scattering everywhere to avoid the lasers.  He started to run towards the edge of the cliff but was forced to skid to a stop when Langdon stood in his way.

“I can’t let you take her, Jazon.  She is an enemy of the Order.  We are in control now and you will all be purged.”

Jazon narrowed his black eyes at the boy and prepared to engage.  It was almost too late for him to see another Monk come from behind with his raised sword to cut him in two.  Whirling around, he had no doubts in his mind this was the end of his life.  He did not have enough time to employ any of his gifts to save him and the Princess.  This is what his life had amounted to and he had failed his future Queen, bride and Empress.  He would die feeling incomplete.

Thankfully, he was wrong. Just as the blade came close to touching him, a sword swept across him to block the Monk’s clashing noisily.  Jazon looked to his side to see Radyn, his friend and Prince of the Royal House of Clariseul come to his aid.  He nodded and tackled the Monk swiftly bringing him to his timely death with the firm thrust of his sword to the man’s chest.  More of the Princes materialised from the craft around him to immediately engage in the fighting as Jazon wounded Langdon once again, sending him to his knees and face down on the ground.  He went to end his life but Raydn shook his head.

“Leave him to me.  There is no time to waste. Go, take the Princess.  We will follow you,” he shouted moving behind him again as the others surrounded Jazon and cleared a path towards the edge of the cliff.  With the Princes holding off the Monks, Jazon fixed his sword back against his side under his coat and holding the tiny Princess, ran towards the praecipe of the cliff in a blur of speed.  He jumped over the edge and dived towards the water.  Holding out his hand he concentrated on the opening the Vortex that led to the third dimension.  Blue light shimmered beneath him and rose to engulf him opening in to a whirlpool just before he hit the water.  The vortex widened in to a tunnel and drew him along it at speed.  It wasn’t long before he found himself joined by the Princes, one by one along with two Royal army generals.  He glanced back watching the portal close behind them sealing them in, keeping them safe from the Monks who may have dared to follow them.

The tunnel of light wove from side to side as it snaked through the Universe.  At the end a transparent pyramid formed containing a large eye in the middle.  The vortex disappeared and suddenly they were being pushed through the pupil of the eye in to another shorter stream of white light.  Then they were falling hard and fast through blue sky and fluffy white clouds down to the land below.  Jazon flexed the muscles in his shoulders and long black wings sprouted out to the sides.  The others followed suit.  Flapping them steadily, they slowed their descent and lowered themselves to the ground not far from a lake.  They had made it.  The Princess was now safe on the planet and time her father had originated from, Earth.  It was time to hide her and plan for the time when they would return to Pallavia and retake the coalition in her name.