Remembering the old days

I did a fair amount of
digital art for this series.

I recently finished reading the Kajt Chronicles, a quartet I wrote during Junior High and a sequel series to the Silver Dragon Legacy.

While the writing was terrible, there is still a lot of potential in the plot, characters, and races, and looking back at the Kajt Chronicles helps me love my younger self more.  What I mean by that is I love the passion and drive my younger self had to write these books.  They are amateur and unpolished.  They stole some ideas from other stories.  Some of my characters are Sues.  But the books were full of my soul.

I also realized how dark and sad the series is.  I remember having so much fun writing it that I guess I forgot how sad the story really was.

For those not familiar with my older works, I'll break it down for you :)


The Kajt Chronicles was a quartet about the humanoid race I introduced in its predecessor series, called the Kajt.  It starts about three hundred years after the end of the first series.  The Kajt live in a medieval age, and are ruled over by a small but powerful matriarchal royal family, who are known for their strength and incredible magic.

A Kalajj wearing armor for a water-based
sport.

Well, the Kajt are going apostate, apparently.  They're supposed to be following the draconic goddess Xenithar, but because many have gone astray, she is allowing a race called Werecats to develop in the land of Andaruus.  The Werecats are changed Kajt, genetically corrupt creatures whose original purpose was to heal lame elves or anthropomorphic cats called Kalajj.  These Werecats are intent on gathering as many Kajt as possible to wipe out the Upper and Lower Kingdoms and establish themselves supreme.  Xenithar wants the royal family to help turn their people back around to Her worship and the worship of her godly father Jared.

So, our mission of saving the Kajt is left mainly up to Sophronia Angel-Dust, a princess and war leader.  The best way to describe her is fierce.  When it comes to dealing with enemies and leading her followers, she makes Sabra the Incarnate look fairly mild.  Accompanying her are her mother, Arora, her sister Risika, and her love interest and eventual husband, Edor.  They become involved in a war to destroy the Werecats.  I failed to describe more of why the Kajt are going apostate, but they eventually turn around as the war progresses to its climax.

Rachel mulling over her place in
the Kajt Chronicles.

Many main characters die.  In fact, the whole royal family except for Risika end up dying, including Sophronia and Edor's son, Zeknere. (Who comes back later Dues ex Machina.)  The overall feeling of the series came across as hopeless and dreary up until the last third or so of the last book.

You see, Sophronia was given what's called the Breath of the Silver Dragon from an angel and her ancestor, Nachaki Gryphonrider.  This Breath, when breathed in, can cure diseases and poison, and make a person immune to such.  On her deathbed, Sophronia gives the Breath to her infant son Zeknere, and he later unwittingly gives it to the spawn of the series' main villain and instigator of ruckus, Dragonbane.  This spawn is an elf called Rachel, and while she is antagonistic towards the good guys at first, she turns to Zeknere's side.  He dies to save her soul from Dragonbane, and she learns how to redistribute the power of the Breath to the whole Kajt nation, thus curing Werecats and making people immune to Werecat disease.

Xenithar, the Silver Dragon.

There's a lot of cool ideas in this series I would like to reuse, especially since the Kajt Chronicles is no longer in print.  And I had so much fun describing Dragons and the other draconic race that appears, called Draques.  I really enjoyed how alien I managed to make the world of Andaruus feel while keeping it a fantasy.  When I read about the ancient Dragons as an adult, they come across to me as very ethereal, and not typical fantasy fare.  The Draques were similar in writing, but not quite the same.

I continue to revise Incarnate Dream.  The plot of the book is fairly easy to follow, but I hope I keep readers surprised with the twists and turns the characters end up taking in their quest.  I am about 3/4 of the way through the 2nd revision, and once finished, I will work on a final revision before prepping the manuscript for publication.

I also started a blog that discusses some controversial subjects.  If you want to read some of my spiritual insight mixed with common sense and political incorrectness, it's the blog for you.  However, you won't find book or art updates there; that will be on Xenithar's Lair :)