Rise of Gods (The Paternus Trilogy, #1)

by Dyrk Ashton

Brambles close in and the smothering fog of dementia billows, once again pervading every corner of his mind.

Most of the Firstborn are now dead and forgotten. Even the knowledge of those still living endures only in myths and hushed fables told to frighten troublesome parvulus children. For the most part, today’s humans not only don’t realize Firstborn exist, they don’t believe they ever have. Except for a precious few, the most primitive and faithful among them, they’ve completely forsaken the gods and monsters of their forefathers. Ao grins as much as the structure of his gharial mouth will allow. That’s all about to change.

Bödvar Bjarki, The Bear, is over ten feet tall, built like a man who’s built like a bear, with arms longer and legs shorter than a natural man’s would be.

Peter squeezes his eyes shut, expressing his own welling tears. He’s fighting, fighting hard, striking at the brambles in his mind, heaving on the barbed wire, flailing at the clinging fog.

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the initiation of a new order of things.”

Anyone can plan, but a good strategist thrives under conditions of uncertainty, views setbacks not as failures but fresh opportunities to reexamine probabilities, reevaluate possibilities, adapt to emergent contingencies and exploit them to his advantage. Remain flexible in all things. Keep the bigger picture in mind. And expect the unexpected.