Rise of the Ranger (The Echoes Saga, #1)

by Philip C. Quaintrell

Everywhere humans went, they twisted the world to fit around them, forcing the land to pay tribute to their superiority.

The only thing capable of challenging the power of a god was another god.

“Pain leads to anger, and anger never wins in combat. Only when pain feels like an old friend will you free yourself from the shackles that bind so many men. “If you pass this test, pain will mean nothing to you. You will be capable of anything. Nothing will stop you. But you must find a place in your mind where you can let your body go. Allow it to endure while you retreat and wait for your moment to strike.”

Duty can give you courage and a sense of honour, but it can give you cause to act without thought.

“Fear can be a powerful tool, son,” Tobin Galfrey had said. “Respect it. Listen to it. Fear will keep your wits about you while others run headlong into peril. But I tell you this…” His father had leaned down and gripped his son by the arm. “When you’re surrounded by enemies and the only option left to you is fight or die, fear becomes irrelevant - it has no use. You give it all you have and you live or give it all and you die. If that day should ever come, just make certain that you have more to give than they do.”

To the ranger, prophecies were like old history tomes: lengthy and full of shit.

“You don’t believe in prophecies?” Reyna asked, having seen his sceptical expression. “You have to believe in the gods to believe in prophecies,” Asher replied dryly.

“Well I hate to inform you, but there is no immortal man. We’re lucky if we see seventy.”

Faylen’s eyes widened with revelation. The entire elven nation had been manipulated and was going to be used as fodder. In one strike, Valanis would weaken both man and elf.

“It seems to me that this city has stood for too long as a monument to Valanis’s defeat. I think it’s time to move on. After all, a new age is upon us...” Alidyr raised his hands dramatically and unleashed his magic.

Asher threw the sword into the ground and continued to watch Elethiah fall into the earth in a great plume of smoke and dust. If Alidyr was capable of collapsing an entire city with the gem, what was Valanis capable of?

Alidyr quickly backed away, as Valanis took his first step outside of the pool in forty years. The Hand dropped to their knees and bowed their heads in awe. For the first time in over a thousand years, Alidyr saw his master’s wicked smile.