One Divided

by J. Steele

Ethan has tried desperately over the past year to shed his 'brainy' label and convince his sixth grade classmates that he is not a smart-freak by doing his best at doing poorly. Scholastically he failed marvelously, but has harvested little from the fields of popularity due mostly to the blight of his eleven year old brother Charles. Charles skipped a grade to join Ethan's class and with his success none of Ethan's classmates have been able to forget Ethan's past. Ethan's priorities start to shift though, when his parents leave town and an eccentric old family friend, Professor Topal, arrives to tutor them for the summer break. Using peculiar teaching methods, the Professor awakens a dormant knowledge long hidden in the dark recesses of their minds, aiding Charles and Ethan in rediscovering a startling that they are members of the ancient order of the Chosen.

Taught by the White Circle for centuries in the time outside of time, the Chosen learned to control and harness the amazing strength of the three Gifts of the Gifts of Light, Earth, and Mind. Now, they are locked in a desperate struggle against the spreading influence of the evil Fallen One and his servants the Daragon, members of the Chosen who have fallen to the siren song of greater power.

When Ethan's lingering desire to be popular causes him to deliberately disregard the Professor's warning, his brother is forcefully torn from his side amidst smoke and flame by the Daragon and taken to the Shadowlands, the dark realm of the Fallen. With the help of the old Professor, Charrid the gatekeeper, and Calissa, who holds a cold bitterness towards Ethan, they travel to the Shadowlands where they find an unlooked for comrade in the form of the disfigured, hobbled Map. Ethan must traverse the dark mists of the Shadowlands and use his newly discovered Gifts to recover Charles before the bitter taint of the Shadowlands corrupt his soul.

157 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 18, 2014