Introducing an exclusive preview of the cover art work for the EYE OF RA novel!
Official pre-order date is June 3rd, while the official release date is July 1st, 2016.
In celebration of the 3rd novel within the EVO Universe, there will be four versions of the cover available!
The first two versions are the original novel:
And here are the alternate demigod versions:
And here is the anticipated preview of one the the chapters from the EYE of RA:
For the next forty-five minutes, Laurence went to work creating havoc in Rwanda.
Begrudgingly following the protocols and parameters set by his familiar, he began hunting down Hutu hunting parties and decimating them one by one.
The protocols set were to ensure that no one could clearly identify Laurence during his brutal campaign to single-handedly end the madness in Rwanda.
The parameters set were that Laurence was only allowed to attack nonmilitary hunting parties containing a maximum of fifty humans. His attacks could only last a maximum of eight minutes and could only be within a thirty kilometer range of one another. Also, although the familiar had confirmed that it could jam or knock out every electrical device from a fifty-mile radius to a global scale, he could not be in the vicinity of any media coverage, unless Laurence was going to physically eliminate any war journalists before they could file their reports.
Violating protocol meant that the familiar would override and take over the armor again, remove him from the area, and if necessary return him back to the ship.
He didn't appreciate being put on a leash, especially by something that was supposed to obey him, but he neither had the time nor the desire to argue or test the familiar's limits. He needed both its power and that of the armor to put an end to the senseless violence.
By making use of portal jumping and the armor's ability to refract light that made him virtually invisible among the foliage, Laurence had the upper hand when it came to mounting bone crushing ambushes. Once the initial shock of seeing him disappeared, many ran for their lives. Those that were brave enough to stand and fight felt the brunt of his god-like wrath. He was extremely brutal to those with innocent blood on their hands.
He was on his eighth ambush, wrapping up a twenty-five man hunting party in less than six minutes as he booted a machete wielding Hutu man in the chest. His body violently slammed into the trunk of a nearby tree with the velocity and impact of car going fifty miles per hour before smacking face first into the dirt, never to rise. Saturated with frustration and anger, Laurence didn’t give him a second thought as a faint muffle signified that he was barely alive.
His frustration came from knowing that he had the power to stop the horrors happening around him by acting on a larger scale, but that he was unable to do so due to the heel his familiar kept on him.
“This is some bullshit!” he barked.
“Protocol cannot be broken,” emitted the familiar into his helm again, “regardless of your dissatisfaction with the campaign that you have chosen to wage.”
“And I say your damn protocol is bullshit!” He spat back. “People are dying all around us, and I'm being held back because you're still taking orders from a damn dead man!”
“These protocols were put into place to ensure not only your safety but the safety of the human race,” returned the familiar, “I simply created real-time parameters that coincide with this era to ensure that protocol is not …”
“Hold up,” he cut it off. “That’s about the second or third time I’ve heard you talk about the ‘overall safety of the human race.’ What do we need safety from?”
Before the familiar could answer him, its eyes emitted a bright glow as a powerful gust of wind sent dirt flying while causing the vegetation around him to sway.
“Detecting inter-dimensional portal,” notified his familiar.
“Say what?” asked Laurence. “Detecting? You mean this ain't you?”
“No,” it answered. “It is not me.”
The crackling of electricity expanded, licking and scorching the ground as light appeared out of thin air. It grew larger, opening to the size of a large oval doorway.
Out of the portal came a being that caused the ground to quake with his first step.
The first thing Laurence noticed was that he was massive, easily dwarfing his own enhanced six foot eight frame in both size and muscle. His skin had a reddish brown hue. The upper parts of his face were covered with a light blue hood instead of a helm. His chest plate and shoulder pads were slightly smaller than Laurence's, exposing the majority of his chest. Its gold and blue color scheme matched his hood. The head of a man with two jewels for eyes and expanded wings on each side of its face was the theme of his armor.
His bracers were the same size as Laurence’s but thicker. Two scorpion sculptures were attached to each bracer; they were made of silver Alder and blue Ember that emitted a blue glow.
The skirt belt was almost similar to Laurence's except the metallic strap was solid silver Alder similar to the rest of the armor. The one-piece skirt part was a solid blue color with silver Alder lining. On the front of the belt was a sculpted emblem of a silver Alder scorpion holding eight silver Alder plates with blue Ember fashioned into rectangles and embedded into each of the plates. The bottom plate had an arrow form pointing downward with a large blue Ember arrow shape implanted into it. Like the scorpions, they emitted a blue hue that glowed under the hot Rwanda sun.
The greaves were forged similar to the rest of the armor, except the scorpion emblems on the front were made of a pure silver Alder.
Removing his hood and revealing two extra-large slanted grey eyes, was not what made Laurence uncomfortable. It was the unadulterated hatred and fury behind those eyes that made Laurence take a step back.
It was all directed at him.
The luminous blue war paint on his dark bronze skin did not help either.
“Who dat?” Swallowed an unnerved Laurence.
“That is Anubis,” confirmed the familiar.
“Anubis?” he turned to it, “the ‘god of the underworld' Anubis”?
“The designated “Eye of Set” of house of Set,” reiterated the familiar, “the first son of Set the third.”
Without a word, the thick scorpion sculptures on his bracers became animated and detached themselves. They crawled down his forearms into the palms of his hands. Once there they began to transform, as long curved blades extended from each of their mouths, while their thick tails shortened and stiffened to become grips. They resembled ancient Egyptian sickle-swords known as khopeshes. Both the pommels were the scorpions’ stingers, and the edges of the blades burned brightly with unbridled Awakening energy.
As Anubis gripped his fully transformed weapons, liquid gold poured from parts of his armor coating him as Laurence’s Menos did him, except instead of stopping at his neck, it began to cover his entire head.
“Why does he look like he came to start some shit?” Laurence stammered, “And what’s up with his Menos?”
“Clearly his armor is an upgraded version of your armor,” answered the familiar.
“How upgraded?” he swallowed.
As Anubis’ Menos enclosed his face, it shaped and hardened itself into a visage of a creature similar to a jackal. The eyes of the helm blazed with the same untamed Awakening energies that poured from the blades of his khopeshes.
“Twelve thousand years upgraded,” it confirmed.
“He doesn't need to be up close to hit me with those things,” Laurence took another step back. “Does he?”
“No he does not.” It answered.
Without a shred of wavering, Anubis began to twirl his blades with swordsmanship skills Laurence had seen in countless kung fu movies. He was transfixed with awe of how someone so large and powerful could also be so fast and graceful.
“Prepare to evade now,” commanded the familiar.
“What?” A terrified Laurence requested.
In one single fluid motion the Anunnaki warrior executed a wide sword swing, which sent a powerful flash of blue cosmic energy from his right handed blade slicing through the air and solid ground right at Laurence.
He awkwardly dived for cover with nanoseconds to spare as the energy attack sliced through the thick foliage he stood behind before dissipating. His eyes nearly popped from his skull as he turned to see the fatal damage one energy-powered swing could do.
“W-w-what do I do?” Laurence stammered.
“Option one is to retaliate,” it suggested. “However …”
“Retaliate!” Laurence screamed. “Retaliate!”
“Extend me, and aim,” instructed the familiar.
A quaking Laurence aimed the staff again using both hands this time. The parts of the staff made of Ember began to glow shaking the Earth as the familiar opened its mouth releasing near-deafening volleys of primordial projectiles back at Anubis.
The blades of the Egyptian god's khopeshes glowed brighter as he skillfully twirled and swung them, deflecting the destructive blasts. Everything rattled all around them as Laurence's energy attacks dissipated against Anubis's effective energy charged defense.
“This son of a bitch can block energy attacks?”
“Anubis' familiars possess the same abilities and properties as my model,” answered Laurence’s familiar. “He has honed his combat capabilities since childhood.”
“Familiar …” Laurence trembled.
“Yes?”
Laurence turned on his heel and sprinted for his life through the forest of Rwanda.
“I take it you have chosen option two,” the familiar confirmed.
“Yes!” he screamed. “Hell to the yes!”
Laurence prayed his armor-boosted superhuman speed would get some distance between him and the alien warrior hell-bent on killing him. The hairs on his body stood on end as the forest erupted in flame, blazing with projectile attacks Anubis unleashed.
“Dis dude crazy!” Laurence frantically panted. “He crazy, yo!”
“I believe his mental faculties are intact,” the familiar informed him.
“Figure of friggin speech!”
With a one track mind to avoid being murdered, Laurence bolted through a Hutu hunting party of twenty men. The men scattered for cover, but before they could comprehend who or what had charged right through them, they were scorched from existence by the destructive output of Awakening energy unleashed by Anubis’ projectile attacks.
They came across an abandoned shack. Laurence slid to a halt and quickly dived behind it to collect himself.
“What the hell is his problem?” he asked the familiar, trembling. “Why is he trying to kill me?”
“As I said, I am unable to read minds, so I cannot tell you what his intentions are.”
“So why don’t you start with how the hell he found me?” Laurence demanded.
“Armor synchronization automatically sends a signal back to the home-world that someone within the Ra’s bloodline has activated the armor and is currently using it,” said the familiar.
“This is about the goddamn armor?” Laurence was frantic. “Tell him I’ll gladly give it back to him if he wants! He can take you and it, drop my naked black ass back in Brooklyn for all I care, and go!”
“That is impossible.”
“Why not?” He yelled.
“Armor synchronization is permanent,” answered the familiar. “Once the bond has been completed, no one else can wear the armor until the current wearer’s lifespan has ended. Also, my primary order is to obey and serve the Earth-born descendant of Amun-Ra without fail until their life is extinguished, which is currently you.”
“Only if I'm dead, that’s the only way he can take you and the armor? If I am dead?” a stunned Laurence braced himself on the wall of the shack. “And he knows this?”
“Correct,” answered the familiar. “All Anunnaki know this.”
“Why the hell didn't you tell me?” He screamed.
“You did not ask.”
Before Laurence could curse the familiar out, the shack they hid behind was blown to splinters around them. This projectile attack from Anubis’ khopeshes was unleashed much faster than the others. Not even Laurence’s familiar could warn him in time.
The blast sent Laurence flying through the air at fatal speeds, smashing through several small and midsized trees. His armor was the only thing protecting him from the reaper’s embrace. Laurence awkwardly smacked into the ground, rolling several times and coming to a painful halt.
Pain was nothing new to Laurence; he was a former member of the gridiron gang. As a football player, it was an occupational hazard every time he suited up. There were days, almost weeks, when he weathered through the pain of his once-ruined knee before he could take no more and shot up.
A fractional hit from raw Awakening energy at near point-blank range dwarfed anything he had felt … ever. Laurence felt it on a molecular level …if that was even possible.
He was sure he was deaf. White noise violated his eardrums, and his bones refused to stop rattling. Through blurry vision he could see his familiar, now in its serpent mode, slither over to him after he released it in mid fling. He groaned as he dug his fingers into the soft dirt attempting to get up, but slumped back down onto his stomach. Laurence was sure the familiar was talking to him through his helm, but his ears would not allow any more noise in. The vibrations were messing with his equilibrium.
Laurence watched the familiar preparing to defend him. Its serpent form increased to five times its original size as it laid down a rapid vicious salvo of return fire in the direction of the attack that had sent Laurence flying.
He mumbled an ordered for his faceplate to rise so he could spit out the blood swishing in his mouth. Laurence’s returning vision could see Anubis wading through the building toppling cover fire his familiar unleashed to defend him. Anubis deflected it easily.
Time in that moment stood still. Laurence saw in Anubis everything that he felt he was not: powerful, disciplined, fearsome, fearless, and determined, most notably at the task of attempting to kill Laurence. A tiny part of him almost found it admirable.
“Laurence Danjuma!”
His hearing had returned. Laurence finally heard his familiar’s voice booming inside his helm.
“I cannot hold him back for long. We must mount a proper retreat to regroup. I am requesting authorization to take control of the armor in order to ensure escape,” the familiar said.
He fought with his battered body forcing it to crawl to its side.
“Authorized!” he groaned. “Authorized!”
Without hesitation, his familiar collapsed into a smaller form, slithered onto his back converting into scepter mode. His armor’s housing locked the scepter into place once again. Taking control, the familiar brought down the faceplate to his helm.
Laurence's body was no longer his own. The familiar, now in control of the armor, got him to his feet, and launched him toward the stratosphere before Anubis could unleash another volley. Laurence could hear the beginnings of Anubis’s howl of frustration and the ignition of his own form of propulsion. Anubis was taking flight to continue the hunt.
His familiar straightened out his body in the armor, increasing speed and greatly lengthening the gap between them and Anubis.
“Initiating Celestial mode,” informed the familiar.
Before Laurence could ask what it had planned, he felt the back plates to his armor open up and move about while his Menos covered his hands, creating gauntlets. A large Alder and Ember sundial disc formed on his back and lit up with Awakening power along with the other Ember on his armor as they went hypersonic, diving into a large dimensional portal that opened up in front of them.
No sooner had they dived through it, the familiar opened up another portal inside of it, and they dived through that one, too. Portal after portal, they rode the dimensional stream to the unknown at unimaginable speeds. Laurence was disoriented and on the verge of passing out as his familiar rocketed them to a destination only it knew.
˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜
The rays of a blinding sun woke Laurence up. They dived out of their final portal and were rocketing over a massive body of water.
“Jesus Christ!” he screamed.
We hope this preview has got you chomping at the bit to pick up the EYE OF RA!
Remember, pre-orders available on June 3rd, and the official sale on July 1st, 2016!
Paperback versions available on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com
EBooks available on Amazon.com
Get ready for the adventure that is not only out of this world, but on a god-like level!
Get ready for the EYE OF RA!