Kirjahaku

Broderick knew who he was: a peasant, a commoner, a nobody, at best a stable boy. Why couldn't everyone else see him for who he truly was? Especially her Ever since Princess Charlotte had ordered him to ride with her to the old mill, his life had been turned upside down with no one granting him the right to choose his own future. With every new situation that befell him with the princess, Broderick only felt the chains tightening about him, the cell door in the castle dungeon looming that much closer, and the hangman's noose appearing more and more a sure certainty to soon be draping about his neck.And what was all this nonsense that the princess kept repeating that she herself was no different than the animals under his care: that she was only something to be bartered for, and that none of her own dreams for herself could ever be attained? Why had she chosen him of all the people in the castle to share her deepest sentiments and hopes with, continuing to intrude into what had once been a simple life, and vexing him to no end with all of her questions?A simple life? A certain, if forgettable and humble future? Was that not what most men only hoped for? Yet, it appeared as the months and the years passed by, despite his assured unworthiness, Broderick found himself being forced into becoming someone he was not and being given responsibilities for the realm that were far beyond his humble beginnings and lesser abilities. Truly, all he had a talent for was the care of the horses and the barns.But far direr than these troubling circumstances were Princess Charlotte's own words to him: "When all is done. When you have accomplished all that I ask. Come for me. Come for me for I will be waiting. Only for you, Broderick. For no other."How could she make such claims upon him and attest to possessing feelings for him that he had no right to? Did she not understand her lofty station in life and his own total absence of such? Yet. it was not only Princess Charlotte who would deny him his true status. There were others of royal position who had other plans for Broderick too.

What if you discovered that your own past is not what you thought? In fact like no other on Earth? That you alone have no common ancestry with the human race? And that your destiny had been set out for you from choices made by others who existed eons ago? What if you were eleven year old Michael Liddle?None of these questions ever occurred to Michael to ask of himself. When he walked alone into Cantonville Junior High on the first day of school, all he wondered about was if he would make some new friends, fit in with his classmates, and do well enough at his sixth grade school subjects. But unknown to him, a web of fate and hope had been spun around him from long ago that was soon going to ensnare him. He discovers that much of what he thought he knew about himself wasn't true at all and that secrets concerning both his past and his future have been kept for millennia. And further, that the dreams he had for his new life in Cantonville were soon to be replaced by other ones.A forgotten ancient prophecy of a race of bestial giants who live in seclusion on a planet at the some other end of the galaxy has resurfaced: a prophecy concerning the Chosen and the Cast-Out and an approaching dark force that now threatens many worlds and other civilizations.Salvation of the races in the path of this ominous galactic evil rests on the unlikely shoulders of Michael and an elfin-like Tylani princess. Whether the prophecy of the Chosen and the Cast-Out applies to these two children is uncertain but what seems sure is that the convoluted and murky future vision of the giants tells of a time of great conflict and calls to the Chosen and the Cast-Out to seek out the "Gift of the Ideema."This first book of a seven volume series tells the story of how Michael first becomes aware of his true family, the abilities his birth father intended to give him, and the manner in which he meets the Tylani princess. Few know of or understand the pivotal role he and she are expected to take within a few years in this age old conflict. Yet as the sixth year of school unfolds, what Michael learns of who he really is - and each discovery he makes only results in more questions and mysteries - and what his destiny might be, he must keep secret not only from his mother but also from his new friends. His secret life only adds to the complications he is facing at school with his teachers, two girls who express budding romantic interests in him, and a bully who has Michael firmly in his sights.

Michael Liddle wants to yank the hair right out of his head It's bad enough that he and Alowyn, the Tylani princess, are included in the Ideema prophecy. Now the Procifi are naming him the "Arribahur" - "the one who opens the bridge" to their home world. All Michael and Alowyn really know is that they are expected to find the "Gift of the Ideema," a device that will save the worlds of the Tylani. It's a lot of pressure for a seventh-grader.In the last year alone, Michael has discovered that he's not human, that in fact he was born more than 20,000 years ago, a child of an alien race called the Uhala, a people who along with his birth parents were annihilated by the Elhadra. This vast and ominous galactic empire has only one purpose: to conquer, destroy and enslave all whom they meet. But perhaps most amazing of all is the ability given to Michael to portal anywhere in the galaxy It's a lot to take in.But there's more: now the Elhadra are threatening the Tylani worlds - and to Michael's growing consternation they know about him.When Michael is told that there's another Uhala on Earth, he vows to find him or her. With the help of his mentor, Mr. Gooden - and a little bit of alien technology - they start their hunt. But Michael finds himself searching for more than the Uhala: for a strange "Bastion" which will lead him to the Procifi bridge, for a way out of terrifying dangers, and for the Ideema Gift itself. And along the way, Michael encounters enough mysterious creatures - good, bad, ugly, and sometimes downright hideous - to stretch his imagination to its limits.But it's possible that the strangest creatures of all are the ones right in front of him: girls. There's Alowyn, with her hot-then-cold moodiness; there's Kate Robbins, whose wish to get closer to him is both alluring and alarming; and then there's Maddy Ellis, whose friendship raises feelings in Michael even he doesn't understand. Throw in the fact that Michael has to keep his true identity a secret from almost everyone on Earth, and you've got the recipe for one very tumultuous school year.

Michael Liddle and Alowyn face more than one set-back in their quest to find the Ideema Gift. It appears that no matter what they discover, the real truth seems to be something else entirely. They had located the Bastion, which had led them to another world where the trail of the Gift was picked up once more, but the clues uncovered there pointed them back to Earth. But where is the Gift? The means to find it fail and Michael believes the search is now hopeless. Despite these difficulties, there are more - for the princess herself eventually disappears and Michael, despite his growing powers, cannot find her. Now he is facing two desperate searches.Before all of that happens, Michael and the princess encounter several new mysteries. First with the Nomi, the tiny, fairylike creatures who live on the same planets as the princess' own people. There is a new Ideema prophecy which appears to link these small pixie-like creatures and the second Uhala together. And the prophecy adds a third name, possibly even a fourth one, to the Chosen and Cast-Out: The Lost and The Forsaken.And a new warning is received: "Beware the N'uru," an ancient Yeddura word meaning "Death." Adding to this troubling message, the Elhadra have located Earth though Michael and Mr. Gooden are unaware of that fact and them.Besides that danger, there are other difficulties just as close to home that Michael can't escape. His mother is suspecting more and more that "something" is going on with him. Scott Watson, his former best friend, is still at odds with him, suspecting Michael of more lies and wrong-doings which Michael cannot prove otherwise if he wishes to hold onto his secrets. And the high hopes that Maddy Ellis has for the coming year - she finds them all dashed, including her growing feelings for Michael. Despite his best efforts to keep her at a distance and his own well-intentioned actions, she becomes caught up with him in his "other" life.Beyond and through all of this, as this third book in the series comes to an end, Mr. Gooden discovers the truth about them all and this promises to change everything.

King Sylvian Jolivet slowly rose from his prostrated position before the icons of his faith. Despite the past hour of baring his soul before his Lord, he felt little peace. He had allowed no priest to accompany him or to act to intercede on his behalf. There were secrets, no, not of the kingdom, that he wished no clergy, no wife, no man or trusted advisor to be privy to. These were to be kept within his own heart and shared only with God.The king stood staring at the sacred emblems, willing himself to believe, to have faith, to find the inner resolve to carry on, to not lose hope.His world was changing. No, that was not true. It was reverting to what it has once been. Mankind had gained ascendancy millennia ago in this world and had ruled unopposed, but that was very much in doubt now, perhaps had always been. Those creatures believed to have been defeated and later obliterated, were now reappearing in pockets about his world and on this continent, even within his own kingdom.Was that not why he had agreed to what he had with his daughter? With Kara? Initially, the king had brushed off those words of the seeress, believing them sheer foolishness, but the advent of the trolls in the northern mountains had begun to cause to him waver. At word of the return of another ancient threat in the fastness of far distant Sk neland, he had sought out the seeress once again and had taken her counsel.Still, the king didn't understand it. His daughter, his head-strong, mannish and difficult child, Kara, was predicted to stand at the fulcrum of what was to come. And the irony of it all was that he had granted her her most fervent wish. He had agreed to her training, though he had insisted that she be kept ignorant of the reasons for his acquiescence, not that he truly comprehended what she might ultimately face.A bitter and rueful smile crossed the king's face. He had grudgingly acceded to surrendering his one daughter to a prophecy, but in no way had he agreed to sacrifice his other child: Margaux.King Jolivet moved to grasp the handle to the door into this room that seemed his only remaining sanctum. He had prayed, begged, pleaded. Still, he had no found no boon of calmness here before his Lord. Disarmingly, he discovered he was a mere man, as every other within his kingdom, holding little faith and less trust. Yet he must find the means to instil it and cause it to rise within all the men and women of his kingdom. He felt a failure, inadequate to carry out what a king and a leader must do.But foremost, in his heart and in his soul, he was a father, a father who had abandoned his two daughters to a vague prophecy and to a fate worse than that: to Darkspur, the black dragon.

"As long as she lives, may she turn uglier each day... be less fair, less desirable and that it continue until her death."Black, evil, merciless words spoken by one whom Ilena, in all of her innocence, believed loved her: a curse founded upon envy and desire but chiefly uttered in an appeal for justice seasoned with revenge. Or so did Marta convince herself.But that is only one type of curse, for there are others.Some would believe that they are born under a curse and caged as if beasts, doomed by fate to always pace about within its confines, with true freedom reserved only for all other men. So did Erick rue his destiny.Still, there is another kind whereby it arises from within oneself due to blind ambition and the lust for power and the craving for the praise of men. In the throes of his pride that one chose to abandon all moral principles and become a curse and thereby bring harm to all that was fair and good within the realm. For now, that one will remain unnamed for such a man should not be so honoured.Yet one other remains and some would judge it to be the worst of all. For among many names it could be called, the curse of self-judgement, whereupon one believes they are unworthy of any kindness, of any mercy, or of any forgiveness, and fully deserve all of any man's contempt and hatred, that title might be accredited as its chief and foremost appellation.What then can oppose these foul curses? What act of man or greater power can render them innocuous and overcome them? There is a way and that path is founded upon friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, faith and love. And that, my friend, is the great need of No One and Nobody in Nowhere.

Faith. Fate. Two words so full of potency, fraught with nuances that touch on many of humanity's hopes and fears. Yet these words are commonly employed as if they are mutually exclusive-that the realities they represent exist within continuums in opposition to each other.Forty-five hundred years ago humanity sprang outwards from the surface of Earth to reach for the stars, for new worlds to mould and then inhabit. A new beginning was enabled, one that put behind the fears that humankind would forever be doomed to reside on a world that was rapidly overheating, running out of resources and, it seemed with every passing year, becoming less conducive to life.More than four millennia ago, through the efforts of one unique woman, humanity was freed from its home world to spread out across the Milky Way, its future fundamentally set on a new course: a future full of previously unimagined and burgeoning possibilities. Hope was renewed. A fresh vigour took hold and humanity surged out to grasp a broader destiny: to become more than what they were. Or so all believed. Yet, despite the incredible impact this woman had...yet...Yet, it seems that we cannot escape what we are. That the great leap forward was no leap at all. Though the forces of gravity no longer hold us back, our natures bind us to a fate that far too often promulgates only greed, envy, selfishness, ruthlessness, fear, cruelty and hate, and the primal urge to slake the need for revenge. Has human society changed not at all? Do we remain substantially no different than our ancestors? We are free in ways they never were. Or are we? Has our greater liberty only been a chimera? Does our civilization continue to form unconsciously along lines of inequality and work to enforce that singular condition, ensuring that the spirit and hopes of humanity will forever be chained?Some among us were unwilling to accept that premise, that irreducible destiny. They sought for more, wished for it with all of their hearts and being. The question essentially became: what would it take to bring out the best in each human being? A wider, a more encompassing vision? A mass movement? How would it be led? By whom? The answer was surprising. And it came, remarkably in a similar fashion to how humanity first reached for other stars. By two exceptional teenagers.Both born on the world of Galileo, this boy and this girl could not have been more removed from each other: one born to privilege and wealth, the other to squalor and quasi-slavery. Yet each of their respective states arose from the same source, and it primarily, among other forces, both propelled them to what they ultimately achieved and yet worked to oppose them.For an evil has existed on Galileo for millennia, festering, unsated, hidden, unknown by the bulk of its population. In the midst of malignant intent, deception and betrayal, both faith and fate worked to bring these two together. It could not have happened in any other way for these two prodigies, apart, adrift and alone, until they found each other again after the most inauspicious of beginnings.They ascended and brought us with them.