THE CUP OF DEATH


The time is thousands of years in the future, after a global atomic war and resulting geographic cataclysm have changed the face of the earth. Dragons and other once-extinct animals are again roaming the mountains and forests. The population has returned to ancient, visceral beliefs. Magic once again is freely used as a preference to the technology that brought about the war that destroyed the world.

After the war, the Evil Alliance, whose members wish to revert to technology, imperiled the peace attained by the Magi Council. The revolt was overcome, and the Evil Alliance withdrew to a separate part of the earth. Since then, the Magi Council instituted Magi Guilds to attract young men and women who showed certain aptitudes for apprenticeship to a Guild. At age eighteen all youths are brought to an Initiator’s Tower of the Magi to be tested and trained.

On his eighteenth birthday, his father presents Frazier to the Initiators. He is accepted as an apprentice and assigned a mentor. Little does he know what is in store for him!

Frazier’s aptitudes immediately become apparent, and he is promoted through the apprentice levels much more quickly than usual. He meets his bond-mate, who is a Dragon, and shows many unusual talents during his short apprenticeship. He is also given several assignments during this time, all of which he completes perfectly. His awards and certifications begin to grow.

Following his Apprenticeship graduation, Frazier’s first mission as a Journeyman Necromancer is to investigate a mysterious affliction affecting Giant Scarabs; he discovers dark magic crystals cause the affliction. The solution earns Frazier and Jasmine the lifelong gratitude of the Giant Scarab Hive. Events turn deadly as the Evil Alliance once again attempts to break the peace and disrupt the economy by launching attacks against a village and a seaport. With the help of his bond-mate, he quickly ends this threat from the Evil Alliance. They also discover a secret society, the Arcane Brotherhood, whose members are apparently being used by the Evil Alliance to further foment revolt against the Magi Council’s peace.

Frazier has raced through his apprenticeship to become a Journeyman Necromancer. He has settled several problems which, left unresolved, could have led to a breakdown of the carefully wrought peace. What is in the future for this young Necromancer? Look for his further adventures, as he relates them to his Dragon Whisperer, and in later books of The Chronicles of Dragons of the Magi.