Water & Fire
The Dragon Pillars Book 1
by Sanzaki Kojika
Genre: Epic Fantasy
There is a legend that everyone knows- the legend of the Dragon Pillars. Every several hundred years, darkness befalls the land. The Dragons awaken and choose their Pillars, humans strong enough to withstand their powers, and together they drive back the darkness.
In the towering cathedral of Vivdaugas, students flock to study the archives built upon the legend and train to reach the glory of its heroes. Garred Conway is preparing for his test to become a true Defender when a storm threatens to destroy the citadel, and the land around it. Trapped in the catacombs, desperate to save those he cares for, he finds help from the most surprising place- the Water Dragon Aysu. Now, as Aysu's new pillar, he finds himself with more responsibility thrust on him than he could have ever imagined.
Earth & Wind
The Dragon Pillars Book 2
The Pillar of Fire Shula is left reeling with loss and a new heavy burden of responsibility. The Water Pillar Garred leads a small party into the dangerous Whispering Forest to seek out weapons that were blessed by the Light Dragon. Disaster is narrowly avoided, but it brings a dark secret to light.Once reunited, Shula steels her resolve and the journey continues. With two Dragons awoken, their quest for the third leads them to the harsh terrain of the desert. The sand dregs up a certain Defender’s self-proclaimed pathetic past and the hard feelings associated with it. Can a Dragon really chose a Pillar from an isolated people dedicated to a life of pacifism?
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Water & Fire:
Garred
was racing down the stairs instantly. He stumbled, rolling down a few
steps before he was able to right himself. With scraped knees raw and
bleeding, he staggered to his feet and continued downward.
A thin layer of water
already coated the floor of the catacombs. He splashed through it, racing
through the darkness back towards where he left Elam. Debris floated past
him, and he shoved it aside to keep moving towards the dark hallway where the
water was rushing in from.
The level rose to his
ankles as he pushed forward. It continued to greedily rise up his leg,
slapping angrily against his calves. He sloshed forward, his boots and
pants heavy with the rising water. The current pushed against him, and he
had to balance himself against the wall to keep himself standing at one
point. He pushed back against it as hard as he could, moving as fast as
he could against a racing current.
"Sir
Elam!" Garred called out into the darkness. He had been walking for
several minutes but had yet to see any sign of the Archivist.[G1]
He heard splashing several
feet ahead. He rushed towards the noise, nearly smacking himself into the
wall as he pressed against it.
Below him, he heard
gagging. He reached down carefully and found Elam’s shoulder.
Elam shifted beneath
him. He sputtered and shoved against Garred.
“What are you doing here?
This place is about to go under!”
Garred hovered over Elam,
finding a spot just above the Archivist to press against the wall. He
knew their attempts to keep the water back were futile, but he couldn’t just
leave Elam alone.
“You’re still here!” Garred
retorted.
Elam tried to say
something, but a spray of water drowned him out. Elam gagged and coughed
against it, struggling to breathe.
The water kept
coming. It filled the hall, rising up to Garred’s knees. Elam was
halfway under water, and he shifted awkwardly beneath Garred, trying to get
himself a little further above their liquid prison. Garred inched over,
allowing Elam to stand beside him. Pressed together, they fought against
the cracking rock and prayed it would hold.
The wall shuddered and the
rest of it peeled away. They were thrown back with the current, before
getting buried beneath the bricks. Garred sputtered and shoved the stone
off himself. It felt even heavier beneath the water, but he managed to
get free and get his head above the raging surface.
He glanced around
frantically, quickly realizing that Elam was nowhere to be seen. He
steadied himself against the other side of the hall and took a deep breath.
He dove under the water, keeping his hand against the wall as much as he was
able. He squinted his eyes open beneath the water, detritus stinging his
eyes as it was flung past him.
He spotted Elam right near
the hole in the wall. He was struggling to get himself free, but there
was a small pile of bricks caught on the edge of his robe. He tugged at
it, but between the force of the water and his failing breath, he wasn’t strong
enough to budge it. The fabric was too strong to tear even against the
force.
Garred surfaced briefly to
catch a gasp of breath before diving back under the surface. He reached
out towards bricks sunken into the ground, using them as handholds to help him
move against the surging surface. The water smashed into him, and the
current threatened to carry him away. The brick he had his left hand on
suddenly shifted, and soon he was struggling against the stream head on.
He fought hard
against it, willing himself to move forward. He screwed his eyes shut and
pulled Elam's body closer together. Everything hurt, and it was all he
could do to keep grip with his right hand.[G2] [G3]
As he opened his eyes, he
thought he saw a shape in the water. It was gone as quickly as it
appeared, but suddenly he felt light. He swung his arm back in front of
him and let go of his hand-hold. He was able to swim freely, and in a
couple seconds, he was beside Elam.[G4] [G5]
He went for the rocks
first, but they were too heavy for him. He couldn’t even budge
them. He quickly turned his attention to the robe, trying to tear through
the fabric. He silently cursed the Archivist for using such fine
materials to fashion their robes out of. It was thick and sturdy; he
would need a knife to get through it easily.
Elam floundered next to
him. Garred’s attention turned to the Archivist. Elam’s face was
turning pale. He couldn’t hold his breath any longer. He let out a
gasp, and the water came seeping into his lungs.
Garred knew he had to move
fast. He grabbed Elam by the waist and pulled the Archivist down.
The robe floated up, and Garred ducked beneath it. It was difficult to
free Elam’s arms from his sleeves, but a lot of awkward maneuvering and pulling
finally saw success. He pulled Elam free from the robe, holding the
Archivist close against his own body.
He moved upward and away
from the hole, trying to escape the water. As soon as he surfaced, Elam
coughed, spitting up water. He took deep breaths, the color slowly coming
back to his face. He clung to Garred, not caring that for a moment that
he was showing weakness.
Garred let the current take
them, only moving his free arm as needed to keep the two of them above
water. It carried them quickly, and soon they were flowing past the
stairs leading up. Garred tried to swim over to it, but his body suddenly
felt heavy, and it was all he could do to keep them afloat.
The staircase came and
went, and the darkness swallowed them up. The water carried them up and
down, smacking them against the sides of the catacombs in its wild
rampage. They were knocked below the surface several times, but each time
Garred managed to get them back up above it, gasping for breath.
It only took them a few
minutes to reach the end of this section of the catacombs, blocked off by solid
steel grating and a thick wooden divider. The water slammed against it,
splintering the wood and starting to drip through.
Garred watched in horror as
they approached the grating. It might temporarily stop their movement,
but the water level was rising. The ceiling inched closer, and they would
be trapped as the water surged through the entirety of the bottom level. Their
lives would be quickly forfeit.
And not just their lives;
the entirety of Vivdaugas would be forfeit. The water would keep coming,
tearing through the foundation that held the proud towers strong. The
walls would crack and splinter; supports would tumble and the citadel would
sag. All of the people seeking sanctuary in the towers would be buried as
the building collapsed around them.
It wasn’t just the thousands of
lives at stake either. Thousands of years of history would be lost.
A powerful symbol would be lost, leaving an unstable world once again adrift
without the icon that had held it together for generations.
And Garred was powerless against
it. Even if he had been a true Defender, what could a human warrior do
against the rage of Mother Nature? There was no way to stand up against
the storm. He couldn’t even hope to protect one measly person against it,
how could he ever dream of saving so many more?
He gripped Elam tightly, wrapping
both of his arms around the Archivist. Elam glanced up at him.
There was peace in the Archivist’s eyes. No hatred or anger, no
frustration or rage, just a simple calmness that only made Garred more
uneasy. Why was Elam so quick to accept their fate? Why did he have
to accept it, too?
He was powerless on his
own. There was nothing a mere mortal could do.
A powerful voice resounded inside
his mind.
“You
are not alone.”
------
Earth
& Wind:
Aysu
sat up on her haunches, briefly resting her watery claws on Garred’s head. She
saw not with her eyes but rather her magic. The Dark energy was woven into the
land and trickled up into each tree, spreading out into its branches. The trees
were basically lifeless, the only thing keeping them moving the Darkness
lurking within them. There was no single source of the Dark energy, but it was
thickest nearest them, closest to the golden weapons of Light they finally got
their hands on.
She
settled down back onto Garred’s shoulders as he lurched forward. She let
herself drift from the fighting, instead focusing on the energy running through
the place. She felt Light at her side, resonating in every weapon that her
comrades wielded, in every weapon that was placed neatly on the horses. Light’s
magic gave her strength. She felt energized as if all of the energy she
expended to help get them here was completely restored.
Light
was no Healer; that was Keahi’s power. But while Keahi could heal physical
wounds and soothe pain, Light offered a powerful panacea- hope. When there was
hope, it cut through the Darkness, gave strength to the weak, courage to the
frightened. Without hope, battles were easily lost. But with it…she had seen
ordinary humans do extraordinary things.
And
right now, she knew that was just what she needed. She hadn’t been feeling
herself since she awoke. Her contract with Garred was not mistaken, but she had
awoken prematurely, and the two of them still had a long way to go before they
were fully in sync. Her power would grow until she was back to full strength,
and he would grow with her to be able to fully harness her might.
She
was a Dragon; she didn’t have time to feel sorry for herself. She had a
responsibility to guide her Pillar. The two of them together were meant to
protect the world. They were meant to win against the Darkness.
She
let out a loud growl and sent her own energy racing downward. She found the
water drowning in the mud and dirt of the forest, slipping in between deep,
tangled roots. This time, her power was much greater, and despite the sludge
that tainted the water, it eagerly answered her cry. The water surged towards
her, and she gathered it up, collecting it into a stream.
She
rushed back to the surface, carrying it with her. She dug her watery claws into
Garred’s shoulder, dampening the fabric of his tunic.
“Garred!”
she shouted. “Let’s barrel through!”
Garred
felt her energy and her thoughts in his mind and easily understood what she was
trying to accomplish. He brought the golden blade back towards him, dipping the
tip towards the ground. The water hummed beneath the surface.
“Everyone,
get ready to make a run for it!” he shouted. Without waiting to hear a
response, he urged the water upward. It exploded through the surface in a rain
of mud. He caught it in the air and sent it flying towards the oncoming trees.
The water crashed into the trees with such great force that the limbs snapped
and the bodies exploded apart.
The
water tore through the forest, creating a round, indented path in the ground
and clearing all manner of debris away. It splashed up on the sides and finally
dwindled down as it stretched to the edges of the forest. It sank back into the
ground, coating everything with a gentle dampness.
Senka
and Charles charged forward, forcing the horses into a gallop. They both
dropped the reins of the other horses they were guiding near Lady Vahan and
Garred as they broke through. Mud splattered up as the horses raced onto the
newly formed path. For a moment, Senka feared the horses would lose their
footing, but the mud beneath them was thin and smooth. It smushed beneath their
hooves, but after a few feet it was more solid and the horses sprinted even
faster.
Lady
Vahan and Garred snatched up the reins of the other two horses. Lady Vahan
vaulted off the ground with her lance. She expertly landed on the horses back,
her legs on either side. She ripped the lance out and urged the horse forward,
awkwardly juggling the reins, her lance, and the shield in her arms. Her hair
flew out behind her, like flames igniting the horse as it raced on. She easily
closed the distance between the other two.
Garred
groped at the horse, awkwardly pulling himself onto the startled beast. He
carefully slid one leg to the other side and straightened up. He kept one hand
on his sword and the other grabbed the reins. He yelled and the horse lurched
forward. He nearly fell off, but his free hand choked up on the reins and he
leaned closer to its neck.
Senka
and Charles led the charge out of the forest. Lady Vahan was right on their
heels. Garred brought up the rear, quickly closing the distance.
The
four raced along the path carved out by Aysu’s water, aiming for the sun
settling on the horizon just ahead. Dark streaks of shadows stretched over them
and urged them to move faster. The wild hiss and buzz of the forest rose out
about them. It whispered at them with dark words, but as the adrenaline pumped
through their veins, they focused on nothing but the dimming spot of light in
front of them.
The
trees behind them stumbled over the broken, disintegrating bodies of their
fallen comrades. The forest echoed with raspy, screeching voices trying to draw
the humans and their horses back. The blackened limbs and roots quickly filled
in the cut made by Aysu. They fell into a mob, and the pack of dark figures
raced after their escaping prisoners.
Sensing
the Darkness looming behind them, the horses took off even faster, bounding
across the ground with their feet barely breaking dirt as they touched the
ground. The screeching rose up around them in a high-pitched chorus. The noise
made the riders want to cover their ears, but they bore with it, clinging onto
the backs of the horses for their lives.
The
waves of dark bodies followed after them. The earth trembled beneath their
feet. The horses raced on and their exit moved ever closer. As limbs stretched
out, reaching towards the charging animals, Garred brought up the water still
near the surface of the ground. It felt grimy, but it came easily. He shouted
and sent a splash of it backward, tearing apart the trees and branches nearest
them.
Senka
was the first to make it out of the forest. His horse kept running, and he had
to calm the beast before they went plunging into the river. His horse skidded
along the bank with a panicked neigh. It reared its front feet into the air,
but Senka forced it down and back onto solid ground.
Charles
was right behind him. He nearly collided into Senka, but he pulled tight on the
reins and the horse stopped a few feet before the Archivist. His arms were
shaking, but he took a deep breath and forced himself to turn the horse around
to check on the others.
Lady
Vahan bounded into view, already pulling back on the reigns. The horse fought
back, but it had no chance against the experienced Defender. It finally slowed
its gallop and she led it over at a trot to the other two. As she came to a
stop, she whispered soft words to her beast and gently stroked its nose.
Garred
was the last one to break free, and he could feel the Darkness closing in
behind him. He kept racing forward, the ground streaking past him. The hum of
water filled his mind as he made it into the clearing, and all at once, he felt
a hundred times better. He barely stopped his horse in time, squishing it into
the muddy bank as Senka had done only moments ago.
Panting,
he slowly turned around to glance back at the forest. It was strangely calm now
that they were outside of it. He heard no noise and saw no rustle or movement
of any sort. He supposed it was what a normal forest should look like, but his
time spent in the forest had been anything but normal.
He
was about to turn back to the others when there was a sudden loud booming that
echoed across the landscape. The ground beneath their feet rumbled and the
horses fidgeted warily.
A
second later, the forest collapsed in a pile of blackened, dead trees.
Can you, for those who
don't know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an
author?
I write under the pen name Sanzaki Kojika. A quickie
about my pen name…my real name is Fawn, and Kojika is Japanese for that. I cam
up with the name Sanzaki originally by mixing letters from my real last name
around. In Japanese, surnames are first.
I’ve pretty much been reading from as early as I could.
My mother was big into literature and mythology, keeping an abundance of books
in our house, especially fantasy-based. I fell in love with the worlds that
were scrawled across the pages, so it just felt natural to create my own. I
wrote my first story with a friend back in fourth grade…about talking dogs in
space. Yeah, it’s about as weird as it sounds.
What is something unique/quirky about you?
I’m the
type who constantly has to be doing something, well moreso, at least two of
something. I work with sound or TV on in the background. I’ve even managed to
play videogames while drawing. I believe I developed this weird practice from
being involved in hours of dance and merit/AP classes since elementary school.
If I wanted to do something, I had to find time, and since I had none, so I
just made it by doing multiple things at the same time. The biggest side effect
to this has basically been my inability to ever turn my mind off.
Tell us something really interesting that's happened
to you!
I like
to think I’ve had a lot of adventures and my life is hardly boring, but if I
were to pick out something that happened relatively recently…my “boyfriend” at
the time took me to Japan back in August last year for two weeks. Both of us
know Japanese fairly well so we really got to explore the country and visit
places tourists don’t normally go. We even went to a comic event and bought way
too much. I won’t bore you with all the details, but the first part we spent in
Osaka, then Kyoto. We stayed one day in Hakone before spending the last week in
Tokyo. We went to a private ryoukan (Japanese-styled inn) in Hakone that spoke
no English. At one point, my boyfriend accidentally ordered a go board. The
next day, he rented some sports cars to drive down the mountains in Hakone and
afterwards proposed. It was super nerdy, but definitely our thing. He rented my
favorite car even to propose in front of. I have such great memories of that
trip overall.
What are some of your pet peeves?
Gosh, I
have quite a few. I think one of my biggest ones though actually does relate to
writing. I absolutely cannot stand when people don’t use an oxford comma. I
cannot fathom how someone would not want to add it in. It adds so much clarity.
I’ve had people try to argue with me about this and explain their views, but this
is just one silly thing I cannot budge on. Oxford comma, always. Or else.
Where were you born/grew up at?
I grew
up in Northwest Indiana, right near Chicago, IL. I really like the area because
it offers so many of the perks of Chicago without dealing with a lot of the
excess. Rent and gas are cheaper, traffic is lighter, but we still get to enjoy
some of the same conveniences. We have a trainline that goes straight into
Chicago. A lot of people in the area work in Chicago but live in what’s called “the
region” for that reason.
If you knew you'd die tomorrow, how would you spend
your last day?
I’d like
to keep it simple. Do some things I love with people I love. Get food with my
family, spend time gaming with my fiancé. Cuddle with my cat, read a good book.
Just relaxing and enjoying the time I had left. I would want to leave them all
with good memories, so they could remember me like that.
Who is your hero and why?
I have a
rather cliché answer to this. Honestly, on a fundamental level, I have a lot of
heroes, both real and fictional, that have inspired me greatly. My mother has
been one of them for a long time. She taught my sisters and I about the magic
in the world from a young age. She always took time out of her day to work with
us, to teach us, and to read to us. She cleaned and delivered newspapers to
help cover the costs of whatever activities we wanted to do or try. She drove
us all over the US without complaint for competitions, then later, anime
conventions. She is still the biggest supporter of what we do even after all
these years.
What kind of world ruler would you be?
I would
want to be the type to rule with compassion rather than an iron fist. I believe
that rulers who use fear as their instrument are destined to see their downfall.
I would want to be benevolent and willing to make sacrifices for the greater
good without condemning others in the wake. Flowery words that sound good on
paper, but I’m not sure how easy it would be. It’s impossible to make everyone
happy, after all.
What are you passionate about these days?
Writing,
of course. I spend a lot of time a week writing. I do my own works and even do
editing for other authors. I have a lot of stories I want to tell, and not
enough time to get them all out. I read a lot as well, not just for editing,
but I try to read a bit before bed every night, too. I also spend a lot of time
drawing, be it comics or just general art. I basically always keep myself busy,
but I never lose sight of the things I love to do.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
Mostly
read and draw, but I read and draw what I want to for myself. I tend to do a
lot of work, especially with illustration, for other people, or for specific
projects, so it’s always nice to kick back and just draw something for the same
of drawing. I also hop on videogames every now and then, especially games I can
play with my friends. Monster Hunter World is my current to-go to.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I had
been writing stories from a young age, but it wasn’t until high school when I
took a creative writing class that I really felt like a writer. I wasn’t in the
best place at the time, but it was a class I was interested in, and since I
already liked writing, I figured, why not? My teacher was amazing. She really
taught us to break out of the shells and restrictions society and English
classes had forced on us. To me, it felt like the first time I was really told
that it was okay to go crazy and just be yourself when writing. For our final
project, I started what eventually became my first published novel “Beyond the
Dancing Flames.” My teacher did private reviews with each of us on our project.
She thoroughly enjoyed mine and implored upon me that should I ever finish it,
she would be among the first to read it. She was the first person outside just
a few close friends to ever read my writing and definitely the first to make me
feel like “huh, guess I can write after all.”
Do you have a favorite movie?
A few,
because I am indecisive about a lot of things. I suppose more so, I like to say
“movies I can rewatch over and over.” In no particular order…Twister, Anastasia
(the animated one), Jurassic Park, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,
Avengers…well, I’ll stop with just those. I really enjoy movies that have
strong stories and strong character development. There are plenty of movies I
love that I couldn’t rewatch as easily though.
Which of your novels can you imagine made into a
movie?
I
actually think a few could work, but if I were to choose the one I’d like to
see most as a movie, it would be my Dragon Pillars series. Two of the three
books are out as of now, but it will hopefully finish in the next year or two.
It’s been one of my more popular stories, and I am in love with some of the
cast. Seeing them on the big screen would be a dream come true. A dream I’m
sure so many authors share.
Conversely,
I think my series The Archive of Sinners would work better as a series than
movies. The rest of my novels I think would do okay as movies.
Fawn Szymoniak, aka “Sanzaki Kojika” has been a resident of the fantasy world from a young age, growing up in a house full of books and mythology. Her mother introduced her to fantasy works by authors like Barbara Hambly and Terry Brooks. By the age of 8, she had already written her first novel (albeit crudely). Since then, she has taken to mostly writing fantasy, following characters through magical worlds full of wonder and danger. Her series “The Archive of Sinners” stands out as her only non-fantasy, being a paranormal mystery.
On top of her writing, she is also a freelance graphic designer. Her love of art and writing, spurred her onto comics. She has several graphic novels self-published, including her webcomic “Zos Kias,” which is over 10 years old.
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