The Awakening: Chronicles of the Dragons of the Magi

This book is dedicated to Marcia Cooper, who is my companion, best friend, and my life partner.

In addition, my two canine companions, Pumpkin and Shiloh, who are always near for an ear scratch, a tummy rub, and whose soulful eyes tell me so much.

Also, in Memory of Bear, a canine companion of so many years, she taught me so much. Now I have a Bear-sized hole in my heart.

Acknowledgements

Catharine Szlembarski:

I want to express my profound thanks for her tireless help! Her assistance, support, encouragement; and proficiency in English grammar, punctuation, and editing skills, for this story made it what it is. Without her skills, this book would never have been published.

Introduction

A global war and the following geographic cataclysms have killed millions of people. It appears that these extinction level events will wipe out all life on the planet Earth.

One great scientist's foresight may prevent humanity from going extinct like the dinosaurs. His invention of suspended animation stasis chambers are the last hope of humankind.

Ten thousand years pass, then the last great scientist awakes to find a new world.

Dragons suddenly appear, wielding powerful magic. Is humanity doomed to extinction after all? Find the answer to this question in this spellbinding prequel story of The Chronicles of the Dragons of the Magi series.

One

Deep underground in Shelter City One, the master computer awoke, as it had every one hundred years for the past ten millennia, to check the atmospheric conditions. This day was different. Various sensors signalled clean air, pure water, temperatures within normal ranges; so several functions were started at the same time. The Master Computer began to fully power-up; lights, dimmed for ten thousand years, began to glow; a rocket streaked skyward to place satellites into orbit; and the stasis capsule of the last great scientist, Robert Manning, began its wake-up procedure.

When the capsule door hissed and opened, Robert stepped out and looked around, wondering what had gone wrong. He sat down at the computer console and reviewed the many screens until he came to the one that displayed the date.

“Impossible,” he thought, “it couldn't be that ten thousand years have elapsed since I entered the stasis capsule!” It seemed to him that just a moment had passed.

As he watched, one screen told him the rocket launch had been successful and the satellite deployment had been completed.

Video feeds were coming online from each satellite. He could not believe his eyes. Where there were once large continents only islands and oceans remained. He groaned and looked at the screen that displayed the status of the other nine shelter cities.

Each of the other shelter cities appeared to be functioning and intact, but he noticed that several were now below the surface of great oceans.

His hand moved to the computer keyboard but stopped in mid-motion. “No,” he thought, “I can't wake any of the other Shelter City operators until I make sure it is safe.”

He scanned the screen that showed atmospheric conditions and breathed a sigh of relief. The air was clean and contained no harmful radiation or deadly material.

Leaning back in his chair, he again looked at what was now his world, displayed from the satellite video feeds. Sensors showed no human life anywhere on the surface of the planet. Millions of people had died in the great final war of humanity and the obvious global disasters that followed. Those in the stasis chambers in each of the shelter cities were all that remained of humankind.

He groaned and, closing his eyes, began to weep. “They really did it,” he thought, “those egotistical politicking idiots destroyed everything.”

Suddenly alarms began to go off and the sensors showed something approaching the Shelter City. The computer snapped on the outside cameras. From the various displays, he could see tiny dots coming towards the city, not on the ground but in the air.

As he continued to watch, the dots grew larger and he could not believe what he was seeing. Five large flying Dragons were approaching the Shelter City. They circled and landed near the airlock door.

As he continued to watch, the Dragons appeared to be looking into the camera. He knew that it could not be detected from outside. Then, in the blink of an eye, the Dragons transformed into human form. They appeared to be three men and two women each in a different colored robe; all had golden hair.

Suddenly the man in the gold colored robe waved, and he heard a voice in his mind. “Come out, Robert Manning, we mean you no harm. We urgently need to talk to you,” it said.