The Stone Caster

By Derrick Sims

This is the story of Da'Nik, a mage of dark skin who was banished for healing and having a relationship with a human female. Once banished and hunted, they had to separate for nearly a decade, Da'Nik then stumbles upon a human city and dwells outside of its walls. One day, Da'Nik meets a young boy named Kaiden and defends him from some harsh bullies, only to find out later on that the boy is the offspring of his forbidden relationship. Da'Nik then reunites with the boy and his mother to find a new life as a family, then things go wrong. They are ambushed by a new enemy, and the mother is injured and left behind, as the draining antimagic arrow used is impossible for Da'Nik to remove.

Follow Da'Nik and Kaiden through a quest of many lands and many characters as they search for a new life and what new destinies might await. Defeating an unknown enemy, finding the mother, and mastering their own abilities are just a few trials that await these two on their adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891121201

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Chapter 1: Strange New World

Chapter 2: A Long-Lost Love

Chapter 3: Survival

Chapter 4: Destiny Foretold

Chapter 5: Unexpected Encounter

Chapter 6: Rhaktik, the Mage Commander

Chapter 7: The Awakening of Power

Chapter 8: Caster of Wildlife

Chapter 9: The First of Many Destinies

About the Author

cover.jpg

The Stone Caster

Derrick Sims

ISBN 979-8-89112-119-5 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89112-121-8 (Hardcover)

ISBN 979-8-89112-120-1 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Derrick Sims

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Chapter 1

Strange New World

Banished, I've been cast out by my people for using methods some would consider unholy. With only my black-and-gray standard issue mage's robes I wear as a memory, I attempt to lead a new life away from my former kingdom. We all pray to deities that we hold dear; however, I base my actions upon morality, and therefore I make myself an enemy of all those who are not pure of heart. I am not perfect however. I have sinned in order to understand it. I've fallen victim to ignorance and mistakes as have we all at some point in our lives. Perhaps it would help if I explained myself a bit. I am a magic caster from a vast land. The country of Sirin, a beautiful, massive area filled with vast rivers, tall mountains, powerful creatures, and hidden cities of mages. We do not make our presence known; it is against our code. We do not practice magic with witnesses present. In fact, we generally tend to only use magic to heal these days. However, we are selfish, using healing only for ourselves even if someone suffers beside us. I was banished for healing a young lady, human, with no magic. Her name was Eliseia; she was my love for a time. We shared a relationship and many fond memories together throughout several years. I have not seen her since the early years of my banishment. I was able to assist her in her escape, but we had to part ways. I can only hope she made it back to her own land. Our love was true, and I wish the best for her in life and do hope to see her once more if it is meant to be.

From what we've discovered, there are many countries, lands filled with different races, breeds, abilities, all unknown to us because we keep divided. I, myself, am of a people of dark skin; however, there are many colors among our kingdoms of mages. Mage's laws dictate that we must dwell only in our own kingdoms and never to interact with any who do not share magical bloodlines. There are also different worlds; however, we are not to speak much of that. That information is kept sacred by the elder sages. I'm afraid, if I attempted to retrieve that information, their guards would make quick work of me. But that is for another time. Back to my current situation, I crossed the swamplands out of Sirin. I do not know what land this is, but it seems to be mostly humans. I can blend in, find a home, even my black mage's robes look fairly similar to the clothing of some of these humans. For now, this is the best I can hope for: normalcy. You may be wanting more information on my story and my quest—I mean, why stop at just these vague details? Well, I can continue. My past is one of war, serving as a mindless being of destruction. I fought alongside mages to defend our kind, going to many different countries to seek alliances. We are mostly peaceful people, but we took some precautions to ensure our survival. We have many powerful allies of many different races, often offering our mined stones as peace offerings as they are very valuable to all countries in general.

Our enemy, you may ask, is from the High Crystal Kingdom, an interesting lot of brutes called the regulators, tasked with a simple task really, to equalize the world, equipped with antimagic armor and weapons usually. However, their armories were destroyed, and one of their most powerful leaders was defeated not so long ago by an infamous female mage from my own kingdom. The war has since subsided for some months. They find races with unique abilities and eradicate their existence—charming folk. Luckily, with the help of illusionist magic from our elder mages, nobody has been able to detect that our kingdoms consist of magical beings for many years. They know magic casters exist, but they do not know where we reside or the fact that we have many kingdoms not so far from their own. I used battle magic taught by an elder at our military camp in the Obsidian Kingdom, Rhaktik, a mage so powerful his strength can only be contained by our laws and beliefs. Should he ever have free reign to battle at will, perhaps whoever encounters him would not survive. There are five kingdoms in my land, named after the stones of our ancestors. These kingdoms are where I've obtained stones of unique power over the years. Each kingdom mines these stones but not for magic casting, for more profitable matters, such as jewelry and crafts. Opal Kingdom has cheerful people, many festivities, and events go on in these lands, as well as much marketing. Alexandrite Kingdom, the kingdom