Kysma: The Adventures of Viago and Khan

By Robert Spears

In this compelling fantasy novel, Viago returns to a world he has not visited since birth to find he is the next king of Kysma. Throughout his journey, he meets many people, but his greatest ally will come in a very unexpected form. With this companion by his side, he marches forward on his path to become king.

About the Author
Robert Spears enjoys writing, cooking, watching anime, and playing basketball. He has a big crazy family of six siblings who are all talented along with his mother and father. He dropped out of college because it wasn't for him and decided to put his talents to use. He says, "I don't consider myself special, but I do consider myself different and I enjoy it."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Company
• Release date: May 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798886048476

Book preview

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Thank you to all who supported me on this journey.

Before you continue turning the pages of this world that I have created, I want you to know a few things. I am not a conventional writer/author. I don’t follow some of the rules when it comes to writing unlike most. My philosophy is different in my life and in my writing. Writing is supposed to be fun, exciting, and something you love. Most importantly writing is supposed to express you in every unique facet of your being: Whether it’s you having multiple personalities, feelings, grammar. I believe that writers write to express and expose themselves to the world. I also believe that readers read to understand where the writer is coming from. It only gets better from here. Enjoy!

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The wind was whistling as the branches danced and the moon was at its apex. I was running for my life, sensing that I wasn’t alone, feeling something stalking me. I could hear something gaining on me, but I was too terrified to turn around. All I could hear were footsteps closing in and my heart pounding in my ears. This massive four-legged creature with red eyes landed in front of me. It stared at me, then it leaped.

That’s when I woke up, my head was dripping sweat, even my pillow was soaked. Most people would have been scared half to death from this but for me it’s just another day at the office. Weird and unusual things have been happening the last couple of years, so I’m used to odd dreams and frightening nightmares. I just wanted to know what it all meant.

Hello, didn’t mean to spook you. My name is Viago DelTaurus and I grew up in a small town called Blaire. If I had to compare my life in Blaire to some of the things, I’ve been through in the last couple of years it would be a complete contrast. I am currently a senior at Blaire Prep, it teaches from Pre-K to twelfth grade. I’ve seen everything I’ve needed to see in this town, sadly I’m not impressed anymore.The town is surrounded by a forest, and I have no idea where it ends.

Growing up here has never been easy, my family and I have always been the odd ones out. My upbringing was extremely hard because my parents were different from everyone in town including me. Their eyes were all black with white pupils and they had identical tattoos of a black wolf on their right shoulders. Kids used to tease and make fun of my parents, so we became the odd ones out in the whole town. No one would invite us to events or even speak to us in public. For a while I used to think I was adopted, simply because up until the night of my sixteenth birthday I didn’t look like them at all.

I remember the night of my sixteenth birthday like it was yesterday; it all started when I felt a stinging and burning on my right shoulder. I felt as if I was being branded. My shoulder was pulsing with its own heartbeat, throbbing. I was squirming as if I had ants in my pants. I hopped up out of breath, panting like a dog. I honestly thought it was a nightmare until I woke up with a huge tattoo identical to my parents on my right shoulder. You guessed it; my parents weren’t surprised at all at my recent development. It was like they were expecting it. Needless to say, I wasn’t adopted. I was confused, but not adopted. All that meant was that I was one step closer to fitting into my family.

A year later the night of Tuesday, May twenty sixth was the night that I took my last step towards being submerged into my weird, outcast of a family. That night I went to sleep like a normal person, with all the lights off, it was pitch black. In the middle of the night my eyes began itching. This wasn’t any normal itching, my eyes felt as if smoke was filling them. It was more irritating than anything, so I began rubbing them. After about ten minutes of intense rubbing things started looking very clear in my room. Little things, like my black backpack I had next to my dresser, not only could I see my backpack, but I could also see the zippers on it clearly. When I looked at my hands, I could even see the lines on them and began tracing them with my finger. I could see perfectly fine during the day and now I could see perfectly during the night. When I showed my parents, I got exactly what I expected from them, another we expected it look.

Here it is, almost a year later after my last incident and I still have no explanation about what’s happened to me, or why I was bullied because we were different than everyone around us. I deserve something for going through all of that. I have noticed that the closer it gets to my next birthday, more strange things have been occurring.

Viago! Mom called from downstairs.

She must be wanting me to come eat because I can smell the deliciousness of all the food from the kitchen up here. She did something different with the mac and cheese and the fried chicken, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Mom has always been a great cook and very skilled with knives. She would purposely put on those cooking shows and watch them angrily stating that it should be her on there. She says she’s the next Rachael Ray. As far as I know, it’s been her dream to have her own cooking show. I really think she should, her food is always good, or should I say delicious. Dad said her food was good one time, Mom then threw a knife next to his head. Surprisingly Dad didn’t even raise an eyebrow when it happened, but I on the other hand sat there paralyzed, since then I decided that I didn’t want to risk it.

When I made it downstairs dad was nowhere to be found, which is odd because Dad has never missed dinner, but it was perfect timing.

Mom was in the kitchen making plates. Mom is taller than me by two inches making her six feet five inches tall. She has a very strong and slender frame. You can tell just by looking at her that she isn’t the one to play with. She’s a very nice, loving woman but doesn’t take criticism very well. She has blonde hair that stops at the middle of her neck.

Mom, where’s Dad? I asked.

He’s in the woods somewhere, Mom responded.

This was great. So....um, Mom, you think I can get a dog for my birthday? I asked.

No, you certainly cannot My father said, barging through the front door.

Now my dad is six foot six inches tall. He looks like a freaking bodybuilder, his muscles were growing muscles, but I’ve never seen him lift a single weight. Dad has black, slick hair with blond tips. I always thought he dyed it, but nope, that’s just how his hair is.

There went my dream of getting a dog, crushed in a matter of seconds. Then my dad said something that I didn’t quite understand. He said with all seriousness and a straight face, You already have a dog.

Delton! Mom screamed at my father.

This was the first time my mom had ever called my dad by his name. Don’t get me wrong I knew his name, but this was the first Mom had ever said it. My dad became quiet and sat down. That was the first time for that also. I sat there puzzled, dazed and confused trying to understand what that meant because if I had a dog, I wouldn’t be wasting my time asking for one. I just brushed it off as if he said nothing. I didn’t feel like getting into that conversation with him, especially not while Mom was there. Later that night I was lying in my bed staring at the ceiling. I was thinking how cool it would be to have a dog, mainly to have someone to talk to. I had nothing better to do so I decided to go to bed early because I had school tomorrow.

It was the last week of school, technically the last three days of senior year, man May went by fast. I didn’t want to attend graduation on the twenty-sixth. Even if I went, I was just going to get my diploma in the mail in two weeks either way. There was nothing to do but wait to graduate. I really want excitement, maybe a little adventure after the school year ends but most importantly, I want to be normal. The countdown was real.

I woke up the next morning and headed to school. School was pretty much boring as usual. There was nothing for me to do but sleep in class. I had zero finals and zero friends to talk to me to pass the time. The final bell of the day rang signaling for all the kids to leave, but for some reason I stayed and wandered the halls for a bit. I then decided to take a walk outside to explore the forest. Something about nature is soothing to me, it clears my head and helps me relax. Maybe it was the chattering of the birds, or the squirrels playing tag around the Evergreen trees.

I walked down the path made out of uneven stones that led to the greenhouse that our school has. The greenhouse is huge and so beautiful, filled with all kinds of plants and flowers. I don’t really like that the green house was mostly made of glass, privacy is a big thing for me. I feel like anyone could be looking at me while I’m in here. I went to water some plants and out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadow move quickly past the front door of the greenhouse. I went to check it out but as I was walking towards the door, another shadow moved past it once more as if following the first mysterious figure. This time I could tell that the second figure was extremely big but still too fast to make out. At that moment I jumped back spooked then decided to just go home. Things had gotten a little too strange for me. When I walked through the door I instantly froze and immediately had a mini heart attack. Mom had flung her favorite stainless steel butcher knife at my head.

Where have you been? Mom asked, all panicky. We were worried about you, she asked as she ran to hold me.

It was really confusing because my mom had never acted this way before, not even when my mark appeared out of nowhere. She knows that I never come straight home, either I am in the school library or roaming the woods.

Is everything okay? Where’s Dad? I asked my mom.

Everything is fine, don’t worry. He’s out in the woods looking for you. He should be back any minute now, She responded.

She let me go and I walked up to my room thinking that was so weird even for our family. I couldn’t help but think to myself about those figures at the greenhouse. How’d they move that fast? We have nothing in our woods that moves that fast.

Later on, that night around 9:30, my family and I were sitting down for dinner. There was a stillness that crept upon the dinner table. I felt as if I were to apologize for scaring my parents like that earlier, even though I don’t know what I actually did.

Sorry for having you guys worried about me earlier, I softly said without making any eye contact with my parents.

My father said, It’s alright, son. I’m glad you’re okay. That’s all that matters to me.

I slowly lifted my head and noticed that dad had a bandage on the forearm of his right arm, running from his wrist to his elbow.

Are you okay, Dad? I asked my father.

Yeah, I’m fine. I just took a tumble down the slope in the woods and got a cut, that’s all, My dad said. I’ll be fine. I’ve been through worse, he said, giving me a grin.

Instantly, I knew he was lying about taking a tumble in the woods. My dad has great reflexes and the best balance that I know of; so, for him to be taken down by some twigs and a hill just didn’t make any sense. One time Mom dropped a stack of glass plates while dad was next to her. I thought they were going to shatter on the floor, but Dad had caught all three of them without even getting a crack in them. The most impressive part was that he did it all while drinking hot coffee and I mean he was still chugging it as he caught the plates.

After we were finished eating dinner, Mom had gotten up to get two wine glasses. She then poured red wine in both glasses. Every time she does this my parents sit at the table and reminisce about the past, so I just excuse myself from the table.

They both were great storytellers, but only when they were drinking. I pretended to go to my room, but I stopped halfway up the steps and listened to them talk.

At first it was just normal stuff like their relationship and how they met. They met each other in a place called Sha La Rose. I guess it’s a quiet, low-key place because I checked on Google and there was no such place. From the way they described it, it seems like a city full of flowers and shops. They said that there are flowers all over the city and tables that sing soft sweet melodies while you eat. Which I thought was pretty cool.

Then things got a little weird as they kept drinking. They started talking about their marks Larissa and Karon like they were real wolves. They both were introduced to them on their eighteenth birthdays. They were saying things like that they thought it was such an amazing thing to have their own shadow and their wolves were ten feet tall. I have never even seen a wolf like that around here. That’s when I knew they were too drunk. I just decided to go to my room because my parents were too far gone from reality at this point. I could probably get a puppy if I went down there and asked them in their current condition.

There’s no such thing as singing flowers or ten-foot wolves. If Mom and Dad actually had wolves like that, I and everyone else would have seen it by now. There’s no way anyone is hiding an animal that big, let alone two of them.

I had decided to not go to school the next two days, especially after scaring my parents like I did. I stayed in the house because why do anything else. The night before my graduation things got really strange. It was mid-day, and my parents were sitting at the kitchen talking about how someone was on their way here. Also, we were leaving tomorrow night before graduation. I know this because I was eavesdropping on the steps.

I know you’re listening, Viago, Dad said with a serious tone. You won’t be attending your graduation tomorrow. In fact, we are going on a trip.

Where are we going? I asked curiously.

It’s a surprise, Mom said, twiddling her thumbs. So, go pack your things. We leave at sundown tomorrow.

I turned around and ran to my room. I sat on my bed stomped. I have never left Blaire before. I’ve only ever seen squirrels, rabbits, and trees. I was really anxious and didn’t even know what to pack. Also, who was coming? Why do we have to leave in such a short time? Some things weren’t adding up, but I didn’t want to stir the pot, so I kept them in the back of my mind. When I was done packing, I laid down on my bed trying to go to sleep to make the night go by faster, but it didn’t work. There were too many questionable things that I needed to know the answer to. There was so much anxiety in the air I couldn’t see in front of me like there was a thick fog everywhere. I tossed and turned all night, feeling as if time had frozen.

When I finally managed to fall asleep, I had the same unusual dream again. The wind was whistling as the branches danced and the moon was at its apex. I was running for my life, sensing that I wasn’t alone, feeling something stalking me. I could hear something gaining on me, but I was too terrified to turn around. All I could hear were footsteps closing in and my heart pounding in my ears. This massive four-legged creature with red eyes landed in front of me. It stared at me then,