{"id":1194,"date":"2013-11-11T06:00:33","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bestfantasynovel.com\/?p=1194"},"modified":"2013-11-11T06:00:33","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T14:00:33","slug":"everville-the-city-of-worms-by-roy-huff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/2013\/11\/11\/everville-the-city-of-worms-by-roy-huff\/","title":{"rendered":"Everville: The City of Worms by Roy Huff"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

College freshman Owen Sage has just started to understand the darkness trying to overtake Everville and the earthly realm. With the help of The Keeper and the Fron army, Owen has managed to buy some time, but new problems have already emerged, new secrets need to be revealed, and the race against time to stop Them from conquering both dimensions has only just begun. The Keeper, Owen Sage, and his friends at Easton Falls University must now battle threats from within. To do it, they must reunite with familiar creatures and join forces with new ones as they navigate their journey to the truth that awaits them in Everville.<\/p>\n

The City of Worms<\/i>\u00a0is the second book in the Everville<\/i>\u00a0series. You can download it on Amazon<\/a>, where it will be FREE November 14-18!<\/p>\n

Excerpt<\/h4>\n

As he turned the first few pages of discolored notes, doodles,\u00a0and other markings that he had scribbled on the margins,\u00a0\u2018Ubaloo\u2019 was written at the top of the second page. Next to the\u00a0word were small drawings of creatures that looked like tiny\u00a0people, sketches of a humanlike race with perfect musculature,\u00a0warriors who would intimidate even the bravest of men \u2014 that\u00a0is, if they weren\u2019t a mere twelve inches tall.<\/p>\n

More notes were written below the images, foreign-looking\u00a0letters and shapes. Next to the markings were etchings of the\u00a0Fwaylan, ferocious doglike animals that resided in The Valley\u00a0of Darkness.<\/p>\n

Cleophas thumbed through the pages and skimmed the\u00a0words he had written down so long ago. The notes were full of\u00a0guesses and disconnected theories, but there was one common\u00a0thread: there was an apparent convergence in Brackenbone, the\u00a0land of the Ubaloo. It was a place the sketches depicted as one\u00a0of the eight surrounding lands of Everville and a few days journey\u00a0west of the Deep Woods, which was connected to The City\u00a0of Worms across the vast expanse.<\/p>\n

Cleophas turned the page. Stuck in the center was an old\u00a0photograph of Dala. He pulled the photo free, and as he did,\u00a0his eyes drifted sideways while he reminisced on some of the\u00a0wonderful moments they had shared together. The shock of her\u00a0passing had long ago given way to a resolute determination to\u00a0give her life meaning. Even now, his face exuded a clear focus,\u00a0undeterred by the reminder of her death or the current situation\u00a0with Dante, who had been in a coma for the last couple\u00a0of weeks. His eyes returned to the photograph before he put it\u00a0back in its previous resting place and stood up from his kneeling\u00a0position.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in the brutal desert above the land of the giants,\u00a0Oldrik, The Keeper who had betrayed Everville, paced back\u00a0and forth as he pondered his options.<\/p>\n

Elmer, one of Oldrik\u2019s three Fron followers, standing at attention\u00a0said, \u201cOldrik, what do we do now?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me think,\u201d Oldrik replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are we going to do? What are we going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said let me think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elmer plopped down on the ground in frustration, only to\u00a0snap back up a few moments later. The intense sunlight scorching\u00a0the ground made it unbearable. \u201cOuch!\u201d was the word that\u00a0escaped his lips as the rest of his body shot into the air. The\u00a0Fron winced as the searing hot dirt burned his rear end. Nickelsized,\u00a0fluid-filled blisters formed on the portions of Elmer\u2019s\u00a0thighs that weren\u2019t covered by cloth.<\/p>\n

Oldrik continued to pace a few minutes longer, ignoring\u00a0Elmer\u2019s painful lapse in judgment, and then he spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Keeper and Owen\u2019s stupidity will be Everville\u2019s undoing. We must journey to the Dark Forest and discuss the matter\u00a0with Them,\u201d Oldrik said while thrusting his long wooden\u00a0stick into the ground, searching for a hollow spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s do it! Let\u2019s do it!\u201d Elmer said as he limped along,\u00a0unable to hide his injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. Let\u2019s do it!\u201d said Calvin, the other of Oldrik\u2019s Fron\u00a0followers. With those words, Oldrik\u2019s rod found a weak spot,\u00a0and the ground engulfed them as they collapsed into the land\u00a0of the giants.<\/p>\n

Oldrik managed to find his footing, and then took notice\u00a0of the absence of the giants that were supposed to inhabit the\u00a0area. \u201cLet\u2019s get moving,\u201d he said as he picked Elmer up by his\u00a0collar and helped him to his feet. Oldrik himself, however, was\u00a0tired and slow, as were the rest of his followers.<\/p>\n

Portions of the walls were covered in patches of faintly\u00a0luminescent insects that lit up sections of the caverns. These\u00a0were followed by areas of complete darkness, which lasted\u00a0tens of seconds, and as they made their way through the underground\u00a0passageways their skin darkened and shriveled. The\u00a0brief periods of darkness made their physical changes appear\u00a0more apparent with each revelation of glowing light. The Fron\u00a0that followed Oldrik had started to lose the vibrant appearance\u00a0that their species was known for, and Oldrik himself began to\u00a0look more tired and aged than a typical Keeper. Despite their\u00a0sluggishness and disturbing transformations, they continued\u00a0for hours, and before long they had made substantial gains in\u00a0their distance.<\/p>\n

From atop the stairwell in his Everville workshop, The Keeper\u00a0looked down at Sako\u2019s assistant Toe and began to speak.\u00a0\u201cOldrik and the others have abandoned us. Even now they are\u00a0conspiring against us. They are misguided and will likely fail,\u00a0but we can\u2019t afford to ignore them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what can we do?\u201d Toe said as he looked up at The\u00a0Keeper.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do what we have always done, and what we will\u00a0always do. We will seek the truth, and the truth will guide us\u00a0to the answer. It pains me to see Oldrik and our fellow Fron,\u00a0whom we have known for ages, fall for the deceit that is the\u00a0great lie. It\u2019s an internal struggle that we all face, a battle from\u00a0within that never ceases to rage. At any moment, we can allow\u00a0ourselves to believe the falsehoods that are spread by our\u00a0adversaries and the fabrications that Them have convinced\u00a0even their own kind to believe. It\u2019s this lie that has led to the\u00a0creation of Them, and it is this lie that has convinced Them\u00a0that we are the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Keeper turned and looked through the portal wall. He\u00a0watched from a distance as Oldrik and the others transformed\u00a0from their previous state into disgusting, hideous creatures.<\/p>\n

The Fron who walked alongside Oldrik shrank and shriveled.\u00a0They looked at each other in dismay as the final consequence\u00a0of their betrayal manifested itself. Each of them stared with\u00a0horror at their hands, which had begun to throb. After expending\u00a0a surprising amount of effort due to the agony, they held\u00a0their hands in front of their faces and watched as their fingers\u00a0grew in length and narrowed in width while the tips pulsated
\nand enlarged to the size of large grapes that looked as if they\u00a0were about to explode. Sharp nails grew several inches from\u00a0their now engorged fingertips, and slime oozed out of their\u00a0pores and began to wrap around their bodies. They writhed\u00a0in pain as the same thing happened to their feet. The process,\u00a0which had started off slow, had gradually accelerated and was\u00a0now almost complete.<\/p>\n

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Find more from Roy on his website<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

College freshman Owen Sage has just started to understand the darkness trying to overtake Everville and the earthly realm. With the help of The Keeper and the Fron army, Owen has managed to buy some time, but new problems have already emerged, new secrets need to be revealed, and the race against time to stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[642,701,730],"class_list":["post-1194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","tag-fantasy","tag-science-fiction","tag-ya"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taramayastales.com\/bestfantasynovel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}