The Chronicles of Acqueria: The Early Years
an excerpt

Day 1 - "I know you boys are good friends, but a blood tie between you ties both our families together, whether it is for good or misfortune, you have bound more than yourselves together."
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Day 2 - "What they have brought us is worth more coin and finer favors than we need to bestow, Aldinar."
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Day 3 - "I know priests have powers, or the illusion of powers, beyond our knowing. but 'fly'? I do not understand."
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Day 4 - "You will derive more company from the cold marble statues of the gods and the sacrifices that await them than you will from me."
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Day 5 - "I will need that courage in facing the unknown beside me. Here the waters and the land are uncharted, except for the vision you have penned to paper."
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Day 6 - "We stand on the brink of a new world here, gentlemen," Kasnar said. "The ground seems stable. The land may be a little harsh, but we can conquer it. We will move our people here, but will not be bringing our gods."
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Day 7 - Kasnar and Dewar embraced. "I would offer you the blessings of the gods, "Kasnar said, "but I do not believe you would accept such blasphemy from me."
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Day 8 - "My only concern," Oberle continued, "is the movement of the ground under our feet. It signifies an instability, the outcome of which, we cannot fathom."
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Day 9 - "Do you want to have a burial at sea for your lost crewman?" asked the priest. "I believe he is already buried at sea, my good priest," Jaymel said.
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Day 10 - "When the mist cleared, there was no island - only bubbling, seething, brackish water. Let me repeat, gentlemen - the island ceased to exist."
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Day 11 - He threw the heart into the fire. The flames sputtered and flared. The sweet smell of incense no longer prevailed.
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Day 12 - "I have heard so much about the first two voyages - the mist, the wall of water. What if we are sailing to our deaths?"
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Day 13 - "A sharp weapon could down a lighter-than-air-ship, even if the puncture were accidental."
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Day 14 - "And the man I gave my loyalty to, perhaps, is not the man I thought he was," Dewar added.
"Then we agree in our dissension," Marcel said. "But to what end?"
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Day 15 - "Spoken like a true politician, Kareb," Marcel said. "Your mother will not be pleased."
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Day 16 - Tragar and Kareb each picked from the pile of unblooded swords and joined the other young men as they stood.
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Day 17 - Aeden headed north toward the forest. He knew the natives were hostile, but then, so was he.
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Day 18 - Kasnar gazed out over the city he had built as if with his own bare hands. "Acqueria is almost all I have dreamed of," he said to himself."