A Dragon Will Rise

5. Before You Read...

Before You Read...

Hey there! Thanks so much for picking up A Dragon Will Rise, I can't wait for you to jump into the latest addition to the Yumihari World.

While I intended to write A Dragon Will Rise as a standalone novella, in the end, this book ended up being more like an extended epilogue to Aihi's story after the Yokai Calling series. Yes, a 50,000 word epilogue.

The story is relatively self-contained with a beginning, middle, and end, and you can enjoy this novella without reading the Yokai Calling series. However, the story is written to assume that you are familiar with the major characters, with many of the plot events of the Yokai Calling Series, and are familiar with a lot of the Japanese terms and fantasy concepts that I use liberally in my writing.

If you haven't read the Yokai Calling Series yet, you can read the full 4 books in the Omnibus Edition at a discounted price:

https://geni.us/YokaiCallingSeries

If you have read the Yokai Calling series, and just need a quick refresher, or just want to read this book alone, below is a helpful paragraph giving context for the start of this book.

SPOILERS BELOW

At the end of Blood of Dragons, Aihi, Hidekazu, and Masanori defeat the Kairese who betrayed them to the Magician's Guild. However, in order to slay the wyvern that would have killed them all, Hidekazu had no choice but to tear his spirit and permanently damage himself. Since he had the warlock Naoji sharing his spirit/mind, Naoji was able to keep Hidekazu intact for the time being. After Hidekazu attempted to rescue the last living shishajya from the Goddess' imprisonment, his mother, Genshu Sachi, came to stop him and took Naoji away from Hidekazu, leaving nothing to keep Hidekazu's spirit from withering away.

To save Hidekazu, Masanori ends up returning to Seiryuu and trapping Hidekazu in a traumatic loop that forces him to choose between going insane and letting Chizue conduct some spiritual healing on him. While he finally accepts her healing, his spirit is still irreparably damaged in the aftermath. He's far from the same person he was before he killed the wyvern that harmed him so much. But he's not getting worse anymore.

Meanwhile, at the end of Blood of Dragons, Aihi is preparing for the war that will come at the end of the kan'thir's era of peace. They'll be fighting the Kairese until then, plus the kan'thir, the Magician's Guild, and more. In an effort to secure the only potential alliance that will strengthen them against the battles to come, she agrees to marry the prince Fu Chunfeng from Sānlóngguó, a son of the Teacher, who also oppose the Magician's Guild and the Wyvern God. Their betrothal happens in secret to avoid the ire of the emperor. At the same time, Aihi and Chunfeng also intend to marry Mezan Taniya, creating a three-way partnership.

During the same battle that harmed Hidekazu, Aihi learned that she has the ability to create dragon constructs out of the natural elements. In the year following the battle and her secret betrothal to Chunfeng and Taniya, she continues to try and harness this ability to its maximum potential with little success alongside preparing to tell the emperor about the pending marriage that very few other people know about.

And that's where A Dragon Will Rise begins.