CHAPTER 1

A Sleepless Dawn

Never feed a dinosaur something that smells like you.They get the wrong idea. Ten thousand two legged dark reddinosaurs clawed the ground inside the northern cavernsof the volcano ne'Venge and they were hungry. Their ridersprepared for war by donning scary looking orange and blackarmor. Dyed green from birth, the nine foot tall giants stunklike volcanic ash.

Crexor, general of the Nephilim, grabbed the reins of hismighty carnotaur. It reared up and roared. At his commandthe vast horde rode with him into the night. He promised hissupernaturally sinister giants they would conquer the KnownLands, but Crexor also had a secret plan. He planned to liveforever and needed the flaming sword from the Garden ofEden to do it.

* * *

Jerad could not sleep. He tossed and turned in the predawnhours of his twelfth birthday. Today Grandpapa Adam wouldtake him on pilgrimage to see the Sword of Fire guardingthe Garden of Eden. Jerad had waited years for this day andnow dawn still seemed so far off. He stared at the red brickbedroom wall and then at the wood beams in the ceiling. Herolled left. He rolled right. Finally he sat up and kicked off hiscovers.

Jerad was a stocky, strong kid with short blond hair. Afterslipping on his favorite brown pants and blue shirt, he walkedto his third story window. From there he could see the fortresscourtyard. In the light of the full moon he could see mistrising from the ground watering the whole valley. All sorts ofwild dinosaurs (saurs for short) roamed everywhere on thefrontier of Seth's Land of Neer. But it was quiet at the moment.Too quiet.

* * *

Miserable. Methu felt miserable. He could barely movewithout searing pain. Methu stared at the dying embers oflast night's fire. His left arm still felt hot from the brandingceremony. Each firstborn male heir of Cain got Cain's "mark"burned into their left forearm on the eve of their twelfthbirthday. It looked like a big X.

Methu wasn't looking forward to dawn. That meant thetrial. A trial always came the day after the branding. What abirthday present. He looked at his arm again and gingerlytouched the singed flesh. Ouch.

Methu's greasy haired father, Mehuja, called it a mark ofhonor. Not that he saw his father much. Beyond his father'sfierceness with a branding iron, Methu didn't know him at all.At the moment, his father's hunting caravan camped high upin the mountains in the land of Nod. Food was hard to find.Nothing liked it up here in Cain's Land of Nod but the rocks.

* * *

Jerad grabbed his slingshot and ammo. No one walkedunarmed in this wilderness even when at home. He decidedto head for the four story fortress tower in the center of thecourtyard where his dad usually prayed. Dad prayed threetimes a day: at dawn, noon, and dusk. Jerad understood hisdad spoke to God, but he wondered if God ever spoke back.Grandpapa Adam and Grandmama Eve walked and talkedwith God in the Garden of Eden, but that was centuries agoand not everyone believed their tales of Eden. As for Jerad, hewasn't sure what to make of it all.

While crossing the center of the fortress courtyardJerad heard the dreaded sound of wings flapping.Rhamphorhynchus! Four hungry saurs with razor sharp teethflew straight for him. He fired his slingshot and hit one rightin the head. He clipped the second saur in the wing. The thirdone swooped down trying to bite him. Jerad rolled on theground and took it out with another hit. He went for anotherstone to kill the fourth one and came up empty! He was out ofammo.

The last hungry saur dove at him. This was going to hurt.Then he heard a swooshing sound and watched an arrow nailthe vicious thing to the ground. Jerad looked up at the top ofthe fortress tower and saw his dad lower his bow.

"Tell me again why we live out here?" Jerad called outwhile dusting himself off. He wasn't mad. This was just life.

"The dominion mandate: God's command to fill theearth and subdue it," Jerad's father, Mahalalel, replied as helowered his bow. Each firstborn male of a generation starteda new village at age sixty. Mahalalel had founded his village ofEl-Denn seventeen years ago. After clearing forest land andplanting farm fields, he built this stone fortress to protect hisgrowing family. A narrow subterranean tunnel to the northerncliffs provided a way of escape should the need arise. Only heand his wife, Lorilalel, knew how to open the secret passage.He hoped he would never need it and he never did.

"When is Grandpapa Adam going to get here?" Jerad askedwhile springing up the steps toward his father.

"I suppose as soon as he wants to. Are you ready to go?"Mahalalel asked with a smile as the first ray of dawn brokeover the horizon.

"Yes!"...