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C J Busby [Deep Amber 01] Deep Amber (retail) (epub)
Carl Ashmore [Time Hunters 01 The Time Hunters (epub)
Buck Rogers 01 Buck Rogers in Addison E Steele (v1.0) (epub)
Cabot Meg Porzuceni 01 Porzuceni
CONAN 01 Conan Robert E. Howard
C M Boers [Obscured 01] Obscured (epub)
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Beverley Kendall [Trapped 01] Trapped (epub)
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Desrochers Lisa Demony 01 Demony Pokusa

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.The Demon Awakens by R.A.SalvatoreCopyright 1996PreludeThe demon dactyl came awake.It didn't seem such a momentous thing, just a gradual stirring in a deep cave in a far, empty mountain.An unnoticed event, seen by none save the cave worms and those few insomniacs among the bevy of weary bats hanging from the high ceiling.But the demon spirit had awakened, had come back from its long dormancy into the statuelike form it had left behind after its last visit to the world called Corona.The tangible, corporeal body felt good to the wandering spirit.The dactyl could feel its blood, hot blood, coursing through its wings and mighty legs, could feel the twitching of its mighty muscles.Its eyes flickered open but" saw only blackness, for the form, left standing in magical stasis in the deep cave, head bowed and wings wrapped tightly about its torso, had been covered by magma.Most of the fiery stuff of that time long past had bubbled and flowed away from the cavern, but enough had remained to harden about the dactyl's corporeal form.The spirit had come back to Corona encased in obsidian!The demon spirit fell deep within itself, summoned its powers, both physical and magical.By sheer will and brute strength, the dactyl flexed its wings.A thin crack ran down the center of the obsidian sarcophagus.The dactyl flexed again and the crack widened, and then, with a sudden powerful burst, the beast blew apart the obsidian, stretched its great wings out to the side, clawed tips grasping and rending the air.The dactyl threw back its head and opened wide its mouth, screeching for the sheer joy of the return, for the thoughts of the chaos it would bring again to the quiet human kingdoms of Corona.Its torso resembled that of a tall, slender man, shaped and lined by corded strands of taut muscle and sporting a pair of tremendous batlike wings, twenty feet across when fully extended and with strength enough to lift a full-grown bull in swift flight.Its head, too, was somewhat human, except more angular, with a narrow jaw and pointed chin.The dactyl's ears were pointed as well, poking up about the demon creature's thin tuft of black hair.Neither did that hair hide the creature's horns, thumb sized and curling in toward each other at the top of the demon's brow.The texture of its skin was rough and thick, an armored hide, reddish in hue and shiny, as if lit by its own inner glow.Shining, too, were the demon's eyes, pools of liquid black at most times, but shifting to fiery red orbs, living flames, when the demon was agitated, a glow of absolute hatred.The creature flexed and stretched, extended its wings to their full glory, reached and clawed at the air with its humanlike arms.The demon extended its fingernails, transformed them into hooked claws, and grew its teeth-two pointed canines extending down over its bottom lip.Every part of the demon was a weapon, devastating and deadly.And undeniably powerful though this monster appeared, this demon's real strength lay in its mind and its purpose, the tempter of souls, the twister of hearts, the maker of lies.Theologians of Corona argued over whether the demon dactyl was the source or the result of evil.Did the dactyl bring the weakness, the immorality, to humanity? Was the dactyl the source of the deadly sins, or did it manifest itself and walk the world when those sins had festered to the point of eruption?For the demonic creature in the cave, such questions hardly mattered.How long had it been? the dactyl wondered.How many decades, even centuries, had passed since its last visit to Corona?The creature remembered that long-ago time now, savored the thoughts of the streaming blood as army after army had joined in delicious, desperate battle.It cursed aloud the name of Terranen Dinoniel, who had rallied the humans and the elves, chasing the dactyl's armies back to the base of this mountain, Aida.Dinoniel himself had come into this cave after the beast, had skewered the dactyl.The black-winged demon looked down at a darker red tear marring its otherwise smooth hide.With a sickening crackle of bone, the creature's head rotated completely around and bowed, examining the second imperfection of its form, a scarred lump under its lower left shoulder blade [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]