After many years of working on Viktoria, the first installment of The Rising Phoenix, the novel will be out at the end of the December 2010.
Chapter 1
As far as the eye could see, spread out all around her, was water. Viktoria was floating in the middle of the ocean with only the fading sun as a guide. She held her breath as she realized she was sitting on a raft, her feet dangling over the water’s edge.
For some unexplained reason, Viktoria did not want her feet to plunge underneath the dark liquid. She suddenly felt a life force moving all around her. Terror overwhelmed her; she had always feared water entities, especially sharks.
Viktoria realized her feet had fallen into the water, when she felt them hitting something hard. Her breath caught in her throat as she rapidly peered down to see what her heels had struck: underneath the surface emerged the contour of an immense cylinder.
As she raised her eyes to follow the circumference of the object, its vastness made her stomach turn. Her head started to spin as she noticed the cylinder was hollow. A wave carried her closer to the edge, while she frantically fought the current.
Thousands of individuals scattered on hundreds of different floors stared up at her. These entities were faceless: glowing light replacing their features. Even though she could not discern their eyes, she felt the weight of their stare. Suddenly, she heard a piercing noise from above. Lifting her head, she caught a glance of a deep dark shadow. As a dragon tore the blood-red sky plunging in her direction she awoke.