Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions.

Go to Notes

How to join

Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Dragon Crowns, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!

You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Dragon Crowns can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.

If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Go to Notes

Lava.

It flows and burns everything in its path. Only doused by vast amounts of water. It now dripped on his silvery scales from the magical spear, lodged deep in Kai The Storyteller’s crystalline chest wound - now the last dragon.

"With your death, we will usher in a new world of freedom for the lower races!" a human warrior gestured with his sword. The circle of betrayers around Kai all cheered at those words. They caught him in the desert cave he called home, and eventually, after killing many of them, he finally succumbed.

Kai was rapidly losing his life, and now that the chest crystal on his high form was shattered, he would soon die, like all dragons. How these mortals discovered the secret to craft a weapon able to break dragon crystal was something he would worry about if he had time to live, but alas, Mazur had failed mere moments ago. Kai was indeed the last dragon, and he was losing time.

"What do you think will happen when I die?" he asked—pointing the question at no one in particular.

A different, more stately warrior stepped forward. "We would seize Scaleheart for ourselves. We will sleep in your beds, indulge in your riches and step on your graves." Another cheer. Alarmed, he had to ask, "Why do you think you'll succeed? Have you forgotten our teachings? 'No magic shall ever trespass upon Ignis while its throne lies vacant.'"

"I don't believe you! All dragons lie to save their hides. And besides, Ignis is an empire filled with races other than dragons. You are few! Why should we let you control us?" an anthropomorphic Hyena warrior cheered, "right!" at that last bit.

"Well, you're in for a treat then."

He still had a good few minutes until he died, but he made a show to collapse on the ground so the people would disperse. He needed to be alone for his final moments on Yesh.

They all cheered and went their merry way, discussing dinner, celebrations, and carnal pleasures.

A few minutes went by, and he was utterly alone. The moment of death finally arrived. Shimmering blue light started engulfing his body, and slowly, his body was disintegrating at the edges.

"My son. Your time has come." a voice rang in Kai’s mind.

"Father, forgive me." Kai resigned to his fate and knew what needed to be done. Cornelius would happily grant his Last Wish.

"What is your parting wish, my son? As the father of dragons, I will do all in my power to grant it."

"Father, we are dying. With my death, your connection to Yesh will be interrupted. My wish is for you to give us a way to come back so that we may punish those that did this to us, reclaim our power, and continue the sacred mission given to us by Mother."

The father of dragons did not reply immediately. And as Kai heard the word 'Granted,' he finally disintegrated into blue energy.

***

"Flames, it's so good to defeat a dragon! I could bang my wife all night from excitement!" the human soldier told his anthro wolf counterpart.

"Good for you! I'm tired," the wolf said and grabbed a wound on his leg. "I won't be banging anyone anytime soon."

"It's only a little-" the human soldier cut off as he heard screams from other parts of the camp. A pig soldier ran from the forest towards the soldier’s camp, scorching marks on his pink skin. He was losing his breath rapidly and coughing from the smoke as he got closer.

"Run for your lives! Fire is coming for us!"

Looking behind him, a sea of fire was spreading from where they defeated the dragon, and everywhere it touched, the ground lit up with magical runes.

The soldiers started running, thinking they would outpace the fire, but when the wolf was instantly consumed by fire as it touched his long legs, the human started running faster and faster, also motivated by fear. Seeing his friends go down one by one as the fire touched them, he lost hope and, for a moment, slowed down. The fire caught up to him. A voice rang in his mind as he screamed from the fire consuming his flesh. "No one will bear witness to what happened here today. No one will remember you."

At the center of the carnage, a beam of light from the night sky shone down, and in that center, daylight reigned supreme as the magic materialized a structure. A temple for the remains of Kai The Storyteller. "Here lies the storyteller" was written in Draconic on the door "Here lies he who continues our legacy."

Welcome, dear reader! My name is Oren Cohen, and I’m a software engineer and content creator. Before I took the mantle of content creator, I called myself a writer and a blogger.

On my writing path, there are many corpses of drafts - all set in the same world - Terra’Yesh. One I founded in around 2011. The idea came to me while reading Dune, and then when I read Nine Princes of Amber, I was drawn even further into fantasy.

On my fantasy reading journey lie the Mistborn series, Stormlight Archive, A Song of Ice and Fire, and much more. Brandon Sanderson has been one of the most impactful writers for me as a reader and a writer.

But I guess books weren’t the only thing affecting my love of the genre - video games were also part of that. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and The Witcher are all fantastic worlds I love dearly.

So, what am I doing with this publication? Let’s talk about that next.

Weekly Chapters

The main aim of this publication is to share weekly chapters from my first book in this world - The Forgotten Temple. The chapters I will share are drafts and should be considered as such.

One way to prevent me from being influenced by your comments is to close the chapters to paid members until I have published at least two following chapters. Meaning a chapter becomes public three weeks after its initial publication. If you’re willing to become a paid member to read the chapters early, that would be amazing, and I will cherish your support for this book.

My Patrons on Patreon will also get access to read the books early.

Ancillary Content

One thing I love to do is world-build in Terra’Yesh. So, I plan to write short stories in this world or even lore dumps. Those would be free from the start and will not live under a paywall from their initial publication like the actual chapters of my book.

Those could include short stories from my imagination or even guest posts from people who want to contribute to Terra’Yesh!

Media and Assets

When enough people have contributed to this publication through paid subscriptions, I aim to re-invest that money into the publication and get some art commissioned for scenes you loved or even commission short stories from other writers set in Terra’Yesh to expand the world.

The One Promise

Out of everything I wrote above, my one promise for you is to write a new chapter every Sunday (unless it’s a holiday and I’m offline). I will not prioritize ancillary content above getting a chapter done and sent to you.

If you have any questions, let me know, and I’m happy to amend the post or reply in the comments or e-mail.

Thank you for being here, and may Cornelius light your path.

Welcome to My Fantasy World!

You probably have questions about this place and what I intend to accomplish with it, so let’s get right to it:

1. Why now

For 13 years, I had a massive fantasy world stuck in my brain. I tried to write it out in NaNoWriMo, but the actual time limit was not helpful for me. I also didn’t know what kind of story I wanted to tell. After letting it simmer in my brain, I realized it was time to just “write-in-public” and see what happens.

The chapters you’ll see here will be drafts. I will publish the first few episodes for free, and later on, as the community grows, we’ll figure out what the paid features of this publication will be. If you want to be a founder and support whatever I do with this place, that option is open.

2. What kind of community we will build here?

This space will be a community of fantasy readers who want to follow the story and share their own nerdy experiences with fantasy and sci-fi.

As the story progresses, we will all learn what it’s like to be a community that follows a book series, I guess :)

3. What should you expect?

The only rule I want to adhere to is a Sunday weekly chapter. All other content I will publish between Sundays is a bonus.

Subscribe now for the first chapter dropping on Sunday!

Thank you so much for reading, and I’m excited to take you on this journey!