Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Oni's Tears: A Steamfunk Adventure: A Unity Isles Novella, #1
    Oni's Tears: A Steamfunk Adventure: A Unity Isles Novella, #1
    Oni's Tears: A Steamfunk Adventure: A Unity Isles Novella, #1
    Ebook89 pages1 hour

    Oni's Tears: A Steamfunk Adventure: A Unity Isles Novella, #1

    By Kai Leakes

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    He is the eater of magic. The taker of souls. An entity who wants lands to turn to dusk. The skies to turn obsidian and to rule the world through the slaughter of the paragons.

    Since childhood 20-year-old Olivia Oni Lovejoy has trained with her family to keep magic in the world safe from the Big Juju Man. However, a close loss has sped up her succession as the Orisha Oya's paragon and brought with it nothing but melancholy to her soul. When the Juju Man's minions, the Ajogan descend on Alton, Illinois bringing destruction, it's the loving wisdom of Oni's father and a well-timed introduction of Midnight Horn, that leads her on an adventure against evil.

    As Oni's tears fall, in another world, a doting grandmother tells Oni and Midnight's journey as Paragons, in this exciting and haunting fantasy in a steampunk/funk driven world & foundation of a magic distant town.

    First novella of the Unity Isles Tales written by Award Nominated pararomance, horror and fantasy author Kai Leakes.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKWH Publishing
    Release dateFeb 26, 2019
    ISBN9781386884859
    Oni's Tears: A Steamfunk Adventure: A Unity Isles Novella, #1
    Author

    Kai Leakes

    From Iowa, but later relocating to Alton, IL and St. Louis, MO, Kai Leakes was a multifaceted Midwestern child, who gained an addiction to books at an early age. Sharing stories with her cousins as a teen, writing books didn't seem like something she would pursue until one day in college. Storytelling continues to be a major part of her very DNA, with the goal of sharing tales that entertain and add color to a gray literary world.  In her spare time, she likes to cook, dabble in photography, and assists with an internet/social networking group online. Loving to feed her book addiction, romance, fantasy, and fiction novels are her world. Reading those particular genres help guide her as she finds the time to write and create fantastic and haunting worlds. Author of the Devotion Book Series, Sin Eaters: Devotion Book One, Sin Eaters - Retribution: Devotion Book Two and HWA Bram Stoker Award Nominee, you can find her at her website & Facebook Page.

    Related to Oni's Tears

    Titles in the series (1)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Alternative History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Not Everything Turns to Gold

      Oct 2, 2018

      Theodore Roosevelt once said, “When I am in California, I am not in the West, I am west of the West.” The Rough Rider’s koan has been widely viewed as a celebration of the limitless California adventure, but it’s also a reminder of the dizzying, vert

      4 min read

    • Article

      KEEPING the STORIES

      Jun 15, 2022

      KEEPING the STORIES
      10 min read

    • Article

      Saying Goodbye to Sara

      Nov 10, 2021

      — We never really know when it will be the last time we talk to someone, the last time we see them, the last hug. The time was 2:23pm. Or there about. It’s hard to pinpoint the precise time when you’re in that deep sleep state where time seems not to

      6 min read

    • Article

      A Passage Without Return

      Jul 2, 2019

      Once upon a time, a family moved to the edge of the woods in Alaska to be closer to the stars—so close, the father told his children, they could feel the heat. As in all fairy tales, though, things take a dark turn in The Unpassing, Bay Area novelist

      3 min read

    • Article

      Universal Truths

      Jun 20, 2021

      Universal Truths
      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Giddings, Tang, Levin, and More

      Aug 9, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Megan Giddings, Belinda Hujuan Tang, Adam Levin, and more—that are publishing this week. Want to learn more about upcoming titles? Then go read our most recent book preview. Want to help The M

      5 min read

    • Article

      Javier Zamora: ‘Now The Chances Of Me Crossing The Border And Surviving Would Be Slim’

      Sep 10, 2022

      Javier Zamora was born in El Salvador in 1990. Both his parents emigrated to the US before he turned five. At the age of just nine, Zamora undertook a treacherous journey by land and sea to join them in California – events recalled in his debut poetr

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Daring Escape From Slavery, And The Love Story Behind It

      Feb 13, 2023

      This year marks the 175th anniversary of the escape to freedom of William and Ellen Craft, a married couple enslaved in Georgia. Devoted to each other and determined to start a family only once free, the duo devised a jaw-dropping plan to disguise th

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Egan, Mandel, Vuong, Stuart, and More

      Apr 5, 2022

      Here’s a quick look at some notable books—new titles from Jennifer Egan, our own Emily St. John Mandel, Ocean Vuong, Douglas Stuart, and more—that are publishing this week. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Egan, Mandel, Vuong, Stuart, and M

      7 min read

    • Article

      Worlds Of Ink And Paper

      Nov 22, 2022

      As a young girl, I still remember my dear mother, smile on her face, curled up with Family Circle magazine in her lap. She was engrossed in an article titled “Butternut Wisdom,” written by Gladys Taber. At my age, it didn’t mean a thing to me. But as

      6 min read

    • Article

      The 15 Best Books of 2020

      Dec 24, 2020

      The 15 Best Books of 2020
      10 min read

    • Article

      Lezley Saar’s ‘Diorama Drama’ and me

      Apr 1, 2023

      SEPTEMBER 2017. I didn’t know where I was going to live. I’d been surviving rent-free as a “granny nanny” in Orange County, California, for three years, living on $600 under-the-table per month. The agreed-upon term was over, and I was beginning to h

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Nadia Owusu

      Dec 15, 2020

      If anyone were to ask me for recommendations of books for America’s new leaders to read before they are sworn in, this collection would be on my list. The post A Year in Reading: Nadia Owusu appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Breaking The Colour Code

      Mar 3, 2019

      Breaking The Colour Code
      9 min read

    • Article

      Autumn Reading

      Mar 25, 2020

      A charming novel about a ready-to-retire Paris psychiatrist, who is counting the hours until his final session. Our protagonist has never spoken to his next-door neighbour, although he hears the old gent rattling around at night. He has never enquire

      7 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Susan Straight

      Dec 23, 2019

      I live in a place where all our stories are told in the park, in the truck, in the yard, on the porch, at the baseball diamond, or in the bar. The post A Year in Reading: Susan Straight appeared first on The Millions.

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Oni's Tears

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Oni's Tears - Kai Leakes

      Books by Kai Leakes

      Sin Eaters: Devotion Book Series

      Sin Eaters - Retribution: Devotion Book Series 2

      Rebel Guardians: Sin Eaters Chronicles 1

      Co-Authored:

      A Christmas Kind of Love: A Sojourner Falls Tale 1

      w/ Nikki-Michelle

      Anthology Series:

      Rococoa Anthology

      The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology

      Sycorax’s Daughters Anthology

      Black Women Magic: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters

      More Books To Come...

      Author Note:

      Originally a rejected short story ‘Oni’s Tears’ was crafted as my first attempt to create an Afro-Steampunk/funk world full of magic, romance, action and adventure. Out of that simple plan also birth the idea of Unity Isles. A town based in reality where the very foundation of the town was based in magic. Many times, I read fantasy tales of people disappearing and falling in time to find a magical true love and adventure.

      In those tales I never saw myself. With this story and the creation of Unity Isles, I decided to create a place for myself, for my Black and POC readers. With this introduction of my world, I hope you as the reader lose yourself in its budding magic. This story will lead you to the world of the paragons, a story that will branch off into its own magical Steamfunk filled world titled, The Gate Paragon: A Pulse Steamfunk Adventure coming hopefully next year. The town of Unity Isles will also lead you to other linking stories. Some non-Steampunk and just magical, including a future mermaid tale.

      Until then, enjoy and watch out for the gates.

      ~Kai Leakes

      Acknowledgement:

      I forever send my thanks and love to my literary sis author Nikki-Michelle. She waited for a long time for me to release this and helped me along the way even through the difficult moments last year. Thank you and love ya always sis.

      I’d also like to give my thanks to Katrina Brooks and my beta readers. Your help aided in making sure my story shined. Thank you for enjoying what I shared. Last but not least, this story is for every Black girl, including my cousins who wanted to see themselves in a magical adventure and loved by a bad tazz brother in fantasy.

      ~Kai Leakes

      Prelude:

      A Lost Chapter & Beginning

      Paragon (n) –

      A female or male witch/warlock destined to be a keeper of a blessed relic used in creating hidden and protected mystical transportation gates to other worlds for ‘Travelers.’

      2013...

      Time was of the essence and Fanta Awadi-Holiday was as late as anyone could be during a heavy rainstorm. It felt like a hurricane had hit the middle of Georgia. Thrashing water assaulted the side of the window of her simple red Kia Rio. It hypnotized her because it was like the repetitive dreams she had been having these past months of her being stranded in the middle of a sea storm drumming around her and a man. The water washed over the pavement resembling waves.

      Fanta swore that she could smell the brine of the sea in her car. Had it not been for the sharp bang of thunder in the sky, she knew the memories of her dreams would have taken priority. Gripping her steering wheel hard in irritation, she exhaled and continued driving. Ever since she was a child, storms had always made her nervous, and this one was no exception.

      Regrettably, Fanta knew that she shouldn’t have flown to Atlanta, Georgia from her home in St. Louis, Missouri. She’d chosen to do so because her brother had gotten sick and wasn’t able to fly down to pick up his son, her seven-year old nephew Deshawn. Also, she was using it as an excuse to visit her cousin Mikayla who was the one babysitting her nephew. But, here she was after renting a car, zipping through Atlanta drivers, who drove as if it were winter time, instead of the dreary spring that it was.

      Fanta looked to the left of her and merged to take her exit toward south Atlanta.

      Grr...why Fanta, why did you have to fall for Kayla’s begging this time? she griped aloud to herself.

      She was griping because that’s how her cousin influenced her to do things ever since they were children. In thought, Fanta flipped her windshield wipers too fast and continued driving while fussing at no one. Passing drivers may have thought she was going into a road rage rant, but she truly wasn’t. Not at all.

      She was essentially deciding whether to be upset with her cousin for pulling her out of her comfort zone and coming to Georgia, or just choosing to be annoyed. Since it didn’t matter either way, she decided to just vent to no one but herself. Fanta was heading towards a little town, that she knew nothing about named Unity Isles, in southern Georgia on the coastline. Her cousin had asked for Fanta to come down to visit her new B&B and get away from the hustle and bustle of St. Louis.

      It had taken several years, many cups of wine, and being furloughed at her government job for Fanta to say okay to the invitation. She knew nothing of the coastal town called Unity Isles, except from what both she and Mikayla’s Grandmother –through her father’s side, told them. Her family had land that had been passed down through the family in which the B&B sat on. From what she learned, Unity Isles was a sleepy town full of quirky people, charming forests, and lush enchanted emerald land.

      It was founded centuries ago, by First Nation Indians, free people of color, and runaway slaves who came together to somehow maintain a town that survived many tragedies, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and then some.

      With that knowledge in mind, Fanta smiled to herself. She was embarking on a mini-getaway while being the best aunt in the world. Her agenda was to keep an eye on her nephew once she got there and soak up the history of the town. Although she had been driving for hours on end, she was relieved to get away from St. Louis. This was a good change for her, although she just wanted to relax in Atlanta.

      The prospect of getting rest and not working her fingers in the ground as a

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1