A Prim and a Prophet
Introduction

Copyright© 2019 by Christopher Podhola

A little bit about how I got involved with the series. I found ‘The Arena’ on a web site I frequent one day. It was just the 1st couple chapters, but I was immediately intrigued by the idea of a blind and deaf girl, Whitney, living her life through the mind of her twin brother, Tommy. By the time I finished that story I found that the twins were way more than they appeared to be. I had to read more of the series. The author said at the end of the story that he had a novel on Amazon which continued the story; ‘Twinfinity: Nethermore’ and I immediately bought it. By the time I was finished with that novel I knew I had to read more. 2 more short prequel novellas in the series, ‘The Onyx Ravens’, and ‘Quest for the Prim Pockets’ followed. (‘The Arena’ is also a prequel.) You will find out more about all 4 stories later in this introduction. I started corresponding with the author, Chris Podhola, to ask questions and find what else was going on with the series. I found that he was working on the 2nd volume of the novel. This story, ‘A Prim and a Prophet’, is that novel. Chris and I have gotten into such a good relationship since then that I have become his proofreader/editor. When he asked if I would do the introduction, I was glad to do it.

This from Chris: “This story is a story of transformation as much as it is anything else, but it is a lot more than just that. The two main characters, Whitney and Tommy are born as twins in our dimension but come to this dimension with a purpose and are not twins in the other. The overall journey is about how they figure out who they really are, why they are here, and how they are to accomplish their mission. They have to figure out all of that, however, because they were born here with no memory of any of it.” You will find out in this volume that their memory of the other world is returning.

Let me give you an idea of what has happened before this novel. The following happens when the twins were 12. In the prequel, ‘The Arena’, Whitney is dissatisfied. She is deaf and blind but can sense people and animals around her as shadows. She also can join Tommy’s mind, and through him see, and hear. Tommy wants to do things with his friends and he can’t because their parents are afraid that others could discover the relationship between the twins. When he goes with his friends, Whitney is in her silent and dark world all alone. Tommy is a Star Trekkie and loves sword fighting. He discovers he can create a virtual world of his own in his mind where he and Whitney can duel. To her astonishment, Whitney finds that she is a natural at it and she can actually beat Tommy, who has been practicing with one of his friends and always wins. This gives her the confidence to finally get out of the house and meet people.

This naturally leads into the next prequel, ‘The Onyx Ravens’. Whitney discovers she can interact with people if she is careful to use Tommy’s eyes and ears properly. Trouble erupts when a gang of bullies called Onyx Ravens decides the twins & their friends are their targets. The story does not end well, because Whitney finds out more of her powers but ends up accidentally killing one of the gang. However, Decker Albright, the leader of the gang, finds out that Whitney is just like the warrior in his dreams who has been training him in fighting for some purpose and he decides to take the blame. The whole fight bothers her so much that Whitney hides her own and Tommy’s memories of the Arena and replaces them with false ones then hides their memories of the Arena and the memories of the fight in a bloodstone Decker gave her.

The third prequel, ‘The Baran Dak Toi and Her Quest for the Pockets of the Prim’ AKA ‘Twinfinity: The Quest for the Pockets of the Prim’, takes place in the other dimension, or world, Bolimar. The Young Jo-Laina, (who you will find in Nethermore became Whitney) and her twin sister Jo-Vanna are Baran Dak Toi, a human/Prim mixture who are shunned by the other Prim because they are assumed to be inferior. A Prophet, Panpar, talks them into going on a quest for the Prim Pockets, a weapon that is supposed to help unite the many races of Bolimar. It is through this journey they make many new friends, a couple of which are 2 regular Prim, Jo-Viel and Jo-Karna, who you will see more of in this book, they discover the true meaning of Baran Dak Toi and find the Prim Pockets are more than a weapon. Jo-Laina meets Argimos, a Prectock (dog/bear/lion/dragon combination) who becomes her eyes and ears from that point on and later becomes Tommy. They discover a new threat, the Shooktah, which could destroy both worlds.

‘Nethermore’ is the first actual volume of the series. To completely get you up-to-date is too lengthy, so I will give you a VERY condensed version. Whitney and Tommy attend a summer camp. While there, they both discover more powers and sharpen the ones they have. Within the lake lives a malevolent creature which is preying upon the people of the camp, IT. With the help of several of the councilors & another set of twins, Katherine(Kat) and Kameron (Kam), Whitney is able to solve IT’s puzzle and defeat him, but not without losing part of the essence of her best friend Kat.

I want to talk about a few extra things. First, we will examine the time differential between Earth and Bolimar. In Nethermore, Chapter 14 Jo-Vanna and the Great In-Between, Jo-Vanna mentioned it had only been one day in Bolimar and yet Whitney had lived 16 years. This makes a week in Bolimar over 100 years on earth. This may cause a problem when Whitney goes to Bolimar to retrieve the rest of Kat’s essence. It has been 50 Bolimar years since the end of The Baran Dak Toi and her Quest for the Pockets of the Prim.

Second, a bit of information about the Prim; which I got from Chris. Prim are always female twins that are always barren. Prim are always blind and deaf and see and hear through their bolainin (seeing companions). The only way that a Prim can reproduce is through a human Mage (or wizard.) and then mixing that Mage’s seed into the prim, impregnating her magically. Because Prim view humans as barely above lower thinking beings they forbid any human Mage (wizard) to breed a prim in fear that combining his weaker blood with the weaker bloodline of another human will result in a weaker race of Prim. The final act of conception is upon the birth of the newborn Prim. Upon each Prim’s birth, the child’s parents must bring the babies soul, from the grey, or each newborn will not survive, but the parents cannot survive this task themselves. Since Prim are always born as twins, each of the parents are doomed to die upon their child’s birth. Purebred Prim are not human. They have grey skin, shiny silver hair, and three antennae appendages on each ear. Since Jo-Laina & Jo-Vanna are human born Prim they are completely human in appearance, but still have all the Prim powers & abilities.

Third, some information about the symbol you see just above this paragraph and throughout all the series. The symbol is usually used to change scenes. If you read all the prequels & novels, you will probably see it a few hundred times. If you have not figured it out; it is obvious; it is the Twinfinity symbol.

When Chris started writing the story of how Whitney and Tommy went to Bolimar to get back the rest of Kat’s essence, he found that the story was too long for just one novel. Consequently, A Prim and A Prophet will tell the story of how Whitney and Tommy prevented a terrorist attack, the aftermath with the government, and how they gathered friends to help before they went to Bolimar. You will find many characters from all four stories in the series. Just as a teaser, the Prim is not Whitney, although you might have heard of her before.

Douglas Harter

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