The Ruach is a mystical power overshadowed by a rustic civilization's obsession with adventurers, power, and favor of the gods. But when legends unfold and rivalries brew between gods and followers of the Ruach, four complete strangers find their destinies intertwined. Strangers to one another, they fall into their journey when fate, ambition and a swiped relic become a quest for the other pieces that when combined could overpower the gods and uproot the reality of everything known to them.

Now Alex, Mila, Phelia and Peter must work together and try to trust each other amid half-truths, intrigue, and misunderstandings to find the lost relics. But trapped in the middle of nowhere, in a land of magic and fire-breathing rabbits, with a mysterious mission they can't even agree on, how will they ever succeed?

The Rod of Truth is an adventure of growing friendship, trust, power, and deceit sure to entertain readers across genres.

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Chapter One
Some elusive presence lurked in the shadows. Alex could feel it. It was like a brush of sound just beyond his range of hearing or a shift of movement on the edge of his peripheral vision. He sat with this uneasy feeling on a stool in front of the headmaster's desk. This was the second time that morning of sensing something, someone, lurking in nearby shadows. In hallways, the courtyard, his own cell, and now here the sense of being watched hung heavily in the Ruach. For a long moment, he sat on that stool reaching around the headmaster's chamber with his spirit but there was nothing physically obvious until an almost imperceptible gasp came from behind, near the window and just then the door burst open. Something also flitted through the doorway.

"So, Alex, tell me the details of this morning! It's been quite a day already, hasn't it?"

"Oh. Yes, I guess it has. Um... sir, may I ask you first, do you ever sense anything ... unusual? Like some kind of presence? Like there's somebody actually hiding in the shadows watching you?"

"The Ruach is always around us, Alex, but you know that well. You've taught it enough these last few years. In a manner of speaking, one could say that it also watches us. I didn't know this was going to be a theological discussion."

"Well, no, of course not, sir, I just ... did you feel that just now when you opened ..."

"So, tell me about all that commotion in the courtyard this morning, Alexander." In one fluid movement, the headmaster sat carefully into the overstuffed, leather chair at his desk and laced his fingers together beneath his chin with elbows resting on the desk. His gaze bore into Alex's eyes accompanied by a graceful smile. Alex expelled a brief burst of acceptance and smiled. There would be no further discussion of his concern, that much was clear.

"Um, yeah, sorry about that, sir. As I mentioned then, it just kind of happened. They all got excited when Teddy did what they all thought was impossible. I'm sure it permanently changed what they believe of themselves."
"Not to mention reality?"

"Of course, sir."

Alex was never intimidated by Headmaster Jornigan as the other instructors and squad leaders were. Most of them talked about him as if he were unapproachable, overly stern, and somewhat godlike. Alex had never thought of him that way. It was maybe because the headmaster had been the one to find him in the trunk on the front steps of The Citadel one summer night and then had a hand in his upbringing more like a father than a commander. Alex treated him with the utmost respect but not out of fear. It was earned respect and the kind of respect all of Alex's students held for him in turn. If the headmaster taught him nothing else, and there had been a great many lessons, it was how to garner respect from others by simply being yourself. Alex did that quite naturally.

"Yessir, a very real vision ..."