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Kat stood with Lucast, who had pulled more water from the ground and brought it to him. He had removed the chasm in an attempt to urge the warriors to the peak, hoping they would leave the others alone for now. He was ready for a fight but Kat didn’t think he would need to be. He had shown her how powerful she could be and as she formulated a plan, she just hoped he was right. She could feel the steadiness within her, the calm before the storm but knew this would be her storm. She lifted her left hand and clouds began to form above her head, from within them, there were sparks and way up high the rumble of thunder could be heard. The warriors sensing the dark power of their master, began their advance. Brilliant flashes lit up the landscape and all at once Kat’s hair stood on edge and with it Kat felt her feet leave the ground, her face was contorted with the strain of using such an enormous amount of her power. There was a brief red burst from the sun as Kat’s storm broke the cloud of smoke from the volcano, then the sky went dark so the only the light that could be seen was from the sparks around Kat’s body, it made unnatural shadows in the darkness. This was the pinnacle of Kat’s excellence, she could feel it, this was her moment, her crowning glory and at the moment she struck her first enemy, she was the most beautiful thing in the world.
“I want to know why I was summoned?” Urgarak yelled as he stopped in the threshold of the door, his breath stolen at the vastness of the grand hall. He had been inside its white walls before but rarely enough that the hugeness of it still made him feel like a tiny speck in the universe. He looked towards the great domed roof, supported by two figures both standing far over fifty feet. He cast his eyes away from the marble, sculpted in the likeness of the first kings of Scaraden, who had formed the eternal empire. Urgarak marched forward, a ceremonial cape billowing with every step. A couple of paces behind two of his Murka generals followed, their arms scraping the red floor tiles. As he walked, Urgarak straightened the medal on his chest. The image of the flag of his ‘home’ planet filled him with confidence, even if the red moon of the warrist movement would outrage the members of the council. The chairs of the hall were empty along Urgarak’s march but statues of all the high kings stared down at him from marble eyeballs but Urgarak kept his own eyes on the stage in front of him. Eight of the nine seats were occupied and the figures were sat forward watching Urgarak as intently as the statues did. Urgarak stopped at their feet and bowed at the large marble figures that stood behind the council. The king eternals, those who had led Abgdon during times of war. He wished beyond anything that they were here now, they would understand his cause. Two were out there somewhere. Prisoners of those Ilmgralite fools. Only the third had died truly, one of only a small few of the Ilma who had died after the curse had come upon them. The council regarded Urgarak with their golden eyes and Urgarak met their stares confidently, but he could not keep his gaze from moving to the middle seat of the council that sat empty. It would seem King Crio would not entertain him. “Urgarak Mortrim.” One of the figures said. He was wearing robes of pure white that seemed to match perfectly with his fully white scaled skin. That made Urgarak snarl, the perfection of the Ilma. His skin was covered in red scales and many dotted his narrow face. “Gorin.” He replied scornfully. “Remember your place Graul.” Came another voice from a far chair. Urgarak’s eyes strayed towards him and black veins flared before he could control it. Urgarak took a deep breath, he had to remember what he was. The Ilma were the chosen people after all, his power was just a gift. Urgarak turned his frustration back into the cruel determination for his cause and so turned his eyes back to Gorin, “My place.” He murmured, “Is to hunt down those who hold the essence of our people captive. To bring war to a race who has aided the Ilmgralite’s in their tyrannical hold on the universe.” Gorin stood swiftly, the air in the hall seemed to surround Urgarak and his eyes flicked to the floor in fear, “We called you back one season ago.” The head of the council said without showing any of the anger Urgarak was sure he felt, “Yet you returned to Uralese, that was a mistake.” Urgarak’s golden eyes flashed black for a second and he spoke grimly, “Uralese is still a troublesome world, our might should not be forgotten there long. I returned our fleet and came with the only ship I could spare.” An old lord stood. He looked like he was close to his rebirthing, but he still spoke with the musical power of the Ilma, “It is impressive for one of the Graul to rise so high within our ranks.” Urgarak nodded but it was an insult and he knew it, “You were sent to Earth to find evidence of Cirtroug’s imprisonment, not to release him.” He took a deep laboured breath, “We have all seen the signs. The Gods are moving, they are planning their final strike to crush the Ilma. Crio will avoid war at all costs.” “Crio is a coward.” Urgarak said before he could stop himself. “HOLD YOUR TONGUE.” Gorin yelled and all the air was sucked from Urgarak’s lungs and he stood, gasping in the vacuum that Gorin had created. Urgarak could feel the pressure swelling his eyes and his chest tightening. His legs wanted to fall but it seemed Gorin was holding him up as well. Slowly with a white smile, the Ilma released him. The first breath after the denial was like syrup. “What do you know of Uralese?” Urgarak asked through his deep breaths, “It must seem a troublesome place, the once slave world of Ilmgral. What petty trifles did they ask for it? You should see it high council, Graul, Murka and Livet children starve in the streets while wars rage across its continents. It is a forgotten world.” The old Lord spoke again, “All Uralese is worth is the Virdact that we mine from it, the Livet’s could barely write before we found them and now they live in luxury.” “Starvation is not Luxury.” Urgarak said grimly, “Uralese needs a war, only in war do our people find sufficient work, only then DO YOU NOT LEAVE US TO ROT.” “YOU WERE SENT TO STUDY EARTH, NOT TO RELEASE THAT MANIAC CIRTROUG UPON THE HUMANS.” Gorin yelled and thunder crackled in the sky above Scaraden. Urgarak took a step back, “I did release him.” He muttered, “On Uralese the truth of the Gods was shown to me, the true legacy of the Ilma. I harness it now and it showed me how we can defeat both the Gods and the Ilmgralites. Earth is the key, the one who defeated Cirtroug was of Ilmgral, reskinned among the humans with all their divine darkness.” He saw the dark look in the councils eyes and decided to press further, “Not only did the Ilmgralites create those abominations on Earth, not only did they imprison Abgdon’s great heroes on that world, but they send their people to live among them, to breed them into the army Ilmgral needs to rule this universe. I will not stand by and let that happen. You are the Ilma, the chosen people, tasked with keeping the Gods from tearing our universe apart. Well the Gods work through Ilmgral. I can see it in the stars, and they will use Earth to finally crush us.” Gorin seemed tired, his eyes fell pityingly onto Urgarak. A sign of mortality, he thought. Urgarak would not have much longer in the universe and his haste for war was due to that fact. The council of the Ilma of Scaraden had none of those issues. Gorin had served since the first days of Abgdon. His father, who gave his energy to terraform Abgdon, had been born just after the curse had been bestowed to the Ilma. Gorin had patience and he would not let Urgarak lead Crio into a war where only the destruction of the universe would follow. Gorin returned to his seat, “Urgarak.” He paused, “You are hereby suspended from command. You will return to Uralese and surrender your fleet to Flight Marshal Cambane.” Urgarak smiled, black smoke coursed through his veins, darkening his mind. He knew it would come to this. If the council would do nothing, it was best that he was a part of no nation to fight the war his way until both Abgdon and Ilmgral had no choice but to intervene, “As you wish my Lords.” He bowed low and looked at the statues of the kings, “May the eternal church never falter and the Gods tremble at the might.” The council elders nodded and watched as Urgarak and his two servants left the hall in disgrace. Gorin turned to the Lord beside him who whispered in Gorin’s ear, “We should blast him out of the sky.” “No.” Gorin shook his head, “Urgarak is a fool, reckless and narrowminded, blind to anything else but his goal and that will one day see him to his death but he is beloved on Uralese. The empire of the Ilma have split once already and we do not need the resource planets rising up under his dark dream.” Gorin then signalled for one of the guards, who had sat silently behind, to step forward. The Ilma who stood beside Gorin was young in terms of the Ilma, he had never lost the physical form he held but he was powerful and full of youthful aggression, “You will go with Urgarak and make sure he follows our command. It would be good for the people of Uralese to see one of the Guardians of Eternity.” “As you wish my Lord.” The man said and he marched quickly to follow Urgarak. “War is upon us.” The old Lord continued, “Crio will not be able to delay it. We should recall our fleet. If the foretold war is not against Ilmgral then it will be against the Gods themselves.” Gorin pointed to the hall before them, “Scaraden stands forever. We built this hall so not even Livella herself could stand within it. If it is to be war, then the darkness shall lead us to victory and neither Ilmgral nor the Gods will stop us. The time is not yet ripe, however. We are too few after the last war. Crio is desperate to learn where our kin are imprisoned.” “What of earth?” A young lord, only risen after Crio had ascended to be king, spoke then, “Urgarak is right. One of the Graul has reskinned among them, that is rare enough but then to live as a human. One like that, allied with the half breeds could bring a new power to the universe that had never been foretold by Livella.” Gorin seemed un-moved, “Ambassador Lucast assured us he has no memory of his past.” He then smiled cruelly, “Though the thought intrigues me, maybe in him the experiments of old will work. A child of Ilmgral with all of our gifts mixed with the darkness and natural brilliance of Humanity, a sight that might even make the Gods tremble.”
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Tom had entered another world; he was walking through the most beautiful forest he had ever seen, full of all the colours of spring, summer and autumn mixed together, of all the seasons, it appeared that only winter never touched this forest. As the wind blew through the trees and whistled through the leaves, the trees themselves rose up in song, a song spanning the years the trees had seen, ferocious battles and fallen kings were lamented, whilst heroes and great deeds were glorified in their continuous song. The trees were obviously unlike any from earth with their song in the air they were more alive, and more splendid, the very smell of their wood filled Tom’s body with the vibrancy of their life. Around him people walked, paying no heed to him at all, they were slightly different to the others from his dreams; their scaled skin carried tints of green and browns like they were born from the earth itself, and leaves of different types and colours grew through their long brown hair and around their eyes, instead of red scales they had twig like veins that stretched out across their skin. Tom was happy to walk amongst these people, he realised he had dreamt of these people once before, and had learned of their history in another dream, they were the forest dwellers and they had long known peace, continuing to pay tribute to their high King. Suddenly a deep fear seemed to grip Tom, screams shot up from the distance and bells hidden in the branches sounded out, the war that had for so long been held back from these woods had finally reached them, and it burst through the trees abruptly. Fire leapt from tree to tree and Tom could feel such an evil in that woodland paradise as it quickly became a fiery hell. Tom instinctively dropped to the floor and closed his eyes tight, and when he finally felt brave enough to open them, the world before him lay in a burnt out waste. All around him the beautiful and peaceful forest dwellers lay lifeless on the floor, their twig like veins glowing dully with the dying embers of the fire that had devoured them; with blood dripping from their half open mouths the last of their beauty was lost from the world.
At times I wonder, how did I create a saga? Whenever I ask myself this question I always stop, unsure whether I could plot the path from idea to realised story, to a vast interconnecting web of narratives. I have asked myself the question countless times during the last couple of months. How did this story come into being and how did it then become one of the largest universes I had ever created, full of many planets with a millennia of unknown history?
The Thomas Lita series had it origins in one of the humblest of settings, childhood. Growing up as a fan of Tolkien, Doctor who and Marvel, I played a lot as characters in these universes. Eventually, creating my own characters, with their own stories. In those games, the first seeds of the Thomas Lita universe were formed. As I grew older and more “Mature” the games stopped but the stories did not. In my head these characters lingered, their stories growing every time my mind wandered to them and yet I had no outlet for their use. I had toyed with the idea of writing but had never gone further than hasty and outlandish plans. In sixth form that all changed. One day, when I should have been studying, I started writing and have never looked back. Re-reading the original, handwritten, copy of The Escape from Humanity, is always a thrill. Not only was the story not particularly good, but it was also vastly different from the story I would eventually publish six years later. Then, there was no wider universe. Ilmgral was a faraway place with no real connection to the story, the Ilma had no Origin and the Graul did not exist. Thomas Lita was then a strange mix between the X-men and the doctor, with plans to match. I had finally done it though; I had started my career as a writer. The next books in the Knights of Earth Saga formed quickly and I knew how the story would end as one series, with no prequels or sequels. Oh, how naïve I was. The Second draft changed everything, and it was one side character that brought the change. I soon realised a major plot hole in the first draft. Why would Cirtroug/Urgarak call someone to the volcano, who had the power to defeat them. I began to imagine another character, one who lingered in the shadows, pulling the strings of Tom’s life. The Tempter was born within the second draft. Instantly, the character fit into my already made plans and I began asking questions of his origins. Answering these questions took me down the rabbit hole of lore I would need for these stories to work. Within weeks of introducing the Tempter, I had created the God’s and the Vassal’s, realised their origin stories and how they connected to the Knights of Earth saga. I had created the Graul and separated them from the Ilma. Stories grew from their separation, like the Enlightenment of the Graul and the curse of the Ilma. This led me to the realisation that The Knights of Earth Saga, could not stand alone. I could not answer all the questions that needed answering while still telling a compelling story. I had to tell these stories separately. Even now, after publishing two novels in the Knights of Earth Saga, I am still learning about this world and this universe, creating more stories that my heart says I must tell.
Jacob Bower.
The first hand-written copy.Editing The Escape from Humanity.My first print copy.Cover art.Glad I finally got an artist for this.Really glad I had an artist for this.
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The Final story of the History of Ilmgral Volume one, gives the story its title.
Written like an old love story, it tells of the tragic lives of Morelin and Lucarnia, whose love created the biggest loss to face Ilmgral.
Morelin, descendent of the vassal Mina, is charged with a terrible mission. To spy on the Krun-ilma, the people of the great wood, to see if their is truth to the long rumours of their treachery. On the edge of that magical forest, under the light of the two moons, he stumbles upon Lucarnia the evergreen, the wood kings daughter and the fairest of that race to ever walk upon the world. Slowly their love grows, but the treachery of the wood king, sees the pair separated and as the tapestry of time tries to weave them back together, Agral, god of death, sets in motion events that will tear the celestial bodies of Ilmgral apart.
This universe is just one in a long line of failed universes. In those before, beings beyond our comprehension played with the fabric of reality and manipulated the lives of those they created. Learning from their creations love, jealousy and eventually a hate that sparked wars between them until they ripped the universe apart and the cycle started again.
In Besan Gretan, the realm that is, Gadrika, God of life, hearing the echoes of those before him, decided to give select mortals the powers to level the playing field so that this universe could reach its chosen path. The Ilma, so majestic in form and spirit, were chosen custodians of the universe but greed comes often to those already with power. Dark events drove them from their righteous path and the Graul, the servant race, were gifted powers so that the Ilma did not become tyrants in their toppling of the Gods. Empires were split at this decision and the Ilma, now spread far across the stars, battled for dominion over the universe. Peace came at a heavy price and in that ruin, the Ilma sort for a chance to turn themselves back to a proper path. They sort for a new power, one not foretold by the Gods and in their search, they found Humanity. A love for mankind came swiftly to the Ilma, who saw in humanity the true custodians of the universe. Through experiments they tried to merge their DNA with ours, to give the powers bestowed upon them to the people of Earth. Then they departed, to allow Humanity to thrive and waited for any sign of their success…
Walking as a child they found him The secret knight of earth Though the humans he called kin Their skin they hid his birth but he was of a greater kind A power he had within That only tragedy could find in the mountains heart therein
And like a god he rose among the rest and found the wicked heart And they battled through a deadly test that tore the stars apart. A god fell from the sky with the devil in his head And the knight of earth saw him lie with those of the Islands dead
Part of the poem, The Tragic knights of Earth- Author Unknown
With the release of the Sundering of the Two moons. The Escape from Humanity and Vengeance of the Gods have received a make-over. Check out the new covers below.
In the universe before, at a time of great strife, the vassals, servants of the Gods, did war upon their creators and the people of the universe were used as pawns in that war. Long was the strife and in the last day, the powers met in final battle and the universe was torn apart. In his last breath, the God of doom decreed to the dying universe, “Never again shall the Gods dictate all that happens. In the land that follows our folly, new Gods will be born, and new vassals will nurture their worlds, but mortal life will have its own protectors. These Ilma will have the power of the Gods and they will rule the mortal peoples and allow the universe to reach its full potential.” Then in fire and storm the old universe was consumed, the Gods and the vassals with it and what remained was a timeless void. Power cannot be destroyed however and in that void the power of the old universe was unleashed in a great explosion. That explosion created the three plains of existence. Livinden, the realm of light, was formed first. Its power is eternal, like light itself and it sustains the powers of the realm that is. Here light formed a figure that was both beautiful and majestic, a woman of the stars. Livella Remain, the light maiden. In her, the power of Livinden was held and in that realm of light she fashioned for herself a home and created many things composed of light, but she felt a loneliness for this world that only she could endure. Livella began to wander in her youth and in a time she came to Besan Gretan, the realm that is and she was amazed for suddenly she took a physical form. Like a woman of the Ilma she was, with golden hair. Her skin was flawless and pale, and she was garbed in a simple robe of pure light. She was amazed with her physical form and understanding came into her mind of the realm that is, where matter is whole, and all things exist for only a short time.
With the Sundering of the Two Moons, well on its way to publication, take your first look at the two north eastern continents of Ilmgral: Aragal and Tukagral. The locations highlighted, play key roles in the stories presented in Volume one of the History of Ilmgral.
Ilmgral during the war of the dividing mountains. Age of Vassals year 461.
The third short story of the sundering of the two moons follows the story of Suda Drage, Lord of the Dragor realm and descendant of the vassal Drage Livella. A once great leader of a company of Ilma, Suda must reform his band of heroes after the Kingdom of Scaraden threaten the dividing mountains and he pass of Sikaorna, gifted to the line of Drage hundreds of years ago. A dark pledge leads Suda and his company into the realm that Agral cursed long ago, almost to the utter ruin of the Dragor Realm.
