Tag: Fantasy

AVAILABLE AS KINDLE E-BOOK AND PAPERBACK THROUGH THE AMAZON STORE.

She withdrew her arm, but her physical form was changed, and her right arm was gone from the shoulder and her shining form was blackened there. In pain she wept, and her tear lingered by the star that now burnt a vibrant red. In a great explosion it erupted and Livella was tossed far across the universe, but she stared in wonder, for in the place of the star, a child lingered.
He was grey of skin, with coarse hair covering him but his hands were stone and veins of ore glittered across his body in the light of the stars that remained. Livella came to the child and words of the mortals named him Orna and she nurtured him. Quickly he grew and the elements of the destroyed stars became his plaything and together Livella and Orna began to re-order the universe. From her lost stars, she fashioned new ones. These were smaller and less majestic, for her sacrificed stopped her from pulling anymore light from Livinden. Around these lesser stars, Orna formed planets. Worlds of swirling rock he formed, or giants of gas that nurtured great storms. Again, the voices of Agraldin sang in a majestic tone for the glory of the Gods and their creations but still no life came.
Soon Livella became weary of the realm that is as she felt no love now that her stars had been destroyed and she returned to Livinden, but Orna could not linger long in that realm of light. He was born in Besan Gretan, and he was bound to it. Orna now loved Livella, and he wished to ease her hurt and so coming to the area of his birth, he collected the remnants of the star that birthed him and formed a new world. All his power he poured into Ilmgral, and he fashioned continents for the coming of life and dreamt of great oceans where life would start but this thing he could not create. In the attempt, he formed rivers of molten rock and the world became a mass of flames and poisonous fumes that spread to many of his creations, and he roared in his anger.
Livella heard his cry and came from Livinden and looked upon the world of fire and was saddened and yet she shed no tear, for only two tears would she ever shed. One at her sacrifice and one more at the final day. The tear of her sacrifice lingered still by the world Orna had created. Reaching out she grabbed it and feeling the power within she laid it on the world. It glowed for a second and then the rivers of molten rock were calmed and from fissures great oceans formed. Clouds lifted above the world and the first raindrops fell in gentle tears onto the mountains. Water flowed into great bowls of the earth that overflowed and ran in many streams and rivers back to the sea.
The amazement of Livella and Orna was great, but Livella moved, and her radiance was veiled so that the oceans froze, the rivers became glaciers and the voices of Agraldin lamented. At their call, a fist hammered under the frozen ocean.
Livella moved quickly and she pulled towards her a star and Orna placed Ilmgral in orbit around it and set it to turn so that equally the heat of her star could fall upon it. The oceans thawed and rivers flowed again.
From the great sea a figure rose in splendour. He was tall and nimble, with a skin partly like scales of fish that mirror him. His eyes were blue with hints of green and he regarded his parents with love, “You have given life to me from your sacrifice’s and from me the beginnings of life shall come. They will need guiding by starlight and moonlight.”  Thera, they named him, and he parted the sea at his feet and revealed a mountain like a red sunset and another of silver. These Orna took and he shaped them and placed them as moons over the planet like silent guardians to move the tides and aid with the nurturing of life.

THE SUNDERING OF THE TWO MOONS, OUT NOW AS KINDLE E-BOOK AND PAPERBACK THROUGH THE AMAZON STORE.

The war of the dividing mountains.

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.

She was silent and Morelin thought then that he had lost her, but she soon grasped his hand tightly, “I have seen things my love. My father’s secret meetings, his advisors taking trading trips to the frozen north or the apathy towards the tower of my mother’s birth.”
“You know what I say is true.” Morelin’s eyes were firm, “We cannot let this escalate further.”
She nodded, “My father talks of war in spring. The trees of the north shall move southward and shall surround Melkin.”
“They will find fire.” He replied, “For Anglin is nervous and scared in his rule. He has long prepared for such an assault. Tell him of my imprisonment. We must get the kings together if we are to stop this war.”
Her hand released his, “I cannot betray my father.”
“If we do not, then our worlds will crumble.”
“This will doom my people.” She said sadly, “Anglin will come with an army and will not stop until the woods burn.”
“I will beg him not to.” Morelin assured her, “If Anglin gains my release, he will see it as a victory, as will king Nargir, for I shall be banished from his realm.”
“If you are banished, then our time together ends.”
He smiled, hearing the love he thought lost in her words. He leant forward and the branches opened so that he could kiss her trembling lips. She locked him in a firm embrace, letting go of the fear and the pain. When they broke apart, he stared into her eyes, “I did not say it in jest. We are like the moons of heaven, and we can never be separated. If we stop this war, the Gods will reward us, and they will grant my desire to never be parted from you again.”
She kissed him again, “I will do this thing.” Her eyes seemed to grow sad, “But I see only bad things and our separation coming from this. The Gods will curse our treachery. Farewell my love, I will soon see you freed.”
The tree limbs closed back in around him and Lucarnia vanished into the upper boughs. Morelin sat reinvigorated in his cell, waiting for his chance to win his freedom.

OUT 13/08/2021

wind that seemed to carry words between the trees. He listened more carefully, there were words on the wind. Morelin walked towards the sound and the words grew in their clarity. He stepped towards a clearing and gasped. Beneath the dusk moon, a woman sat, singing to the ground, as vibrant blood red flowers bloomed at her words. Morelin, like all the Ilma, could speak to plants and command them to grow. It was the only part of his power that had been bestowed by Gadrika when the gift of the Ilma had been forged, yet he used it little. Morelin was a warrior, he needed his powers to be a weapon.
He stood in the shadow of the trees, watching her as she worked.
From that moment the doom of Morelin was locked and the greatest tragedy of the Ilma’s youth was set in motion. He had heard rumours of Lucarnia and had seen her once as a child but in her womanhood, no story could convey her beauty. Her skin absorbed the red light of the moon and gave it back in greater beauty. Un-like Morelin, she had no red scales but instead lines like roots came down from her eyes and clung delicately all the way down her cheeks. She was slender like a flower in spring, but Morelin could feel the strength of the trees in her.
A wind rose around Morelin and seemed to flutter around Lucarnia. He watched as a smile crept onto her lips. She sang again and a beautiful red flower bloomed. Her gaze fell suddenly towards him, “Come out fair lord and bask in the light. Umoria will soon come across the glade and their light will mix. Come and see the flowers, you are upsetting the trees.”
Nervously Morelin stepped into the glade. He bowed slightly; his hand pressed against his forehead. She did the same, “Hail lord of the Ilma.” Her eyes went to the silver flower pin on his shoulder, “You are of the house of Mina?”
Morelin stared into her piercing green eyes that seemed so strange from the golden irises he was used to, “I am Morelin Diactra.” He said in a shaking voice, “From the town of Minagrin.”
“It is a pleasure.” She said as she turned back towards the flowers.
“You must be Lucarnia Bitaran, daughter of the wood king.”
She nodded and Morelin stepped closer to her and as he did, Umoria moved across the sky and gave its silver light to the clearing and it mingled, as she had said, with the light of Aradtoria.
“Tell me wood daughter, how did you know I was here?” He asked.
“You said it in the name you give me. We who live in the wood, hear the trees and many do not like the hearts of the Ilma, who chop them down for their machines of war.” She laughed like it was some joke, but Morelin hesitantly looked towards the trees, his power reaching out to silence the wind that blew through them. His eyes then went down to the flower, “This is livora.” He said, “That grows only on the lands where the kin of Drage have lived.”
She looked up at him, taking in the lines of his face, “It was sent over by my family who reside over the ocean. It does not like our soil so I must force it to grow.” She pulled a seed from the top of one of the flowers and placed it in Morelin’s hand, “Perhaps you could grow them in your garden my lord.”