Interviewer:
Today I am joined by a fascinating guest. He
comes to us from an entirely different plane of reality. His world is
called Eluramance and his name is Zethras. Welcome, Zethras.
Zethras:
Greetings and thank you for having me. It has
been a unique pleasure visiting your home, Earth.
Interviewer:
Please describe for the audience your
appearance; I imagine they will be somewhat surprised.
Zethras:
Gladly. I stand one hundred and seventy-eight
centimetres tall, or five feet ten inches for those who go by that system. I
have somewhat pale skin and delicate but robust features. However, the thing
you would probably notice first is my hair, which is shoulder length and stark
white. The sclera, irises, and pupils of my eyes glow a bright red colour.
Finally, you would notice that I am carrying a long hammer, the head of which
resembles a blacksmith's hammer. It is a deep shade of carmine red and I carry
it with me wherever I go. However, I have mostly hidden it while I have been
here on Earth.
Interviewer:
So Zethras, you have been here on Earth for six
months, travelling our world and learning about it. Tell us about your
impressions.
Zethras:
I have. The first two months were quite
informative; I got to meet all manner of people in my travels, though I admit
that having to utilize your strange flying machines was frustrating.
Interviewer:
Why is that? Airplanes have made travel for us
much more convenient, giving global access to the majority of people.
Zethras:
Where I come from, there are great rivers of
magical energy that span the entirety of my home; they branch out and spread
into a web of magic that suffuses everything. A sufficiently skilled — and
powerful — practitioner of magic can travel upon the largest of these Ley-lines
from point to point nearly instantly. So you can imagine that waiting at an
aero port for hours seems a little slow to me.
Interviewer:
I suppose it would when you put it like that.
Now, you mentioned that the first two months were quite informative, but what
about the other four?
Zethras:
In the middle of your month of March, I was in
the region known as France, specifically the city of Paris - a beautiful town,
by the way - enjoying a midday meal when one of those scrying boards...
Interviewer:
Scrying? Hmm, do you mean television?
Zethras:
Yes, that's what you call them. When one of
those… televisions began relaying a message of a sickness spreading throughout
your world and everything began shutting down. Inside of a week, it was almost
impossible to travel anywhere expediently. Since nearly everyone had started
taking shelter at home in fear of this sickness, I decided to take shelter
myself - not that I needed to, mind you, since diseases have no hold over me,
but to protect everyone else.
Interviewer:
I would imagine that it must have been quite
dull for you.
Zethras:
It was, but then again, when you've lived as
long as I have, a few months pass by nearly unnoticed. I spend most of my time
listening to these televisions talk about world events, and there is certainly
no shortage of that.
Interviewer:
If I might be so bold to make an assumption?
Zethras:
Certainly.
Interviewer:
I suspect your opinion of Earth has dropped
somewhat, considering what has been in the news recently?
Zethras:
Hmm, I wouldn't say that per se. Being partially
human myself, I can - at the very least - understand what is going on.
Interviewer:
How do you mean?
Zethras:
When I was very young, I faced a lot of ridicule
and discrimination, because of how different my peers perceived me to be.
Interviewer:
I take it that white hair and glowing red eyes
are not particularly common in Eluramance?
Zethras:
Those features hadn't even appeared yet; I still
looked like a typical human at the time. It wasn't until one of my tormentors
brought up a rather touchy subject, causing me to lash out and hurt him -
rather severely - that my hair and eyes changed.
No, they simply knew of my mother, who was, by all accounts,
a powerful woman indeed. Yet she died giving birth to me, which caused my
father to take me to live with his family and leave. They all saw me as a bad
omen, yet they did not hate me; they were afraid of me.
Interviewer:
How did you cope with that?
Zethras:
I set out to do good in the world by helping the
helpless, curing the incurable, teaching those who sought me out. It took a
while but, eventually, people began seeing me as a force of good and not
someone to be feared. Now I am nearly universally recognized and respected.
Interviewer:
To broach another branch of the concepts of
discrimination and racism, and consistent with the news reported in recent
weeks, how does your criminal justice system work in Eluramance? For example,
is it difficult to handle people who are capable of feats of magic?
Zethras:
That has a slightly complicated answer.
Eluramance has a two-sided system which separates crimes that are mundane from
crimes of a magical nature. When non-magical crimes occur, the perpetrator in
question is apprehended by the city guard and their sentence is rendered by an
elected official of the city where the crime occurred. Simple, right? Well, the
tricky part is when a magical crime takes place.
Interviewer:
I would imagine so.
Zethras:
When children show that they have magical
capabilities, their parents enrol them in the Academy of Magic. This institute
has existed in Eluramance in one form or another for thousands and thousands of
years. There, the students are educated in a wide array of subjects, much like
Earth's elementary school system though, coincidentally, they are not taught
any magic. Most importantly, the students are taught a rigid sense of moral
"goodness." That is to say, they are taught how to become good people
so that when they graduate, they are much less likely to become a menace to
society. However, despite the Academy's best efforts, a small number of
students become problems out in the world.
When a magical crime occurs, the incident is
reported to the elected officials of the city or town where it took place. The
report gets delivered to the nearest Temple - the place where Academy graduates
go to learn their magic - where it is reviewed by the senior members of the
Temple and bounties are then issued. In Eluramance, magic users - called
"mancers" in our language - may choose to lawfully operate outside of
the Temple, using their magic to serve the people of Eluramance. One such way
of helping the people of Eluramance is the work taken on by mercenary
companies. Mancers that offer their services either to a province for work as a
bounty hunter (chasing down magically gifted criminals and such) or other, more
gentle actions, such as visiting fringe towns and cities curing the sick or
helping struggling farming families harvest their crops, for example.
But I digress. Once a criminal mancer is
apprehended alive - which is more uncommon than not - authorities give the
misguided mancers three choices by the law. They may choose their punishment.
Their first option is for the criminal to either repair, replace, or otherwise
undo their crime. A second option would involve having the criminal's magic
removed from their body and being jailed for some time or, if the offence is
severe enough, execution.
Interviewer:
Can you give us some examples of crimes that
would warrant each of those punishments?
Zethras:
Indeed. I recall one incident of a Cryomancer -
a mancer who uses ice magic - disgruntled with a family in one of the small
towns in Hydro Province. He made it snow on their crops for a week in the
middle of summer, causing the entire crop to die. Subsequently, he was
apprehended and his sentence was to re-sow the fields he had destroyed by hand.
After a few days of this hard labour, his outlook had mellowed significantly
and he became a prominent Cryomancer.
For the punishment of having one's magic
severed, I distinctly recall an incident regarding a Luxmancer - a light magic
user - who tried to undo a past event by directly altering the timeline, which
is strictly forbidden as it has the potential to cause all sorts of
catastrophic events. He didn't even need to be apprehended as the appropriate
authorities were present. His magic was summarily severed and he was banished
from the Temple.
Most things you would consider on Earth to be
worthy of execution have parallels in Eluramance though, from what I've
gathered, that is a contentious subject from society to society. Regardless,
violent crimes such as murder and rape have a zero-tolerance policy. Those
convicted of it rarely make it back because the mercenaries typically have to
kill them to stop them as they don't come willingly. There are crimes for which
there are no equivalents on Earth, such as the practice of blood magic, which
also has a zero-tolerance policy.
*At this point, Zethras exhales sharply, as he has been speaking for
minutes on end, and reaches for the glass of water sitting on the table, which
he sniffs.*
Zethras:
I am relieved that this water doesn't smell like
some of the water I've partaken of in the big cities; it tastes like
chlorinated lime. While we're discussing large towns, there is a foul miasma of
toxic gases that hangs over many of them, although some are worse than others
(such as parts of China, India, and also here in your country).
Interviewer:
It is a huge problem. Many of the countries of
the world are doing their best by taking steps to clean our atmosphere. The
most prominent contributors aren't making concerted efforts, mainly because the
businesses that produce the fuels that power the machines don't want their
profits to plummet.
Zethras:
But what about their children or their
grandchildren? Don't they care that if they don't take drastic steps soon,
there won't be a place for them to live?
Interviewer:
Judging by their actions, their only concern
seems to be their monetary wealth.
Zethras:
That's profoundly ignorant; I hope for all your
sakes that something changes, and quickly.
Interviewer:
Indeed it is. And so do I. I am rather fond of
our little blue planet.
Zethras:
I will say though, that despite all these
negative things I've seen over the past four months - especially that leader
from the south half of North America - who can't seem to squeeze a single drop
of truth from between his lips to save his life, most of what I've seen has
been incredible.
Overall, your world has an enormous amount of
love shared between people from all across your world. Love and respect are
fundamental in Eluramance; it was by the love of our creator that we came into
being and we show that in countless ways. In Eluramance, love is ubiquitous and
not anchored to one specific ideology or way of thinking; all love is beautiful
and precious and celebrated in all forms. As it appears to be happening right
now, I see your televisions refer to it as "Pride Month."
Interviewer:
That's right; it is the celebration of love and
respect between all of Earth's people.
Zethras:
That is a beautiful reason for celebration. In
Eluramance, celebrating love in such a festive way would be like celebrating
having a pair of hands.
Interviewer:
Would you elaborate on that?
Zethras:
Love for those in Eluramance is so ingrained
into our beings, so profound in its ubiquitousness, and thus open-heartedly
accepted, that if we were to throw a party for it, it would never end.
Interviewer:
One final question for you. You mentioned in a
previous question "when you'd lived as long as I have..." , it piqued
my curiosity. Would it be inappropriate to ask your age?
Zethras:
Hahaha, not at all. I just don't think you'll
believe me. Hmm, let me see. Based on the number of hours for Earth's daily
rotation and the number of days in your yearly cycle, I am one hundred
thousand, eight hundred and forty-two years old. Give or take a month or two.
*At this time, the Interviewer's jaw opens slightly, and she tilts her
head to the side, as if deciding whether or not Zethras was joking.*
Zethras:
I told you - even in my world, that's a very,
very long time to be alive.
Interviewer:
You must have countless stories to tell, having
been alive for so long.
Zethras:
Indeed I do.
Interviewer:
That's about all the time we have for now,
Zethras. Do you have any final thoughts to share with the people of Earth?
*Zethras seems to stare past the interviewer, his red eyes looking to
make contact with yours, the reader.*
Zethras:
Remember, love is unconquerable.
Zethras:
And one more thing, for you.
*Zethras reaches into his coat pocket and removes a round, deep red
garnet about the size of an almond and slides it across the table towards the
interviewer.*
Interviewer:
What is this?
Zethras:
One of the many stories that you guessed I carry
with me. Simply hold it in your hand, extend your thoughts towards it, and it
will show you.
After another few seconds, Zethras waved his hand slightly and a
crackling red portal appeared behind him. With an inclination of his head, he
stepped through the portal, which closed behind him. The interviewer stared at
the gemstone, wondering what it might contain.
LESSIA
Eluramance Chronicles
Book One
Lucas Ryan Maloney
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: FriesenPress
Date of Publication:
Number of pages: 342
Word Count: 91,727
Eluramance Chronicles
Book One
Lucas Ryan Maloney
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: FriesenPress
Date of Publication:
Number of pages: 342
Word Count: 91,727
Cover Artist: Bryan Maloney
Book Description:
A war is brewing between demonic forces and the peoples of Eluramance...
Lessia has always wanted to be a mancer, one of the great magic-wielders of Eluramance. Her wish comes true when, in an act of desperation, she performs her first act of magic and is granted admission to the Academy of Magic.
There, she learns the skills and discipline to use her gifts for the sake of good. Upon graduation, Lessia intends to dedicate her life to the study of magic. But when her class is killed by demons and her best friend taken, Lessia is instead thrust into the war between Eluramance’s forces of good and Zavus’ evil army of demons.
Each of the races of Eluramance brings their own unique prowess to the field of battle. For the dwarves, their strength; the elves, their wisdom; the orcs, their might; the humans, their drive, and the Drakonics, their ancient connection to the powers that forged the world, and the magics of those ancient ones. As for Lessia, a seeming no-one caught between these dangerous powers, what can she possibly wield to protect her home from the forces of evil?
Discovering her place in this battle for existence, Lessia journeys through the distinct—and often dangerous—provinces of Eluramance, fighting Zavus’ deadly lieutenants on the path to facing the Dark One himself. With the help of powerful allies, she will battle for the soul of her country—and uncover the true nature of her own exceptional ability.
Download a FREE ARC from the author's site
Excerpt
Chapter 10
Light
And Shadow
Vaelik stood
over Lessia, his evil smile wide. “Stupid girl,” he said. “Your friends sent
you here, never intending for you to succeed. They sent you here to die.”
“They would
never!” Lessia said with as much defiance as she could muster.
“And yet, here
you lie, barely alive and helpless to prevent me from ending your life,” Vaelik
said. “However, there is a way for you to not only keep your life but to become
so much more powerf—”
Lessia didn’t
allow him to finish speaking instead, she spat a globule of blood into his eye.
“Keep your offer, demon collaborator,” she said. “I would rather die a thousand
times over than become Zavus’ plaything.”
Vaelik’s eyes
narrowed. He drew his arrow back, aiming directly at Lessia’s heart.
Suddenly, the
green darklight torches extinguished, bathing the chamber in inky darkness.
Lessia heard a soft sound, like fabric drawn over a surface, and then a clash
of arms, followed by a brief shower of sparks that illuminated Vaelik and his
hooded opponent.
On an instinct
fuelled by adrenaline, Lessia lashed out with her armoured boot and connected
with what felt like a leg, knocking one of the two people to the floor. Someone
grabbed her leg. The sensation of displacement without motion overwhelmed her
dazed senses for a moment but cleared quickly.
Vaelik yelled a
foreign word, and the darklights flared back into existence. Lessia found
herself behind one of the crates on the opposite side of the room, next to a
hooded woman carrying a curved black short sword.
“Who are you?”
Lessia asked softly.
“Like you even
have to ask,” the woman said. She pulled her hood down, revealing Marian’s
grinning face. “Let’s kill this bastard first,” Marian whispered, holding a
hand up, stalling Lessia’s stream of questions. Marian placed a hand on her
shoulder, and Lessia felt energy flow into her body, fortifying her.
“I don’t have a
weapon,” Lessia said. “I…broke it.”
“Just distract
him and cast me some shadows,” Marian said.
Lessia nodded.
“Cover your eyes.”
Marian pulled
her hood back up and readied her blade. Lessia let out another blinding flash
of light, even brighter than before, causing Vaelik to cry out. Lessia stood up
and saw Vaelik cringe, so she yelled at him. He blindly launched an emerald
green bolt of lightning at her, which she evaded easily. As she rolled away,
Lessia emitted a constant aura of light, casting shadows off all the various
objects in the room.
As soon as the
shadows appeared, Marian rolled into the nearest one and vanished in a puff of
black smoke.
“Maneuver it
closer to him,” Marian whispered in Lessia’s mind.
“Be ready,”
Lessia replied. She peeked around the corner of her cover. The shadow Marian
was hiding in was about ten feet away from Vaelik. She knelt and rolled across
to another cover, a bolt of lightning missing her by inches.
“Come out,
Luxmancer. I promise you won’t suffer,” Vaelik said.
“I know, and I
promise you won’t either,” Lessia retorted. She rolled away again and saw the
shadow reach Vaelik. Marian reappeared and stabbed her blade into Vaelik’s
abdomen, thrusting her face in front of his.
“Light and
shadows are never without the other,” Marian said, ripping the blade out and
then impaling it up through Vaelik’s chin and through his head, piercing out
the top of his skull.
Vaelik’s green
eyes dimmed instantly, and his body went limp. Blood poured from all his
various stab wounds. Lessia extinguished the bright aura she had produced and
conjured an orb of light that floated just below the ceiling. She looked at
Marian, who retrieved her weapon from Vaelik’s corpse. Marian grinned, and the
two embraced.
“I’m sorry,”
Marian said.
Lessia looked at
her. “For what? You just saved my life.”
“For trying to
kill you, all those months ago,” Marian said. “I just…”
Lessia shushed
her with a hand. “I know you weren’t yourself, you had one of Zavus’ demons in
you, controlling you. You aren’t to blame.”
“No, Lessia,
that is not how it works,” Marian said, on the verge of tears. “The demon
spirit doesn’t control you; it enhances whatever attribute your magic has. And
as you know, Umbramancy is aligned with pride, and it was that pride that drove
me to seek vengeance on the light and you.”
“She speaks the
truth,” a voice said. Marian whirled around, her blade ready to strike, but
neither she nor Lessia saw anybody.
“Oh, come now,
Lightless, you would recognize my voice anywhere,” the voice said. Vaelik’s
body suddenly raised, as if it was a puppet on strings. “She wanted so badly to
spill your blood that even if I hadn’t told her to do so, she likely would have
on her own.”
Marian screamed
in frustration and anger, throwing her blade at Vaelik’s possessed corpse, impaling
his left eye.
“You defile the
very air that carries your words, Zavus,” Marian said, her voice full of venom.
Using Vaelik’s
own body, Zavus pulled the dagger from Vaelik’s eye, tearing bits of flesh with
it.
“How rude,”
Zavus said, “and to think I was going to keep the two of you alive for my
experimentation. But I see you’re far too much trouble.”
Two things
happened simultaneously. Zavus conjured a black flame tinted with red and
green, and Marian grabbed Lessia. Just as the flame fully manifested, Lessia’s
vision went dark, and she felt the same odd sensation of displacement without
motion.
A split second
later, Lessia found herself back in the Temple of Aero, surrounded once again
by Zethras and the Drakonics.
“See?” Zethras
said. “I told you I could still feel her life force, despite passing from my
sight.” He then looked at Marian. “I am, however, surprised to see you. How did
you manage to find Lessia where we failed?”
Marian grinned
and grasped something hanging around her neck on a silver chain, removed it,
and tossed it to Zethras, who caught it.
Zethras opened
his hand, revealing a polished silver ring which, upon close inspection, was
very faintly sending out a gentle pulse in a particular direction—towards
Lessia.
“How…?” Zethras
asked. “This needs to be paired with…”
Lessia reached
into one of the small pouches on her sword belt and removed Marian’s silver
ring, which Morgaen had retrieved for her from the site of the ambush at Mount
Lainor. She held it up at eye level between her fingers, and a look of
recognition crossed Zethras’ face.
“Evelyn found
these rings on one of her early adventures before we met,” Marian said. “They
were on an island covered with ancient Elvish ruins. They bear an inscription
that reads ‘Meyu-das-shyn’, but neither Evelyn or any of her crew could
translate it.”
“Beacons of the
heart,” Zethras said. “It has been a long time since I have seen one of these,
let alone a bonded pair that still work perfectly.” He looked up from the ring
in his palm. “It is an ancient type of Hemomancy that, like so many other
things, has been forgotten by most. For the last ten thousand years, elemental
magics have become more and more prominent, and Hemomancy has faded into myth
and legend. There has not been a new Hemomancer in nearly a thousand years,
ever since the Red Twilight tragedy.”
“I recall that
name,” Lessia said. “It was in one of my history books, but only as a reference
point to other events. What happened?”
“I had learned
of a rumour that one of my disciples had been dabbling in a forbidden form of
Hemomancy, commonly known as blood magic,” Zethras said.
“Isn’t that
redundant?” Lessia asked, confused.
“No,” Zethras
said firmly. “Hemomancy, at its most basic level, enhances life energy and then
uses that creative force to accomplish a task. Because life itself is not
restricted to a single form of thought, that energy can be made to do nearly
anything.” He scowled. “Blood magic consumes life energy as a fuel, instead of
enhancing it. Blood mages cut themselves, spilling their blood and draining the
energy from their bodies, or through sacrificing another. It is the most unholy
act one can do, as it desecrates the gift Hemo gave us so many ages ago.”
Zethras turned and looked out the window.
“So, I travelled
to the Temple of Hemo, which lies in ruins today. I found all but one of my
students lying dead, arranged in a circle, drained of all their blood. The
murderer spoke to me in a calm tone, saying Hemo had come to him in a vision,
that he wanted his followers to join him in his realm. He was to send them to
Hemo, for Hemo had chosen him as Hemo’s Scion.”
Scion. The word
rang in Lessia’s mind. She remembered what Vaelik had called her—the Scion of
Lux.
“What does that
mean, Scion?” asked Lessia
It was Morgaen
who spoke. “Sometimes, when a child is born with magic, it forms a different
kind of bond with them. Ever since the Seven passed from Eluramance, a portion
of their power remained, to forever be passed down in the spirits of those who
follow their path. These individuals are called Scions. Even though they are
not bound to a dragon’s soul like we are,” she said, indicating the Drakonics,
“their powers are immense. To complement this, they wield their respective
fragment.”
“How often do
they appear?” Lessia asked.
“One hundred
years after the previous one dies,” Zethras said.
“When did the
last Scion of Lux die?” Lessia asked, expecting another specific answer. What
happened surprised her.
Zethras stood
very still, almost unnaturally so, and a red aura surrounded him as if wreathed
in flames. He glanced over his shoulder, and Lessia saw his eyes dim and
narrow.
The four
Drakonics raised their weapons and Zethras looked at them. He closed his eyes
and shook his head, like a bear trying to disperse a swarm of bees. A portal opened
beneath his feet and he fell through it, closing it as he passed through.
“Did I say
something wrong?” Lessia asked cautiously. The four Drakonics looked at each
other.
“Emotions run
deep within the Blood Lord,” Conleth said. “He was wed to Grand Paladin
Zelwynn, the most recent Scion of Lux.”
“Until she
died,” Morgaen said, “killed during a mission just over a year ago, trying to
prevent all this from happening.”
“How did…”
Lessia began to ask, but Conleth held up a hand to silence her.
“It is not our
place to tell you,” he said. “In time, he may tell you himself. But the memory
is still too recent, too fresh.”
“Is that what
that was?” Lessia asked.
Marak spoke this
time. “For as long as we can remember, Zethras has always had two sides. The
eternal protector who fights for every life that is and will be is the version
of him that everyone knows, either personally or through the legends he leaves
scattered through the long winding path of history.” He touched the glowing
orange Dragonstone in the centre of his chest plate. “Our bond-mates were still
comparatively young when Zethras was born, and he has—according to our
ancestral memories—not changed at all since he’s known them.”
“But, like all
things, he has a darker side,” Morgaen said, “When painful memories come back
to him, if they are powerful enough, he can lose control. We have come to know
it as the Blood Fury.”
“You have seen
the craters and gorges of the canyon lands to the south, yes?” Conleth asked,
to which Lessia responded by nodding, “That was him, last year. I am sure you
felt the quakes too.”
As if on cue,
another portal appeared, and Zethras reappeared, his features having returned
to normal.
“You know, a
thought just occurred to me,” he said. “How could you have possibly known that
Zelwynn died?”
“Vaelik said his
master told him the Scion of Lux would be sent to stop him and reclaim
Raizoth,” Lessia said, “and that was his chance to acquire something he called
‘the beacon of hope.’”
“That is
impossible,” Zethras whispered to himself, then held out a hand to Lessia.
“Come with me.”
Lessia took his
hand, and he opened another portal.
“Where are we
going?” Lessia asked.
“To see if the
impossible has changed.”
About The Author:
From early childhood, Lucas Ryan Maloney's imagination fueled his love of storytelling. From powerful magic to powerful warp drives, black holes to supernovae and heroes battling villains, Lucas could weave tales that kept children and adults alike enthralled. Through his teens, Lucas fulfilled his quota of shenanigans and embraced a digital lifestyle while studying culinary arts. After several years of pursuing an unfulfilling culinary path, a profound event opened his mind to his true calling.
A few years ago, while walking in a forest contemplating his chosen path, Lucas found himself caught in a thunderstorm. As he pondered, a blinding bolt of lightning and ear-piercing crack of thunder split the sky. Startled, Lucas moved to a nearby clearing, sat down and continued his self-reflection. After three more lightning flashes and thunder claps, Lucas closed his eyes and peered deep into his heart, slowly a vision of himself writing in leather-bound writing journals surfaced.
Lucas says he's not sure how long he sat there in his mindful reprieve and that when he opened his eyes and looked up, the clouds parted revealing blue sky. He smiled knowingly, stood up and headed home.
On the way, Lucas stopped at a stationery store and made a purchase, the first of many.
Lucas resides in Southern Ontario, Canada
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing your great book and for the giveaway too.
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