Well, I do still have something I can share. However it's not as dramatic as last week's offering. I crafted an intro text in the vein of a poem or song that other authors like to keep in the front of a fantasy book. Something that adds to the world without directly affecting the story. This piece is framed as excerpts from a biblical document related to the religion of Lucaria, which is known, as of now, only as the Clergy. Haven't thought of a good name for the religion yet. The book basically is an autobiography of the founder of this religion, the lord prophet.
This first one is meant to do a little world building. It's basically an account of someone who's managed to see the whole breadth and scope of the universe. This DOES come back much later in the main story, but primarily through allusions from Aeon. He's got secrets.
As I lay there,
bleeding, my brethren laid a tiny box at my feet
The spoils from
the heist which had cost me so much.
Tentatively, I
gazed into the box.
I saw an intense
light, shining in all the colors one could imagine.
Reaching out my
hand, I touched that light,
And was engulfed
in a brilliant flash.
I found myself
floating in a pitch black sky, surrounded by stars.
Looking up, I
could feel the breath leave my body as mine eyes beheld her.
Since we were
children
We have all heard
stories of the goddess, Shanadia.
She is fate’s mistress,
who controls the ebb and flow of time
She is the weaver
of the void, to which all souls must emerge
And to which we
shall all one day return.
She sired the
first children,
The lords of this
and every other world,
Yet bequeathed
this land to all of us.
However, to hear
the stories, one would think her beautiful.
One would think
her strong.
One would think
her imposing.
She is all these
things. And she is none of these things.
When I turned my
eyes to her, I could not understand what I saw,
For what I beheld
that day was not truly a living goddess,
But a corpse that
refused to die.
She bore no legs
and the flesh looked as if it had been flayed
From her entire body,
leaving nothing but
The bloodied bones
of her torso above her waist.
Six bony wings
jutted from her back and supported the heavens around us,
But they were as
pitiful, as wasted and lifeless as their owner.
Save for her face,
which still bore some semblance of life,
Our goddess was
dead.
Even as a corpse,
Shanadia was larger than anything I ever thought possible.
I know, for around
one of her bony hands was a string of beads.
As I drew nearer
to her, I saw these beads for what they truly were.
They were
worlds.
Worlds carved of
her flesh and bone.
Worlds strung
together with the void.
Worlds she had
created to keep her children from warring.
Crafted before
time began.
The stories were
true.
She had given up
everything for the first children.
No longer able to
even move,
She still surveyed
the worlds.
Suspended as they
were upon her wrist,
Which was frozen
in front of her face.
Of her face, I can
only say that nothing could do justice to
Her shimmering
beauty…and her unholy horror.
Perhaps in tribute
to the first of our world sired from her blood
Her face resembled
a vey in its smoothness and beauty
However, her lips
were pale and cold,
Almost like the cold
metal that forged the Legion of Metron,
Who safeguarded
the kings and mages of Lucaria.
Her hair glowed
with more colors than my mind could comprehend,
Flowing about her
with enough chaos
To make the Goetians
the Telnumbrans called upon blush.
Upon her brow, she
bore six eyes. However four of them had
been gouged out,
With an emerald
ooze trickling from each socket.
Of the two eyes
that remained,
Her left eye
glowed with a brilliant golden hue
While her right
shone with gentle silvery light.
Both of these she
fixed upon the many worlds that bore her children
And from her eyes,
innumerable tears poured into the sky.
These tears
floated out to join their brethren,
As the stars we
see when we look up at night.
Then, all at once,
she saw me.
A tiny, insignificant
speck, floating there in the tranquil blackness.
Averting her eyes
from me, she whispered something I could not hear
And I was drawn to
her, born upon her breath.
I tried to speak
of the majesty I beheld.
I tried to ask all
the questions that raged within my heart.
I tried to console
her, for I felt as a child
Who had finally
met his long lost mother.
But no words came
from my lips.
Instead, a wry
smile formed upon Shanadia’s mouth,
As more tears
poured out of her eyes.
“You are the
second” she whispered.
“I can interfere
no longer. I have not the strength.
However, by chance
you have found me, little one…as did your predecessor.
I pray that you
will find a better use for your new power than he.”
And then, I began to fall.
I was drawn
inexorably towards the bracelet on her wrist.
And though I was
unbelievably high, as I fell I could see
The outline of the
continent of Serano.
The large mass of
land was surrounded by blue on all sides
While on either
side of it were two beads, strung together by a black thread.
The world to our
right was crimson and flickered erratically.
The world to our
left was silver and glowed at a constant pitch.
And it was from
this high perch I understood.
In an instant, I
awoke to find myself amongst friends.
My bleeding had
stopped, but I swooned nonetheless.
They caught me and
when I awoke it appeared
As if my body was
shimmering
Sitting up, I held
my hand to my head
And saw it glow
with all the colors I had seen
Rippling through
Shanadia’s hair.
It was then I
knew.
I knew the truth
of our birth.
I knew of the
horror that marched upon Constantine.
And I knew what I must
do.
-Leyline
Arcanum: Revelation 24:52
This piece is meant to give a little history of Cheridan, the lich king, who may appear in the series much later, provided it gains steam, but establishes how the religion got started and became a theocracy, ruling over Lucaria. It also establishes a philosophy akin to regular religions of tolerance and oneness with your fellow man, however it also has enough tension in it for people to abuse it with prejudice.
As I march through
the streets,
Draped in pristine
white armor with a matching hooded robe,
The people let out
a raucous cheer. Their savior has
arrived.
I can barely
contain my laughter.
I am no savior. Merely a thief who had stumbled upon the
truth.
As I told the
truth, I gained followers.
The kings of
Lucaria began to bend their knees to me
They asked me to
save, their lord prophet,
To save them from
Cheridan.
To save them from
the Lich King of Telnumbra.
I had seen
Shanadia and heard her words.
And I knew that he
and I were destined for battle.
In time, I formed
an army. The clergy, we called them.
Soldiers, fighting
for Shanadia’s cause.
Ever at my side
were my compatriots,
Garbed in their
own armor of gold and silver.
A far cry from the
squalored streets of Constantine
we grew up on.
They were the
reason I chose to fight.
They were the only
family I had ever really had.
I wanted to
protect them.
And yet, with all
these cheering voices around me,
I felt strangely
wistful.
Though I was no
savior, I felt all the people’s hopes
Swirling around
me. It was like the embrace of a mother
I had never known.
They too were part
of my family. Part of my flock.
I wanted to
protect them
And even those in
Telnumbra who chose not to fight.
Or those who
opposed Cheridan.
I wanted to
protect them too.
I wanted
everything. I wanted money.
I wanted
power. I wanted love.
And I wanted to
save this world
That Shanadia had
sacrificed so much for us to have.
The box had
changed me.
Made me realize
the truth of the world.
And now I was
marching off to war,
flanked by ten
million mages born of all manner of races.
The jela-vey bent
their knee to our cause
Believing
themselves the true children of Shanadia.
The nal-vey had
lent us their beasts,
swelling our ranks
with men and apocra alike.
Many sel-vey,
therians, and teythens had fled from Telnumbra.
They too joined
us,
Hoping to stop
Cheridan from destroying their homes.
The neeg lent us
their cannons and their explosives
In hope of stopping
the dark one’s advance.
And every human
who could lift a sword, wield a spell,
Or cook a meal was
called into action as well.
The hopes of many
rested on my shoulders.
The hopes of the
Lucarians.
The hopes of the
Telnumbrans.
Shanadia’s hopes.
And the hopes of
my comrades.
I did not know if
my power would be enough.
I only knew that I
had to try.
And when all was
said and done,
I would tell the
whole world the truth.
What I had seen
and what I knew to be true.
I would tell
everyone of Shanadia.
I do not fear
those who walk with Cheridan.
For I knew what it
was like to slave under a king
To be the servant
of another’s whims.
To be taken by
lusty knight
And be unable to
fight back.
Nay…those fighting
under the lich king’s banner
Were fighting for
their future.
They were no more
a pack of monsters than us.
And when this war
was done, I swore
That I would
guarantee a bright future for all of them as well.
No, I do not fear
those who walk with the Lich King.
For they are my
brother’s and sisters.
Though we follow
different paths
Though our bodies
and minds are different
Though they walk
with the dark,
and I walk with
the light
We are all the
same, under Shanadia.
However, Cheridan
is different.
I have seen
firsthand the kind of world his kind will bring.
He seeks to stand
at the top of Serano,
Upon a throne
forged from the corpses of the innocent.
He sees himself as
a god
While his
followers believe that through him they will be saved.
I say the
nay. I have lived long enough to know,
That men who call
themselves gods,
Even the walking
dead,
Are nothing more
than abominations upon this earth.
Cheridan is evil
Cheridan is death
Cheridan must be
stopped…
However, his
followers must not be hated
We must never hate
our friends and family.
Only when we
realize this truth
Can Shanadia truly smile down upon us.
This world was not
made for the vey.
It was not made
for the apocra.
It was not made
for humans, neeg, teythens, or the walking dead.
It was made for
all of us.
Made from
Shanadia’s very flesh and bones
For her children.
For her children.
We must share it
Lest we lose it.
That is what this
battle is about.
I will have no
more kings.
I will have no
more nobles.
I will have no
more disparity.
I will have only
the children of Shanadia
Living in this
world together.
-Leyline Arcanum: War 4:34
Okay, these pieces took longer than people might think to write convincingly. However, I'm not sure if I should include one or both of these. I do think it's important, for universe building, but who can say. If anyone has an opinion on these, I encourage you to share. Anyway, the chapters should resume next week, but I've been delayed a lot already. So, who knows. Chapter 6: Choice comes out soon.
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