Ashanrian Ascent: A new Chapter

In the beginning, there was man, and man alone; mortals who dwelt upon Eternia, besieged by the elements which encompassed them. 1

In the beginning, there were demons who ruled this world, dark insidious creatures that dwelt within the Azsharak, the world without light. 2

At the dawn of this age, the age of Seraphina, magick had no precedence nor the faery of legend. 3

Chapter I4

War. They bled from her womb, the earth, and sky. These demons, spurned by our mother, filled with discontent and spite. 5

Here on the plains of Adamar, a thin line of men and blades met the flame and ice of magick without end. Their lifeless forms lost evermore and even more to the quick caress of death, a solace so to say. Their screams of rage, hatred, and fear, in an instant, parted like a breath in the frost of the morning. 6

So the day would end to this. And in the end, the sea would part, and only the bodies would remain. 7

There among the tents and sparks of life, a small flame was kindled for warmth; Men soothed what little they could of weary limbs and eyes. Yet at the pavilion of the Seraphine, there stood no guards at attention, only light, as Anterithere Mikawlra passed through its pliant walls.8

“My Lord,” he whispered, to the man upon the throne, unwilling to wake the child that his lord held.9

“Anterithere, it is good to see you are well.” was the Lord’s reply, as his eyes quietly passed along the empty seats that accompanied him and returned to the child before him.10

“Another day and another seat unfilled at the table;” sighed Mikawlra, “our losses are staggering. By the end of the week, what is left of Elven nation will be women and children.”11

“And what of it Anterithere? Look here upon the table, what have we to eat? Bread and water? There are no more fields for grain or pastures for meat. All of them, the farmers, the butchers, and our children, all have come to war.”12

“We cannot hold.” lamented his general in return, “When shall the Dinivær come to our aide?”13

“When they can,” replied Keulian sharply, but even he knew not, “When Honukar can.”14

“They say the Veraminthe have turned to madness,” Mikawlra spoke as he turned to a hunk of bread and tore a piece from the hardtack roll; he tried to grimace as he chewed. “It is why our Father has not returned.”15

“It no longer matters, Anterithere, our place is no longer here.”16

“My lord?”17

“These” he replied, tapping the nose of the child who had just awakened, “are our future. No matter the end, they still give us hope.”18

“But faith does not win wars, My Lord.”19

“For an old man you lack much in life, particularly a wife.” remarked Keulian with a smile, “But yes, I concede that faith does not win wars. Yet it is more than a belief, it is a limitless power that can be harnessed.”20

Yet Anterithere could not reply, for the calls to arms arose once more; no rest, no end, as the cry called the morning, and they to war. Again.21

“My lord” he said simply.22

“Yes Anterithere,” came the reply, “I know.”23

Keulian placed the child upon the altar and closed it’s eyes with his hands. A thin smile passed across his haggard face as he spoke quietly to himself, “May he live in a better age then ours.”24

The Age of Eternia. 25


Chapter II26

Once more, the divisions grew and so against the will of our Father, Honukar, the Dinivær shattered, and so emerged the Shinothere and the Veraminthe.27

Yet it would not be as he had dreamt. For few that remained that held his optimism. The Infiratus Otha, had bled the land of its fortunes, and so its’ people returned to nothing; for the fields were sown with soot and ash from the blacksmiths flames. Their lives taken by twice by the elements; an injury beyond repair.28

That would send our world, into madness. 29

In the passing years, famine grew upon the land, a hunger unable to be quenched by the people who no longer knew how to live. For every man was now his own man, one who worshipped the nothingness that was his life. It would be marked by silence; an unruliness in a place with no rule. 30

In the end, it would not be as he had dreamt.31

Chapter III32

It fell upon a single night, the peace of our world, to madness.33

They were born, filed, and bred, these sons and daughters of the Shinothere, raised in the vague promise of a wanted land. They were pressed forward, yielded to the Aru de Feladore, the heralded ritual of the Harashorn; when each family would impart their child to the darkness of the Seraphine, the Fortress of Light. It arose from the depths of the earth, as a pinnacle which touched the stars.34

For the people, it was an obelisk, a requiem to the past. Yet so was the fate of every youth born to the Shinothere since the Metherean War. So it was the woe of our people. So the had our Lords sought the Ashanare for three centuries; those scions who held within them the remnant of the Orb of Natuwin.35

It was… the dawning of Magick, the grandeur and height of Eternia, with the birth of the Orb Natuwin.36

It was said, that they, our children, were herded by the Feradine, to the ahlls of Hataphal, and those who emerged as they had entered were given to the Phenthere and the Phirian; the legions of the faithful.