The Last Maloran Prologue

Introducing a new story for World of Comalan's line of serials! The Malorans are a line of magic users descended from Resta's first king and the founder of Hem Academy. This story is about how the Malorans passed their legacy on to the elves who have succeeded them in modern times and how the history of Resta's throne became so turbulent.

Thea

Freedom at last! The world changed the day the Malorans abdicated Sunburst Keep to their Blackstone allies. Those with opinions about her father's decision to pass the kingdom into the hands of the new king, Rudolph Blackstone, considered this great change to be her responsibility. The logic was sound. After all, no one ever thought she was fit to succeed the great Artix Maloran. From a young age, she had proven to be unconventional in how she presented herself to the world. No matter how her father and the family retainers tried to get her to act more like a man, she could never deny the person she saw herself as. Despite the daily pressure that she was under, young Theodore Maloran could never accept the life that everyone else laid before her. 

This was a source of great shame for her father, but Thea never understood why. Who cared if she identified more with her Aunt Isabelle than her father? It wasn't as if she lacked the intelligence to protect her people. It wasn't even as if she lacked the power to carry on the Maloran family legacy. She was a skilled magic user, but that was the only thing she shared with her father. Somehow, this meant that she could never fill his shoes or his throne. This was something she could live with if the alternative was accepting the narrative that others had foisted on her about herself. Wasn't she entitled to determine her own identity? It was this belief that had turned her into a joke and somehow ended the Royal line.

Now she lived in Gyanda, where there was little to do but worship Chaos day in and day out. Here in the Grand Temple, many of the problems she experienced in the capitol didn't matter. Everyone here knew to take her seriously because she had been given plenty of opportunity to prove her strength. Here, where power was all that mattered, she was free to be herself without consequences.

Cierra

The world changed for the Blackstones when the Malorans abdicated the throne. Before Cierra's family name became synonymous with Royalty, their lives had been very simple. There were two choices for all of the children as they grew up. Some chose to be groomed for life in the clergy at the Monastery her grandmother Karla founded while others chose to preserve life by toiling on the family farm. As the source of the majority of Resta's food, Blackstone Farm was the pride of the kingdom. Many of Cierra's relatives jumped at the chance to experience a life of decadence at Sunburst Keep, but even that wasn't enough to convince her to give up the life she grew up with.

The upshot of this was that she had the farm all to herself. She still had farmhands to help her, but no one around to argue with. She was free to plant whatever she wished and set her own schedule. This was what it meant for a devoted farmer like herself to be free. On the day this realization struck, she might have turned the entire property in her jubilee, but she had work to do.

The morning of Cierra's very first harvest was wracked with anticipation. The time had come to pull up the very first of her special golden potatoes. This marvels of agriculture were the culmination of many years of selective breeding that her father would never have given a single row of their precious fields for her to grow before. This was what she had been looking forward to since long before the abdication: the chance to bring her experiment into the world to delight the masses. But just as she was ready to rush into the fields with glee, an urgent knock rattled her door.

A messenger came to tell her that her brother Gaston had been murdered.

Kalaal

The last of the trees in the westland forests offered a strange sight to Kalaal as they scattered and broke away, revealing a clear blue sky. The wagon he rode in jolted as the horses pulling it took their first steps onto a Restan road. This was it; a hundred-year life in Tanis ended in that moment and gave way to something new. The forest he grew up with was now gone and in the sky he had already seen something few elves had seen before. It was hard to imagine that this was what people in the world beyond the trees were used to seeing when they looked upward.

Everyone called him crazy when he announced that he would be going to see the world. His parents even threatened to disown him, but he didn't care. Kalaal had never felt at ease in such a dark home as Setria. All that surrounded the places where he worked, ate, and slept was stone. To even have a chance of seeing the sky meant leaving the city entirely. Even then the skyline around Setria, the closest city to the Restan border, was almost nonexistent. Ever since he received that fateful letter from Olenia, he had been enamored with the world of blue skies and bountiful light. If his little sister could find more happiness there than among their people, who was to say he couldn't and who were his family to try to stop him?

The wagon turned southward to the city of Amora, where Olenia said she was staying. He supposed the odds of culture shock were minimal there, as the people there were said to worship the same goddess his people did. The cultural values that his sister described seemed so familiar, but couldn't be exactly the same in such an unfamiliar place. Kalaal was ready for all of it; what the humans had in common with his people, the ways in which they were different. In this country, he anticipated a harmonious blend of what he loved about his old home and something new.

And if everything was different, he could handle that too.

Give Back The Stars

The following is a short poem canonically written by Kaleth Marle, which was released to the public when acolytes from the Temple of the Children included the Avatar's journal in a book donation to the Royal Library by mistake. While the contents of the journal have been classified upon discovery, Resta's Princess Selena was so inspired by this poem that she used the Occulus to obtain Kaleth's permission to publish it. Many who've read it have since debated whether this poem is a product of or the inspiration for Kaleth's druidic inclinations.

I beseech you, give back the stars!

I don't want your light in the dark.

I prefer the light the gods made!

Is this what you call a fair trade?

When the world paved its long roads

to carry all the people's loads,

They divided miles of grass

Is this how the world's meant to last?

Whenever you fill up a car

with the fuel you need to go far,

You brew more poison for the air

Is this a world we can bear?

Why must boats sail out just to trawl,

creatures of the sea, one and all?

So much damage is done so we can eat.

Is it possible to live by these feats?

Mortal hands change this world every day

without ever thinking of the ways

we desecrate the world the gods made.

Is this the what we call a fair trade?

Adventures in Comalan: The Fever Plains

Following the aftermath of Salica's retribution for the War of the Gods, Akis' imperial capitol--now known as Midania--has long since had a featureless landscape in which the only people that can live comfortably are the sai'mul. Since the sai'mul have no need for anything but social interaction, all civilization on the once vibrant island have condensed to a handful of coastal cities. This leaves most of the inland space in Midania largely uninhabited. But an empire once thrived here, which explorers frequently note as the cause of their interest in the island. Those who go searching for the ruins of Old Akis, however, must pass through a desolate landscape of gravel and stone. While it is generally agreed by those who've flown over the area that there is little to see here, there has proven to be much to experience here nonetheless for those who walk upon it.

A Katrinean explorer by the name of Mortimer Baltar chronicled his experience in this land in the year 2E274. His journal documents an incredibly surreal month out on what he dubbed "the Fever Plains."

Day 19

The unbearable heat seems to have let up today, but my thermometer disagrees. Could I be getting used to the climate or is this another symptom of my delirium? I can barely read the words I've written on this page. I've found shelter in a cave that is mercifully empty, but it's not the heat that's blurring my vision. There's something in the air. It's not only hindering my vision; it's causing the sights I can discern to be joined by impossible features. I thought I saw a tree near a pond this morning. I was only just thinking that a tree would be the last thing I expect to see out here and there it was. Or so it seemed. When I reached the pond, I saw nothing there but a pile of petrified wood splinters. It was like I was seeing this bit of land back when it was still alive.

What Mr. Baltar saw was an early, yet relatively mild example of the Fever Plains' most notable feature. Those who camp in the region tend to discover that the wildest figures of their imagination consistently appear as hallucinations. These vivid images can expose travelers to the sort of adventures that only they can conceive of. While it isn't widely understood how this is possible, experts have since come to attribute the cause to a layer of magical energy that rests higher off the ground than it would naturally occur. It is said that inhaling these particles causes them to eventually saturate the brain and project images from both their conscious and subconscious minds. While many are led to ask why this only seems to happen in Midania, there are far too many possible explanations to cover in this guide. For a comprehensive listing of the many theories surrounding the nature of the Fever Plains, we recommend Dr. Rolf Whitetree's book, Natural Mysteries of the Land.

Regarding the adventures one can experience in this place, however, we can safely assume that the only limit to what one can see here rests within the traveler's imagination. However, the Midanian government has asked that we warn travelers not to visit these lands without a guide, which can be hired in any of the island's cities. Sai'mul are immune to the hallucinatory effects of the island's ambient magic and so are the only people who can help you should you begin to lose sight of yourself. While extended stays are a difficult undertaking in a place without fauna or vegetation so far from civilization, it is still recommended that no one with a living brain stays longer than a month, as the effects of pure magical energy on the brain aren't widely understood. Despite this, those who spend a week living out their wildest fantasies in the Fever Plains often come back with a plethora of memories that persist even as the magic wears off and their minds return to normal.

The Magister's Rage Part 18

Read from the Beginning!

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Much of what followed my initial defeat of Garanda has been well-chronicled in other texts and I see no reason to challenge them. The "Tale of the Flesh Golem" explains well the fate of the sparesoul that houses Garanda's soul. I would also recommend the "Forgotten Son" for those who wish to know more of Broger and how he has continued to influence the events that have led us to where we are today. As for the day I took the same mantle as Matthew Ryan and the king's late father Joseph Baldus, countless accounts have covered the details of how I became the Archknight. They exclude many details that I would consider intimate, but they are ultimately irrelevant to this story. I have written of my life leading to this initial triumph to provide the context needed to understand why I shed this title and, more importantly, what led to me reclaiming it.

The Avatars have encountered many threats since being declared by the gods, but none were more threatening than the Knightmares, a collection of powerful creatures with deep-seated hatred against the gods. A sentient cloud that was seeded by Crane much to its rage, a sorcerer once spurned by Salica, and a deranged golem in Tanis once buried by Serenity composed a terrifying set of adversaries on their own, but they were far from the most terrifying members of the group. That honor went to the Phoenix Council, a trio of embittered phoenixes who despised Chaos for enslaving one of their own and their leader, Erdas. They had power which eclipsed the majority of the Avatars and a seductive allure that had inspired a great many Templars to turn their backs on the gods, including my own mother. As it turned out, my heightened profile since becoming the Archknight wounded her pride and primed her for the Phoenix Council's manipulation. It was this unforeseen betrayal that allowed them to capture me and deliver me into the custody of their master.

What is not widely known is that Erdas is a god, one I would describe as the God of Suffering. According to the Avatars of Serenity and Salica alike, it would appear that he was their uncle. While his motives for declaring war on our gods and our people remain a mystery, I have experienced firsthand what he is capable of. Although the Avatars would ultimately declare victory over the Knightmares, they were unable to defeat Erdas himself because he remained hidden throughout their campaign. His aim was twofold. With the power of the three Avatars of the Children, he combined the magical essences of life, death, and time through some means indecipherable to me to create new lives for the Kilgor, the race that our gods once belonged to.

But his plan for me was far more straightforward: he wanted to break me. As the current living symbol of the collective will of mankind, it stood to reason that destroying my will and credibility would harm the morale of those he wanted to destroy. I do not say this lightly because I am well aware that this makes for a convenient excuse for a man trying to restore his damaged credibility. But it is well known that I have made myself into a pariah through quite deliberate actions. The reason for this is because, during my captivity, Erdas reminded me exactly why I was already tainted long before I publicly denounced the gods and my role as the Archknight. He forced me to relive, in vivid detail, the mistakes that I have committed to these pages. He reminded me of how I was once cursed with Garanda's presence, how I turned to Samson Amul for answers and performed unspeakable acts under his tutelage, and how I placed my trust in the wrong person, thus turning my greatest shame into an even greater danger. For days, without any chance to resist, he reminded me that I did not deserve the trust that I had gained. By the time I was rescued by the Avatars, I had regressed to the young man that had been tricked by blood mages to accept evil.

I turned my back on everything I had come to believe in, much to the widespread chagrin of my former supporters. I retreated to my home in Palon to recover, speaking to no one but my family. My beloved Voltairine was supportive and thankfully did not pry into my plight. I have yet to thank for her patience because fate separated us yet again soon after my escape from Erdas' clutches. The members of my old blood coven found me and took me at last. Recently, as Voltairine and I were entertaining a visitor, a portal appeared in the form of a blood pool and dragged me in. That was when I found myself once more in the caverns beneath the Solan Lighthouse, which the coven had occupied after Erdas left them for the planet Mennon.

What I saw there was evil, even by the standards I once ascribed to blood magic. Samson Amul, after many years of mastery in blood magic, had turned his curiosity towards something even worse. Dark magic had infected this coven and twisted their studies into the summoning of demons. Consorting with the likes of bladots, they had become something I no longer recognized. Samson was worst of all. He had actually turned one his former students, a man named Jacob Harret, into a wrathar out of curiosity. When I found them, the coven had been draining this demon of his blood for presumably academic purposes. What I saw was far more abhorrent than anything I was used to among the coven. It wasn't out of residual guilt for what I once did as a member, but complete revulsion that I decided that my old coven had to be stopped.

However, to defeat the entire coven alone would have been impossible. They took me so they could keep their eyes on me once more but, in this position, all I could do was attempt to reason with them. I managed to stay any decision to kill me for leaving because I never told anyone about them. Despite learning that plenty of my former friends were unnerved by this new direction, nearly half of them remained committed to the seemingly alluring power of dark magic. It was all I could do to convince whoever I could to retire to their beds when I decided to launch my attack. I knew that the gods did not truly forsake me for rejecting them when my attack was preceded immediately by the unlikely appearance of my youngest daughter Sarianna and a rifleman who called himself Damon Orion. The two had managed to track me down in an attempt to rescue me, but I wasn't ready to leave yet.

The battle that followed was quick and brutal due largely to the number of people who had taken my advice to hide while I wiped out the committed warlocks. With the power of my increasingly reliable silverfist transformation and both Sarianna's gun and Orion's gun to cover me, a defeated Samson laid at my feet only twenty minutes later, with the other dark mages dead. I slew the demon, thus finally taking control of the lighthouse. With that, I was free to leave, but a more pressing matter occurred to me then. If I had known at the time what had become of Voltairine in my absence, my priorities might have been different. But as it was, I felt responsible for the future of my coven. So I took over as their leader with the specific intention of preventing such evil being tolerated among them ever again.

The Solution

My Dear Deidre,

I apologize for having taken so long to respond to your letter. In truth, it was initially received by Norah in the home we were to have made in the capitol, but that isn't where I am. You know how I have grown sick with disgust toward Francis for quite some time. Well, I have finally left him and followed a druidic coven back west to put as much distance between us as possible. I would have written to tell you as much myself, but my life has been ever busier since I left my family. Thankfully, my ever dutiful daughter was able to pass your words to me once I sent word that I have settled in Seres.

Life in Crane's holy city is not as grim as you describe Shaville's outlook to be. There is a food shortage here as well, which is why I do not regret leaving my children with their father. However, there is a sense of hope here that seems to come with the reasoning that these poor harvests have a cause. The Blackstones who govern these lands are certain they will find it in time and they have consistently reported every test they have attempted so far along with their results. They have so far taken credit for cleaning the waters of Lake Whitetree, bred hardier seeds for the next season, and begun to investigate the soil itself. While they still cannot guarantee a more typical harvest quite yet, everyone here understands that they are making great strides toward this goal.

You would love it here in Seres! Everyone seems to take responsibility for everyone else's well-being. My new neighbor Barton is always willing to trade meat for the cloaks I make, which he then shares with the townspeople. With their gratitude earned, I have been able to share in his bounty of whatever apples and grain they can spare. Things are still lean, but no one starves here. The only thing we seem to be lacking for here is your beautiful voice. I am certain Barton and Old Josette would happily trade a bushel of apples for a song. Bring your family if you must. Your presence is the only thing that would improve life in this city.

As for your wizard highwayman, I've never heard of him. I have been fortunate to avoid the attention of even ordinary bandits on my trips both to the Capitol and to Seres. I shudder to think what sort of evil lurks on the road now, but you can rest easy knowing that my own travels have been nothing but pleasant. Now that I am in Seres, I'm not going anywhere unless you need someone lucky to escort you out of your doomed village. You asked me what you should do and my answer is that you should get out of there before the famine claims the lives of you and your family as well! I am safe here and I am waiting for you.

With much love,

Annette Skye

The Stoneguard

For most of their history, the elves' peaceful way of life has been threatened. In the primordial phase of their culture, they warred constantly with the dwarof who once shared the forest with them. After that, they faced constant invasion from the humans of Pyris. The elves were a resilient people, who used their understanding of the land and the magic within to not only survive, but demonstrate why they are the most longest-lived people. When Serenity came to bring the elves' current form to the primitive lenof tribe, they discovered magical power pervades everything in the world, including metals and minerals. It was through this epiphany that they have developed their cultural affinity for metalwork and masonry. But early feats of civil engineering borne from necessity (because it was against the elves' ways to disturb the living parts of the forest) evoked envy from foreign humans. Travelers from Eris and the Eastlands seeking to learn their ways were a welcome occurrence that the elves accommodated gracefully. However, Pyrisians were eager to take advantage of their lack of use for lumber by invading their land to cut the trees they hold sacred. This threat gave rise to the Stoneguard, an order of sentinels who protect the western forests with magical powers derived from precious gems.

Each Stoneguard is anointed similarly to Resta's knightly traditions and equipped with four stones that are woven into their uniforms, usually in their capes. The rubies they carry contain raw power, which can be released in beams of destructive light. They are also equipped with sapphires which cast a healing light, emeralds which are used to create barriers, and topazes that can inflict a handful of mental effects such as sleep, pacification, fear, and confusion on others. With these powers, the Stoneguard has created a powerful defensive force that has kept their borders safe throughout the First Age. However, as the War of the Gods concluded and Serenity punished the elves for their part in the persistent conflict, the knowledge of how the Stoneguards derived their unique powers were among the secrets she buried in the earth. Along with their knowledge, she also buried the Guardian Stone that was the true source of their power, then a massive chunk of Ruby, and cut the remaining members of the Stoneguard from their abilities.

While the elves made do without the Stoneguard for most of the Second Age thanks to the Heron's embrace of isolationism over imperialism, the resurgent demand for lumber in the Third Age would lead to Colin Piers reigniting tensions with the people of Tanis over disputed land. This increase in hostility terrified the elves, who began to seek the knowledge of the Stoneguard with the most fervor they had experienced in over three centuries. But it wasn't until the Avatar of Serenity arrived with her goddess' blessing to regain this information for them that the Stoneguard could return.

Ekera would join forces with Keran--the younger brother of an Elder-caste councilor of Setria--and his dear friend, a forest scout named Larim. The three of them would journey together to a tower in the Marble Desert which had only recently become known for containing the last Guardian Stone of the Stoneguard. But without the means to recover the massive ruby, they learned that the only alternative was to sacrifice a life to create a new Guardian Stone. So it was that Keran gave up his life to become the massive chunk of emerald that floats over the Guardian Tower to this day and Larim gave up her unexplored love to become the first in a new generation of Stoneguard.

With a new Guardian Stone in the surface world for the first time in thousands of years, the Stoneguard have created a garrison along their northern border with the greatest power that anyone has ever seen. Their defense of the forest would have become complete at this point if their resurgence hadn't coincided with the revival of the Pyromancers, who have the power to extort concessions of disputed territory with the implied threat of creating wildfires (although it is largely maintained by Heronites that this perceived threat is baseless due to the inclination of the new lord of the Piers territory, Collin's son Aden, to pull back as much as possible in this dispute). As a result, the relationship between these two countries remain tense and are improving slowly only thanks to the friendship between Larim and Umi Karn, a prominent Pyromancer. If open war were to break out, however, the Stoneguard stand readier than ever to defend their land and all of the natural life that dwells within.

Phoenix Blade Chapter 10

Start from the Beginning

Previous Chapter

I didn't want to believe that Eione could have been affiliated with warlocks. She was a bit of a brat and a shameless flirt who sucked up to me and Saayuko because we were perceived as being in charge. But she was mostly sweet and seemed harmless. She was the last person I'd suspect of dabbling in dark magic.

...

Well, I had to talk to her before I could be sure. Bene had a bottle of something called Potion of Temporary Insanity that he swears came from her. Back then, I wouldn't have put it past him to lie to save his own skin, but when I talked to him, I saw something in his demeanor that I wasn't used to. I assumed, rightly, that what I saw was how he looked when he was being honest.

...

I see a lot more of that look these days but, yes, it was new for me back then.

...

So, Saayuko fetched her from her room and brought her to my workshop for a little talk. She was noticeably nervous from the moment I showed her the potion that I had taken from Bene. It seemed to be a very thin thread connecting her to the cult. But there was something else that bothered me about her. She knew about the "job" Venaticus tried to offer me before the warlocks cleared out the shop they were operating in. There were only three others who knew about it. Takaa is no fan of ANY magic. Oogura's druidic magic was a natural opposite to dark magic and everyone I talked to assures me that if she had ever tried to work with dark magic, she'd never be able to use her nature spells or shapeshifting abilities again. And you know, of course, that Saayuko is the only person alive I trust.

...

She denied having made the potion. Tried to tell me that she bought it from someone else. Without getting into why she'd want it, whether or not she knew what it was at the time, I asked her about the person she got it from. She spun a story about a druid from Sister that lived near Foldo. I wasn't sure whether to believe it, but those who join my family deserve the benefit of the doubt. I dismissed her, but worked out a plan to figure this out once and for all.

...

I wanted to find this druid of hers. I didn't know at the time that high enough concentrations of dark magic would negate druidic magic, so I didn't even recognize this story for the yarn it was. So, I had Saayuko come to get her once again roughly an hour before dawn and sent them on a mission to capture this druid. If she was telling the truth, we would be one step closer to finding out how our group was tied to dark magic. If she wasn't, she was bound to slip up eventually.

...

You're right. None of this would have explained who tipped off the warlocks that Venaticus was tracking, but he was the only one who made it a point to keep his plans secret. The most charitable theory for Eione is that she carelessly mentioned the operation to the druid, who acted on it without revealing his link to the coven. I wasn't foolish enough to actually believe this, but I wanted to be sure before I hung this girl by her toes. Her brother is a very important man, and if I acted too rashly, I could bring the wrath of an Avatar on my head. Nobody wants that.

...

When Saayuko and Eione left, I went around and woke up everyone else. If there was corruption in our family, I wanted everyone to see how I wanted it dealt with. So, we gathered in the lobby and Moruay used her magic to spy on Saayuko and Eione. The two of them found the druid playing around Flora Field, chasing a squirrel in the form of a lynx. I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw that goofball, so I had Oogura rush to the magic shop next door and call in a favor that the owner owed us. He created a portal that took us all to the hills outside of the valley.

...

Then, we just waited in hiding while Eione approached the druid to talk to him. What she did next was hidden from Saayuko's view, but we were able to see it with Moruay's magic.

...

She reached into her pack and whipped out another vial of potion and dosed the druid with it. He shipped back into his cat body and went berserk. Saayuko acted quickly to cut him with a knife that she had tipped with a knockout-poison. The girl thought she had been saved, but then we came out of hiding. Her guilt was confirmed.

...

I wanted to kill her on the spot, and so did half of the guild. There was no denying that she had caused the druid to go after her, and I had promised Venaticus that any dark mages I found in our midst would be dead long before they reached his custody. But I still wasn't completely sure that she was tied with the warlocks in the chimera farm.

...

Ordinarily, I wouldn't need much more proof than that to end her, but I had two things holding me back. The first was her Avatar kin. The second was Venaticus. He knew full well that I'd sooner kill her than turn her over to him, but if doing so didn't end his suspicion of me, he'd never leave us alone. So, I decided to give him a little present. Saayuko stuck Eione with the same poison that she used on the druid, Oogura went to fetch Venaticus and the rest of us carried our prisoners back to the compound.

... 

When Venaticus showed up, he shared my disbelief that Eione could be wrapped up in this. Apparently he knew her brother and had heard enough about her to be surprised. He had readily accepted what I told him about her nonetheless. As for the druid, he didn't seem to be interested at all. For all of the detective work he put in, [Scoff] he didn't know any better than I did whether he was a warlock or innocent bystander.

...

The druid was the first to wake up and, I must say, he wasn't very helpful. He confirmed that he and Eione were previously acquainted, but was bewildered by what happened. Like the rest of us, he had no idea that she had ever been anything but a nice girl. The man appeared to be mentally ill even after the potion that he was dosed with wore off, but he was harmless. He seemed to be more comfortable waiting out the rest of his time there in his lynx body and it became clear rather quickly that we were going to have to wait for Eione to wake up to make any sense of this.

...

At the very least, she seemed to feel guilty for fucking over the Midanian, who I learned was called Varuna. That's when she spilled some of her secrets. She claimed that she was no dark mage, but had recently become involved with a man who was. She spun her tale about the druid to protect this man without taking the fall herself. Varuna was simply a convenient scapegoat for her.

...

After all of the pressure we put on her, Venaticus and I managed to determine that the warlock met with Eione in Fides when he wasn't hiding out in that trinket shop in Resta City. Other than that, all we got was his first name: Iollan. At that point, I think she decided there wasn't much else she could tell us without deepening the hole she had dug herself into, so she refused to say any more. Venaticus agreed that we could turn her over to the Royal Inquisitor after letting her talk to her brother.