Skip to Content

Novel

2 posts

My original world story in sequence of publishing

Posts tagged with Novel

To Serve a God

Novel —

In the hallowed Halls of Anorra, everyone must follow the Clear Doctrine. The holy words of guidance that the Queen of Wails herself had put forth for her followers. These words were sculpted out of Ghise, an extremely valuable form of eternal ice. The massive, polished, twenty foot tall tablet stood proud at the entrance of the black ice structure dominating the Northern glacier of the world.

"Every visitor must be asked, politely if they are esteemed guests, and ordered if they are not, to read the words of the queen before they are allowed to enter."

Rillegh's calm yet clear voice gently echoed the empty entrance of the palace. The old Elf was using a form of self-created magic to clean and shine the Ghise tablet. As usual, he was lecturing the younger members of the servant force on the proper etiquette to be followed inside the Halls. Most of the people standing around the old Elf and nodding already knew his entire speech and some were even able to recite it in reverse. But none would dare skip the daily speech provided by old Rillegh.

Despite his overly fussy attitude when it comes to the Doctrine and staff manners, he was considered as the most knowledgeable of the servant force in matters pertaining to the queen, everyday magic and conduct.

A few ancient mages and wizards among the Halls' staff knew him by an old title, the Western Whirlwind of the Black Feather. Rillegh would laugh gently if someone mentioned it to him these days. He had completely surrendered himself to the service of the queen once he had witnessed her power in person.

If one could observe the movements of the members of the staff force around the massive structure throughout a day, they could see the orderly manner each and every member moved. Their movement patterns seem predefined, their tasks seemed preordained and the every single person seemed to know where to move next.

A young boy of fifteen was sweating profusely as he lay on his small, feather bed. He was currently inside his allocated servant room. He could not believe his rotten luck, and the unexpectedly strange path his life had taken in the last year. His seemingly great stroke of luck for having passed the Flight of Crows exam and getting selected as a trainee Crow assigned to Terand ended abruptly with the complete and utter destruction of the training castle, Terand.

The vicious and explosive death of one of the most feared wizards of the continent, Blood Crow, happened just outside his room. And since a strange fire had started in his room, he was suspected of colluding with the blood mage and was interrogated for weeks. His former mentor vouched for his innocence, and his barely average abilities in magic craft, leading to him being let outside with only five fire lashes.

The boy wanted to resign and move back to his family, and take up hawking like they did. Instead, he was assigned to the Lost Crows Legion, a legion that he had never heard of. It took him six months of gruelling journey from the Terand in the County of Kull, all the way across the Sea of Saffron and the Northern Pearls ocean. He had lost count of how many weeks he had spent being sea sick on the ships. The guards kept handing him over to other guards along the way. Their coats of arms kept changing colours every other week that he lost track after the fourth set.

He now knew where he had reached. The Halls of Anorra.

The crazy myth about the Queen of Wails was true. The Queen of Wails was alive! She lives! She walks these halls! And I am here to serve that bitch!

His body shook. And sweat was drenching his back. He had heard stories of how the evil queen razed the entire Western Empire to dust. The Empire was expanding its influence everywhere. They had massive battalions of Humans, Elves and Iguli. The lizardfolk were the best craftsmen in the world. But, all of them, every single one of the soldiers who stood against her, were wiped out in a single attack. The millions of ice sculptures that remained standing after she had waved her arm, had melted by the following noon leaving the entire Empire only a remnant of memories.

Travis shook again. He had heard stories, and myths about the Queen of Wails. And now seeing her in person was causing his entire body to freeze up in fear. He wanted to talk to old Rillegh alone. He had heard that Rillegh was once a Crow. So, maybe he would know a way out of here. Just anywhere else was fine. Travis had wanted a simple life, he wanted to work in research, with books, and maybe in a library somewhere warm. And being at the epicenter of the Northern Ice Storm was not his idea of calm.

Today was a special day.

Rillegh was inspecting the staff force working diligently around the black ice outer palace, the ice gardens and the Halls. Everyone had proper tasks assigned to them. The old Elf was walking in a proud, and noble manner with a young boy holding a small notebook following him.

"Are the hedges trimmed yet?"
"Yes, sir Mister Rillegh. I checked it last night and again this morning."
"And the gates polished?"
"Yes, sir Mister Rillegh. I checked the shine on them an hour ago."
"Good. Everything seems to be in order. Travis, go stand with the welcoming team. The Queen must be arriving very soon."
"Yes, sir."

Travis bowed once and quickly walked over to the entrance of the palace where three dozen servants and staff members were standing evenly on both sides of the massive black ice gate ready to welcome their queen. He joined the one side with an odd member count.

Few minutes in, a loud 'Woo... woo...' noise could be heard and everyone looked up the sky. They could see a beautiful and regal chariot being pulled by Griffins was slowly landing in front of the castle. The doors with the blue crossed wings crest opened and Travis saw a long shapely leg step outside. Wearing a white and cyan diamond studded dress that seemed to be flowing like the surface of clear water, a woman stepped out.

Her face could not be described in words. She was fair, if it was the fairest description of the word. She had red, luscious lips the color of blood. Her long flowing, silken hair was white, as if the famed White Silk of the East had come to life. And her tall and curvy figure was attractive, if attraction also meant complete surrender.

The woman looked regal and royal. But she could not be compared to the Counts and High nobles of the Elven lineage that Travis had seen visiting the Terand. No, she was regal as if she deserved to lord over every known and unknown race of mortals. With her first step, all the servants bowed in unison. Travis stood there stunned and too shocked to move for a second. The next second, he felt an invisible power force his upper body to bend. The boy came to his senses and immediately bowed as he was supposed to.

The queen walked facing forward and gently greeted the staff with a smile and a wave as she passed them. Travis felt like he was in a lot of trouble and his intuition soon became real. As soon as the queen had entered the castle and the inner doors had closed, he felt his body being lifted up by a strong magical force as he was turned around to face an angry old Elf. A vein was popping in his forehead as Rillegh spat out, "What... in her name, was that?"

Travis stuttered his response, "I-I... did not know sir! My body refused to move! I was frozen in place, sir!"

The angry Elf raised his hand as if he was going to slap the boy. But with a flick of his wrist, he dropped him to the ground. There were a lot of eyes watching. He quickly turned around and motioned the other servants and staff.

"Back to work! All of you! Break is over!"

Travis stood up massaging his now bruised elbow. He looked at the old Elf in fear. But to his surprise, the Elf had a different expression in his face. "The queen is very attractive to look at the first time." He paused, looking at the confused state the boy seemed to be in. "Get up. And walk with me."

Travis brushed the dirt off his robes and followed after the old Elf who was now walking towards the western side of the castle outskirts. When Rillegh confirmed that Travis and himself were the only two people still outside in the vicinity, he resumed talking in a lower volume. "I have cast a tiny sound barrier around us."

He looked at the boy once and waited until he nodded. Then continued, "The queen is not of any known race in the world. I should have warned you earlier, she carries an aura around her that would make anyone with a weak will want to prostrate themselves under her feet. The stronger her intention, the stronger that aura gets."

The old Elf was looking ahead while talking and the boy was slowly nodding and listening.

"What you had mentioned last week. That you were shipped here for as punishment, was a lie." Travis looked shocked. He did not lie about his situation. He wanted to argue. But the old Elf raised his hand up and continued talking. "They lied to you. You were sent here because of the ancient agreement between the Queen of Wails and the Eastern Bismuth."

Travis' eyes shook wildly. He bit his lips to prevent himself from crying. He was betrayed by the people he trusted. His master, his teachers, the Count, the Crow Perch, they had all lied to him. He felt small, and insignificant. He felt angry, and wanted to scream.

The old Elf continued as if he did not even notice the changes in the boy, "She needs to feed on energy to maintain her looks. The life force and will of the servants and the staff force here is what she feeds on. Every three months, the Eastern Bismuth and the Western Empire sends her a low quality mage, a high quality soldier and two civilians as per the agreement. You know which category you fall under." His pale blue eyes looked at the fifteen year old Human boy with pity. Travis knew, a low quality mage. That's all he was.

Travis then asked a question. "If that is the case, how come you are here, sir? Aren't you from the Western continent? And you must have been a powerful Crow. You don't fall into any of the three categories."

Rillegh sighed slowly.

"The current Western Empire is but a shadow of the old one. The old Emperor was a beggar by birth. He clawed his way to the top of the food chain, becoming the most powerful commander known in the history of the continent. But, alas! Everything he had built crumbled to dust... no, to ice."

Travis nodded in agreement. He had heard the story before. The old Emperor was said to be one step closer to godhood. Travis was too inexperienced to understand what that meant or how powerful gods were. Because until last month, he did not believe gods existed. Now, he worked for one.

"One small mistake..."

Travis looked up at the old Elf.

"He made one small mistake in calculating the direction of the flow." Rillegh had a wistful look in his face. And his eyes became sharp and angry.

"S-sir? Are you alright? What was this mistake you mentioned?"

The Elf sighed again. "He touched a different river of power by accident." Travis was confused. River of power? Is he talking about the source of magic?

"Are there?... Is-Is there more than one river of power, sir?"

The Elf suddenly looked back at the boy incredulously. "What are they even teaching kids these days?" He sighed once more before continuing. "There are hundreds of thousands of rivers, boy! Each one having a strong root. Old gods, new gods, known gods, unknown gods, forgotten gods that are nothing but puddles of dead power. The rivers of magic each lead to one. You just have to be powerful enough to know where you are drawing from."

Travis felt like he was slapped across the face. His entire education on magic sources felt meaningless. Is this old Elf telling the truth? It does make more sense than everyone pulling on the same river but drawing varying amounts of magic. But, but then?

"Can we choose the river, or rather, the god that we draw from?"
"The trained wizards, no Crows and Hawks, can."

The old Elf continued walking around the garden with the boy tailing him closely. "You need to understand the pathways well, and be able to draw an overwhelming amount of power at once to be able to see your river's source. And you need a great amount of control of the drawn magic to be able to switch the source. Like I said, there are hundreds of thousands. The old Emperor was an accomplished Crow. But unfortunately, in his greed, made a slight mistake and pulled on the wrong river power."

He stopped and shivered. As if he recalled something grim. "He pulled on her river." Both Travis and Rillegh looked in unison at the black ice building. The Halls of Anorra was buzzing with activity by the sounds they could hear from the outer garden. "The old Emperor woke her from her slumber. He was supposed to pull on the river of a dead Dragon god. But instead he touched her with his greed, and she pulled back." The Elf now hugged himself as if he needed to support his body from shaking.

"She awoke that day and laid waste to the entire army the continent had ever seen." And from that day, both the East and the West agreed to send her willing sacrifices to keep her satisfied and out of their lands. The Queen of Wailing and Screams, Anorra had awoken two thousand seventy three years ago.

His voice quickly lowered to barely a whisper. Travis barely managed to hear what he said next. "The bitch needs to die tonight!" Rillegh had a cruel look in his face. Travis felt like he had stepped into something even more dangerous than serving a god. He had an ominous feeling that he only had a few hours left in this world.

That is when he heard the rest of what old Rillegh said, "Have you ever thought if a god could be torn by a whirlwind? How about one drawing on a river so ancient that even those Ancient bastards have forgotten about it?" Travis shivered like a paper caught in a tornado. He shook his head slowly looking at the old Elf's manic smile.

Maybe... maybe, he could learn how to become stronger if he learnt from the old Elf? He was already going to die. Either by getting his will sucked from his soul, or in fear of working for this ruthless god that he could not even look at. Travis decided that he was not going to die without trying anything.

"I want to learn, sir."

The old Elf suddenly looked at the visible green aura surrounding the boy as he said that. 'Interesting,' he thought to himself. 'He still has so much willpower that it is even reaching out to the rivers on its own.'

"Then, follow me. We have a god to kill." Rillegh waved his hand lightly to create a very thin tear in the air in front of him. Travis had heard about this. It was hailed as the highest form of magic a Crow could perform. "A... pocket dimension...!" he gasped.

"Nothing of the sort. Just a small room where I am going to whip you until you bleed. Oh, and also tap into a powerful river in the process." The old Elf smiled as he waved for Travis to enter.

Travis was scared. But he still parted the tear like he would a curtain of an entrance and walked into the void that was waiting to swallow him whole. Once the boy had walked in, the old Elf followed with the same noble posture he normally held. The tear quickly faded leaving nothing in the air once he passed through.

The cold winds that blew through the black ice palace of the Northern Ice Storm glacier were chipper this morning. But they will sing a different song that night.

Twin Fists

Novel —

Cold winds blew over the snow-covered peaks, shifting the top layer of the thick, white ice ever so slightly. As far as the eye could see, there was only one color. The frozen tips of Anorra’s Nails lived up to their name. No one knew how the treacherous mountain range got its moniker. But anyone who knew the Queen of Wails wholeheartedly agreed that it was a perfect name. Near the edge of the farthest mountain, one lone figure trudged on. From afar, an onlooker could see the long, winding path the figure had steadily made climbing down through the snow.

“Hah, hah, hah…!”

The figure panted laboring on through waist high snow. With two powerful arms that held a massive shovel, the figure carved out a narrow path moving forward one step at a time. They wore a thick, fur coat which was fitted to their size perfectly. The practiced efficiency with which the figure shoveled the snow, the rhythmic breathing and the controlled power with which the figure moved would tell the onlooker that this was not a physical act that a regular person could emulate.

Three hours of laborious walking later, the figure finally reached clear land. They climbed out from the thick snow and sat down on top of a damp boulder. Pulling back their fur hood a little, the figure scanned the region ahead. One could see a small town nestled at the bottom of the fifth nail of Anorra. The figure still had their nose and mouth covered with a mask. So only their sharp green eyes could be seen scanning the remote town with intense interest.

“Now,” the figure whispered. “Where might I find a powerful sorcerer who specializes in flame magic?” The pair of green eyes narrowed on an old building in the distance. From the edge of the mountains, the enhanced vision of the figure could pinpoint a thin yellow aura wafting out from the distant building. “In the coldest part of the world.” Under the fur mask covering the lower half of their face, a thin smile bloomed.

“Found you!”

The figure shifted forward an inch and disappeared from the spot where they had been sitting. Screaming winds followed the figure as they moved with immense speed tearing through the air. Their legs stepping on rooftops, walls and tree branches the figure traversed through the town at a breakneck speed toward their target.

Travis had endured one of the worst weeks at work and was ecstatic when his master announced that there will be three days off after many long nights of work. He lay on his small feather bed looking at the decorated ceiling of his room. All the rooms in the Terand, contained beautiful artwork and decorations. The old Duke of the nearby kingdom had this small palace made for the Crows. Although the registered Crows and Hawks were only allowed to practice their magic in the kingdom, they used the Terand to teach and train apprentice mages before they go through the process of branding.

As for Travis who barely made through the selection exam, staying at the castle and training alongside expert mages and wizards was something he never even expected. Born to a low class hawker family in this remote town, he never expected to show magical aura or to somehow get through the famed Flight of Crows qualification exams. He absentmindedly ran his fingers along the soft fur of Mister Whiskers, his cat, as he lay day dreaming in his bed.

“Hey Whiskers, I’m heading outside to take a walk around the market.” He turned and looked at the cat before asking it. “Do you want to come along?” The feline creature meowed and turned its back to him. He shrugged his shoulders. “Suit yourself.”

Taking a few copper coins with him, he stepped outside his room and closed the door. The cat, Mister Whiskers stared out the large window. The small town, its rustic buildings, the streets with a few fur-clad people walking by and the dome of the church in the distant filled the cat’s vision. The cat moved closer to the window as if something had caught its attention.

Suddenly, the cat’s body froze in place. Its eyes opened wide and it started trembling as goosebumps ran along its back. The irises narrowed to a thin line and its face turned from side to side scanning the town. What is this feeling? Its body suddenly shivered although it was inside a warm room. What is this power? Who dares? A mixture of rage and anxiety filled the cats face. Something is coming! Fast! Its head whipped around and it jumped to the window sill.

“Who dares?!”

A voice that sounded ancient and powerful came from the cat’s maw. It bared its fangs unleashed a wave of magical aura thick enough for the naked eye to see. The golden aura surrounded the cat and intense heat suddenly enveloped it. The air itself started heating up and white vapor started forming around the feline giving it the image of being encased in a bubble of fire and vapor. The magic condensed quickly to become a shield made of flames. Red hot flames licked the air every time they moved and the moisture in the air around the cat instantly evaporated. The window cracked and blew apart. The people from the streets started panicking as shard of glass rained down on them. They could see a massive ball of magical fire from atop the Terand.

Guards started running towards the source of the commotion and two Crows, nameless wizards, who taught at the castle came running to the room. The bizarre scene of witnessing a cat casting such a powerful barrier shocked the wizards. One of them began casting counter magic to put off the flames but even before he could form the image of the spell in his mind, the cat waved its tail in his direction. A massive ball of flame to rushed towards the pair. The second one barely managed to jump away in time to see the first wizard get incinerated by the flames. “R-Raillic!!!” He turned towards the cat in horror.

“W-who?” He could not finish his question. A second ball of flame was already rushing towards him. “AAARRGGHHHH!”

“Insects! All of you are beneath me!” the cat screamed before once again turning towards the broken window. “I know you are nearby! Come! I will burn this world to ashes! Then no one shall dare challenge me!”

The next second, the people of the town felt a gust of wind so strong that it blew them away several feet. The Crows who witnessed this later claimed on their lives that it was caused by a single person who moved so fast that they tore through the fabric of the wind itself.

BOOM!

A massive explosion rocked the castle. The hooded figure punched the cat with force enough to break the spirit level flame barrier and throw the cat down several floors of the castle. The massive hole that could now be seen in the middle of the castle caused several cracks to appear and slowly spider web through all the broken floors.

“W-what?” The cat, now in his normal form as a seven foot tall, pale-white elf looked up and found himself sprawled in a hole. He looked up with rage filled eyes and screamed.

“I WILL BURN…”

“Me?” the figure stood in front of the wizard now.

“A woman?”

BOOM!

The wizard was lifted up and punched yet again. This time he was sent flying through three castle walls and landing on the street outside.

BOOM!

Another earth rocking explosion and he was thrown through the walls of the town church breaking into the inner sanctum and sliding down the marble floor.

“Wh-what? Who are you?” his voice was shaking and for the first time in his thousand-year-long life, ...the infamous Blood Crow was afraid.

BAM! BOOM! CRASH!

He felt them before he heard them. The two punches to his face dislodged his jaw. Before the pain settled he felt his body crashing through several more buildings in the town.

Whoosh, Crack!

A powerful fist buried itself in his abdomen lifting him up the air and sending him flying high. His blurred vision saw the town floating below his body. He raised his blood-soaked face just in time to see the fur-clad figure jump next to his floating body. But before he could stop them, BOOOOOM!

His face was buried a foot under the cobblestone road before he managed to pull himself free. His mind barely functioned trying to figure out just who in this world even had this much power and speed. Finally, it landed on a face of a beautiful woman. It can’t be!

With his last reserve of magic he conjured up an intense fiery barrier and completely covered his body in the hottest flames of the highest tier. The flames formed an armor that could melt anything it touches. “Are you related to Irina? That little bitch was the only one with strength like that!”

The fur-clad figure stopped in front of the wizard. “What made you decide to kill her, Jark? You already had power, you already had influence and you commanded the largest magical force in the Eastern continent. So what could you gain by killing a little girl?”

“Hah, you would never understand.” Princess Irina did nothing against me. But she had too much power to rival mine. I could simply not allow it to grow. Allow her to grow. “Her pathetic life was nearing its end anyway, I just sped it up. How did you gain the same power as her?”

The figure shook her head slowly. “As I thought, it is useless trying to understand a lunatic.” She started walking toward Jark slowly.

“You can not harm me anymore! My armor will melt your hands away if you try to touc…”

BOOOM!

Jark’s entire body was sent flying as the woman landed her heaviest punch yet. The armor including the outer shields had all been broken. He could see the molten armor sporting massive cracks where she had hit it. “I-impossible! T-this, this cannot be happening!”

BOOM! His face turned to one side from the impact. BOOM! He keeled over as his stomach twisted inside. BOOM! Blood splattered from his shoulder where his bone could be seen jutting out of his flesh. BOOM! He felt his knee shatter, and his legs caved inside. He fell, screaming and spewing blood on the frozen street.

I was so close, the boy was almost ripe. If only, if only I could have soul transferred a little earlier. His thoughts filled with anger, fear and regret.

“C-curse y-y…” his lips barely managed.

“Me?” BOOM! CRACK!

Jark spat out blood and the world lost its most feared sorceror, the infamous murderer, Blood Crow that day. Investigators later found his body completely mangled and all his bones broken. The cause of death was written as a magical experiment failure. Despite the few Crows swearing that it was caused by one lone figure, no one could accept that one of the most powerful Crows known to the world could be bested by any individual person.

The fur-clad figure could be seen walking through the thick snow once more. This time they had lowered her mask revealing a beautiful face with a horrible burn covering one of her cheeks. A smile floated up her face. In a low voice, she spoke to herself.

“In the end, the strongest Crow in the world could not burn a little girl who trusted him. In the end, his flames were put out by the very same girl. Two souls, had the young girl. Two lives, she was destined to live. One giving love, one taking life.”

The figure trudged forward ever so slowly through the waist high snow. They were already planning their next destination, towards their target.