Fairytale WIP
“You want to know what happened to the Third Shard of Esharial?” A voice asks. “To the Kingdom of Evashen? They will tell you it is a story of heroes and demons. Of good or evil. Light versus dark. As simple as the fairytales we were told as children. In reality, it is much more complicated than that.”
“I’m sure you heard the story of how Evashen was found by the Veyrits nearly one thousand years ago.” A second voice starts. “The other Shards called us a beacon of magic and knowledge for all of Esharial, drawing scholars and mages and those hoping for riches or salvation from every corner of our broken world. The Golden City at her heart boasted the largest library dedicated to magic and history, and was rivaled in grandness only by the main temple to Leyraveyrit.
It was beautiful until the last moments.
And at the beginning of its eighth century, a new Prophet of Leyraveyrit rose, with powers unseen since the first Prophetess. They said S̷̠̹̝̭̺͕͍̹̳̖͉̝̪̀͒͌̓̇̽̿̾̎͋̓͌̈ͅą̶͍̣͇̟͍̙͔͖́̇͗̑f̵̲̞̉î̸̗͇͎͚̪̤̝̯̯̽̑̏̍̌͂̓̑́̈́̒̑ȑ̷̝̪͇̈̇̍̓́̓͌͂̋̚̕̚͝͝ę̶͔̭͚͈͍̱̲͓̔̍̄̉͋̕͝l̸̡̖̟̬͙̬̲̻̜̤̲̯̰̝̟̏̾͊̒̃̃̐̍͒͝ would lead us into a golden age.
But darkness unseen in our land since before the Shattering descended and attacked everything in its path to the Golden City. Nothing the Order did could stop it. Except..”
“Except for the one named their hero.” The first voice picks up the narrative. “A vey chosen as the right hand of the Prophet by the Veyrits themselves they said, to protect the kingdom. And for a time, they succeeded. And for a time, there was hope.
Until they disappeared.
And just like that, darkness reached the city of light to challenge the Veyrit of the Sun Herself.
As the story goes, the army of creatures reached the gates, either of the city herself, or the temple depending on who you ask, and then a great blinding light consumed the Golden City. Everyone inside cut never to be heard from or seen again. And the surrounding area for countless miles was still touched by darkness, warring with creatures of light, and giving birth to even worse monstrosities not yet seen.
But in the outer fringes, civilization persisted, and life went on. Trapped on a Shard embroiled in war between powers we could barely understand. Somehow, safe for the most part.
Of course, some creatures wandered from their battles a little too close to us, and we fought back. But mostly? We survived, we lived, and people prayed.
Some prayed to the precious Light and Leyraveyrit to save them for salvation, for their hero to return, for a new Prophet to rise.
Others prayed to the Dark and Veylaveyrit to free them, to start a new era, to end the Shard and war.
And the years passed.
And passed.
And passed.”
“For a time, the Light thought they had a new Prophetess, until her powers never came, and they discarded her. And what the Light lost in a Prophetess, the Dark gained in a Demon.” The words are dripping with venom from the second voice, before the first continues again.
“But most of us just waited.
“And survived.
“And lived.
“And lost.
“And fought. Until we couldn’t anymore.
“But you’re not here to learn of the era of the Arleyrail War, and the ordinary people caught in it, or the politics involved in surviving. You only want to know how it all ends, and the heroes or villains that ushered it in. But how do you even start a story like that?”
“You start it,” A third voice offers, words hard, “in the twenty-third year of the Ninth Century of Light. Almost one hundred years to the day since that blinding light that covered the kingdom and took the Golden City, the light reappeared, and the last knight of the Veyrit Order opened their eyes in an unfamiliar land.”
-Taken from Recovered Recording #312 of the Esharial Codex in the Korryn Library. Date of recording unknown. Recording first tracked to the collection donated from the Angel Manor of Duskend, owner believed to be the recorder.
Attached Notes:
First voice identified as Damen Rinilmoor of Moorfyren, otherwise unknown
Second voice identified as Leyna Blytridj of Ridjnajen, the purported Witch of the Arleyrail Order.
Third voice suspected to be the Rowyn of Adrisilen, the Last Knight of the Veyrit Order.
Corruption regarding evidence of Safirel not as far along as other recording fragments.
Further research into Veylaveyrit needed, possibly first known reference to the Veyrit.
Was anything ever recovered from this Golden City’s library?