The Fireblade Array: 4-Book Bundle
Page 183
“Your family are no longer your concern.” Tiranna waved her hand in the air, her flame-filled eyes flared, and a black hole that was filled with oblivion appeared about Artemi.
But she was not powerless here, not after harvesting Brindon’s fires. Artemi fought back with a light-filled creation of her own, sending out spirals of energy that clamped onto the edges of the hole. She gripped, clung to the strands of The Crux that she could
reach. Every sinew of her body screamed at the effort of it.
“You think you can defy us? You are not powerful enough, Artemi.”
Her fingers of light were instantly uprooted, her body pulled away from her consciousness and she found herself falling into the abyss. It was cold, so very cold. The brilliance of The Crux faded quickly to nothing, and then there was only darkness.
Glossary of Terms
Achellon – A mythical place
inhabited by the all-powerful fire gods. It is believed that Achellon is composed entirely of Blaze Energy and that it is the true source of such power. It is often described as a place devoid of pain or suffering. In reality, Achellon is likely to be derived from legends based upon The Crux.
Benay-gosa – An unmarried, female attendant of male royalty. Her primary duty is to provide an heir, though she is more commonly viewed as a provider of pleasures for her mate. Benay-gosa are chosen by their sponsors, and considered to be royal property. They are similar to
concubines, though they can be selected from any level of society. Blaze Energy – A fiery power that can be manipulated into weapons, shields, sources of light and even used to construct buildings. It is usually described as blue light in its basic form, but to most people it is not visible. Blazes, The – The fires from which Blaze Energy is extracted. Only wielders (directly) and kanaala (indirectly) have access to these fires. Crux, The – A world that exists at the centre of all worlds. It is the most energy-rich plane of existence, and all other worlds draw their power
from it.
Cave of Light (Gialdin) – The gateway from the Darkworld to The Crux, and a place filled with latent energy.
Do-koor – A Hirrahan custom lasting two months whereby, following the birth of a child, a family will open doors to friends and enemies in order to celebrate the arrival of a new life. All weapons must be dispensed with whilst do-koor is in place and visitors must refrain from drinking alcohol in the household.
Eisiel – A creature so burned by The Blazes that it is half-dead.
Described as charred, oily skinned and wasted in appearance, eisiels kill without remorse. They usually hunt for a specific target, selected by their maker. It has been observed that they are former lovers of wielders, whose fires burned them during love-making. They are immune to weapons made with Blaze Energy.
Form (Blaze) – A structure made with Blaze Energy that will produce a specific weapon, shield, light or piece of matter. Forms are altered by defining the speed, vibration and shapes of Blaze Energy that make it. Once constructed, most forms can be
deconstructed or unravelled, but the time required is dependent upon the complexity of the form.
Ghar-en – An amplifying tool for reinforcing or enlarging existing Blaze forms. Only a few of these are known to have been made, and most have become lost through time.
Gar-sira – An object to which a Blaze form can be anchored, thereby impeding any kanaala’s or wielder’s efforts to deconstruct it. Gar-siras are usually objects that can be smashed or destroyed to remove the form.
Ghar-ten – An object designed to hold Blaze energy for later use, or to enable a kanaala to wield without the aid of a female wielder.
Kahr – A male heir of royal blood in the central and eastern areas of the Sennefhal continent.
Kahriss – A female heir of royal blood in the central and eastern areas of the Sennefhal continent.
Kanaala – A man who can manipulate (i.e. wield) Blaze forms or deconstruct them. Kanaala are the male counterpart to wielders, and they cannot access Blaze Energy independently. A kanaala can control The Blazes through a wielder, and he can access her fires before her power is fully matured. He also has the ability to permanently quench a wielder of her power, although it has been observed that not all quenching is permanent.
Kanaala are graded according to their ability, with most falling between grades three and five. A kanaala graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
Kanaala are the only men who can safely sleep with wielders, though this is dependent upon their grading. For example, a kanaala graded four will almost certainly die if he lies with a wielder graded five, and this is due to his limited capacity for her power.
A kanaala can detect the presence of a wielder. The more powerful either one is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Kanaala can only detect other kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Kanaala are born with their full potential already reached, and do not mature into their abilities as wielders do. Prospective parents fear giving birth to kanaala, since the child's arrival will always result in the mother's death, unless she has access to Gialdin’s Cave of Light. The same is not true of wielders unless the child has the potential to be especially powerful. It is
thought that this difference has something to do with the child's latent Blaze abilities at birth.
Blaze abilities are often inherited, but have been known to spontaneously appear in families where it has previously been absent.
Kefruit – A hand-sized, yellow tree fruit with mottled peel. Its sweet flavour makes it popular in desserts.
Kusuru Assassins – A group of seven individuals who, at some point before the Era of Floods, were trained in sword fighting, wielding and espionage. They are reputedly the most deadly fighters ever to have lived. Each member was specially selected for their ability with Blaze and each was vanha-sielu. Their training was said to be so tough that they would regularly die as a result of it, but were recruited again once they were reborn. It was hoped that they would form a force to protect the world through history, and that one of them would eventually be instrumental in preventing the demise of the known world. Their members were: Artemi (The Fireblade), Dorlunh (The Reader), Khasha (The Puzzler), Mirel (Ice-Kill), Tallyn (The Hunter), Romarr (The Hammer) and Vestuna (The Silent Knife).
Nalka – The physical pain suffered by lovers upon being separated from each other. It usually manifests about ten days after their last engagement in sexual intercourse and is complete within four days of the first pains.
The affliction is usually fatal to those who suffer it before the age of twenty, and so it is not advised that lovers enter into a sexual relationship before they're old enough to withstand the separation.
It represents the termination of the bond between partners and their potential to procreate. However, lovers are able to have children subsequently, but only if they are able to maintain a sexual relationship without undergoing nalka for nine years.
In spite of this phenomenon, brothels and whore houses are prevalent across much of the world.
Partition (Blaze) – A Blaze form that masks wielding from any nearby kanaala or wielders. The construction of most Blaze forms gives off heat, and a partition will impede any further dispersal of that heat.
Pinh – A black, poisonous liquid which prevents wounds from healing. If enough poison is ingested by an
individual they will suffer pinhatar death, where the blood becomes too saturated with the substance to perform its proper function. Scars that result from wounds are generally caused by the presence of pinh.
Sarkha – A tube-like implement with a plunger and reservoir at either end, used to clean pinh-saturated wounds that are too deep to be washed any other way. One reservoir is filled with water and the flexible, middle section of the tube is inserted into the wound. Once the water reservoir has been emptied into the injury, the second reservoir can be used to
withdraw the diluted poison.
Stasis – The body�
��s method of preserving itself in times of drought or famine. Sufferers will fall into a deathlike, comatose state and will be unrousable. They will wake, on average, once per decade and search for nourishment. If a sufferer is unable to find food or water in order to break the stasis cycle, they will eventually succumb after one-to-two-hundred years have passed.
Swift – An orange, groundcreeping flower, native to mountainous regions. Its distilled nectar can aid healing when an individual’s ability to
recover from wounds is exhausted.
Tanno – A juicy, purple berry with a slightly acidic taste. It is usually skinned, pressed and fermented to make wine.
Vanha-sielu – An old term for an even older group of people, meaning "repeated life." These individuals are born again within two weeks of their deaths, ad infinitum. In each life they carry an identical appearance and are inevitably given the same name by their parents or guardians.
Occasionally, their own fame in previous lives causes them to be named after themselves.
Until the age of 23 they are unaware of their deep past, although several aspects of their character will manifest in the same way through childhood. If memories are forced upon a vanha-sielu before their mind is ready to accept them, it can lead to death or madness. However, familiar faces and objects do not seem to trigger this in young vanha-sielu, which implies that a certain set of words are necessary in order to initiate premature recall.
It is currently unknown how the phenomena of vanha-sielu came about, and new ones do not appear to have been created in recent times.
Wielder – A wielder is able to control Blaze Energy and access The Blazes independently. Wielders are exclusively female, born with the potential to reach a certain level of ability, but they can only access their powers independently once they reach the age of twenty. Until then they must employ the aid of kanaala to help them wield.
A wielder can detect the presence of another wielder. The more powerful either one is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Wielders can only detect kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Wielders are graded according to their ability, with most falling between grades two and four. A wielder graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
They were previously banished from Calidell and any discovered in the country, or found to be wielding, were immediately executed. During the reign of King Morghiad of House Jade’an, however, this ban was repealed.
Wielders must choose their bed fellows carefully, as they have the potential to burn their lovers alive. For this reason, most wielders will marry kanaala or remain celibate.