Tales Of Grimea

by Andrew Mowere

  Gasby: A humanoid beast with long whip like arms.

  Indellekt: The Republic of magic situated in Veld’s south east. A relatively new country, its success is marked both by its citizen’s loyalty and their devotion to knowledge. Many consider it at the forefront of progress, and the Greenstar library repeats that message with tempered pride.

  Jerr: The Northeastern continent, mountainous and isolated. It is connected to Sehkai by a series of islands, making seafare possible but difficult due to the island’s attitudes to strangers.

  Kama: a small square hat. Popular in Lor.

  Kerdama: A scented seed. Often used as seasoning in Veld.

  Keigo: A type of tree in Baku. Its sap is considered useful for adhesive purposes.

  Lor: A City in the wastes of Ghata. It lies in between desert. The city thrives due to a unique culture and its central spot between Indellekt and Regalia.

  Merla: A diety worshipped in Veld. The white goddess’ religion has fallen out of favor as people shifted towards the Nine.

  Muahugh’a: An ancient tree, native to Jerr. The tree’s dropping fruit is deadly, but there are not many of them left in existance.

  Minotaur: A larger than life bull with a furious disposition and sharp horns.

  Post Adventus: After arrival. The current universal form of time telling. It began with the resurgence of the sentient magical races from their hidden corners after eons of retreating from the primitive humans.

  Post Kerallus: Veld’s standard calendar, named after king Kerallus the just.

  Ramlah: A desert on the eastern outskirts of Lor. It stretches far but runs straight and thin, and its shifting sands are often considered too dangerous to traverse unless with a local guide.

  Regalia: High Kingdom in V’s north. Her history is ancient, and she boasts a booming economy. Her fishing villages are not used as ports, for the seas beyond, like many others, teem with sea monsters and Mist.

  Selkworm: a small, white worm with blue eyes and a mild temprament. It grows to be hand sized, with small to moderate magic powers.

  Starbeetle: A luminous insect. They live extraordinarily short lives, but also multiply unnaturally by simply dividing.

  Scegel: A large, ferocious, flightless bird. They are also called steel kickers, and are native to Ghata. Tamed Scegels are a valuable commodity as a mode of transport.

  Surudoi: A small, thorny animal in Sehkai. Its childlike features make it a favorite pet amongst the insensible.

  Sehkai: The southeastern continent. It is connected to the southwestern continent of Baku by a long bridge like part of land. Yotaku rules most of the area. There exists no other large country in the region, but it is dotted by numerous smaller tribes and settlements, each furiously protective of what little culture and history it retains.

  Seri: A traditional tight fitting tunic in Ghouti, revealing the back for all to see.

  The Mist: a shroud covering most of Grimea’s oceans. Sea travel is impossible through it, and as such restricts marine travel to specific routes. In particular, it allows only intercontinental travel between Veld and Baku.

  Themra: An oasis in Lor. Its water is said to be naturally sweet and boast healing properties.

  The Nine: Nine dieties popular in Veld, but mostly in Regalia. They are Sol (Sky), Hyd (Luck), Serip (Knowledge), Til (Nature), Daken (Death), Fep (Society), Luh (Love), Merat (Magic) and Torin (Might).

  Tennyo: These flying creatures have the likeness of a fair maiden. As such, they are harmless to humans, since they consider them kin. Despite this, they are not human and are not sentient. One must only see their vicious feeding habits to confirm this.

  Tesmy: A bat like creature wielding mild fire magic.

  Veld: A continent. Contains the mighty nations of Regalia and Indellekt.

  Worg: Cousin of the dire Wolf, It purposely finds venomous prey and delights in coating its claws with their blood. Strange, then, that the large beasts find humans savory.

  Yella: A particularly strange scorpion in Ghata. Its stinger contains no venom, but gathers impurities from surrounding filth. The scorpion stings in the filth and then infects victims with a slow fever.

  Yal: A particularly unsavory beast of burden. This is due to its stench, although the animal with its golden fur is pleasing to the eye.

  Nobusame: A flying rodent like creature. The fur upon its back has the likeness of a face upon it, and the creature often hypnotizes victims before leading them away for murder.

  Yotaku: Both an empire in Sehkai and its capital. It is strange to name a city and country with the same name, but the name has historical significance. The empire has ceased efforts to expand and focuses on unifying conquered land.

  Thornwash: A herb with a slightly sour taste.

  Heldibliss: A herb with a slightly soothing effect.

  Yesgor: The bridge of land between Baku and Sehkai. These are the two only connected continents in Grimea. The Yegor is in a near perpetual state of stormy weather, and is buffeted by high waves. Still, with its lining of shops, inns and red lamps as well as exquisite building designs, it is said to be a sight to behold.

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  Thank you for reading this book. I hope it was an enjoyable experience. On the page after this, there is a sample first two chapters of my ongoing work, the final death. If you would like, please have a look at my smashwords, amazon, scriggler, or goodreads. I even have twitter.

  Smashwords

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  The Final Death

  Chapter one

  “This may be slightly difficult to believe,” the man stated during a lull in the conversation he was having, “But when you died, I was undone as well.”

  “Oh, honey,” replied the ghost in pained sympathy. The necromancer longed to tell her that everything was alright, but knew that it wasn’t.

  The sunlight on this part of southwestern Shien was the same one over that entire continent, but due to a lack of lush greenery, its glare felt all the more prevalent. A few trees sprouted here and there, but you could smell ocean and there was never a lack of rock within sight, mixed in with the pale yellow dirt. Where the land could accommodate it olives grew, fighting for their spot with figs, a green fruit which Azrael did not recognize, and the occasional vine. More orderly farms stood upon perch-like terraces carved into hills. Time had been kind to this place, for many of the guilds controlling the area were merchant or alchemy guilds, and had allowed Normals to prosper. Watching farmers load entire carts of wine to ship off somewhere on a caravan, Azrael knew that Alfjötr Christon would enjoy it here.

  The couple stood across from each other next to a wide flowing river. He looked at it then, knowing what she wanted but internally recoiling from the suffering he was about to witness. Raim’e and Sera had been like sisters. Turning towards his wife, Azrael pleaded not to do it silently, and yet her once green eyes, now a pale luminescent grey like the rest of her, mirrored only the hardened set of her jaw. Despite a gut wrenching feeling, Azrael loved that look on her. She’d always been the very personification of a dream.

  Putting a hand into his trademark black cloak, the necromancer pulled out an item recovered from his charge’s travel bags: a red rose enclosed in a jar of glass. The object had baffled Glint Stryger, like many others now stowed safely away in the many pockets he had in his clothes. It was fortunate that he hadn’t taken the youth with him a year ago, when he’d left to start his research. Now he was so oh very close to finished, and was starting to miss the youth. Say what you might about the young warrior’s lack of sophistication, inability to manipulate others, and his horrid taste in pranks, the sandy haired child had been a pleasure to have around.

  Azrael took out a knife and cut out a hole into the jar’s base. After that, he put his head into it, looking quite silly indeed. Then, the blonde and green eyed widow, as bidden by his wife, recited the words of a spell.

  Raime had never told Azrael the spell while l
iving. It was simply one of those things they’d never shared with one another, although of course she would have had he asked. The incantation was genius, actually, despite the massive amounts of energy evoked by its use. A long time ago, the entirety of her guild had worked on it together. There were dedicated alchemists who put almost all of their strength into crystals powering it every day. What the spell essentially did was take a plant’s natural ability to create breathable air and enhance it using alchemy. A small one way opening in the glass next to Azrael’s right ear expelled the excess and kept his head from exploding in what Raime had assured him would be an impressive display. The jar’s lower cork was in fact made of compressed earth, and by some transformation he didn’t entirely understand, it tightened and sealed around his neck, where the hole had been made. Sure that he was safe from impressive displays of any kind, Azrael tried to tell Raime that he was ready, but she couldn’t hear him. At his expression of surprise, the ghostly apparition laughed with all of her usual mirth, drawing a laugh from him as well.

  When both were ready, Azrael turned and leapt feet first into the river. A wave of cold numbed his body almost immediately, and the necromancer helped it along with some death energy. It wasn’t cold enough to actually be dangerous, particularly not to an unchained, but there was little sense in allowing discomfort. He paddled along for a second, then realized that he could see and gasped.

  The first thing Azrael noticed was how different everything was from when one’s eyes were open underwater. That was generally how Azrael liked to swim, but from within the Jar he could see with astonishing clarity. Perhaps the river’s clear water helped, but the necromancer was still shocked for a few seconds. Fish of multiple colors swam all around, and there were red ones in a school. Carps? I don’t know at all. Maybe I should learn some more about fish. There were weeds and algea and he could see along the right side he’d just dived into. That was a spectacle in itself, for the rock was gorgeous. He could only see a set distance, however, and the river had been widened long ago in order to make place for the guild.

  Entranced by the magic of new discovery, Azrael had forgotten about Raime. Looking around now, he saw her hover slowly behind him in all her ghostly brilliance. The necromancer checked that his brooch was on securely enough, then swam down with his wife along the shockingly deep river. As they went, he made to pull out another object from his cloak, but his wife motioned for him to simply swim. As they neared something luminous in the distance, Azrael allowed her to dissipate back into heaven as a soul with an aching heart. This past month, after he became able to summon her, Raime had given him invaluable information regarding heaven, Odin Allfather, as well as about her own guild. The man wished he could have her with him indefinitely, but it seemed that even the Unchained had limits to what they could do.

  The golden haired necromancer neared his goal slowly, and his mouth began to open in wonder. The guild was made almost entirely of glass, with metal lattices and beams supporting it. Inside he could see figures moving around by light of devices seeming much like his own firelight orb, and much of the glass was covered by glyphs both designed to power the spell he’d employed and also for the many traps this guild used to protect itself against intruders. The building looked very much like four spheres connected to a cylinder-like shape, and all four structures were attached to one of the river’s two rocky sides. Each of the spheres seemed dedicated to one of the four western elements, for he could see the unfortunate results of a man’s experiment with fire in one. The man’s hair seemed on fire, and he ran around in his white robe, being chased by colleagues who were somehow throwing beams of snow at him. The top right sphere held what seemed like miniature mountains, but sadly boasted a painfully obvious lack of researchers on fire. Naturally each sphere held far more than that, for each was as large as a manor, and not of the puny kind Glint had lived in prior to meeting the necromancer.

  When Azrael reached the guild’s entrance, he was surprised to find the metal door already opened for him. The school of fish had fallowed him here, and he shooed them in thought. Swimming slowly forwards to where a second door, this one made of metal as well, stood directly before the first, Azrael was confused. He was in a completely submerged room, due to the portal behind him being left agape. There was a table here, circular and metallic, as well as two chairs. All were bolted to the room’s floor. Both walls to his side were made of glass as well, and he could peer into the almost eerie orange glow against water running almost clear. Only then did it occur to the blonde haired necromancer that the water he just swam in ran too slow to be a proper river. He’d wondered before why Seltah was situated in this particular area, at obvious cost needed to deepen the river.

  Just as Azrael began to consider circling around for another entrance, he hear a thunderous whine. Twirling in place, he was met with a roar as the door behind him slammed shut. Another sound came, this one akin to clicks one may make if one were in deep thought and wished to announce it to everyone within a mile’s radius. As the slightly pudgy man thought, hoping against hope that he hadn’t already triggered a trap, he noticed that the water level in his room was decreasing ever so slightly. In less than two minutes, he stood in a still wet but relatively air filled environment. Airtight drainage? I didn’t know you could even do that. Then again, he supposed the principle must be similar to what allowed excess air out of his rose jar but not water in.

  Now that he was standing drenched in his room, a knock floated to the man. Suddenly a stretch of door directly in front of him, where the guild should be, turned clear. I can’t believe she never told me about this stuff, thought Azrael in something rather close to annoyance. Not that it was possible for him to be annoyed with Raime, naturally, but she’d always told him the advancements in her guild were rather boring.

  The man facing him through that glass looked annoyed. Like Azrael he had a pudgy face, but his hair was more of a greyish red hue, marking him to be just past middle aged. With ability users, of course, that could have been anywhere between eighty and three hundred years, although the necromancer that that upper estimation unlikely, for he’d have heard of an alchemist that powerful in Seltah. The small bit of white Azrael could glimpse just below his face told him that the man was likely dressed in white robes, as was fashionable here. It occurred to the necromancer that it was strange for this particular wall to be of metal when most of the building was lined with glass. It was probably to hide guards and traps, but seemed as clumsy as he was lead to believe. For geniuses, they really don’t know much about battle strategy, thought Azrael with a polite grin. The man scowled, then motioned for him to take off his jar. Azrael motioned back, trying to convey that he had no idea how to take the thing off. The middle aged looking man tried to mouth something at him, possibly the incantation to release him. The necromancer tried his best to replicate it, and after a few tries he felt the slight pressure against his throat cease. In a second or two he was able to take his jar off his head with a gasp. He hadn’t realized how warm it had gotten in there.

  “Hello, intruder. Welcome to-“ the man started, before apparently catching himself with a caugh. His voice echoed strangely, and Azrael wondered where exactly the voice was reaching him from. “I mean, uh. Who be you, to enter our guild so easily? Declare yourself.” He was obviously used to repeating a specific greeting.

  “Good morning,” said Azrael with his usual ease. People had always come relatively naturally to him, despite the necromancer having a knack for making some of them angry. “I can’t tell you what my name is, but I am a friend of the guild. I assure you, there is no harm to be found in my cloak.” It was a common oath in these parts, but happened to also be true. That small ceremonial dagger didn’t count.

  “Ah, man, I haven’t have brunch yet! No need for theatrics… alright, whose friend are you?”

  “Sera Bakas, and a woman called Raime, I’m here to convey the second’s last words to the first.” The man was taken aback for a second, then
asked for a password, which Azrael provided. He nodded grimly, then opened the portal slowly, grunting all the way. Water dripped from the door as it went upwards slowly. The man didn’t waste time in ushering Azrael towards the earthen part of the guild after locking the door behind him and opening that farther one, flooding the room in between once again. All around Azrael oogled.

  “First time actually here, eh?” asked the man, then slowed down in his brisk stroll to shake hands. “Name’s Mattias Finch, by the way. Aetherian?”

  “Pleased to meet you,” Azrael answered. “Yes and yes. You have a good ear for accents.”

  “Cornhill, myself. A bit further off, but we like the peace and quiet. We commute every day, you know.”

  “Really?” asked Azrael, feigning surprise, then felt bad. Mattias was a friendly guy, and deserved a small hint of truth, at least as much as could be given presently. “Oh, I remember. Sera mentioned it once, but doesn’t like to do it herself.” Naturally, it wasn’t Sera who’d told him. A memory surfaced of Raime kissing little Judith before stepping into a circle and disappearing into thin air. Judith. Azrael gulped as his heart lurched, unbidden. He’d thought he had gotten used to loss, but ripples had a way of causing waves. “What’s that?” he asked suddenly, attention drawn by a rock one guild member in spectacles was demonstrating to others. It was set upon a white table, in the middle of many alchemy glyphs.

  “Oh, that’s an automatic ore fission circle,” explained Mattias, pulling Azrael closer to see the thing. The rock, circular in shape, suddenly seemed to split into two smaller ones. Whereas the first was a myriad of colors and obviously natural rock, it now had much less red in it. The second rock was smaller and seemed to be comprised purely of the red ore now missing from the first. Then it split again, and again, until there were five different rocks of similar sizes and all seeming mostly comprised of a single ore each. The surrounding spectators clapped enthusiastically and Azrael joined in, eyes wide like a three year old’s.