by Andrew Rowe
“Why?” Sera asked.
A smirk slid across his face, and his heart beat faster with anticipation.
“Because our train is about to be robbed.”
THE END
Appendix I – Sorcery on Mythralis
A Quick Overview from Keras
On my continent, all magic is referred to as dominion sorcery, or just sorcery for short.
Dominions refer to the power sources for our sorcery. They’re other planes of existence that we can reach into to gather material and accomplish sorcerous effects.
Sorcerers are people who have the ability to utilize the dominions to cast spells. For example, flame sorcerers reach into the plane of flame to draw power for their spells.
To accomplish this, a sorcerer expends some of their own essence (or what you’d call mana) related to the type of magic they’re trying to use. This essence cost has a noticeable effect on the sorcerer’s body related to the type of magic.
For example, casting a flame spell draws on body heat. Using stone sorcery taxes the muscles and bones. And most information gathering spells, like knowledge sorcery, cost memories.
Most sorcerers can only use a couple types of magic, and usually, this is because they were born with a strong connection with those dominions. People can learn to pick up other types of sorcery, but it’s much more difficult.
It’s also worth noting that there are two different ways in which people tend to specialize in using any given type of sorcery.
Calling is the process of conjuring raw essence or materials from another plane.
Shaping is moving or altering essence or material that’s already present in our world.
People who specialize in one form or another are referred to as Callers or Shapers for that type of magic. For example, someone who specializes in conjuring fire is a “Flamecaller”, and someone who manipulates existing fire is a “Flameshaper”. This doesn’t mean they can’t do both to some degree — most people learn a little bit of both. But most sorcerers specialize in one or the other.
That’s probably a good enough foundation to get you started. I’ll get into more of the details, like specific dominions, when I tell you more stories in the future.
Appendix II – Characters
Sera’s notes on the characters in the story.
Fortunately, there are relatively few characters in this tale, especially compared to my dear brother’s. I sometimes feel Corin puts in too much detail on characters and events that are not important, but I digress.
The important characters in Keras’ story are as follows:
Keras himself is, of course, the central protagonist. While he goes by Keras Selyrian, that’s clearly not his real name. He’s a swordsman, and clearly an experienced one. While he does not have an attunement, he has strange magical powers from his homeland. Judging from the story, I’d say he was much weaker during whenever these events occurred than he is now. I’d probably rate the younger Keras at somewhere in the Sunstone to Citrine range, though it’s hard to judge him accurately because his capabilities are so different from what an attuned would have.
Reika is the dragon that he encountered near the beginning of the story, then subsequently recruited to accompany him on his journey. I have to admit to being somewhat impressed — and inspired — by his audacity. Perhaps I’ll invite a dragon to join my climbing group someday or at least make a contract with one. I wonder if that would make Vanniv jealous?
In addition to being able to transform into several forms — human, dragon, human/dragon hybrid, and incorporeal dragon — Reika also has the distinction of being utterly incapable of treating injuries properly. Her attempted ministrations were, perhaps, the most dangerous part of the entire story.
Dawnbringer is one of the Six Sacred Swords and apparently a sapient magical weapon. She corresponds to the element of light and has a variety of light-themed abilities. She’s also apparently kind of a brat, but in the kind of way that means she probably secretly likes Keras more than she’s willing to admit. (I know the type.)
Dawnbringer calls Reika “Rei”, and Reika calls Dawnbringer “Dawn”.
The Spirit of the Forest is some sort of ancient forest spirit. I have basically zero idea what its purpose is, other than possibly administrating the tests in the Whispering Woods.
Your Enemy is another forest spirit, and one that seems to serve the function of running (or at least participating in) a test of bravery. It’s described as being a nightmare spirit, which is a horrifying concept that I don’t like at all. Perhaps more worryingly, it seemed more afraid of Keras than he was of it — which begs the question...what is Keras, anyway?
Raizo is one of the leaders of the Tails of Orochi. He killed Reika’s father, and therefore he is her arch nemesis.
Zenkichi was one of the other leaders of the Tails of Orochi, and apparently was something of a rival swordsman to Raizo. He was interested in taking Dawnbringer in order to gain a competitive advantage (or at least even the odds) against his fellow tail. He has — or rather had — impressive regenerative abilities and nasty acid-based magic.
Kaito was one of Zenkichi’s followers and a talented swordsman with an unknown attunement.
Miyuri was one of Zenkichi’s followers. She was either a powerful Diviner or some other similar type of attuned with both tracking and future-prediction abilities.
Landen is apparently one of Keras’ friends from back in his homeland. He’s a swordsman with an unusual two sword style, which seems like it would have been a good thing for Keras to learn, since he was lugging around two swords for most of the story and only using one at a time.
Sterling is one of Keras’ worst enemies, which makes sense, given that Sterling is one of the Children of the Tyrant in Gold. Yeah. That’s bad. I really hope we never run into that guy. Just hearing Corin’s stories about Saffron was bad enough.
The Old Sage is some old guy that apparently sent Keras to this continent. I hope Keras has learned a valuable lesson about not letting strange old people teleport him anywhere.
Lydia is one of Keras’ friends, as well as his commanding officer in the Paladins of...T-something? I didn’t catch the name. Anyway, she’s apparently a powerful sorceress, and an apprentice of Blake Hartigan — the legendary ancestor of the Hartigan family.
Velas is Keras’ rival, and a spear-wielder. She wields a magical artifact called the Heartlance, and she apparently has movement-focused magic, similar to what Corin can do with his ring.
Arkhen was a friend of Keras’ when he was training to join an organization called the Thornguard. When they were in a dire situation, Keras used the Sae’kes to save them...and cut off Arkhen’s arm in the process. For that reason, he’s been hesitant to use the Sae’kes in battle ever since.
Res’vaye Fayne was Keras’ instructor when he was training to join the Bladebreaker Division of the Thornguard. He taught Keras both swordplay and metal sorcery.
Taer’vys Ironthorn was one of Res’vaye’s former students, and apparently he was an extraordinarily dangerous and talented fighter.
The Spirit Gateway Crystal is a sapient magical crystal that Keras spoke to inside the Shrine of Bravery. It offered him a variety of things, and he made an unusual choice.
Appendix III – Terms
Keras’ Notes on Locations and Terms
Attunements are the local form of magic in this region of the world. They come in the form of a mark similar to the Dominion Marks from my homeland, but they seem more complex.
The attunement itself changes as the user grows more powerful, and it generates an aura that shifts in color based on the strength of the user. Each time the color shifts, it also apparently unlocks more functions of the attunement itself, giving the wielder additional powers. For this reason, people identify the attunement levels with color-themed names.
Quartz (Clear) is the first level. People at this level have access to two types of magic based on the attunement itself.
Carnelian (Red) is the second level. At this point, most attunements generate something called a shroud, which is a defensive barrier. Wish I had one of those. Sounds like it’d save me from a lot of injuries.
Sunstone (Orange) is the third level. At this point, the attuned can suppress their power, making it harder to detect.
Citrine (Yellow) is the fourth level. I always get this one and Carnelian mixed up. Notably, at this level, they seem to get access to a third type of magic.
Emerald (Green) is the fifth level. This supposedly allows them to use ambient mana more effectively. I’m not sure exactly what that means — maybe it improves their shaping ability? It’s also possible it lets them drain ambient mana to recharge their own supply, I’m not sure.
Sapphire (Blue) is a sixth level that apparently no one has actually seen. I’m sure I’ll run into someone with that level eventually, and based on how things tend to go, they’ll probably try to kill me immediately.
Major Nations:
Valia – Nation on the eastern coast of the continent of Kaldwyn. Home to the Serpent Tower and the Lorian Heights Academy.
Edria – Imperialistic southern nation. Conquered Kelridge during the Six Years War and nearly conquered Valia as well.
Caelford – Technologically advanced nation on the western coast of the continent. Allied with Valia.
Dalenos – Theocracy; covers most of the northern side of the continent.
Kelridge – A territory that was a part of Dalenos prior to the Six Years War. Conquered by Edria and now known as East Edria.
Calendar System:
Kaldwyn uses a twelve month calendar, with each month having exactly thirty days. Their week is six days long, with each day dedicated to a visage, and thus there are five weeks per month.
Days of the Week:
Tashday
Kyrsday
Fersday
Tensday
Vasday
Wyddsday
Acknowledgements
I’d like to start with thanking my parents. When I was a child, they were kind enough to support both my reading habits and my early interest in video games. They were constant sources of help, always willing to read the little story snippets I wrote as a child, or to encourage me to follow my dreams.
They’re still doing that, even today. Mom beta reads for all of my books and sends me corrections, and Dad is always giving me updates on my Amazon rankings. Thank you both. I couldn’t have possibly made it this far in my career without you.
I’d also like to thank my partner, Jess, for their constant support and guidance. Jess has helped me with every single one of my books, including doing full edits for several books that I never even released. That process, as well as many of the book recommendations that Jess gave me (like Mother of Learning, for example) helped give me the inspiration I needed to continue writing and improve my work.
I owe a large part of this book to my love for Japanese games, especially RPGs. The Legend of Zelda was the first video game I truly got involved with. I still remember my brother showing me how to play, and how awesome it was to eventually pick up the controller and join Link on his adventures. From there, I fell in love with more overtly RPGish titles, like Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior as it was referred to in early US releases) and Final Fantasy. You’ll see a lot of elements drawn from these types of games in this book, and the chapter titles are often direct nods to some of the games that inspired me.
Some other examples of franchises that served as inspiration here include: Seiken Densetsu, SaGa, Bravely Default, Disgaea, Shining (Force, In the Darkness, Resonance, etc.), Fire Emblem, Monster Hunter, The Legend of Heroes, Tales, Mysterious Dungeon, Dungeon Magic, Ys, Azure Dreams, Golden Dawn, Luminous Arc, Star Ocean, Lufia, Undertale, and Brandish.
As a standard disclaimer, I don’t own the rights to any of these titles or franchises — any inclusion of their names or concepts is purely meant as homage to some of my favorite works of fantasy.
I first created this setting for tabletop RPGs and LARPs. This story doesn’t directly coincide with the plot of any of those games, but there are a lot of references in here to story elements and characters from those games. For example, the story that Keras tells about Rendalir is a hyper simplified retelling of Rendalir Remembered, a spin-off campaign run by Dani Lee Collins, Michael Kelly, Emily Gittelhough, and Trevor Gittelhough. I’d like to thank all of them for helping expand on Rendalir (which existed only as a backstory piece in my own games) and bring it to life.
Taer’vys Ironthorn is a reference to a character played by Rob McDiarmid. Res’vaye Fayne (“Felbane” previous incarnations) is a character who appeared in one of my previous unpublished novels, and who was later played by Eric Maloof.
Thanks to Carly Thomas for her depiction of Dawnbringer and Mowi Reaves for her depiction of Reika in my live-action role-playing games.
This book wouldn’t have been the same without the help of my beta readers, including Brittany Chhutani, Dani Lee Collins, Ira Ham, Brian Heins, Michael Kelly, CW Fox, Gereon Hinz, Jess Richards, Bruce Rowe, Christine Rowe, Jay Taylor, Will Wight, Rachel Noel Williams, and Chris Zamora.
Finally, thanks to the community over on Reddit’s /r/fantasy, especially asuraemulator, Green0Photon, and the other users that took the time to give me feedback on my earlier works.
Author’s End Notes
Thanks for reading this book!
There’ll be more of Keras’ story on the way. I don’t know how many books this series will be in total. My initial intent was to write one book for each sword, but I may not end up sticking with that, since multiple swords may end up being addressed in one book, etc.
If you enjoyed this book and haven’t already read my other books, I’d encourage you to take a look at the Arcane Ascension series. They’re in a similar writing style and take place on the same continent (but years later).
Keras also appears (under another name) in my War of Broken Mirrors series, but that’s a very different writing style. You might still enjoy it, just be aware that those books are third person with multiple perspectives, and somewhat more serious in tone. Notably, the War of Broken Mirrors takes place earlier in the timeline than this book did.
If you’ve already read (or decided to skip) my other books and you’re looking for some other books that are a similarish style, I’d recommend looking at Mother of Learning, a web serial that served as one of my inspirations. You might also enjoy Will Wight’s Cradle or Traveler’s Gate books, which have a similar focus on anime-style martial arts and magic.
If you’re looking for a place to discuss books like this or find more recommendations, you can find some under Progression Fantasy on Facebook or the /r/progressionfantasy subreddit.
If you want more books with game-like elements, you might want to check out the check out the GameLit Society on Facebook. If you want clearer RPG elements like numeric levels, you can find some examples of books like that on the LitRPG Books page on Facebook.
Thanks again for picking this up, I hope you enjoyed it!
About the Author
Andrew Rowe was once a professional game designer for awesome companies like Blizzard Entertainment, Cryptic Studios, and Obsidian Entertainment. Nowadays, he’s writing full time.
When he’s not crunching numbers for game balance, he runs live-action role-playing games set in the same universe as his books. In addition, he writes for pen and paper role-playing games.
Aside from game design and writing, Andrew watches a lot of anime, reads a metric ton of fantasy books, and plays every role-playing game he can get his hands on.
Interested in following Andrew’s books releases, or discussing them with other people? You can find more info, update, and discussions in a few places online:
Andrew’s Blog: https://andrewkrowe.wordpress.com/
Mailing List: https://andrewkrowe.wordpress.com/mailing-list/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Arcane-Ascension-378362729189084/
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClimbersCourt/
Other Books by Andrew Rowe
The War of Broken Mirrors Series
Forging Divinity
Stealing Sorcery
Defying Destiny (Coming Soon)
Arcane Ascension Series
Sufficiently Advanced Magic
On the Shoulders of Titans
Arcane Ascension Book 3 (Coming Soon)
Weapons and Wielders Series
Six Sacred Swords
Diamantine (Coming Soon)