by Nicol Terra
Foreword
Alright, this is the first novel I have ever written! I had spent five years writing it since I was in high school when I was (oh god such a lousy writer) to now I am a Junior in college. Hopefully, I am now a competent writer. I hope to take you all on a journey through a world similar yet distant to our own. No matter what though, I look forward to improving my skills with you, my readers over time with this fantasy epic. This was an exhausting, but a fun journey to be had!
This is the first edition of the novel. Right now, I am looking to improve my style and thus this novel could be further expanded and changed in the future. Thank you all for having the time to pick up and read this book, and I hope you enjoy it!
But first, I have some thanks.
I wanna thank my brother, for always being there for me and lending a patient ear.
I wanna thank my father for raising me. Because of him, I owe my life too.
I wanna thank my mother for guiding me, even if it was a little too hands-on, I am glad she was there to help me with anything I needed.
I made some friends on the internet that honestly are too varied to thank individually, so here they are by screen name: LAS, XCano, Dargoo Faust, Weekly, EL, Flo, Luna, Grudgeman, Akuma
I wanna thank my best friends, Jimmy, D.J, Ricky, James, Jason, Blake, Chris, Mack, Will (you are in here by proxy.), Rose, Roshna, Chrissy, and Katelyn
I wanna thank some more friends: Hatfield, Thaxter, Anthony, Julian, Nick
Williams, Kylie, Karlee, Lauren, Alexandria and Nick Garcia. Honestly, I am unsure we will talk after college but remember to tackle fate head on!
And finally, I want to thank fate.
Fate held my hand in telling a tale for the world inspired by nature, time, space, and reality. We worked together to make this happen, I think.
To the fiction that inspired me; Mistborn, Percy Jackson, Pre-Mending MTG, Star Wars Legends, Wakfu, Avatar, JoJo's Bizzare Adventure and finally the most important of all: One Piece. Without this manga, I would not have the drive to write an adventure story as I have.
To those still reading, I hope you enjoy my tale of a single, larger than average blue marble that without Tolkien, Sanderson or Riordan, would not be here in this form.
If you want to read more stories and see a map of the world, click here: https://alatoremverse.wordpress.com/
If you want to help me go full time, my patreon is right here: https://www.patreon.com/alatorem
The wispy ocean mist hid away a small continent in the neglected outback. The choking fog of the south-western morning dew was suffocating, as the stench of both Blessing and Chaos wafted around. The fog choked all life from the continent, stretching dozens of kilometers from the ground to the sky. In this hostile environment without growth sailed a single paddle boat, surrounded by Enchantments to keep the passengers safe from the outside world. In the presence of the taller one, the fog instant dispersed across the continent and from the sky, echoing outward around the globe in a minute.
Meanwhile, the two elves rowed a paddle boat in complete silence. This large landmass, which hid away the two, was untouched by a man and his meddling technologies, even the sandy shore was unmarred by man. The two wore black robes, concealed by night herself. The two pointed ears were softly twitching at the cold-cracking chill that creaked through their spine’s. The creatures long thought to be extinct shrunk away. Death rippled throughout the land as the deadly fog swirled and swifted throughout the continent and nearby ocean. When the fog parted for the two, the boat landed safely on the coast as the two slinked a small anchor.
The two elves walked out of small boat as one of them created a sphere of light to enlighten the path in front. Then, one of the smaller ones tripped and fell, her hood slinking off her head momentarily. She nodded in embarrassment, slipped her hood back on as she continued on her path.
“Illevetar, watch it, I don‘t wanna be seen!” The larger one stated.
“You don’t wanna make ourselves known in the middle of nowhere.” Illevetar interjected. “Don’t nanny me.” She pulled two strings dangling from her hood to hide away her blush. The other one shot a sly smile as they continued onward.
Tens of miles inland, a large stone circle met them, stretching for a few miles in undisturbed forest. The stone circle pulsated a blue light, sprinkling upward to split the fog and clouds. The two stood on the circle as the light expanded, enveloping them as the environment around them faded.
The pocket of space was warm and inviting, as both of them felt the gentle heat brush through them, softly sliding across slender skin underneath their silk cloaks. White, tepid and without a single defining feature, the room was almost a void in space itself. Illevetar frowned as she looked around through her hood. The larger elf however, walked to the center of the room to a pedestal with a black box. She reached out from her gown, which she had underneath her gown a small, silver rapier that remained strapped to her waist. When the woman flipped the box open, the rapier around her waist flowed. She snatched the box from the stone pedestal as the pedestal shrunk before them, into the ground of light. She opened the box, which revealed a black stone, which gave off immense energy, as even the air of the room itself changed to form a luminous light, to a grizzly gray.
“Is that a Calamity Stone?” Illevetar asked; The large one nodded.
“It is Illevetar, a stone which has the power to destroy anything in sight over a million times stronger than a Supernova. A complete 'Stone' even, now that is even rarer." She said confidently. She turned around to tilt her head at Illevetar. She wore a worried grimace as she let out a sigh.
“Really? I don’t wanna look for anything else in here!” Illevetar moaned. The large one sighed, as even this small action was enough to shake the pocket briefly and then released a small smile peaking out.
“You were the one who wanted to come.” She winked. Illevetar jolted the other direction, looking around the room and avoiding her gaze. The larger elf walked around the room a few hundred feet, only for them to hit an invisible wall. She grabbed her head as she heard a ringing in her ears.
“What the fuck?” She rubbed her newfound bump on her head. “Whoever designed this magic room needs to be fired.” She ached. Even back home, the Magic Enchanted Rooms that had no clearly defined walls warned those who were unfortunate enough to be near enough to smack their head into stone, metal or wood. She planted her hands on the white nothing, feeling a cold, stony texture and a hard, yet squishy wall. She ran her fingers down the wall, the squishy stone rushing between her fingers like soap. She continued, only to bump into Illevetar this time. She giggled.
“Hey, this time it wasn’t me.” She cried. They both touched the wall as it parted utterly, the room around them warping as the yellow light and the pedestal faded into a dark room with an ancient inscription on it. Illevetar raised a brow.
“It's written in Old Speech,” Illevetar said. The other elf pulled out a green sphere, pressing a button on the top as she threw it in the air. The sphere continued to float as a blue light bounced out of the sphere as it circled the room with the light completely three times. The sphere then created a square image with the writing. She swiped the image forward with her finger towards an icon on the top that looked like a book. The model then faded as she grabbed her sphere.
“I guess these people left us more than just a stone that can destroy the world,” Illevetar added. The other elf nodded.
“Seems that way, I wish they didn’t have chicken scratch of writing.” She said.
The room faded as the twisted tree line, and the stone circle greeted them.
“Well, that is new.” A voice spoke. Alexia swiped out her sword and grasped it with both hands. Her eyes darted from left to right as
Illevetar hid behind her. A man with gray skin walked forward, black overcoat and dark blue cotton pants. He held a glass of wine in his right hand. “This unfortunate, I guess I fucked up a second time.” He said, taking a sip from the glass as he walked in the light.
“I take it that you two Elves will take that.” He said, Before he could take a sip, the taller female Elf raised her sword and sliced through the glass in a millisecond, cutting it in two as wine spilled over his hand.
“Wow, so rude.” He responded, shaking his head as he took one last gulp of wine and slammed the glass in the ground. She prowled the blade to his throat, strangely disappearing into nothing. Illevetar took a step back in response, but the other one grimaced, she knew what he did. Ra, that glass's sub-atomic particles darted everywhere. "He is powerful." She thought to herself. "Is this who the seer warned me about?"
“Why is a cursed blood here?” She asked, slinking her blade up and down his throat ready to pounce at any moment. The light around shattered, as the sound of nature greeted them. The once dead Nature briefly whined with the winds as the air started to heat up around them. Illevetar winced at this statement, shrinking back behind the larger elf.
“That is such a racist slur. At least call us by our proper name’s, ‘Maldition.’” He said. The female elf gave a quick thrust, her sword thrusting air in a millisecond... Her body gave off a red, flaming aura that burnt the ground below. He then looked above at the sky, his face turning ghost white as he turned back to the two.
An entire fleet of Airships, around 4 strong with dozens of smaller ones, surrounding the larger ones and hundreds of smaller ones even smaller than that. The 4 large ones were Behemoths, Airships with balloons that were longer than some mountains. The long balloons were five kilometers long and around ten kilometers tall. These large monsters held small hundreds of thousands of soldiers and dozens of smaller, 'Dragon' Class Airships. Those ones were a few hundred meters long. The smallest, 'Airsails' were often enough for a squad of ten people. This was nearly a fourth of the Elven Fleet, just for this one stone?
“An elf has an entire fleet of ships over my head because of one stone?” He shrieked.
“Illevetar, take the stone and run!” The tall elf said as she threw the box at her. Not even a millisecond later, Illevetar snatched it and sprinted the other direction. The man gave chase but was met a hundred sword slashes piercing his body as the large Elf lunged her rapier rapidly throughout his body. Each strike, taking half of seconds to lunge through his body slashed through matter, dispersing neutrons in an instant. He grinned, dispersing instantly almost as if he was made of something immaterial, without form. She sighed, her guard at the ready as she walked forward. He then reformed as a ghostly figure a few hundred feet away. She saw this in the corner of her eye instantly as she lunged forward. She snapped her sword through him, only for him to again disappear like the shadow of the night.
She got annoyed at this constant disappearing and reappearing, and a millisecond later she blocked a large dagger that appeared over her forehead. She knocked the blade away and bolted backward.
“This is not magic, what are you using you cursed being?” She shouted, he reached under his cotton shirt and pulled out a small, shiny purple crystal with white spots throughout it. She winced, Crystals.
She grumbled as she slashed at him, fire appearing as it slammed down and vaporized the ground beneath her. She slinked her sword back up and re-assumed her battle stance as the two met blade to blade. He sighed in response as he snapped his neck from side to side.
“You aren’t exactly making this easy for me.” He groaned.
“You want that stone too?” She smirked and shot a sly smile. “Tough luck, I ain’t moving.” She said. The man created a purple oozing substance from his right hand as he swiped at her. She dodged at the last second as his swipe erased a tree in an instant. The ooze seemed to erase Soul and Matter. She knew if she got hit, she would be erased from existence. Cautious, she looped around. He lunged again and avoided it, deleting another tree. Time slowed around her, but it was not enough. She shook her head- one hit from that, and she is a dead woman. She couldn't make mistakes.
He appeared again as a shadowy figure bearing down on her with a demonic aura. He tried to slice down, but she effortlessly parried his blade as she snapped her sword back. She felt a presence inside her mind, reading her thoughts for the next few seconds. She tried to slice at him, but he blocked easily. She tried again, but he kept blocking easily. He, however, read her mind and easily knew where each attack was coming from. Frustrated, she tried not to think, only for her to feel a dominant presence inside.
"Get out!" She thought. The man bolted back almost as his Mind-Warping stopped.
A mysterious blue glyph appeared in front of him, as he shot a blast of ice at the ground, sub-atomically destroying the round earth beneath her from sheer cold. She, however, bounced back before she got hit. She rushed through the forest, dodging his moves repeatedly and blocking his blade. He smiled softly.
“Surprised I know magic?” He said as he slashed at her right cheek, as she backed away. Drops of blood fell down to the ground below as she reached for her cheek with her left hand. She looked at her left hand, a small puddle of blood enveloping it. She clenched her fist as she created a bolt of flames at shot it at the man. He disappeared again, trees rustling in a few seconds as he disappeared.
“I know who you are. You are Alexia, the General known as the Star of the South because of your expertise in fire magic. I heard you can vaporize anything and turn it to gas, including an island.” He said confidently as he appeared with a manic mocking smile.
“Care to show me?” He said with a cackle. She gave a quick smirk. “Doubt you can destroy over ten million square kilometers of land.”
“Yeah I can, but I never tried a small continent until today.” She said as a large glyph of fire appeared right in front of her as she rose into the air and speak an ancient language that flowed off her tongue. She looked to see an airship in the distance, as she saw Illevetar, her friend, on it. She gave a quick smile as she solemnly closed her eyes. “This is my last lesson for you.” She said.
“Unicus Igneium: Curse of Surtur” She said, as a massive storm of fire appeared in front of her land beneath her grumbled and incinerated beneath her feet. The flames were so intense that trees vaporized instantly. In less than five seconds, she evaporated the continent before her, even parting the ocean with sheer power, creating hundred-foot waves that echoed outward and beyond this newfound landmass. The power of her spell started to twist and turn, as she poured her magical power into a large storm of flames that clocked quickly around the sky and continent faster then sound. Moments later, the ball of flames reached and incinerated the continent, vaporizing most of the land and the deep ocean floor in an instant.
A minute passed, as she fell down to the ocean below, as she stood on the water, panting and exasperated. The storm started to slow down, and the warm ocean became a warm one. She gave a smile and shook her head. He, appeared again, as half his body was covered in blood. He held onto his dagger like a madman as she gave a quick laugh. She froze, but she was out of Magic, her fate written this way for her. She closed her eyes.
“For my country.” She said
“For your country.” He said, as he jammed his dagger down through her heart and sliding it down. She died with a smile. He floated on the ocean, as he reached for inside his coat pocket, his hand trembling as he pulled out a black sphere. He threw it in the air as it floated.
“It is no use, there goes the stone…. It was as if she knew she would die.” He said, grabbing his right side. He ripped off his coat and looked below, to see charred black skin. He groaned quickly to himself in pain. “I failed you.”
“It does not matter, we now have a reason for war. You losing the stone is a blessing… but” The other man from the sphere spoke, giving a small sigh. “I am disappointed in you, Mudath.” He said, as his voice ga
ve off a fierce tone. Mudath, half wounded and exhausted was too tired to explain himself, as he nodded silently to himself, coughing blood from his mouth as he felt his body slowly reform his injuries.
“I will send you a ship to pick you up, looks like we are going to war.” He said.
“What about Maplesworn, their allies? Also, I don’t think the Kragg Empire or any human would side with us in this war.”
“Humanity hates elves anyway, this matters not, I am confident we can crush them and the faeries. I need you here to do it.”
Mudath gave a silent nod as the sphere fell to the ocean below. He wanted to pick it up, but he was too exhausted too, as he barely had enough energy to lie on the water. He quietly laid his head down, taking his last chance of rest as he waited for his warship.
Soldiers rushed passed Ahn, their metal armor clanking against each other in the cramped city. One of them bumped into Ahn, which he merely shrugged off and continued down the snowy road. The city was dropping flake after flake of the snowfall. Ahn had a blue flowing cloth shirt and a white satchel on his right waist side, matching with the blue-stained roads, and soft sapphire lights illuminating past the snowy fog. He had a small sword on his left hip and white baggy pants with a gold necklace wrapped around his neck. The merchants were quickly battering against each-other. Soldiers and Civilian, it did not matter as the clamored to the merchants. The few merchants being hustled were swamped in a horde of people. All except one. She had no customers. Ahn felt a tad bit of sorrow as he tossed her a gold coin, which she caught. He saw a glimmer of pointy ears; she was an Elf. Her emerald green eyes caught him off guard as he picked up an apple.