Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Wivern: An Atlantian bloodline that could shift into the form of a large cat. Believed to have died out.
Wolven: Kiyou wolves given mortal form to serve as the deities’ protectors and guides in the mortal realm. When the Elemental Atlantians began to outnumber the deities, the wolven bonds shifted to them. They predate the Atlantians. Their senses are much keener than most. When bonded, they can feel the emotions of the Atlantian(s) they are bonded to, and the Atlantian(s) can use the wolven for energy if needed. They prefer not to remain in their mortal forms for too long.
CRAVEN
Click here to see a full-size image of a Craven by Kassia Ramos.
SOLIS AND ATLANTIA MAP
Click here to see the map of Solis and Atlantia by Hang Le full size.
HISTORY OF THE WORLDS
Our world and the Land of the Gods have both changed considerably over the years. And while I am many, many centuries old, I was not, in fact, alive during the time of the gods. Nevertheless, my Seer powers give me insight into some things from the past that many do not possess, and I have combined that with firsthand knowledge from my lifetime to compile the following list of facts that should help put some things into perspective. Please keep in mind, however, that understanding evolves, truths are always coming to light, and things shift as destinies unfold.
In the Beginning:
Many believe the Primals created the air, lands, seas, realms, and everything in between. After all, little is known about the beginning, and it was better that way for the people to have faith. Easier. Safer. The truth was far more complicated and dangerous because every new beginning carries the risk of a new end.
Our beginning started when there were only stars made of raw, unfettered essence, and it remained that way until Orsus, the largest and brightest of them, erupted. The explosion sent power rippling out, creating barren lands and mountains where nothing but vast emptiness had existed before.
In the millennia that followed, stars began their descent to the no-longer-barren realms. Some fell in areas where great winged creatures ruled the skies, and others in lands separated by vast bodies of water. Those stars buried themselves deep in the soil created by Orsus, feeding the land as the land fed them until they rose to walk as the Ancients.
With their eyes full of all the colors of their beginnings, they were beings of absolute power, neither good nor bad, but they were not welcomed by the great winged beasts who ruled the sky, and their battles nearly destroyed the realms until a shaky truce was established. Peace came, but during that time, ten of the Ancients began to dream of what was to come. They saw the truth in absolute power. It would inevitably corrupt. In their attempt to prevent this, the ten created the first Primals, thus splitting their power with shared bits of their energy among offspring who were designed to be beyond needs and wants to ensure that there would always be untainted balance.
Peace continued, and conception began as the Ancients created beautiful elemental beings and nightmarish creatures birthed from the darkest, deepest parts of the realms. New Primals were created from the ground, and others entered Arcadia for their time of rest. During this time, they never even considered fighting or killing one another, and procreation was purely for the sake of multiplying. Primals gave birth to gods, and the lands flourished harmoniously, but those ten Ancients still dreamed. They knew what was coming.
Some could claim that the downfall of the Ancients and what was to come started with the young Primal of Life and his insatiable curiosity. It was he who created the first beings of duality, solidifying the truce between those who walked and those who ruled the sky. It was he who created the mortals—not in the image of the Primals and gods, but in the way of the Ancients, who were born of stars.
The development of the mortals wasn’t as restricted as the Primals. The young Primal of Life wanted them to have what they did not: free will. And with that came the capacity to feel emotion. So, as time passed, and Primals and gods interacted with the mortals, they became more curious and then enthralled by all the things the mortals felt.
They became more like them.
The Ancients were not as bonded to the mortals as the Primals were, but nonetheless, they delighted in them. You see, for eons, the Ancients saw the beauty in everything, but they were as old as time itself, and no matter how benevolent or balanced they had been, they began to see only the harsh cost of unbridled creation. As mortals reproduced and spread, crowding the lands and destroying more and more of what came before, the Primals themselves became more mortal-like, eventually developing free will and the ability to care deeply—and nothing is more powerful than the ability to feel and care.