Spoiler! :
Storyline.
A young Dern must save two warring worlds, or watch his future crumble.
Three Act Structure.
Daniel Link is an assistant candle-maker, Koth is a sergeant in the nearby castle's guard, Jeffreys is a veteran trainer, Kayla is a peasant's daughter, Varien is Dane's step-cousin and fellow-recruit, Trymoor is a young wanna-be trainee. Senetra's long-time enemies, the Derns, have supposedly discovered a way to defeat Senetra's greatest defence and are planning to invade.
He starts as a nobody, is recruited, dedicates himself to keeping his step-cousin safety, and then his training base is destroyed, and Dane now MUST find a way to save Senetra (by destroying the Dern monster), or watch his world burn.
He rides north, starts his training, and then the old Stonemaker dies and he finds that months have passed in the few weeks spent in time vacuum. His friends have moved on south to fight with Senetra and try to save it.
Dane rides to save Senetra and meets up with the army. He goes out to confront the Dern monster and is defeated badly, wounded horribly, and Senetra's remaining people are pushed into their ships. They now must sail for Kyrome or die on the seas.
They fight the Dern fleet keeping them from Senetra, Dane's best friend is killed, he finds he is the son of the legendary Dern general (killer incorporated). Reaching Kyrome he hides in the mountains, there he finds that his friend and father might be saveable still and he rides back for the human world.
Short Synopsis.
Daniel Link is an apprentice candle-maker in a small town situated deep in Senetra, seemingly safe from all Dern attacks. One day the Senetran army begins to fall back to a primary line of defence, just having been warned of a coming invasion, and suddenly every man who can carry a weapon is needed.
Dane and his step-cousin are recruited into the army, and before they are shipped off to train, he meets with his step-father (Paine) and swears to him that he will protect his son at any cost. They are shipped to a border castle to train, and here they meet some other people (recruits, guards, and trainers). It is found that Dane is a powerful Stonemaker, not a Stonebearer, and he is taken away to train separately from his cousin and new-found friends.
However, not wanting to be separated from his friends he convinces his trainer to allow him to meet with them on the weekends and in the evenings. One day a Dern force is sighted in the area. No Inarvi are on call, and it is time for the recruits to show their metal. A battle is fought and Dane, his trainer, and his friends, escape to the woods to watch the castle and city burn.
They leave the forest, but suddenly find that they are trapped behind the Dern lines. They find the one thing that the Derns have been able to recruit which makes them confident of winning the war. A monster capable of defeating the Inarvi. Dane and his friends must destroy this beast or Senetra's primary defence will fall (and in them, the land itself). But they cannot fight the monster AND the Dern army.
They must find help. So they head north in the hopes of finding the Legendary Stonemaker of the cold North. If they can find him then maybe he can help them. They search in vain for him for a long time, and then one day run into an old man who points them in the right direction. They soon find the Stonemaker, but he is old, and he tells them that he can do nothing anymore. But he CAN train Dane, a Stonemaker of great promise.
While Dane's friends ride south to warn Senetra, Dane begins his frantic training as a Stonemaker. It is not until the Stonemaker suddenly falls ill and dies that he leaves the Stonemaker's caverns and finds he has been in a time vacuum. In the few weeks he spent in the cavern, months have passed outside. Flying south to save his friends and country he fears he is too late.
Senetra is now pinned up against the seaboard, trying desperately to battle the Derns with their few remaining soldiers, and one final Inarvi who has not been destroyed. None can face the Dern's beast. Dane rides in on a battle and tears the Derns apart with his new-found powers, winning the day. In the army he finds two of his friends, but learns that one of them was taken by the Derns -and supposedly killed.
Filled with anger he goes to the army's commanders and announces a plan to battle the monster. He marches out and does so, only to be defeated. Shortly after he returns, badly wounded, the Derns launch their greatest attack yet. The Senetran's are forced into their ships, and now have only one choice.
Sail for their long-time enemy's land, Krome, destroy a Dern fleet, and then try to find a way to fight the beast and some-how take back Senetra. They sail for Kryome, Dane badly wounded. During the battle with the Dern fleet, Dane come's up from below and using his power's slowly begins to salvage the day.
But in the process he finds that his third friend is alive. She is held at sword-point by the Dern Lord General, who offer's Dane a chance to take his friends and her in peace, and allow Senetra to burn to a final heap of ashes. Or watch her die.
Forced to face the terrible choice he does the only thing his conscience will allow. He tries to save her. In doing so though she is killed and as he is about to destroy the Dern Lord General when he recognizes him and claims him as his son. The Lord General escapes with his officers, but the battle is lost and the Senetran's arrive in Kyrome safely.
Dane goes to Kyrome in ruins, his friend dead, nobody trusting him, and rides away into the mountains without hope. There he finds a magical spirit who comforts him where he hides and tells him that there is still hope for even the dead. Filled with hope he heads back for humanity, hoping to save his friend yet and possibly his father as well (and maybe learn something of his history, and his mother in the process).
Long Synopsis. (I made a few tweaks to the story and haven't integrated them into the synopsis' yet)
Daniel Link lives with his uncle, aunt, and cousin in a cozy countryside town deep behind the Senetran war-lines. He's grown up impetuous and curious, as an apprentice candle-maker (to his uncle), making his way as an honest man. He hates the way the government works, taking what it wants. Asking for service without giving reason. He's a rebel at every chance.
Everyone has always assumed that Kathlen port was safe from Dern attack, as far as it was from the border, but things are changing. The Derns have somehow found a way to battle Senetra's greatest weapons, the Inarvi, and are winning more battles every day. Now the Senetran army is falling back to a secondary defence line that goes along the edge of the Gnadenfeld and right by Kathlen port.
Now every man who can carry a sword, or teach another how to use one, is needed to go and defend his homeland. Those of Kathlen port have not had a recruiting in years, and the methods are considerably rougher now. Dane is uncertain as to what will happen should he be one of the many chosen. Would he have what it would take? Did he even want to?
As fate would have it, Dane and his cousin Varien are drafted into the army of Senetra. The night afterwards he meets a mysterious veteran soldier named Viral Erkeye, whom he finds very curious. Just before he is shipped out, Dane meets with his uncle and aunt, and promises to them that he will protect their son with his own life.
Two days after they are drafted, Dane and Varien are taken and sent to a castle further north where they will be trained for three months before they are sent to the front lines. The castle is grand, and for a few days Dane trains, making enemies, and friends (long section -DETAILS NEEDED-), and finding that he has great skill.
In a deadly accident he accidentally finds that he is one of the incredibly rare Stonemaker hardcore warriors. Instantly he is taken and set apart from his new-found friends to train separately as a Stonemaker (when he is allowed to enter the war he will be a member of the tough hardcore warriors who are the backbone of the army).
Luckily he manages to convince his trainer that he is responsible, and Koth allows him to go and meet with his friends on the week-ends and evenings. But the war is slowly coming nearer and time is short. Dane is not sure what he will do to keep Varien and his new friends safe. If he doesn't think of something they might be sent away without him.
Before he can make any plans though, a Dern force is spotted near the castle, numbering about fifty warriors. Only Dane, the baron of the castle, and Koth are the magicians/ Stonemakers defending the castle, and no Inarvi are on call. Everyone is called to go out and face the Derns, to prove their metal in some way.
There is a battle with the Derns in which Dane finds that he does have what it takes to fight them. He also finds that he has more power than Koth had assumed. But even so, the battle is lost (Dane runs with his friends and trainer to the woods). They are forced to watch as the castle and village burn, their occupants long dead.
In an attempt to get past the Derns they find, to their surprise, that the Dern army-line's have moved forward and they are caught behind the war-line. Running desperately north the encounter the main army of Dern's and they get in a fight with a small group of Derns who manage to capture Dane and one of his friends (the other's escape).
Taken to the Dern camp to await their summary execution, Dane and his friend learn that the beast which the Derns have recruited to take down the Inarvi, is hunkered down nearby. Using his powers he manages to escape with his friend and make it out to join the others. Now their situation is dire, they must warn Senetra of what the beast is (none know yet), but they would have to break the Dern lines.
The best thing to do, they decide, is to directly destroy the monster now. Sneaking into the camp they try to do this, but find some interesting things about the monster (which is being forced to fight for the Derns, under a powerful spell -and would rather die). They can only destroy it using a secret spell which is only known by one person:Xovis Vertani, a hermit Stonemaker who lives to the far north, hidden somewhere in the mountains, deadly and ancient.
For some time they travel, heading north, avoiding the Derns, and fighting only if they HAVE to, until they finally reach the area where the ancient Stonemaker is rumoured to live. Searching through the mountains, while based in the forests below, they have no hope. One day, however, they run into an old man, walking down a forest path, and he points them in the right direction.
They go where they are directed and indeed find the caverns of the Stonemaker. But he many hundreds of years old, his powers are dying, and soon, his body will follow. He tells them that he cannot fight anymore. He doesn't have the power. But there is hope in Dane. He tests Dane and they find that he is an exceptionally powerful Stonemaker.
Xsovis says that though he can't fight he can train Dane. Dane is excited and agrees. While his friends ride back south, heading for Senetra to warn them, Dane begins to train under the old Stonemaker, learning everything he can as quickly as he can. However one day the old man has a fall and doesn't get back up, Dane helps him inside, and in there Xsovis tells him of his past, and makes Dane promise to use himself to his full potential. But properly.
Dane does, and then Xsovis dies in his caverns. Turning south, he begins to head for Senetra, using his new-found powers to outrun even the Derns. He has not been riding long when he suddenly finds that he has been in a time vacuum. Only a few weeks of training had passed while he was in the caverns, but outside in the real world, months have elapsed. He becomes frantic and worried, the war could already have carried to Kyrome. His friends could be dead. On the way he meets with a young rogue warrior Dern who teams up with him, deciding to go as far south together as they can (then the Rogue will continue on out of Dern land).
When he reaches the Senetran army he finds that Senetra's people are pinned up against the ocean. They have attempted to fight their way out of their corner, but all but of the Inarvi are dead, and nobody can face the beast that the Derns have with them. Nobody has survived a battle with it yet. Nobody has the power.
He finds two of his old friends in the camps and rejoices at seeing them once again. However, shortly afterwards he finds that his third friend was caught by the Derns some time back, and the others were forced to leave her. It is wise to assume that she is long dead and there is nothing they can do for her anymore. Dane gets really angry at this, and sad.
Dane is confident with his new power, and rides out, planning to end the war once and for all. He kills the Derns easily with his power, but when he faces the beast he finds that he needs more than he has. He must fight it with everything. He battles the beast, but in the end he was too angry and not ready, it defeats him, wounding him horribly, and sending him back to the camp in pain.
Almost instantly after he returns the Derns throw everything that they have at the Senetrans, all up along the coast, and after a short, desperate battle, they manage to force the Senetran's into their ships. All that time Dane is unconscious and in great pain, however his friends do well, and the Senetran's lose few enough of their people. However there is a problem.
The Senetran's now have only one choice facing them: They must sail for Kyrome, their long-time enemy, who only hasn't been fighting them because of the Dern Scourge. They must make it past the Dern fleets, get to Kyrome, find help, train their magicians, and then find a way to fight the monster. After that they'll come home, retake Senetra, kill the beast, and live in victory. All that time Dane is unconscious.
A battle with the Dern fleets commences, but from the very start things do not go well for Senetra. Their men are no match for the Derns in close fighting such as they are in. The begins to turn in favour of the Derns. Finally, when things look dark, Dane awakes and weakly makes it up to the decks. Here he uses his powers, almost dying, and manages to begin to salvage the battle: Knowing that it may well be the last thing he ever does.
However, in coming up alongside the Dern flagship, Dane see's the unmistakeable Dernish Lord General, with his sword to his lost friend's throat. He offers Dane a chance. Take your friends and live in piece in the dead lands till fate should find you. Or die here and now, with her blood being the first to spill.
Dane is torn apart having to make the cruel choice. If his friend dies then many would live, but Xsovis said that all died some day or other, and if he lived . . . he'd have to face his conscience. And of course she would never want him to save her. She would hate him. So he does the only thing he can; he tries to save her.
In the quick fight, however, she is cut down helplessly. He is about to kill the Lord General when the man suddenly recognizes Dane as his long lost son. He claims him as such and then disappears (magically) with all of his senior officers and most of his men. The battle is won and the Senetran's limp into Veilhand Port, Kyrome: safe.
Dane is in ruins when he arrives in the port. At the revealing of who his father is, and the fact that he is half Dern (proven by his sudden increase in skills) nobody trusts him -not even his friends. His wound is still there, and he is weak. Inside he is torn apart by the death of his friend, blaming himself, and filling with grief instead of anger. He rides into the forests in pieces, sad and lonely, slowly dying.
However, deep in the mountains he finds a spirit, small and mindless, who comforts him, trying to wake him up and get him moving. Not understanding. She tells him that there is still hope for the dead, and suddenly gives him a great hope. Prove himself? Save his friend? He thanks her and rides away, heading back for humanity (hoping as well to save his father- somehow- and possibly learn something about his mother, and his true history).
Definition of Character's.
Name: (or position) Daniel Link.
Spoiler! :
Name: Varien Kynode.
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Name: Wreath.
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Name: Koth Verking.
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Name: Xsovis Vertani.
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Gender:
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