The Fire Princess - Prologue Draft

Prologue

Of The Sun Children: The Forgotten Stone, The Nyshiniak Stone, The Phoenix Prince and The Fire Princess:

To know why what happened did happen upon the great fields of Thorynwor in the twentieth year of the fifth age, one must look to the past for answers.

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As Vagamor observed in the third age, recalling the events of the second fallen sun child queen:

‘Their waking eyes burn as the gates to a fiery chasm and forth comes their wrath of an unrelenting fire. Their name refers to the myth that they are descended from the sun and hence hold a shared burning in the heart. Over years of a tortured mind they learnt the skill of shifting their form into that of an infernal entity, to be able to manipulate and tear apart the sky, forming it into a shapeless flame. Their fiery clutches are feared, their nature is not to be questioned, for their wrath is what history told but nothing was said that was the truth.’

As told by Princess Samenla of Calamiha in the fifth age, recalling the history of the sun ages after the events of the third fallen sun child queen:

Two stones had fallen from the sky,

Two thousand years between them.

One was lost to the realms of time,

The other brought to a mountain kingdom.

The first age came and two were born

Their power came with the last stone

The sister to the brother left upon a cold dawn

She took the western throne.

So the bloodline was split from east to west,

And five hundred years passed by.

This was the second age of sun but nonetheless,

Only the western heir would rise.

The second heir caused many a war,

His armies flooded the eastern lands.

The western men were defeated once more.

The crown was hence given to safer hands.

So five hundred years passed by and another was born,

Her reign was to be one of sadness, loss and power.

The western armies marched upon a warm dawn,

To the lands where the enemies cower.

Her demise was corrupted and unknown,

Her young mind destroyed.

Her nation was left with an empty throne,

In the years that followed peace was enjoyed.

So five hundred years passed and another was born,

His lands were burnt so he went to the east.

They arrived through the mist on a warmer dawn,

They stayed there and enjoyed much peace.

It was many years before war shadowed again,

The fourth child was looked to and then crowned.

He led his armies into enemy lands and then back again,

He then met his queen when her lands were drowned.

So five hundred years passed by and another was born,

The short years to come were to be of the darkest known.

The fifth child was hidden upon the fifth dawn,

Through sadness and loss she then was given the throne.

There she ruled the east until her sister was gone,

Into the west her people returned.

Her fire was dark and her sword shone,

Red in blood as the enemy burned.

War became greater and distant lands fell,

The fifth child swore to protect them.

Upon great fields she unleashed hell,

The same day her sister saw her end.

With sorrow the fifth child returned to her throne,

Her life was now torn in two.

She thought of her sister who fell not long ago.

It was not then long before she joined her too.

History has told of the sun children of whom fire bowed to,

They ruled under black skies and a ground of ashes.

Their wrath filled the air with a great heat as their power grew,

These heirs brought only destruction to the masses.

The world of Enavyriath was old and had seen many an age, but its people looked to the past five ages for answers to what happened. How a queen rose to overcome an evil that had destroyed her past, how she gave her life to defend her people and how her legacy went on to end all opposition to the sun child.

Every five hundred years a bizarre and unexplained phenomenon occurs in the sun and it turns red. It is at this synchronised moment that a sun child is born to one of the two bloodlines.

What is a sun child one may ask? The sun children are the descendents of the original twins that inherited the powers of the second stone that from the sky.

Through their own mind they have the ability to control and manipulate fire, but using such abilities, if they are taken too far, can cause pain, weakness, insanity and even death as observed in the case of the sun child of the second age.

Their abilities are gained through objects called ‘Nyshiniaks’ or ‘Sun Vaults’ which have he energy of the original Nyshiniak stone contained within since the items were actually forged from the stone. However, if a sun is born and does not come into contact with such an item then they can not use their abilities. If a sun child dies wearing such an item their solarium energy is absorbed by the object and stored away, hence it being a ‘Sun Vault’. The energy can then be transferred into another sun child if they touch the unused item. Princess Sapphire of the third age obtained her abilities from a ring, but she wore a crown that was later given energy when she died of unknown reasons. This crown was then taken across the seas by a secret cult and given to the descendents of the eastern line that came from one of the original twins.

Every five age a new red dawn comes and with it such an heir is born. However, since then the eastern bloodline was thought to have died out and only the western line existed. This however was to be proven wrong, for although none, not even her parents knew it, the new stun child was born of the eastern line.

The western line had since travelled into the lands south of their homeland and this is where that line now resides.

From reading the book ‘The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Sun’ written by Lord Valan in the fifth age one can learn of how Ember Galinorn dreamt about Princess Sapphire, the sun child of the third age in the western line. Two teenage girls connected by a golden crown a thousand years apart and an entire ocean away. From the same work that was written by someone who travelled alongside Ember it is clear to see how she managed to control and consolidate her abilities to wield the flame.

It is never clear who the Fire Princess was, but it was only after Ember’s story that one can begin to put the pieces together. This is the story those two sun children.

The child of the sun,

The master of the fire,

Their wrath shall come,

Their flame grows higher,

They come with the ash,

They live in sorrow,

Their blade shall clash,

The lands burn in the morrow.

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Of the history of Arzutare and Ringwater Island, where the first chapters are set:

On the eastern side of Arinalgar there was an opening in the land where the sea flooded in. its rushing tide had hence caused a large bay to open in the western most side of the opening. Between the east and west bank a great island had been formed and it looked somewhat like a fang of a great beast and trees grew upon it around small streams.

The lands lay peaceful for many a year until one of the many tribes of the old country made home atop a hill on the island. They were the Barthorin tribe, they who created the language which is spoken now. They built an old fort above the hill and then a small village was built around it. On the shores of the great Kanamia Ocean life was good. Food was always at hand, the seaward banks of the lands cut apart large waves so there was rarely any floods and the winds were never to strong around the area.

A shadow came in the east when the Arzornin tribe made its kingdom in the far off mountains into a great power. The eastern tribes of the land were incorporated or burned into ashes depending on how resistant the tribes were to being overrun.

It was not then long before the Arzornin armies were headed across the many fields towards the sea. The king of the Barthorin tribe rallied his men to defence but they crumbled in fear at the size of the enemy. Surprisingly the armies of Barthorin managed to hold off the Arzornins by burning the bridges to the main lands. The lands beyond the island were henceforth that of the enemy and the people of Barthorin were restricted to their small patch of land amidst three rivers.

As time wore on over the centuries the small island had become impoverished and all resources were exhausted. They desperately fled the island which now lay separated from the new lands of Arinalgar and headed for the mountains, seeking aid from the dominant Arzornnin people. They were welcomed into the kingdom and all past hostilities were forgotten.

And so the island lay quiet for another six hundred years until a single fortress was built amidst the stone of the old.  This fort was overrun by Queen Elarnarsur’s forces when she returned from the west to kill her brother, Dyrnarsur.

That was the last time any form of settlement would exist upon the island for another one thousand eight hundred years. In which time the lands became overgrown with trees and the mouth to the great bay ran amidst a mixture of forests and fields.

In the mid fourth age the old lands of Arinalgar had become to crumble and since the ransacking of Parna Carnem, the former capital of Arzorna in both the first and second age the people had grown weak and were forever overshadowed by the other four realms of the land.

The son of a dying king who was named Arzor II after the great founder of the old country, thought that he should follow his ancestor’s example and create a new base of power since the southern country of Calamhia had become more powerful in the reign of the now dead sun child Osirion.

Far across the lands he took his people and the last inhabitants of Danalavonia followed suit from their run down ruins. With Arzorna still being the ancient capital they still held power over the other realms and demanded that the finest workers and men from each were to travel to a new land that Arzor II had arrived upon. Of course, this land was the island that had lay silent and in ruin for hundreds of years.

A new castle was built upon the hill but the hill was built higher still. Three large towers stood in a triangle around the slopes and in the centre was a large sunken courtyard where a tower stood in the centre and a walkway went to it from each of the larger towers.

Trees grew around the older slope and a wall was built on the newer one and it connected all the towers to make a ringed fortress. The island became known as the Isle of Arzor and the castle was named the King’s Court

The river which flowed to the east was named Ringwater and the one which went west was called Arnur for the second king of old Arzorna. The bay was hence named the Bay of Arnur.

The new migrants who had been selected to come to city needed somewhere to stay and so a village was built on the mainland to the east and was only a bridge away from the castle. The small village was named the ‘Town of Carnemur’ for the river that ran past it from Ringwater and the river was named such for it went into the old Arzorna mountains where the capital of Parna Carnem lay in ruins.

This town was made of old beamed houses, white plaster and brown wood. Watchtowers were built in many places and especially around the three town squares that ran along the main road from Ringwater. It was soon a special day for a great armada of travellers arrived carrying a broken down tower that came from Parna Carnem, it was once the great tower of alliance that stood above the mountain city and was lit if the city was in distress and now it would do the same once more.

The people of the Carnemur began to call the island ‘Ringwater Island’ for obvious reasons. It became a case that the more aristocratic people lived on the island next to the castle and a higher court of Lords and Generals was devised as a means for advise for the king.

It was after decided that a new army was needed in the case that the growing town was attacked. This caused for the tower of alliance to be lit one last time for its original purpose. It was days later that an army of Kornians arrived from their eastern mountain cities where the second tower stood. They were instructed to build an army for the new capital and so a great fort was built in the style of their homeland and it was called ‘Koren Court’ this is where the army was trained and its influence matched that of the King’s Court. Around Koren a new town was built called the “Town of Arnur’ for that was the river it was built next to on the opposite side to Ringwater from Carnemur. This was built of grey stone and higher beamed houses and became an industrious hive. Upon the completion of the three towns of Arnur, Ringwater and Carenmur the city was hence called ‘Arzutare’ which came from ‘Arzur’ (the country’s greatest king known) and ‘tare’ which was Arinalgarin for ‘capital’

Over the years Arzutare was gradually feared by the other realms and more and more people arrived, but this time they were forced. The finest craftsmen from each realm was brought to the city and forced to work for the good of the capital. (Sharlon, one of the first characters, came from a family that did such)

Carnemur became more and more impoverished with each year and Arnur grew larger and larger and smoke regularly came from factories within its complex. Many houses on Ringwater were left to abandon but even more prospered in the shadow of the castle which was now ruled by Arzor’s grandson. He then left a legacy of decedents who focused more and more on a growing military strength and began to ignore its people, creating ludicrous laws and benefiting the rich. As the fourth age grew on the fear of the sun child returning grew. Many didn’t fear their coming for they thought that Arzutare had become more powerful than the southern country whose up rise was because of the sun child.

It was then no surprise that on the fifth red sun the people waited anxiously for the discovery of the sun child in the south. They feared war was to come from Calamiha and was to be fronted by the sun child. But they were horribly deceived for the once-thought-dead eastern line, which were the descendents of Arzor, was reawoken.

This is where the story begins.