Vyheria - Prologue

Prologue

“No one chose these two, huh?” The young man said, looking down at the two children before him. One was a red-haired, red-eyed girl, and just about asleep. Her hands glowed an orange-red, so hot they distorted the air around them. The other child was a blond-haired boy with piercing blue eyes. His body was covered in scratches and bleeding wounds, and while he appeared awake, his hollow eyes suggested just barely.

The woman leaning on the garden pillar beside the man nodded in disappointed agreement. “None of the other magicians wanted to deal with their baggage. His magic went out of control and killed his mother and cousin, and put his father in a coma. Her magic is... well, you know who her mother was.” She stared at the boy's cold, hollow eyes. “I would take him as my apprentice, but the queen can't show any form of favoritism.”

“Sylvetta... Is there not a rule that archmages can take on two apprentices..?” The man asked, turning to look his companion in the eyes.

Sylvetta hesitated, avoiding his gaze. “Technically, yes, you could, but Meru, you're a Terramancer. What could you do to train an Ignismancer and a Glacimancer?”

“I knew the girl's mother. We trained together for many years, and I remember what her mentor did. I even still have the gloves. And Glacimancy and Terramancy are similar enough for me to train him, and you can fill in the blanks for me. No rules prevent you from helping.”

“I don't know...”

“Sylvetta, listen to me,” Meru said, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into forced eye-contact. “These two children could be unbelievably powerful, if we teach them the right way. An Ignisamplus and a Glacimancer with access to Absolute 0 at age six? They could change everything. Win the war. Save thousands. Would you rather these talented children spend their days living a modest life, she a blacksmith and he a fisherman, until they die a quiet death, never having used the gifts that the Goddess gave them—no, gave us?”

Sylvetta said nothing, instead leading Meru away from the palace courtyard in a few dozen regal strides to the noble cemetery. It was not large, but each grave contained one of the greatest heroes in Regia. Down the middle was a wide gravel pathway dividing the cemetery in half, and at the end were three tombstones. There was a stone shaped like a raindrop on the left, a stone with a leaf shape on the right, and in the center was a flame-shaped stone. Sylvetta traced her fingers down the side of the flame, and across the words engraved on the front.

“Yuana Exliore”

Ignismancer, Aged 27

Second Archmage

Few men or women would have

fought with the determination

she did, even in the face of

the wyvern queen herself.”

“What would Yuana have wanted? There was a reason she ordered this girl to be hidden in a farming town for six years. I don't believe she would have wanted her daughter to be caught up in this war.” Sylvetta spoke softly, blinking back a subtle glimmer in her eye.

Meru was silent for a long time. Finally, he opened his mouth, but forming words appeared difficult. “We left that day hoping to end the war. We wanted to come back to a kingdom of peace...Yuana hoped that her daughter would be able to grow up in a safe Vyheria, not one torn by a century-old war. But... But that can never happen, not as long as this war continues. I'm confident that Yuana would have wanted her daughter, and for that matter that gifted boy as well, to pick up where we left off, so that every other mother can be confident her children will grow up in a safe Vyheria.”

Sylvetta looked away, wiping a tear from her eye. Meru wrapped an arm over her shoulder, a sob escaping his throat. She seemed to be trapped in a recollection of painful memories, memories Meru recalled better than anyone. “Where did it go wrong?” She asked, looking at the two other graves. “How did we screw up that badly?”

“We couldn't possibly have known that Xanus was going to tell the wyverns our plan. It was his fault that they died, and no one else's.”

“The plan was ridiculous to begin with. Seven people taking out the entire wyvern army? What the hell were we thinking?” Sylvetta sighed, regathering herself.

“Who came up with the plan?”

“It was the prophecy, that if a party of seven with each elemental type were to attack Castelli on the full moon--”

“No,” Meru interrupted. “Who decided that we should fulfill the prophecy?”

Sylvetta stopped, rereading the gravestone in front of her. “Yuana did. It was Yuana's idea. She was more driven to end the war than any of us.” Everything began to fall into place. “And she would want her child to do what she could not... She would have the girl fight.”

Meru smiled as Sylvetta rushed back to the courtyard where the two children were still lying. The boy had fallen asleep, but in no way looked peaceful in the act. “Neither of them have names, do they?” Sylvetta asked.

“No. The boy... We can call him Navarre, Navarre Septiem. And the girl. She can't know who her mother was.”

“Exliana Yuore. She probably won't realize the similarity in her name, but it still keeps her connected to her mother. Now, I'm going to retrieve Yuana's gloves. You kept them in your storage shed, correct?” Sylvetta was already walking away as she asked.

Meru nodded. “Yes, you'll find them there. Bring me the keys too.” Sylvetta was gone, heading to the village district where Meru lived. Now alone, he looked down at the two sleeping children before him. Kneeling, he got a good look at Exliana. She looks just like Yuana, he noted in his head. Then he inspected Navarre. The boy had seen a lot at such a young age, and done a lot too. But he would do a lot more in the years to come.

He stood up again, looking to the bleeding sky. The horizon was pulling the sun under, consuming its light from the world, and yet the sun was still struggling to shine. Meru took a deep breath. Somewhere among the new generation of magicians lie the keys to the prophecy, someone among them will lead Vyheria to peace , Meru thought. Pray to the goddess that they emerge soon.