Prologue
#1 of Souls
A new project I decided to work on.---
The world of Lycarn is in a huge prejudicial war that is literally ripping it's main continent, Tentran apart. Souls and people are dying left and right, the body count on Tentran is rising and no one can see it but the youngest of the Upper Family, Devnet. She wants nothing more than to see the dying and pain stop. It's not until Tentran's borders are threatened, however, that her father, the High Tethered of the Elementalists, realizes something must be done. A treaty is struck, and a decision is made to marry off the two High Tethereds' children, they are looked to as the future. However, is it even possible for someone who can't stand to be in the same room as an Elementalist, to learn to become the future and ally to their most important princess?
There is another world, so far away that Earth couldn't even dream of its existence. Much like our Earth, it holds life, intelligent life; however it is still very pure. A lot of its power and natural resources remain untouched, it is still beautiful, still in the prime of its life. This world was named Lycarn by its inhabitants.
Lycarn is full of creatures, all sorts of animals, some mirroring our beasts today, some creatures we consider extinct. However, at the top of the food chain are the lynians, much like humans on Earth, but there are two very distinct differences. Magic runs thick through every lynian and each lynian has a Soul.
Souls are what we would consider the conscience of the lynians, they keep them sane, and each lynian is born with one. Each lynian is considered a Tethered when connected with a Soul; they grow up with their Soul from the moment their born, learning the world together.
A lynian's Soul is kept on the outside of their body, in a form of a creature from Lycarn. The Soul of a lynian however is so connected with its Tethered that they mirror certain aspects of said person, physically. They will have the same colored eyes, or fur/hair, or have a similar marking to them. A Soul is can be anything from a battle partner to a mount, but they are always, always a life companion to their Tethered.
If a Tethered gets attacked and hurt in some way, their Soul will mirror that injury, though the Soul always heals faster than the Tethered. When a Soul dies their Tethered goes insane and becomes what is known as a Severed. When their Tethered dies, a Soul disappears. Magic is only possible because there is an imprint of a Soul on a person. Only if a person has a Soul or has recently lost a Soul, can they produce magic.
There are three types of magic; there are different levels of mastery in each type. There is Runic magic, which allows a person with a Tule (tool-a magical metal fountain pen) to inscribe runes onto an object. There is Incantation magic, which allows the Caster to use power words and spells. Then there is Elemental magic, which allows the Elementalist to use flowing hand movements and certain poses to bend the elements around them and use them to attack.
There is no such thing as someone who knows two types of magic, your bloodline always decides your magic, and there is a huge hatred for inter-blood mixing in the main continent of Lycarn known as Tentran. There is a prejudice against other magic types on the main continent; the people of Tentran segregate themselves, the worst of the bad blood being between the Runic magic users and the Elemental users.
Each magic sect is ruled by a council of Tethereds, with one High Tethered sitting at the top. These High Tethereds are born into their role and will rule for their entire life, the High Tethereds are groomed for ruling from the moment they are old enough to speak.
The bloodlines of the Upper Families are richer with magic than most, so the High Tethereds who are born into the Upper Families are extremely powerful in consideration to most others.
There is a war that has been tearing the continent of Tentran apart for the last fifty years. The three magical sects fighting for territory and to rule over the others, so much death has happened in the last fifty years that not even mass funeral pyres are enough to keep down the growing corpses, because of this Tentran is slowly becoming weakened to outside attacks. With so few efforts to guard the outer borders of the continent more islanders are working their way onto the continent for an attack.
The only way to fight off the impending doom of Tentran's fall is for the separate sects to lay down their differences and join forces. Yet, most people of different blood can't even stand to be in the same room. Is it even possible for them to see each other as allies?