Rising (Beta Chapters)

Prologue - History and Future

We are always so confident that we know everything about the world in which we exist. Even if we don't know where to begin, we stand where generations before us have, holding the tools they passed to us, steady on the foundations we need to understand the world around us. What we so often forget is that what we are given is not always the truth, rarely is history passed down free of hate or prejudice, but how are we to know that, when we know nothing else?

I always felt sure that I knew my world, a world of magic, in that encompassing way one claims to understand any reality. My world, that was so carefully isolated from the Mortal world, buried deeper and deeper throughout the centuries, for both our safety and theirs. There are the other worlds too, hidden even deeper than mine is, worlds like Faerie, that are so far from sight that even we have forgotten how to reach them, as they stand veiled behind magic as old as life itself. In all worlds, truths are hidden, so deeply and so desperately that it often takes the free flow of innocent blood to release them.

In my world, on the island we call Keinteris, all that matters is whether or not you have control of who you are, control of the blessing in your blood. Almost every child born in Keinteris is blessed with the power over an element, the only variations come to us in the ways each magic manifests as we each grow into adulthood. By our Blessings we are Earth, Water, Air or Fire, all possess one. Our magic helps us fall into our place in our world, based on how those gifts grow and shape within us. Some are trackers, others oracles, healers or warriors, in addition to their Blessed magic.

We find our magic in our blood, within bloodlines that stretch back to the Faerie ancestors who gave life to our kind. The Fae that started our race were, by all accounts, glamorous beings. They visited the Mortal Realms long ago, and enchanted mortals with their ethereal beauty. Mistakenly worshipped by those same mortals as gods made flesh, since before history could find the word for what they were. Whenever they chose to leave their Realm for the Mortal one, they attracted mortals with great talents. Artists, Musicians, Psychics and Geniuses, were all drawn towards them, and in return they also ignited the curiosity of those from the Faerie Realm, as the fleeting lives of mortals seemed so filled with passion.

Over time they began to seek out the mortals they deemed so extraordinary, to share the secrets of the worlds they had seen, to show them real magic and, eventually, to spark the creation of half-Fae children with these mortals. Children that, regardless of their generation, were always born with a perfect balance of magic and mortality in their veins. As these children grew and spread, it was discovered that no amount of mortality can dilute a Fae by more than half its natural power. Even without a full Fae parent for generations the half-Fae always share mortality with their Faerie inheritance. The magic I know is linked through that inheritance, all the way back to Faerie.

Our histories now call these Faerie ancestors The Seventeen, it is not truly know whether there were only seventeen of them, as Fae are free spirited creatures, but we pass down the words. The Seventeen gave us our magic, we owe our inherited elements to them, as we are marked by that magic from birth and throughout our lives. It is not born from nothing, as magic begets magic. If it is not within your blood, you do not inherit it. However, there are anomaly's, darkness and magic that is born from the twisting of elements.

Over the centuries generations of us have been born the same way, with parents prepared to raise a child with gifts they inherited from their blood. I was born an anomaly, a reality that grew only clearer as I aged, Fire born from Earth. I was born with a blessing neither one of my parents were blooded to, a shock that caused much cruelty to both my childhood self and my Mother as my magic grew. I was of fire that didn't belong, or I was born of my mother's betrayal, either way I was the child whose development was a curiosity to all those around me. That was, until I was grown, and no one cared anymore, my average growth into adulthood deeming me no longer so exceptional.

My name is Seraphine Nantir, and Keinteris is my home. An Island hidden within the vast, unexplored, oceans of the mortal world, pulled from the sea and held above it with our magic for the past three centuries. We use a combination of all our gifts to hide this island as the Mortal world has evolved, to keep us safe. Any ships, planes or boats that wander through our storms, or make it too close, are brought in. Those aboard are given their choices, the first, to remain as part of the Enlightened, those mortals whom we teach all about our world. Or the second, to have their memory of us erased, and be returned to their world.

Those who remain, mortals who truly assimilate, are allowed to join our armies, healers, teachers and much more, often marrying and having children here. Having full lives and using whatever skills they possess to improve life for all. But it is not just humans drawn here, it is Lost Ones too, Half-Fae born far from the island, growing without knowledge of their abilities, drawn to the concentrations of our magic that once existed all over the world. These groups of Half-Fae have been exposed over time by mortals in different ways, our kind murdered or persecuted until we were forced deeper and deeper into hiding, as we are now. Lost Ones arrive far less as the decades pass, we do not know why.

We were abandoned by The Seventeen, centuries ago. With them our names and races began, but as they watched our race grow something changed. The birth of the first with a darkened blessing, the tale of him a nightmare that chases children in their sleep. He was named Samil, and he was seen by The Seventeen as a great omen as he grew into his powers, as he became the first Elliphir child. A sign that the creation of our race had gone against nature, that a race with magical ability, human empathy and immortal lifespans was to be cursed. The tales passed down tell us that on the day Samil revealed to his people his twisted mind, and his tainted magic, The Seventeen took the him and vanished from our Realm, returning to Faerie permanently. They never once returned, and as a result, they have faded into enigmas that dominate our histories, whispers and legends.

The Elliphir are the story that haunts us, their curse our greatest threat while growing, as they became a race of vengeful and vicious creatures. They are a force made almost entirely of Elliphae who could not control their magic, as well as Mortals who were not found by our rangers. When an Elliphae is unable to harness their Blessed Magic, we are told they are slowly driven insane, as that magic overwhelms them. Madness becomes their existence.

Generations have tried for a cure, but none can be found. The Elliphir send their best into our settlements, stealing children before their twisted magic shows, taking them to be with their own. The Elders tell tales of them having a hive mind, aware of new beings of their kind in order to retrieve them. We once fought to stop them, but now there is nothing that can be done. We have few alternative choices, as children allowed to remain here would face death or endless incarceration. The woods have become dangerous as the generations of the Elliphir have made it theirs. Only our Guardiens and Rangers are allowed beyond the living wall called The Divide, where it towers over our settlement on one side, cutting Keinteris in half.

We no longer know how many of the Elliphir exist beyond that wall, the Rangers sent never returned with numbers, so we no longer send them.

The Oracles begin to whisper of war, a war where their darkness floods the land. It seems inevitable for such a war to begin, but who and what is behind such a war we do not know.

And so, we wait, without truly being sure what it is we are awaiting.