i'm going to post the prologue again and chapter one of my book.
Prologue
In the darkness of the night, the seven sovereigns of the world met in the Forest of Taigolan. Each of them brought their pieces of the Heart of Aferiman. Each was a different color; the first, blue like a cloudless sky. It belonged to Men. The second, red like fire, owned by the Haischans. Third, belonging to the Faeries, emerald green for all of the growing things of the Earth. The fourth was pale orange for the dawn that represented the transitions between the seasons. It was the Lithols’ Piece. The fifth was pale yellow like the Sun’s illuminating rays, for the Elves. Sixth, a light amethyst purple, like the high mountains that surrounded every edge of land, which was kept by the Dwarves. And the seventh was a silverish white that represented all of the purifying waters that came in rain, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans around the Earth. The Ziolors possessed it.
The sovereigns had met for a single purpose. Each of them was the ruler of their kind: Elves, Men, Dwarves, Faeries, Haischans, Ziólors, and Líthols. There was an evil being by the name of Mahambäraid who was the only creature besides the sovereigns who could wield the powerful pieces of the Heart of Aferiman and bend their power to his will.
Aferiman was once the ruler of the Earth but because he was not one of any kind, Elves, Men, Faeries, Dwarves, Haischans, Ziólors, or Líthols, he could not contend with their needs. So in his stead, he took the source of his power, a Heart made of all of the Elements, and broke it into seven pieces and gave them to each creature depending on their kind so that they may use it for the best of their people and all would live in harmony. After he distributed the Pieces of his Heart, his physical being was no more, though his spirit still roamed the Earth to look after his people.
The Dark Lords were born of all of the waste of the seven races. All of the leftover substances of their lives, left to fester with the feeling of neglect and the desire to be needed. They wanted revenge for their poor treatment so they formed an alliance with each other and plotted the destruction of the sovereigns so that they could rule and avenge themselves to all the races.
Mahambäraid was spawn of the six Darks Lords’ anger, hate, rage, evil, and the desire for power over all of the beasts and creatures of the world. The Darks Lords created him to be their servant and the downfall of the sovereigns’ power. But Mahambäraid wanted the power for himself so he murdered his masters in cold blood, letting all of their dark emotions pour into his spirit to give him the power and will to conquer the sovereigns along with eternal life.
The sovereigns met in the dead of night to discuss how to deal with Mahambäraid. Evéralon, Lord of the Elves, had called the meeting. He lit a single torch in the center of the forest and waited for the six other sovereigns to arrive. First to appear was Baromid, the Lady of the Haischans. Next, was Zavahlia, the Lady of the Líthols, with her came Garmiij, Lord of the Ziólors. Then came the Lady of Faeries, Aeora and the Lord of the Dwarves, Yetoméd. Last came Titheliar, the Lord of Men.
Once they were all seated around the stone table set there by Aferiman for this such purpose, Evéralon stood.
“My fellow sovereigns,” he said, “I have summoned you all to discuss the growing threat of Mahambäraid. His power becomes ever stronger as he summons all of the creatures of this world with darkness in their hearts to fight for him. We must decide what to do that would be best for our people.”
“We should stand and fight! If we do not then what good are we to our people? Would we let Mahambäraid destroy us? I will not no matter what the rest of you do!” said Yetoméd. Being a Dwarf, he was one of the quickest to anger and fight.
“What soldiers do we have?” asked Titheliar, “Would we be so quick to spill our people’s blood without thinking, when there may be another solution?”
“Titheliar is right. We should think this through before we spring into action.” said Zavahlia.
“But what if there is no other solution?” inquired Garmiij, “What if it comes to war?”
“I, for one, will not go into war. My people and I will diminish and go South, away from any threat of war or death. If the rest of you do not do likewise you will perish.” said Baromid.
As soon as these words had passed her lips the conference became an uproar of angry voices. The only one who was quiet was Aeora. She sat still with a thoughtful look on her face as if she were taking note of what was happening around her.
A single flash of lightning lit up the sky and a burst of fire came from the torch, and then receded to its normal, quiet flame.
All was silent for a moment. The only sounds to be heard were the soft chirping of crickets and the slight breeze in the foliage of the woods. The moon was high overhead on the mid–autumn’s night and it’s light cast an eerie glow on the clearing.
“Aeora, my dear Faerie, you have been silent for quite some time. Tell me, what is on your mind?” said Evéralon.
“I have been listening to your reasons and points that you call an argument,” said Aeora, “and held my tongue while I thought. What if Mahambäraid did not know of the pieces of Heart? If he did not know where to find them then he could not possibly seize them from us in open warfare, not that we would give them to him. But if they ceased to be remembered in any history then he would not have reason for attack.”
“Aeora is ever wise. What she says has both reason and wit. If the time of The Seven Hearts and the seven races is over then Mahambäraid would not be so intelligent as to pursue them any further.” said Evéralon. (Because the pieces of the Heart were heart-shaped they were often referred to as The Seven Hearts.)
“But it is not over,” said Zavahlia, “We still have The Seven and the world still has us. What are we to do? How will our age be over if we are still in it? How can it?”
“You have a point, but we have the power of the Elements in our hands. We have the power to end our age.” said Aeora
“But the question is, how?” said Yetoméd.
“We use the power of The Seven Hearts to erase all knowledge of them, then keep them hidden, deep within their own Element and we merge together as one race.” said Evéralon.
“Which race?” asked Baromid.
“You can take two men and have more similarity betwixt the two than you can with Líthols, Ziólors, Faeries, Elves, Dwarves, or Haischans,” said Titheliar, “If we are to become one then we must become that of Men.”
The other sovereigns were not contented with this but they saw his reasoning and found no objection. They all thought about the decision and how they were going to carry it out.
“It is settled, then,” said Evéralon, “We shall erase the time of the Pieces of the Heart of Aferiman from all history and current remembrance of this world, and become one with the race of Men.”
The sovereigns stood and prepared to leave the gathering place.
“The only flaw I see in this is becoming old and dying. I know that, because we are sovereigns, we will be reborn with the same name. But what troubles me is that we will not remember.” said Garmiij.
“My friend, do not be troubled. Even though the power that has kept us young and given us eternal life will be no more, we will be at peace for we will not have to bear the weight of caring for our people even as it is a joy.” said Baromid.
Thus, the time of The Seven Hearts and races was over, and the time of the Men alone began. Titheliar erased knowledge of the Hearts from his race and had one of the Faeries place his Piece of Heart on a cloud, for it needed to be in the open air but where none could find it, he said, because it represented the air and sky.
Aeora did likewise but placed her Heart Piece in the deepest root of the oldest tree in the Faeries’ forest. Yetoméd placed his deep inside the largest mountain of the Dwarves, in the deepest cavern of the lowest mine. Baromid, being the Lady of Fire, put hers inside a volcano where it would not be scathed and nothing might touch it.
Garmiij hid his Piece of Heart in the Ziólors’ deepest lake where none might think to look after memory of it was destroyed. Evéralon put the Elves’ Piece of Heart in a mirror and used the magic of the Elves to place it on the edge of the horizon where it would reflect the sunlight and none might ever see it. And Zavahlia put the Seventh Heart in the space between spaces, in between where Spring turned into Summer and there was no obvious change in the seasons.
To make themselves look like the race of Men, the Faeries used their Piece of Heart to make their wings disappear and they began walking on the ground. The Haischans, being the people of Fire, had to bear the coolness of the world outside of their volcanoes and Valleys of Flames (places where the climate was almost fire-like in temperature), which to them was torture to be so cold.
The Elven peoples cut their long hair to a more common length. The Dwarves made themselves like Men by wearing shoes that made them look taller and shaved their waist-length beards.
The Ziólors did not venture under water for shelter anymore, because it would be odd if normal people could live and breathe underneath its surface. The Líthols used their Heart (before it was hidden) to cause their physical form to change until they were no longer thin like willow wands and their hair and eyes no longer changed color with the seasons.
The six other races wore the garb of men and the seven races scattered all over the Earth so that there was no distinction of where they live.
The Lady of the Faeries, Aeora, had fallen for a man by the name of Esorram. But, despite their intense love for each other, they could not be together because she was a sovereign.
Esorram was saddened by the thought of never being with his love but she reassured him by saying, “Because I will continue to be reborn, whoever’s life is tied to mine will also be. And maybe one day we may be together.”
