durrr story?
Four hundred years ago, the world changed.
Something ripped open, and things from Outside came howling into the universe, starting with our little Earth. They had no form and no limits, and as far as they were capable of hate, they hated us. They hated this world.
In the chaos that followed, one woman seized a little of the pure energy that flowed in through the gap and turned it to humanity's service, creating the jewel of the Shekhina deep in New York City, to power a little magic. More importantly, in the creation of this magic, she also imposed form upon the invaders. They were still powerful--she couldn't change that--but now they had limits. They had rules they needed to follow. Formless things of chaos became demons, took on names, found themselves forced to obey rules and a hierarchy. They found that they had weaknesses drawn from folklore, weaknesses that grew greater as they grew more powerful. Their etiquette, too, grew more elaborate and complex as their power grew greater. They had limits. Humans could fight them now. They had bodies. And until they could find a way to shed those bodies and those rules, they were trapped on Earth, one little corner of the universe they'd broken into.
Into her brother and sister the woman who protected humanity entrusted the beginnings of the royal bloodline that would guard the Shekhina. Around them sprung up the royal knights, who knew the secrets of the demons and sought new ways to defeat them, and the royal magicians, who advanced research into how better to use the simple magic radiating from the Shekhina to protect humanity.
That was four hundred years ago. Now, with the royal magicians caught up in internecine quarrels, the three demon lords Ellehymn, Adanyo, and Elishada have engineered an attack that wiped out the royal family and all but one of the royal knights.
It's up to the surviving knight, the young Roselinde, and Ellehymn's escaped slave, Sara, to make their way from the ruin of knightly training grounds in Cape May to the remaining trustworthy magician in New York City--and Sara's few scraps of memory from before her capture by Ellehymn. But although they do not know it, their journey will hardly end there. Something dark grows in Roselinde, and Sara's secrets chase her out of her past and towards a destiny she fears she cannot confront.
* * *
I still have...a lot to figure out, but uh I guess that's what November is for (and yes, I do have a lot figured out that I'm not telling in the above blurb).
Is it okay for me to name a character Sara? I don't really identify with the name with the H lopped off the end. But I imagine people who know me might think it's kind of creepy and narcissistic.
I'm not sure which one of the girls is actually the protagonist; Roselinde's the viewpoint character most of the time, because Sara has a whole succession of secrets. Ellehymn is definitely the main villain. I have pretty much nothing for Adanyo and Elishada; I do have some scraps of personality for Ellehymn's lieutenant, but not a name. There's also the magician Roselinde and Sara eventually come to and a little brother figure that later joins them.
But for now, I should probably get ready for bed. The kittens are already curled up there.
Something ripped open, and things from Outside came howling into the universe, starting with our little Earth. They had no form and no limits, and as far as they were capable of hate, they hated us. They hated this world.
In the chaos that followed, one woman seized a little of the pure energy that flowed in through the gap and turned it to humanity's service, creating the jewel of the Shekhina deep in New York City, to power a little magic. More importantly, in the creation of this magic, she also imposed form upon the invaders. They were still powerful--she couldn't change that--but now they had limits. They had rules they needed to follow. Formless things of chaos became demons, took on names, found themselves forced to obey rules and a hierarchy. They found that they had weaknesses drawn from folklore, weaknesses that grew greater as they grew more powerful. Their etiquette, too, grew more elaborate and complex as their power grew greater. They had limits. Humans could fight them now. They had bodies. And until they could find a way to shed those bodies and those rules, they were trapped on Earth, one little corner of the universe they'd broken into.
Into her brother and sister the woman who protected humanity entrusted the beginnings of the royal bloodline that would guard the Shekhina. Around them sprung up the royal knights, who knew the secrets of the demons and sought new ways to defeat them, and the royal magicians, who advanced research into how better to use the simple magic radiating from the Shekhina to protect humanity.
That was four hundred years ago. Now, with the royal magicians caught up in internecine quarrels, the three demon lords Ellehymn, Adanyo, and Elishada have engineered an attack that wiped out the royal family and all but one of the royal knights.
It's up to the surviving knight, the young Roselinde, and Ellehymn's escaped slave, Sara, to make their way from the ruin of knightly training grounds in Cape May to the remaining trustworthy magician in New York City--and Sara's few scraps of memory from before her capture by Ellehymn. But although they do not know it, their journey will hardly end there. Something dark grows in Roselinde, and Sara's secrets chase her out of her past and towards a destiny she fears she cannot confront.
* * *
I still have...a lot to figure out, but uh I guess that's what November is for (and yes, I do have a lot figured out that I'm not telling in the above blurb).
Is it okay for me to name a character Sara? I don't really identify with the name with the H lopped off the end. But I imagine people who know me might think it's kind of creepy and narcissistic.
I'm not sure which one of the girls is actually the protagonist; Roselinde's the viewpoint character most of the time, because Sara has a whole succession of secrets. Ellehymn is definitely the main villain. I have pretty much nothing for Adanyo and Elishada; I do have some scraps of personality for Ellehymn's lieutenant, but not a name. There's also the magician Roselinde and Sara eventually come to and a little brother figure that later joins them.
But for now, I should probably get ready for bed. The kittens are already curled up there.