Feyris Seirin - The First Mesmeraid

1. Nightstone (1181 Words)

{Really suggest you give a look to the welcome chapter! It will let you know how I write. I can see some people skipping it (it mentions some cool stuff, I think...), so I thought I'd mention it. Enjoy :) }

The LANDSEEKERS and TIDEWALKERS shared an ancient tradition. In the Solar Temple of the Landseekers, the rays of the Sun would store enough energy to make a Lightstone. Similarly, silver moonshine would make the Nightstone in the Astral Temple of the Tidewalkers. It took exactly one hundred years of carefully allowing only the purest, filtered sources of light to weave each of these stones.

The belief was that Landseekers were unable to see at night, and the Tidewalkers were unable to see during the day. However, a customary exchange that took place between the two at the HOLY CEREMONY ensured that they both gave their own stone to the other. This ensured that both the Tidewalkers and the Landseekers could see in the morn, and at night. The two stones gave off light for a hundred years, thus the ceremony took place once every century.

Our story begins on what went on to be called the Day of Origins. The events that unfolded took place at the end of one such hundredth year in SILPHENSTINE, an important city in the PAGANATE Ocean. This labyrinthine city (Silphenstine) sprawled across several coral reefs that the underwater inhabitants called home. The inhabitants were the MESMERATI, water-dwelling humanoids that had forsaken the land above-ground. {But I digress - their desertion of land is a story for another time, and a good one at that. We'll begin at the beginning, for all good stories must do so.}

The Day of Origins was not a good day for the people of Silphenstine. There was panic, discord, and disharmony. THE CHOSEN ONE who was supposed to claim the Nightstone and undertake the journey for the Holy Ceremony had not appeared. And the perilous journey - for it had to be made all alone across the vast Open Seas, had to begin the next day if they were to make it in time for the Holy Ceremony.

The Mesmerati had all heard legends about the Great Upheaval in the Century of Centuries (the 100th hundred-year cycle), but they never knew what it meant. The PROTECTORATE (those charged with keeping the Nightstone safely and ensuring that it was nurtured in the right environment without being contaminated) had not expected this conundrum. They did not know how to deal with this calamity.

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FEYRIS SEIRIN (Fae-ris Say-rin), a young and spritely MERESMERA of fourteen- watched all the happenings around her excitedly. The Nightstone was regarded with great awe by all the children, Feyris included, and so they were all visibly excited as they watched the whole city in a state of great activity and unrest.

The children knew that important people were conducting important meetings in important places, just as they knew that nothing of importance was actually being done. Feyris tried to remain upbeat like the other children, though she had seen her otherwise cheery parents huddled together, whispering and looking serious, and it worried her. This had become a constant in their home for the last two weeks. Feyris did not like this, but there was nothing she could do about it, so she did not let it bother her too much.

Feyris knew that one way or another, they were out of time and something had to be done. As the day came to an end and the Chosen One did not appear, there was great fear in the city, and nobody knew what would happen next. In all of their ten-thousand-year-old history, never had there been a hundredth year without the Chosen One being selected. Feyris did not quite know how the choosing happened, but she just knew that it did. Because everyone said so.

That night, Feyris was suddenly awakened by the panicked shouts and screams echoing all around on the streets. She noticed that her parents were missing and there was an eerie silence in the house. Her parents were the greatest SEA-RAIDERS among the Mesmerati, and Feyris instinctively knew that they had gone for the Nightstone. Her fear mounting, she rushed outside and saw two figures jump out of the Citadel, running in her direction. They were being chased by a battalion of the Protectorate. Even in the distance, she recognized that it was her parents swiftly making their way through the crowd, towards her. She ran back inside the house, flung open the room meant only for emergencies and picked up the specially prepared satchel that her parents kept ready for her. There would be time for nothing else. Swiftly, she picked up the coral staff she had been working on for the past six months, for she could not bare to part with it.

Heart beating against her chest, Feyris ran back out of the house and moved towards her parents. Without a word, her father picked her up in one fluid motion and kept running onwards. She had become incapable of thinking, but felt her mother slip something round, hard and distinctly ring-like in her pocket. She knew what it was. She knew what her parents expected of her. A part of her had known it as soon as she had seen her parents skid round the bend with the Protectorate at their tail.

Feyris saw more guards swiftly moving towards them, closing in. The main City Gates were being slowly drawn shut. The guards coming from the sides would have them surrounded soon enough. Her parents placed her down, and she looked up at them. Words were not needed. She knew that the time had come.

No one in all of Silphenstine could move through the water as fast as Feyris. The currents answered to her will with an ease that escaped her brethren. They had to think and control the energies of the water, she just had to will it to do her bidding.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, as the enormity of the decisions her family had taken started to take hold. Feyris was hyper-aware of everything that was happening around her, and the tumultuous chaos took a backseat in her mind as all her training came to the forefront. She saw her parents slowly pull out their Astral Weapons to take on the oncoming soldiers and buy her some time. Feyris turned away from her parents and looked towards the looming city gates in the far off distance.

Little did she know that this was the last time she would see her parents' face.

So what do you guys think of the premise? The next chapter is where we slow down, and get into the nitty gritty of story writing! I hope you feel it's set up for a good story! Let me know how I can make this even better in the comments below, or what you like about it! I'm excited to undertake this project.