The history of the land of life

Written by Morgan Ward

Preface

My name is Morgan Ward and I have been working on this story for awhile now and I just wanted to know other people's thoughts about it, or at least the idea about it. Thank you for having the "Your Stories" page on your website for that purpose.

Fire fell from the sky and crashed into the land shaking and splitting it. The world was changed in an instant; the land was being moved and being pushed out to sea. The water filled the gaps in the land mass and finished what the fire had begun. Now being brought to the sea the Land of Life was formed. That is how the people of this land describe the beginning of their home.
In truth no one knows where this story came from, or if it’s true, or where the other part of the land was. Here the people say that their ancestors rode on the land mass out to sea and started their lives over. The Red Phoenixes inhabiting the valley to the east and became one of the ruling bodies in this new time. The elfish people split into two groups, one group are the keepers of the Forest of Akari, this wood was considered to have healing powers that only the elves who lived there could understand and master. The other group of elves moved to the north and became the guardians of the famous Tree of Wisdom.  Though no one has seen this tree since the time before the Splitting, as it is known throughout the land, there are some who seek its wisdom and guidance but their quest always end in failure. These two groups are referred to as Akihiro, meaning the people of great brightness, and the other is known as the Chie, or those of great wisdom. It was fitting because in the Red Phoenix language these people were called Berthold and Sophia, meaning bright and wisdom. There are other people in the Land of Life, though they are not as accepting of other people as the Red Phoenix or the elves. The most powerful of these other people are the Black Phoenixes, they are the cousin clan to the Reds, as the Black Phoenix call them. The Blacks, as the Reds call them, are warriors, fighting is a part of who they are and will always be. This people took up their home in darkness and dank, they became the dwellers in the Spiked Mountains, in the northwest of the Land of Life, they dug deep into the earth and built their towns inside of the mountains.

Unlike the Reds who picked their leaders by blood and royalty, the Blacks pick their leader every hundred years through combat; those who think they can be the leader will step into the ring and fight. To lose is to lose all honor and the former leader will be set into the streets of the towns; though never before has the leader lost, the first leader was lost in the Undead March. Both clans, the Reds and Blacks are much taller than normal humans; the average height of these peoples can range from 6 foot to 8 feet. Honor is held above all else in these clans, but the Reds think honor is not just won in combat but also in study. This is what separates these clans. In everyday life of the Land of Life, there is one more group of people that is active in this world.
The unicorns, the people who have taken refuge to the north of the Red valley where the Reds reside, they live in the valley walls and they come and do as they please. They have powerful magic used to purify that which darkness has tainted and they live far longer than any other creature that haunts this land.

Before the Splitting there were other people who residing in the Land of Life, no one knows what happened to them, they simply vanished one day after the war of the Undead March. During the rule of Lorelei, the queen of the land who took command claiming that she had right to rule because her father had been the ruler of the land before the Splitting, there were five other races that roamed the land. The people of Light, the Water Demons, the people of Fire, the Griffins and the fairy folk, each with their own powers served the Queen Lorelei and fought in the legendry war of the Undead March. The people of Light answered to their queen and goddess, Neon, who was said to have a jewel that held her powers, the Diamond of Rays, this was given to her high priest, John and kept hidden. The people of light lived in the clouds and no one ever saw them unless the time was dire. The Water Demons served someone similar but vastly different, a queen and goddess, Mara, the goddess of water, she kept her power in a jewel called the Sapphire of Waves, which was given to Soky, her most loyal follower. The Water Demons were said to come from a crack in the bottom of the sea, but they took up their place in the Demon Swamps, to the west, near the sea. The Fire people had a queen and goddess named Aodh, the goddess of fire, she gave her jewel the Ruby of Flames to Kojoct, the most fierce worrier ever to serve her. These people, one of the most terrify of the old world, lived in the Desert of Fire, names for the heat of the sand and sun and to the southeast of the land. It was rumored that these three goddess were sisters and that their jewels were gifts from their father, Conlaoch the Great, the keeper of the three elements of light, fire and water. It was also rumored that if their jewels were taken from their chosen then the three goddess would lose their powers.  
As for the griffins they were of no special meaning to the land, such as the people of Light,
Fire or the Water Demons. They have a more humble history. They lived in the mountains that were left behind during the Splitting. After they came to live in the new land, the Land of Life, they became fascinated with the open fields that this place offered. It was strange that they had never set a wing or claw out from the mountains and hills of their old home, no one knows why they came to the Land of Life after the Splitting, but it has been rumored that they were running from something that had pushed them out of their home. Lastly the Fairy Folk, they were those wee people that are very famous in human myth but as humans began to forget magic, the fairies had nowhere to go but to the Land of Life.  Their dispersants shocked the remaining people of the Land of Life, after the fairies had ran to the Land of Life it seemed strange that they left. Because of this the rumor began to spread that the fairies were forced to leave for reasons such as, they were captured during the war, or that queen Lorelei loved them so much she took them with her to her castle on the very edge of the land to the northeast, where stands ruins of a once grand castle.

Queen Lorelei had three children. Her two oldest were twins, Maliken and Makin, they showed more promise in leadership and combat than any other children their age. Her daughter, Crystal the mage of Ice, she built the tower of Ice that casts its shadow over the forest of the Chie.
It stands ten stories high, and its halls are covered in her power and her will. Though Lorelei was very powerful she was blinded to her own son’s treachery, they were the ones who summoned the army of the undead and brought about a time of war. For unbeknownst to Lorelei her sons had studied the art of black magic and necromancy.  Crystal had put all of her power into her tower and was helpless away from it. Lorelei lead the people of the land of Life against her sons and defeated him, but too late for the people of Light it would seem, they were never seen after the battle. Unable to kill her sons Lorelei sealed them and there army away in another dimension, one of eternal darkness and despair. Lorelei then vanished as quickly as dust in the wind. Her people who lived in her castle vanished with her and the castle fell into decay.

Since the days of old, things have changed. Phoenixes stay in human form for most of their day and live in houses, or down in the caves as the Blacks prefer.  The elves remain the same, though some say that they have taken to eating some meats. The unicorns roam the land free and wild, returning to their homes in the Red valley wall for only a few months of the year. There have been stories of evil things roaming the woods around the land of Life, such as monsters that follow you in the wilderness and enter your dreams when you sleep and drain the life out of you. Or a more wildly known monster is the basilisk, the large lizard whose bite can turn you to stone. The basilisk is a massive creature, they can be up to nine feet long and up to three feet tall.
They can move up to thirty miles per hour and the elders are said to be able to see in the dark. The most fearsome of the monsters that the Phoenixes know of are the Hunters. They hunt the Phoenixes for their wings.

At the end of the war, queen Red, the woman who was seen as the mother of the Red Phoenix clan, made a soldier named Victor the king of her children. Queen Red flew into the sky after Victor was crowned and hasn’t been seen since. Victor chose a woman for his queen that he had fought beside in the war, Sapphire. Not only is this name is uncommon among the Reds, but her height is also very uncommon, she is the first Red to ever be less than six feet tall, she is five foot and some odd number, her hair is a raven black and it is almost as long as she is tall. King Victor and Queen Sapphire had only one child, a son named Randshield. When Randsheild was still young his father was attacked and killed by these Hunters. Randshield became a very curious child to say the least. He became friends with the potions master apprentice, William, whom was older then Randshield by a few years, and they started to have small adventures throughout the castle that in turn got them in trouble often, but more of that latter. When Randshield was old enough to become king he chose a woman who was half Black and half Red. She was very different than any other woman that Randshield had met, she was quiet and kept to herself mostly, she was gentle in very thing she did and she was loved by very nearly everyone she met. The way Reds choose mates is that when the male is established in what his trade is, and has the ability to take care of a family he will change into phoenix form and dance for the female of his choice, if she changes into her phoenix form and dances with him then they are mates from that moment on.  The woman he chose was girl from the far side of the valley whose name was Gertrude. She had bright red hair and dark purple eyes. Gertrude bore Randshield four children.  The oldest was named ThornRose, he was always a calm child that was very practical and he also showed all of the qualities that his teachers were looking for in a future king. ThornRose had strange dark green hair that made people stare at him when he was in public. His mother said that he inherited his hair color from her father’s side of the family, who was the Black.  Their two daughters were twins, named Jan and Jen, these two sisters were like night and day from each other. Jan may have looked the most like their mother, she acted nothing like her, Jan had a temper of fire that put all Blacks to shame, she fought because she liked it and she mastered every weapon she could touch. Jen was the only one who could keep her sister calm at any moment in time, Jen had long black hair, like her grandmother, the mother Queen Sapphire,
she was also very calm like her brother but she also enjoyed learning how to fight, though she preferred to avoid hand to hand combat. Their last child was Kaiser, and he had traits no one would explain. He had a light blue hair and bright red eyes, Randshield’s advisers urged him to hide Kaiser away and keep his birth a secret. Randshield refused and said that he would not be ashamed of his son and that the clan should be proud to have such a unique child for a prince. Kaiser later on in his early life showed an amazing ability for magic, not only in the casting of spells but also in their making. The red fire was his great joy to play with. The mother Queen Sapphire told King Randshield that his son Kaiser was a sign of things to come, but good or ill, she couldn’t tell yet. She soon departed the castle and began living as a hermit outside of the valley. Some people say that she left because Randshield threw her out in exile. But nothing was proven one way or the other.

Life was grand in the castle for the royal family when the children were young and care free, ThornRose was the equivalent age of a human of child of ten, the twins were around seven and Kaiser was only five. But were peace reins, war is not far behind. The Hunters came back to the land and launched a surprise attack on the castle itself. That day was indeed a dark day.
They royal family was playing in the south garden when the Hunters arrived, Randshield was at the other end of the castle in his office with his advisers when the alarm was sounded.  Gertrude took her children and shoved them into the castle door and shut it behind them. Gertrude fought off the first wave of Hunters that tried for the door, she became killing machine and tore out the heart of one Hunter with her bare hands. She became so mad with rage that she turned into her phoenix form in front of them and they saw a new prize, the wings of the young phoenixes are much finer and softer than any other wings to be found, but never had they seen the mix of black and red of a half breed. The fire of both breeds burned in this mother and she tore apart the Hunters, her children watched from the other side of the door. By this time Randshield and the guards had swarmed into the garden, now stained in the blood of the Hunters, by the time the battle was over Gertrude had been wounded far too severely and to many times by the poisoned weapons of the Hunters that nothing could save her. After the battle Randshield ran to Gertrude who had fallen to the ground in a pool of her own blood. The gentle queen died on a battle field in her own home, surrounded by her fallen foe. Her children were safe and she was glad in her passing.

The death of his wife left Randshield empty. He shunned his family and his four children were raised by nursemaids and teachers. Jan, Jen and Kaiser grew up in a world with only a few memories of love. Thornrose tried his best to keep his siblings together but he couldn’t replace both a father and a mother. Kaiser became very attached to ThornRose, but the twins wanted nothing to do with the family, and they only saw the rest of their family during dinner, or celebrations. William tried to comfort Randshield and also tried to convince him that his children needed him. But Randshield in his anger sent William away to the wilderness. Now friendless Randshield became locked in his duties as king and his children came to know life without him.

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Reihaneh – 2 June 2020

That was a nice story