《Nova》Prologue: Part 1: Elementia
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Prologue : Part One : Elementia
Black. A void. An endless void of darkness, an abyss of nothingness. Then, streams of light seem to flow into the black canvas like rivers, everywhere they pass small specks of color trail behind them. The once empty darkness is now filled with immeasurable amounts of light and color.
Within the void, light and colors begin to gather together. As if being pulled by an enormous force, they begin to gather. They spiral around their center slowly at first, but gradually gathering around the center they spin faster...and faster… and faster… until they're spinning so fast that the colors are fused together creating a pure white maelstrom. This pure white shrinks until it forms a sphere that looks like nothing more than a small marble. A marble illuminating billions of miles of space around itself.
The bright white light slowly recedes, gradually losing its volume but never dimming in its intensity. The white surface of the marble, like the black canvas of the void, is slowly being painted with numerous colors.
In time the sphere is filled with color just as the void is. There are the blues of bellowing seas, tranquil lakes, and traveling rivers; the greens and yellows of the enormous forests and plains covering the earth; the whites and grays of roaming clouds and storms; even the reds and oranges of fires that flicker in and out of existence.
This was the beginning of the world known as Elementia.
Evolution
The world of Elementia, although like many others, is different from the vast majority. The core of this world consists an extremely powerful energy. The core is not of molten rock like many others, but of mana.
Mana is a pure energy. It is not the power of elements nor is it the power of souls. It is simply energy. An energy which fuels life, creation, and existence. An energy that gives birth to all things, filling the surface of the world.
Life spreads across the world. Everything is different, yet they are all the same. They all are born and die in the cycle of mana that flows throughout the world.
There are the humanoid races. Those with great minds and great creativity. They are weak in nature, but with the right temperament their hearts and minds can become the strongest substance in the world.
There are the beast races. Those humble creatures who live and die off the world with the simplest lives. They grow and live instinctually, following their ancestors through the cycle of life, surviving in the ways they know best.
There are the monster races. Those fierce creatures with fierce bodies and fierce minds. To them, only the strong deserve to live. Lesser beings are of no concern to them, as they pursue only strength and power.
There are the spirit races. Those noble beings who attune themselves to the energies of the elements. Living in the natural treasure places of the world, growing amidst the condensed elemental energies they contain.
The world evolves in, forever seeking to continue the story of its existence. Life falls into a hierarchy by which those who thrive stand at the top, while those who do not stand at the bottom.
The monster races, with their thirst for dominance and powerful bodies, control vast expanses of land, sea, and sky.
The spirit races, with only their desire to protect the natural treasure troves of the world, create powerful bastions, driving away all those who seek to destroy them.
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The beast races, undeterred live in all places of the world as they are considered to be a part of the world itself. They live and die by instinct with peaceful lives compared to the others.
The humanoid races, with their weak bodies and weak souls, live in a constant struggle. Monsters constantly plague their small settlements, and competition for food is extremely challenging. Yet their minds do not give in, continuing to find ways to survive.
Re-evolution
Humanoids. The weakest group of the sentient races of Elementia. They live in the rough wilderness, moving in groups to keep away from danger. Each and every day a struggle to feed themselves. Yet even under all this suffering, they possess the will to smile.
While living constantly in the face of death, they still smile and laugh. They can find the times to enjoy their lives, for the fact that they were still living was like a miracle itself. So what if they were the weakest? They were still alive were they not? So since they’re alive, why don’t they try to thrive.
In the years that their races lived, they collected experience. Through trial and error; success and failure; death and survival, they found what worked and what didn’t. They explored the world around them, learning it’s limits, and how they could make use of it for their survival.
They discovered mana. The energy of the world. The energy of everything around them. They felt its flow; its movements; its pulses, and discovered they could control it.
They discovered that it could flow into their bodies and make them stronger. They discovered it could flow into their souls and make them powerful.
They discovered the elements. The energy the elements contained. The raw power. They felt its force; its life; its strength, and discovered they could manipulate it.
Although they were born the weakest, they could become the strongest.
Revolution
They discovered, they could be strong. They discovered they could fight back. They discovered they could thrive!
Battle. The thrill of fighting with your life on the line. To move your body like a god of destruction, to control the elements like a god of power. They battled with the monsters!
No longer would they run away, hiding in desolate areas of the world. They could build their lives upon the lands they once had to flee from. They had the desire to conquer! To avenge the lives of their ancestors against the monsters, and to create a home for their descendants.
But their conquering was short lived. For in their foolishness, they tread upon the domain of monsters they shouldn’t have ever disturbed. The strongest of them were crushed like insects. Their greed had taken them too far into the wilderness.
So they were forced back to the lands that they had made their own. They no longer dared challenge the dangers that lie beyond the borders of the wilderness blindly… Such frightening dangers..
Yet.. their desire to battle, to conquer could not be quelled.. Their desire for more land, for more wealth, for more.. Their greed overtook them. The races of humanoids waged war upon each other, devastating the lives that they themselves had raised up.
Their lands became places of battle. Fires raged through settlements, men were slaughtered, women were raped, children were enslaved. Leaders rose and fell like short-lived flames, and only the strong survived to prosper from it.
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The Elementals
Even through all this, Elementia is still young. Compared the age of the universe around them, their accumulated lives are but a grain of sand in a vast desert.
However, there are those races who have experienced much more than them. There are even those who have existed since the beginning.. Among them are the elementals.
The race of elementals began on worlds just the same as all the other races, and they struggled to grow in power and thrive as well. Born out of the same raw power that the humans discovered, this race has existed since the dawn of the universe.
Eventually, elementals outgrew their home worlds, and began searching for others. In their quest for power, their beings relied on the pure energy called mana. Through that mana they would create more elemental energy, and would grow stronger.
In order to do so, these elementals created pseudo-worlds out of the elemental energy within them. When they found a world that was suitable for their training they would make a bridge between that world and their own in order to gather the mana.
However, in order to gather the mana, they needed a medium to connect themselves to the core of the world. This medium was the life that was created by the world, and in order to do use them they needed to form a soul-bond with the elemental.
By forming these bonds, the elementals will give their chosen masters great power over the elements by attuning their souls with the element. Having one’s soul attuned to the elements… gave one power. Frightening power.
Elementia was one such world with a core of mana that these elementals sought after. For when Elementia was created, the intensity of the unprotected mana core could be felt at unimaginable distances, thus causing a great number of elementals to race towards it.
However, not every elemental who wanted to would be able to train with this world. Only those who fought for their elemental seat of power would be able to.
By accordance with an ancient law laid out by the Elemental Gods, the oldest of the elementals, only one elemental of its kind is allowed train with a world at a time.
The law existed in order to keep balance and harmony between the elements of the worlds, and prevent chaos from taking place. After all, if a bunch of elementals went around destroying worlds, they would probably anger many of the beings throughout the universe.
So, only the strongest of elementals would be allowed to sit upon the seat of power for Elementia. As each seat was filled, the world of Elementia was forever changed.
The Power of the Elementals
The Elemental Lord of Water, Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning, Light, and Shadow. These were what the powerful elementals were known by on the surface of Elementia. These were the beings, that brought new power to the world.
Those who met the requirements of the elementals, would receive great power. The power to determine the fate of the world.
The first had to do with the body. Without a physical form, the being wouldn’t be able to contain the elemental’s power.
The second had to do with the soul. The nature of the soul must be of the same nature as the elemental.
The third had to do with the mind. The mind of the being must be capable of sharing itself with that of the elemental.
The last had to do with time. Only when the being was at its youngest age would the soul be weak enough for the elemental to form the bond. (Within three days of birth.)
When the bond was completed, the elemental would sleep within the being for six years. For six years the elemental would dedicate the mana within its master to the Elemental lords as payment.
Once the six years of tribute were complete, the elemental would awaken. From that point on, the master and the elemental could grow in power with freedom.
Kingdom Come
Yet things were too chaotic on the surface of Elementia. With the arrival of elementals, the wars became even more horrendous.
During this age the humanoid races, the monsters races, and the elemental races died in numbers beyond imagining. The balance of the world was constantly changing, and the world was becoming unstable.
In an attempt to end the constant warfare that threatened to destroy the world, the Elemental Lords created seven great heroes who could bring about peace to the world.
Each lord sought out a new born soul with a purity far greater than those of others, and infused within them a blessing to increase the power of their soul. Then they had their eldest and most powerful offspring bond with the life form through the soul-bond, and had them follow out their will to create peace on the surface of Elementia.
This gave rise to the seven greatest powers Elementia had ever witnessed, among them four humanoid and three monster.
These seven forcefully brought about peace to the world, threatening to destroy those who did not comply. To control the populace, they created kingdoms by which to rule them.
The four humanoids agreed to create four humanoid kingdoms which ruled a territory in which clans were allowed to cooperate in managing the kingdom.
->The Beast-Plain Kingdom, with clans of Beastmen. Those who possessed the power of feral blood within their veins.
->The Elf-Forest Kingdom, with clans of Elves. Those who possessed powerful souls capable of using great magicks.
->The Dwarf-Mountain Kingdom, with clans of Dwarves. With bodies as sturdy as rock and souls as hot as magma to explore the treasures buried within the world.
->The Human-Noble Kingdom, with clans of Humans. The jack-of-all-trades race that practiced weird military tactics and trade tactics to amass enormous wealth to build a comfortable lifestyle.
The three monsters agreed amongst themselves to divide their territory to enough to sustain their own races, and agreed to create similar clans out of the lesser monsters that will be ruled over by the greater monsters.
->The Dragon-God Clan, ruling much of the expanses of forest and air and controlling many of the monster clans.
->The Serpent-Lord Clan, ruling the vast seas along with the aquatic monster clans.
->The Lion-Emperor Clan, ruling the largest plains seen on this world along with the clans that make them their home.
While the wars ceased, fighting still occurred. But never since was Elementia plunged into a war that threatened to devour the world.
Nova Chapter List
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The Cassidia Saga
Roric is the only son in a family of farmers. He dreams to leave his village and break free from its rules of life. When a tragic event shakes the roots of his life he is left alone, almost dead and forced to confront his childish powerlessness. With the help of a mercenary band and a kind priest, he will deal with the shadows of the past and find his true strength. The Cassidia saga is a sword and sorcery styled adventure. It spans several books. Updated on Tuesday and Friday. You can support the project and gain early-access to future chapters via my Patreon page. Official Facebook - Official Discord server
8 136How A Villain Builds A Kingdom
READ THE WARNING Amadeus Devereux was born into a rich and powerful household. But he did not pursue power like his brothers because of his love for art, flowers, and poetry. Until one day, a servant arrived in the garden to see Amadeus smiling as if he was looking at a flower. Only this time, Amadeus was looking at the mangled corpses of two gardeners. ————————— Set in a fantasy world where magic exists, follow Amadeus as he embarks on a journey of self-discovery. Will he be able to feel emotions as others do? This is a novel that I wrote because I got tired of all the tropes that had transmigration, regression, deus-ex machina, etc. where everything that makes the main character reach the top is left to luck. —————————
8 113Aether Academy
Magnus Ward has been chosen as one of the first students of the new Aegis Academy, a school for those talented in the art of binding.With a rare talent for seeing the flows of Aether he sets his sights on graduation and becoming an Aegis operative for the alliance with one goal: To find and rescue his mother. There are some gamelit elements but this is not a true LitRPG (but does draw inspiration from CCGs) [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]
8 192Exousia
The Gods have cursed the world of Salome. They have used the planet and its inhabitants as their playground and toys for thousands of years—inciting wars between nations because of their stubbornness and pride and creating creatures of destruction that threaten the peace, tranquility, and existence of humanity. When granted the opportunity to acquire the throne of the Gods themselves, Captain Kyros Aleister of the Soterian Military seeks to take full advantage of that precious chance. He is more than willing to forsake his humanity, become what he despises, and rid the world of the cancers that are the Gods. However, he must battle against over one-hundred other people blessed with the same opportunities as him. (The lovely cover art is provided by https://zinganza.wixsite.com/portfolio)
8 185A Light Not Extinguished [40K Dark Age What-if]
We all know the story. The Men of Iron rebel, humanity degrades into barbarism during the Age of Strife, Slaanesh is born through the depravity of the Aeldari Empire, the Imperium rises and falls and the galaxy burns in strife and bloodshed.But what if that which was ordained never came to pass? What if the Cybernetic Rebellion never happened? Can humanity defy the dark fate written in the stars with blood and sin? I DO NOT OWN WARHAMMER 40K, THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL 40K FANWORK
8 149A Way of Life
Kyril was once a man who once sought for the complete understanding of the Universe. But sadly, before he could even grasp any sort of understanding, death had arrived at his doorstep to drag him back to the netherworld. However, in a turn of events, the Heavens seemed to play with him.Have I died? No. Between myself and my goal, not even death can stop me from achieving my goal!This is Kyril. He is a man who is reborn and steps into the world of Martial Arts. A world of Practitioners. A world of Gods.Join him in his adventures, and watch him succeed in his goal!
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