The Dollmaster Prologue WIP

[Zuku Ari-Ari Kika]

The Dollmaster
Prologue: Naclia and Talen

The spring night was brisk, but the skies, above the border of Kosony and the Ardir. Nirya, the planet's largest satellite, waxed at a half-crescent, while the smaller, masculine moon of Maredi was nearly out of sight on the horizon, waning low, while his sister, the feminine moon Marebi was waxing higher in the sky. Stars sparkled brilliantly overhead without the obfuscation of clouds or light from the ground. From the forest border, there was only a small point of light about twenty miles away, a small village with a few fires burning.

The Ardir was a massive forest, covering the southern half of the Kalesten-Ertian isthmus. To the north lay the human nation of Kosony, a rather large, yet secluded nation for the continent of Kalesten. The Ardir was inhabited predominantly by the Fayl'Idayn, a sub-race of the Idayn, one of the seven elemental races that were introduced into the world by the gods, long before the dawn of humans. The Idayn were Light elementalists, created by the God of Light, Idraen. They were the souls of Valkyries, elemental spirits of light, given flesh. Humanoid in appearance, the Idayn were originally a tall, fair people, and overlooking their uniformity, they would appear much like humans, if not for their long, tapered ears. Not long after their creation, the Idayn spread out across the world to find homes across the world, and each carved out their own niche. The true Idayn still inhabited the northern forests of the continent of Thiskel, but those who settled elsewhere eventually became their own peoples with their own cultures, beliefs, and appearances. Fayl'Idayn were one of these peoples who settled in the Ardir forest here on the continent of Thiskel. They intermarried amongst the Nafod races, Life Elementalists and creation of the Goddess Entra, and even humans from time to time, leaving them with a broad and varied range of appearances and skills, and in time, Idraen was abandoned in favor of Entra. The Goddess of Life accepted the Fayl'Idayn as another of her peoples, and they were then no longer incarnated with the souls of Valkyries, but the souls of Faeries, after which point they adopted the name Fayl'Idayn.

Their history with humans had not been pleasant. The nation of Kosony had risen from the union of three city states on the isthmus, one on the west coast, another on the east, and another in the north, just below the Green Sea, a large inland body of water to the north. Once these city states united, the nation grew, bringing them all together. In need of lumber and open farmland, the humans turned to the massive forest to the south of them, but their search for timber was swiftly ended when the Fayl'Idayn began to slaughter the lumber crews that trespassed into their forest. There was conflict between the inhabitants of the forest and the humans for many generations, going so far as outright warfare, but the humans soon learned that they could not face the Fayl'Idayn, Ochae'nafod, and Dra'nafod on their own land, and they abandoned their prospects in the forest. A defined border of walls and fences was made, spanning across the isthmus and leaving a scar between ten and thirty miles wide of deforested land between the farms and forest.

In time, tensions relaxed, though definite peace was never defined. It became a common understanding amongst the humans that the forests were a dangerous place and one should not tempt the wrath of its denizens. After many generations, malice against the Fayl'Idayn was lost, only to be replaced with apprehension and well-placed wariness. On the other hand, the Fayl'Idayn were content so long as humans didn't trespass on their land, though their opinion of the "savage" race has changed little. Aside from the occasional adventure seeker or hunter, most people have more common sense than to enter the Ardir. To deal with those would dare to enter their land, the Fayl'Idayn mobilized a military of sorts consisting of rangers to patrol the forest and turn unwitting humans back to Kosony-with force, if necessary.


Tonight, standing aside a tall old oak tree was a slim cloaked figure. Shrouded in a drab blue-gray cloak, a color that tended to fade well into fog, were there any to be had, the figure looked out across the meadow that marked the border between farmland and forestland. The face tipped upward at the two waxing moons, the pale light revealing the fine featured face of a Fayl'Idayn woman. Her skin was fair, but not as pale as her Idayn forefathers, and her eyes were a pale blue, reminiscent of the summer sky, in the right light. The white light seemed to sap the color though, making them appear pale and almost gray. Light brown bangs, cast with a golden hue in better light, hung over her brow, giving her an almost childlike look of innocence.

She was at the edge of the treeline. Ahead of her lay the border of the nation that had tugged at her curiosity for years. Her village, which lay about forty-five miles to the south, had a tradition of sending its youths to visit Kosony in their one-hundred and twenty-fifth year. Despite the warnings against humans, so many youngsters had wanted to see what lay outside their forest that several generations ago, the elders had decided to allow them a glimpse of the world, and it became a tradition.

This would not be her first encounter with humans, however. She and her brother were rangers, and for the last twenty years, they had worked alongside each other patrolling the forest near their village for trespassers, and from time to time, they had encountered hunters and sent them on their way, either with a word of warning, or a clash of steel. Several times, her brother had engaged humans who thought the game they hunted was worth risking their own lives. Rarely, she had outright engaged the trespassers, usually her brother handled them directly while she waited in the trees and watched over him. However, she yearned to learn more about these people, as many youths had before her, and the encounters she had didn't satisfy her curiosity. What more was there to them? What were they like from day to day? Did they deserve the animosity her people felt for them? Were they really so destructive? Were they all that different aside from superficial traits?

Though she was not quite old enough for the traditional visit, she was compelled to make this trip on her own. Her brother was set to travel with her, though he was ten years her senior, and he had forgone his own journey so that they could make one together. Yet, she was apprehensive of his influence during their shared quest. He was more prudent than she was, more reserved, and as expected of an elder brother, protective of her. She wanted her own experience and to make her own judgments without his opinions obfuscating her own, though she dared not voice it to her family. As far as her family knew, she was on an extended scouting mission within the forest's boundaries, and that was all she wanted them to know. When the mission to scout the border was offered up by the captain of the rangers, she had impulsively snatched it up, and insisted on taking the mission alone, without her brother, citing a need for time to herself. He did not object; they spent much of their time together and it could be trying on their relationship without moments of privacy.

Two days ago, she set out from the village to reach the border of the Ardir and Kosony. From there, she set up a small camp, and the next day, she began to patrol the border, not for trespassers, but for villages on the horizons. Earlier in the day, she had found the farming village that laid to the north of her position and decided that tonight, she would scout the village, if not go so far as to make contact with its residents.

Taking a deep breath, the Fayl'Idayn woman stepped forward into the open meadow, as if somehow this small act would expose her to the world. The meadow was an uneven stretch of land, covered in verdant green grasses and spring flowers, pockmarked with ancient dead stumps and fallen trees, and veined with small creeks and ditches. This was a narrower part of the meadow, perhaps only five miles in width, give or take. Naclia walked at a quick pace, her figure almost seeming to glide fluidly across the ground. She felt energized by the night, as well as her eagerness, and so, the walk across open ground for several miles did not tire her.

Finally coming to the man-made border of Kosony, which was nothing more than a wooden fence, Naclia paused to gaze ahead at the lights from the village. There were certainly torches set about the village, but she had observed lights blinking out from residences and other buildings as she drew closer. The Fayl'Idayn planted her blue-gloved hands on the top of the fence and easily scaled it, landing lightly on the other side. She now stood on Kosony's soil and wondered, for a moment, if they would regard her as a trespasser as she had done to them for so many years. She drew onward, despite her momentary reservations-she wouldn't know unless she made contact, after all.

Naclia followed a dirt road northward, toward the village. To either side of her were squared fields for crops, each one containing a different plant. Then, she came upon the outlying farmhouses, all dark as their residents slept. The village was peaceful, but Naclia's nerves were beginning to get to her. She hurried passed each property, fearful that someone might just be awake and see the suspicious stranger passing by. The entrance of the village ahead was marked by a pair of torches, their light seeming to consume all detail for several feet surrounding them as she approached. Too late, she caught the glint of armor and weapons in the firelight and immediately, a weight sank in her belly, filling her with fear.

The Fayl'Idayn bit back a yelp of surprise, then ducked down into the ditch alongside the road, partially obscured by brambles, and hid.



Talen Drecloud stood watch at the south road of the village of Woredelch. It was the nightshift, and in this quiet village, there wasn't much to expect during the night. Kuzo were hardly a problem, nor were bandits. There was one thing to be said for the elves in the forest to the south; they kept the place clear of trouble for the southern villages.

Talen was a knight, a rather low-ranked one at that. Born of an old family line of knights, he had followed in the footsteps of his father, his father's father, his mother's father, and practically every father his family had for twelve generations-and that was only counting the Drecloud side. While guard duty was a rather inglorious service for a knight, Talen's low rank did not provide him with many opportunities for much more than guard duty across all of Kosony. It was considered a necessary step in training for young knights, allowing them to interact with the people, provide protection, and gain experience in their career before they could move on to more prestigious duties to the state.