Erwynion excerpt

Hello! Yes, I know this isn't the next part of The Scroll, but this is an idea that's been brewing in my head for a while now. Some of you know that "The World Walker Chronicles," of which "The Scroll" is the first book, is not the first idea I ever had for a book. I have another series I'm working on called "The Defenders of Light." (For those of you who are wondering, no, I haven't published any Defenders books--yet) In the books there are two main countries, Valoris and Elwenarien, an ocean to the west, and mountains to the east. As I was brainstorming for the series, I decided that one character would decide to flee to the mountains and beyond so that he could be left alone and be himself. Later--much later-- in the series, he'd come back all grown up with a family. So, I thought to myself, what's beyond those mountains? I've been brainstorming what he'd do in the twenty-odd years after leaving (yes, I know, terrible of me since I haven't even published the first book yet), and I've been coming up with some pretty crazy ideas. So, here's what would most likely become a prologue for that book series:

Erwynion

I live in a land surrounded by mountains. Two hundred years ago, my ancestors braved the unforgiving peaks and traveled west to escape the rule of a brutal tyrant. They settled this land, protected by mountains on all sides, and began to build a thriving civilization which they called Erwynion.

Then they came. They called themselves the Dragon Keepers, men and women who rode fearsome beasts that flew through the air and spat out fire, and whose minds were as cunning as their riders'. At first they were harbingers of peace, promising protection from any enemies that could find their way through the maze of mountain passes. My ancestors welcomed the Dragon Keepers and secretly worshiped them. And who wouldn't worship such powerful beings that flew through the air as easily as the gods?

Gradually, the Dragon Keepers changed. They began to demand taxes and tributes, though they did not claim kingship over us in words. We could not refuse--any village or city that did not meet the tax quote was burned to the ground. Gradually our land, once lush and green, became barren and drained.

My grandfather's father was a small boy at the time. As a little girl I loved sitting at his knee, listening as he told how the Dragon Keepers flew overhead, their dragons' scales glistening in the sunlight. True, they were the villains of the story, but they were still majestic, beautiful, and stories of them filled my heart with wonder.

Then something happened. Civil war broke out among the Dragon Keepers, and instead of thinking of taxes they began to fight amongst themselves. Erwynion became their battleground, and whole swaths of land were left ravaged and scarred. Eventually, the Dragon Keepers disappeared. Nothing was left of them except haunted ruins in the mountains inhabited by feral dragons with weak scales and weaker minds.

Slowly, the land began to replenish itself, and great scars started to be replaced by greenery and life. The people of Erwynion also began to lift themselves out of the mud and devastation. They'd had enough of kings and tyrants. It was better for the people to choose their own rulers than to have rulers forced upon them, they decided. They set up a government in which men and women were elected to serve the people. It looked as though prosperity was in our grasp.

Alas, it was not to be. Some of the elected officials began to fear that they would lose their power. One man was crowned king and demanded that everyone serve him. Others rebelled, declaring themselves kings and queens.

War broke out, with kings and queens fighting against elected officials who fought for the freedom of the people. My grandfather's father was one who was elected as a governor of our land. As the war progressed and the power of the people began to fall, he surrendered. He felt it was better to survive to preserve the true history of our people, even in whispers and secret meetings, than to die to leave his wife and young son destitute without a husband and father.

The war continues to this day, though it is a political battle rather than a battle of lives. Each city and its surrounding villages are ruled by a king, and each king desires to become High King over all of Erwynion. We have fled from evil only to find greater evil, and we are all ruled by tyrants.

My family lives in a village at the foot of the western mountains, those which we call the Avalades. Our village is ruled by a man who calls himself king and his idiot son. I often look up at the Avalades, from whence the Dragon Keepers came, and I wonder what lies beyond them. I've been told all my life that only Death comes from the mountains, but I believe there are things far worse than Death.