Nio’s story
Nio's mother Vina was a noblewoman. The Dal House has stood proud for thousands of years. They ruled over the utmost southern region of Velas. The household at the time consisted of Vina's father and her brother Kontar. Everyone knew that young lord Dal would one day take his father's place on the high council. The Dal House was one of the few houses that retained its power after the vampire plague.
When the most powerful sorcerers in the country replaced the high council, the nobility was pushed aside. They were still aristocracy and had vast estates all over Velas, at least those not killed by the vampire scourge, but their grip over elven present and future was no more. The new high council now had seven members instead of thirteen. And of those old thirteen seats, only two families managed to hold on to it. The house of Dal from the south and the house of Sif from the northwest.
Unlike the rest of the nobility
Present timeNio’s house was not a mansion, but it was large and looked quite affluent. It was surrounded by a lovely stone fence. The house itself had only one floor and lots of large windows on the south side. The wooden porch, with a small table and comfortable pillows, spoke of people who enjoyed sitting together in the sun. But there were also signs of negligence and decay. The grass around the house was untrimmed, the bushes and plants were dead or overgrown with weeds and it was clear that no one had lived here for a long time. Wooden boards creaked under their feet as they approached the main door. The door was locked. Jon was about to break down the door when Nio stopped him.He shook his head and said: “No. I don't want to damage the house any further. It's mine anyway. The key should be with the village elder. I'll go to him. Wait here."“What village elder? There are no villages here.”: Jon asked
Nio’s storyNio was a spirited boy. Growing up in the countryside he had a whole world to explore and experience. Like any curious boy, he often got himself in trouble. When he was four, he couldn’t understand why chickens from their coop don’t fly. All the birds were flying. He tried to help them by throwing the smaller ones into the air, but to no avail. In his little brain, he concluded that they needed more room for take-off. One early morning he snuck out of the house and opened the chicken coop door. The chickens stayed inside. Nio pushed them into the garden and then to the nearest meadow. It was a slow and time-consuming task, but the boy persisted.An hour later, his mother found him in the meadow. Nio's face was wet with tears and distorted with frustration. Not a single hen even tried to take off. His mother took him in her arms and comforted him, explaining to him that chickens could not fly. Not everyone was
Present timeAfter a welcome break it was time to continue the journey. The plan was simple. Go west to the border with Canestor and then seek transportation in one of the dwarven airships. It was the only way to get to their kingdom. Nio proposed an alternate plan. With his magic, he would pave the way through the mountains to the first underground entrance to the dwarf kingdom. Jon rolled his eyes in disbelief and Shieena called him an idiot. Nio’s plan was firmly rejected.After a heartfelt farewell with Siumun and Liendara, they mounted their freshly acquired horses and left. One of the last things his aunt told him was to look after Shieena. The little she-goblin won her heart.It took them four long weeks to reach the western border of Velas and Canestor. Shieena was not used to riding so they had to move at a much slower pace for the first week. But they had plenty of time to talk.Nio talked about his childhood
Nio’s storyHis stay at the academy was not without problems. Unfortunately for him, his cousin Teria’n attended the same academy. And Teria’n used every opportunity to insult and abuse the boy. With no father and grandfather in sight, Teria'n could do whatever he wanted. Whether it was a brutal comment or a kick in the ass, Teria’n and his sly group of wealthy thugs made Nio’s life difficult. But Nio couldn't fight back. Lower staff were not allowed to talk or communicate with students in any way. That would mean immediate dismissal. Nio used the only possible solution available to him. He avoided them as best he could.However, his cousin's bullying also had a positive side. While all the other boys and girls in the academy laughed and even cheered as Teria’n tortured him, one girl did not. Her name was Thea and to Nio she was the most beautiful creature in all of Raal. She was the same age as him, se
Present time"So now we know.": Jon said, trying to find a comfortable position in one corner of the stable.Shieena shivered and crawled deeper under the covers.She looked at Jon and replied: “I don’t think so. Yes, they threw him in the well, but it's just a well. Even if it was pretty deep, he obviously survived. And remember what Liendara said, she said -I know what those kids did to you and we thought you were dead-. Didn't anyone check the fucking well? What? Oh, he fell into a well, yes, he's dead. Let's move on. And I mean, okay, they did what they did, but kill them for it? I don't understand. I can understand that Nio hates them, but you saw him. Every time he mentions their names, it’s not just hatred in his eyes. It's ... I have no word for it. Hate, agony, pain. He hunts them all over Raal. Why? And those scars on him, there's no way you're going to get something like that by falling. And then, there
SunbringerAs Nio travelled toward Canestor, he was unaware of the chaos he had created after breaking the magic bubble around Raal. After so much time the sun was moving again. In a split second, he changed something that most thought was immutable. The lands immersed in darkness were again pampered by the warm rays of the sun and people who had never seen the night were greeted by new and wondrous colours of the sunrise.After the initial shock and fear, and once the sky did not fall, the creatures in Raal began to adapt to the new situation. But Raal's rulers were not happy. At first, they didn’t know howand why this happened, whether the spell had finally faded or there was some new force they had to deal with. Or maybe an old force with a new weapon. No, they were not happy at all. The spy networks dug tirelessly, trying to find the culprit or culprits for the new situation, but failed.The high council of the elve
Present timeJon was worried about Shieena. He kept bothering Nioob about the goblin's welfare and she tried her best to convince him nothing in quarantine would happen to her. A goblin was considered property, and to harm someone’s property meant compensation. No dwarf wanted to part with his wallet. But Jon was not comforted. As Nio searched the market for information about Larin, Jon devised plans to free Shieena from dwarven hands. Lara was nowhere in sight.Five days after arriving in Canestor, Nio had no clue to Larin’s whereabouts. He was sitting in Nioob’s living room, sulking. Jon was on the sofa, devising another plan to free Shieena. Nioob brought tea and sat with them, quiet but curious. Nio was a few years younger than her, but she could not for the life of her see him as some all-powerful terrifying sorcerer. At this point, he looked more like a petulant child. But Lara was never wrong.She wondered
Nio’s storyHe was falling. His instincts kicked in and he desperately tried to grab the walls of the well. But there was nothing to grab. The interior of the well was smooth and flat. He closed his eyes and waited for the end. But the end did not come. He just kept falling and falling. He could not see anything and the well seemed to have no end.At first his body pounded against the walls, leaving him with more and more bruises, but after a while the well got wider. Even his fall began to slow. The air was much denser and unusually threatening.Nio tried not to think about Thea, but his broken heart just couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened, over and over again. He didn't understand. She loved him; he knew she loved him. And yet she killed him. Smiling.He felt a change in the air and something clawed at his leg. He felt a sharp pain and blood gushed from the newly formed wound. He tried to hit his at