Chapter 1: Introduction

The humble and technologically advanced continent known as Ephrais has been a breeding ground for diversity and companionship.

With the influx of prestigious mages that have been moulded by the new prospering union, all opposition was soon quelled and the council secured their position as leaders of the next generation.

Being a member of house Cynrad, I was well versed in the politics between the three races that had once been at each other's throats. Even at my young age, I easily grasped the concept and ulterior motives that the Kings and Queens of each respected race had.

The humans, dwarves, and elves all congregated together to form what was known as the "council" to unify their efforts in conquering the Trials of Miscellany.

The tuition given to me as the first son of Rillon and Frey Cynrad had been fruitful as it helped me gain an understanding of how important my role was in the near future.

The more I contemplated, the eagerness to venture out and explore the unknown lands also grew. The only thing holding me back was my age. At the young age of eight, I had successfully formed my mana heart which was essentially a crystal lying under the solar plexus that allowed you to control the mana that flowed all around you.

Although it took me 3 years to fully cultivate it, I had finally achieved what I had sought out after learning about the power it could grant me. Still, it would be another year or so before I had to actually seek magical training in the central city of Hywell that lay on the centre of the whole continent, looking down on the neighbouring cities and lands as if it were a God.

Ephrais itself ranged from woods enveloped in snow, to dry deserts and stormy climates around a mountainous front that divided the continent.

The North was where most cities and civilizations had resided, thanks to the ingenious scientists that the humans harboured. Over to the East was a dry desert littered with sculpture-like mountains where the dwarves had inhabited, creating an underground civilization.

To the West, the elves lived on a suplex of enormous trees that swayed under the sun and sheltered those it considered under its care. Many rumours suggested that the forest even had a mind of its own and always looked for the preservation of its own.

They all seemed trivial to what lay in the south, it was surrounded by rocky terrain and mountains that loomed over the ground beneath it as if it were a wall, creating a shadow of darkness where not even the brightest light would help identify the secrets hidden within.

This was where the trials of miscellany stood intimidatingly tall, without faltering, only revealing a large door that led you into an otherworldly cave where the portals to the challenges lay wait.

The very place that I had aspired to explore.