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The Eighth Warden Book 5 - Prologue to Chapter 2 (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-13 20:31:09
Imported:
2026-10
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Here we go, the first release of Book 5! Time to answer some long-standing questions.

I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know if you notice any issues.

Some notes:

1. While there are only two "chapters" in this release, the prologue is massive, making this one of the largest releases I've put out so far (close to 17k words). I'd like to get back to my standard target (about 13k words) because these oversized releases take longer to write and edit, but sometimes the chapters just lay out in a way that requires them to be larger.

2. There's a lot of stuff happening in a short period of time, so there are some setup scenes at the beginning of the book. At the moment, Chapter 2 doesn't include any scenes with anyone from the main group. After I get the next release out, I might rearrange some scenes between the two releases, and try to smooth out the timeline.

--Ivy

Comments

Bob Clarke

Story is coming on great Ivy - prologue answered numerous questions!

Jesse

A lot to unpack in this one. I was almost certain Pallis had killed Zachal due to him not being a chosar. That he reacted to a disastrous situation with limited knowledge of everything going on is not what I had expected. His hatred of Zachal still influenced him but it wasn't a calculated move on his part designed to remove the single human warden once he was no longer needed. I can't help but remember what Vatarxis said about "Strongest opponents destroying themselves before you get the chance to kill them". His war with the Chosar must have been him trying to destroy them before their ritual. He somehow knew about it and what would happen when they tried it. It is also only a matter of time now with the Dragon's death before Rusol realizing Corec has family in Larso. Any chance there is a chapter forth coming on his family learning of Corec's defeat of the Dragon?

Raman BNV

Thanks for the Early Set of Chapters, Ivy! As Jesse says, a lot of info to digest in this one. A few Points: 1) I would imagine that Larso would lose a lot of tax revenue if the southern routes through the old Keep were opened. That could be a reason for Larso not to provide an army to kill the dragon, right? Maybe if Loris or Jesson could have explained their army's inaction to Kevik in this manner.... 2) Owl dying by Hera's hand *accidentally* does explain a lot of things. Hera is still trying to make things right. Given that she lost consciousness 3-4 times in 2 days, it looks like even the New Gods need to recharge their energies. They also seem to have to give up some energy when they bless their devotees. 3) Donvar: Donvar seems to be the place where is still Wild Magic happening. Could this be the place where the Humans first fStumbled onto or cast the Warden Spell ? It was mentioned somewhere that the first time Humans learned of the Collision was when the Warden Spell was cast for the first time. Or could it be that Donvar is the location where the mortal realm "collided" witht the other realms? and so Donvar was where the Wild Magic leaks the most? 4)About the Collision: The totems role seems to be to protect the structural integrity of the collision. Even the Staff of Life has its power drawn from the Magic of the Collision itself, according to Wolf. So is Wild Magic = Magic of the Collision? 5) I wonder what Snake did that made him unwelcome among the Chosar? 6) Even after 5000 years, humans and elves did not research and develop magic stronger or better than what the Chosar had done earlier. They still seemed to be leading a feudal life, given the social and military organizations of the time. Is this solely because of what Ariadne said, "Humans still fight among themselves, and Elves still live a primitive life, living in trees"? or is it because they life a faith based life, not a research based one? 7) Clearly, Hera created Dwarves, Iris created the Seaborn, Demea created the Sunborn, Boreas created the Stormborn and possibly the Snowborn. Wonder what Allos created / developed other than learning about Blessings and creating a mortal body? Maybe the Lizardfolk? Wonder what Pallis created? Snow beasts ? Ogres? Giants? Wonder what Arodi created? Dragons?

ivyveritas

Let's see ... 1. I don't think a knight would accept that reasoning, but either way, once the dragon reaches Four Roads, there's no northern trade route anymore either, so it doesn't work out. This decision came down to Field Marshal Tregood giving bad, short-sighted advice without Marten's usual thoughtfulness to counteract it. Even Rusol's first instinct was to go after the dragon, but he allowed himself to be swayed by Tregood, since Tregood's supposed to be the military expert and Rusol knows little about military matters. It's really Marten's fault; he always played off the different factions against each other, but he should have had someone more competent in charge. When Marten had the final say, it wasn't a problem, but Rusol is not Marten. 3. All I can say at this time is that mortals have never learned of "the Collision" per se. The people that created the wardens unknowingly drew power from the Collision, and then over time, the wardens (due to that connection) gradually became aware of a conjunction of magics, but even now, the new gods don't really understand what it is. 4. It's been stated that elder magic is the magic of the Collision. The Staff of Life specifically allows two magics (elder and totemic/divine) to be merged together, an ability that can usually only be accomplished by a totem or an ascended being (the story is unclear about whether totems are "ascended" or something else entirely). 5. The details are probably lost in time, but Snake's aspect is "Deception," which isn't the most trustworthy detail to start with. 6. Much of what is relayed as Chosar accomplishments actually originally came from the combined human/elven nation that created the Chosar. The Chosar took over that society after the Second Demon War, chasing the humans and elves out of the cities and forcing them into nomadic lifestyles, then erasing any knowledge of what they'd done. A lot of magical/technical advances were lost during the Burning, and the remaining peoples are slowly relearning things over time. 7. It's been mentioned that the snowborn are stormborn. "Snowborn" was a name they chose for themselves when they split away. As for the rest, the combination of arcane/divine doesn't lend itself to making genetic modifications. The four elder mages can now combine elder/divine, which allowed them to modify The People. And in the distant past, a combination of arcane and elder (combined in a laboratory rather than using merged magic) allowed the humans and elves to create the Chosar in the first place. But both combinations required elder magic, which Pallisur, Allosur, and Arodisis don't have (either because the ascendance ritual wasn't completed or because it was flawed).

Raman BNV

Sorry, forgot about raising this: 8) Humans (and presumably elves) seem to have escaped most of the death and destruction of the Wildstorms and Firestorms. Now, did Elvish Arcane Mages and Human Elder Witches develop only after the Burning? I'm assuming that until the Burning, humans could only be arcane mages and elves could only use Elder Magic. And after the Chosar hybrids developed, then there was enough interbreeding over the years to allow both races to develop both magics. I think Ellerie it was, that said that people who can wield two magics are incredibly rare. If so, did the humans and elves who created the Chosar in a laboratory have a specific process in place to ensure that a high percentage of the Chosar would be able to wield 2 magics? 9) Wildstorms seem to be targetting people who can wield 2 magics. Is there a specific reason for this?

ivyveritas

8. Human/elven hybrids existed (due to interbreeding) before the Chosar were created. Some elven hybrids could use arcane magic and some human hybrids could use elder magic, and a tiny number could use both. But there's no such thing as a true "half-elf"; the base type is either one or the other, usually following the mother's parentage. The Chosar were their attempt to create a truly merged version of the two peoples, with the strengths of both. And while they deliberately included the bloodlines for both types of magic, they had only a limited amount of control beyond that point. The Chosar ended up with a greater propensity for magic and a (slightly) greater likelihood of wielding both magics, but they also ended up with a weakness to wild magic (though no one knew that at the time). 9. Yes.

ivyveritas

I'm sure his family will figure it out one way or another. ;-)

Brian Woods

So…first things first, thanks for the chapters. Gotta say, though, I’m a little underwhelmed by how Hera took out Owl so easily. The Zachal confrontation was good, and paints Pallis as more misunderstanding than evil per say, but still extremely stubborn and unyielding in attitude and purpose: good for combat but somewhat poor at leadership, perhaps. And Owl, who fought alongside the Mage Knights against the demons, had no defensive back wards up to block Hera’s scared blast of, presumably, Elder and Totemic magic combined? While understandable, that sounds somewhat unlikely for a Wisdom Aspect. But, ce la vie as they say. The more important issue, however, is the revelation of the fundamental problem with the ritual that has finally been shared: if we suppose that the reversal wave that shot out of the bottom of the ‘ritual cylinder’ was Arcane in origin, given that it reversed Zachal’s healing and Pallis’s banishing spell, and that the Wildstorms launched from the top were probably targeting the Elder magic that bound the two halves of the Chosar together to basically atomize them into nothing, one can reasonably conclude that instead of constructing a new form of magic by combining the four sources, the ritual was instead ‘deconstructing’ the lines that divided creation and returning everything back to the Collision. A dangerous idea, indeed. That would mean, regardless of WHAT Pallis wants to accomplish, his plan would likely destroy the entire multiverse they all live in, every realm, which would also explain why Vatarxis was willing to help Hera to a degree. Next, now that we have discovered that Zachal is in fact responsible for the zombies infesting Tir Yadar, I am even more convinced that Zachal is also responsible for Razai’s whispering guide. Why? First, if those souls ‘killed’ by his accidental necromancy were instead gathered to him, they might have ascended with him to the next plane as a part of him becoming a Celestial, albeit without his powers. Any one of them might know enough about illusion magic to help the demon girl figure things out. Second, I would find it hard to believe that, with Wolf mentioning that the old Wardens were ascending when their bodies died, and the mere moments between Pallis killing Zachal, Pallis dying to Zachal’s spell, and Gaiana? breaking the stone that destroyed the Ritual Chamber, that Zachal didn’t manage to get caught up in the Ascension like the others. You could even explain him not being able to pull himself together as an extension of the time Pallis had to put in doing the same thing, and his only communication being Razai as a complication of HOW he died, if you so chose. Mini rant over…;). Finally…I REALLY can’t believe Raman didn’t yet mention that thanks to Shavala their ‘dream’ of a dragon bondmate kinda came to pass. Just think: in 30 to 50 years time in-universe, Corec might just have a pet dragon to command the Free Lands with by proxy through his elven lover. That’s pretty cool, I’d say.

Aspiring Sage

Another wonderful addition to this epic tale. I remain enthralled by your story Ivy. Thank you for imparting it to us.

ivyveritas

Well, to be fair to Owl, he's literally never had to protect himself against divine/totemic magic before--we've seen that the totems are very averse to attacking each other, and no one else has ever wielded divine magic before. And he had no idea that Hera could wield it now, much less that she could combine three magics into a single attack spell. Divine magic is very effective against fighting demons and demonborn mages (as we saw in Rusol's fight against Leonis and when Razai is fighting against the priests at Tir Yadar), but it's weak against counter-attacks of its own kind (as we saw when Rusol lashed out with divine magic to save himself, and when Bobo saved Razai). So the divine magic woven into the spell canceled out any protections Owl may have had in place--it's similar to the attacks Pallisur and Hera used against each other in the Book 3 epilogue. If Owl had known in advance what he was facing, he probably could have done better, since Hera had no idea what she was doing. Hope that helps!

Brian Woods

Yeah, it was really just a small nitpick to be honest, as I was hoping for..just more to the scene, like Owl trying to fix whatever went wrong and Hera stepping over the line to stop him. Plus, it might have been nice to find out more about Owl and his thought processes and motivations since everyone seemed to respect him a lot. An actual confrontation could have revealed such things. But as I said, that’s really small in the grand scheme of ‘fun’ let loose in these chapters :).

E.T. Spencer

Brian Woods, I might be wrong about this but you didn't mention Hera possibly turning the unborn babies into dwarfs to save them. She said they could live underground and dig. We might now know where they come from.

Brian Woods

Raman already brought that up though Evan, and while the stoneborn’s creation is slightly more mundane than my idea of the tunneling golem’s having built more of themselves using proto-chosar formless entities, having an answer isn’t quite as spectacular as the other bits I mentioned, like the true nature of the ritual, a possible pet dragon for Corec, or the idea that Zachal might have survived in a limited fashion. Though, there are two things I did forget to bring up: with Nedley having a forgetful moment in the stables, it’s possible the 5th Warden’s memory erasing Bondmate is lurking around the Four Lands collecting info on Corec, and…Hera distinctly thought during her conversation to Demea that she hadn’t bonded anyone before the ritual, meaning Ariadne had hers happen after awakening.

Jesse

The memory-erasing bondmate crossed my mind as well, but after thinking about it I think Nedley was on auto-pilot then thinking about Kimi as opposed to what he was doing. Then again The First let loose about the ritual... On Ariadne I had thought since her Elder magic was so weak, as Hera had said she wouldn't have been considered in the Demon War was mounting so many casualties, might be the reason she survived where the other 9 non-bondmates didn't. She might have been weak enough the wildstorms weren't targeting her so the stasis pod held up as the others failed.

Brian Woods

You know, I hadn’t really considered that the reason Ariadne, Thedan and Ephrenia survived wasn’t anything special about them, but rather that one of the storms happened to pass through that section of the stasis room on the way to somewhere else and missed them by inches. My comment was on the fact of her Bonding not happening until after she woke up and not before, which might have explained why she and they survived…

And Then There Was None

Regarding Nedly's "memory loss". I am 90% sure it's nothing more than teenage hormones. An attractive girl with actual training in seduction made some moves on him, I think his brain just switched off and he went on autopilot for a bit.

Raman BNV

@jesse Yes, it didn't even occur to me that the baby Dragon Shavala is going to nurture might become the 8th Bondmate!

Raman BNV

Who could have bonded Ariadne? Certainly not 1 (whose bond colour is white), nor Hildra (Purple), Yelena (Red), Rusol (Yellow) or Corec (Blue). That leaves Leonis, Kono and Shayliel. One reason Ariadne is not able to get her warden direction sense going is if she was bonded to Leonis. Now that he is dead, the warden sense would not indicate any particular direction. Loofoo could be Kono in disguise, but Loofoo is shown to be bare armed and bare chested, and its not known if wardens can hide their sigils. It could be Shayliel, who could have bonded Ariadne and made her forget about the whole bonding thing. or it could be a new warden, chosen after Leonis has died.

Jesse

I meant the following comment to have been a response to this.

Brian Woods

If we consider the light spectrum as an model for the colors of the current crop of Wardens, the only remaining ones left are orange, green and black, with white being all combined and black as the absence of them. Purple could be considered as indigo or violet, which would leave the other free as well, but her rune is a lighter blue shade than Corec’s which might indicate a connection. Perhaps because of her yanvasta heritage Shayliel has black runes, and I don’t think Ivy actually shared what color Leonis’s were after he died. Given Corec’s runes are blue and Iris was an elf, the seaborn Emperor might have a bluish-green, heavier on the green, color to match his race. It all leads back to my personal theory that somehow, one way or another, Hera managed to Bond Ariadne and plans to use her in some fashion to help her grandson directly.

Norbert Borer

Ariadne’s elder magic got stronger before they reached Four Roads which means the bonding had to be done before. Now several weeks later Ariadne is not able to detect the direction to the location of her bonded Warden, which is in my point of view a strong indication that the Warden does not have a physical body, therefore it has to be one of the new gods. Ephrenia (bondmate of Arodisis) and Thedan (Pallisur) are alive which means the warden bond of the new gods is still active. Another possible clue is the fact that Hera already considered Ariadne as potential bondmate before the fatal ceremony took place. I agree with Brian. Hera is the most likely candidate who bonded Ariadne. The only point I am struggling with is why the sigil was never visible; until the last chapter of book 4 I understood the bondmates have to be aware of the sigil before they can hide it.

Brian Woods

Technically, we don’t know if Thedan is alive or not. There is some evidence to suggest he isn’t, because where would Rusol have gotten his mirrorsteel plate and sword from if not from Thedan or someone who raided his corpse? Ephrenia is alive, since Pallisur references her with Badru, but how did Mage Knight armor make it to Larso except through one’s death? Also, there is even more to support the idea of Hera and Ariadne. First, both Ariadne and Hera refer to a ‘burning out’ of one’s Arcane magic in order to cast spells instantly and without regard for metal armor…and Corec fits the same bill. Also that after doing so, learning spells the normal way becomes much harder…again like Corec while he learned the weapon binding spell. Finally, what if Hera, in order to subtly help Corec, has been teaching him from her repertoire of magic so he can survive? And if, while showing him the weapon spell, she herself figured out how to manipulate her own Warden magic to Bond Ariadne without an actual Warden body? Heady stuff…

Jesse

The epilogue to book 3 has from Pallis' POV has him thinking the most of his bondmates had died off in the Burning or in the following difficult years. He doesn't think in terms of all of his bondmates being dead. Even if it isn't Thedan, at least one other one should be still running around. At the time I was thinking that Ephrenia could also have been one before being revealed as Arodi's bondmate.

Jesse

So an interesting thought occurred to me. If Pallisur is taking mortal form and getting ready for his ritual, he must be close to having the eight total wardens needed (assuming he still needs eight). We know from the original eight that Zachal has been MIA since the last Ritual and that Hera is opposed to it. Demea said she was opposed to both Pallisur's ritual and Hera's lineage merging plan as well. Arodi in her one appearance rebuffed Pallisur and Pallisur when talking to Badru mentions Allosur being in the dark on the ritual. So he at best has Borrisur and Irisis. That is only 3. From the new Wardens Badru is willing to help. Rusol and Corec are both right out. Leonis is dead now. Pallisur was not happy that Badru mentioned the ritual to Shayliel so she is out. That possibly leaves Kono, Hildra, and Yelena. Kono is a complete unknown and both Hildra and Yelena strike me as far to wise or smart to jump on that bandwagon. Even if all three of those are on board then Pallisur has at most 6. Did Hera interferring with the Warden Choosing Spell give Pallisur some ideas?

ivyveritas

There's a clue in Rusol's discussion with Leonis in Book 2. Eight wardens must be involved in the ritual, but they don't necessarily have to be willing participants, or present in the same location.

Brian Woods

Yeah, and as of now, if Pallis participates as an Arcane mage for the purposes of the ritual, the numbers match really well. Presupposing that Corec, Yelena and Badru can use Arcane magic, and Kono, Shayliel, Hildra and Rusol probably have access to Elder Magic due to their heritages as Elves and former Chosar, the ritual can commence even if the participants are compelled in some fashion.

Jesse

I got to re-read some of the books during a recent vacation and two things stood out to me. 1) Corec was still feeling the "blessing" in regards to Bobo and Ariadne when he meet with Yelena in Tyrsall after returning from Tir Yadar. So either his blessing continues to work for Ariadne after she was bonded by someone else or Ariadne got bonded either in Tyrsall (after said meeting) or on the road to Dalewood. 2) The Warden Bond's direction sense may not work on the Ascended Wardens. At the end of Book 4 when Pallis takes mortal form he mentions he is then limited to sensing and blessing things that are only around on of his already blessed priests. In Tir Yadar when Treya looks in one of the Stasis pods, her body reacts as if her mind doesn't see something it expects to see. Since her mother Arodi has been watching over her from a mortal form, it is likely she was using Treya as a conduit at that time to observe what she was doing and Ephrenia was not dead in the stasis pod as Arodi expected. Arodi may not have been aware Ephrenia was still alive. Pallis thinks she had a falling out wit Arodi but he assumes a lot from how he reads to me as opposed to knowing what is actually going on.

IronSnake

My thing is this. If Pallis succumbed to the pulses of necromantic magic in the first ritual and technically died, where tf is Zachal? Because Pallis murdered Zachal in the middle of the ritual and then died, and yet Pallis still ascended. So where is Zachal? Pallis proves death is no barrier to ascension.

ivyveritas

They died at almost the same time, but Zachal left the ritual earlier than Pallis did. The ascension began between the time Zachal left the ritual and the time Pallis left. But it had just barely begun for Pallis when his mortal body was killed, which is why it took him longer to recover than the others.

Jesse

Now I have to ask, did Zachal exit the ritual voluntarily or was he booted out by Pallis to prevent him from ascending with the rest of them?

ivyveritas

He left the ritual because he somehow became aware something had gone wrong. Whether he realized it on his own or was alerted by the people outside the barrier who were trying to catch the wardens' attention, I left unexplained. As for why he was the one to wake up, I left that unexplained too--it could be because he was a healing wizard and had more sensitivity, or maybe as the only human he wasn't as tightly intertwined with the ritual, or maybe as the youngest of the four wizards, he was more skeptical of the ritual and didn't allow himself to fully enter the trance, or maybe he didn't fully trust the older wardens, and again didn't allow himself to fully enter the trance. Will we ever get an official answer? I don't know. There are enough plausible explanations that an official explanation probably isn't necessary, and it's good to leave some mystery.