Prologue

Veralun. Home of every creature known to mankind, where humans lived among elves and dwarves played with giants. Where enemies didn't exist, and light magick and dark magick coexisted in harmony. Until one dark day when the skies turned gray and endless thunder and lightning storms purged the land. Beings of all kinds huddled in fear and prayed to their gods for salvation. But even the gods couldn't stop the fearless sorceress known as Leaniya. With one powerful spell, she infected all the magickal creatures with her hate. Dwarves turned against giants. Elves turned against pixies. Fae turned against sprites. Everyone was at war with one another.

Before long, the winds howled for Sentinel Yuria, Queen of Magickal Lands. In a swift motion, and with an effortless incantation, all the magickal beings were nothing but mere ants strewn across land. Barriers of fog, sea, and forests split the world away from them. Out of it, a new land was born.

Sentinel Yuria called that land Dramolux, signifying the beginning of something wonderful: a land without magick. A land of harmony. And, as all magick ceased to exist, markings filled her body and would continue to fill the bodies of the other sentinels of her bloodline.

They were the Maudlins, and they were the guardians of peace.

By the timeAymeri's mother finished the story, the girl was fast asleep on her mother's lap. A small sigh escaped her lips. "One day, daughter, you're going to wish you took these stories seriously, and not as the nonsense your father led you to believe they are."

Queen Ismana closed the book and put it back on the shelf, nestling it between two heavier books so the spine wouldn't wither away. "One day, you will learn, daughter. I will teach you."