The Dominant Breath, a magical and spiritual force, kept the order of the world on the Continent. Then, from the rage of men, were born the demons that infested the souls of the weak. Humankind was completely split and those whose souls were infested by the demons gave origin to the lineage of elves. The Dominant Breath, in turn, divided itself into four parts and embody in weak men, in an attempt to reacquire the universal balance that was being threatened by the demons.
All this happened at the dawn of time. In the millennia, the elves succeeded in controlling their own demons, enclosing them in a spiritual prison, called Prison of Lights. Two totally distinct races came into creation, in both mind and physical aspects, often in conflict with each other. The conflict deteriorated into a war which devastated human society and almost ended in exterminating the elves, forcing them into hiding to escape being captured and experimented on by humans. However, revenge was being plotted in the darkness and they knew how to reverse the situation.
In this difficult context for both factions there were two particular births that could be the fuse to shifting the situation. A human baby is born with the power of reading thoughts, a power given to it by a White power: one of the four parts of The Dominant Breath, which was always solely incarnated in the elves.
On the other hand, an elf is born with only half prison of lights, caused by his father's crazy experiments on himself. Destiny determines the meeting of the two children, Samire and Kallwen. At first they are just enemies from two opposing races. Then they discover that they have more in common than they would have ever believed. Both are able to read thoughts and control the minds of others, but something deeper unites them: the desire for revenge. In fact, Kallwen's father, after having concluded his experiments and having allowed his demon to control him, killed his wife and Samire's parents, leaving them orphans at the age of five and forced to survive by the hatred they harboured against him. The two children became friends. For her, such a relationship meant betraying her race, but she soon realized that she didn't have a choice. In fact, shortly after their meeting, a being - neither man nor elf - attempted to kill her in order to extract the part of The Dominant Breath that resided in her. The girl was saved from the attack thanks to the intervention of Kallwen and she understood that without his help she would be unable to escape death a second time. Not without having the right knowledge of the powers she possessed and not without knowing who wanted her power and why. "Wouldn't you like to know who you really are? Don't you want to know who tried to kill you? I want to help you find out." Samire allows herself to be persuaded by Kallwen's suggestion. She is aware that he alone is capable of helping her: her only possible ally. She decides to follow him, knowing that she is betraying her race, her family (all those living in the orphanage where she grew up), denying her past and all that she had believed in up until that moment.
The search for the truth awakened in Samire a desire for adventure and gave the elf an objective, a purpose for her sad and solitary life.
Their search is soon to be interrupted. The boy's incomplete Prison of lights is in danger of splitting completely, thereby transforming him into a bloodthirsty demon. To prevent this from happening and to concentrate on Samire's problems, Kallwen is forced to return to the elfs resistance base camp: a place where he had sworn never to return again. His incomplete prison needs special seals to allow him to have total control of his life. As their journey towards the base camp begins, their relationship deepens. Finally reaching the resistance base camp, Samire is interrogated many times and some of her answers lead Sidryan, one of the more influential Pure Elders of the elf race, to draw the attention of the Council of Twelve to her case. At the same time, Kallwen is undergoing the difficult and painful operation of sealing. Something goes wrong, however and the demon goes upwind, crushing the already tried soul of the boy, with the intention of annihilating it. Only Samire succeeds in reviving her friend's upset soul after a
strenuous mental struggle against the demon.
Following this experience, the two friends realise that the bond between them is much stronger than simple friendship, but that there are too many problems facing them in a world where there is no more space for sentiments. On the Eve of the Council's attempts to erase all their doubts, they also realise that their love, which shatters the race barrier, will have difficulty in coming of any good.
Copyright Prison of Lights - Sarah Campi 2010 - Translated into English by Patricia Yvanovich-Bayne 2010
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento