Mystic Realms Saga
Book 7: The Bond of Realms
Chapter 1: Echoes in the Mountains
The sun rose over the Sapphire Peaks, casting golden light across the newly built road that connected the human and elven lands. James Lion-heart stood with Elion, his half-elf son, both silent as the dawn shimmered across the hills. The unity of realms had brought peace, but James could still sense tension in the wind. Far below the cliffs, fairy messengers darted through the air, delivering messages of hope and warning. The mountains echoed not just with birdsong, but with whispers of ancient magic waking once more. Elven druids had reported strange tremors, like a heartbeat beneath the earth. James narrowed his eyes as Juda, the great Drakegon, rumbled in the distance.
That day, emissaries from the dwarf kingdom arrived bearing gifts and warnings. Their mountain halls had grown restless with movement, as if the stone itself were uneasy. James invited them to feast, not just for diplomacy, but for wisdom. Around the fire, stories were shared of dreams—visions of mermaids surfacing in dark tides, of burning eyes in the sky. Elion listened intently, while James silently prayed to the divine force that guided him. Something old was stirring, and their alliances would be tested before long. That night, James dreamt of twin thrones—one beneath the sea, the other among the stars—both watching him. The bond of realms would soon be more than political; it would be survival.
Chapter 2: The Whispering Grove
James rode north into the Whispering Grove, a sacred forest where time passed differently. The elven elders had summoned him, claiming a spirit sought his presence. Juda’s shadow glided above the treetops while fairies flew in formation like silver fireflies. The ancient trees bowed as James entered, their bark pulsing with light. At the heart of the grove, a mirror pool shimmered, revealing a pale woman cloaked in mist. She was a Sylfari, guardian of the Grove, speaking in riddles of cracks in the world's breath and stars that wept fire.
James listened with reverence, knowing that her warnings were more than prophecy—they were the roots of action. She spoke of water kingdoms once bound in peace now drowning in wrath. The ocean, she said, had a queen whose heart had been broken by man. That brokenness festered into a fury that now reached toward the unified kingdom. James accepted a seed from her palm—a crystal acorn that pulsed with life and starlight. He planted it in the grove’s edge, sealing a pact. When war came, the forest would rise with him. On his return home, storm clouds gathered over the coast.