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EXTRACT FROM NOTES ON THE BOOKS OF ALIOS

BATREOUS, ROYAL SCHOLAR TO THE HEVELIKAR OF AZURIA

Translated from Old Magaar by Jemel the Hare, Acolyte of Zai in the Order of the Enforcer, beholden to Gelen the Green, servant of Emperor Selim Darek, the Devout.

The Books of Alios tell that thousands of years ago, two races of beings lived in our world: the fae and the demons dwelt in Azuria, Ismagaar, Fanost, Vashti and Pluma. Over time, their realm expanded to Jur-Mattan, Sofilio, Oria, Ulla and into The Waste.

The strongest and most blood-thirsty of the three races of the fae were the Bell-ai, who wished to conquer the lands of their fae brethren and rule all of the world. To gain the strength to do this they mixed their blood with the ancient demons that lived below the Amber Forest and produced a race of hybrids. The Bellator.

But the Bellator were not interested in fighting alongside their fae-fathers. They were strong and wily, possessed of a dark magic, a new magic, not seen before. And they wanted the world for themselves. The fae knew they had made a grave mistake and used powerful wards to trap the Bellator in the Forests of Amber.

When men arrived in those forests from The Cradle, the fae and demons, the Bellator and the men lived there together for some time.

But the Bellator were stronger creatures than their fae-fathers had ever imagined. They discovered that men could be used to power their magic and occasionally snatched men to sacrifice, growing ever stronger. But even with this power, the Bellator were unable to escape the Amber Forest.

Until one wily Bellator King, the King of the Earth, persuaded a leader of mortals that the fae were the ones killing the men who the demons themselves had taken. The man believed the King of the Earth and made a deal to join men and Bellator together to drive the fae into the Wastes in the North. In return for this the Bellator demanded a sacrifice. The king of mortals thought nothing of choosing the people of Pia and Prim, distant islands off the coast of Fanost in the Priam sea to be destroyed.

The offer bound in this promise was powerful. The Bellator used this power to sink Pia and Prim beneath the ocean forever. Leaving nothing but a whirlpool of deadly sea that none can cross to this day. The Bellator gorged on the power released from this sacrifice. Growing more powerful and more deadly.

This done, a bloody war was raged, men and Bellator fighting the Fae for a century, until all Fae creatures were driven into Oria and Ulla where many Jura-il — sand fae — died and the Merek-dur, the sea fae vanished forever.

A hundred years later the Bellator turned on the mortals.

They ravaged the land for centuries, destroying all. Only structures created by magic survived them.

The most ancient powers saw this destruction and intervened, instructing one of the fae to sire five brothers of fae and mortal and gifting each of them a magical blade. With these blades they slew the King of the Earth and used his spilled blood to imprison all the Bellator in a vault beneath the Amber Forest.

However, unbeknownst to the Five Fae Princes, one of the Bellator escaped this fate. A Bellator youngling whose mother hid him in a cavern deep in the Amber Forest. This demon has dwelt in the cavern ever since, vowing that when he grew strong enough, he would open the vault and free the Bellator once more.

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TOBI

Tobi sits beside Harok in the dining room of the Ceruleum Bride House.

While Harok eats, Tobi lays out his arca cards on the table in a twelve pointed star. They are the only people in the room. They came early to break their fast. Harok has been unnaturally hungry.

The previous day had been difficult. There had been an odd incident during the afternoon, while Damon and his party were gone. The young Bride Eliodi had come to inform Tobi and Harok of the arrival at the Bride House of a pair of Imperial Guards, sent looking for Damon Darekul. Tobi had met with them briefly and told them Damon had left for Ismagaar, and they had accepted this without further question. Tobi is still unsure how he had confounded them so easily. They hadn't even asked who Tobi was, or any further questions about who else was present in the building.

When Damon and Lyr had returned with Kerik and Perl, they had all, with the exception of Kerik, gone to the large shrine room of the Bride House. Perl had told them Kerik was exhausted by his ordeal and the magic he had used to kill the witch who imprisoned him.

Tobi has still not met his mysterious fourth brother.

In the shrine room, under the care of Princess Karo, Harok had subjected himself to another long ritual to bring forth the Shard of Ur-Durik within him.

They had discovered another piece of the puzzle of what had happened when the demon left Harok’s body and used Tobi to create a strange magic route to Attar — to Sarelik’s Temple in the Rose Palace.

Tobi had seen that happen, or some of it, although it was blurred in his mind until he heard it from Harok’s lips, slurring out in the demon’s voice via Harok’s dark, accented Artemian. Lukas had killed Selim and Diazuul had instead taken control of Atticul. Tobi’s brother — the brother who he was often told as a boy he looked like.

The new Emperor of Azuria has Diazuul inside him. This news was met with grave silence. Tobi is still unsure what it could mean.

After the ritual, Tobi listened to Damon and Perl’s conversation as he held Harok, watching him uneasily until his Irgorye came back to himself.

“What does it mean that the demon is inside Atticul?” Damon had said.

Perl’s voice was soft and unsure.”I don’t know.”