Mira's View
Authors: Erin Elliott
Tags: #magic, #legends, #gods, #stories, #elf, #tattoo, #power, #curse, #fables, #sword in the stone, #ruler, #epic quest, #enslaved, #rau, #tyrrany
The Sword of Lumina #1
by Erin Elliott
Published by
Fire and Ice
A Young Adult Imprint of Melange
Books, LLC
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
The Sword of Lumina: Mira's View,
Copyright 2014 Erin Elliott
ISBN: 978-1-61235-921-2
Names, characters, and incidents
depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States of
America.
Cover Design by Stephanie
Flint
To my kids. Do what you
love
and the world will be at your
fingertips. And to my
incredible husband, without you,
none of this would
be possible.
MIRA'S
VIEW
by Erin Elliott
In a world ruled by the
dark,
what would you do to see the light
again?
Galena is just like every other elf, enslaved
by the powerful Rau. Once a beautiful and powerful race, the elves
have been reduced to slave labor in the mines of Rau. Galena grew
up hearing the stories of old about a sword, when wielded by the
right elf, ending Rau’s tyranny. Unsure if she believes these
stories, she finds herself plunged into a world unfamiliar to her,
hunted by Rau for her unnatural magical abilities. Will she find
the sword promised to her people? Or will she fall prey to the idea
of a sword that doesn’t exist?
Table of
Contents
Prologue
In the beginning, when the land of Tomiro
was young, the gods created the elves. They were the fairest and
the strongest of all the creatures in Tomiro. Their magical
abilities gave them power over all of the plants and animals and
they were skilled in the art of fighting, far beyond those of the
other creatures. They were the pride of the gods, with their beauty
and love of nature. However, one of the gods, Haulua, feared the
elves and created a way to destroy them. Believing the elves would
rise up against the gods to take their thrones, he created stones
filled with a darkness that drained life and magic from the elves.
He named these stones intunerics and devised a plan to place them
around the elves, but the other gods learned of Haulua’s plan. They
buried the stones deep within the earth where they would do no
harm. Therefore, the elves continued to rule the land as they
always had.
In time, the intunerics’ magic seeped out
into the darkest parts of the ground, where it collected for
centuries. Haulua, still secretly fearing for his throne, breathed
a new kind of life into this mass of dark magic and created a new
being. Neither man nor shadow, but a combination of both, Rau rose
from the pool of magic. Like the elves, Rau was cunning and skilled
in the art of war, but he lacked compassion and the ability to love
the world around him. He resented the elves and grew to hate them.
In his hatred, he plotted to overthrow them and all that they stood
for. He collected and trained all races dark in nature to be a part
of his army and he waited and watched for his time.
Mira, the lone goddess among the gods,
discovered what her brother had done. She knew that she could not
destroy Rau, for the gods could not directly take away the life of
a mortal being, so she devised a way to stop him. She created the
Sword of Lumina and placed it in a cavern deep within the center of
the world. Only an elf with a pure heart, sharp mind, and enough
courage to destroy Rau could enter. All else would burn away.
Lamiria was the ruler of the elves as his
family had been since the beginning of their race. He led his
people with all the wisdom and strength that he possessed, but
Lamiria was proud. Rau used this pride for his gain. Because the
elves had lived in such a time of peace, they had become lazy,
forgetting what they had been trained to do. Rau, with his army,
overtook them, plunging them into a world of darkness and
despair.
Enslaving the elves, he forced them to deny
their magic, forbid them to use their weapons, and to dig the
stones created to destroy them. For with these stones, Rau grew
ever more powerful. For the first time in their history, elves grew
sick, weak, and started to die. Tomiro suffered as well and for the
first time in its history, plants withered and died, food was
harder to grow, animals were harder to find and raise, and dark
creatures became more prominent in this world. The gods, in anger,
turned their backs on Haulua and his creation as well as Tomiro,
for they were greatly displeased at what it had become. All save
Mira, who knew that someday an elf would rise up against Rau. This
elf would end the enslavement on the gods’ favorite race and return
Tomiro to what it once was. Therefore, Mira waited for a hero of
her choosing, to come forth and claim the Sword of Lumina.
Chapter
One
Galena cautiously stepped over a fallen tree
and into the broad clearing deep within the forest that surrounded
her village. She took a breath of the cool morning air, savoring
the calm she felt every time she came here. Although it no longer
contained the beauty of greenness that it carried for a short time
in the spring, it still worked its magic on Galena. She stretched
her muscles, warming them up before she began.
Galena turned her golden eyes to the sun,
taking in its weak morning rays and allowing it to warm her fair
face. Closing her eyes, she listened to the forest sounds around
her. She heard the bees and the locusts beginning the day before
the heat made it unbearable. The birds called their good mornings
to each other, sharing their discoveries with their fellow wing
mates. A gentle breeze danced across Galena’s face and through her
copper-colored hair, teasing her with the idea of a cool day. It
was a cruel joke, for it was the middle of summer and the heat
would be scorching as the day wore on.
Opening her eyes, Galena searched the
clearing around her once more.
Her father’s warnings still echoed in her
head, “You can never be too careful, little one.”
Taking in every tree, every blade of grass,
and all the animals within view, she made a mental note of what she
saw. The plants were beginning to wither and die as they did every
year around this time, leaving a dull brown hue for as far as the
eye could see. Satisfied that no one else was around, Galena walked
over to a tree on the other side of the clearing. This tree had
seen many summers. It was roughly the size of three, twenty-foot
trees combined. It reached high into the heavens and provided some
shade from the blinding sun. But even this tree, which had been
around for so long, suffered along with the elves. The tree’s
middle was completely hollow, its insides having died long before
the shell was willing to. Galena reached into a crack that ran
along the middle of it and removed a sword. It was the sword that
she had chosen from the large collection left to her ancestors and
that her family had kept secret for centuries. Her father and
brothers had chosen swords from this collection as well. Whenever
the elf died, the sword was returned to this stash in hopes that it
would someday prove useful.
When she was younger, they had all trained
together, but now her father was in the mines and her brothers had
families and work of their own. Galena thought she would have to
train alone until she had convinced her father to train her best
friend as well.
Holding her sword in her beginning stance,
Galena went through the motions and the exercises she had been
trained to do. Her movements seemed effortless as she continued to
swing, stab, and block in a continual type of dance. She swirled
and dodged, feeling her muscles contract and stretch with each
practiced move. Over and under, her sword became a blur as she came
to the final movements of her routine. Sensing the presence of
another, she spun, bringing her sword up and under the chin of
another young elf. Breathing heavily, Galena looked up at him. He
had silky, brown hair that fell just below his shoulders and his
bright, blue eyes were fierce, but still had a spark of mischief in
them. His straight and elegant nose was perfect for his long face.
His jaw was currently tensed, waiting to see if the sword currently
poised at his throat, would continue its path, or be removed. It
was the face that she knew as well as her own and loved even more.
Smiling, Galena removed the sword and took a step back, afraid that
he would hear her racing heart if she continued to stand so
close.
“How many times have I told you not to sneak
up on me?” she said accusingly.
He rubbed the spot on his neck where her
sword had been moments before and grinned. “Probably every time I
have come down to spar with you.” Elenio stepped into the clearing,
glancing around as he did so. “So, are you tired enough to practice
with me?”
“Tired or not, I can still dance circles
around you.” Grinning, Galena took her stance, sword pointed down
and at an angle. Elenio prepared himself as well. Both waited for
the other to make the first move. Over the years, they had
practiced together so often that they knew the other’s moves as
their own. Their dance was the dance that kept in perfect rhythm.
It was on the rare occasion that Elenio was able to best Galena and
he made sure to point this out as often as possible. As of lately,
their practice sessions would end in draws. Galena assumed it was
because Elenio was tired of being beat, or that he would be coming
of age and did not want to let a mere girl win. She was unsure of
the real reason though, but enjoyed this new, fiercer Elenio.
Elenio took the first swing, coming at Galena
from the side, which she blocked easily, returning the blow.
Swinging and blocking they spun around, their movements getting
faster with each strike. Galena tried to keep the sun at her back,
to give her the advantage, but Elenio seemed aware of what she was
attempting by the way he moved his blade in response. It had been a
long time since he had fallen for one of her tricks. Round and
round they danced, blocking and swinging with such furor that the
forest rang with the sounds of their blades clashing. Galena could
feel her muscles begin to burn with each swing and block. Sweat
trickled down her brow and into her eyes. With one final blow aimed
at Galena’s side, which she blocked easily, Elenio collapsed to the
ground breathing heavily, his brows furrowed in an angry look and
his mouth tipped into a frown.
“I told you... I would win...” Galena
gasped.
Elenio waved his hand at her in response,
clearly dismissing the very idea.
Chuckling, Galena sat beside him, still
trying to catch her breath. She jerked her hand up from the sharp,
crunchy blades and tried to wipe away the feeling of it on her
leggings. She disliked the feel of the dead, brown grass beneath
her, but lay back nonetheless, careful to keep her skin from
touching it. It reminded her of everything wrong in their dying
world. Closing her eyes and tilting her head toward the sun, she
focused on the animals and insects surrounding her as she regained
her breath. The frogs and locusts had settled down, retreating to
their cool homes to find relief from the hot sun. The birds had
even stopped their twittering, a sure sign that today would be
absolutely miserable with heat.