SD Part Seven

Today, I would like to discuss my main character. I first developed her in a series I’m working on. Her original purpose was to support the MC in the second book and continue to be with her. After I decided to write a standalone book using this world I created, this character’s origin story seemed like a perfect place to start. Regardless if I ever can publish the series, I’m working on; this book will be a complete story on its own with a potential for a sequel.

Further in my career as a writer, I may test my creative talents by creating my own species, but for now, I wanted to stick with what I knew and mold to my desires for this world I had generated in my mind. There are two species that inhabit this world. First comes the elf and after magic is released and usable, human evolution is magically enhanced to the time period (real world) of caveman or Neanderthals. This story takes place about three or four elf generations after they gain access to their magical abilities.

The social structure of this world focusses on living in settlements that are self-governed, usually by a select few elders. That means they are responsible for protecting themselves. The elves in my world live around 1500 years. They are not immortal. Regardless of the magic, each settlement takes many decades of training before allowing the youth to join the patrols. For the MC, her home requires 50 years before graduating. The MC, her best friend and his brother all joined the same year. Her father, one of the instructors, raised his daughter to be the best fighter from birth and her natural magical gifts elevated her to the top of her class, with her best friend ranking second and his brother falling short of the list. This sibling rivalry plays a part in the narrative.

During her last year of training, tragedy strikes and this results in her desire to step away from the life she was designed to take. With the rise of magical beasts created by the dark mages, it became dangerous to live in crowded areas. Her desire to escape it all and find happiness gave her the initiative to leave and live a happy life in the wilderness away from it all. Back to nature. Back to her ancestral roots.

The goal from the start was to always have the MC in a different mental state at the beginning and end. Following this path, she had to be happy and content so I could break her and leave the MC in a ruined state of mind. Nothing left to live for. She goes back to the only life she knows. Fighting. Killing. Showing no mercy. It has been fun looking at the MC’s personality difference between damaged past but happy to the broken killing machine with no care for herself.

This story is about a woman who is searching for a purpose in life without caring about her life. She is no one’s hero. There is no final boss that she wants to kill, even if she has every reason to do so. In her struggle she is dragged into a shadow war she wants nothing to do with. A war of dark vs light. Good vs evil. It can sound cliché, but it is grounded in history. My goal is to allow readers to believe they know the path and the destination until there can be no reason to believe otherwise, then rip the rug from underneath them. “I knew this would happen, but I didn’t expect this to occur after.” That is the reaction I am aiming for.

She is fighting without care for self-preservation, and that has consequences. Permanent consequences. Anyone at anytime can and will die.

But does death really have to be the end?

Current basic color shading of the MC and her spirit animal companion.