A-to-Z Challenge: “R” is for “Royal Guardian”

For the A-to-Z Challenge 2016, I am blogging info on my current work-in-progress, a YA fantasy/adventure mini-series tentatively titled “The Other World”.

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The first – and only – royal family in the realm of The Other World was elected by unanimous decision of the six tribes of the age, based in great part on that particularly family’s ability to harness the power of blood magic. Once that decision was made it was established that the new rulers should be protected by the strongest and most valiant of their citizens. Thus, the order of the Royal Guardians was formed.

In the beginning the Royal Guardians were composed of members from each of the six tribes. The royal city was built up alongside a grand cliff, and the Mermai would guard it from the waters below. The Cheonsa would patrol the skies, while the Drakanae stood as powerful sentinels around the castle walls. Humans and Caiyana fought side-by-side as the soldiers, while Maelekanai often took the side of the royal family directly, serving as personal bodyguards and even handmaidens.

This is how things progressed for decades, then centuries, with all the tribes working together to build up a civilization around the royal family, but eventually that brotherhood began to break apart. The Drakanae were the first to leave, and then the Mermai. The others drifted but never truly left until the attacks began and they were rounded up to be used as slaves in Iryen’s kingdom. There are still a few Caiyana and Maelekanai among the Royal Guardians, but these are mainly young people who were dragged from their families as children and raised into the order, knowing nothing else.

These present Royal Guardians are not but puppets, controlled by evil forces and used to present a kind of normalcy to the kingdom’s human citizens. The last true Royal Guardian – the last one to ever take an order from the true king and queen – was Aeron Ravenson. He has since passed, but while he was still able he trained his son as well as he could, making Jacob Ravenson officially the last true Royal Guardian in the kingdom.

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I hope you’re enjoying the A-to-Z Challenge and my little snippets of ‘The Other World’! If you’re interested in what else I’ve written, please be sure to check out ‘Nowhere to Hide‘, available on Amazon in both hard copy and e-book versions!