Post by Andarial on Apr 13, 2010 14:30:08 GMT -5
It's 688 AD, and it's not the abdication of King Caedwalla of Wessex. No, this world, this land, this bloodshed and glory are written in different hands, in a different place where Demons are not just manifestations of dreams lurking in the shadowed niche of your room. They are real, are made of flesh, blood, and corruption: mischief runs in their very veins, destruction the very song of their race, and they know of you, love you, devour you. Living in an underground world, Demonkind have clashed with Humankind for centuries; it is 688 AD and Terrancartherra is witnessing the death of it's King: the last stable strength that will keep this world from collapsing into pure, unadulterated chaos. Brom Featherstone: father of four, husband of one, King of many. Brom Featherstone: enslaver of Hanyou -- the offspring of human and demon combined. Brom Featherstone: broken and bleeding on the floor leaving his eldest daughter, Andarial, to sit on the throne at the tender, innocuous age of nine.
Whispers abound the ascension -- was she the one who killed her father? Look into her eyes and see a new world forming in her head, one so different from the strict order of the former. Loose ends are unraveling, Hanyou who had once cowered away from human cruelty now festering in resentment and bitter hatred. So this tale, this unraveling picture hidden under the hard plaster of the former. Secrecy has always been part of the Featherstone reign, and it shall come to haunt the present Queen, the Blood Queen, the Warrior Queen. Unknowing her mother's first miscarriage was all a lie, that first fateful birth brought forth a daughter, Mina, healthy but embittered, a false sister to Sage, Duchess of Audrey, cousin to the Featherstone dynasty, and more importantly: the true heir apparent to the throne of Terrancartherra.
Yet things are not so easily seen through a broken, tattered weave: Xaphan, Hanyou and self-righteous riles the slaves of humankind to action, starting a war that was best left untouched. He struggled, this young Hanyou, to bring freedom to a people he felt he belonged to -- and when he stormed the castle and broke free there was none other than Mephistopheles awaiting his arrival. Mephistopheles: oldest, cruelest demon to walk the earth, given over to whimsical desires -- and so this petty little uprising became a war. With Mephistopheles and the demons at the Hanyou's back, the scales realigned. The world paused, shifted, and waited the next move.
So it was that Mephistopheles, Demon King, met Andarial Featherstone, Human Queen, forcing a treaty to rise that no one would see coming: peace, bloodless, self-serving and manipulated but peace nonetheless. However, could humanity ever truly reside beside Demonkind without suspicion? Could they ever look at Hanyou and not see the shame and perverse sickness in some of their friends and family? Discontent rumbled through both courts: Human and Demonkind alike, and hasty rumors give birth to the truth: Mina, daughter of Jacquelyn, sister of Andarial... is she the true Queen to replace this madness?
Mina, true blood, and one that cannot but be recognized the moment Mephistopheles lays on her -- with her on the throne, all his plans fall to dust, and so in his quiet, disastrous way, convinces Gideon, the secret Shadow of the Featherstone, to conceive of a way to kill this child, this eldest daughter and rid the world of her potential. However, there is trouble brewing under-side, where Demons grumble and thrash against the restraints of this peace: Lilith, Demon Queen, Mephistopheles' consort, goes to the upper world to find this truth, and begins to orchestrate Mephistopheles' demise, planning to kill the ancient Demon King and lead a revolt.
But the Demon King is holding a secret and it's in the eyes of a certain Hanyou rebel; all things lay in shadow, ineffable yet too real to deny. Allegiance grating against allegiance, cruelty to kindness, love against lust.
I could only dream of telling you how and even then
I woke up with a red cheek and a cold sweat.
Rise of the Half-demon
