The Kelnaria Chronicles: Book Three: The Champion of Light

By Teresa K Conrado

The world of Kelnaria once again must face an evil, but this evil is unlike any other than the citizens of the planet have ever faced. Their only hope is the one person that has been placed into a state of torpor and is not slated to wake up for another fifty years. The planet and its inhabitants do not have another fifty years to wait. What will the Weavers do to save the world from complete obliteration?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Teresa K Conrado
• Release date: Feb 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463656471

Teresa K Conrado

Teresa Conrado was born in Greensboro, NC and lived there for many years where her passion for creating new worlds and writing new stories developed. She started writing her stories down at the age of twelve and continued her passion by expanding out into Journalism through High School and submitting creative writing works to the National Library of Poetry. She also attended courses in Creative Writing through the Writer's Digest School of Writing to further expand her knowledge on the craft of writing. There, her tutor was John Ruemmler, author and editor.In her early 20's, she moved with her family to Palmetto, FL and there she began to craft the World of Cardinia, which would later be known and published as The Chronicles of Kelnaria. Her influences have come from her love of Role Playing Video Games and fiction novels. A few of the poems that she submitted to the National Library of Poetry have been published along with awards for her works. She also has a published short story novella called The Maiden's Tale, which can be found on Smashwords.com. Her first completely written novel, The Kelnaria Chronicles: Book One The Great Scrolls, was self published on Smashwords.com in 2014 later to be picked up by CA Times Publishing and available on all media sources from Amazon.com. She is currently residing in Worcester, MA and working on the next installment of Kelnaria and a fantasy romance novel called Frostling. You can find information about Kelnaria on http://worldofkelnaria.webs.com.

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The Kelnaria Chronicles

Book Three: The Champion of Light

By: Teresa K. Conrado

All of the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The names, incidents, dialogue and opinions expressed are the products of the author's imagination and are not to be constructed as real. The events in this book are entirely fiction and by no means should anyone attempt to live out the actions that are portrayed in the book.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Aknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

About the Author

About the Cover Artist

Other books by this author

Connect with Teresa K Conrado

Aknowledgements

AS ALWAYS DEDICATED TO MY wonderful family: Jason, Kathryn, Benjamin, and Cameron. They are the will and the drive of life.

As always, a special thank you to those family and friends that assisted in making this book and the entire series a realty for me. To my stalwart and ever faithful editor, my fabulous Aunt Rona Rogers who assisted me yet again with editing and grammar with additional assistance from her awesome son, Kurtis! And I would be remiss not to send a big thank you, once again, to my best friend, Vince Hartmann.

Thank you to all of you for everything that you have done and will most likely continue to do for me! There are no words that can ever express my gratidtude!

And as always, love goes out to my father, Don, mother, Mona, and brother, Donny! Though life has thrown us some curve balls, you are still my blood and I will always love you!

Introduction

MIGHTY kings and queens once ruled the world of Kelnaria. Gallant knights and brave heroes protected the lords’ and ladies’ lands from revolt, rebellion and ruthless barons. The ages had been full of distressed maidens and fire breathing dragons. There were many races occupying the world from elves, to dwarves, to draconians. It had been the era of castles, princes, princesses. The time was full of hard-working peasants and slaves; over-taxing royals and nobles. These ages were scary and yet wondrous, full of mysterious unicorns and powerfully enchanting warlocks. The times had been of those enchanting dark ages.

The world was called Kelnaria and the kingdom was called Cardinia, which existed in a time just before the real awakening of the world began. The belief had been in the mighty Mystics and the ominous demons called Onae. The Great Scrolls, as they were named by their creators – the mysterious Mystics, had been written long ago. The scrolls were the religion of the people and had been created during horrible times long before historians and story tellers’ reveries. Even long before Cardinia and her enemy, Berdinia, were the only two kingdoms of man in existence, the scrolls were created. The Great Scrolls and its prophecy had been created when the Mystics were fighting with Khalrab and his Fates; when all that had existed was lost and won to both life and death, love and hate.

The Mystics, who were the generous givers of all that one may see, created the scrolls for a great reason. These magical scrolls created a prophecy and told of a savior to come to the aid of a suffering and dying world beyond all understanding of pain by any mortal being. This savior was named by these Mystics as the Champion of Light. The story of the Champion of Light began when an Elven Goddess and a Demon Lord fell in love and begot a child and ended when that child was placed into a state of torpor.

However, the Champion of Light’s story had not really ended. Though the Champion had fulfilled his part of the prophecy and obliterated the chaotic Demon God Khalrab forevermore and secured a long lasting time of peace and security for the whole of Kelnaria, the Champion had left unfinished business upon the world when he was forced into a sleep so deep that not even the Weavers could wake him. That Champion was Prince Ihoitae Mahadeva Arabus, son of the Goddess of Love, Salama, and Demon Lord Mordecai Arabus, and his unfinished business remained hidden until the light of a new Great Scroll surfaced in the once again dying world of Kelnaria.

Sleep for five hundred years the curse had demanded and on the five hundredth and one day, Ihoitae could open his eyes. But five hundred years had not yet passed and the world was wrought with chaos once more. Their Champion needed to be awakened somehow for only he held the key to save them once more.

Chapter One

IHOITAE lay in his forced state of slumber in a temple that had been created for him by King Faolan Brandon Marduu Dagmar to honor him as the savior of Kelnaria. He lay in a sarcophagus created by the Elven Gods and it was made of glass that lay on a white marbled base which was on a dais in front of several pews. Surrounding his base were mounted all his weapons, except for his long sword, which he held in his hands. The sword was called Bodolf and had been used by both King Faolan and Prince Ihoitae to destroy the evils of the world. The sword was so named for the dwarf that had given up his very being to create it. Faolan had lain it to rest with Ihoitae deeming that the sword of peace should be left with the peacemaker.

Ihoitae’s armor was blood red as it was armor made by the Demon Nation. His pale, silvery skin contrasted with the armor and looked stark where it showed against the deep crimson. His long, white hair had been left straight and draped around his face and upon his brow was a crown that his birth mother, the Queen of the Sylvan Elves, Mylayleriannias, had given to him as a gift on his one hundredth birthday. It had been specially commissioned to eloquently be crafted to mesh his two worlds of elf and demon together in perfect symmetry. It was golden leaves that encircled his brow and in the middle lay a blood red stone called a soul stone.

Demons could shape shift into anything they desired and Ihoitae often morphed himself to look like a pure Sylvan elf and hide his demon features. But in his forced state of torpor, he did not have the level of conscious state to perform this shape shifting act and his true self was completely visible. Though he usually had hidden them, he had angelic white wings upon his back that had golden flecks that sparkled mixed in among the feathers. His wings were folded and draped around him as if they were a soft blanket cuddling him in his sleep. At the end of his fingers were sharp claws like that of a cat. His arms criss crossed across his chest and where his hands met, the hilt of Bodolf lay resting. You could see thin canine like fangs that poked his bottom lip.

Inside the main temple where he slumbered, the walls were inlaid with mosaics of the history of Kelnaria and specifically of the final battle between King Falon, Prince Ihoitae, King Ferdinand and the Demon God Khalrab. There were also stained glass images of Ihoitae’s and Faolan’s comrades in arms; Presaya Lightfoot, Aelle Tindonis, Ifem Balasi, Dean Moonstone, Diane Moonstone, and Bodolf Horestamer. Behind Ihoitae stood a bookshelf that spanned the entire backwall and this bookshelf carried all of Kelnaria’s history up until the pilgrims stopped coming and the Zadinian priests moved from the land. His temple was no longer cared for by the elves.

Four hundred and fifty years have passed while Ihoitae lay there sleeping. For many years, many pilgrims came to honor him as well as the other hereos of the prophecy of the Great Scrolls. But as newer generations replaced the older generations of humans, gnomes and dwarves, the events of the past moved from history, to legend, and then it slowly drifted into myth. Only the great and mysterious elves now carried any knowledge of the past with them, but the elves had completely closed off their world to man. They had become myth themselves.

As he lay sleeping, he moved into an exile he never asked for nor could he defend from and nature took over his temple. Ihoitae’s temple, once called the Temple of Light, and Ihoitae himself became lost to time until a very small human child found a tattered piece of paper in a box in her parents’ backyard one day while she was playing. Their home lay in a village that had popped up very close to what had been the outskirts of Castle Cardinia.

MMMOOOOMMMMYYYYY, the little girl screamed. Her parents came running fearing the worst. Mankind had lost its way when the elves left and the dwarves shuttered up in their mountains. A dark age came to man and all seemed lost in the wake of a terrible oppression. Monsters roamed freely, unchecked, across the land and humans had to ban together in small communities to survive. So, while this small family was within their small village’s walls, they still feared that some monsters had broken in and hurt or killed their child.

Mommy! Daddy! the little girl shouted in excitement as they came running, her father brandishing his farming hoe. They were a poor farming family on the edge of the tiny village.

Her mother picked her up and hugged her tight, You are ok!?!?! she asked, fear in her voice, looking her little one over to make sure she was indeed fine.

Yes, mommy, the little girl stated quietly but still with lots of excitement in her tone. Then she pointed at the paper and the box, look what I found! Its so neat! Look at the pretty letters!

The little girl’s father had come over after checking the perimiter of the yard. He bent down and looked at the box and paper. It was old, very old. He looked at the script on it and furrowed his brows.

What is it, dear? the mother asked the father, concern in her voice.

He looked at his wife and replied sternly, Trouble……..this is old. Looks like from the days of the Dagmar line. If the empire guards should see us with this……. He did not finish, fear in his voice.

Burn it! the mother quietly stated vehemently. I have already lost my brother and father to the empire, I will not lose a husband and a child!

The father nodded his assent and took the box and the paper to the kitchen so he could throw it into the cooking fire.

The little girl wailed, But its mine, I found it, I want to keep it!

Shhhh, her mother practically spit at her. If you don’t keep your voice down, you will bring other villagers and you know Colla will tell the guards next time they pass through.

The little girl continued to weep, but quieted down remembering what it was like when they came and took her grandpa and uncle away. They never returned. Her mother carried her back inside.

Inside the home, the father was stressed. The mother looked over his shoulder and could see why. The box burned, but not the paper and as the box burned, a blue smoke filled the room and the flume. It raced into the sky…………

Chapter Two

HE WAS sitting in a field in the forest meditating when the voice came to him.

It is time, old one, the beautiful female voice chimed into his mind. I have one more quest that I must ask you to complete before your time to rest will come. Can I rely on you? You are the last of your order. It was the voice of a Goddess. A voice he had not heard in almost half a millennia. It was the voice of the Elven Goddess of the Moon, Sohalia.

Ifem’s eyes popped open as he re-oriented back to the forest around him. It had once been a beautiful temple that his people had made from the trees, but with them leaving, their songs no longer filled the forest and the trees no longer bent to their will. Being a lone elf, he was not able to harness enough magic to plead the trees into twisting into their previous magnificence. However, he still meditated here because it was still a place of magic and it was sacred.

His people had left a couple of centuries ago when the fall of the Dagmar line happened and Kelnaria was plummetted into a terrible state of darkness. The world once again knew war and the evil that arose this time was man. Evil man had stolen and used the gnomes technology to destroy so many of the other races. Good or evil, it did not matter to this empire, they would be superior and thus in their callous and blind amibition for iron rule over all the world, many races had to leave or be obliterated.

There was not a prophecy to save them this time.

Ifem, the goddess’ voice called again, Please look to the sky.

He looked up and he could see a very faint blue smoke. Suddenly, he felt a chill as though something long since dormant had once again reawakened within him.

Do you see it? she bade.

He nodded. Then not realizing if the Goddess could see him or not, he spoke in a very whispy voice, I do, my lady. He did not speak much these days as there were few left to speak with. Safiyyah had passed away about fifty years after Ihoitae’s forced torpor due to heart ache leaving Aelle and he to care for her daughter, Alania.

When the forest elves decided to leave Kelnaria once and for all about two hundred years ago, Aelle, being their queen, had to go with them. Ifem had chosen to stay. He felt as though he needed to, but he could not explain why. Alania also decided to stay as she felt that she could not leave her father, despite that she had never actually met him. Ifem and Aelle’s children had gone with their mother with the full blessing of their father, though many tears were shed in the process. Ifem missed them still.

For all intents and purposes, Alania and Ifem were the last two living elves in Kelnaria. Ifem was also the last of the Zadian priesthood. The religion had been completely wiped out in the first culling of the evil man empire simply called Nuru. This culling had also obliterated the gnomes and most of the dwarves, who faded away into their mountain homes and cut off all ties with the world of man and light. Elves were the last defenders of good, but they became overwhelmed by the odds and it came down to leaving Kelnaria or face genocide.

Even the mighty nations of the Centaurs and Reshawnee were hunted down to extinction. The once allied demons had been banished, their portals sealed off, and could no longer offer their aid. The Gods were powerless to stop it. Kelnaria had been plummeted into its darkest hours and there it has stayed for two and half centuries.

He was now seven hundred and fifty five years old. Elves generally lived between seven hundred and eight hundred years. Ifem was coming to the end of his life, but still he felt the need to stay, to carry on. Something was not complete. He was grateful that Alania had stayed behind, though he was sad that she had chosen this path. However, like he, she too felt some driving force to stay.

Sensing something was amiss with her surrogate father, she found him at the temple standing up looking towards the sky. There she could also see the faint blue smoke.

What is it, father? she asked, perplexed. She often called him father or dad because they were so close and he had taken over Ihoitae’s role in Ihoitae’s absence.

It is a sign, Ifem replied calmly and matter-of-factly.

Exasperated, Alania sighed and then with a strain of frustration in her voice, Ok, I undertsand that, but what kind of sign? Good or ill?

Ifem began to get up slowly. Alania had held out her hand to try and help him up, but he was stubborn and refused her assistance. He was old, but he was not going to go quietly into the night. It wasn’t in his nature.

Once to his feet, he looked up over at the trees where the blue smoke was, though now it was dissipating. Then he cleared his voice and began to speak, "My dear Alania, this is a sign of good. For not only was this sign visible today, but preceeding its debut, I heard the voice of the Goddess, the Goddess of the Moon, Sohalia. The mother of the Sylvan Elves. It can mean only one thing………" Ifem trailed off lost in thought.

Father? Alania asked quietly. She did not wish to disturb his thoughts, but she was dying to know what the Goddess wanted.

Ifem came out of his reverie and looked at Alania and smiled. You know, you have so much of him in you…….. Ifem gently reached out and caressed her face lovingly as any father would do admiring his daughter.

Alania blushed a bit. She loved to hear stories of her mom and dad. It had been hard on her to lose her mother because she was very young when Safiyyah died. Age fifty to an elf was similar to a teenager in the human world and, as a human would, she was going through the changes from young child to adult and needed her mother more. However, her mother could not hold on, forever destroyed by the loss of her husband. Alania had to turn to Aelle and Ifem more and more as she aged as her mother deteriorated into madness. However, she had never known her father except for seeing him lying peacefully in his slumber in the temple. She knew that one day he would return and then she could have one of her parents again. She just hoped she had not idealized him too much.

Ifem moved his hand away and looked sternly at her and spoke, We must head towards where that smoke came from. It appears that it came in the direction of where the ruins of Castle Cardinia now lay. And with the return of Sohalia and the blue smoke, I think the Weavers have a change in the current destiny of one dormant hero.

Alania looked baffled as she puzzled what the old priest just said. Then a smile reached her face quickly replaced by deep concern. She began, "If that means what I think that means, then my birth father will be awakening soon! But, it hasn’t been five hundred and one years yet! What will happen if he awakens too soon? Will the original curse fall into