Heiress: Tales of Alyiria

By J.J. Kimmorist

Welcome to the dark and beautiful world of Alyiria.

The following words were written in collaboration with the members of the band Alyiria—the brave explorers who dared dream up the deep and sprawling history of a land with a sentience all its own. From the music and the artwork to the lore contained within these pages, we invite you immerse yourself in this brutal and breathtaking world. If you're ready to begin your journey, you need only open the pages of this cursed book. . . . 

If you dare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kimmorist Media, LLC
• Release date: Jan 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215911334

J.J. Kimmorist

J.J. Kīmmorist is a fantasy and horror author from Nashville, Tennessee. A metalhead and avid horror movie connoisseur, she enjoys anything to do with the macabre. She lives with her husband, sister, nephew, and two spindly greyhounds in a creepy house on a hill.

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Author’s Note

Welcome to the dark and beautiful world of Alyiria. The following words were written in collaboration with the members of the band Alyiria—the brave explorers who dared dream up the deep and sprawling history of a land with a sentience all its own. Before I arrived to color in the topography, the most prominent landmarks on Alyiria’s cartography (from the rich ten-thousand-year history to the moral dilemmas of each character) were mapped by Ícaro Allysson, Leonardo César, João Arthur, and Bruna Soares.

Although I was initially asked only for my opinion on the early stages of the project, I admit I fell headfirst into this brutal and breathtaking world. From the music and the artwork to the lyrics and the preliminary lore, the budding seeds of the story lured me in. Spellbound, and without hope of surfacing back into the earthly realm, I had but one choice: to write. I took pen to page without permission or constraint. And at the end of my feverish scrawl, I sent off the first draft with bated breath and crossed fingers. None had asked for my words, but, alas, here they are as all members granted me full creative liberty. 

Although Alyiria’s true genius lies with the architects of its foundation, I am honored to be counted among the team as the scribe for The Tales of Alyiria. Together, we invite you to immerse yourself in the music and the pages of this cursed book. . . . 

If you dare.

~J.J. Kīmmorist

"In the following ages, many would try to unravel the secrets of Carella’s forbidden tome. But none could read its pages without losing their sanity.

There is but one who read and understood—one who pretends to slumber in the dark."

-Aphotic One

Prologue:

My soul awakens—or perhaps that is false. I do not wake, for I do not possess a body in which to open my eyelids. It is the arrival of awareness, of consciousness, in which I wake. Empty darkness is all I perceive. Who am I? What am I? I must have a past, an origin of sorts. Although I haven’t a single memory in which to anchor my consciousness, I feel my name and my story lie just on the other side of the darkness. I reach for faded recollections, but they bend away from my grasp like shadows to the light.

For how long has my soul been floating in this plane of nothingness? In a land where time is eradicated, it seems there are eons between each moment . . . each thought. I do not escape to dreams or gasp from nightmares; I simply exist. A vast void of black is all that is. I float on through its eternity. On and on, the emptiness reigns. I am alone.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

I haven’t the body to jump in fright, but the Voice echoing from the void has me wrapped in fresh terror. I spy no being to house such a voice. It echoes from all around me.

Who speaks? I ask without a mouth.

I AM YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS REALM.

A rush of panic screams through my soul. What are these raw emotions? I hadn’t the cause to feel afraid while suspended alone in darkness. Where am I?

ALL SHALL BE ANSWERED IN TIME, LITTLE SOUL.

In what manner did I arrive here?

YOU HAVE COME TO ME IN THIS LAND TO HEAR THE WORDS.

I came here of my own accord?

INDEED. TO HEAR THE WORDS, TO SEEK THE TRUTH, TO ENDURE THE TEST.

Test? Truth? I haven’t the knowledge of whence you speak. My own name is a mystery.

ALL SHALL BE REVEALED WHEN YOU LEARN THE TRUTH.

Who am I?

YOU MUST FIRST ENDURE THE TEST.

The Voice knows my name but refuses to enlighten me. Why? It seems a cruel trick to withhold such a thing. The potential knowledge of my name uncovers a longing for it. Who am I, and why have I come here?

Is it a riddle of sorts? I bid you speak it.

A WARNING, LITTLE SOUL, THE TEST IS NOT WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE. SHOULD YOU FAIL TO DISCOVER THE TRUTH, YOU SHALL REMAIN HERE IN THE DARK FOREVERMORE.

The abyss surrounding me throbs with the promise of eternal dark. The vast inescapability is crushing; I feel I’d go mad in this realm long before forever even begins. Yet there is but one way out, and the desire for my name urges my acquiescence.

I accept your test.

COME, LET US BEGIN. THERE IS MUCH YOU MUST SEE. . . .

I haven’t legs to follow, but I am towed through the nothingness as if tethered by the Voice. There is only dark at first, then a pinprick of color, as if at the end of an impossibly long tunnel.

Where are we going?

BACK TO ALYIRIA.

Alyiria? The name strikes me with a tone of familiarity. Equal parts excitement and fear tumble through me as if my soul is a tempest of the two forces. The speck of color—red—widens at an alarming rate, and I feel myself falling—no, hurtling through space. The dot grows wider and wider until it is all I see.

Chapter One: Banner of Blood

The red carpet led a path like a trail of blood from the doors of the throne room to the King’s steps. The Heiress reveled at the sight of the crimson banners and curtains adorning the stone hall. All of it red. Red as blood. Red as the battlefield embellished with the enemy’s defeat.

Red to proclaim the King’s reign.

The Heiress slunk back behind the drapes hiding her presence in the gallery. Her private box, built off to the left of the King’s throne, was her favorite place in all the keep. She sat perched, listening, and smiling her grotesque grin in silence. No one need notice the creature lurking