Sneak Preview: Aurdeum

There are two races in the land of Myrra. The pemmas are filled with bluntness and honesty. Their outlook on life is severe. At a very young age, pemma children would be raised and trained in war, farming, and craftsmanship. Whilst the afaenas were filled with mischief and fascination. Their outlook on life is funspirited. Afaena are each given an element that they can manipulate. Their admiration for art, faith, and love brings peace and unity within their race. Rare are the moments when a pemma and an afaena would fall for each other, but when they did, a halfling would be born. Thought of as abominations, halflings were often sent to slave camps, work houses, or asylums. Which leads us to the story of Kaitra, a young halfling girl and personal slave to the afaena master of the slave trade. When she was forcibly married to him and under hypnosis, she becomes his. She, then begins to be able to question his power, leading to her freedom. She seeks after wholeness, wandering until she is found by the Sacred Alchemist, Aurdeum, leading to her apprenticeship in healing alchemy.

It was always an honour to be called by the Master of the slave trade. To be his personal slave was the dream of all halfling slaves. It meant the difference of poverty or wealth. If you were chosen by him for pleasure, then you would become the new addition to his line of wives. But, for Kaitra this was never a big deal. But even with this reservation, Kaitra had been chosen. Once chosen, you could not refuse. With the prejudice against the halflings aimed by the afaenas and pemmas didn’t allow them to rise any higher than this.




With all this said, you could probably guess that Kaitra was far from pleased when she was taken by shackles to her Master. She was dressed in the finest white silks, which you could see right through. Its slit revealed her entire leg and her midriff was on display. Kaitra’s rough olive skin had been smoothed with magick and herbs. Her auburn ringlets cascaded down her bare back, with a long braid, ornamented with flowers and violet ribbons.




The pemma slave drivers led her by her shackles to the Master’s abode. As they drew near to his gate, Kaitra looked around at his gardens, mirrors stood in odd places, crystal balls of light lined a path that led to the front door of a mansion. The pemmas opened the gates and led the slave girl up the path to the door. Kaitra followed their lead with apprehension and when the queue to halt came, she obeyed. They unshackled her, and held her bicep as they opened the front door and pushed Kaitra in.




Kaitra didn’t know what she expected to see in the mansion, but what greeted her was far from any cognitive logic. She was in a field of long golden grass, with a sky filled with stars and bright colours of blues, violets, and golden spheres. Kaitra stared in open-mouth wonder at the alternate world she just stepped into. Suddenly arms gently wrapped around her breasts. Kaitra caught her breath in fright. As she turned to look behind her. And what she saw made her knees go weak. A young man with strawberry blond curls, held in a braid, his eyes were just like the sky, filled with blue and violet, spinning round and round like smoke, making her fuzzy and dizzy just watching. She couldn’t take her eyes off them.


Deep, deeper, deepest… look into my eyes, Kaitra. Deeper and deeper… you are mine. She heard a rich deep voice in her thoughts. Kaitra obeyed and looked so deep that all her surroundings seemed to fade out. Sleep, Kaitra...sleep...sleep. Shadows filled her vision, but she fought hard to escape. There is no use resisting, Kaitra. It only seals your fate. Kaitra continued to fight, but soon she realized that he was right, and when she learned this, she gave in to the inevitable.