Preptober Prompts Day 10 – 2020
It’s the last prompt of the week! Drumroll please…
Who are the great heroes who have shaped your storyworld?
Lorcan and Valda (the Elfbournes’ parents) have been fairly instrumental in the shaping of The Hylands. They’ve already driven out King Julen once, and they’ve helped banish discrimination against faeries in The Hylands.
Valda’s father Willian helped defend The Hylands from Julen’s father Cordier; he died in battle, but not before he’d nearly secured victory and his men were able to finish pushing Cordier back.
There was also an older Lorcan, King Lorcan’s namesake, who was a renowned hunter and earned himself a constellation. (The following excerpt is completely unedited and I’m struggling with narrative voice in The Half-Elves, so… it’s not necessarily pretty, lol.)
Shael smiled a little and pointed to an archer constellation not unlike Orion back home. “This one is Lorcan, named after a Hyland hero of legend.”
Sarabrina looked up at Shael, hoping he’d expand on the story.
“King Lorcan was named after him, too, from what I understand.” Shael looked to Twilight for confirmation and she nodded. “According to legend.” Shael turned back to Sarabrina. “Lorcan was a great hunter. He was able to feed his entire city with a day’s spoils, and there were some who wished to make him their chief, but he refused to take the position. He loved the wild too much and didn’t wish to be encumbered by civilization.”
Sarabrina couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face at the joy of finding someone else who casually used extensive vocabulary.
“Lorcan was so great, in fact, that he caught the eye of Eloren Damerel—the First Dewin—who happened to have a problem with an overpopulation of Vollak in Thienid. That’s on Titania. Eloren, who had mastered inter-dimensional travel in his magical studies, came to The Hylands to enlist Lorcan’s help.”
Shael opened his mouth to continue, but Sarabrina held up a hand to stop him. “Hang on. What are Vollak?”
“They’re a primarily Titanian species of bipedal, wolf-like creatures. They’re really nasty to deal with, from what I’ve read, but they’re fortunately not found on Arken except in the most wild areas of Katar.”
Sarabrina nodded.
“Lorcan agreed to help with the Vollak problem, and saw it as the greatest challenge of his hunting career; he’d grown kind of bored of the ordinary wildlife around The Hylands. So he traveled back with Eloren. He spent two weeks trimming down the Vollak population in the woods of Thienid, but near the end of his hunt he spotted a golden stag. Immediately, he knew that this, not the Vollak, would be his greatest hunting achievement. He tracked the stag for five weeks before he was finally able to snare it. As Lorcan approached to kill the deer, he hesitated. The eyes almost seemed human. But he continued with his intent and killed the stag.
“Immediately, Eloren appeared in a rage and reprimanded Lorcan for his deed. The golden stag was creature protected by the Dewinen’s magic, and there were strict guidelines surrounding its death. Eloren immediately cursed Lorcan to wander Titania like a wraith for the rest of his days, but his exploits were so praised that Eloren gave Lorcan the blessing to be remembered in the stars after his death despite his error. And so, we have the archer constellation today.
“Or at least, so the legend goes.”
Don’t forget to follow Evelyn for next week’s character prompts! :D
Who are your world’s heroes? Are they as noble as they’re portrayed to be? What changes did they bring to your world?
