Diamantine (Weapons and Wielders Book 2) Read online

  Diamantine

  By Andrew Rowe

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are fictional.

  Copyright © 2019 Andrew Rowe

  All rights reserved.

  Cover artwork by Daniel Kamarudin (https://thedurrrrian.deviantart.com/)

  Cover design and typography by Shawn T. King/STK Kreations. (https://www.artstation.com/stk_kreations)

  Map of Kaldwyn by Karl Vesterberg (http://www.traditionalmaps.com/)

  Dawnbringer Symbols by Devin McCarthy

  ISBN: n/a for Kindle Version

  Update Version: 01.14.2020

  Dedication

  This one is dedicated to Jess Richards, for many years of helping me learn, grow, and power up.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Table of Contents

  Map of Kaldwyn

  Author’s Notes

  Recap – Magic and Terms

  Recap – Six Sacred Swords

  Prologue – Hunting for Battle

  Chapter I – Four Swords

  Chapter II – Fortress

  Chapter III – Arena

  Chapter IV – Fatal Labyrinth

  Chapter V – Eye of the...

  Chapter VI – Gauntlet

  Chapter VII – Shining Resonance

  Chapter VIII – Blade Chronicles

  Interlude I – Arcana Evaluation

  Chapter IX – Destiny of an Emperor

  Chapter X – Crossing Edges

  Chapter XI – Phantoms and Bravery

  Chapter XII – Rondo of Swords

  Chapter XIII – Shining Wisdom

  Chapter XIV – Mysterious Emblem

  Chapter XV – Dragon’s Dogma

  Chapter XVI – Demon Castle

  Chapter XVII – Villainous Nobility

  Chapter XVIII – Unchained Blades

  Chapter XIX – Shining Soul

  Chapter XX – Across Time

  Epilogue — In Exile

  Appendix I – Attunements of Edria

  Appendix II – Characters

  Appendix III – Combatant Abilities

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Other Books by Andrew Rowe

  Map of Kaldwyn

  The map above shows the continent of Kaldwyn, where this novel takes place. It is divided into four major nations — Valia, Edria, Caelford, and Dalenos. Each major nation has one or more of the Soaring Spires; these are also shown on the map.

  This book begins in the Unclaimed Lands, with our heroes heading toward West Edria, on the southern side of the continent. Their destination is in Kassel, on the west coast of Edria.

  Author’s Notes

  Thanks for picking up this book!

  Before we begin, I have a few quick notes.

  If you’re not already aware, this series takes place in the same universe as my War of Broken Mirrors and Arcane Ascension books.

  Chronologically, the books follow this order:

  The War of Broken Mirrors

  Weapons and Wielders

  Arcane Ascension

  Notably, the frame story for this book (meaning the Prologue, Interlude, and Epilogue) takes place much later than the main story, and after the second book of Arcane Ascension. Reading those other books isn’t required to understand this one, but it may be beneficial to get everything possible out of the story.

  Next, I’d like to mention something important about the style of this particular book.

  Diamantine is designed to set the foundation for plot and character arcs and for several books to come, and this means that by necessity, there will be a number of elements introduced in this book that aren’t resolved by the end. This is intentional, but it may not work for all readers. If you prefer stories that feel self-contained, you may be best waiting for at least one more book to come out to read them back to back.

  Last, some writing style notes.

  Some characters within the story communicate telepathically. To indicate this, rather than using quotes, I use different forms of punctuation based on the character initiating the telepathic communication.

  I use angle brackets to indicate telepathy from one of the characters. For example,

  I use square brackets to indicate telepathy from another of the characters. For example, [This would be what their telepathy looks like.]

  This formatting difference is to make it immediately obvious which character is sending the telepathic message without repeatedly using dialogue tags or other indicators. The specific characters in question should be clear once the story actually reaches them.

  I use the singular “they/them” for agender and non-binary characters, as well as characters that have not had their gender determined by the narrator yet. For example, “I didn’t know who wrote the note, but they had a peculiar style of writing”.

  Finally, I use spaces before and after em dashes (AP style). This is purely because I find this style easier to read.

  Recap – Magic and Terms

  Keras’ Notes on Locations and Terms

  Attunements are the local form of magic in this region of the world. They come in the form of a mark similar to the Dominion Marks from my homeland, but they seem more complex.

  The attunement itself changes as the user grows more powerful, and it generates an aura that shifts in color based on the strength of the user. Each time the color shifts, it also apparently unlocks more functions of the attunement itself, giving the wielder additional powers. For this reason, people identify the attunement levels with color-themed names.

  Quartz (Clear) is the first level. People at this level have access to two types of magic based on the attunement itself.

  Carnelian (Red) is the second level. At this point, most attunements generate something called a shroud, which is a defensive barrier. Wish I had one of those. Sounds like it’d save me from a lot of injuries.

  Sunstone (Orange) is the third level. At this point, the attuned can suppress their power, making it harder to detect.

  Citrine (Yellow) is the fourth level. I always get this one and Carnelian mixed up. Notably, at this level, they seem to get access to a third type of magic.

  Emerald (Green) is the fifth level. This is notably rare, with only a few people publicly known to be Emeralds in any given nation. This supposedly allows them to use ambient mana more effectively. I’m not sure exactly what that means — maybe it improves their shaping ability? It’s also possible it lets them drain ambient mana to recharge their own supply, I’m not sure.

  Sapphire (Blue) is a sixth level that apparently no one has actually seen. I’m sure I’ll run into someone with that level eventually, and based on how things tend to go, they’ll probably try to kill me immediately.

  Things are a bit different where I come from, back on Mythralis.

  Dominions refer to the power sources for our sorcery. They’re other planes of existence that we can reach into to gather material and accomplish sorcerous effects.

  Sorcerers are people who have the ability to utilize the dominions to cast spells. For example, flame sorcerers reach into the plane of flame to draw power for their spells.

  To accomplish this, a sorcerer expends some of their own essence (or what you’d call mana) related to the type of magic they’re trying to use. This essence cost has a noticeable effect on the body related to the type of magic.

  For example, casting a flame spell draws on body heat. Using stone sorcery taxes the muscles and bones. And most information gathering spells, like knowledge sorcery, cost memories.

&nb
sp; Most sorcerers can only use a couple types of magic, and usually, this is because they were born with a strong connection with those dominions. People can learn to pick up other types of sorcery, but it’s much more difficult.

  It’s also worth noting that there are two different ways in which people tend to specialize in using any given type of sorcery.

  Calling is the process of conjuring raw essence or materials from another plane.

  Shaping is moving or altering essence or material that’s already present in our world.

  People who specialize in one form or another are referred to as Callers or Shapers for that type of magic. For example, someone who specializes in conjuring fire is a “Flamecaller”, and someone who manipulates existing fire is a “Flameshaper”. This doesn’t mean they can’t to both to some degree — most people learn a little bit of both. But most sorcerers specialize in one or the other.

  My specialty was Metal Shaping, but I could also do a bit of Stone Shaping and Flame Calling. I also had one more dominion I couldn’t quite control properly, which was tied to my sword, the Sae’kes. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I generally called it something like the Dominion of Annihilation. It seemed to disintegrate anything it came in contact with, with the exception of my own body.

  Just a few more other notes before we get into the story.

  Kaldwyn has several major nations, and a few of them are going to be relevant in this part of the tale. They are:

  Valia – The nation on the eastern coast of the continent of Kaldwyn. Home to the Serpent Tower and the Lorian Heights Academy.

  Edria – An imperialistic southern nation, where this part of the story takes place. They conquered Kelridge during the Six Years War and nearly conquered Valia as well.

  Caelford – A technologically advanced nation on the western coast of the continent. They’re allied with Valia.

  Dalenos – A theocracy that covers most of the northern side of the continent.

  Kelridge – A territory that was a part of Dalenos prior to the Six Years War. Conquered by Edria and now known as East Edria.

  Calendar System:

  Kaldwyn uses a twelve month calendar, with each month having exactly thirty days. Their week is six days long, with each day dedicated to a visage, and thus there are five weeks per month.

  Days of the Week:

  Tashday

  Kyrsday

  Fersday

  Tensday

  Vasday

  Wyddsday

  Recap – Six Sacred Swords

  We’ve got a couple new listeners here, so I’m going to start over for a minute and catch everyone up. I’ll keep it brief, so I can get into the good stuff as quickly as possible.

  I go by Keras Selyrian. I’m not from the continent of Kaldwyn like the rest of you are. I grew up near the city of Selyr on the continent of Mythralis.

  Things are pretty different there. Our citizens worship a number of different gods, for example, rather than just worshipping Selys and her visages like you do. No, our whole continent isn’t controlled by the “Tyrant in Gold” like your legends claim. I’d never even heard that name until I arrived here.

  Best I can tell, your supposed “Tyrant” refers to Vaelien, the King of Thorns. He’s the primary deity worshipped in the region where I grew up, but honestly, he’s not that popular on the continent as a whole. And my family didn’t worship him — they were in the minority that worshipped the Tae’os Pantheon. I still had to pay lip service to Vaelien on occasion, especially during my military sorcery training, but people weren’t generally persecuted for following other gods as long as they kept quiet about it.

  Anyway, the more important part of being from Mythralis is that our magic works differently from yours. We don’t have any attunements. Instead, people are born with affinities for either calling or shaping types of magic, and we practice those. I’m primarily a shaper for stone and metal and a caller for flame.

  I do have one more type of magic, which is intrinsically linked to a sword that I inherited under mysterious circumstances. That sword is called the Sae’kes, or if you’re not big on weird Liadran words, the Dominion Breaker. It’s a legendary weapon, but there’s a pretty big problem — it’s broken. It leaks mana all over the place, and it’s taken me my entire life to get any semblance of control over it.

  Even with my efforts to contain the sword’s power, the mana leak is a problem, especially when the sword is drawn. It gradually destroys everything in the area around me; including things like what I’m wearing, eating, or that sort of thing. It’s very inconvenient.

  Worse still, that mana leaks into me. And now I’ve got an aura of destructive mana that gradually wears down anything I’m carrying, unless it’s protected with strong enough magic. I have to keep it under control at all times, otherwise I’d just start sinking into the ground or something equally embarrassing.

  I’m really lucky the aura isn’t very active while I’m asleep.

  So, with that background out of the way, I started my main story in the middle of the Whispering Woods. I’d been sent on a mission by an old wizard, pretty much like what you’d expect out of an embarrassingly typical start to a heroic journey.

  After spending a while blundering around lost in the woods, I found a cave. There was a dragon at the cave. We punched each other for a while. Punching a dragon wasn’t a particularly wise decision, but she turned out to be pretty nice, and she had a surprisingly decent book collection.

  I learned about Kaldwyn from her (and her books). Her name was Reika, and she turned out to be the guardian for Dawnbringer, one of the Six Sacred Swords.

  My goal on the continent was to gather information and resources before my friends arrived, and Dawnbringer sounded like an excellent resource. According to legend, the Six Sacred Swords were necessary to defeat the god beasts — guardians of the highest floors of the Soaring Spires.

  When my friends arrived, our goal was to meet with the goddess Selys, which would require reaching the top of one of the spires. Obtaining the sacred swords sounded like a potentially necessary first step for that goal. Thus, I decided to take the tests to earn Dawnbringer.

  I faced some other challenges, made friends with a nightmare spirit, and found the sword deeper in the woods. And, after misunderstanding some instructions, I freed Dawnbringer from the stone where she had been sleeping.

  I’m not being metaphorical about that. See, Dawnbringer is an intelligent weapon, and she’d literally been taking a nap inside a magic rock. She was a little put out when I broke her rock, or maybe she just liked to complain (I think it was mostly the latter). Still, she agreed to accompany me on my journey.

  Unfortunately, I’d done the whole “obtaining Dawnbringer” thing wrong, and she was feeling a little uncooperative as a result. To avoid potential years of teasing and ridicule from a talking weapon, and maybe just to make her a little happier, I agreed to go claim an amulet that I was supposed to have obtained before meeting her.

  Together with Reika, Dawnbringer and I headed toward the shrine. We were followed by a group of members of the Tails of Orochi — dragon hunters. And not just ordinary dragon hunters, no — they were descendants of the God Hydra, and capable of eating dragons to increase their own power.

  I was badly injured in our first fight with the Tails, but we managed to beat them. Reika brought me to a safe place to recover, and then we continued on our journey to the shrine.

  We entered the shrine, and while inside, I faced a number of terribly arbitrary and frustrating puzzles, illusions, and tests. At the end, I learned that someone else had already gone through the shrine and earned the amulet before I’d gotten there.

  At least I got a shirt as a consolation prize.

  By “shirt”, I mean a shadeweave tunic — a gift that my friend Wrynn had left behind for me after she’d gone through the same challenges. It offered me more protection than ordinary clothing, but more importantly, the tunic’s enchantments would grad
ually heal my injuries.

  Also, Reika was kind enough to ask the crystal at the end of the shrine about a method we could use to get Dawnbringer a humanoid body. Dawn was really happy about that idea, but the crystal couldn’t give us much info itself. It directed us to Anabelle Farren, the owner of Farren Labs, and told us that Farren was on her way to a tournament in Edria. We decided to try to meet her there.

  When we exited the shrine, we realized that we hadn’t done enough to cover our trail. (Meaning we hadn’t done anything, honestly.) A group of Tails of Orochi were waiting outside, including one of their powerful leaders — Zenkichi.

  We had a terrible battle with Zenkichi and his followers, which was difficult because I was still injured, exhausted, and poisoned from my time in the shrine. When things were looking grim, we were rescued by “Raizo” — one of the other Tails of Orochi leaders. Except it wasn’t actually Raizo, it was the nightmare spirit I’d made friends with earlier. The nightmare spirit had the ability to assume the form of anyone who we considered to be an enemy, and he picked Raizo because he was enemies with both Reika and Zenkichi.

  Our fake Raizo distracted him, and we were able to regroup and defeat Zenkichi. Reika and I were both badly hurt in the process, though. Miyuri, one of Zenkichi’s minions, traded us a healing potion in exchange for letting her take Zenkichi’s body...which she probably planned to eat to increase her power. Ick.

  After that, we retreated. I put on my mask, which blocks detection magic from finding me, in order to help prevent us from being found again...but that also meant that my friends would have a tougher time finding me, too. I didn’t like the idea of preventing my friends from seeking me out, but the mask felt like a necessity. Both Reika I had been injured in the fight, and we couldn’t risk being discovered by our enemies before we recovered.