These posts will feature digital artwork of fantasy maps created in Wonderdraft. Each post will present fantasy flash fiction inspired by the map, sometimes with commentary on the mapping elements. Stories may appear in a single post or be divided into multiple parts. All maps and stories are original creations of Ed R White.
As the sacred lands of Galleis fade into darkness, an ancient pestilence returns, and the Shadowsworn Nation’s demons multiply, leaving the Lightsworn Brotherhood overwhelmed and outnumbered. With light waning and darkness growing, only a descendant of the Brightsteel bloodline can reunite the fractured Brotherhood and defeat the Shadowsworn Lords.
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Orphaned Alden, raised in the Ninth Church, meets the disgraced captain Chorvaz in Johrn, the City of Light. Though their initial encounter is tense, they bond during a terrifying siege by demonic forces. Hellish meteors rain down, flying horrors fill the skies, and monstrous beasts with riders swarm the city. The air reeks of blood and metal as the heavens weep with rain.
During a clash with a Shadowsworn lord, Alden’s birthmark activates with magic, helping to repel the enemy. The power surge brings visions of his family’s death during the Shadowsworn Wars, mirroring the carnage unfolding around him.
Fueled by righteous fury, Alden uses his newfound power to wound the Shadowsworn lord before collapsing from exhaustion. Chorvaz steps in, driving the enemy back.
Though Johrn survives, it lies in ruins. Alden, recovering in a medical clinic with Chorvaz, is persuaded by the captain to travel north to the Sunkeep after Alden returns home to find his house ransacked by demons.
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Their journey takes them through perilous battlefields across the Greater Galleis plains, filled with rockbeasts and giant armadillos. Chorvaz trains Alden in swordsmanship during their travels.
In Sunwater Palace, a grand fortress city of flowing aqueducts, they meet the beautiful Priestess Eldiana. After a clumsy introduction by Alden, Eldiana prophesies that he is destined to repel the Shadowsworn. She joins them on their journey north, across the Sea of Mourning, toward the Sunkeep.
At the Sunkeep, the Lightsworn Brotherhood accuses Alden of being a fraud, inflamed by rumors that he single-handedly repelled hundreds of demons in Johrn. With Eldiana’s testimony, Alden clears his name, but when Chorvaz intervenes, the old captain is arrested and sentenced to execution due to his dark history with the Brotherhood.
Alden saves his mentor and clashes with the brotherhood before fleeing. Their escape leads them from the city and deep into Shadowsworn territory—an eerie wasteland of abandoned villages, cracked earth, and heaps of black dust. The air is unnaturally cold and heavy with the stench of death.
Alden grows increasingly unnerved by the environment and his journey. The weight of his destiny, the endless Shadowsworn war, and the lives lost─it all gnaws at him, threatening to cloud his resolve. Doubt and fear begin to creep into his heart, and with each step into the dark lands, something festers within his spirit.
With the Brotherhood on their heels, the companions press on toward the Moon Dais, where an unexpected surprise awaits them.
To be continued in Part III of this fantasy flash fiction series. Thanks for reading.
