City of Blaze (The Fireblade Array)
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Authors: H.O. Charles
The Fireblade Array: Volume 1
City of Blaze
by
H.O. Charles
City of Blaze copyright H.O. Charles 2011
Copyright Page
City of Blaze.Copyright 2011 by H.O. Charles. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Fireblade Array
City of Blaze
Nation of Blaze
Anomaly of Blaze
Blazed Union
Also by the same author:
Snowlands
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For T and the b3tans
An array of fires; an array of lives. The Fireblade’s array is eternal, but the beginnings and ends of each life are ever the same. It must always begin with death and end with death.
Contents
Glossary of Terms
Achellon – A mythical place inhabited by the all-powerful fire gods. It is believed that Achellon is composed entirely of Blaze Energy and that it is the true source of such power. It is often described as a place devoid of pain or suffering.
Blaze Energy – A fiery power that can be manipulated into weapons, shields, sources of light and even used to construct buildings. It is usually described as blue light in its most basic form, but to most people it is not visible.
Blazes, The – The fires from which Blaze Energy is extracted. Only wielders (directly) and kanaala (indirectly) have access to these fires.
Eisiel – A creature so burned by The Blazes that it is half-dead. Described as charred, oily skinned and wasted in appearance, eisiels kill without remorse. They usually hunt for a specific target, but whether they are instructed to do so, or develop their own fixation through madness is not known. It is sometimes said that they are former lovers of wielders, whose fires burned them during love-making. They are immune to weapons made with Blaze Energy.
Form (Blaze) – A structure made with Blaze Energy that will produce a specific weapon, shield, light or piece of matter. Forms are altered by defining the speed, vibration and shapes of Blaze Energy that make it. Once constructed, most forms can be deconstructed or unravelled, but the time required is dependent upon the complexity of the form.
Kahr – A male heir of royal blood in the central and eastern areas of the Sennefhal continent.
Kahriss – A female heir of royal blood in the central and eastern areas of the Sennefhal continent.
Kanaala – A man who can manipulate (i.e. wield) Blaze forms or deconstruct them. Kanaala are the male counterpart to wielders, and they cannot access Blaze Energy independently. A kanaala can control the Blazes through a wielder, and he can access her fires before her power is fully matured. He also has the ability to permanently quench a wielder of her power.
Kanaala are the only men who can safely sleep with wielders, though this is dependent upon their grading. For example, a kanaala graded four will almost certainly die if he lies with a wielder graded five and this is due to his limited capacity for her power.
Kanaala are graded according to their ability, with most falling between grades three and five. A kanaala graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
A kanaala can detect the presence of a wielder. The more powerful either one is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Kanaala can only detect other kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Kanaala are born with their full potential already reached, and do not mature into their abilities as wielders do. Prospective parents fear giving birth to kanaala, since the child's arrival will almost always result in the mother's death. The same is not true of wielders unless the child has the potential to be especially powerful. It is thought that this difference has something to do with the child's latent Blaze abilities at birth.
Blaze abilities are often inherited, but have been known to spontaneously appear in families where it has previously been absent.
Kefruit – A hand-sized, yellow tree fruit with mottled peel. Its sweet flavour makes it popular in desserts.
Nalka – The physical pain suffered by lovers upon being separated from each other. It usually manifests about ten days after their last engagement in sexual intercourse and is complete within four days of the first pains.
The affliction is usually fatal to those who suffer it before the age of twenty, and so it is not advised that lovers enter into a sexual relationship before they're old enough to withstand the separation.
It represents the termination of the bond between partners and their potential to procreate. However, lovers are able to have children subsequently, but only if they are able to maintain a sexual relationship without undergoing nalka for nine years.
In spite of this phenomenon, brothels and whore houses are prevalent across much of the world.
Partition (Blaze) – A Blaze form that masks wielding from any nearby kanaala or wielders. The construction of most Blaze forms gives off heat, and a partition will impede any further dispersal of that heat.
Pinh – A black, poisonous liquid which prevents wounds from healing. If enough poison is ingested by an individual they will suffer pinhatar death, where the blood becomes too saturated with the substance to perform its proper function. Scars that result from wounds are generally caused by the presence of pinh.
Sarkha – A tube-like implement with a plunger and reservoir at either end, used to clean pinh-saturated wounds that are too deep to be washed any other way. One reservoir is filled with water and the flexible, middle section of the tube is inserted into the wound. Once the water reservoir has been emptied into the injury, the second reservoir can be used to withdraw the diluted poison.
Swift – An orange, ground-creeping flower, native to mountainous regions.
Tanno – A juicy, purple berry with a slightly acidic taste. It is usually skinned, pressed and fermented to make wine.
Vanha-sielu – An old term for an even older group of people, meaning "repeated life." These individuals are born again within two weeks of their deaths, ad infinitum. In each life they carry an identical appearance and are inevitably given the same name by their parents or guardians.
Occasionally, their own fame in previous lives causes them to be named after themselves.
Until the age of 23 they are unaware of their deep past, although several aspects of their character will manifest in the same way through childhood. If memories are forced upon a vanha-sielu before their mind is ready to accept them, it can lead to death or madness. However, familiar faces and objects do not seem to trigger this in young vanha-sielu, which implies that a certain set of words are necessary in order to initiate premature recall.
It is currently unknown how the phenomena of vanha-sielu came about, and new ones do not appear to have been created in recent times.
Wielder – A wielder is able to control Blaze Energy and access The Blazes independently. Wielders are exclusively female, born with the potential to reach a certain level of ability, but they can only access their powers independently once they reach the age of twenty. Until then they must employ the aid of kanaala to help them wield.
A wielder can detect the presence of another wielder. The more powerful either one is, the greater the distance at which they can sense one another. Wielders can only detect kanaala through skin-to-skin contact.
Wielders are graded according to their ability, with most falling between grades two and four. A wielder graded ten is considered to be very powerful indeed.
They are banished from Calidell and any discovered in the country, or found to be wielding, are immediately executed. Those born into unsuspecting Calidellian families are usually tracked down and exterminated.
Wielders must choose their bed-fellows carefully, as they have the potential to burn their lovers alive. For this reason, most wielders will marry kanaala or remain celibate.
