Daughter of the Frozen Flame
Prologue
FALLYCIA had never known any season other than winter, yet mysteriously snow rarely fell upon the frozen kingdom. Its frost coated lands were everlasting, and its people never suffered from the endless chill on the breeze. They were born with ice in their veins, and the ability to call upon the cold whenever they needed it. Some sculpted beautiful art out of the shards that danced from their fingertips. Others forged walls and defences from summoned blocks of stony permafrost. They were artists and soldiers, craftsman and bohemians. Fallycia was home to thousands of people who had descended from the very few dragons of the Xeo Coast who had died centuries before. They had the eye of one embedded into the pendant of the royal family, encased in gentle sapphire. The skull of another was in the great square at the heart of the Xeo City where all the great celebrations of ice and snow were held throughout the ever cold year. It looked over all the festivities, and offerings were laid at the foot of the pedestal as a thank you for blessing the Draakakull with their abilities to wield the ice. A jagged chasm in the precipice of the highest mountain in the kingdom – Kallehorne – was believed to have been made when one of the great beasts fought and defended the land on which Fallycia was now built. An annual pilgrimage saw those who came of age and discovered their gifts climb the deadly peak to prove themselves worthy of the dragons who came before them.
It was not the richest of the kingdoms, or the most powerful, but stories of Fallycia’s majestic beauty reached the darkest corners of the globe, bringing to them a flicker of light. The glittering mountains sparkled under the pale sun that came straight out of a watercolour painting. On a good day, the blue skies were as endless as the winter there, with birds swirling and swooping between the Frozen Seas and the Invicta Mountains as they sang their songs in harmony with one another. The Draakakull were welcoming folk with warm hearts despite their chilled touch. They never turned a stranger away, opened their doors to those in need, and always had the time to talk in the snowy streets. Music filled the cities, and chatter filled the smaller towns. Fallycia was a kingdom of peaceful rule, governed by a king who bore obsidian scales down his neck and shoulder. There were no problems, and no fear. That was, until The Black War broke out, and the Empire of Nephille burned Fallycia to the ground, killing everyone on the streets, and leaving the entire kingdom of ice nothing more than a pile of smouldering ashes in the snow. Then, over time, people simply began to forget about the kingdom beyond the mountains. It vanished from books, memories, even stories. Fallycia was simply forgotten.
Until now.
It was not the richest of the kingdoms, or the most powerful, but stories of Fallycia’s majestic beauty reached the darkest corners of the globe, bringing to them a flicker of light. The glittering mountains sparkled under the pale sun that came straight out of a watercolour painting. On a good day, the blue skies were as endless as the winter there, with birds swirling and swooping between the Frozen Seas and the Invicta Mountains as they sang their songs in harmony with one another. The Draakakull were welcoming folk with warm hearts despite their chilled touch. They never turned a stranger away, opened their doors to those in need, and always had the time to talk in the snowy streets. Music filled the cities, and chatter filled the smaller towns. Fallycia was a kingdom of peaceful rule, governed by a king who bore obsidian scales down his neck and shoulder. There were no problems, and no fear. That was, until The Black War broke out, and the Empire of Nephille burned Fallycia to the ground, killing everyone on the streets, and leaving the entire kingdom of ice nothing more than a pile of smouldering ashes in the snow. Then, over time, people simply began to forget about the kingdom beyond the mountains. It vanished from books, memories, even stories. Fallycia was simply forgotten.
Until now.