Elpis (Novel)

A fantasy novel series written by Australian author Aaron McGowan, first released October, 2011.

Story
"Elpis" tells the story of a young man (boy) teenager named Terico. Terico goes on a mission of revenge against Delkol, leader of the feared Brotherhood and ruler of the Shire Kingdom who is seeking the Elpis Stone so he can have the power of a god. Along the way, Terico ends up meeting companions that help him through his journey and into the final battle.

He embarks on a mission to reclaim what was lost in his village.

Chapter 1 - THE WORLD CHANGES
Terico, Turan, and Terico's father deal with a monster plants in order to obtain some Berial—a plant that Terico's mother can use (as an herbalist) to concoct something for the village medical center.

Terico's father (as an alchemist and a strong fighter) hopes to devise ways for the village to protect itself from the looming threat of the Brotherhood, Terico is sometimes jealous of Turan. Turan is a bit more skilled with the Nexi stones, and is quicker to impress Terico's father, despite Turan's lighthearted behavior.

They kill the plant monster and bring the Berial back home. There Terico finds Suran, who is dropping off some elvish herbs to Terico's mother. We learn that Terico likes her, and he follows her outside, hoping to ask her out on a date to an upcoming festival of some sort. However, he doesn't find a good chance to bring it up as the conversation turns to other things before Suran has to hurry off. While Turan spars a bit with Terico's father, Terico speaks with his mother, who takes the time to heal some of Terico's cuts and bruises (from the plant monsters). Terico wishes he could make his father proud, and Terico's mother gives some reassuring words.

Terico and Turan head to school and discuss what they're learning, Terico's relation with Suran, etc. As they near the area where the school's at, they find a huge commotion. The school is on fire, and Terico runs to find Suran. He can't find her though, and exits the building to find Turan in trouble. Turan uses a Nexi stone to fend off a couple Brotherhood members. Auguric arrives and kidnaps Turan, deciding the boy is skilled enough with Nexi to be of use for his experiments. Terico meanwhile fights off the Brotherhood fighter who set the school on fire. By the time Terico finishes him off (and becomes injured himself in the process), Auguric has already taken off with a couple other Brotherhood fighters.

Terico struggles back to his burning home, but his parents aren't there. He heads on to the cathedral, knowing his father had planned for that to be the resistance HQ in the event of a full-scale attack. There Terico finds his father fighting Delkol. Terico's mother uses some Nexi stones to power up Terico's father's sword—Terico's father attacks Delkol and manages to put up a fight at first. Delkol admits Terico's father is strong, but then proceeds to decapitate both Terico's father and mother in one motion. Terico is at a complete loss—he can't even move, let alone try stopping Delkol as he proceeds to brutally slaughter everyone else in the cathedral. Some bodies are flung against Terico (covering him), so Delkol doesn't notice him when his massacre is completed. Delkol leaves, and Terico curses both Delkol and himself—Delkol for killing Terico's parents, and himself for lacking the will to do anything about it.

Hours pass, and Terico continues to curse himself until he's in a boiling rage. With his parents dead, Turan captured, Suran missing, and the entire village in flames, Terico swears revenge. He swears to kill Delkol, to destroy the Brotherhood, and to relish every second of it.

Chapter 2 - FIRST STEPS ON A BLOODY PATH
This part of the book starts where the first chapter ended – with the horrifying death of the villagers that lived together with Terico including his mother and father. Once Terico calms down and accepts the fact that his parents are gone, he decides to search the area hoping that he will find someone who was lucky and survived this brutal attack led by Delkol. Unfortunately, he didn’t have luck to find any survivors. That’s why he decided to dig graves and bury the dead. Despite the horror he and his fellows have experienced, Terico knew that they deserve dignifying burial.

At this point, Terico was able to identify most of the victims, but he also noticed that some of the people he knew were missing. However, he believed that they are all there since many of the victims were burnt and mutilated, so he couldn’t recognize some of the bodies. This was difficult and even though he was injured, he continued digging and burying people. When he started digging another mass grave close to the school, his shovel hit a brick wall and this is when Terico remembered that Delkol was looking for something that was hidden in his village. He was puzzled and didn’t know whether Delkol found what he was looking for or not.

After entering the underground chamber and walking in the tight hallway he noticed that someone was there. This person was Jujor the local poet as he described himself, but Terico knew him as a person who loves drinking alcohol. Terico shared his idea to avenge his friends and parents and they had a long debate with Jujor who thought that killing someone won’t bring back the dead. Nevertheless, Terico explains what has happened in his town because Jujor went to this bunker from the moment he heard that something was wrong. He also mentioned the Elpis and much to his surprise Jujor actually showed him what Elpis is – an ancient book (The Elpis Stone).

This is where Terico realizes that The Elpis Stone is broken into pieces and that when these pieces are gathered they bring many powers to the one that owns the stone. This is what Delkol’s mission is. They find information about its possible location in the underground city of Emoser Helena. After that, Juror introduces his vampire friend Febraz to Terico. At this point, Terico agrees to be marked so he can get special Nexi stones in order to get the Elpis fragment.

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Chapter 3 - DEPTHS OF THE FORSAKEN
Jujor and Terico venture down into Emoser Helena, take control of Forsaken (using soul catcher Nexi) and fight through the city until they come across an Elpis fragment. Terico receives the Elpis fragment by making a frozen bridge of Forsaken as he is running up. He then uses the Elpis fragment to control the masses of Forsaken to all run off the cliff face. Terico is overwhelmed by the power and pain and falls to the ground. when he awakes he finds Jujor alive but with a claw wound on his back. Terico asks how he got him back from the other side of the cliff and Jujor gives him back his green Nexi stone that he had dropped.

Terico thanks Jujor and they have a conversation about the Elpis fragment. Judging by the size of the fragment Jujor thinks it must be in four pieces and that Delkol might already have the other three. Terico realizes he had dropped the Elpis, Jujor tells him he has it.

A light gray light shines from the mark on Terico’s wrist and palm. Terico blinks a couple times, unsure of what to make of it. A moment later, Terico appears in Febraz's tent. Febraz had activated the mark and brought Terico back to his tent. He takes a sip of blood from his crudely-painted mug, then sets it back down on his table.

He looks down at Terico with his sharp glowering yellow eyes and asks “Can you please help my precious little daughter win a competition?”

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Chapter 4 - A DEADLY GAME
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Chapter 5 - THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL
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Chapter 6 - LIFELESS CITY
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Chapter 7 - HATRED AND HOPE
Delkol arrives at the Eigni council room and takes a golden Nexi stone from Ganto's dragon corpse. Via Ganto's indigo Nexi, the mindless Eigni civilians in Vursa mentally supplied latent Nexi energy to the red-robed Eigni councilors (controlled by Ganto), who subconsciously refined the Nexi energy. All this energy gathered to Ganto, forming the golden Nexi in his body. Delkol provided Ganto with the chance to rule the city with the intention of creating this golden Nexi, which would allow Delkol to locate the remaining Elpis fragments. It turns out Delkol already has an Elpis fragment (presumably found in Vursa), and tries killing Terico in order to get Terico's Elpis piece. Delkol reveals how he left Terico alive in order to find the Elpis in Edellerston for him, in the event that the Brotherhood would be unable to find it. (The fact Delkol destroyed the village worked as incentive for Terico to come to Delkol.)

Terico and Delkol both suffer from Elpis poisoning, but Terico is worse off because of his fight with the dragon, Ganto. Areo, Borely, and Kitoh help Terico, but Delkol fends them all off. When Terico continues to fight despite the torment from his Elpis, Kitoh uses Ganto's staff (specifically the transformative pink Nexi stone) to turn into a dragon himself. Delkol is forced to retreat when his Elpis poisoning grows worse. Delkol leaves, knowing that Terico will either come to him, or Delkol will use his golden Nexi to find Terico. Delkol is concerned that the Eigni of the city are all awakening from their mindlessness, and that the city guards will attack his airship stationed at the dock, so it's important for him to leave. As he makes his way back to the city above ground, we learn of his motivation for finding the Elpis and conquering Fiefs Kingdom. He reaches his airship and has his men burn down all the boats, so that Terico won't be able to leave and search for the Elpis fragments before him. Delkol uses the golden Nexi to sense where another Elpis piece is, and orders his Brotherhood to join with other airships so they can ambush Setar.

The story returns to Terico waking up from unconsciousness. He is above ground, and Kitoh explains the situation. The Eigni are back to normal again, but the boats at dock have been burnt down. Jujor has been buried, but they have kept all the Nexi stones he had. Terico thinks over everything Jujor did, and laments being unable to save him, even when he had the power of the Elpis.

Areo and Borely are both quiet, and Kitoh explains to Terico that Borely was angry with Areo, since Borely learned she was actually a vampire (she fought with her claws against Ganto and Delkol). Terico tells Borely to just accept it, which infuriates Borely. He came to this city so he could help Areo, and he's upset that she hid her identity from him. Areo defends her decision, but Borely gets angrier--because of all this he has lost his boat, which had been passed down his family line for several generations. When Borely insults Areo further, a fight nearly escalates, but Terico prevents it from going any further.

Terico looks over Jujor's Nexi stones, and finds a teal one. He tries using it, and it turns out to be a Nexi for communicating with other people who have teal Nexi stones. He speaks with a woman named Rilv who turns out to be the head servant of the Fiefs royal court (also acts as head of the kingdom's generals). She asks about Jujor and learns he has died. She explains to Terico how Jujor was an operative for the royal court, and was assigned to keep tabs on Terico's father (who held knowledge of the Elpis beneath Edellerston) as well as on Terico. Rilv says that Terico is one of the few capable of accessing the power of the Elpis (but doesn't say why yet), and that she would like Terico to come to Setar as soon as possible. There is an Elpis fragment there they can give to him in order to help him defeat Delkol (she wishes for Terico to kill Delkol in order to prevent a full-scale attack on the capital). Rilv says she is sending a couple operatives in an airship to pick Terico up, and it should arrive in a day.

While waiting for the airship, Kitoh's parents give Terico and the others some food. Terico explains the situation with Delkol and the Elpis to everyone. Kitoh intends to return home with his parents, but they advise Kitoh to stay with Terico. The city was saved thanks to Terico, and it is important for the Eigni to repay their debts. Kitoh is afraid to go into more dangerous situations, but he is especially afraid of his own power. He has always been far more powerful than all his peers, which has left him shunned and despised. Kitoh's parents believe this Kitoh's power was meant change the world, and feel that this is his time to use that great power he has. Kitoh relents, but is still afraid. The airship arrives the next day, and Terico is shocked to find none other than Suran and Lanek running the ship.

Chapter 8 - UNEXPECTED REUNION
Terico, Areo, Borely, and Kitoh boarding the airship and heading to Setar. Suran and Lanek give Terico an Elpis fragment, to Terico's amazement. Terico learns how Suran and Lanek escaped during the Brotherhood's attack in Edellerston, and how they went to the airship their parents built in a nearby city. There they met Rilv, who spoke with their parents about using their airship. An operative has learned that Delkol is seeking the Elpis fragments, and they need to do everything they can to obtain them before he does. Lanek is anxious to do whatever he can to stop Delkol, so he and Suran accept a mission to search for an Elpis piece at a dangerous location. They found it and reported to an operative working for Rilv, who then told them about Terico being in Vursa. They readily agreed to pick him up and bring him to Setar. Suran and Lanek are overjoyed that Terico is alive, and Terico feels likewise.

On the way to Setar, Terico finds a time to speak with Suran, and they catch up on everything they've been up to. Terico reveals his feelings for Suran, and she is surprised. She always thought of Terico as a friend, but hadn't realized he liked her that much. Suran says she will consider what Terico said, because right now she's just glad he's alive.

Borely and Areo are still not speaking to each other, and Kitoh is very quiet as well. Terico, Suran, and Lanek try to give Kitoh some encouragement, but he is still shocked that he was able to turn into a full-powered dragon--something only very few Eigni are able to do (who would all be adults). Terico speaks with Areo, and then Borely. Areo is sticking around because she wishes to stop the Brotherhood (not out of revenge, she has decided, but so that others won't suffer as he has). Borely is sticking around because he had nowhere else to go, and he intends to have Areo pay him back for his boat. Terico tries to talk some sense into him, but Borely can't get over that Areo is a vampire. Borely shares his story with Terico, and explains that every time he sees Areo now, he remembers his brother being turned into a vampire, and how he had to kill him.

They reach Setar, but before they can reach the castle (where Rilv has the Elpis fragment), four Brotherhood airships rush in. Lanek pilots his airship to take on the nearest two ships. Kitoh leaps out of the airship and turns into a dragon--Areo leaps onto Kitoh's back, and Borely follows after her, suspicious of her. While Lanek uses Nexi stones to attack the nearest airship, the second ship slips by and releases a boarding party. Terico and Suran ready themselves to fight the Brotherhood, led by Lynx (Turan).

Chapter 9 - CLASH IN THE SKIES
Scene from Areo's point of view as she and Borely board one of the enemy airships. They fight off the Brotherhood, and then fight with Augurc. Meanwhile Kitoh is trying to fight off the fourth airship on his own. Terico and Suran fight the Brotherhood, and Terico struggles with whether or not he can kill Turan. Turan manages to beat Terico back, but Suran attacks Turan by surprise. Turan nearly falls out of the airship when it makes a sudden turn, but Terico saves him. Turan then manages to stab Suran with a cursed blade, which infuriates Terico into a mad frenzy. Terico takes out the Brotherhood members in his way, while Turan leaps to one of the other airships. Areo and Borely are overwhelmed by Augurc, and when Borely is about to be killed Areo grabs him and leaps atop of Kitoh as he passes by. Kitoh manages to take down one of the airships, while Lanek succeeds in bringing down one of the others. His airship is damaged though, and he is forced to descend.

Terico uses his two Elpis fragments to keep Suran from dying, and then to save the airship. He then uses his heightened sight he sees Delkol flying from the castle on a giant death bird. The airships were a diversion, as Delkol has stolen the Elpis piece from the castle. Terico flies out after him, but he is weakened from Elpis use and collapses on the ground while in pursuit. Delkol escapes, so now he has two Elpis fragments while Terico has the other two. The next day, Terico and the others are at the hospital in Setar. Terico learns that Suran is dying, and there is no possible cure. Terico believes he will be able to save her if he gets the full Elpis.

Rilv arrives and explains the situation. Delkol has killed the king and the castle's entire royal guard. Operatives have confirmed that the Shire armies are nearby and in hiding. Apparently there was a traitor within the royal guard, and Delkol was able to get into the castle easily thanks to him. This is also how Delkol learned of Terico's father and the Elpis fragment in Edellerston, as well as the likelihood of an Elpis in Vursa. Rilv says it is up to Terico to use his two Elpis fragments to defeat Delkol and retrieve the two Elpis fragments Delkol has. Terico asks why he and Delkol specifically have the power to use the Elpis. With the king dead, Rilv decides to reveal that Terico is the only heir to Fiefs Kingdom. She also reveals how Jujor was placed to watch over Terico in case there would come a time the kingdom would need Terico. Terico has no intention to be king, and Rilv admits that Terico is not ready for such a responsibility, especially during this present situation. She will lead the armies for the time being, while Terico focuses on killing Delkol and retrieving the full Elpis. They can deal with leadership responsibilities afterward--assuming they survive at all.

Terico is upset with this turn of events, but is too grieved for Suran to care. Because Terico is needed to protect the city for when Delkol attacks, Terico has to wait for Delkol's armies to arrive. Terico orders everyone to leave so he can watch over Suran alone.

Chapter 10 - HIS ENTIRE HEART
A day passes, and Terico has not slept. He does everything he can to keep Suran in good spirits, but she is too weak to say much. Terico uses the Elpis fragments to try to find Delkol's location, but he ends up just hurting himself. He believes Delkol is hiding himself and his armies with his Elpis pieces.

Another day passes, and Terico tries again and again to heal Suran with his Elpis pieces. She continues to slowly die. Terico goes over everything he wishes to do with Suran once this battle is over. He reassures her again and again that he will retrieve the full Elpis and heal her, and that everything will work out in the end. He will turn down kingship so that they can go live somewhere quiet and peaceful, where they can get married. Suran says she would like that, but her health continues to deteriorate.

Terico searches again for Delkol, but suffers even more from the Elpis. He realizes that without the full Elpis, he is dying a little more himself each time he uses it. He stays up another night to be by Suran's side, and she finally dies. Weeping, Terico is furious with everyone, but especially himself. Once again, his power availed him nothing. Again and again, the people he loves are taken away from him. All he has left is the desire for revenge.

Chapter 11 - A WAR OF VENGEANCE
The Shire army approaches, but Terico is in terrible condition. The Fiefs army has assembled, and Terico finds Areo, Borely, and Kitoh at the front lines. Areo and Borely are speaking to each other again, and Kitoh feels he is ready to fight, and make his people proud. These are small comforts to Terico at this point, though. The battle breaks out, and the armies clash as Terico fights his way through toward Delkol.

Delkol's death bird rushes for the castle, but Kitoh summons a phoenix to fight it. The death bird dies, but Delkol kills the phoenix himself. Scene from Borely's point of view - Borely, Areo, and Kitoh fight off special fighters modified by Augurc. They then fight Augurc himself, while Lanek fights Lynx (Turan), who is enraged over the death of his sister.

Meanwhile Terico fights Delkol. They are both quick to use their Elpis stones, and they each achieve a greater transformed state than before.

Areo and Borely find Augurc and face him in battle, Areo get wounded with a sword and Borely takes her from the battle. The fight with Augurc becomes more furious--he is far stronger than anyone has anticipated.

Back to Terico, whose duel with Delkol turns increasingly more violent. They each continue to use more and more of the Elpis's power, using Nexi skills that haven't been seen in hundreds of years.

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Chapter 12 - THE FATE OF DESTROYERS AND SAVIORS
Areo is fatally injured, Borely offers his blood to Areo so she can regenerate. she uses his blood to regenerate, he asks her to stop before she kills him, she tells him to stop being so dramatic.

Vampires and Eigni join the battle, including Areo's brother and mentor and Kitoh's parents. Areo, Jenba and Nivakil face Augurc and stop him from killing several of their friends. Areo is captured by Augurc when he finally retreats.

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