Getting to Know my W.I.P: The Unseen
The idea for The Unseen First came to me in a dream and was initially supposed to be a Romantic short story, but since then it has morphed from a story of two people finding love in an impossible place, to an insane fantasy adventure that I love!
The Unseen Is about an angry young Sieorian woman named Kamilia Thornheart, who has born a slave in the kingdom of Wistlain. One day she is forced to run for her survival and finds herself on a path to learning more about who she is and the role her destiny plays in the war to overthrow the King of Wistlain and freeing her people.
In this post, I want to give a little back story on how and why the Sieorians were enslaved.
Before they were enslaved, the Sieorians lived normal lives. They traveled between their Islands (North and South Sieoria) to Wistlain for trade, travel, and to branch out and start a new life if they so pleased. This all changed when one Sieorian handmaiden, Yana Thornheart, attempted to kill the queen of Wistlain.
Being very beautiful, Yana had caught the eyes of King Reyian the moment she began working for his wife, Queen Maeli. He pursued her relentlessly until Yana gave in giving him her heart. Not long after Yana accepted King Reyian’s affection did they become intimate, and things started to change. The more time she spent with the king, the more she felt her soul and heart darken. Her mind was riddled with jealousy and hatred towards Queen Maeli, and Yana found herself thinking and doing things she had never done before.
King Reyian appeared to everyone as a loving husband and a kind leader, but his real heart and soul was consumed by greed and power. He would do anything and kill anyone who got in the way of what he wanted. His life’s goal was to be able to obtain the power of the 7 Gods: time, immortality, strength, gifting, invulnerability, resurrection, and wisdom. With these powers it was his goal to rule the world as it was his father’s and would be his son's if he should fail. The people who were closest to him, that knew of his dark ambitions were sworn to secrecy and were too scared to speak out.
Yana was so blinded by her love for the king she refused to believe that it was him that was poisoning her mind, so she placed the blame on Queen Maeli. In Yana’s spirit, she felt she could kill the queen, and rid herself of these horrible thoughts and emotions, leaving her and King Reyian to live happily together as king and queen.
Yana’s plan didn’t unfold the way she’d hoped. She cornered Queen Maeli alone and tried to strangle her hoping to end her life once and for all, but she was caught. The queen was saved by a loyal servant who calls the guards and has her attacker arrested.
After the queen was rescued, all seemed well until Queen Maeli starts to show signs of madness and attacks the king in public where she was killed on sight.
King Reyian took this as an opportunity. He had recently discovered that among the Sieorian people there would be two with the abilities strong enough to stop him from collecting all 7 powers. He takes his wife's unfortunate end as an this opportunity to insure that his plans won't be stopped and for him to gain full control of the people of Wistlain.
After months of waiting, Yana is publicly executed and King Reyian blames her for the queen's madness, saying: “She cursed my queen with a single touch and anyone like Yana is capable of doing the same or worse.” So, he made it his mission to gather every Sieorian in Wistlain and take them captive.
The King then offered his help to the people, saying that He and the church of the 7 gods were the only ones able to cure anyone who had been touched by the cursed ones, but only If they followed and obey his laws. So, the citizens of Wistlain helped hunt down the Sieorians bringing them to the king and, as promised the church of the 7 Gods provided a “cure.” Playing the gracious and kind leader he decides to allow the Sieorians to live a life of servitude to him and the 7 gods for their sins, but as they did he killed anyone of them that showed signs of unique abilities. They were forced to be covered from head to toe and left with nothing but a number as their identity. Laws such as: "Any person who willing looks upon or aids a Sieorian will no longer be curable and will be put to death" were put in place keep people from growing curious and interfering with his plans. The Sieorians were known as the Unseen or the cursed servants of the 7 gods from then on.
In the end, King Reyian wasn’t strong enough to release the powers of the 7. On his first attempt, He was consumed by his own dark intent and it drove him to take his own life, leaving the task of world domination to fall his son...
