In the distant past of an alien world, a beautiful elven enchantress named Soltiad, her husband Andurant Krinn, and a frightened band of family members, flee the destruction of their home world by means of a magical portal. Transported to the wilderness of the Perennial Mountains in the Land of Niadelle, Soltiad goes into immediate labor and gives birth to a half-elven, half-human child who she names Ceylo, which means 'The Troubled Flower' in her native land. The refugees soon discover that they cannot mix with the general population of Niadelle: On this world, the elves and the humans are bitter, mortal enemies and neither group would understand or tolerate the mixed marriages that were common among the Krinn. Instead, they setup their own small farming village in an isolated valley of the Mountains and name their new home 'Feldhall Vale'. However, tragedy falls upon them some eight years later when a group of mercenaries and slavers known as 'the Cleansers' attack and destroy the village. All of the adults, including Soltiad and Andurant Krinn, are viciously put to the sword. The children are seized as treasure and sold into slavery. Ceylo, now separated from her younger brother Andur, is sold to a Surracean Family and shipped across the southern sea to the wilderness land of Iberia where she is forced into humiliating abuse and servitude at the hands of her captors. Yet, through all of this, the young girl dreams of the day when she can escape her bonds and find herself reunited with her long lost brother. One day, Ceylo gets her chance at freedom. While visiting the desert city of Algeciras, she vanishes from the midst of a crowded marketplace, slips away from her 'family', and boards a trading vessel on route to a strange new land known as 'Niadelle'. For the next eight years, Ceylo searches throughout this beautiful country for her brother. She trains as a mercenary warrior and learns the deadly art of dual blade attacks. She studies old documents and histories at every opportunity, always preparing herself for the inevitable day when she would stumble across the first real clue to his location. Then, finally, she remembers a name from her youth. The evil army that had butchered her family had been chanting a name during their bloodlust. Surely, that name belonged to the evil man responsible for the murder of her family. When, while visiting a local tavern near the village of Laidlaw, Ceylo hears this name again, she leaps into action and the epic adventure of her life finally begins. The name she hears in the tavern is 'Aganaar', and he is the leader of a group of warriors known as 'The Blade of Justice'...
About the Author: Ralph Stadig is a Connecticut author, poet, and software developer. Ralph resides in the New Haven, Connecticut area. He is married (thirty-six years) and has six children. In addition to his writing, he has avid interests in music, sports, and community theater. For nearly twenty years, he has been an enthusiastic roleplayer, online gamer, and member of various online virtual reality worlds. Those interests, plus his love of writing, have led to the creation of a series of short stories revolving around a recurring character he had created and played in many of these settings, the half-elven warrior maiden 'Ceylo Krinn'. Though inspired by the fantasy gaming tradition that spawned her, the author has developed her nature, history, and life far beyond those original boundaries into a fascinating case study of the dual nature of humanity; the darker, violent half versus the more gentle, emotional side of our being.