Grimoire Fantasia

**Grimoire Fantasia** is a Story Arc of the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Auralia, in the subplane of Milenia, and follows the perspective of ambitious young magician Ephyra Solle Mattina.

## Main Arc

### The Magical Prodigy

Ephyra, heiress to the prestigious Solle mage family, attends the Mattina city Academy of magic, and graduates as an elite mage at a very precocious age. The only academic aspiration left for her is the elusive Doktorus, given to those who advance magic to new extremes. To earn her Doktorus, Ephyra seeks to uncover the mythical city of **Shangri-La** and the secrets of magic it hides, much like her ancestor did a long time ago.

In her endeavors, Ephyra is joined by Naddaha, a young woman who, despite her great magical talents, cannot remember her own name, and seems to be haunted by a vengeful spirit. Said spirit seems particularly hateful of Ephyra and antagonizes her despite Naddaha's best efforts. She is also joined by private tutor and genius alchemist Paracelsa de Villanova, an age-old confidant and one of the few people she trusts.

### Beginning of a Journey

Although Ephyra is reluctant at first to accept allies, she ends up making concessions due to Naddaha's enigmatic ties to Shangri-la. The group embarks on a journey, meeting up with Satora, a warrior-mage and runeforger and a friend of Naddaha, on a nearby town. They are also quickly attacked by the forces of Necrophidius, a necromancer-king of legends known to have killed Ephyra's ancestor Solle.

Ephyra's group escapes to nearby ruins, which Paracelsa manages to explore with Satora's help. The group arrives to an esoteric, runic font of magic, where Iridescence, a shining being introducing herself as a spirit, stands. Iridescence strives for an age-old pact made by Solle with the seven Auralian Spirits to be renewed, and as such forms a bond with Ephyra, asking of her to endure the trials of the Spirit Lord **Ashur of the Forge**, whom she manages to defeat.

### The Cursed Wanderer

Despite her victory, Ephyra is shaken by the ordeal, and Ashur's warnings claiming that she follows the path of Necrophidius. Rejecting those warnings and escaping, she encounters wandering mage Ravi, who travels a bit with her. Ephyra quickly falls in love with the mage, despite his warnings for her not to attach herself to him. Finding herself feverish, Ephyra is seemingly abandoned by Solle, and quickly discovered by Naddaha and the rest of the group.

Apologizing for her previous demeanor, Ephyra keeps on traveling with her group to find the other spirits in order to access Shangri-la, but quickly falls prey to that unknown illness and collapses. She is then healed by Paracelsa's old friend, medic Bombasta Theophilia, who warns her that she is falling prey to one of Necrophidius's deadliest curses, which would kill her in a few days were it not for Bombasta's expert medical magic.

Despite this, Bombasta's medical expertise cannot delay the curse indefinitely, and Ephyra must quickly find Shangri-la, or die. She keeps making pacts with spirits **Ninurta of Energy and Power** and **Nanaya of Mind and Dreams**, encountering enigmatic necromancer Vecna Apoptosis who betrays Necrophidius to join her, and Harmona Salieri, a mystical elf musician with a penchant for the dramatic. She is also repeatedly faced by a group of powerful mages, the Uraeus, Necrophidius's personal strike force made of emotionless, half-living individuals.

### To Kill Necrophidius

Ephyra also investigates on the world's very structure, discovering various Uraeus in positions of power, manipulating the world as to influence mage and guide them towards finding Shangri-la. After making a pact with the fourth Spirit, **Marduk of Space and Nature**, Ephyra then encounters Ravi once more. Revealing himself to be cursed by Necrophidius to kill anyone that might love or be loved by him, the wandering mage begs of Ephyra to quickly kill Necrophidius and put an end to the curse by finding Shangri-la.

Ravi also gives Ephyra the secret path towards an eight, forgotten Auralian Spirit. He then departs, after warning Ephyra not to face the Spirit Lord Reskigal of Decay unprepared. Ephyra resumes her journey to the ruins of Paracelsa's hometown, realm to the Spirit Lord of Time **Anshar.** There, Ephyra finds a gateway to a distant past, where she encounters Ravi, alongside many of the Ureaus she faced. Ravi then innocently introduces himself as "Solle Ravi Necrophidius", both the founder of the Solle family and the age-old dark tyrant.

### Solle and the Dragon

Ephyra, shocked by this revelation, nevertheless manages to team up with Ravi and make a pact with the fifth spirit. Then, in search of answers, she leaves towards the hidden realm of the eighth spirit, the void dragon Apsu. The latter forms a pact with Ephyra directly, without the help of Iridescence, and gives her answers, beginning with showing Naddaha as Ravi's closest confidant and lover, before Naddaha's death at the hands of Reskigal during the sixth pact.

A long time ago, Solle Ravi made pacts with the seven spirits to gain the secrets of runes and magic and share them with the world, but losing Naddaha drove him to break his own promises not to infringe on the spirit's sacred magic. Invading Shangri-La, Ravi sought to uncover the secrets of resurrection by seizing the rune **Ankh**, and was interrupted in the process, cursed by the King of Spirits **Enlil**, with eternal life and the endless death and rebirth of all he loves into mindless shells, forever surrounded by the living corpses of loved ones.

Apsu labels Ravi a desperate madman, wishing either to destroy all Spirits by seizing the remains of Ankh and healing his companions, becoming a mad god in the process, or to be killed beforehand by a "chosen one" (engineered by his age-old plans) that would renew the pact and tear Ankh's fragments from him, thus ending Ravi's immortal existence. Ephyra rejects both plans and resolves to heal Solle by seizing Shangri-la for herself while still respecting the spirits' wishes.

### Ephyra's Determination

Using her full knowledge and the help of Iridescence and Vecna, Ephyra manages to prevent Reskigal from killing any of her companions and defeats her. She then marches towards Enlil, the last spirit, hoping to renew the pact, but learns from Apsu that doing so would result in Iridescence's death, as this was her life's purpose. Ephyra defies Iridescence's death and offers in exchange for herself to stop Necrophidius's plans and then imprison herself within Shangri-la as the world's guardian.

After testing her, Enlil accepts, and Ephyra marches towards Shangri-la - but Necrophidius and his Uraeus have outsped her and invaded the place, hoping to drain the remainings of Ankh for himself. Ephyra quickly storms the place, allowing Paracelsa and Bombasta to create a Philosopher's Stone, and clashes against Necrophidius. With the latter's defeat, Ephyra uses Apsu to break Necrophidius's bond with Ankh, killing him and his companions - but immediately prevents their death with the Stone, thus escaping Enlil's curse and achieving her goals.

## Characters

* Ephyra Solle Mattina
* Solle Isis Naddaha
* Paracelsa de Villanova
* Satora
* Iridescence
* Harmona Salieri
* Bombasta Theophilia
* Vecna Apoptosis
* Solle Ravi Necrophidius
* Auralian Spirits
* Other Auralia Grimoire Characters

## Trivia

* This is chronologically the first installment in the **Auralia Grimoire** series, and as such the first glimpse of the plane of Auralia.