A Bond Broken

Cover

## Book Jacket

Having experienced his first survival type Trial, Trent Embra is eager to explore what else the world has to offer.

There is only one problem. Not everyone comes away from a month of constant fighting untouched. Trent's friend Tersa is unhinged by her time in the Land of the Undying Lord, and Sergeant Cullen means to see her fixed. Enlisted to help, Trent is dragged toward another Trial, mostly willingly. Only time will tell if Tersa still has a place in the Guard and what the Infinite World has in store for Trent.

## Plot Summary

### Prologue

We open on the aftermath of **Land of the Undying Lord** for **Darak Faidor,** Last King of **Al'rashia** and current **Keeper** of the **Land of the Undying Lord Trial.** We learn that he agreed to be the Keeper of the Trail in order to help Al'rashians learn to fight the undead and reclaim their heritage. For the first hundred years of being a Keeper, Darak had only had his Trial pick up Al'rashians, but after consuming their strongest members he gave up hope and had his trial roam the world aimlessly.

One thousand years later, his Trial had picked up **Orion** and Darak panicked. He knew that a lone Al'rashian would be killed in his trial, and so he threw him in prison. When he was about to break the rules and set Orion free, **Trent** came. Darak was astounded to see a Survivalist come, and a even more when he rescued Orion. He was gobsmacked **Trent** found a **Spirit Orb** and gave it to Orion, unlocking his **Spirit Summoner** class. When Trent's eyes turned **Violet** and he became Al'rashian after Orion's adoption ceremony, Darak realized this could be the new hope he had been waiting for. He looked on the territory Trent came from and liked the look of **Duke Lewis Al'drossford.** With a Survivalist, a Spirit Summoner, and a good leader, his hope was affirmed.

Darak left a note for Orion to try and bring his people to Al'drossford to start the nation, and if they wouldn't follow to come himself. He then contacted **Renar Wygon,** a **paragon** of Al'rashia. Renar's level was so high, he was practically immortal and had lived through the fall of Al'rashia. Darak felt that if Renar was willing, he could help guide and mold the new nation. When Renar finds the news of a Spirit Summoner with a Violet-eyed brother, he breathlessly asks "Where?"

### Trent and Tersa's Story

Trent comes back from **The Land of the Undying Lord** still holding his reward chest. **Tersa** approaches him to gush about her reward- a second class slot- when Cullen storms up to them. He is angry that Tersa has become a Brute and fully leveled her Enraging Aura skill. Tersa, controlled by her class and skill, starts yelling and cussing at Cullen. As she calls him names, she also discloses to the returned adventurers that Cullen has been lying about levels, and it is possible to reach past level 100. In order to shut her up, and make sure Trent doesn't talk either, Cullen uses a skill that knocks her out and causes Trent to get woosy.

As Trent tends to Tersa's unconscious body, Cullen has a side meeting with **Allister, Kirstin,** and **Frank.** **Allister** and **Kirstin** want to know what Tersa was talking about. Cullen says that they need to talk to their parents about levels, and behind a closed and locked door in the keep. He then states he needs to take Trent and Tersa with him to help Tersa deal with her Brute class and continue Trent's training. Kirstin protests- her **Summons** should stay with her. Cullen tells her in no uncertain terms that Kirstin needs to deal with the loss of her party member **Mathias** and he will take care of Trent until she does. She reluctantly agrees. It is decided: The group will split. Cullen will take Trent and Tersa to an undisclosed location. Frank will take the rest of the guards, guard trainees, and Adventurers to the Slyhill Trial. There they can recuperate from the trauma of the Land of the Undying Lord and regain confidence killing low-leveled beasts.

Tersa wakes up and is still angry and begins to yell at Cullen about how much she loves her Brute class and won't get rid of it. She then tries to punch Cullen. Cullen gives her a gold coin and tells her she washed out of the Gaurd. This sobers her enough to stop yelling and promise to work with him and Trent to figure out how to use her second class slot to fix the mess she made with her Status.

Cullen makes Trent and Tersa run for days and nights, with short stops to sleep and eat, until they reach a Garden. He tells them they can only eat one piece of fruit and not start a fire. Tersa complains about the order and swears by Terah's Hairy Ass, when suddenly a gracious statue in the middle of the garden comes to life. They were in Terah's temple.

Cullen takes Trent and runs away, then bows to Terah as Tersa is swung upside down by vines. He apologizes to Terah. Terah get's distracted by Trent's violet eyes and tries to give him a golden orb (to make him her tool?). When Trent accepts the orb it becomes brown and he gains the ability **Earth Manipulation.** Terah calms down and bestows on Tersa the "Blessing" of becoming an Earth Warden- a class unsuited to her. Tersa and Trent enter the Trail **The Garden of Clarity**. They are put into two different dimensions as they navigate the Trial.

Tersa navigates the trail and is terrified of the fairies she sees there. She was told horror stories of fairies in her childhood and sees them as terrors. Finding four nets, Tersa thinks she should capture the fairies and uses her enraging aura to try and draw the fairies to her. She succeeds in making them angry, but doesn't realize they have range weapons. Forgetting to turn off her aura, Tersa is accosted by the fairies as they attack her with ranged weapons. This continues for several hours, entertaining the sadistic Keeper, **Maven**, an Fairy with **Old Magic** who had agreed to become a Keeper because she was afraid of what **Awakening** was doing to the world. Maven enjoys the violence and has been upset with being the Keeper of a peaceful trial. She sees Tersa's reaction as a gift to her, and rewards Tersa by taking away Terah's "Blessing". However, Maven broke the rules doing so, and her **Trial Spirit** says that in compensation, some of her **Old Magic** needs to be used to give Tersa what she seeks. Maven sulkily agrees.

When Tersa finally realizes that her Enraging Aura is the reason why the fairies are attacking her, she turns it off. She is then guided to a pool where she sees what she wants to be (Cullen) and what she is- someone who carelessly runs into trouble and brings pain to her allies as they try and protect her. She realizes that she is not the valiant hero she imagines, but is slowly becoming more and more like the drunkard and brute of a father who she despises. She desperately wants to change her class. The Spirit shows her two class options, available to her only because of the use of Old Magic, in the pool, and Tersa chooses Storm Bringer. Tersa is then guided out of the Trial by one of the Fae.

Meanwhile, Trent navigates the trial carefully. He disregards the fairy nets, knowing they are red herrings. An Earth Elemental come out of his vambraces, and guides him around the garden. Trent follows the guidance of the Earth Elemental, and his herbalist profession, and respectfully harvests the garden under the supervision of one of the Fairies. His Storage levels up and gives him the Greenhouse ability which allows him to grow seeds quickly while in storage. Once he completes harvesting everything he can, Trent is guided to the pond for his reward. This infuriates Maven, who thinks he hasn't had any sort of Trial. The Trial Spirit says his restraint showed he had overcome the weaknesses of his class. Maven disagrees, and creates a doppelganger of Trent for him to fight. Trent refuses to fight it, and says he will find another way out. Trent begins to receive notification that he cleared the trial when Maven demands the fight. She claims he refuses to fight it out of arrogance. Her trial spirit tells her that to demand a fight, a price must be paid. She agrees- she will pay a price *if* Trent wins. She is sure Trent will loose because it has all his skills and abilities without any of his ego and arrogance. However, the doppelganger fights with Trent's best weapons, Sorrow and Strife, and Trent chooses to fight with his sword. Trent knows that with his Swordsman class, he can get more out of his sword then he can out of Sorrow and Strife, because he does not yet have the Dual-wielding ability to get the most out of them. Trent easily defeats the doppelganger, infuriating Maven.

Maven is reminded by her Trial Spirit that she needs to reward Trent. So, seeing that Trent a **Bond** with a loyalty rating of only 10%, she spitefully uses Old Magic to break the Bond, claiming that she is doing so because his master must be extremely cruel. This puts Trent in a comatose state with his profound sense of loss. The Bond has been with Trent since he entered this world, and was the primary motivator for all his actions. He doesn't know who he is and what value he brings anymore. As Maven cackles with glee, clouds form above and lightning strikes and hits Maven. A deep voice tells Maven she has broken the rules and has one last chance. She has to offer fair recompense or face the consequences. Maven takes her Old Magic and throws it at Trent.

Trent, who is in a cocoon of misery and unaware of his surroundings is suddenly engulfed in extreme pain as a power that is not meant for him courses through his body. It is modified into a Ability he can access called Fairy Cloak. In profound pain, Trent chooses the powers of the Ability: Dampen Presence, Stealth Enhancement, Mask status. He then falls to the ground, unconscious. Maven's consequence for breaking the rules and becoming a **Failed Keeper** is a dissolving of her pact and the Garden of Clarity changing type. A new Keeper will be assigned to the Garden, Maven will become one of the Guardians, and her wings will be a Trial reward.

Trent's unconscious body is tended to by the Fairies. They pour potions over him and try to ease his pain. The new Queen of the Fairies, now an Awakened race without Old Magic, wakes him. She tries to comfort him, and explains to him his new ability, Perception. She asks him to give her a use name, as a True Name has power. Trent gives her the use name Emira. As he leaves Emira asks the Trial Spirit what it means. He tells her it means "Beautiful Beginnings" in ancient Al'rashian. This shakes Emira to her core- the use of a Fairies name can cause the user to have control over the fairy, and her new name after becoming queen could be roughly translated as "A beautiful reign begins".

When Tersa leaves the Garden and reunites with Cullen, he is surprised with how quickly she navigated the garden. He had been relaxing, and quickly puts back on his uniform in order to save face. Tersa tries to showboat with her new class by playing with her new axe, and hurts herself. Both are so busy trying to impress the other they do not notice the other's faults. As he and Tersa begin to discuss her Trial Rewards, they are surprised by Trent as he clears his throat.

Cullen and Tersa soon start their journey back to Al'drossford. They constantly forget Trent is travelling with them unless he speaks. Trent believes this is because without a Bond he no longer has value, and begins to shrink into himself. As they journey, they hear a loud bang and a Giant Ice Serpant appears. Cullen tells Tersa to leave as he fights the Serpent.

Tersa and Trent travel together, using Trent's map ability. Tersa knows Trent is there because he is the only person with her. They come across Renar Wygon, disguised as a Travelling Salesman, and his talking Wolf Bond. Renar wants to use his disguise to give Trent skills, abilities, and advice he will need as a survivalist. Tersa demands Renar's attention as she makes her purchases, and it is only Trent's importance that allows Renar to remember why he is there. Trent empties his storage of much of the Loot he gathered from Land of The Undying Lord in order to trade for the skill stones and abilities Renar has. Renar refuses to sell Fire Ball, and Trent thinks this is because he cannot afford it. He takes out the Trial Chest he got from Land of the Undying Lord. Renar is shocked to see a Chest outside of it's Trial. As a piece of the Trial, it's contents are shielded from the gods. He still refuses to give Fire ball, and instead gives Trent two books: one of the history of Al'rashia, and the other a Compendium of Skills and Abilities. He then tells Trent to never tell anyone about the books, and to keep them in the chest in storage unless he is alone. Renar senses that Cullen is close and leaves.

Cullen finds them in the forest, reprimands Tersa for being out of the forest and making unauthorized purchases, then they travel once again to Al'drossford. At the City gates Cullen tells Tersa to occupy herself for a day, and says nothing to Trent.

Trent realizes he has been forgotten and begins to wander the city. He finds it puts him on edge, as every push feels like an attack. After running into a labouror and almost stabbing him, he takes refuge in a doorway outside of the Guildhall. He watches the Guild, and contemplates going in and registering when he gets knocked on his head by a cane. He takes out his sword and gets ready to attack an old woman holding the cane, when he finds that this Alchamist is a high-level Adventurer and Seer. The woman, Agatha, recognizes that he has an ability up that dampens his presence from her Sight and believes he is up to no good. When she demands he turn this ability off off, he is surprised to learn it is on and complies. With it off, she can tell he is truthful as he explains he did not mean to have it up, and why he was in town. She purchases the herbs he bought from the Garden, and the items from the Land of the Undying Lord Trent did not give to Renar. Suddenly maternal, although no more kind, she escorts him to the Adventurers Guildhall and helps him purchase his Guild Token. She explains a bit about the layout of the Guildhall as she examines his token to learn more about him. She offers him a bed to spend the night in, saying her husband would like to meet him. Trent refuses. He has a Quest in his Status to spend two weeks alone in the Wilds that he intends to complete. The book ends with Agatha throwing thee gold coins in a well, praying to Bydum, god of Travelers. The first prayer: Safe travels, calm roads and fair weather for a lost boy. The second; If trouble should find him, strengthen his arm, courage to his heart. The final prayer; if his road leads back to Al'drossford, she wouldn't mind if he came back for a visit.

### Kirstin's Story

After the Land of the Undying Lord Kirstin and her party joined the Gaurdsmen and the Trainees to decompress in Slyhill. They then traveled to Joel and Mathias' home town to tell them of Mathias' death. As they travel through the Wilds to get to the village, they fight Goblins. Kirstin is grumpy and criticizing her party members in her head, when suddenly she starts laughing uncontrollably and going through odd waves of emotion. She stops fighting for a short time, almost killing her party, and then rejoins and slaughters almost half the goblins. She then scratches at her hand where her summons mark used to be. She tells her party she doesn't know why she was so off before, but it's gone and she's back to her old self.

### Orion's Story

Orion finds the note given to him by Darak and accepts the mission to tell his people of an Al'rashian with violet eyes, and the hope of a new nation in Al'drossford. First, he needs to navigate the swamp land he was in before he was taken by the **Land of the Undying Lord**. He has to run and hide from the awakened **Lizardmen** who are highly territorial and call the swamp their home. He uses the **elemental spirits** that live in his Spirit Orb to help hide from the Lizardmen and fight any beasts he comes upon. Finally, he levels up and takes the rare class **Unyielding Tyrant.** After seeing his new class starts controlling his actions, Orion spends an afternoon in meditation regaining the self-control he has come to possess. He then finds the end of the swamp.

While hiding in a tree at the edge of the Swamp, Orion watches the Lizardmen he had formerly been running from. They are trying unsuccessfully to capture and move a large **Mud Elemental**. Orion approaches them and asks what they are doing. They reveal Change has come to the Lizardmen, and a people who usually have warrior classes have finally had a profession class come to them: Farmer. They want the land at the edge of the swamp to become farmland, and not more turned into more swampland by the Mud Elemental. Orion volunteers his services as a Spirit Summoner to communicate with the Elemental. Orion tells the Elemental it cannot become greater by making more swamp, it needs to find a name. The Elemental says it will not become a partner with Orion until Orion becomes stronger, but until then it will travel with Orion until it finds his name. Orion assures the Lizardman that he is not stealing their Ancestor Spirit, and will return it to them if it desires, after it gets his name. He enjoys a few days with the Lizardmen, and learns from their shaman.

Once Orion leaves the swamp, he looks for the Bandits that had chased him into the Swamp and caused him to be sucked into the trial in the first place. He finds them and tells them he forgives them, and that he is thankful for his experience in the Trial, but he swore vengeance. He then kills them all and collects their Guild Tokens, food, and equipment. He begins to head to the nearest Guildhall to collect their bountry and to get any messages from other Al'rashians so that he can contact his people.

### Renar's Story

After meeting with Darak and putting the Dusk Tower in a storage pouch to travel to Al'drossford, Darak soon locates and follows Trent from behind. He has to keep a fair distance, because even with his power as a Paragon dampened, Cullen gets edgy when he is too near. Renar negotiates with Terah to get a serpant he could use to distract Cullen with in order to have one-on-one time with the Survivalist. He pretends to be a Travelling Salesman to sell Ability and Skill Stones, and grant the advice a young Survivalist needs.

Later, Renar walks through Al'drossford and it's Keep undetected due to his high level. Because he knows Trent is a Bond and Bonds are not easily broken, he does not worry about where Trent is. Renar is shocked that Al'drossford has so much of Al'rashia in it. Knowing the Dross were caretakers and not arrogant, he wonders why they added the Al to their name. He also is sure that when the town was founded it was not origionally given that name. He finds the Al'drossford Keep is a perfect replica of Windshire Stronghold, Al'rashia's greatest fortress. He finds a beautiful wooden throne with an enchantment on it so no one can sit in it, and approves. Renar then feels a vibration in the Dusk Tower he carries in his pouch and a spirit comes out and tells him he is a fool for not recognizing who the Survivalist is. Renar wonders what it is talking about, but assumes it is just playing a prank and lets it go.