Literature / Drassil

"Despite this, he had all the world’s dreams within him."

A spanish four-book fantasy saga written by Alexander Keyser, author of A Story Of Fire, available on Amazon.

Nothing ever exciting happens in the village of Vant. The island where it stands its hidden enough that it avoids being involved in otherwordly affairs, and the greater Kingdoms barely acknowledge its existence. Furthermore, the villagers like it that way. The only exception being Reed, a young boy yearning for adventure, although the closest he ever got to it was the time he found a magical shield lost near the forest.

Of course, his wish becomes true.

When the dragon Skectral descends over Vant and takes the village hostage, Reed is sent by his mentor into a journey to recover the legendary Dark Star, a mysterious gem hidden by the famed hero Albion Decaheron. In this journey he will be eventually joined by Reaper Assadan, a tough sword-hunter looking for the lost sword Oblivion, and Arksinad Eel, the fugitive student of the greatest mage in the world.

So far, a regular story of fantasy and dragons. Yet as the events unfold, things become complicated - strange dreams assault Reed in his journey, and the scope gradually shifts into something so great no one could ever imagine it.

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This series provides examples of:

Tropes related to the entire Saga

• A Boy and His X: A boy and his magical shield.
• A Father to His Men: Yeguilex ends up being clearly this, despite how rough he can be. Ventristen too, his loyalty to his men being one of his few redeemable traits.
• Anti-Magic: Angurvadal, the sword Reaper forges in the last book. It ends up being key to defeating Vannael.
  • Antimagic spears are also mentioned as part of the weapons the Kamui militia uses.
• The Atoner: Eluid work as Gikeldor's champion in the third book is implied to be this for his crimes bringing down Skectral.
• Arc Villain: Each book has one; Daivok Bellow and his brothers for the Belekraz arc, Osald Assadan and Exnar Gladiar for the Xshathra Forge Arc, and Bali Gladiar for the Chosen Trial arc.
• All-Loving Hero: Albion is described as having been this, much in opposition to Reed.
  • Later, Caxer begins to take on a similar path. Unsurprising as he is Albion’s true reincarnation.
• Ambiguously Gay: Less "not-outright-confirmed" than ambiguous, but the narration mentions Arksinad delighting himself in seeing Reaper and Reed wash themselves in the fountain after the Belekraz adventure.
• Anti-Villain: Daivok. Hell, the Bellows in general could count, as they are only doing their jobs and show far more mercy than the protagonists.
  • In the later books, Audula Adahiada, who is the only member of Vannael’s entourage that isn’t there out of actual loyalty for the king, but instead because he promised her to let her husband, Unnaon Omega, live. She ends up joining the heroes on the final war.
• Animal Motifs: All of the Geral 21 members have this, the most obvious being a bear for Duran or a spider for Zark.
• Archnemesis Dad: Osald Assadan to Reaper. But it’s actually complicated.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Vannael and Duran are the highest hierarchy of Cel-Neckar, and the two strongest living mages in the world. Not counting Zauriz.
• Ax-Crazy: It slowly becomes increasingly obvious during the story that Reed is this, and his sanity is holding depending on how "proper" his long awaited adventure becomes.
• Black Magic: Witchcraft, which is magic using mana lent by demons.
• Boring Yet Practical: Duran describes Rune Magic as this, as it lets one do practically anything without any flashiness.
• Blood Magic: The cultists use a variation of this called Sacrifar, to open portals and summon demons. Bali in particular seems to have made this is predilect magic. Noticable the magic itself is not made to summon demons, but to open dimensional rifts, which is often used to let demons come through into the world.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don’t act like a tyrant near Reed. You will end up brutally murdered.
  • Mentioning Osald or Ruin are this for Reaper and Arksinad respectively, at least until their character development hits.
• Big Bad: The spot is mainly shared between Vannael and Idgray, with the first being the main cause of everyone woes and the events that unfold but the later ultimately proving to be the greater threat to the whole universe.
• BFS: Called Garrs in the setting. The three Legendary Swords count, but the prime example is Tearu’s own sword, which is described as being as tall as her or more. She wields it with her mind.
• Big Good: Ostensibly Shimari Kaharis Herton, the Queen of Kamui, who despite her manipulative nature becomes the main opposing force towards Vannael’s plans. The forces of good end up rallying under her banner in the final battle.
• Body Horror: Often the fate to those who Asherat feeds on. The most notable example however is Unnaon Delta whose entire body is thoroughly trounced and covered in demonic stitches to be held together.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Ann Midas is supposed to guard Shimari... Lets just say the Queen can fend off attackers by herself well enough.
  • Happens too when Duran becomes Sulfur Houppe’s bodyguard, though its more of a justified example as Duran IS stronger than the hero.
• Blow You Away: Daivok can use some wind magic. He sure likes to spam it during combats.
  • This turns out to be Scarrow’s area of expertise, to the point that he can even send letters to Reed to the other side of the world simply using breeze.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Bullwe and Gallahard both count.
• Broken Pedestal: By the third book or so, Albion becomes this to Reed as he learns how manipulative and envious the hero was. He comes to value him better after all is said and done through once he learns its his brother and he gave up having Drassil in order to allow him a chance of redemption.
• Cain and Abel: Idgray and Albion. Contrary to what everyone thinks, however, it was Albion who was the Cain and greatly resented his brother.
• Comes Great Responsibility: That is the price of accepting the Blood Rubi: to become Baal’s avatar and live thousands of years choosing terrible actions that lead to a better fate. Arksinad accepts, in order to save Reaper’s life from Vannael in their final battle.
• Cool Sword: The three legendary swords certainly count. Later, Reaper uses Necrostacia's fragments with Skectral fang to create Angurvadal, a neu sword with the power of cancelling magic.
  • Rashka sword which fires what is essentially a giant laser.
• Cool Ship: The Sky Ark which the group uses to travel the world and avoid the Daevas.
  • Babel, which in the fourth book is revealed to be a city-sized flying ark equipped with thunderbolts.
• The Corruption: The Legendary Swords are shown to have a corrupting influence on whoever wields them, with Oblivion having turned Osald into a [1] abomination of six wings and stone-like skin.
  • Thousands of years wielding Necrostacia turned Grimold into a blackened skeleton-like monster covered in the runes the sword put on Reaper’s arm.
  • It is implied Idgray was starting to become this while wielding Drassil, as Drassil roots are described to be going inside his body.
    • Then he finally turns into a complete monster, the Champion of Inexistence, to serve as the final battle of the story.
• Chekhov's Gun: The dreams with ice sculptures Reed has. They end up being Gallahard’s creations, and they point to where he left the piece of Drassil that separated from the shield.
• Chekhov's Skill: Gio skill imitating voices saves the group from being found out by Tezca while they steal the gems from Yeguilex.
  • Later in the story, it also helps him impersonate Unnaon Delta.
• City of Adventure: Deneb Algedi.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Sephid and Arksinad are good examples.
• Deflector Shield: Reed’s shield often does this for him in moments of danger.
  • Later explained to be a basic seeler technique Drassil is projecting.
• Dead Person Impersonation:
  • Gio impersonates Unnaon Delta to cover for Duran’s murder of the politician.
  • A bigger example is Drassil, who impersonates her lover and user Idgray after Vannael mistakenly brings her back into his body. She drops the act as soon as Reed (the real Idgray) confronts her since at this point there was no reason to keep manipulating everyone.
• Despair Event Horizon: Happens to everyone wielding a Legendary Sword, as the aspects of Horrxikkrron inside them will corrupt their respective parts of being. This is what made Idgray turn nihilistic and destructive, turned Grimold into the death-adoring abomination he is, and even made Vannael lose his mind and turn on his family.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Dingir's magic. Is a good thing for the team that he has little control over Belekraz.
  • Later on the final book Djinn Archelande uses a similar magic with sand, called Kingdom of Voodoo.
• The Dreaded: Skectral, who terrorizes Vant to get what he wants. It turns out to be part of the feeding process of bone-dragons like him.
  • Later Reed gains this fame among the warriors of the Sun Dome.
  • Idgray is this for the seelers, and for very good reason.
  • Grimold, to the point Rashka in no uncertain terms tells Reaper the Four Generals will completely ignore the civil war that’s going on and come together to kill him if he attempts to bring him back to life with Necrostacia.
• Driven by Envy: Zark Argocette.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: The kiel duel they fight ends up equating to this, the loser is meant to become obedient to the victor.
• Determinator: Reed. He manages to push through a demon of fear and scare him shitless out of pure determination.
• Dual Wielding: Yeguilex dual wields a giant hammer and a club, which is promptly lampshaded.
  • Oblivion is an odd example in that it is described as a giant sword that splits into two thinner ones connected by a chain. It’s also completely blunt, as its more of a conduit to use magic with.
  • Van Lyder dual-wields sabres, and so does Sulfur Houppe.
• Elemental Powers: Elemental Magic.
• Empathic Weapon: Seeler weapons activate with the soul, and thus depend on one knowing their purpose and being to be properly developed.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Reaper, once he dons Necrostacia. Idgray was a better example, as he was already mowing down mountain-sized Hecantokeires back when he was just a regular deva. Then he gained Drassil, the most powerful weapon in the universe.
• The Epic
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Happens with Djinn, which Eluid points out its just a title given to the heads of Aldebaran.
• Evil Old Folks: Zauriz.
• Evil Sorcerer: Quite a few, but Vannael and Bali Gladiar stand out.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Babel is equipped with one right on the center, where Vannael is. The reveal Babel is but a gigantic sky arc means this tower is similar to the golden ball that drives Arksinad’s own ark, which explains the concentration of magic and it being self-cleaning.
• Exact Words: How dragons work. When Scarrow has Skectral promise not to harm anyone in Vant, the dragon obliges... By taking the villagers outside of the town before ripping them to shreds.
  • The final trial of the Sun Dome says the winner is he who gets the Blood Rubi from Baal... Which Reaper finally accomplishes by surrendering and asking for it politely.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: This is how Reaper and Arksinad defeat Vannael in the final book: the warrior stabs him in the back with Angurvadal. While the king believes Reaper failed to cancel his magic, Reaper’s true purpose was to touch Arksinad with the sword, releasing him from Vannael’s mind-posession spell and allowing him to counterattack with the Blood Rubi’s might.
• Fantastic Racism: Quite a bit going around. Humans and ahuras cannot stand each other, coming from a long conflict and betrayals... Demons are generally despised in the civilized western world, but accepted in the east.
  • As far as Eluid is concerned, there is no such thing as a good dragon and he’d be happy to have them all genocided.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Reed is the knight, being resistant but slow and unimaginative for combat. Reaper the thief, as his style relies more on agility, while Arksinad is the obvious mage.
• Fiery Redhead: Amu, Reaper's bethroded.
• For Great Justice: Used by both Vannael and Ruin, in different contexts. This is also ironically the Geral’s 21 motto.
• The Force Is Strong with This One: Seelers can easily detect an impossible amount of seele coming from Reed, though it becomes clear most of it is influence of Drassil.
• Great Offscreen War: One between Kamui and Fariel around a few dozen years ago, which is cause of the resentment Yeguilex and Reaper feel for each other, Osald’s trauma, and implied to be the reason there is no royal family outside of Shimari.
• Green-Eyed Redhead: Amu.
• The Heavy: Vannael moves most of the events of the plot through his planning and manipulation.
• Hidden Villain: Drassil, who acts as Reed's shield until being given Idgray's body and is the cause of everything that transpires.
  • Zauriz too. He is mentioned across the books a few times but only in the last stretch he reveals the weight of his evil.
• Human Sacrifice: The Forge indulges in this, to power up their blood magic.
• Holy Hand Grenade: The Shinoras. Vannael uses a better version of this called Azrael Shunoros, able to destroy a huge area in front of him with holy light.
• Heel–Face Turn: Captain Yeguilex, who begins as an enemy but ends up supporting the group.
  • Deihr is always ambiguous, but finally joins Reed in the third book.
  • Gallahard and Audula in the final book.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • In the first book Dingir sacrifices himself to let Dorbog escape the mountain.
  • In the second book, Scarrow dies to Skectral taking a lighting blast that was meant for Reed.
  • In the final book, Eluid dies, holding Necrostacia -which is impalling him- still enough for Reaper to deliver a debilitating blow to the blade with Skectral’s fang.
  • Brisafiel dies this way, having pushed Gallahard away from one of the Tree Raining Star blasts.
• Human Resources: The Forge of Xshathra uses their prisioners as sacrifice to create the fake rubies their witches wield.
• Inexplicably Awesome: Idgray Decaheron. He was already beating down Hekantoqueires to a pulp back when he was a general of Baal and lacked any powers, though it is implied he could have been in contact with Drassil then even if he didn’t wield the sword.
• Invincible Villain: Vannael is built as this. Which makes Duran trashing him in their fight all the most satisfying. Even so, it takes the king being all but depleted of his power AND Baal's intervention to take him out.
• I Owe You My Life: How the kiel duel works. Because the winner forgives the defeated, it means the defeated has their life indebted to them.
• I Work Alone: Sephid. And he’s quite effective at it, as seems when he decides to storm Idgray’s base on his own.
• Karma Houdini: Zauriz Dordo Id Quaria fully helped Vannael assassinate thousands of innocents, betrayed his own pupils and purposefully made people suspect the king in order to enjoy seeing them killed... And yet gets no comeuppance whatsoever. By the point the protagonists realize it, they are forced to ally themselves with him in order to tip the scales of the war.
• Killed Off for Real: Several characters, including Scarrow, Eluid, Duran and Jalomar.
• Knight Templar: Duran definitely counts. Eluid and Reed turn out to be less benign examples.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Once Scarrow finally decides to face his destined death head on, he easily dispells most of Skectral attacks and has the dragon smashed against the ground during half of the fight.
  • Gallahard acts as a clown for most of the novels, but once he gets going, he easily proves why he is the third member of the Geral 21.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Reaper and Arksinad by the later books.
• Light Is Not Good: Vannael is entirely dressed in white, yet is presented as a major antagonist.
• Lovable Coward: Gallahard. He grows out of it, big way.
• The Lost Lenore: Lu, to Scarrow. Ruin might count for Arksinad too, and Reaper's mother, Titania, was definitely one for Osald.
• Lethal Chef: Amu. At one point Reed describes her cooking tasting like broken glass.
• The Magocracy: Cel-Neckar, and more specifically Babel, from where Arksinad comes from.
• Motive Rant: From Eluid, once he is outed as the one who attacked the hostages in Vant, pointing out how wasteful it would have been to give Skectral what he wanted and let him go and how everyone was comfortable letting other’s deal with the dragon to save their lives.
  • Vannael gives one on the final book as Arksinad and Reaper confront him, explaining how he tried to bring back the war from centuries ago in an effort to atone for failing to save the devas of his city.
• Mushroom Samba: The Old Sage causes this on Reed using seele in an attempt to clean his soul.
  • Earlier in book three, Reed suffers through a few of these as he lies in the oasis with Nakku, involving a man eater plan and a [[Foreshadowing jealous woman who demands something out of him. ]]
• Malevolent Masked Man: Vannael. Ventristen too.
• Modest Royalty: Shimari, who clearly hates royal responsabilities and is described to be in a rather casual attire during most of the story.
  • Crandor too, maybe for necessity. He is described as being often shirtless and his palace is a run down castle in a small village.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Discussed in story, given that everyone can see Scarrow will die protecting Reed. Reed and Reaper both have inner monologues about the trope, the first rejecting it while the later giving acceptance to it, and Reed trying to go against it is what unfolds the second half of the saga.
• The Mentor: Scarrow is one to Reed, while Vannael is one to Arksinad. Duran works as one to Gallahard and Dordo Id Quaria one to Duran, Scarrow, Aibol and Haluar.
  • Evil Mentor: Vannael and Zauriz count.
• Mutually Exclusive Magic: The series introduces magic, seele and neu, with people with one talent often having little to no affinity for the other. The exception being only the gods, and the legendary Albion Decaheron.
• The Mole: Tezca/Deihr Bellow.
  • Yeguilex is one too for the Kiel Empire.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Eluid is very protective of Merady.
• Mysterious Past: From Arksinad, at least until the third book dwells on it in detail.
• Nebulous Evil Organization: The Organization, which was led by Albion centuries ago and now wait for the Chosen One.
• Necropolis: Dammed Oah, the city the group finds below Fariel.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: Pretty much the nature of Vant. And the villagers will very much like it that way, thank you.
• Oh, Crap!: A few times during the story, but the most poignant cases are Djinn when Duran simply stomps over his reality-bending spell, and Vannael once he realizes Arksinad has awaken as Baal’s chosen.
• Old Magic: Divine Magic, using mana left in the ambient by the gods of old. The reveal that the gods were demons all along implies that the oh so respected divine magic is practically identical to the repudied witchcraft.
• Only One Name: Status is designed this way. Plebeians only have a name, plus an identification to where they live. Nobleborn have a surname, while royalty has two names and a surname.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Averted with the Legendary Swords, as everyone can wield them... Provided they have the sufficient seele/mana/neu to survive their draining.
• Our Genies Are Different: They live in clans, for starters, and are more akin to wild savages. They also can offer wishes, by using their magic to bend reality to their will, but it lasts as much as the spell does before reality is reset back to what it was.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Essentially wielding a legendary sword will slowly turn you into this, as the aspect of Horrxikkrron inside them is sure to drain and corrupt your being. This is why Idgray started his conquest of the world, Vannael began provoking wars and Grimold battled Diakaza, the ultimate goal of the swords will always be to cause the cessation of all that is.
• Playing with Fire: Reed can only barely master one spell, and that is to set small things on fire.
• Papa Wolf: Both Duran and Jalomar are this for Gallahard, and go great extents in order to protect him.
• Power at a Price: The Legendary Swords will slowly corrupt your soul, mind or spirit depending on which one you wield.
• Pocket Dimension: Asherat’s stomach. Arksinad’s hat and Vannael mask both lead there, which they use to store objects. Or even an army.
• The Power of Hate: Mentioned by Ventristen, who is basically living due of it.
• Power Glows: Necrostacia glows sickly green once reactivated.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Audula works for Vannael in order to keep her lover Unnaon Omega safe.
• Redemption Quest: By the fourth book, its revealed that the entire story was pretty much engineered by Albion and Tearu to be this for Idgray, who has now been reborn as Reed, giving him a chance to experience the world and grow out of his nihilistic worldview and from Drassil’s influence.
• Rape as Drama: Implied to have been Ruin's case by the manner her corpse is described. Reaper is also implied to have been born from a case of this during the war, causing some friction with his father.
• Reincarnation: Reed is revealed by Sephid to be Albion's.
• The Remnant: The Organization is this, having existed for over 400 years only to wait for Albion's return and finally put Idgray to rest.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Duran.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Seen in Vannael and Bali, through explained as a result of them using Zadakiel Shunoros, a magic that allows them to see into the future.
• Really 700 Years Old: Vannael. Dordo, the senile watcher of the World's Center Temple, may even double him in age.
  • The Ancient Sage from Zubeneschamali, who is about 800 years old by the time the protagonists meet him. He’s also the author if the first prologue.
  • Tearu too, being at least 400 years old when she shows up in the story.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Vannael, Shimari, Crandor... Examples are abundant, royals do not sit and rule in this story!
• Satanic Archetype: Angra Mainyu is this, being described as a god of darkness whose attempts at creating life made Horrxikkrron.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: This is the reason Arksinad is revealed to be seeking Baal, god of time, to stop his own death from having ocurred. By the end of the second book, Reed and Reaper decide to follow him in an attempt to save Scarrow.
  • In a more general way, this turns out to be both Vannael and Idgray’s motivation, as the first is trying to create a scenario like the one on which he abandoned his comrades on which he can bring them to glorious deaths, while the later wished to be reborn to be able to reject his own nihilistic views and reject Horrxikkrron’s influence.
• Soul Power: Seele, the art Albion used. Reed learns it from Deihr/Nakku.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Idgray and Albion. Cold, powerful and silent warrior and charismatic, resourceful mage.
• Summon Magic: Mila uses this to bring demons to serve her, including the dangerous daevas.
  • Ragnar Amix’s neu, Parhea, lets him summon servants.
• The Soulless: The spiritless really, as the series differentiates between soul (seele) and spirit (neu). Demons like Sephid lack the later, much to Grimold's changrin.
• Shout-Out: [[Music/Queen To Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. ]] Down to the novel downright using the lyrics in several scenes, and the plot involving a young man killing another person and spiraling down into nihilism.
• Squishy Wizard: Most wizards are this. Arksinad is for example mentioned running out of breath during the running Reed and Reaper do with no issue. The exceptions being Duran, who trained his body his whole life, and the brute Goliat Sidewinder.
• Subordinate Excuse: Sephid bodyguards Shimari, who he is in love with. Their relationship is rumored to be an affair by many around the world, which Vannael is happy to exploit when the war begins.
• Scars Are Forever:
  • Arksinad’s [2].
  • Reed gets a star-shaped one on his chest where Drassil stabbed him.
  • Once he finally unmasks himself, Vannael is described as handsome, but with stitched scars running from his lips down to his ears.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Reaper.
• The Smurfette Principle: Bela is described as the only female in Van Lyder’s ship.
  • Similarly Tezca/Deihr is both the only girl in Yeguilex’s Squad and the only female Bellow.
• Super-Persistent Predator: The wheel being that chases the group inside and outside the mountain. It just will not give up. It's later revealed there are two of them.
  • The Daevas are this in spades, and actually have the heroes running on their tail in every encounter.
• Ship Tease: Quite a lot between Deihr and Reed, culminating in them kissing in the desert.
  • Shimari and Reed might also count, as they even end up going on adventures together.
• Token Evil Teammate: Arksinad, who proves himself to be a murderer and escaped convict.
  • On the final book, they are forced to ally themselves with Zauriz, who unlike Arksinad is truly devoid of regret and even thrives on the pain he caused.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Mages can teleport, but only to places previously charged with magic. Teleporting to sites like Babel, city of magic is fairly easy, but not so much Deneb Algedi which depends on magically charged platforms to operate.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Reaper and Arksinad don't get along initially, at least until they talk things through on the second book.
  • Sulfur Houppe and Djinn Archelande, a respected hero of Gikeldor and a murderous genie, outright openly hate each other. Vannael puts them together, later revealed to be for the purpose of having Archelande kills his partner when convenient.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Happens a few times with Reed, at first when Daivok betrays him in the mountain, later when he learns about what Skectral did to the escapees and later when witnessing Ragnar Amix’s deeds. In all three times, it ends with the brutal murder of the object of rage in question.
• True Companions: Reed, Reaper and Arksinad grow to be this as the story goes.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Reaper, Allon and Amu.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: Osald Assadan. Later Reaper is up to his level.
• Use Your Head: Reaper headbutts Yeguilex. While Yeguilex is wearing a helmet. Unlike what you would think, it throws the captain off balance enough for Reaper to finish the duel on his favor.
  • Reed also uses this move a few times, with devastating effect.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Vannael, Wizard King of Cel-Neckar. The city cheers for his return, but he proves himself to be unquestionably evil by ordering Mila to get rid of the group.
• Vestigial Empire: The Kiel Empire, which used to occupy most of the world during the times of Albion but now its reduced to a shadowy rule over Gikeldor. Crandor IV’s ambition to go back to the glory days moves a decent chunk of the plot during the last book.
• War Is Hell: Almost spoken word by word, and the ones who actually experienced war seem very not eager to go back at it. Reed himself ends up feeling ashamed of how lightly he took it once he becomes involved in the conflict.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Pretty much how any of the Legendary Swords operates, as the piece of Horrxikkrron within them will slowly corrupt their wielder and devoir their respected aspect until they become obsessed with turning the world inexistent one way or the other.
• War for Fun and Profit: This and bringing back Idgray seems to be Vannael's motive. Later revealed the why: he was a deva that abandoned the war to reach for support but ended up falling in love with the Elven princess. Oblivion corrupted his mind and he is trying to restore the world as it was to ammend his mistake.
• One-Hit Kill: In true Stormbringer fashion, whatever Necrostacia even barely scrapes loses its spirit and gets trapped inside the sword.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Reaper. Nobody ever comments on his name.
• You Can't Fight Fate: A point in the story, though Reed ends up learning fate is rather a matter of multiple choices than not. Or not. Its complicated.

Tropes related to The Dark Star

• Badass Family: The Bellows.
• Breather Episode: Chapter 16, which has the trio and the recently befriended Yeguilex squad spending time at a tavern getting into a massive drunk fight. Right before they enter the last dungeon and discover the horrors within.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Reed does this a few times, such as censoring one of Reaper's rants for considering it not fit for an adventure's novel.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Numerous times the characters point out the lava should normally burn them alive in proximity, which makes them conclude its not actually real lava but instead a substance created by Albion.
• Disney Villain Death: Daivok is pushed by Reed into the lava pits of Belekraz. Unlike most representations of this, the narration does not describe him sinking.
• Duel Boss: Yeguilex.
• Enemy Mine: Reed and Daivok team up to survive the depths of the volcano and deal with the wheel-monster.
• Giant Flyer: The Ziz, king of the skies, though he is less of a noble avian and more or a rotten gigantic condor.
• Jumped at the Call: Reed is ecstatic when he learns he has to embark in an adventure to save his hometown.
• Lava Surfing: How the trio (and Dorbog) escape Belekraz: by using the shield's deflector ability on top of the rising lava eruption, essentially creating an elevator that pushes them out of the mountain.
• Near-Death Experience: The three protagonists have one on Belekraz; Reed falls down an abyss alongside Daivok and is left for dead, Reaper gets poisoned by Dulkir's arrow and sinks into near death, and Arksinad is outright killed by Dingir shooting pebbles at his head, but returns none the worse.
• Never Found the Body: Deihr Bellow is attacked by the Jorgumand offscreen while the group is inside the mountain, yet only blood and clothes are found.
• Relationship Reveal: Reaper reveals to have a girl in the last chapter, much to Arksinad's surprise.
• Samus Is a Girl: Reed is surprised to find out Tezca is female.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Very common between Reaper and Arksinad.
• Wham Line: "He was ruining my story." which Reed uses to justify his murder of Daivok. Its by this point the reader starts getting the clue that Reed is utterly losing it.
• Womb Level: Retroactively, but the final chamber where the Dark Star resides is revealed to be in the second book the stomach of Asherat, which explains how it was slowly digesting them even before they faced its totem.

Tropes related to The Legendary Swords

• Arranged Marriage: Between Amu and Reaper, but unlike most examples, they both were consulted on it and are happy with each other.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Allon, Reaper and Amu.
• Child by Rape: Strongly implied if not outright confirmed to be Reaper's case, as he is repeatedly said to not look like his father, Osald, and was born in the Barbaric War in such a manner that it greatly stressed the blacksmith. Despite this, ultimately it becomes clear he and his (non-biological) father do love each other.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Skectral dies, with two books left to continue the story. However, by the point the heroes are facing the dragon, its already clear he is but another pawn in the game.
• Dying as Yourself: Osald last action before dying is to Did You Just Flip Off Cthuthlu

Tell the sword Oblivion to fuck off.

• "Get Back Here!" Boss: What the fight against Skectral ends up amounting to, since the dragon is looking to fligh high and blast them with a torrent of flames from where they cannot reach him. Luckily, Reaper manages to stab its head with his now powered up sword before it can run.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Strongly implied by Skectral's blue and orange morality speech to Scarrow.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Eluid, in regards of killing the hostages just to make everyone attack Skectral.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Pretty much everytime Reaper fights his father, ultimately paying off in the end.
• Like Father, Like Son: Osald Assadan uses his last moments to curse at Oblivion in a manner much reminiscent of Reaper.
• La Résistance: One formed in the island during the time Reed left, led by Scarrow.
• Make an Example of Them: Skectral carbonizes the villagers trying to leave the island in boats.
• Make Some Noise: Osald uses sound magic to tear things apart in front of him.
• Not Quite Dead: Deihr Bellow shows herself alive in the Forge after being left for dead on the previous book.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Unnaon Delta, a mysterious politician who seems to be under Vannael's payroll. He's revealed to be another undead like Arksinad, and has the bad luck of being faced with a very angry Duran.
• One-Winged Angel: The Asherat demon inside Arksinad takes over his body when he faints, resulting in a gigantic thread abomination that attacks the group.
• Pædo Hunt: Unnaon Delta's harem of young boys he feeds on is... suspicious, to say the list, and causes Duran to have no mercy on him whatsoever.
• The Prophecy: One detailing Scarrow will die to a dragon, which all but ensures he is going to die in the bout against Skectral. He ends up accepting his fate, and dies to protect Reed from the dragon.
• Revenge Before Reason: A big theme of the book, with many weighting the hardship of having to face Skectral - which all but ensures people will die- and letting it go.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Eluid pushes Reed into brutal revenge, knowing well it will kill his master. For this he is ultimately exiled from the island.
• Smarter Than They Look: Gallahard is pretty much introduced this way: he tries to flirt with Queen Shimari, completely fails to notice her sarcasm and seemingly ignores she is hiding the trio within her halls. Just a few chapters later however, he reports to Duran with a perfect understanding of the situation he was in, including detecting Arksinad’s presence in the castle and the Queen’s involvement.
• Spotting the Thread: Duran begins to suspect Vannael, which prompts him to investigate Unnaon Delta.
• Super-Persistent Predator: The Daevas. They cannot be harmed by weapons, only Arksinad best, most mana-consuming spell can temporarily stop them, and they are relentless in their persecution.
• Tap on the Head: Parodied. Reed attempts this on a villager trying to attack him, but the constant hitting seems to hurt the villager without knocking him out. Arksinad provides an alternate solution by terrifying him into unconsciousness.
• There Was a Door: Osald’s method of navigating the Forge is simply using sound magic to demolish whatever wall is in front of him.

Tropes related to The Sun Dome

• A God I Am Not: Tearu reveals to Reed Baal and the other gods are just greater demons made by YGG, who is described as the only one who could have been akin to an actual divine being.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: From Nakku to Reed. “Why did it have to be you?”
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: The book begins with the story of Demes, a escapee from Dammed Oah who grows to fall in love with an elven princess and becomes Ruin's father.
• Breaking the Fellowship: Reed separates from the team during the book to go train seele with Nakku.
• Brought Down to Normal: What happens to Bali when Baal cancels the godly mana around the dome, rendering him unable to use Sacrifar. Arksinad proceeds to easily beat him up using mundane magic, the same Bali before so maliciously mocked.
• Conspiracy: One investigated by Haluar and his associates, involving Vannael with the villages massacred by dragons.
• The Chooser of the One: Tearu’s role, although she was a Chosen One herself.
• The Chosen One: Not One, but Four, as candidates to being Baal’s avatar. Arksinad is one of them, with the others being Bali Gladiar, Deihr Bellow, and Ruin Levan Aurora.
• Civil War: One ocurring in the Golden City, due to a succesion crisis.
• Crash-Into Hello: Happens to Reed when a soul-jumping Deihr lands right on top of him, which causes him to have a call back to Van Lyder warning him against believing this would happen.
• Curse: One casted by Aiwass to the seelers, which made so that they will live forever as long they resent. Its the reason Ventristen remains on this day.
• Damsel Outof Distress: Though the trio jumps to save Shimari, the Queen ends up fending off the daevas by herself and ultimately saves them when they face against Buiht Caucax.
• Darkest Hour: The end of the novel is this; Duran is dead, Yeguilex sentenced to execution, a world war is about to unfold, and our heroes are trapped in the Tartarus alongside Grimold, who reaches to kill them.
• Downer Ending: Duran dies, unable to stop Vannael from initiating the world conflict. And in the Golden City, Reaper accidentally awakens Grimold, the monster Albion fought all those years ago.
• Eyes Always Closed: Tearu. The reason being that her Zadakiel Shunoros shines so bright it iluminates everything around her when she opens them.
• False Flag Operation: What Vannael attempts by bringing Sulfur to Kamui, hoping to get the diplomat murdered to kickstar a world conflict. Duran manages to stop him... At first.
• Gladiator Games: Said to be held at the Golden City, but during the time the protagonists arrive the Civil War stops it from happening. Ruin’s father Demes and Idgray are said to have been part of them.
• Gorn: Happens a few times, but Reed’s fight against the daevas where the sky turns red is the most definite example.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Albion was revealed to have been very envious of his brother’s relationship with Ailai, and by extent, Drassil, and thus saw an opportunity to kill him. Or that is what is said, by Ventristen.
• Hope Spot: Duran completely dominates Vannael during their fight, to the point it seems the old man will be able to finally vanquish its evil... But then Asherat moves Vannael's own cut off hand, blasting Duran from behind with a Shinoras.
• Know When to Fold Them: Basically the purpose of the Second Trial. The Chosen Ones are challenged by Buiht Caucax, a deranged demon everyone in the city fears, to singular combat. Reginald is quick to point out how pointless is to accept the challenge, and yet both Bali and Arksinad go. They both lose the trial, after Buiht immolates himself undefeated.
• Love Triangle: One happened between Ailai, Idgray and Albion, though Idgray and Ailai were very in love and Albion felt jealous about it.
• Made a Slave: Demes was sold to slavery by his parents. He mentions having killed them for this once Idgray released him.
• Malevolent Architecture: The Tartarus, Grimold’s home which is constantly shifting and teleporting the protagonists away from its exit.
• My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Seele vision allows one to see souls, and how they interact with each other. Reed and Nakku have to see their souls dancing together while they sleep separately during the camping nights.
• Mentor Ship: Nakku and Reed, Hands-On Approach and everything.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: The book introduces the concept of neu, on which people use their spirits to control one particular power linked to a weapon. Necrostacia is revealed to be this.
• Not So Invincible After All: Done in spectacular fashion when Duran beats the crap out of Vannael, after three books of the story building up the king as completely indestructible. Area advantage does the old man wonders.
• Off with His Head!: A variation when Vannael faces Karava. The king destroys all of Karava, except the head.
• The Quiet One: Aminor is apparently mute.
• Sadistic Choice: One by Bali to Reginald; to either give up the people he’s hiding in his hospice or watch his wife be murdered. Reginald is unable to answer, but is saved by Reed’s timely intervention.
• Screw Destiny: Expressed by Reaper in his fight against Tearu.
• Secret Test of Character: The Three Trials are strongly implied to be this, with the first being a test of strategy (it requires planning to be the first to cross the bridges), the second self control (as you can only lose by participating in a pointless battle), and the third one of accepting inevitability (accepting you will never be able to steal the Rubi). Three traits someone who dwells in fate must pursue.
• Succession Crisis: One caused not by a king, but by who is to take the place as Baal's avatar, with four candidates proposed. Arksinad being one of them.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Deihr/Nakku and Reed.
• Scaled Up: Bali’s final spell, Sacrifar King, turns him into this.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Arksinad in his flashback. Being manipulated both by his mentor and Ruin, both people he loved, finally make him snap and accept his incoming fame as a ruthless murderer.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Bali uses Ragnar’s popularity to rally the militia of Diakaza to his cause, then gets rid of the general in order to win the first trial.

Tropes related to The Chosen’s Soul

• A Child Shall Lead Them: Caxer is adopted by the seelers, being Albion's true reincarnation.
• A Shared Suffering: This ends up being what initially connected Idgray to Drassil, a complete disdain for every world trouble. Reed only recognizes it as he watches the sword fall into her death.
• All Your Powers Combined: This is what Zauriz hopes to achieve in his alliance with Vannael, to gather inside his body the powers of seele, neu in magic in the same manner Albion had. He succeeds.
• And the Adventure Continues: The last chapter ends with Reed celebrating a goodbye party with his friends, ready to embark on a new adventure alongside Shimari in order to find Sephid and Drassil.
• Apocalypse How: What Drassil is trying to achieve, the complete elimination of all that exists..
• Big Bad Wannabe: Ventristen. He actually gets extremely close of achieving his goals of killing Reed and ending the war, but his love for his daughter stops him.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted with Nakku who pretty much loses half her face to Drassil.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Zauriz. Once he is revealed as an antagonist, he gives the heroes a little speech on how since to live is to suffer, loving suffering is to love life itself. Mind you, he is entirely unremourseful and even proud of his actions.
• The Cavalry: The Sun Dome Warriors helping destroy Briareo, in an awesome Big Damn Heroes way.
• Chekov’sGun: That piece of the shield the Yeguilex auctioned as fake Dark Star? Ends up being vital to defeating Idgray.
  • The dreams Reed had since book two too, as the sculpures he sees end up being a hint of where that star is located: Gallahard’s old house.
• Death Glare: Done by Reaper after Grimold stabs Eluid with Necrostacia. It’s enough to make the Legendary Sword scream in terror and try to avoid the rest of the fight, knowing well what’s to come.
• Defector from Decadence: Quite a few mages switch sides once Vannael colors become clear and the war stops the king from being able to keep tabs on them.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The final battle between Drassil and Reed can be definitely be read as a romantic break-up.
• End of an Era: By the end of the saga. The war is over, Fariel is forced to accept the Emperor’s rule, which means the Kiel Empire is soon to be restored, and even extended with a suggested marriage to Shimari. The devas return to the main world too, bringing the gift of technology with them.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: Certainly how Drassil sees the conflict, considering she believes the world is in a state of constant suffering she means to stop by erasing it all. Played straight furthermore with the dragons who also declare themselves and evil and wish to stop Idgray from erasing existence to continue their reign of terror.
• Fantastic Nuke: Metatron Shunoros, the divine spell Vannael uses to wipe out Deneb Algedi.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Goliat Sidewinder magic is this, in a manner much reminiscent of the Juggernaut.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: The first half of the novel has Reed and his friends going on a journey across the world gathering allies to help Kamui on the war.
• Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: Discussed by Ventristen when speaking of Albion’s [3] tendencies. Since love can make a soul influence another, it was logical to assume one could reverse the process and use your soul aura to make another person love you, which Albion abused to gather up followers.
• Grew a Spine: After three novels of avoiding conflict and being terrified of the King, Gallahard finally openly defies Vannael, Idgray and Grimold and tries to stop them from reaching the group. He even survives the deed!
• Grand Theft Me: Revealed to be what Vannael has been doing, as he was originally Demes, the slave we met at the start of the previous book.
• Lady Macbeth: Drassil was this for Idgray, and tries to be this for Reed during the saga.
• Lightning Bruiser: Idgray can punch down mountains, moves faster that you can process, and hitting him is like trying to hit metal.
  • The Hekantoqueires, his closest followers, are this in spade. Each one is the size of a mountain and yet they move with a human-like agility, provoking the most casualties in Kamui’s army the moment they appear.
• Make a Wish: In a fit of despair, Djinn Archelande offers this to Gallahard trying to get his life spared. The beautiful wizard is not interested.
• Manly Tears: On chapter 11, when Eluid dies.
• Meaningful Echo: After Vannael reveals to be Demes, Ruins father, he claims his actions to be light and justice in a manner very reminiscent of how his daughter did to Arksinad all those years ago.
• Mind Rape: Idgray seeler exploration is despicted at this, cold as branches burying into your mind.
• No Hero to His Valet: Ventristen is very callous of Albion, and this apparently was so even when he was young 400 years ago.
• Pater Familicide: In retrospect, Vannael sending the dragons to burn down Polux is this.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Vannael proves to be this by wiping Deneb Algedi out of the map with his best spell, Metatron Shunoros.
  • Drassil’s engame is to extend her roots through all of universe, casting seele so powerful that it deletes all of existence.
• The Resenter: Ventristen turns out to be an interesting example as due to Aiwass curse he literally needs to keep resenting to stay alive
• The Reveal: One that changes how one reads the entire series: Reed is Idgray reincarnation, not Albion. And the one inside Idgray's body is Drassil, who played the events of the story, manipulating Idgray and then Reed in an attempt to use seeler to erase all of existence.
• Relationship Upgrade: Reaper and Amu marry in the finale.
• Rousing Speech: Reaper gives an epic one to Reed and Arksinad in order to convince them to join him into his hunt for allies in the final book.
• Slave Race: The Malals are revealed in the final book, after only being implied in the previous ones, as a slave race that seems content in serving their dragon masters.
• Someone to Remember Him By: Reaper names his daughter Elui, after Eluid who died in combat helping him defeat Grimold.
• Tension-Cutting Laughter: From the Emperor Crandor, after Reaper challenges him to a duel to the death in front of his crowd. He’s impressed.
• Yandere: Once Drassil finally drops the Idgray act and talks, she quickly reveals herself to be this.
• You Are Not Alone: From Reaper to a thankful Reed before he heads into the final battle. -
• Wedding Finale: Reaper and Amu marry in the finale.

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