Just off the top of my head, I can recall that the story begins with Terakiel, a teen who dwells in the humble village of Tombolin. It's a self sufficient village tucked deep in the sprawling forest of Lakara. It is implied (or may even outright stated) that the citizens of this village have had no contact with the outside world for many years. Even the details behind the village's founding has been lost to time, although the Founders live on in legend. It is acknowledged among the general populace that the details have perhaps been distorted from the truth.
Terakiel himself is a Strander, although he does not yet know that. The term doesn't exist in the Tombolin society. Indeed, it is a trait that manifests in the town's citizens only very rarely. Most of the time those that possess the affinity for the Strand have no way of knowing about it. In other societies, countless miles outside Tombolin's reach, an affinity for the Strand is caught young, where it can be molded and cultivated lest it manifest in dangerous ways. Still, in most cases it would never become a problem. Only in those individuals with extremely high affinity with the Strand would its forces take physical form without training. Of course, Terakiel is one of these rare human beings.
Unfortunately for Terakiel, the Strand manfiests for him in a particularly cruel way. In those individuals whose affinity is very strong, energy has been known to manifest as a result of an emotional outburst. During a fight with his father, Terakiel's energy bursts forth from his body and strikes his father down instantly. Confused, mortified, and stricken with grief, the young Terakiel bolts from the spot. He has no words to explain what he had done, but only the grim realization that he could not say it was truly an accident. For that there could be no atonement. He retreats into Lakara with no plan in mind, subconsciously wondering if the forest's curse would end his suffering.
As Terakiel strives to put as many miles between himself and his father's corpse, his energy continues to manifest in unpredictable ways. After struggling for hours to start a fire, his frustration birthed fire from his fingertips. The outpouring of energy released the floodgate on his emotions as well--and for a moment he felt that he might take his own life. He elects not do so, however, perhaps due to cowardice but more likely because he yet had the will to live.
Terakiel conjures this fire at the foot of the first planar stone encountered in the story, of course. It would be explained later that these stones serve as gatways to the Exod, a black world that bridges together far-off locations. Aisen would be ripped from this world and brought to Terakiel for reasons that are as of yet unknown. Even up to the present point of the story, not much is known of Aisen. He has long and straight blonde hair and wears light armor. To be honest, I might rewrite his initial appearance. After all this time, I haven't made much of a decision on his backstory, but "soldier" no longer seems to fit. I also very infrequently even refer to his clothing.
Tomorrow (or soon) I'll continue looking back at the story. I think this is a good exercise. It refreshes me on what's happened so far and also gives me ideas on what I might want to change. I can't say I've made very much progress on it lately, but it's not a race. I'm not trying to meet a deadline, so I can mess around with it all I want. Even though I've written quite a lot for the story, it still feels very barebones to me. I'd like to flesh it out and make it feel more alive.
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