Savior of Istara Read Online Free

own, I felt welcomed instead. But why had I been led to
this place, so far removed from the concerns of the living? What
did Eresh or her clergyman want with a sixteen-year-old stationer,
scribe, and bookbinder?
    I found out soon enough,
just not everything…not all at once anyway. In my naivete, I
trusted in powers beyond me and found salvation. But one person’s
salvation can be another’s damnation. And to those cultures that
had emerged from the aftermath of the Cataclysm to climb to
preeminence on Faltyr once again, that caveat proved painfully
familiar.
    As a result, I recognized
the disc-shaped mural on the ceiling immediately. The painting
shone as if lit by an inner sun. The unnatural light it emitted
fell on an ornate dais in the center of the chamber. As I advanced
toward the raised platform, the priest of Eresh faded into the
shadows and out of our story.
    Painted directly onto the
back of a massive shell from one of Faltyr’s countless species of
giant chambered nautiluses, the mural depicted the previous cycle
of ages, from the dawn of humanity’s Golden Age to the Cataclysm
that ended it. The spiraling wheel of events portrayed so vividly
in the masterful polychromatic piece captured my attention like the
unblinking eye of a mesmerist. I stood transfixed.
    As I watched, an entire
cycle of ages reeled out before the theater of my mind’s eye. An
age after the Schism had sundered the Jade Throne and destroyed
elven hegemony on the mainland, the humans of Ny, Faltyr’s main
continent, arose to heights unseen since the glory days of the
Empire of Chi’kakal. Booming empires expanded outward, conquering
any weaker, scattered peoples in their path. And when the aims of
these imperial juggernauts collided, the result was inevitable:
total warfare.
    As petty Pyrrhic wars
threatened to destroy humanity before it reached its full
potential, two parties arose to challenge the existing cycle of
chaos and bloodshed. For a time, their efforts would prove
fruitful, until pride and jealousy divided them and nearly
destroyed the known world.
    The marriage of Artemis to
Ra’Tallah signaled the beginning of Faltyr’s Golden Age. Rumored to
be one of the daughters of Ishta’Kahl, Artemis wore the Tripartite
Crown, ruling the Baax Empire as well as the island kingdoms of
Moor’Dru and Corr Deyraire. Whereas, her lover, partner, and
eventually her nemesis, the accursed God-King Ra’Tallah, reigned
over the expansive Ireti Empire and the lands of the conquered
Nubari.
    The people loved Artemis as
much as they feared Ra’Tallah. Together they made a potent force
for peace and collected all the tribes of humankind under one
banner, the United Nations of Ny (UNN). Strong alliances forged
with elves, gnomes, and ogres made it possible to establish safe
trade and travel across the Long Road for the first time since the
height of Chi’kakal.
    But this Golden Age would
not last, could not last. Even I knew that one cannot build a
stable tower on shifting sand.
    As the decades grew into
centuries, the venerable, undying rulers became deified by the
multitudes of peoples united under their banner. Huge cults of
worship sprung up across the land, competing with the gods
themselves for offerings and sacrifices. As their power and
influence grew, so did their discretion—or lack thereof—in using
it.
    Artemis utilized restraint
and mercy whenever prudent, preferring to win the people’s hearts
and minds through her stern, sober oratory and equitable public
policies. On the other hand, her husband and co-ruler preferred to
keep the peace and maintain social order in a ruthless,
militaristic fashion. By the height of the Golden Age, Ra’Tallah
was as increasingly despised as his wife was adored. Relegated to
the shadows as she bathed in the warm glow of her subjects’ love
and loyalty, he became colder, crueler, and more
calculating.
    And in the end, jealous gods
manipulated this heartless pretender to their throne