The Novel
Heritage of Loss — available now in paperback and ebook. Read the prologue and the opening chapters before you buy.
Heritage of Loss
A High Fantasy Saga
Tears of the Aashahl
Heritage of Loss · Book One
Anoth was the shining light; the exemplar, reminding all the High Sun Realms that nobility, justice, mercy, and honor were what made a people truly great. Then the Subjugate came, and Anoth fell — shattering the land.
Now those who survived the war struggle to make sense of a world held captive by a tyrant.
The World of Miljah
A legend is all that stands
A legend is all that stands
between ruin and dawn
Heritage of Loss is the first installment of the Tears of the Aashahl high fantasy novels. As war looms across the High Sun Realms, childhood friends Lirah and Ralenn are thrust into events that will define their age.
With the world tilting toward ruin, they must rely on one another — and on Ralenn’s adoptive father, the stoic warrior Kaileth — to survive the coming storm. Against the overwhelming might of the Subjugate, their only hope may lie in a legend: the lost Tears of the Aashahl.
It is said that whoever unites the Tears will command the fate of all Miljah. Forged by the world-shaping beings themselves, the Tears are the final and most powerful creation of the divine Aashahl. Long ago, the golden realm of Anoth wielded their power to free the High Sun Realms from darkness. But Anoth has fallen, the Tears are scattered, and hope now rests in those least prepared to bear its weight.
Choose Your Road
Four ways into the High Sun Realms
Realms & Peoples
Seven realms, seven banners. The Subjugate, Freeholdn, Andohra, Anoth, Lea’Angleneth, Taivadees and Mantorah — their lands, their arms, their grievances.
Enter the worldTales from Miljah
Short fiction from the far corners of the High Sun Realms and beyond — the people, the places, and the wars the novels pass by.
Read the talesThe Author
Arden Emil writes from the deserts of Southern Utah, in the shadow of the Henry Mountains, with a hands-on approach to the tools of a medieval world.
About Arden Emil
Heritage of Loss
Prologue
The sun’s last gleaming pillars burst through the sable veil of smoke; like columns of some great building whose ceiling was of mist and cloud. Within one of these radiant beams Kaileth slumped over the front of his horse’s saddle, cradling the small bundle in his lap. A long thin shadow from the arrow shaft lodged in his left shoulder ran over the etched steel of his pauldron and down onto the rings of his maille shirt.
He stopped his horse upon the crest of a ridge and turned his face toward the setting of the sun. The landscape that surrounded him resembled a grand painting of dynamic colors, both beautiful and sad. The warm sunlight felt comforting, as the touch of a longed-for friend, driving the chill from his tears.
Turning his gaze from the warmth of the sun, he looked upon the sight that caused his grief. In the distance lay a great city, lit now by the fires that burned within it. Her once golden stone walls were now black from the scorching of fires, and red from the spilling of blood. The sounds of battle had changed to those of slaughter. Children crying, women screaming, and the roar of the conquering foe echoed through the streets, filling the air about the lofty towers. Kaileth slowly turned from this terrible sight and continued to ride away from the city. As he turned he shifted the cloth-wrapped bundle he held close in his arms.
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Available Now
Heritage of Loss
Paperback and ebook. Buying direct sends the most back to the author.