The Unbinding Principle (Fantasy)

This work is the combined effort of several authors working together to craft an overall narrative worthy of the principles that first aligned them. It is an exposition on the dangers of power and the difficulty of balancing such forces in one’s daily experiences. The pitfalls, the betrayals, the temptations, the corruption, and even just the unintended consequences are all on ready display within these pages.

Follow the narrative of your choice, good reader. Do not feel compelled to read everything at a time, as this book diverges and converges in ways that might prove challenging for the uninitiated.

Follow first along the path of Aven and his wife Marne as they deal with the disparate powers between them. Understand the disharmony for what it is. Understand the real distance between their alignments and what it means to their relationship. Find the moments of conflict and the resolutions that do not always meet along the intended course. Accept, along with them, the compromises that have to be made and the tolerance that is necessary in order for peace to be steadily possible. The meaning in this narrative is one of abiding strength. The quiet power of selfless love. And the realization that some struggles are truly worth the effort.

Or perhaps the romance of vampires is more your preference? Well in this case there are two distinct, and yet interwoven, stories to explore. Follow first that of Dardoth in his quest for power. See his inner conflict as he elevates those who ultimately become challengers to his own efforts. View life from the eyes of a master still trying to decide upon his path in spite of having lived a great age. Watch the joint effects of paranoia and loneliness eat at his stability, as the solitude of his position forces him to both confide in and suspect his subordinates. The ultimate question the reader is meant to consider is if the pursuit of power is truly worth the cost?

The second vampiric tale is that of a couple joined in death as in life. A romance of the highest order that speaks plainly of the power of love--and also its clear limitations. For Rayne, a man of conflicting motivations, the loss of his wife challenges him to push to the furthest limits of his strength to regain her. It forces him to become a slave to powers deeper and darker than any he had at first imagined on his previous road to former redemption. It forces him to forsake all in pursuit of that one pure aim. But in the end is he sure that the result is worth the price? For what if something might be lost along the way that cannot quite be regained? What if in the very act of achieving everything one sought to obtain, one realizes they have gathered into their hands the very last thing they expected? For what if, in assuming the ends might justify the means, one truly discovers that it is the means that matter--and that the ends were merely a reflection of this fact the entire time?

Or walk along with Kim, a girl whose failure to gain attention by pursuing the path of life instead exposed her to the temptation of night. See firsthand what it might be like to fully and truly descend into the pits of her own specific hell, leaving her at once conflicted and lost while she recalls the softer warmth of her former righteousness with a dwindling hope of ever again reaching back to that place. Carry with her the building despair and loss of her position. Find in it a common understanding of how some choices can indeed be wrong. And of how bitter that taste can be when joined along with the dawning realization that some of them can also be permanent. The underlining understanding achieved through this narrative is that of reaching consequences. And finally owning them.

Of course there are also more stories to consider. There is, for instance, the love between siblings that drives Claire to seek out her brother after his abduction from her very household. The nightmarish journey that she endures is expressed in a series of light-hearted-turned-dark chapters that mirror the effect of each experience upon her own naive and trusting spirit. Beginning each chapter in her life with a simple whimsy of purpose, the powers she is forced to invoke in order to attain her goals eventually brings her to a place where retribution trades place with innocent yearnings. Where achieving her goal makes her approach that very fine line that only lightly divides her from the powers that have oppressed her versus her own ability to abuse in turn. For what might one do with ultimate power even with the best of intentions?

Or read that parallel story as told from the other side of this pursuit. Delve into it and understand the purposeful strivings of Grim as he seeks both to honor the memory of his father, Jalkian, and to find out once and for all the fates of his sister and mother: a quest whose time has finally come, but whose answers he might not wish to truly discover. For what does one do when what one strives after in hope turns out to be a discovering of missed opportunities. What does one do when one realizes that one’s own final happiness came at the express expense of those one once held most dear? What does one do when one’s current peace is shattered by the unveiling of what one single changed moment in the past might have averted. Join in this discovery of regret. Follow it to its logical conclusion. And then decide if sometimes the search for truth is always worth its discovery.

And, lest we forget, there is also the main line event woven throughout all of this of how the return of a hero to a land--a girl assumed dead these past five years--can lead to the level of upset that only a pedestalled warrior can bring. For Vaysh was grounded in a kind of reality that does not sit well with hero worship. She does not understand, nor appreciate the fawning crowds or even the unexpected influence that come with being made an idol to so many. The craven. The hurt. The injured. The yearning. All the populace with their varied problems and needs threaten to overwhelm all in pursuit of her assumed expectations. When all she really feels inside is hollow--a specific kind of emptiness that comes with awakening to a world gone mad in which all frames of reference have been forever removed. For what might happen when a desire for more humble circumstances might be challenged? What might happen when the striving for humility becomes its own specific kind of boast? Where the withholding of one’s very deepest self is not at all in line with the expectations of the greater good?

Or prefer, perhaps some more light-hearted fare. Follow along with the whimsical Cory as he makes light of his greatest defeats and deftly sidesteps whatever commitments seek to trip him up. Allow his uplifted attitude to help brighten the darker corners of existence. Let his intensity of simple purpose help eclipse the cares that might otherwise fall too heavy. But do not underestimate him either. For in spite of his positivity, Cory has a lesson in understanding that many might otherwise look past. So take the time to hear his message. Take a moment to live inside the specific clarity that he hands out in only the way that he can. And see whether Selene might need sympathy or encouragement in her journey towards understanding as she tries to arrive at the same realization. For her background allows her both an appreciation and apprehension towards his manner. The conflicts of the heart run aground against the simple will to take first principles in order in this statement about how reaching too far afield can sometimes cause more pain than it might be worth.

But if none of this truly resonates, there are still the paths of Rachel and Aaron to consider. Will the mayor’s daughter finally shed enough of her self-righteousness to admit to what might truly matter? Will the self-absorption of the Bow Fighter allow him enough of a moment outside himself to see where his end goal must truly lie? Will he find his mother in the end? Or will he allow himself to be distracted and captivated by Rayne’s deep soul-collecting song of childhood memory? Will he be persuaded or will he stand his ground? Follow this twin tale of clashing arrogance as two distinct personalities wage war upon the things they have most in common. Will the dynamic that drives them apart truly be able to serve a purpose great enough to once again bring them together? This is a tale of finding weakness in strength--as well as the reverse.

Or, finally, there is the account of High Lord Vaece. A complicated individual with motivations outside of one’s regular assumptions, this one-time last practitioner of the Occolux Phase Sphere is on a tragic journey of his own making. A man so wise, he is blinded by his own foresight. An individual with such depth of seeing that he completely looks past the obvious paths, only to end up upon one that would lead to a certain type of loneliness. A maverick whose addiction to knowledge will ultimately result in the fulfilling of all prophecies.

So good reader, prepare yourself to join this multi-hued tale. Inspired after so many like narratives from our own lives. Complete with the people and sometimes places familiar in ways only we might fully understand. Truly our wish is that you enjoy it as much as we appreciated writing it.

Peace.