Deloran (Firestar, #1) / Firestar (ePub)

It was an art through which men and women were able to realize their own will, an art by which a person could exert control over themselves and their surroundings. It was an art that enabled one to become a master of self, and this art, this magic, was once seen as a gift. As the ages progressed, understanding of magic grew, and it steadily turned from a heavenly blessing into a man-made curse. The Saline Realm, latest inheritor of this art, formed as a beneficiary of its power, but it also attracted the ire of the Outer Realms as a result.

Cited as an affront to the laws of nature, war erupted among the seven realms as six united to destroy the nation of Salia. Surrounded by enemies, the Saline Realm contracted and fought hopelessly for survival, but during a season of abject desperation, a figure rose to prominence whose influence and strength would turn the war in their favor. His will leveled cities, his enmity burned legions to ash, and his wrath formed craters in the landscape. He became known as the Great Destroyer, and after two centuries of fighting, the war ended with the Salians claiming victory.

While returning to the Saline Realm, her champion hoped to be acknowledged as a person. Through no will of his own, he was brought into the fight. Through no desire of his own, he became a weapon of war, but the bitter, prejudiced words of his compatriots marred this hope. Comforted only by his captain, he came back to a people ambivalent to his humanity, and he left the battlefield of nations to be embroiled in a new struggle at home.