Be kind...my first synopsis trying to work out some kinks. There's a lot of backstory I left out to keep it short...but the essentials are here.
Note: this is on an original world.
Back Story: About 400 years ago humans lived in harmony with elemental spirits who taught them how to harness the elements for magic. However one devious spirit, sick of coexisting with humankind, convinced a group of magic users to build and open the gate to the Shadowlands [where these spirits originated] by promising that it would give them eternal life. When they opened the gate they unleashed dark spirits (daemons) that brought violence, war and death. The magic users managed to close the gate, but it was too late, thousands of daemons had already escaped. Mankind was nearly wiped out and many went into hiding.
In the aftermath, the magic users were confronted by spirits and cursed to hunt down and banish all the daemons, they had released, back to the Shadowlands. For their protection “guardians”, human/demon hybrids were made to ensure they would survive the fight. For years they hunted down the demons but before they could finish their task, it was discovered that they had opened the gate and the rising religious monarchy ordered their execution. All text and artifacts on magic use were destroyed for fear of the gate being opened again, but their gates could not be destroyed. The cities near them were abandoned and they became forgotten.
The Plot (skip to 400 years later):
My MC is a girl named Devi. She has a decent life--she just finished with school, has friends, a new apartment and a prestigious apprenticeship that might lead to a job. Everything seemed to be falling into place until she receives news of her mother’s death. Devi and her mother have not seen each other for ten years, as her mother sent her away to boarding school when she was twelve. Even during the little time she had spent with her mother, she was second to her mother’s work. Nevertheless she plays the good daughter and appears at the funeral, where she is bequeathed a box of her mother’s possessions. When she opens the box, a spirit [no better name for it now] appears to inform her that her mother’s debt has been passed down to her and that she is obligated to fulfill it. Turns out she descended from one of the magic users that opened the gate some 300 years ago (it passes from first born child to their first born child). She initially refuses but is warned that she either hunts them or she will become hunted (as most daemons want to remain on earth).
So she tries the demon hunting thing for a while and realizes she’s pretty good at it, but balancing it with her current life turns out to be incredible difficult. Then she is nearly killed (her roommate is not so lucky) by a surprise attack during “non-hunting time” by a daemon that claims to have killed her mother. She tries to fight but is mortally wounded. She is saved by a “guardian” [half human/demon originally created to protect the cursed gated openers] before she passes out. The daemon escapes. The “guardian” takes her to the priest, who had given her mother’s funeral, for safety [priest were known for combating daemons, etc]. When she wakes up, the priest explains what happens and offers her a safe haven. He also hints that he knew her mother fairly well.
As Devi recovers, she is visited by the spirit, which is angered by her lack of action. She is still shaken by the death of her best friend and tries to make a deal with the spirit. If she banishes the daemon that killed her mother then she is free from the debt. The spirit takes the deal but only if the daemon is banished and not killed. The reason the spirit accepts this deal is that this particular daemon is very powerful and has been eluding them by possessing bodies and living in them for long periods of time. So she sets out to avenge her mother and end her family’s debt.
Along the story a few of the things that will happen:
--We learn that the daemons once lived outside the Shadowlands and were jealous of the humans, which is why they want to stay. Many try to possess humans because they can experience things they cannot.
--Devi learns that her mother’s distance was for a reason. She was sent away about a few years after her mother became the new debt holder for the family. She learns a lot about her mother and it changes her opinions about her a bit.
--Devi is captured by the daemon as he plans to use her to open the gate again
Yeah…that’s about it for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment