My Latest Literary Adventures, Still Unfolding.

My life was pretty simple. I was just your everyday Aquarian with an apprenticeship studying under a master healer in the tiny town of Whynslan where many of the Aeralen Eremos live. I was on the path of most Aquarians of my same birthright. Easy. Uncomplicated. Predictable. At least until a few weeks ago, when I discovered that all of Asteryia is in danger. Not the kind of danger that passes swiftly with the chance of recovery. No, this is the apocalyptic kind of peril that wipes out everyone and everything we have ever known.

For the last eight hundred years, four realms have divided Asteryia: Aeralen, Fyrea, Khthonea, and Hudorlen. Our zodiac signs and the gods of each realm rule our magic. Aeralen, where I live, is the home of the air signs: Aquarius, Libra, and Gemini. To the southern border of Aeralen, we have Fyrea, the realm of the fire signs: Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. At the northeastern border of Fyrea is Khthonea, the home of the earth signs: Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn. And at the heart of Asteryia, we have Hudorlen. Hudorlen is the realm of the water signs: Cancer, Pisces, and Scorpio. Hudorlen is an uncharted island that only the water signs willfully inhabit for more reasons than one. Not the least being that Hades himself rules over the Scorpios.

As with most magic, the intensity of our power is driven by forces outside of our control. I mean, I am a water bearer that is months past my Accession, and I can barely wield a single drop of water. Pretty typical of a lowly born Eremos with no training, but still frustrating, to say the least.

The realms interact little outside of trade and meetings of the Heliaias. That started to change two years ago when all of Asteryia began to lose daylight. It was subtle at the beginning. The shorter days of winter simply held on through the spring. Then, the summer days became even shorter than the spring's. This past winter cost us more than an hour of daylight we have not gotten back. That is what brought me here. Away from my simple existence to this treacherous journey to stop the darkness from devouring my world.

Oh, gods save us all. What in the House of Hades have I gotten myself into?