Arclight Hollows: 8 Stories set in the epic world of LegendHaven, by LegendFiction Authors
From the imagination of Dominic de Souza, these authors share their original stories set in the the brilliant, desert-edged realm of Arclight Hollows.
LegendHaven is an epic world of gods and monsters, of continents so vast that portals are the only way across. As the magic fades from the gates, schools of mages desperately gather across the centuries to share stories and answers.
From the imagination of Dominic de Souza, these authors share their original stories set in the the brilliant, desert-edged realm of Arclight Hollows. These eight unique takes on the adventure, mystery, and thrilling beauty of a world once weird and wild with magic.
Each story explores a unique facet of this wild world, this frontier between kingdoms.
We hope you enjoy them, enjoy the world of LegendHaven, and enjoy how some of the coolest storytellers in the world welcome you to their worlds.
Nurim, an Excalibyrn-trained mage-warrior risks his life to win the Chalimancer trials, by Dominic de Souza.
Hidar is accepts a death-defying challenge to prove the old stories true, by Jade Howell.
Naia loses her amulet, and with it all the memories of her stories, by Maria Pasquale.
Vi’Jave is a mage-warrior who ferrets out a dark plot to poison the wells, and chases the murderers into the desert, by Ringil
Bujir flees with a magician’s grimoire, chased by his master and a flight of deathly dune drakes, by Carl Olson.
A stranger named Jack tries to charm a meal from an innkeeper, but his story of adventure and lost gold beggars belief, by Joseph Leach
Irvine discovers a clue that threatens to wreck her future, or save it, by Gwendolyn Benefiel
Haunted, Orbit’s body is failing him, so he turns to new tools to enchant and enliven those who hear his stories, by Gabi Batel
The Realm of Arclight Hollows
Welcome to Bonespire Bazaar, also known as Ribgate Crossing, or Arclight Hollows.
The canyon rises like the broken ribs of a god, curved against the setting sun, shadowing a city of amber and violet. Roads bridge over stairs, built on the bones of older roads, older stairs, older ruins. The walls are maps drawn over maps, until truth blurs into myth.
This is a sacred city, a neutral oasis where violence is outlawed, and disputes are settled over storytelling and date wine.
Heat-slick banners hang low and heavy. Lanterns sparkle in the cool gloom. The storytellers and acolytes step through portals.
Some send aspects, and friends speak through bodies of shimmering glass, their minds tethered to palantirs hundreds of leagues away, eyes bright with the light of other skies.
Old friends meet and new voices babble like sudden rain.
The air tastes of cumin and barbecued meat; smells of spiced flatbread, sizzling fruits, and the resin of desert incense. The crowd is thick with cinnamon hearthsmoke. This is a hub on the edge of ten worlds, ten realms mingling in one festival. It’s been a hundred years since the last one, rumored to be near the tiled harbors, the blue coves of the far islands.
Beyond the gates, the desert waits.
Dunedrakes wing over the sands, deepwyrms turn under the earth in slow thunder. It’s said that Ribgate Crossing is the remains of an ancient great wyrm, so old that its marrow-places are now market places, its spine a string of pearly blue caves that cradle fresh water.
Maps over maps… banners divide secrets into rooftop societies, bonding over gulps of date wine and the shuffling rustle of traders unburdening their pack animals, palming ink-stamped messages from across the borders.
This city is older than the sands, from before the drakes and wyrms. The toothless wall-carvers grunt it is older than the gods. Who knows. The music comes from everywhere. Kite-drawn rafts with sails like giant birds careen in through mirages. Sandsleds and side-runners, nimble glassfin racers, even great trimarans with their spirit totems and leashed lantern crabs.
The desert is far from barren. Sandstorms routinely unearth layers of past roads, cities, and sunken civilizations.
Sometimes, travellers say that time pools differently in the lightning-sheared glass fields between canyons. Things simply… disappear for weeks. Or never return.
The bravest kite skimmers, manta-riders, or Windlancers (drake riders), riding the migratory wind rivers, say they can see giant cymatic patterns of ridges and sunken canyons. Everything means something, and the hooded, kite-riding teens and dream-dousing wanderers hunger to know.
The Lesser Scionate struggles to keep the peace. Everything is a single story away from chaos. In this bazaar of shade and murmuring arches, news and stories change hands like coin. It is here that the tournament of legends pits tale and tongue together, and after the Silent Hour, the whistling stadium crowds vote on the stories they love best.
Because stories are how souls survive.
Meet the Authors
Dominic de Souza: A dad and novelist nuts about worldbuilding, helping friends find their freedom, and build a future we believe in. I’m a graduate from the Writer’s Institute for Children’s Literature, self-publish my novels because I’m impatient, serial entrepreneur because no one can stop me, and work full time in marketing and design. I am married, with a small girl and a smaller corgi. I write epic fiction for children and young adults, blog to sort my thoughts, and host podcasts to chat with cool people. LegendFiction is my passion. Website: dominicdesouza.com
Jade Howell: I love fantasy books especially Cinder and Howls moving castle. I have one story published by LegendFiction, it’s called The Trial’s of Morgana le Fay, published in Echoes of Avalon. I’m currently working on book one of a trilogy called Elven Secrets. I’ve also recently added a side project, a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. Website: jadehowell.substack.com
Maria Pasquale: A Catholic teen who has been writing for as long as she can remember. She loves all things J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, J. Austen, and L.M. Montgomery. If she isn’t buried in a book, you can find her playing violin, sewing, or wandering in the forest, on the search for an adventure. Her motto is, as said by St. Teresa of Avila, “Life is to live in such a way that we are not afraid to die.”
Ringil: I am totally a human teen and not an elf, and I am studying engineering and creative writing, and have a lot of ineffectual coding experience. I am currently working on writing a story called “Draconomicon of Shay” about a character named Shay who becomes a dragon. Also, I am not new, just a professional crastinator.
Carl Olson: I come from a family of late bloomers: married in my late 20’s, became a father in my late 30’s, then started a career as a 21st century librarian. My current work in progress is a two-part fantasy novel based on a sixty-page children’s story I wrote in the 1990’s. René Girard writes somewhere that one way or another, every first novel is about the author, and yes, it’s a YA novel with an elderly giant hero, with aches & pains familiar to aging tall persons. I have had three rejections so far, which I count as progress.
Joseph Leach: A scientist, theologian, poet and author; Joseph Leach started writing fantasy and science fiction while still studying science at the University of Melbourne. He went on to get his Ph.D. as part of a NASA guest investigation into the Martian polar ice caps. Since then, he has worked as an Air Force intelligence officer, a government research scientist and a university lecturer. In this capacity, he has co-authored six technical books and over eighty scientific papers. An ordained deacon of the Catholic Church, in 2020 his first adult fantasy novel was published by Stone Table Books.
Gwendolyn Claire Benefiel: Gwendolyn is a young artist, author, musician, and animator. She loves drinking tea, playing harp, and reading in her free time. Website: linktr.ee/skycedar
Gabriella Batel: I’m Gabriella Batel, author of heart-in-your-throat novels, including my acclaimed debut series, a collective total of 10 years in the works, Don’t, YA thrillers with a supernatural twist! I’m also an adrenaline-craving Catholic woman with a spunky love for God and my family, plus a fiery passion for acting, movies, running, music, and all things YA fiction. And, by the way, I’m already working on the next thrill ride…. Website: gabriellabatel.com
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Here's a link to my story: the Chalimancer Trial, for all to enjoy free. https://open.substack.com/pub/dominicmdesouza/p/the-chalimancer-trial