Hi guys, this is pretty long but here is the complete summary of my first novel, :timeThe People of Time
. Please please take time to read this and leave comments on what you think of it, or if there seems to be a hole in the plot, don't hesitate to tell me. This isn't final yet. Some parts haven't even been conceptualized yet. There are currently 8 chapters uploaded.
THE SETTING
There are twelve countries, one for each element. The protagonist lives in the land of Time, and goes to Millia Academy. There is a forest in there called the Forest of Reminiscence where students are forbidden to go inside, but the security is rather slack so Synth manages to go inside there one day.
THE RACES
People are classified into races depending on their element. Chronicler for Time, Spade for Entropy; Ember for Fire, Rainmaker for Water; Lensmaker for Light, Shadow for Darkness, Fallen for Gravity, Chord for Air; Elven for Life, Reaper for Death; Walker for Earth and Passover for Aether. They also need to summon their Grimoire in order to cast spells, summon permanents or call creatures. The Grimoire takes different forms for each element, but the Grimoire for Time is a feather quill.
THE CHARACTERS
Synth – the main protagonist. He is an orphan taken in by a mysterious woman who refuses to tell him her name every time he asks her. No one knows why, but he was born with a black mark on his face, spanning across his left eye and cheek. As a result, the people around him surmise that he might be an affiliate of Darkness. He is currently on his first year in Millia Academy.
Synth’s Mother – very jolly and childish personality. She uses several aliases for several purposes and hence, no one knows her real name.
Legalmier – Synth’s mother’s boyfriend. Comes for a visit every now and then.
Fullante – headmaster of Millia
Heather – the girl Synth meets in chapter 1. She is a Half-Blood affiliated with Air and Time. Very smart, and a model student in every way. However, she chooses not to divulge too much attention towards her.
Clayton – senior student serving as a part time assistant at one of their subjects. He is affiliated with Time and Fire. An arrogant and very competitive person, as is customary for the people of Fire. Though he admits Time and Fire are not very compatible elements, he still challenges nearly everyone he meets to a duel.
Keith – mysterious classmate. Always wears a cloak.
Tommy – Gravity and Air. Lacks self confidence but can be dependable in times of need.
Rogue – eccentric and weird. Complacent emo. Teacher in one of the basic courses in Millia. His element is Death and he admits at chapter 4 that he is not a Chronicler.
THE PLOT
Part I
Synth meets Heather (chapter 1) in a chance encounter while she was flying over the Forest of Reminiscence. She easily becomes his first friend in the school. They spent their first session in Basic Elemental Manipulation in chapter 2, courtesy of an unusual teacher Rogue. It is taken only during Fridays. The next day, Synth gets sick and his mother says that it was probably because of Rogue, recounting how he was always too powerful for a Reaper. They go into the island of Cordelia in chapter 3 to search for a Tearlet Pearl, which his mother later forges into a purification amulet, Amber Pulse. She advises Synth to wear it every time he goes into Rogue’s room.
Synth comes to school in chapter 4 to find that Heather had lost her locket, probably because of the fight she had with Clayton last Friday. Yeah, they dueled. Anyway, the locket supposedly belonged to her brother as a parting gift. That’s why it was so important. They search for it, and find out that Keith had it. She said it broke from the impact of the battle but she already fixed it, also revealing to Synth that she was a Walker (Earth).
Synth continually fails to summon his Grimoire during the succeeding weeks, and keeps having nightmares of a cloaked skeleton tied to chains. He finally manages to conjure it at the end of chapter 5, but not after getting into a fight with his mother. At first it was bright orange and huge, like a Phoenix feather according to Rogue and the headmaster, but later it corrodes into a black color, which arouses people’s suspicions about Synth being a Shadow even more. Also, Synth cant tame any Creatures.
Okay, those above were nothing but exposition. This is where the plot really starts into high gear. Warning. Spoilers.
LAST WARNING! SPOILERSSSS!!!!
(Well it’s not like the novel is proceeding smoothly anyway. Read on)
Glitches in the flow of time occur randomly in nature. They are called Desynchronization Errors (for the lag, right?) and it’s a Chroniclers job to fix these. They are teamed into fours in a race to repair their designated Desynchronization Errors, but because of lack of students, Synth ends up with Keith and Clayton.
They arrive at a remote looking village and spend the night there, only to wake up in the middle of the night to find the whole area in flames. Keith was missing, and at the same time a mysterious stranger riding a Devonian Dragon shows up. They battle.
Using the Flame Aura Skill (which angers the target by saying the thing that will anger him/her most) Clayton and Synth find out that he was Heather’s brother. What’s unusual is that he can control nearly all the elements, leaving them in the very brink of defeat. Fortunately Heather came in time, along with Tommy and two other girls, a Lensmaker and a Rainmaker. They confront each other and Brother (no name yet) leaves for the time being.
With the village turned to ashes and nowhere else to go, they start to head back into Millia to report the incident, but something strange happens along the way. It was like dejavu. No matter how far they walked and walked, they always ended up inside the village area. So they waited until dawn, and surprisingly, for some reason the village had returned. They also find Keith, who seems to have forgotten about all of them, and so have the villagers. It is also revealed that, under that cloak, the she is actually a he.
As Keith’s memories gradually return, they find out that Heather’s brother is trying to cast the forbidden spell of Entropy, Metamorphosis. Heather then tells them the history behind his brother, that the land of Air is very strict when it comes to the purity of blood. Those who are born Half-Bloods were considered inferior to society, as was already the case with Heather, but her brother had turned out far worse. He was not a Chord to begin with. Hence, he was considered a disgrace and was expelled from his own country.
She doesn’t know how he ended up there, but it was clear they had to stop him, for the truth and for the Desync they were to repair. For anyone who played Splash Fighters I’m planning on adding three of the accessories here: Demolition Grab for Clayton, Dual Pistols for Synth and Soul Cutter for Keith, all courtesy of Keith of course because of her superb blacksmithing capabilities.
They get one final giant boss battle with Heather’s brother. They don’t necessarily beat him (because he can control so many elements, he’s been gathering quanta for three years straight as a requirement for the spell). The final stage of the spell is that a huge barrier of swirling quanta forms around the caster, but Keith and Synth were caught inside. It’s oneway, meaning you can’t get in, only out. Because there can only be one master of Metamorphosis, they plummet into a wild dogfight into driving the other out of the barrier.
Synth ends up the last one, and as the spell of Metamorphosis activates, he meets an ethereal creature that he believes to be the Oracle of Entropy. He asks Synth what element he wishes to have, but he just responds that he is fine the way he is now. He returns to his senses and realizes that the fight is finally over. They interrogate Heather’s brother about why the village was destroyed and restored, but he does not know the details.
Then Keith finally remembers and leads them into a mountain, which was made of sand and not a mountain at all. At the top of it was a small, baseless hourglass. It didn’t have the top or bottom cover, so it was open, and every now and then a few drops of sand would fall from the skies into the hourglass. In short, the mountain was the total amount of sand that had accumulated since the creation of that hourglass.
This was the Desynchronization, and Keith reveals that the entire village, including him, were dead long ago. The village was in fact the ancient village of Cronistoria, which was notable in history books as the small village that was wiped entirely overnight by an army of Fire during the world war.
The hourglass had been rewinding the time of the village, or the last few weeks that the village and its people existed, over and over again. Also, the reason they could not go out was that it was sacred ground. An anomaly brought about by the Desynchronization. It does not exist in the map. Hence, there is absolutely no way to enter it or leave it.
The only reason they were able to go into the village was that for Synth’s team, Keith was there and he knew Cronistoria. He knew where to find it so it was as though he acted as a guide for them. Heather’s team on the other hand, found the village because of her brother’s presence. Chords have a special skill, Remote Sense, which acts like a sort of radar, allowing the caster to determine the presence and exact location of a person.
Of course, it doesn’t work for people who are too far, but when Heather sensed her brother was there, even though she couldn’t believe it, she immediately ran towards the location of the presence, the others trailing behind her. It was her brother who served as the catalyst to lead them there. As to how his brother got into the village himself, they do not know, nor did they know. They separated paths shortly after that.
They successfully repair the Desynchronization, which means the village finally gets to rest in peace. But that also means so will Keith. He says his last farewell to them, and hands over his Cloak of Midnight (which grants invisibility) to Synth. They finally head back to Millia Academy, hoping that they hadn’t caused as much trouble as they imagined.
Part II
Once they return to Millia, their stories of Cronistoria attracts a lot of attention and they are considered heroes for a while. However, all that is about to change, when a report of the Shard of Freedom being stolen reaches into the land of Time. It had allegedly been missing already for a few months, but the land of Air decided not to publicize it in case a crouching country wages war on them (they’ll lose immediately). And as it turns out, that was the exact reason by which Heather was sent to the land of Time, not to study but rather to investigate the situation of things, as there were signs that it was a Chronicler who stole the Shard of Freedom.
Suddenly, video evidence comes out and Synth is convicted for recently stealing the Shard of Integrity. The others are all baffled, because they knew full well Synth was with them during the whole time in Cronistoria. However, because they were in a temporally sealed space, they can’t provide evidence.
It also turns out that the video came from his own mother. She doesn’t answer to anything he says. Synth is sent to trial, and is then sent to Fremantle, the most well guarded prison in the land of Gravity. It is physically impossible for anyone to force their way in or out with sheer brute force.
Okay, I admit I still have trouble with this part, but ideally Synth should be able to get out using only sneak tactics, like the Cloak of Midnight perhaps, and with help from those who were with him at Cronistoria, especially Heather. Heather says she still knows it wasn’t Synth, so she helps him escape and distracts the other Chords.
Synth ends up somewhere in the land of Darkness using a Teleportation Crystal. He meets a lot of people there and realizes that the people of Darkness aren’t evil at all. It’s just a negative connotation. However, his stay there is short-lived as forces of Light, having allied themselves with Air, attack them. They try to defend him, but Synth leaves the village to avoid anymore casualties.
This is the long part. Synth is a refugee, a rogue, and goes on a journey across different places to avoid prosecution. And incidentally, the Shards are being stolen one by one, until only the Shard of Readiness is left. He also keeps dreaming of the cloaked skeleton, and still has no Creatures up to this point, only relying on Spells to stall the enemy.
Synth (probably reuniting with at least one of the minor characters in some way, not sure yet) decides that the best thing to do now, since he is already branded as a world famous thief and all, is to stake out and steal the last Shard before the real criminal does.
Then, in a major twist of events, he finds his mother at the <<place where the Shard is being kept>>. She is then arrested, and Synth is cleared of his name, though he still finds it very hard to believe it was her who was stealing the Shards. Synth rests uneasy with a feeling of hollowness and foreboding, until Legalmier, his mother’s boyfriend, comes to him and finally tells him everything.
Legalmier is a False God, Gemini. Synth’s mother is also a False God, Destiny. He has the power to change into different appearances, and admits that he had at certain times copied Destiny under her instruction and stayed with Synth inside the house. He also reveals that it was he who copied Synth’s appearance, hence the video of him stealing the Shard. He argues that Destiny had him arrested not to throw the blame but to keep him safe, because Fremantle is still the safest place in the world. No one can go after Synth there.
However, his escape changes everything, which was not expected as Destiny can see the future. Legalmier explains that the true person stealing all the Shards is another False God, Osiris. He doesn’t know the reason why yet, but tells Synth that Destiny’s order was to take Synth to the Fountain of Truth. He knows, however, that the Shard of Readiness in the land of Time is a fake and Destiny is probably sending Synth to the real one. The Fountain of Truth is located in the land of Aether. Not much is known about it. Some say it is connected to another element. The only thing they know is that anyone who went in there never made it back again.
Legalmier also tells Synth to “make friends no matter what”.
Part III
The Fountain of Truth is guarded, but with help from his friends Synth manages to dive into its white depths. He enters a trance like state, sharing the same consciousness with a person named Allen. They tell each other stories of themselves, and the reader should realize here that Allen lives in the real world, in our world. Their consciousness merge into one body and the Allen-Synth tandem wakes up in Allen’s human body, but still retaining the battle mechanics of the elements.
Allen finds the Shard in the grandfather clock in his house, but just then, someone emerges from the darkness. An unknown person. This was Osiris. They battle in an attempt to take each other’s Shards. Osiris casts the forbidden spell of Time, Fissure, which creates a rift in the fabric of time space continuum. The whole world is frozen except only for them and the shards. Osiris summons a Pharoah (rare Creature).
This is where Allen meets his first Creature, a Ghost of the Past. This was the cloaked figure he had been constantly dreaming about. In a miraculous turn of events, Keith finds Allen again, saying that the place they were in are like time pockets which Keith can slip through every now and then. Allen not only manages to hold his ground, but also takes back some of the Shards from Osiris. He also learns the truth here.
The last Pharoah, Amon Ra, used the forbidden spell of Aether, which creates a sort of parallel universe version of the caster. It’s not an exact copy. Some things can go wrong. Anyway, Amon Ra used it and brought forth into existence the False God Osiris. I still haven’t decided a reason for this yet, but Osiris, instead of serving his master’s wish, went against it and left.
He found a small village and lived there, married and had one kid. But unfortunately, war broke out and the entire village was wiped out by the army of Fire. He grieved the loss of his comrades very deeply and used his Blessing as a False God to rewind the time of the village over and over again. Even if it was just the last few weeks, in his mind their life would be eternal. He also left the village named Cronistoria.
It would have been an eternal loop, if only it wasn’t for his son. Because Osiris’ son was a Half-Blood of Time, Aether, Earth and Entropy. That was Keith. His mother was only a Time-Earth combination, while his father Osiris was Time-Gravity. He was literally a prodigy, a genius having four elemental affiliates. All the other villagers are purebloods.
Because of his non-Time affiliates, unlike everyone else, Keith was able to remember what happened during every rewind. His mother might have remembered too, but she died before the attack on Cronistoria. He proceeds to convince the village that they are in an eternity time loop, but no one believes him because no one remembers.
Though he remembers, Keith can’t get out of the village due to his affiliates, so he casts the forbidden spell of Aether and creates a new Reaper named Rogue, who is unaffected by the village. He was tasked to hunt down Osiris, but fails in the end. He is also the protagonist’s teacher now.
With no choice left, Keith casts Metamorphosis and changes himself into a pureblood Darkness. This way he can get out of the village and still remember that they were rewinding, but there is a decrease in his memory and sometimes, he would remember only when the village was about to burn up again.
It is also revealed in a side chapter that Osiris by a chance encounter met Heather’s brother, and it was Osiris who told him about the Blessing and that if he was trying to cast Metamorphosis, Cronistoria was the best place to gather Quanta. And so, brother ended up in Cronistoria, and the reason Keith went at great lengths to go to Millia was to contact Rogue and find people who could prevent brother’s plans.
Osiris and Keith reunite as father and son, and when asked of his motive for stealing the Shards, Osiris says that it was because the land of Time is disappearing. Because the population of Time is already about 10% Half-Bloods, the purity of Chroniclers is disappearing, and Osiris fears that one day, should a war break out, no one will choose to stay at a stall-oriented element anymore.
Osiris plans to destroy the Shards to weaken the other countries. That way he ensures that even if another world war is to come, Time won’t be underhanded. Or at least he says that to lock it up in that time fissure was good enough, because no one will find it there anymore.
Okay, I don’t know how this is going to happen but Synth is going to convince Osiris that the land of Time is not what he thinks it to be, that the Chroniclers of today are still faithful to their blood. And he should know this, given how he was always discriminated because of the black mark on his face.
Osiris finally agrees to return the Shards, but Allen-Synth finds out that to get out of the fissure, they need a huge amount of Time Quanta, and there is only one Shard of Readiness, good for only one person. Osiris tells Synth to take it, revealing that the spell was once referred to as the Spell of the Pharoah. A Pharoah’s fate is to be entombed in his pyramid, and only then will he be considered eternal. Born from a Pharoah, Osiris says his dream is also one day to become eternal just like Amon Ra. To become a true pharaoh, Time Fissure was Osiris’ pyramid, and he will dwell inside it for the rest of time. It was the price for casting a forbidden spell.
Allen refuses to use the Shard and insists that it’s alright if he spends eternity alone, but Osiris opens the portal and throws Allen over to the other side, where time flows normally. Insert tearful farewells here. The time flow in Allen’s house returns to normal, and Osiris and Keith are gone. Allen has the Shards and when he fell asleep that night, Synth returned to the world of elements.
At first, he thought he would be branded a disgrace for using/destroying the Shard of Readiness, but the people of Time openly accept him. Rogue says that he did the right thing, that in its own way, he protected time. Synth reunites with Destiny and she tells him secretly that the world of the elements and the real world are connected by dreams. When you fall asleep in the real world, you wake up in the world of elements, and vice versa.
Synth’s achievement was considered an act of heroism and the countries all agree to protect the land of Time for returning their Shards. Synth agrees never to call her Destiny. The end.
Preview of the second book, The Dreamweaver’s Curse:
This time the story takes place mostly in the real world. Allen gets a severe case of insomnia and Synth falls asleep for a really long time. The case gets worse when Allen finds a looming dark tower in the middle of the city which apparently only he can see. For anyone who plays the game, I think it’s pretty obvious now which False God is behind this.
