Darkness loomed in the depths of the charred vales of Alurye. Although it had been some many years since the blood dragonflight emerged and played its petty hand with the nelri of Ailyrenai, bringing an age of dread and mourning with it. Thousands of precious lives were lost in that struggle, but it was not just the nelri who suffered. Nothing was safe from the soaring flames of their insatiable persecutors that reduced forestland to ash. Yet in time Alurye would heal from such troubles. The Phoenix King of that age, Eldarin the Sagacious, made sure of that and sent the greatest of his people’s elementalists to survey and restore the ruined vales as a testament that not even the flames of dragons could break the spirit of Ailyrenaians.

Yet the scope of the damage the dragons had done was too daunting for some, as the lands were touched by more than flame alone. As a lasting insult, before the dragonflight departed from the realms of the nelri once again, the more vile and cunning among them defiled the lands further with shadow magic, corrupting scarred waterways and even the dirt itself; rendering entire areas unsafe for life to run its natural course. And then there were Alurye’s former peaceful residents...

Those who did not fall or were taken back as spoils of war to the dragonflight’s unknown lairs were no longer what anyone saw as friends to the Creator and His children. Twisted and heartless, many of the former people of Alurye became creatures lurking among the shadows, devouring friend and foe alike as their corrupted bodies took the shape of zysinorah and worse. And at that stage not even Eldarin took the threat of their existence with passing uninterest. It was not long before the Phoenix Guard stepped into the fray and begun cleansing the lands of their kind in ways few could recall with fondness. Although among them were still some of Eldarin's elementalists that had originally descended upon the vales to heal them.

Many were slaughtered in the chaos, and there were even some among them who fell to the corrupting energies of the lands, becoming some of the worst nightmares the Phoenix Guard had ever faced. And even then many of the elementalists who did survive and were able to keep their sanity and bodies away from the Shadow's temptations were seen with suspicion and were handed down quests that gave them little chance of endangering the lives of others. And with them... many more fell.

It did not stop those who wanted nothing more than to fulfil their original missions in Alurye. Among them were the finest warriors even the Phoenix Guard grudgingly identified as their betters, who, despite seeing a growing assurance of death, stayed in the vale to mend whatever they could before passing on from the mortal world. Many even vowed that so long as the zysinorah remained there, so would they. It was this selfless mentality that would return Alurye to its former beauty.

Naturally, some faced adversity well beyond the saving of normal souls. Certain elementalists that wandered the vales, gathering samples from the corrupted lands to take back home with them to study and purify, was no easy task. But while the zysinorah tracked after their scents and had minds worthy only of primitive thoughts, the elementalists had the world around them for their protection. And to this end, few thought themselves alone. The heavens knew their plight and were with them.


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... you know something’s wrong when you’ve been drawing one artwork for days, then suddenly give up on it and just sketch something that was purely just meant to be a nice little attempt at a speed painting to settle the nerves. Then as you begin to flesh it out, it hits you. It’s fun and begins looking like something that you believe is one of your better drawings and is finally a serious attempt at drawing a male nelri with saveable attire... all in one day! Blah! Kurse you, evil speed paintings!! ... again.

Was listening to the 'Beyond Good and Evil' soundtrack while drawing this too, so maybe that helped...

Artwork // Lore - © Kristopher P. Love