The first of a series of portraits with the main characters of my personal story “Wormy Roots”
“You are Hvedar Anemone, heir to once-successful entrepreneurs and now a free spirit in search of earnings and a place in life. A series of bad decisions and ruinous accidents led your family to collapse and a series of deaths, leaving you rootless and homeless. If asked, you would say that fate looms over you. You would be lying if you said you don’t grieve the losses, but you are not despairing, at least not yet. You certainly do not intend to despair!
The creation and popularization of photography, as well as the opening of travels to the Edge, which arouse curiosity even among hardened misers - this is what you have decided to bet on, and you are sure you can make money on it. Gambling and hasty decisions have rarely ended well for you, but hey, failures can’t be eternal, right? Procuring a camera and a notable trinket, you head to your future companion in the Edge - a quarrelsome vigere. He definitely won’t refuse you.”
“You are Vergill Nettle, until recently a respected elf, former professor of the Spire, a young vigere with great potential and secrets you prefer to keep silent about. Yes, you were expelled from the Spire for theft, to a lesser extent, and for humiliating a colleague, to a greater extent. The directress said she couldn’t handle the storm of actions you might take. You had to leave, but you regret nothing. Status? Respect? Fame? You will achieve more outside the institution if you wish. You know your worth. You wouldn’t let years of suppressed pain and resentment go unpaid - revenge and the rarest artifact in your collection are a fair price. Thanks for the farewell gift, bastard. Now you are free, and right now, your former student is persuading you to take him to the Edge. You almost refused, but a small artifact as payment still persuaded you to agree. You could never deny yourself the pleasure of adding to your collection and earning easily.”
A brave and stubborn girl in the continuation of a series of portraits of the protagonists.
“You are Ghanna Elder, daughter of a respected professor of natural sciences and one of the first known gedronauts, a researcher of the Edge. From an early age, you absorbed knowledge and explored this world. You may not have always had your parents’ presence, but you know they love you, and you love them in return. Loved. They are no longer. No one is here anymore. An accident, a catastrophe, one after another. You went through many relatives and still ended up alone. It hurts, but you will cope. You are a worthy heir to your parents, and you will not allow yourself to fail. You know and can do a lot despite your age.
The loss brought you to the capital of the Northern Republic, the capital of magic. Your mother was from here, and you were told that Anemone lives here - a distant cousin who should take care of you. You are the last living relatives for each other, and you are mutually not thrilled with each other. He promises to find you the best guardians, and you don’t intend to stay. You are eager to leave but remain and practically force him to take you with him to see with your own eyes the place your mother traveled to. You can’t wait to see the Edge.”
The last and most mysterious of the company of my protagonists
“You are the one whom people prefer not to remember, and the one who was imprisoned in the maze of the Edge. You are the Worm, equal to the gods, and you have been waiting for a very, very, very long time. You have crimes to your name that once radically changed the world, but back then, you couldn’t act otherwise. You didn’t know how to act otherwise and had no chance to find out. Soon, very soon, you will leave your prison, and you can’t wait to meet your three liberators. You so want to live and see the world.”