Lore

The story

A short account of the world these songs come from, and of the young hunter's story. His name is Ash.

Ash was born in Stoneward, the capital of the kingdom of Embervale, in the world of Ridgefold, where dragons, elves, dwarves, and monsters live alongside people. At ten he is driven from his home. He lives on scraps under the city wall, then escapes through the gate into the mountains and finds a warm cave: a dragons' den. The dragons try to chase him out, and he hides in a dark, warm corner. In time they feed him, keep him warm, and give him hunter's clothes and a leather jacket. When he is eleven, the great dragons call him son, and the little ones call him brother.

At eleven the dragons give him two glowing daggers and a white bow made from the bone of an ancient dragon, in which a trace of that dragon's soul remains. The blue dagger holds water magic and can freeze whatever it strikes; the green one holds nature magic and can poison or put to sleep. An arrow from the white bow can be strengthened with the magic of wind, fire, or water. Ash trains until he is strong enough to wield the daggers and the bow. The dragons of wind, fire, and water teach him their magic. At fourteen, imprisoned in the Dark Citadel, he gains a black bow that shimmers with a faint glow; it shoots ordinary arrows, but it can also shoot arrows of pure mana.

The grown dragons hunt in distant valleys. His little brothers and sisters, the yearlings among them, share the cave with him. High above the ice lives the First Crest, an ancient dragon more than thirty thousand years old.

There are people in the tales too. The men of the city who drove him out. At thirteen, on the forest road from Stoneward to Hearthgate, he saves a wagon family from wild forest monsters: Mark, his wife, and their daughter Rina, with her blue eyes and red hair. Mark now runs a restaurant in Hearthgate and treats Ash like a son, and at kind-hearted Ann's inn the boy can stay the night whenever he comes to town. Ash helps the people of Hearthgate, but he still lives in the wild.

The Dark Citadel, the evil power of Embervale: a dark fortress deep in the forest, with a moat and a bridge. Forces of evil rule the Dark Citadel, and they want to seize power over the whole land. The dragons hold them back, which is why the forces of the Dark Citadel keep trying to destroy the dragons and the young hunter.

At fifteen, in chapter 500.1, Ash sets out on his own for the first time, though the dragons' cave is still his home. On that road he meets a ghostly white tiger with violet stripes and helps it fight five wild bears. The tiger becomes the young hunter's friend and companion.

The songs stay epic, warm, and protective. Each song is a short episode from Ash's life.