Manx thought she was through with going on quests. And of course the universe has to conspire against her once again. The Dragon Empress has been trapped in the form of a vulnerable human girl and trapped in another world, her memories fading fast...
Hello dear readers! I never thought we would get this far so fast and so soon, and writing this story really has been a journey. As I have a bad habit of turning my letters into novels, as all the people who receive my correspondence know, this could possibly run a little long. This series started with a dream, a dream of a girl on a quest drowning and another of her questing party refusing to help her while the others try and pull her out of the water. And thus the character of Manx began to take root in my heart. Her shadows, the shadows that surround her, are allegorical to her fears and talents and a difference in her that causes other people to fear her and treat her differently, even though she cannot control it. Everyone sees her differently, but Vaskin is one of the few who sees the beauty in her difference and falls madly in love for her because of it, even though at first she refuses to reciprocate his affection. Because of her powers, Manx is ostracized and cast out of society for nothing she did wrong and she blames herself the most for the pain other people have caused. Her dungeon represents the bounds of conformity to a certain way that she is trapped within most of her life until the new Empress comes to power and accepts the differences that make Manx so frightening to others. And the shadows also represent her struggle with her own darkness, the darkness within, the lies she was led to believe about herself and the temptation to be the monster they make her out to be. I have struggled with very similar pains and problems in my life that may not be as physically severe as hers, but are as such equally scarring. The need to belong was never a part of my brain I suppose until around middle school when it kicked in very fast when I made some close friends, and then I was struggling with my autistic brain and always messing things up for myself socially and emotionally. I always had a deep love of stories seated early on because fantasy characters would always sympathize and offer a shoulder to cry on whilst real people where the epitome of rejection. And often my parents were there physically, but they never understood what I was going through. And so I created fantasy worlds and fictional characters to be that social group I desperately needed. I have been writing stories all my life and honing my craft in hope that one day my audience will come to understand my struggle and know they are not alone in theirs, and that I will be able to heal from my past. And this story has done so much more for me than I could ever imagine, even before I had much of an audience and was still drawing my concept art with mini sharpies. And so I present you my story, the story of a battered and broken heart trying to find a place in the world. Thank you for reading.
Sincerely, Joy Destiny Eliason
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