Otherworld: A Son of Two Realms

Chapter 4: "The Best Book Ever"

Mrs. Crill opened up the discussion, oblivious to Jack's minor stroke. "Okay, so who has read all six books in The War of the Roads saga?"

Almost every single hand shot up.

"And who saw the six movies?"

Every single hand shot up.

"I had a feeling," Mrs. Crill said with a wry grin. "So let's start simple. Who can give me a major contrast between War of the Roads and the Lord of the Rings? Connor?"

"Marcus Ward just had humans in his story. No elves or trolls of anything else."

"Yes, the WOTR saga deals just with humans." Jack cringed at the abbreviated title so many of the fans used when referring to the series. It was like they were saying 'water' but with an exaggerated Boston accent. "What else? Janice?"

"WOTR spent more time talking about money and stuff. I never heard Frodo complaining about tariffs or currency exchanges."

Mrs. Crill nodded. "Marcus Ward grounded much of his story in a realistic setting and that meant economics played an important role in the realm of Guildron, especially during The War of the Roads. And that war was about what?"

"Roads!" one of the students said.

"Thank you, Kevin, that was very insightful. Now maybe you can raise your hand and elaborate a little?"

Kevin's face flushed as he raised his hand.

Mrs. Crill looked at him as if for the first time. "Oh, yes, Kevin, can you tell me what The War of the Roads was about?"

"They fought over control of the roads connecting the seven cities of Guildron," Kevin said.

"Who fought?"

"The Brigands. They were bad guys from across the sea. Traitors, thieves, and bandits who had been exiled to another continent. Lord Kurzon got them all together and invaded Guildron."

"But luckily, there was who? Melissa?"

"King Wayland!" Melissa exclaimed with nerdy glee. "He united the seven cities into a single realm and went off to fight Kurzon!"

"Ah, but he wasn't enough," Mrs. Crill said. "Kurzon's men were ruthless killers. King Wayland was almost defeated. But then..." She held up the first book, its cover illustrated the pivotal scene: a young boy clad in medieval armor crouches at the edge of a shallow pool in the middle of a dark cave. The boys holds a tiny pearl between his thumb and index finger, staring at it in the light of three ghostly blue auras floating above the water. "Melissa, would you like to continue?"

Melissa nodded quickly. "A young squire named Cera escapes an ambush and hides out in this cave when three ghosts appear and say that they are the Ancients, a race who ruled Guildron a millennia ago and knew how to harness magic. That is, until they understood it so well they transcended into another plain of existence. But then they saw Kurzon invade and wanted to help so they give Cera a pearl containing magic. Cera goes back to Wayland's court and the magic spreads to other magicborn."

"How does this magic differ from what we see in Tolkien's work?" Mrs. Crill asked, ignoring Melissa's enthusiastically raised hand. "Micah?"

"Ward's magic was more defined than Tolkien's. When magic is awoken in a magicborn, they're naturally strong in one of four categories: Swift, illusion, force, or...I can't remember the last one."

"Sense," Melissa said. "Swift enhances reflexes, illusion lets you make people see things that aren't real, force let you move objects, and sense lets you diagnosis a person just by touching them."