Please read In Recent Years: Introduction before reading this post.
Year 1480
Though originally from the small town of Portram, Therelin of Keth prepares to depart Keth City and the tutelage of Master Myandin. From Keth, Therelin sails to nearby Kedar Port, the best place to catch a ship into the broader lands of Gethra. He practices his magic as they sail, and studies geography and science from the tomes he has brought.
In Kedar, Therelin is off-put by the local consumption of meat; in Keth, all people respect the spirits of Gethra enough to refrain from the flesh of the lesser spirits. He also meets with a fellow Keth native, though he is wary of her ways; most Ketho that leave are those forced to for their crimes. After all, the Ketho would never harm a human, even if that human had committed such a deed themselves. Therelin follows Beatra’s advice however, and meets with a Grey Brethren that was trained in magic by Master Nolicrin in Saanazar. Intent for learning that Master Myandin could not offer, Therelin sets sail for Saanazar. Along the way, he earns some money and information by offering his abilities as a healer; he learns that the great city of Ith is in disarray after the death of the Mage Kings.
In the harbour of Saanazar, Therelin meets Lord Kai Allakra, an accomplished sorcerer who directs him to apply to the Academy of Ular Graan. Therelin learns that Ular Graan was one of the greatest sorcerers in the days following the fall of the Orrish, fourteen centuries earlier. Though Master Nolicrin is gone, Therelin meets one of his apprentices, Maia, who tells him how to register to study at Ular Graan as well. To pay for his admission, Therelin begins working for Ethraw, a glass merchant.
Therelin returns to Master Nolicrin’s Hall when Maia has said the Master would return. As he approaches, Therelin overhears two voices speaking on the balcony of the Hall—they are discussing the well-protected renegade, what the spy knows, and something known as the Conclave. At last, Therelin meets with Master Nolicrin—one of those he had overheard—and asks for Nolicrin’s help with training in the areas that Myandin had neglected, including combat. Nolicrin offers him access to the library in the Hall and the other apprentices, as well as his own council.
However, Therelin can find no mention of this “Conclave” in any archive he searches; even Maia is unclear about what he speaks and suggests he look into listings of various magicians’ guilds and gatherings abroad. As Caidolis, Gethra’s rare second moon, appears, Therelin and Maia search deeper into another archive, this time with Maia’s special credentials. While there, Therelin overhears news that a magician leads the bandit armies on the Great Isle; he concludes that Master Nolicrin knows this “renegade” perpetuator of the growing war. When he confides this information in her, Maia awkwardly distances herself from Therelin, further confusing him.
Eventually, Therelin confronts Nolicrin and demands answers. Nolicrin says nothing and teleports Therelin out of his Hall and halfway across the coast of Radregar, to the city of Noress-That-Was on the Isle of Var Nordos. Without many options, Therelin seeks out work in Noress-That-Was until he determines what he should do next. When he asks a local magician, Master Gheran, of the strange things he has learned—and been denied—Master Gheran alleges that Master Myandin has failed his duties in training Therelin; perhaps Master Myandin has the answers that Therelin seeks.
Frustrated at the difficulty of finding information about the Conclave or the war led by a magician, Therelin returns to Keth and accosts Master Myandin, insisting his old mentor come clean with the secrets he has withheld. Master Myandin resigns to Therelin’s determination and tells him that the only way to obtain answers is to Journey with Myandin to an unknown destination. Therelin agrees and the two vanish from Keth.
Year 1481
Master Myandin and Therelin appear on the shore of the Isle of Dusk. The magicians on the Isle demand that Therelin swear vows of secrecy, to which he agrees. Soon, however, he learns that he is to swear them by a magical artifact, the Tether, which will mentally enforce the oaths he makes by it. Without other options, Therelin takes the Oaths of the Tether—he swears to never name the Isle of Dusk out loud or in writing, to never share details he learns on the Isle with anyone save those that have taken the Vows, to never speak of the Isle’s purposes or happenings, and lastly, to never speak of the Vows themselves unless he is on the Isle itself.
At last, Therelin is able to learn about the Conclave: it is an alliance of like-minded magicians, who, with time, secrecy, and manipulation, seek to cultivate unity across all Gethra. Therelin regains a measure of respect for Myandin, who refuses to have patience for such schemers. However, no one he speaks with knows about the magician-commander of the bandit armies.
Therelin lives, for a time, on the Isle of Dusk. He considers joining a venture to seek allies in the coming war—namely, a team that will attempt to influence the Crimson Highway into supporting against the bandit armies of the Great Isle. He also begins training in the ways of combat with one of the accomplished warrior wizards on the Isle, something unusual for someone from Keth. As he studies in the libraries of the Isle, he befriends Kren, a man from Numa’nakres who claims to have a lucky sword that he stole from a mobster named Mad Raely in the city of Maykren.
Before long, magicians begin arriving on the Isle of Dusk for its annual summit, a time where magicians from various lands and sects gather to discuss matters that affect them all. Therelin sees a sorceress named Irrith, a high-ranking member of the Conclave. He also learns of the Conclave’s most active leader, a mage named Gravagan. Therelin is also told of the Circle, a rival band of magicians who seek evolution through magic, instead of playing with the affairs of “lesser men” such as kings and politicians. To Therelin’s surprise, the Circle and the Conclave have not teamed up to fight the bandit army; rather, they have struck a truce to target the Grey Brethren, the religion based in Saanazar. Therelin can scarce believe how corrupt the orders of magicians seem.
The summit itself is interrupted by none other than Tarro, a warlord from the Great Isle and the ruler of the bandit armies. When his demands for the scheming magicians to disband and join him are met with refusal, Tarro attacks the collective of magicians itself, breaching the laws of the Isle of Dusk which he himself must have once agreed to uphold. Therelin and Kren barely escape with their lives, Journeying to safety before they are caught in the fray.
The two appear in Sheld, months later. They seek out Selaara, a local magician and scribe—she tells them she had known of disaster on the Isle of Dusk due to the light of her spell chime dimming, as a similar device on the Isle was likely dimmed or even destroyed. When they tell her about the wave of fleeing magicians that will likely be following, Selaara prepares to receive the wounded and displaced. Seeking to do more, Therelin offers his help in learning more about Tarro, a foe about whom all the magicians seem to know very little.
Selaara sends Therelin and Kren to seek Lord Dakhu in the Empire of Noress; oddly, Therelin’s travels across Gethra come full circle as he returns to the same city to which Nolicrin had once sent him. Now, however, Therelin is armed with the secrets he had sought the first time, and accompanied by a clever—if paranoid—comrade. Therelin and Kren learn that Dakhu is absent on business in a nearby city, and work while they wait for his return, earning coin and becoming more familiar with the sinking city of Noress-That-Was.
Therelin experiences another vision while they wait; the visions of magicians are usually quite random, though each magician is always tied to one Focus. This time, Therelin sees a man on a hilltop, surrounded by dry, dead trees. The man has a pack with writing supplies and an animal-design sigil, and soon drinks from his canteen, though it is full of sand. Seeming not to notice, the man drinks the sand until it overflows his mouth and runs down his cheeks.
The day of Lord Dakhu’s return fast approaches, and soon Therelin hopes that he will provide answers about Tarro, the war raging out of the Great Isle, and the future of the magicians with whom Therelin has now aligned himself.