– Tales of Ipharon – The Legend of Laire

Ipharon, a magical realm of nature. It’s a world engulfed in forests and swamps with just a few open plains and lakes. The sound of streaming rivers and chirping birds pleases every ear listening and fresh air fills every lung breathing when wandering around in this vast world filled with life. Even the city harmonizes with the surrounding forests. The stony structures are overgrown by moss, leaves and tendrils. It seems like a perfectly balanced harmonization between humanity and nature.

The humans living in this realm treat nature as a gift and cooperate with its consciousness. This cooperation between humans and nature leads back thousands of years ago, to a pact between the leaders of the human tribes and Ash’kahra, the goddess of this realm, also known as Mother Nature. The Kyro, a human granted supernatural powers. Once every hundred years, a new Kyro gets chosen. A child from the age of ten to fifteen years, bound to swear an oath to Mother Nature herself, to protect Ipharon from any harm. Every Kyro is granted the power of controlling surrounding nature and talking to wild animals. They are bound to live until the next Kyro gets selected and until then serve Ash’kahra as protector of Ipharon.

»Hurry up Laire, the ceremony isn’t waiting for us, and we still need to walk to Iphior.«

Laire sighs, »Alright, alright. I’m coming, Cayne. No need to stress me«

The siblings get out of the house and make their way through the city. They hurry along huge buildings, covered by moss, run through alleys embellished with flowers and climb roots and tendrils, formed like stairways and ladders. Everything in the city is a mix of human structure and nature, completing each other to form a living space for both humans and animals.

»How far more do we have to go?« asks Laire, breathing heavily.

»We’re almost there you lazy« giggles Cayne, mocking his sister.

»My legs feel like they’re going to collapse under me every second.«

»What did you expect? You’re never outside.«

Laire rolls her eyes. »Yeah, whatever. But this is…« she interrupts her sentence »Whoa!«

Laire looks towards a massive globe-like structure, made completely of moss, tendrils and roots. The huge gate made of stone is the only human-made looking part of this giant building. The gate is divided into two separate entries by a wall of roots.

»Children between ten and fifteen, please enter on the right side! Older and younger people are to enter on the left!« shouts a man standing in front of the gate.«

The siblings get in line for the right entrance and enter the building.