It will come as no surprise that this did not sit well with the populace. Uncomfortable silences fell wherever he went, nobles began to confer with his father late into the night, and servants generally avoided passing his room. When this state of unrest reached fever pitch with no word from the palace, riots broke out and an attempt was made on the prince’s life. Though none can say how the assassin gave himself away, we know that Levin caused a commotion which alerted the guards, who arrived to find a charred room, a blackened corpse and a horrified prince pressed against the headboard of his bed.
The king was informed, the nobles held council, and the palace was engulfed in a flurry of activity. Soon, a decision was reached; the king, with tears in his eyes, bequeathed to his son a sword and a ring bearing the royal seal, telling Levin he must seek asylum with other magi.
Thus he began his wanderings. Another noble’s son insisted on accompanying him, and none could deny the chivalry of the thought; together they crossed the mountains and skirted the wastes of Voltar in a matter of months eventually arriving at the Keep.
Several years passed, and on the advice of his teachers Levin and his friend set out for Synara. Before they arrived they happened upon a merchant beset by brigands, and drove off his attackers. The merchant offered transportation to the footsore travelers and, upon their arrival, commended them to his associates. Concrete records of the succeeding events are scarce, but in this time Levin became well-known for many heroic deeds, routing innumerable highwaymen and allegedly serving on the city guard, among other undertakings befitting his chivalrous upbringing.
In the fullness of time it happened that the Synaran king began to survey the young noblemen of the city in hopes of finding his daughter a worthy husband and himself a fitting heir. Levin had caught glimpses of her and heard of her kindness and virtue, and knowing that all were unaware of his heritage, was dismayed that he was thus barred from proving his worth. His friend, however, was undaunted; Levin had made a name for himself in Synara, and it was likely that knowledge of him had even reached the castle. Thus encouraged, Levin set out with his most noble companion to see the king, who recognized the seal on Levin’s ring, having seen it during the war. The princess was impressed, and the king could see that a more exemplary young man could not be found; however, the other youths of noble lineage were loath to see a foreigner destroy their aspirations with a single blow. One of these immediately challenged him, and in a courtyard duel the haughty young nobleman was struck down in hardly a minute. No one else thought to succeed where he had failed, and in a few months the Synaran princess and the Alvean exile married. Levin quickly began exercising his new influence for the improvement of the city, and a period of great prosperity began.
However, this peace did not continue uninterrupted. Unbeknownst to city folk, miners from the northern nation and miners from Synara had been contesting a promising cave, and it soon came to blows. The following negotiations were short, terse and ineffective. Soon, two armies had assembled on a plane close to the site in question. In a final effort to avoid bloodshed, Levin proposed that each force would select a champion who would decide the issue in a duel. The Arkenians selected a warrior of great size and greater skill, and Levin himself went out to duel him. At first they were outraged that a mage would fight a swordsman, but he placated them by inviting their archers and his own to strike him down if so much as a spark escaped his hand. In spite of this he finished the fight in a matter of minutes, scoring a terrible blow on his enemy’s leg which sent him tumbling to the ground. With great mercy and humility, Levin personally made sure of his adversary’s recovery and delivered favorable terms to the people of Arkene. The armies returned home, blissfully unaware of the far-reaching consequences of the noise and activity the controversy had caused—though they thought they had secured peace, they had awakened a millennia-old frost dragon from its slumber beneath the surface.
The day was clear, bright and peaceful when the black wyrm dropped from the sky and breathed out a blizzard upon the city. Synara was thrown into panic, and several buildings were frozen over completely before the archers of the city guard could deliver the first disorganized volley. Levin himself strode through the frozen city with bare blade and blazing fire, doing all he could to clear the main streets and liberate any who were trapped in the ice and still lived. He did not long escape the dragon’s notice, and they did battle amid a cloud of vapor as fire met ice, each combatant attempting to overcome the other’s magic. Forging ahead under a shield of fire as bright as the sun, Levin dealt a blazing stroke with his sword that bathed the street in dragon blood. “Take heart, friends,” he called to the guard; “it too is mortal!” The dragon retreated north amid a shower of arrows, hoping to regain strength in its subterranean lair.
Knowing that the dragon would return unless he pursued and slew it, Levin summoned two of the animal companions he had gained during his time at the Keep. One was a clever raven, the other a deer with antlers constantly wreathed in flame. After tearfully bidding his wife and young child farewell, he rode north and was not heard from for several days. Many poems and tales tell of a fortnight-long battle with the dragon, but unfortunately none know of his fate except the raven, which returned bearing the prince’s bloodstained sword.”
Historian’s Note: Many things in the author’s account are questionable. For example, some reports pin both the quelling of the fire and its origin on Levin. Further, as the author himself admits, many of Levin’s deeds have become tangled in myth and legend; some have even suggested the Alvean prince and the hero of Synara were actually two different individuals. It is also likely that this account portrays him with undue sympathy, playing down the controversy surrounding his marriage and emphasizing his efforts to prevent the war with the Arkenian tribes, which the author confuses for a single nation.
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Author's Notes:
Spoiler
Rushed entry, yay! I completely forgot what sort of italicized intro I was going to give it. Urf.
The idea with this was to give the MS world a mythical hero akin to King Arthur, though in fact it's largely inspired by the Roman emperor Constantine and the picture of him painted by Eusebius of Caesarea, bishop and church historian.
The idea with this was to give the MS world a mythical hero akin to King Arthur, though in fact it's largely inspired by the Roman emperor Constantine and the picture of him painted by Eusebius of Caesarea, bishop and church historian.
