Discover The Wilderness

Dive Deep Into The Wilds

A Soul to Protect: Duskwalker Brides: Book Seven

Continue scrolling to dive in to the characters, Nathair and Linh, or click the links below to view a rundown  / buy the book.

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Nathair

Gender: Male
Species: Duskwalker (Mavka)
Height: 8 feet standing/45 feet long, 8”1 with horns
Weight: Bulky, muscular, with a narrowed waist
Eyes: orange glowing orbs
Head: Viper/death adder skull, with hooked ram horns
Fur style: Snake scales
Skin and fur colour: Dark grey skin, black scales with rainbow iridescence
Additional body features: Big fish fins going down his forearms. Skirt frills going down his sides. Two massive back fins that touch to create a dorsal fin
Bones: Rib cage, knuckles, and entire vertebrae down his tail
Tail: Serpent tail
Feet: No feet
Scents: Moonflower and waterlily

Personality:
A loner who prefers the quiet due to the human voices in his mind - a negative byproduct of eating souls in Tenebris. Very intelligent. Personality is confident, stern, but has the capabilities to be a prankster. Feels guilt over the past and his actions. Adores wrapping a certain female in his long limb to keep her trapped.

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Linh

My Little Nightingale

Gender: Female
Species: Human(mostly)
Age: 21
Height: 5”4
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Long, straight, and black
Skin: medium Fawny
Weight: Average but curvy and busty
Scents: Peaches and vanilla

Personality:
Very sweet, although somewhat naive, girl who has been hurt terribly. Tries to bottle up her emotions so she doesn’t have to face them, and smiles so no one knows what’s going beneath the surface. Is kind to everyone and tries to see the best in all. Radiant, sunshine personality. Likes to be wrapped up in a cocoon of comfort.

The wilderness:

DUSKWALKER BRIDES 

Although the time period has not been clearly stated, it is set in the early 2020s. The world is dystopian, with apocalyptic events starting in the 1700s. Life, culture, and society has been evolving around recent history. Therefore, although the evolution of technology was put on hold, people are still changing. Demons came to an alternate version of Earth, set geographically similar, but different.  

The main events within the series happen on Austrális, a fantasy Australia alternative. There is no desert in the middle of the island country, and it isn’t as large. Many animals that are not in Australia in our world, exist there. Such as: wolves, bears, and mountain cougars.

We’ll explore the wilderness as it grows throughout the series:

Humans and their towns

Villages, towns, and cities are usually surrounded by towering wooden walls that help to keep the Demons out of their towns - although not successfully. Humanity is made up of many races and different colours of skin, who have long put aside their differences in order to face the real issue - the dwindling population and the Demons that continue to eat them.

Some town/villages are military, whereas others are filled with working miners who mine for coal and trade to other towns/villages. Some exchange food for weapons and armour. Towns/villages will often trade people to prevent inbreeding, or will trade workers for soldiers. Demons will make nests within the mountains and kill miners by digging their way through the rock to get to the humans: these towns often have a high death rate and low birth rate.

Every town is different, although they all have markets, taverns, and even hotels for travellers to stay. Human greed is still prevalent in society. The rich have tucked themselves into the very centres of towns/villages in order to protect themselves, while letting the less well off and unlucky get picked off by stray Demons who have infiltrated by climbing the walls, or fly over them.

Most are living in overpopulated towns where disease and famine are common. Most humans are poor and struggling. Theft and abuse is often looked the other way, however any blood shed or riots will be dealt with swiftly so they don't attract Demons.

Still, humans are trying everything they can to survive, and often have soldiers and guards patrolling.

They rarely close their gates throughout the day. They only stop people from entering for special reasons: like a serial murderer going from town to town.

Some people and their families will live outside of towns, preferring to be isolated within the forests. They tend to do this between two towns - in which will overrun the area with human scents and hide them. They do their best to minimise their scents, sounds, and impact on the environment to stay hidden. They often have combat experience, and are self-sufficient by hunting and keeping their own gardens.

There are bandits, but little of them is known so far.
The world is separated by four areas: north, east, west, and south.

The north is more mountainous and denser of trees - which makes it treacherous, since more Demons linger. The southlands have erected a border of wooden stakes all the way from east to west to keep most of the Demons out, while still building protective walls around their villages/towns.

There are many DemonSlayer guilds in every section of the continent of Austrális; north, south, east and west. There is a central keep for each area, that has a head Elder who oversees everything. So far, we know of two. Hawthorne Keep is the northern sector stronghold, and Zagros Fortress is the eastern sector stronghold.

Their ranks are broken up into colouring. No symbol, blue, red, green, silver, gold, and then the medallion wearers. Each can be obtained by increasing their skills and knowledge. However, women must go through a complete hysterectomy in order to rank up due to the dangers that are present in a woman's menstrual cycle - since blood attracts Demons.

Demonslayer head Elders know more about the Veil, Demons, and the Demon King than they let on.

We will unlock more mysteries about the human villages and DemonSlayer guild as the series progresses.

The Veil

The Veil is a massive canyon that almost appears like a singular claw mark through the earth that was slashed by a planet-sized giant. There are 2 kinds of mist; a white one that looks like normal condensation and a black mysterious one. Inside the canyon are trees that appear old and very tall when inside the Veil, as far as the eye can see. The area feels haunted, the kind of place where a Ghost may appear out of nowhere.

The Veil is made up of 4 rings of life. The outermost ring is where the border dwellers linger and are the most ruthless for human flesh. They are generally small, but there are some very menacing large Demons in this area. The next ring is filled with those who still hunt for humans, but will eat whatever they get their hands on first. These are usually more advanced Demons. The next inner ring is where the advanced Demons will live. Though they may vary in size, strength, and size, they will build houses close by each other and live in communities like humans. The last ring is both where Jabez’s castle and the Demon Village lay.

The Demons, the Demon King, and their homes

Demons currently live mostly within the Veil due to the trees being a shelter from the sunlight that burns them. However, we come to learn that this isn’t where they originally come from. Although we currently know very little about it, the Demons come from an Elvish realm. They arrived on this alternative Earth via a portal that was created by Jabez, the Demon King - who is half Demon and half Elf.

Demons prefer to make nests. Even if they have wooden homes, they will be very nest-like inside.

The Demon Village, at first glance, when ignoring its occupants, looks like any human village. With multiple ginormous trees that are kilometres tall, their trunks form a spiral of walls above and around it to protect the Demons from the sunlight. Inside there are buildings, some of them multi-leveled, that house the monsters and their shops. Yes, shops! They sell wares, from jewellery, shoes, and clothing to books and meat. They enjoy mimicking humans and creating art in many forms, including music and fire poi. The area smells sweet from an aroma cloaking spell created by Jabez so that the smell of blood from meat sellers’ shops doesn’t send anyone into a frenzy. There are children, music, and laughter, and chatter can be heard from within the occupants’ homes. At night, there are glowing bugs, but all day around, there are fire lanterns lit.

The Demon King’s castle has very little decor inside, and the decor that is within is mismatched. Some of it is stolen from humans, but much of it is handcrafted by Demons. Jabez doesn’t live alone within it, and he has guards inside and outside of it. He has a sun barrier spell placed on the windows to protect himself and the Demons. The lands are overgrown with tall trees.

We learn that Jabez, the Demon King, is partially insane. He was also once friends with Merikh, the bear skulled Duskwalker.

He has also discovered how to destroy Duskwalkers, by torturing Faunus. He is out for death, and has proven that he will stop at nothing to build his army, destroy Weldir and his shield stopping his Demon army from going to the Elven realm, in order to enact revenge for the wrongs he believes they have dealt him.

The Duskwalkers and their homes

Duskwalkers, also known as Mavka, mainly make their homes within the canyon walls of the Veil, finding or digging their own caves. If they don't occupy their homes for a long while, Demons will take it over.

Orpheus built a log-cabin home just in from the east so he could house a human from his past and then the many that follow until he finds his eternal bride in Reia. He uses a salt circle to keep Demons from entering their direct area, since he cannot make a new magical barrier. They can only make a barrier every ten years, and he did this in a human town in exchange for Reia.

Magnar, our nameless Duskwalker, eventually builds his own log cabin home near Orpheus. He takes the Arachnid Demon of Sorrow’s nest after she was killed by Orpheus. Delora helps paint it, and he had already placed a green magical barrier around their home to protect it.

We learn that Duskwalkers are born blind, without their skulls or body parts. At first, they are like semi-humanoid blobs of nothing with skin so dark grey they almost look black. Their faces are smooth, except for where they have nose and ear holes. They form their skulls after the skull of the first animal they eat, and their bodies will follow the same pattern; so whichever animal legs they eat first will determine their leg shape and feet. Their horns are the final piece, and once they form, they will obtain their glowing orbs. Their gender is determined by the first human they eat, which will also start their process of gaining intelligence and humanity.

We learn through Faunus, also known as Kitty, who is the oldest that he knows of. The youngest are two babies who cling to their mother, the Witch Owl, without their skulls, then the twins - one with a bat skull and the other a raven skull - who are inseparable, Next is Magnar who has a fox skull, then Faunus who has a feline skull, and Orpheus who has a wolf skull. The oldest is Merikh who has a bear skull.
Fyodor is the first child born not from the original Duskwalker/Mavka parents, and is technically the youngest of all.

Their age does not reflect their intelligence, as Faunus is younger than Orpheus but has eaten more humans which makes him slightly smarter. He's also watched more humans from afar, so he has more knowledge and understanding of human social cues.

The Witch Owl, who were learn is named Lindiwe, is their mother. She has brown skin, curly brown hair, and is often seen in a white gown and feathery cloak when human. She uses magic to transform herself into a human-sized owl with the use of her cloak.

The spirit of the void, named Weldir, Warden of Darkness, is their father. He is a demi-God who is in charge of collecting souls to protect in Tenebris, as well as blocking full-blooded Demons from passing back through Jabez's portal and into the Elven world.

The more meat a Duskwalker eats, no matter what creature it is, will change their weight and mass. This is not dependent on eating humans.

The only way to kill them is to destroy their skulls. They are able to regrow any of their limbs, including their entire bodies, after a day has passed. They have proven that they are willing to remove their own limbs if cornered and trapped.

The Elves and their home

We learn that there are many kinds of Elves that span across multiple realms.

Elysian Elves are the ones we meet within the series. They have dark skin that has an inhuman grey undertone to it, rather than olive or pink, with white hair that is a negative byproduct of their magic stripping the natural colours from their hair. Their eyes are generally brown or green, and their hair can range from straight to having corkscrew curls. They come in all shapes and weights, like humans, but are generally taller – starting at six feet in height. They have long, pointed ears, and often have magical runic symbols and lines that form and shape with their magic, which has a different base colour depending on what type it is.

Their people are peaceful and highly intelligent. They have used magic to make technological enhancements. They often work with plant matter, and most scientists have to learn herbology to progress in their fields of choice.

They have access to portal magic, in which there are two variations: navigational portals and chaos portals. Navigational portals are purposefully opened via the use of mana stones and take the Elves to other realms. Chaos portals are created by accident, and often take them to unknown locations. Portal travel is how we learn there are other species of Elves.

The Taihee clan are a perfect blend of humanoid and animal, and each subclan is different. The Bansu clan are part humanoid and part plant. The Nanteth live in an ice realm and have very pale skin. There are also two unnamed realms: one that has mermaids and another that is populated with centaurs.

Elves randomly opened portals and created gates in order for Elvish species to connect. They wanted to expand their knowledge and share that with other realms – so long as that world was open to it. They had no intention of changing any culture, or forcing their way of living, upon any other species. This was done purely to make a bigger world by connecting many others.

This is how the Elysian Elves accidentally caused the Demon scourge to overrun them and destroy most of their world. They were forced to close all portals in order to protect everyone. However, the Demon portal is still active, as no one survives attempting to close it.

After Jabez opened a portal to Earth, they were forced to leave it open so they could lessen their load and let the Demons hunt there instead. They are currently attempting to find a way to peacefully solve the Demon problem across all worlds.

Due to the proliferation of Demons across their realm, Elysian Elves are forced to live within a protective dome that spans thousands of miles. Lezekos City is situated on the edge of a cliff, with the capabilities of going down to a beach. The rest of the city is safely nestled underneath a massive, miles-tall white tree that has pink and purples leaves. The tree is lived inside of by many Elves, and their governing palace is at the very top. The rest of the city has been built around it, and the tree is at the centre, with the population being completely dependent on it for their survival against the three suns – whose colours are red, orange, and green – that bear down on them.

Nyl’theria, their home realm, is a summer-type climate all year round, with winters that are hotter than summer on Earth. Most of the plants glow in some form, especially amongst their foliage and flowers, due to the constant passive absorption of magic from the ground they are growing in.

The Anzúli and their temples

The Anzúli are what the humans call Priests and Priestesses. Humans are unaware that they are of a different species, and that they have a specific name.

They wear white robes with painted purples along the seams in order to hide their differences, and this clothing also provides protection. Their white clay masks hide that they actually have three eyes; the third one sits horizontally across their forehead. They look human, and come in every shape, size, colour, and height that humans do, except for the runic symbols that form over their skin – much like the Elysian Elves.

Instead of white clothing, the leaders of their temples wear black robes with purple runes along the seams. The insides of their temples are actually fairly dark. They are lit by candles and adorned with statues of creatures and paintings of worlds that obviously are not found on Earth.

Their realm is called Anzúla.

Opal Reyne

Amazon best selling author in multiple categories

Opal Reyne is an Australian Author who has been a fan of the Adult Paranormal Romance genre from the moment she picked up a book of it - and has never looked back.