Background ideas

These are the imagery that brings me to mine of The Three Cities: Volk (a fantasy version of victorian London), Sihr (the fantasy version of the Middle East, basically the desert), and  Shǎn Diàn (a fantasy version of somewhere in China).

(Shǎn Diàn)

(Volk)

(Sihr)

The Three Cities have a long-standing alliance with each other, strengthen by their trading ventures. Volk, the city in which Kiera Shakur lives is a version of Victorian London; unlike Sihr ( a city that runs wholly on magic) and Shǎn Diàn ( a city that runs on steam and clockwork) uses both magic and clockwork which is supplied by the other two cities. 

In return, Volk supplies them with their military power and the protection of the Guardians of Volk.

Book 1 of this series: Guardian of Volk, takes place in Volk (obviously).

The Guardians of Volk are nine men that comes from the nine noble families of Volk who has enough magic in their blood that lets them able to turn into giant wolves. Aristo Daciana is one of these men and with his fellow Guardians is trained from infancy to fulfill their duty and obligation to protect the cities if needed. 

But when using the power of the beast, the man disappears completely, which is why they need to be controlled by a Companion; someone who is bound to them through blood and magic.

A Companion, like a Guardian, is chosen when they were children by the Guardians themselves. When the Guardian first uses his power, the beast will pull him towards his Companion.

This is how Aristo finds Kiera.

But there is one problem, Kiera is a girl when all Guardians and Companions through the ages has been men only. 

But Aristo's beast ignores Kiera's two half-brothers and chooses her instead. 

So, Kiera leaves her identity as a girl and lives the life of a man in a rigid society where gender equality does not exist, scandalizing her family and everyone who sees her, much to Aristo's amusement.

But in the official inauguration of them as Guardian and Companion something happens that turns Kiera's world upside down. It is discovered that she isn't the chosen companion of her Guardian, that there is another more suited; her illegitimate half-brother, Faelan.

Confused, frightened and left out in the cold, Kiera must find her way back to who she was, who she would have become before fate played her false. 

But after experiencing so much, would she be satisfied with the life she was meant to have as a young, normal girl of noble blood?

Copyright © 2012 by D.F. Jules

...all artwork comes from deviantart.com..