I can't believe this... All this time, I was blind to what the future might hold. But now that it's staring me in the face... I'm ready.

Ah yes, a continuation of the Self-Exiled Prince storyline thanks to the Thursday_Prompt ! I couldn't stay away from these two for long! I just gotta say, I feel like the part of writing that I've got completely down is when two characters are talking to each other. Which is great, seeing as my novel will have two main characters!
...When I get around to finishing it.
Eventually...

Glossary:


spell: Every spell in Alka requires ingredients of some kind, and many of these spells come in the form of potions. The art of spellcraft involves careful measurements, specific techniques, and also a touch of etherial manipulation. Without a mage's inborn talent, not even a person following a spell's recipe to the letter can hope to create one for themselves.

ether: Sometimes called lifeforce or mana, this is a mysterious energy that suffuses the world, allowing mages to cast spells and giving rise to many strange, magical plants and animals.

Twinned: Although the peoples of Hali'Tuin are different in many ways, they speak the same language. ...At least, to a foreign eye. Due to a vast gap in their dialects, Halini and Tuini often have a hard time understanding each other. A quirk of their language is that the verb is always placed at the end of the sentence.

Verdania/Verdish: With its numerous trade routes, wealth of magical resources, and status as the seat of Belbatoria's worship, it is not uncommon to hear people say that Verdania is the center of the world. Even those beneath the sea know at least a few words of Verdish.

Belbatoria: The proud goddess of order, light, and knowledge. Of all of the gods and their followers, hers are the most numerous, with devotees across the entire world, even under the waters of the ocean.

Meric: Given the difficulty of sound traveling through water, mers devised a language that uses hand signs, not spoken words. In the lands above the waves, it is used for a different purpose, leading to its second name: thieves' cant.

mer: The common term for any sort of marine alk, but especially fish alks.

alk: The anthropomorphic residents of Alka call themselves alks to differentiate themselves from the animals that they resemble.

Shorinth: In the middle of the Foltess Sea, there is a patch of ocean which reflects more stars than there are in the sky. In actuality, they are not stars, but the magelights of Shorinth, also known as the Unending City. No matter the time of the day, the waters always teem and bustle with life.

Sarkuul: A vast, mostly flat land consisting of windblasted grasslands, scorching deserts, shifting swamps, murky thickets, and more. The nomadic people of this region, the Sarkuuli, are as diverse as the landscape and its climates, and they are known for their uncanny good fortune.

Cenos: Sometimes referred to as "The Old Man of the Sea," Cenos is the god of not just the oceans, but all bodies of water. Countless military campaigns have failed due to not paying him respect during a river crossing. He often appears in the guise of an old fisherman, handing out advice to unsuspecting mortals.

Hali'Tuin: This is best described as a continent of extremes. Hali is a humid hellish jungle, full of deadly animals and virulent disease. On the other side of the Twin's Divide mountain range, Tuin is a frozen, desolate wasteland. Despite the harsh conditions, the people that live there, the Halini and Tuini, have managed to carve out a niche for themselves with clever inventions and mighty magic.

Sarqquni: The fickle god of wanderers, merchants, artists, smiths, laborers, ingenuity, impulsiveness, and whatever else they might be interested in at the time. Most importantly, she, or they, or he, is the god of the Sarkuuli.

Dothos: As the largest nation under the sea, Dothos supplies many rare and exotic goods to the surrounding countries above the waves, especially Verdania. Unlike most other societies around the world, the Dothoine are strictly matriarchal.

Halik: The twin god of fire, war, and magic. The weathered and cracked carvings in his temple read: "At the beginning, he laid out the Edicts, shaping and constraining the flow of ether. In that way, he set the paths for mortals to follow to great glory and fortune."

Dutuin: The twin goddess of ice, wisdom, and magic. The carefully-preserved ancient texts in her temple read: "From nothing, she created the River of ether that flows through the world of Alka. In that way, she provided an opportunity for life to flourish forever more."