Eira

Overview

Eira Caedris is a scholar and mage of the Xalmyrran Council whose life carries her from one cycle into the next and later through centuries in the deep past. Known as Aruviel in ancient Malverand, she studied with Arcanis, married Eremion, and served as main pilot of the expedition to Vireen before returning to her own era; she is alive in Valrindor, where Kaelion remains her partner.

Appearance

Eira has golden hair threaded with fine silver strands and bright teal eyes. During her early Council years, she had loose blond hair, green eyes, and pale skin. The spiral shard changed her hair to dark amber, added gold flecks to her eyes, and made her body leaner and stronger.

Clothing and Gear

During her early field work, Eira wore practical tunics, robes, boots, and a cloak bearing the Xalmyrran Council's four-circle emblem. She later wore the deep-purple robes of a divine patriarch in Halcyra. In the Malverand Intergalactic Empire, she used the essence-containing clothing and wrist device provided to her there.

Personality

Eira is curious, direct, and persistent. Books, ruins, languages, gates, and unfamiliar machines hold her attention, and she continues seeking new places to explore after centuries of travel. She resents being guided through other people's hidden plans, but she is willing to make difficult plans of her own when lives depend on them. Her protectiveness is practical: she heals the injured, teaches what she knows, and takes responsibility for people placed in her care. Long life makes her less concerned with convention while increasing her fear of outliving the people she loves.

Magic and Skills

Eira's first unusual ability is a form of origin magic that lets her perceive instructions and structures within spells, artifacts, bodies, and machines. In the Malverand Intergalactic Empire, she learned that this ability developed from technology built to imitate ancient magic and carried into her Valrindor as minute particles. She has used it to investigate ruins, recognize hidden mechanisms, understand unfamiliar magic, and operate Malverand systems.

The spiral shard changed Eira’s body. When she emerged from the Temple, her first use of its power created darkness and life magic. She then traveled alone through the Land of Darkness until she collapsed. Silas implanted the Malverand heart and activated it with Zal’therak, then watched as the still-overwhelming shard forced Eira to expel much of its power to survive. Eira’s will birthed Lythariel from part of the shard and rewrote Xalmyrra so Lythariel possessed a history in its people’s memories. Lythariel emerged already able to wield darkness and life magic and became Eira’s mentor, helping her control the altered body and powers she already possessed. During a later battle, an uncontrolled release destroyed both armies around Eira and caused grass, flowers, and trees to grow across the battlefield. Eira later severed the hand bearing the shard, permanently losing her darkness and life magic. The discarded shard then bonded with Aldar.

Eira inherited an affinity for divine and temporal magic from her parents. An intervention by Hrzai during Eira's infancy suppressed that affinity and gave Eira recurring visions. When Hrzai removed the intervention, the visions ended and Eira's inherited magic awakened. Eira later accepted a separate pact with Hrzai, marked by a golden tree in her palm, and drew on the god's power until Hrzai's death.

Eira retains divine magic and some temporal magic, although part of her temporal repertoire is permanently lost. She can still blink and place bodies in temporal stasis, but she can no longer create timerifts or use spells that directly displace time. Her Malverand heart heals her and keeps her from aging, but it does not remove her need for food or water. Her study with Arcanis also made her a capable researcher, skyship pilot, and operator of gates, engines, and stasis equipment.

History

Early Life and the Cycles

Eira was born in 819 AX to Deylin and Ilyra. An old mage persuaded them to surrender their infant for a plan meant to save the world, and Deylin gave her the name Eira before she was taken to Irrathis. Lirien raised her there. Her parents and Aldar watched from a distance, while Deylin arranged for books and artifacts to reach her. Eira became a Xalmyrran Council scholar and field mage, with Aldar directing her toward ruins and records connected to the cycles.

The Council eventually sent Eira into a Temple identified by several old texts. She alone saw a second door inside and followed it to the spiral shard. The Temple also carried her across a cycle boundary. The Eira who returned was the same woman born in 819 AX, while Hrzai had completely mimicked her in the intervening cycle.

After Eira traveled alone through the Land of Darkness and collapsed, Silas, also known as Sariel, found her dying. He implanted a Malverand heart that he had earlier entrusted to Hrzai for a future champion and activated it with Zal'therak. The heart revived Eira and remained part of her body. Lythariel then became Eira's mentor. The later battlefield release also showed how little control Eira had over the shard's power.

After Eira was taken to Atraxis Prime, Hrzai told her to break the shard's hold. Eira formed a darkness blade and severed her own marked hand. Eshmir brought her back to Irrathis, Ilyra restored the missing hand, and the discarded shard bonded with Aldar. Hrzai then removed the intervention placed in Eira as a baby, allowing her inherited divine and temporal magic to emerge. Eira accepted Hrzai's pact later as a separate choice.

Varnhallow and the Deep Past

Eira traveled with Kaelion and Jin while investigating Malverand and the history of the Order. In Varnhallow, Michael appointed Eira and Kaelion as Halcyra's patriarchs. They governed and trained there while searching for a route onward. Horol’Khai eventually forced Eira alone out of Varnhallow and into the deep past.

There Eira met a wisp that copied her speech, writing, divine magic, and human appearance. She taught it to make its own choices instead of copying her exactly. It chose the name Orin. After sending Orin south with Glin and Splin, Eira entered ancient Malverand under the name Aruviel.

Arcanis recognized the unusual instructions in her magic and made her his student, assistant, and researcher. Eira taught divine magic, contributed future words to Malverine, studied skyship and gate systems, and wrote an extended Malverine work with Arcanis. She also formed a relationship with Eremion, accepted his proposal, and became main pilot of the expedition to Vireen.

On Vireen, Eira saw both Barachiel and Arcanis die after passing through the damaged gate. She kept their Malverand hearts and found a geometric core among Arcanis's possessions. When Dhalvor killed two atraxi who emerged through the gate, Eira implanted the two hearts and used a spell learned from Thalena to restore both bodies. They became Belanor and Jareth. Eira placed the geometric core with Jareth before sending both men through the void.

Eira took the expedition's ship and damaged gate back toward Valrindor. She hid the gate, sank the ship in Lake Velisyth, and crossed a timerift. Following Thalena's instructions, she found Thalion and helped gather the displaced members of the Order, including Kaelion.

The Vault and Return

To carry the displaced group back to their own time, Eira located and opened an existing Malverand vault that Michael had commissioned and the guardians had used. She configured its cases, engines, god cores, and essence cores for temporal stasis. Eira entered stasis with the others and asked Ozaith to wake her every five centuries so she could inspect the equipment. In 5369 AX, she directed the sleepers' revival with help from Brynor and Lysander.

Eira later descended beneath Zarephon with Kaelion and Xarion to close a breach. When the mountain collapsed above them, she synchronized the opening, and the three crossed into the Malverand Intergalactic Empire. Eira learned more about the technological origin of her sensing ability there and registered the name Eira Chronoshaper. She, Kaelion, and Xarion eventually returned to their own Valrindor through its veil.

After their return, Cassian severed several gods from the God Realm under Alistair's threat. Hrzai volunteered to prove that the severance had worked, and Alistair killed her human body. Part of Hrzai's essence was preserved in a capsule, but no restoration had been completed. Eira remained alive and continued traveling with Kaelion.

Thalena later redirected Eira from the obelisk and proposed an expedition against darkness beasts in Ithyreon. Eira agreed to go. In Chronasis, Thalena then showed her a written account of another outcome in which the obelisk made her disappear. That disappearance was not part of Eira's own lived history.

Relationships

• Deylin and Ilyra: They are Eira's parents. They surrendered her as an infant but watched her upbringing from a distance, and she later reunited with them.
• Lirien: Lirien raised Eira in Irrathis and became her first guardian and mentor.
• Aldar: Aldar watched over Eira, directed her Council work, and later received the spiral shard after she severed it.
• Kaelion: Kaelion is Eira's long-term partner and one of her closest traveling companions.
• Lythariel: Lythariel is Eira's creation, a living part of the spiral shard, and her mentor after the Temple.
• Hrzai: Hrzai intervened in Eira's infancy, later entered a voluntary pact with her, and accompanied her through centuries. Hrzai is dead, although part of her essence remains preserved.
• Arcanis: Arcanis was Eira's mentor and research collaborator in ancient Malverand.
• Eremion: Eremion was Eira's husband during her life as Aruviel. Their marriage belonged to her ancient Malverand years rather than her current partnership with Kaelion.
• Orin: Eira taught the young wisp and helped him develop a form distinct from hers. Orin chose his own name.
• Thalena: Thalena is Eira's friend and an important guide in the events that returned the displaced Order to its own time. She leads the Ithyreon expedition that Eira agreed to join.
• Xoh’Tenol: After becoming human, Xoh’Tenol travels with Eira and Kaelion. Eira helps care for her and teaches her about humanity.