Lore of the Land

To say this story is my heart and soul would be an understatement! Lore of the Land is the first in a planned series called the Changeling Chronicles. Coheed O’Riley grew up never putting much stock into the stories and fables told to him as a young child but soon he and his friends will understand the importance of the lore within the land. Living under the roof of Deb O’Neil, a foster mother to abandoned children, Coheed and his friends grew up in a home full of love and laughter. They become a family all their own, the bonds of which are tested when Coheed is replaced, unbeknownst to the rest of them, with a changeling just after his fifteenth birthday. The changeling must try to conceal his true nature as he lives among the others in Coheed’s place, a challenge he did not anticipate.

Plunged into a world he never truly thought existed, Coheed must put the folktales Deb told him to the test. And after befriending Maeve, a sapling born of the Elder Council of Fenria, Coheed joins her and the other saplings on their journey across the Glen to acquire the Water of Life in the land of Avolon. His new companions are a source of knowledge and reveal that the ancient portals of their world are no longer of any use since the sacred stones that activate them have been lost to time. Coheed vows to find these stones and return home before his beloved family suffers at the hands of the changeling’s volatile behavior.

It is not long before he learns that the knowledge regarding the stones is scattered, and that he is not the only one who seeks them. The Changeling King will stop at nothing to find them as he spreads chaos and devastation among the land and fights for power over the Glen. And as secrets unfold, and Coheed uncovers the truth about himself and his connection with the world around him, it becomes clear that he too is something the Changeling King will stop at nothing to find.

Maeve and the Elder Council of Fenria shelter Coheed from the new dangers that seek to capture him and, as the trees of Fenria burn around him, he must choose to stay and fight or flee. 

This story is inspired by my younger brother, who is at an age where he is still figuring out who he is and who he wants to become. Nearly everyday it is as if he is someone new, someone changed, trying to navigate through life influenced by those around him. I also wanted to tie in my love and fascination with folklore, the ledges and creatures I pull inspiration from have deep rooted history in more than one place and I wish nothing more than to breathe new life into the stories I was told growing up.