The Trial of Corona Elonna

It is said that the High Druid Mynora Elonna, Grandmother Nature, desired children, but was never able to conceive. Unable to be mother by birth, she chose instead to adopt all the mortal races and care for them as her own flesh and blood. When she saw the pain and suffering that the depredations of the Seven Demon Lords caused to her adopted children, she took it upon herself to oppose them, seeking out those who also opposed the wickedness of the Seven. And so it was that Mynora Elonna became one of the Nine Heroes, and helped cast down the Seven Demon Lords, and became a Goddess. When the Nine Heroes freed the Elemental Lords from their captivity, the grateful Lords granted each of the Nine a special boon. All Grandmother Nature asked for was to have a child of her own, so each of the Elemental Lords gifted Mynora with a portion of their essences and, in the fullness of time, Mynora Elonna gave birth not to one, but to four beautiful daughters. Mynora, in her wisdom, raised her daughters as mortals, to give them perspective. And when the daughters came of age, she revealed their true natures to them, and gave each of her daughters a task to prove themselves worthy of ascension.

Corona Elonna was passionate and hot-tempered, with long locks of flowing red hair and a sparkling, mischievous smile. To Corona Mynora gave the task of slaying the Shadar-Mawk, a horrible being of darkness that could eat the stars from the sky and drink the light from the day. Wherever the Shadar-Mawk fed, a sickness would touch the land and the dead would rise. Corona Elonna set off on her journey, boasting that she would be back in a year and a day.

Fiery Corona traveled to the lands touched by the Shadar-Mawk, and when she gazed upon the monster's handiwork, she wept tears of flame. No torch or hearth would light, and the fields were cold and barren, so the people of the land could neither eat nor keep warm. At nights there were no stars to give comfort to travelers, for as soon as one would show itself, the Shadar-Mawk would pluck it from the sky. The shadows of men would come alive and strangle those who cast them. Great hounds of darkness prowled the woods, their frightful baying scaring away all game that lived near the villages.

Corona tracked the Shadar-Mawk to its lair, a cave that led from the living world to the Ghostlands, and there she drew her magical, fiery blade to slay it. But the Shadar-Mawk's touch drained the heat from her scimitar and rendered it useless, and the hounds who guarded it tore at her flesh until she was forced to retreat. Her own shadow rose up to strangle her and suck the life from her beating heart, but she forced it away by lighting a tiny candle. And when Corona was free of the cave, she ran until the dawn, and then she fell to her knees and wept.

After a time, Corona finished her weeping, and thought. She knew she would need a fire that the Shadar-Mawk could not eat...but where would she find such a flame? Her gaze was drawn to the pale orb of the sun. The light was pale and weak from the Shadar-Mawk's attempts to drink it all up, but it still shone through. And Corona knew that the sun was far, far away...if it were closer, surely the Shadar-Mawk would have an even harder time trying to drink its light. And so Corona decided to bring the sun to the Shadar-Mawk's cave.

Corona Elhonna traveled through the sky until she reached the City of Brass, where the efreet dwell. Corona knew that to take a piece of the sun without the permission of the Great Sultan would be considered a grave insult to the efreet, for the efreet claimed the sun as their own and were jealous and spiteful. Corona walked through the great City, and saw many a strange and delightful wonder, but when she came to the palace, she was not allowed to enter, for she was a woman, and efreet thought women were weak and useless and not fit to stand before the Great Sultan. Fiery Corona took great offense to this, and boasted that she could beat the Great Sultan himself at any three feats of strength, speed, and wisdom. And as it happened, the Great Sultan's grand vizier was passing through the courtyard, and heard Corona's boast. And the grand vizier knew that if the Great Sultan were to be beaten at any task by a woman, then he would be disgraced and would lose his throne, and the vizier himself would be made the next Great Sultan.

So the vizier told the Great Sultan of Corona's boast, and told him that if he did not meet the woman's challenge, he would look weak and scared. So the Great Sultan called Corona to his throne room, and told her that he accepted her challenge. He would set before her three test, one of strength, one of speed, and one of wisdom. If Corona passed each test, he would give her a piece of the sun. If she failed any one of the tasks, though, he would have her put to death.

For the first test, the Great Sultan had a huge block of gold brought to the town square, and told Corona that whoever moved the block further would be the winner. The Great Sultan then picked the block up and, heaving and straining, brought the block halfway across the square before setting it down. When it was Corona's turn, she gave the Sultan a mischievous wink, drew her magical flaming scimitar, cut the block into four pieces, and then, one piece at a time, moved each piece to the other end of the square, then used the flame from her sword to seal the block again. The vizier named Corona the winner.

For the second test, the Great Sultan and Corona would take turns, naming the fastest things they could think of, which the other would then try to out race. The Great Sultan had Corona go first this time, asking her to outrace his fastest hounds, which he set upon her, hoping they would tear her to shreds. But canny Corona raced the hounds all through the day and into the night, until they fell, exhausted. The Great Sultan asked Corona what she wanted him to race, and she told him to outrace thought. When the Great Sultan proclaimed that this was impossible, the vizier named Corona the winner.

Having lost two tests, the Great Sultan was growing desperate and angry. So before the third test started, he called a hundred of his best archers together, and told them to hide, and to shoot the next person who gave the order to fire. And, when they had left, he called Corona and told her that for the third trial, they would take turns asking riddles. The Great Sultan would ask the first riddle, and this is the riddle he asked:

As destructive as life,
As healing as death;
A cause of strife,
Just as prone to bless.
It is all that is good,
Yet with an evil trend;
As it was the beginning of things,
It can also be the end.

Corona pondered this, and she knew the answer the Sultan wanted her to give, which was all around her in the City of Brass on the surface of the Sun, and she was puzzled as to why the Great Sultan would give her such an easy riddle, until she looked around and realized that there were no archers in sight, and understood his plan. And so she pondered some more, and said, "The answer is Love," which did answer the riddle, and the Great Sultan, angered at the wisdom displayed by her answer, started screaming "No! It's fire! FIRE!" and his archers did, and the Great Sultan was pierced by a hundred arrows. The vizier proclaimed Corona the winner, and took his place as the new Great Sultan of the Efreet. He then proclaimed that Corona would be his bride, for he had fallen in love with her during the trials.

At this Corona gave him a mischievous smile, and said that she could not marry him yet, as her task remained unfulfilled, for the Shadar-Mawk still fed upon the land. And the new Great Sultan knew that if he let her go, she might not return, but if he did not let her go, she would never return his love, and so he proclaimed Corona the Queen of the Sun, able to come and go at will, and gave her a crystal from the sun's heart. And Fiery Corona thanked the Great Sultan with a kiss, and left the City of Brass.

Corona traveled back to the lands touched by the Shadar-Mawk. She built a special cleansing fire, and purified the sun crystal until it gleamed with the brightness of day, and she brought it to the Shadar-Mawk's lair, the cave the led from the living world to the Ghostlands. And the hounds came to tear at her flesh, but the sun crystal drove them away. And her shadow rose up to strangle her, but the sun crystal shrank it to almost nothing, and it fled in fear. And the Shadar-Mawk's touch could not drain the light from the sun crystal, and the Shadar-Mawk burned when it was touched in turn. And Corona, Passionate Corona, collapsed the cave that led between the worlds, destroying the Shadar-Mawk forever and returning light to the land, and then returned home to her mother, Minora, exactly one year and one day after she had left. And Minora, pleased with her daughter, gave her a divine spark, and Corona ascended into heaven. And there are many more tales about Corona, and the Great Sultan who sought her love, and the final fate of the sun crystal, but those are tales for another day.