Medieval Folk ballad - The Hidden Flame

Lyric Long hath the ember slept unseen, Beneath the blood of ancient kin. No crown nor herald knew its name, Yet ne'er did fade the hidden flame. Then came the dead upon the land, And silence could no longer stand. What blood had guarded, age by age, Now woke beneath the shadowed rage. No longer veiled, no longer still, The flame arose by blood and will. Not born for throne, nor pride, nor fame, But war beheld the hidden flame. Story behind this song Vithahara Auren was an Aegnar mage revered as the pioneer of combat sorcery within the Kingdom of Eldoria. Alongside her twin brother, Elric, she played a vital role in resisting The Oracle and forging the military backbone of Eldoria during the realm's earliest days. Born in 305 BLC, Vithahara carried the ancient bloodline of the Sakros Archipelago. Her ancestor was among the few Aegnar who had abandoned their isolated homeland to explore the wider world. After settling in Velmoria and starting a family with the locals, the secret arts of Essentra were passed down covertly through generations. Over time, her lineage integrated seamlessly into high society, living as prominent nobles while keeping their Aegnar heritage strictly guarded within the family circle. From her youth, Vithahara displayed an extraordinary gift for channeling Essentra. While Elric was drawn to scholarly research and experimentation, Vithahara immersed herself in the lethal art of combat magic, developing a discipline that bound physical prowess, military structure, and energy mastery into a single doctrine. Because Essentra functions much like physical stamina, Vithahara understood that a combat mage’s lethal edge lay not in raw destructive output, but in endurance and restraint. A warrior had to regulate her exertion, read her physical limits, and precisely time every strike, block, or retreat. Reckless expenditure of Essentra only invited exhaustion, leaving a mage defenseless when the tide turned. For decades, Vithahara kept her gifts hidden in accordance with family tradition. That quiet life shattered in 233 BLC when the dark shadow of The Oracle descended upon the Solmareth Sultanate. When Solmareth fell in 232 BLC, Vithahara and Elric shed their anonymity. Rejecting secrecy, they joined the coalition assembled by Yalla and Lord Baldwin Eldor following a disastrous defeat in 229 BLC. As preparations against The Oracle began, Vithahara stood among the coalition’s most formidable mages. Yet she sought no glory on the frontlines. Instead, alongside Yalla, she dedicated herself to shaping raw recruits and Essentra users into an organized fighting force. Vithahara crafted a rigorous doctrine emphasizing physical fitness and stamina management. Her trainees learned to gauge their personal energy reservoirs, maintain formation under pressure, and always preserve enough Essentra to defend themselves or stage a tactical withdrawal if overrun. While Vithahara forged the soldiers, Elric perfected the art of binding Archanum Crystals to weapons. Their distinct talents complemented each other seamlessly, transforming the allied forces into a lethal war machine. Through the unified leadership of Yalla, Vithahara, Elric, Baldwin, and the western lords, the coalition permanently broke The Oracle’s hold in 227 BLC, halting the undead blight even as Solmareth itself lay in permanent ruin. After the war, Vithahara remained in the west to safeguard its fragile peace. As various holdfasts and settlements merged under Baldwin's rule, her combat systems became the cornerstone of Eldoria’s defense infrastructure. In 193 BLC, the Kingdom of Eldoria was officially born, with Baldwin Eldor as its first king. For her distinguished service, Vithahara was granted nobility and took the surname Auren; her original family name prior to this title remains unrecorded. While Yalla focused on rebuilding Virellion Province and founding Astralish Academy, Vithahara chose to reside in the Morvanyr Region. There, she served as the chief military instructor, developing Eldoria's official system for combat magic. Vithahara personally trained the realm's first generation of Battlemages. Under her tutelage, combat Essentra evolved from an unpredictable personal talent into a structured military science. Her Battlemages were trained to fight in cohesive units, manage their reserves, and rely as much on martial discipline as on arcana. Above all, Vithahara was respected for her unwavering principles. Having witnessed Solmareth’s downfall, she firmly believed that magic without restraint led only to ruin. She taught that Essentra must strictly serve to protect life and maintain order, never to feed personal ambition or power. Vithahara Auren passed away in 153 BLC at the age of 152. To this day, she is remembered as the mother of Eldorian combat magic, the mentor to the first Battlemages, and the strategist who transformed Essentra into an organized military discipline.