The Brightest Shadow

The Brightest Shadow is an epic fantasy novel by Sarah Lin. It is the first of nine planned novels in the eponymous series.[1]

Setting[2]
The world of Myros is choking on anticipation. Its many cultures have vastly different beliefs and stories, but they all tell one Legend. One prophecy, varying in the details but familiar across the entire world. Whether the Legend promises heroism or genocide depends on where you stand.



Two sentient races live on Myros: humans and mansthein. Both are complex groups that sometimes live in harmony, sometimes fight among themselves, and sometimes go to war with one another. As an expansionist mansthein empire begins to conquer human lands, some begin to ask if the conflict is really so complex. Because the Legend speaks of Deathspawn – foul monsters that seek to destroy all life – and in the right light, the mansthein fit the part...



All across the globe, this conflict plays out in different ways, from the relatively primitive cultures in central Breilin to the highly developed nations of Eltar Trathe to the mostly forgotten continent of Onel Chaentan. The story begins at the center, a vast grassland called the Chorhan Expanse.

Few live in the heart of the Chorhan Expanse, but many cultures must pass through it. There has been tenuous peace between them for nearly a century, but the arrival of mansthein armies has threatened to provoke another war between both sides. In the center of that complex conflict, rumors about a Hero of Legend grow more seductive, promising a righteous war that can be won forever. The Brightest Shadow begins here, on quiet grasslands. They have been stained by blood in the past, but the stories promise so much more...

Plot Summary[3]
For a chapter by chapter summary, see The Brightest Shadow summary.

Part One: Dawn Again
As a young Rhen warrior, Tani was supposed to go on a Farwalk to explore the world. Her Farwalk has an added element of danger: an invading army of monstrous "Deathspawn" is encroaching on the Chorhan Expanse and threatening her tribe.

Tani travels to the city of Bundlin, spurred on by tales of humans and Deathspawn living there side by side. Near the city, she meets Slaten, a young Oken healer with a warrior’s poise who risks himself to protect a group of Deathspawn civilians from Coran warriors. Slaten confirms that the Deathspawn – who call themselves mansthein – cooperate peacefully with humans in Bundlin, and offers to help Tani find her feet in the city.

Tani learns that Bundlin is divided in half, with humans and mansthein dwelling on opposite sides of the river. She jumps the city walls to scout the mansthein side, but her stealth techniques fail her and she is pursued by an elite Catai warrior. Exhausted by overdrawing her sein, Tani is almost summarily executed before a timely intervention by Kolanin, the commander of the city’s mansthein forces. To atone for her trespassing, Tani agrees to help with establishing peaceful contact between the mansthein and a Rhen tribe near Bundlin. Traveling with Slaten, she learns that he had previously been a warrior before turning to healing, and they form a tentative friendship discussing the differences between Rhen and Oken sein arts. The meeting with the Yevee proves unexpectedly tense, however, as they discover that mansthein troops have stolen the tribe’s sacred texts, a near-unforgivable violation. Tani agrees to try to retrieve them, resolving to help with defusing the nascent conflict as part of her Farwalk.

Back in Bundlin, Kolanin surmises that the Yevee texts were stolen by the forces of Aryabaus, a mansthein warlord fighting the kingdom of East Corah to the south. He arranges the return of the texts in exchange for guaranteeing the safe passage of Eraes Tor Yin, a Teralanthan specialist with a secret shipment of military supplies. Tani and Slaten are sent as part of the shipment’s escort, along with a brash warrior of minor Coran nobility named Melal.

Though Tani manages to retrieve the Yevee texts from Aryabaus’s soldiers, the convoy is attacked and one of the wagons is destroyed by its explosive contents. Tani and Slaten are caught up in the ensuing battle and the Oken healer is forced to take up a sword to help Tani.

Tani and Slaten return the Yevee texts along with mansthein soldiers, and it seems that a peace treaty will be formed until it is interrupted by a human with impossibly pale eyes. The self-proclaimed Hero slaughters all human or mansthein warriors who stand against him. Tani and Slaten find themselves amongst the few survivors.

Part Two: Relentless Hope
Bundlin is restless in the aftermath of the massacre, with rumors of the Hero spurring tales of a Legend which foretells the destruction of the Deathspawn by a mighty human warrior. Kolanin’s mansthein-led hunting parties begin to suffer casualties to raiders emboldened by the Legend, so he decides to send trusted humans instead. He calls on Slaten, Tani, and Melal to accompany one of the parties, along with the Teralanthan specialist Eraes.

On their journey, the younger warriors are captured by a pair of strong warriors: a bandit named Veron and a brutal martial artist named Efeinas. Both are working for the Hero, who demands that they follow them. Tani, Slaten and the others find themselves overwhelmed by the Hero’s presence, unable to think clearly or resist his commands, and follow him towards a mansthein outpost where the Hero’s allies are being held captive.

A pitched battle breaks out and they enter the outpost to free the prisoners. Slaten frees a warrior who introduces herself as Celivia and agrees to help fight. Tani encounters a master warrior named Jaer Krylyl, but he declines to join them and leaves when the battle turns in the humans’ favor.

News of the attack reaches Bundlin before long, as well as a Voidwalker messenger from Ith Silvaros who delivers new orders to Kolanin: to hunt down and kill the Hero. Meanwhile, the Hero’s wounded band of fighters makes slow progress away from the outpost until they meet and recruit an earnest Estronese healer named Laeri. Freshly restored, they next come upon an occupied village, where the Hero brutally slaughters a caravan including a pregnant mansthein woman.

Kolanin arrives too late to prevent the bloodshed, but his forces combat the Hero's. Though badly wounded and taken by surprise by the human warrior’s ability to resist seemingly-fatal blows, Kolanin manages to resist the Hero's presence and deliver a decisive blow to end the Hero’s quest.

Traumatized by the event, the remaining human warriors scatter. Tani and Slaten form a small group and manage to hide in hilly terrain south of the Chorhan Expanse. Veron reveals that there have been multiple Heroes, and to their horror, Efeinas begins to take on the aura of the Hero. Again captured by his presence, they train during the long rainy season as Efeinas prepares for war. Kolanin is summoned to the mansthein capital to report the Hero’s death to their Senate, and is ordered to establish a mine in the Chorhan Expanse for suspicious reasons. Before returning to Breilin, he is also summoned to meet the powerful Zeitai Teirsan, who has his own objectives to add to Kolanin’s growing list of responsibilities.

As the rainy season ends, the fledgling Hero recruits a force of local bandits and sets forth to attack Bundlin. Slaten, Tani, Melal, Eraes, Veron, Celivia, and Laeri are all drawn along in his wake, unable to resist the mind-hazing effects of the Legend. Slaten manages to break ahead to warn Kolanin, but is too late to prevent the battle reaching the gates. As the Hero’s forces slaughter their way through the city, they are met by two terrifyingly-powerful Deathspawn masters: Zeitai Xetsu and Zeitai Sepultus. Together, they defeat Efeinas and depart with his remains, leaving Bundlin devastated in their wake.

Part Three: Records of Nothing
Slaten awakens from seinshock to discover that he and most of his allies have been sent to Ith Ire, the prison mine run by Kolanin. He explains that both mansthein and humans have been forbidden from leaving the mine under any circumstances. Conditions are tense and the purpose of the excavation is kept secret.

Having escaped capture at Bundlin, Tani and Veron both travel across the Chorhan Expanse. Veron falls back to her old career as a bandit until she encounters a group calling itself the Coran Resistance and joins them. Tani attempts to find the location her allies were taken to, eventually meeting a Rhen warrior named Subenor who is stealing tribal texts. Tani realizes that he stole the texts near Bundlin as well, but is outmatched until Jaer Krylyl returns and forces Subenor to retreat. Tani travels with Jaer for a time and learns a mental technique from him to resist the influence of the Hero. As they part, he gifts her a set of throwing knives.

Back in Ith Ire, a new Hero arises and begins to fight the guards, but she is killed and the mansthein restore order quickly. Kolanin explains that this is the reason nobody can leave: the Legend is being treated as a disease and quarantined in the prison camp.

The next Hero awakens when mansthein reinforcements are sent to Ith Ire. Though the uprising ends quickly, Kolanin recognizes that Aryabaus and other mansthein are also increasing instability. Soon after, the miners unexpectedly break into an ancient chamber deep underground. The walls are covered with depictions of the Legend, though the details do not exactly match the stories told by humans. During another uprising, Slaten has a vision of a vast white city surrounded by golden flames. A shining version of himself offers him the chance to become a new Hero, but Slaten hesitates and the vision ends. Slaten is nearly killed by mansthein before Tani arrives, using her new mental technique to save him and resist a similar vision. Melal is the next one to be drawn into the white city, and he grasps the chance triumphantly and becomes the next Hero.

Tani and Slaten manage to persuade Melal to wait and build his strength instead of immediately attacking the mansthein, and the mine settles back into uneasy stability. Tani is sexually assaulted by one of the mine overseers, but is saved by Celivia, who kills him and hides the body.

When Melal is drawn to the ancient chamber in the depths of the mine, he finds a brilliant crystal disc which he draws into himself. Newly emboldened, he begins to slay any Deathspawn he finds, and the camp starts to tear itself apart. Eraes escapes and returns to Teralanth, but Tani and the others decide to lead Melal away from the battle. Veron arrives with the Coran Resistance, forcibly taking them back to the Resistance hideout.

Part Four: Bitter Loyalty
Kolanin is left to pick up the pieces at Ith Ire. Aryabaus recruits Kolanin into his forces and reveals that the mansthein have successfully embedded a spy in the Coran Resistance.

Tani, Slaten, Melal, Laeri, and Celivia are accepted into the Resistance despite the misgivings of its hostile leader, Destrela. Before being trusted to take part in assignments, they are first instructed to train under Balunel, a blind, elderly Coran master.

Veron goes on a routine caravan raid, but the ambush is reversed when it transpires that one of the wagons contains a unit of shock troops called Bersk. Due to losses in the ensuing fight, the Resistance is forced to start sending the younger warriors out on assignments.

Kolanin is sent across the Chorhan Expanse on administrative duties. After negotiating a truce with a Rhen tribe, he is approached by Subenor with an offer of assistance in rooting out the Coran Resistance. He declines, but suspects that the Rhen warrior will find another way. His next task is to assess the garrison in the Coran town of Gerant, where he comes to know many of the soldiers personally. Tani and Slaten go to investigate a village under the Resistance's protection that has been slaughtered. They learn that it was done not by mansthein but by Subenor: he nearly kills Melal and severs one of Tani’s fingers before being forced to retreat.

In response, the Resistance decides to liberate Gerant from Deathspawn control. The attack goes as planned, but Veron catches Destrela in the act of stealing the town’s cash hoard for herself, agreeing to share the spoils. Recovered from his injuries, Melal kills many, for the first time having the same presence as the previous Heroes.

Back at the Resistance hideout, the celebrations run long into the night. The lax security makes Tani and Slaten nervous, and they begin to fear a traitor. Tani discovers Laeri trying to leave and spots an advancing mansthein army, while Slaten catches Destrela taking the looted money and deserting through a secret exit. Neither proves to be the traitor, however: Celivia ambushes and kills Destrela, revealing herself in the process to be a mansthein in an induced human form. Tani is infuriated by the betrayal and views her previous connection with Celivia as manipulative. She goes to raise the alarm while Slaten faces Celivia.

The hung-over Resistance army is overwhelmed by the surprise attack, and the battle turns to a rout. Balunel holds off the Catai long enough for Tani to help Veron, Melal, and Laeri escape via the secret exit. Celivia has overpowered Slaten, but escapes instead of killing him. Melal exhorts them all to continue with the fight, but his Heroic aura has less effect and they go their separate ways: Slaten to his Oken home village, Tani and Laeri to Nelee lands, and Veron to the nearest bar.

Part Five: Total Victory
Celivia is granted a rebirth to return to her true mansthein form, but her request for promotion is refused. She is instead reassigned to serve under Aryabaus in the Chorhan Expanse. Kolanin returns to Bundlin, but finds little there except shattered bridges and traumatized warriors.

Tani is overjoyed to return to her home village and formally complete her Farwalk, but finds herself restless as she considers what to do next. Laeri is convinced that they should return to follow Melal, while Tani wants nothing to do with him. Slaten’s return is less joyful, as he finds that he fits into Oken life no better than when he first left his home village. Before long, he finds himself back on the road towards Ith Ire. When Veron starts to feel the pull of the Legend, she realizes that she can't escape.

Tani's tribe is attacked by mansthein led by Subenor, trying to steal their sacred texts. The attempt is foiled, but Tani realizes that she cannot stay. She requests leave from the Nelee masters and sets out with Laeri to meet with the others.

Melal raises an army from the traumatized warriors roaming across the Chorhan Expanse. When Aryabaus sends his main forces to war, Melal takes the opportunity to attack him in his tower. Kolanin, Celivia, and Subenor are amongst the fortress’s defenders: Kolanin holds back Melal while Tani and Slaten close in on Celivia, but Subenor ambushes them both from the rooftops. Tani gives chase, leaving Slaten to face off against their former ally.

Kolanin tries to draw on his previous connections with Melal and persuade him to talk instead of fighting, but the Hero cuts him down. Veron joins with Tani to fight Subenor across the rooftops and together they defeat him, though Veron is badly wounded in the process. Slaten and Celivia fight to a standstill, but she saves his life from her allies. Realizing that the battle for the keep is lost, she retreats once more.

Melal seems outmatched against Aryabaus, but more fully becomes the Hero and pierces the Deathspawn through the heart. As he descends the tower in triumph, his followers join him and they walk north, onward into the Legend.

Statistical analysis
See also the full statistical analysis for this book. The Brightest Shadow consists of one prelude, sixty-six chapters, four interludes and one epilogue, reaching a total 294,262 word count. There are twelve different unique point-of-view characters, although only three occupy a significant portion of the book.