On a lonely hillside, a stranger appears... In the town of Gorbav a priestess gains renown... The two shall meet, and again, without conclusion... And in the end... The Will be Done
.
By E. G. Castle.
The Will be Done contains examples of:
- Back from the Dead: Praen brings himself back not only from the dead, but from being completely obliterated. Also, what happens at the very beginning and end, when he travels back and forth from heaven.
- Book Ends: The story begins and ends with Praen coming through the portal, at a specific location, to evaluate the new perspective. The end of the main story, not the hundred years later epilogue, also has Praen returning through the portal, actually giving the story two book ends at the ending.
- Bullet Dodges You: In Sivord, while taking care of a criminal, Praen stops two bullets in mid-air, letting one drop and sending the other right back to its owner. Er, into its owner, to be more precise.
- Clean Up the Town: Sivord has all of its criminals (Well, most of the major ones.) dealt with by Praen in a single night, which the locals end up calling the ‘Night of Elimination’.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: Users of Will each have their own particular aura-color for when they do magic. Sorcerers, for whatever reason, are always red (This probably also explains why a red robe is considered a sign of a sorcerer.).
- Cool Gate: One appears at the beginning and another two at the end. They’re used by Praen to travel between heaven and earth.
- Forced Sleep: Praen puts a thug to sleep at one point.
- The Heretic: High Priest Rheaesi is, interestingly enough, not a heretic... technically. He and his dogma are strongly disapproved of by the Church, however, and Mys herself feels he is an outright heretic. It does not end well.
- I Am X, Son of Y: “I am Praen the Herald, Son of Durex the Prophet.” A bit more impressive than it sounds; it’s that world’s equivalent of declaring yourself the son of Abraham, Moses, Jesus or Mohammed.
- I Never Told You My Name: When they first meet, Praen calls Myssia by her full name, which he had no apparent way of knowing.
- In the Hood: Praen does this to hide his identity when he takes care of the criminals in Sivord. A group of sorcerers also do this in Rignok, in order to kill without being recognized.
- Magical Society: A guild of sorcerers run the town of Rignok; in some sort of college-town arrangement. Oddly enough, they’ve apparently done a good job of it.
- Meaningful Name: Myssia messiah. Inicis Latin for enemy Sacer Latin for priestess.
- Messianic Archetype: Myssia is actually a prospective messiah (The name’s a hint.). It does not work out, however.
- Mysterious Watcher: For most of the story, Praen simply pops up, talks a bit with Myssia (Keeping an eye on her in the background as well.), then disappears (To be fair, he actually does do a few other things, but that’s neither here nor there.). This lasts until the end, where he reveals he’s a herald of God, Myssia is -or could have been- the Messiah, and now he has to kill her. Bummer.
- Public Execution: Myssia performs one on Rheaesi.
- Really 700 Years Old: Praen is somewhere around a millennium and a half old, although he’s been dead or something for the vast majority of that. He occasionally mentions he’s older than he looks, lampshading the whole deal.
- Religion is Magic: ‘Will’, as how it is usually referred to, is how priests and affiliated do magic. However, it seems it is not technically religious magic... just mostly.
- Sphere of Destruction: The Sphere of Destruction is, well, a sphere that obliterates everything inside it. While the color varies, the basic form is a large sphere (Duh.) that has concentric circles constantly rotating around it, while producing an annoying hum.
- Weird West: It’s a bit subtle, but it’s obvious that the culture is Western influenced, with carrying guns seen to be common, riding horses, and lack of machine transportation (Although there is a suggestion or two about trains being developed.). It’s less of a supernatural Western than a fantasy one though.
- Wizard Duel: Mys duels with five sorcerers (In a row!) during the conflict at Rignok, Praen duels with a sorcerer in Sivord, Myssia, and Rheaesi go head-to-head at one point, and at the end, Mys and Praen duke it out.
