Exploring Back Stories and Character Secrets pt. 1

I'm back, dear readers! You could say that I have emerged from my post-publishing cave and have finally committed to writing another exciting blog post, or that I've remembered that I should probably be writing another blog post because they're fun... pick and choose the answer of your choice, only I know the truth😉

Anyway, Trial of Time (ToT) is published and I'm so very proud of the story it has become!

Okay, now I have to focus! Considering the blog post title isn't 'Andra's ramble', and rather 'Exploring Back Stories and Character Secrets', I'll start with Alexa's back story.

***Spoiler Alerts by the way!! Throughout this whole post, so consider yourself warned!

Alexa (which means defender of mankind):

We know by now that Alexa had health issues as a child, considering she lived on a fiery hot planet but her elemi wasn't equipped to help her deal with that heat. Buuut, we also know that her elemi is the reason she survived on Mercury as Lienar mentions to Chris - something about Alexa only being able to survive if she had a very powerful elemi... like her water elemi. Still, her magic couldn't completely protect her and so Alexa was prone to fainting spells and long periods of unconsciousness when her body overreacted to the heat of Mercury. Her parents were so concerned about her health that they decided to move into some of the deepest layers of Mercury's lava tubes where Alexa was completely isolated from the world. In an act to save their daughter, her parents also doomed her to a life of boredom and isolation... until Alexa received an invitation to the Pawa Sonzai Academy.

Alexa had friends during her younger teen years, but none that she stayed friends with when she went off to the Pawa Sonzai Academy. This is because she never actually went to a proper school, having to do 'online' learning as well as being homeschooled in many different subjects. Out of all the characters, Alexa seems the least knowledgeable about the world she lives in, which is a choice I made so that readers could learn alongside Alexa rather than from her.

Sophie (which means wisdom):

She is by far one of my favourite characters, not forgetting Ben, of course! We found out in ToT that her mother's spirit animal had died in a back-alley fight on Mars, defending Sophie's mother. This caused her mother to lose her feisty, energetic nature and so, to make up for her loss, Sophie unconsciously became feisty and energetic. Her older sister, Erica, is Sophie's idol, even though she would never admit it to her. Erica is much like Alexa, which is why Sophie disliked Alexa at first, considering Alexa is everything that Sophie is not. This dislike lasted until she saw the part of Alexa that reminded her of her sister. Now, the two are best friends.

I'll tell you a little secret that isn't mentioned in the books yet... Sophie has a Shift form. And no, while a fiery dragon might have been perfect (yet cliché), her Shift creature is a wyvern. Sophie only discovers this later on in the third book, Ascent to Ash.

Liza (which means God is my Oath):

Liza, the intelligent, stubborn and yet shy member of the Eight grows more confident in book 2, and I'll tell you another little secret. During their time in Ancient Athens, the Eight are in close proximity to one another, and because Liza's core piece originates from the Earth, it enhances her good qualities and makes her more confident. As soon as she's back in their normal time, this confidence will fade, but considering she knows the type of person she can be with that confidence, she's not giving it up anytime soon!

We know that Liza's Shift form is a centaur (or should it be called a centauress?) yet what we don't know is that she despises this form. She wishes she could have been a true animal, where she could hide in its skin and be free of her human form... but alas, it was not to be.

Liza, like Sophie, has an older sister called Geneva. They are much alike and used to share many things as children, even though they loved to bicker about random things like favourite bands. These arguments always ended in a laugh.

Anethia (which means divine):

Thia has a mysterious boyfriend that we don't know anything about yet... including me😁 That's about to change. While we don't know his name, we do know that they must be fairly close considering they decided to do a long-distance relationship. And it's true, they met in high school and have been together ever since, but things get a bit rocky when Thia goes missing (that damn time travel business!) and her boyfriend thinks she died, or dumped him without saying anything, or disappeared off the face of the earth. Well, one of those is true, at least. She'll have to fix her relationship in Ascent to Ash, or be faced with the horrors of trying to find a match at an Academy where she is famous (well, the Seven are all a bit famous now with their time-travel ).

Thia has a big personality change throughout the two books. She is much calmer, less judgemental, and overall, kinder in the second book. If you didn't read it in the second book, I'll tell you now. It all comes down to her embracing the energy of her wood elemi. Like a tree, she is now slow to react in an overly-excitable or angry way, and she has learnt the importance of silence and patience. Hers is the most noticeable change, but the others, if they dare to embrace their element, will make progress, too.

Amelia (which means industrious/striving):

Amelia is quite vain, judgemental and rude, doing things her own way and not really caring what others think, or sometimes, caring too much. This attitude is all thanks to her stormy air elemi. She has not learnt to embrace the other qualities that her air elemi has to offer. Not yet, anyway.

What no one knows about Amelia is that she had a troubled childhood with family relations at home being rocky, including her relationship with her brother. She hasn't told anyone this because she is afraid of how her friends might view her, even though she has nothing to fear.

Also, being a flirtatious, go-with-the-wind type of girl, Amelia flits from lover to lover like a bee to different flowers, male or female, testing herself and others out but never fully committing.

Amelia is the last of the Eight that has a Shift creature form. She can turn into a red ibis.

Melissa (which means Honey Bee):

Mel is an underrated member of the Eight, with surprising depth to her personality. She seems gullible and shallow, but her friends know there is more to her than meets the eye. She has a certain love for spontaneity and shows courage at the most random moments, but she is the most loveable member of the Eight. No one could find fault with her.

She, like Amelia, has a rocky family relationship. Her parents are rich and always off on business trips, or dragging her along to boring business events. Her two sisters don't really know what family bonds are, and so Mel had almost as lonely a childhood as Alexa. This is the point that Alexa and her bond over and find closure with their childhood loneliness.

Her elemi, the void (or shadows, or darkness, or nothing - whatever you'd like to call it) echoes the darkness in her heart that was being fed by her loneliness, yet when she finds real friends, the darkness is no longer being fed and she now controls it. She has one of the most metaphorical, yet tangible, relationships with her elemi.

Katrissa (which means warrior queen):

Tris has many questions about her past that her mother refuses to answer her. She herself has secrets, for example her secret boyfriend whom she's been with for a year but has never introduced to her mother and step-father. The secret oasis she found on a planet that's scorching hot. And her questions about her father, and the rest of her family that she has never met.

Her father, you see, is the brother of Mr. Phillips, Tris' uncle... and he died tragically, so Tris' mother never mentions him. She also never mentioned the fact that Tris would be attending an Academy where her mother's outcast brother-in-law is a faculty member, simply because Mr. Phillips was a minor elemental and therefore cast out from his family, which made Tris' mother ashamed of him.

Tris has a heart of steel that she'll only open for the few people she truly cares for, which includes her friends, her boyfriend and her mother.

Irene (which means peace):

There aren't too many secrets or tidbits about Irene that haven't already been mentioned in Trial of Time. She's very loyal, her only error having been that she allowed herself to be forced into an arranged marriage even though she was in love with another man. A man that isn't really a man, but rather an elf whom she has a mating bond with - which is a magical bond only elves can create, even with a human mate.

Throughout Trial of Time, Irene was struggling with jealousy even though she never truly understood her feelings in that way. Her friends have magical powers, her mate is an elf with magical powers, and she herself is only a 'puny' human. Until she discovers she is the missing link to complete the Seven, and make them the Eight (the most powerful elementals to ever exist!)

Irene never thought she was special, but her father always knew there would be more for her than a simple, domestic life.

Fay (which means fairy/elves):

She has a complicated personality, and questionable morals, but she keeps giving hints that behind her dark outside there is a soft, vulnerable inside that needs help.

When Fay meets Kira, her world is turned upside down. Especially the world she is building up with her master, Arlox. Kira allows her to finally open her eyes and see that what she is doing, and has done, was wrong.

But where do Fay's questionable morals originate? Could it be from her unknown parents... because I'll let you in on a secret: Fay is adopted... and her parentage will give rise to a novella, because in Fay's blood runs the blood of demons.

Kira (which means beam of light or black):

The double meaning of her name suits Kira well. She's a beam of light to Fay, that keeps her on the right track, and yet she's also darkness due to her upbringing at a Jupiterian orphanage where the children are taught to kill. Kira is an expert in killing, which is why she's sent to Uluru by the Empress of Jupiter. Her target is Fay, the right-hand woman to Arlox. But she can't do it. Kira catches a glimpse of the scared girl inside, sees herself, and then falls hard for the woman Fay is becoming. So she stays in enemy territory with the hope that she can guide Fay to the 'right' side of the war, but will Kira ever make it out alive? I leave that to you as an open question... because I've said enough for now!

And that, my dear readers, is all I wish to divulge about my main female characters. This blog post would be a bit long if I added all the male characters, and other important characters, so I'll do a part two of this post!

I hope you enjoyed reading and learning a bit more about my characters! Until next time.

- Andra K.