Storybook - Traditional Fairy Tales of Atreia, Vol. 2

The Fairytale Chronicles

Volume 8: Jemma and Luckless Wendar

Many, many years ago there lived two very different people.

Wendar was of the common people. He was tall, scrawny, and pale, and he was famous for his unending bad luck. When Wendar tried farming his crops failed. When he tried woodcutting he nearly cut his own toes off. His job transporting tripeed to market ended when he was run over by a Brax.

Soon even former friends shunned him, fearful his misfortune might be contagious, and so lonely Wendar took his old, sick father and went to live in the Altgard countryside. Bad luck followed him there--the wheels on his cart fell off, his axe-head broke, and any animal he bought at market sickened or ran off, or was just plain useless.

Throughout Asmodae, he became known as "Luckless Wendar."

In another part of Asmodae lived a young woman of noble descent named Jemma, who was rich beyond compare. Her father was Ofnyhr, a High Priest in Pandaemonium who was respected, even revered, by the social elite.

As a child Jemma would cry at the slightest provocation. She would cry over dropped toys, or if the air was slightly too warm, or slightly too cold. And as she grew older, she found more and more things to upset her.

Her sobs soon filled the house day and night, and her parents found only one way to stem her tears--they told her that ifshould she not stop crying, she would have to marry Luckless Wendar. Needless to say, Luckless Wendar was the one man in Asmodae no woman wanted to marry, and so this did the trick every time.

Jemma grew to be a lovely young woman--she even ascended as a Daeva--and eventually her father felt it was time for her to marry. He immediately began reviewing potential suitors, but as each was presented to Jemma she burst into tears, finally vowing that she would never marry a man of her father's choosing.

"Then you will never marry," said her father, "for certainly no man of YOUR choosing will have you."

When Jemma tired of crying, she formulated a plan that would hurt her father as badly as his words had wounded her. Throughout her childhood her parents had threatened her marriage to Luckless Wendar...so perhaps it was Wendar himself whom she should marry. She immediately travelled to Altgard (crying the whole way) and soon stood outside the small hut that Wendar and his father called home.

"Wendar!" she called out, and Wendar opened the door (stubbing his toe in the process). "I am Jemma, daughter of Ofnyhr," she continued, "and I'm here to marry you!"

Wendar seemed uncertain, but Jemma insisted the wedding take place. Wendar's father--who grew weaker with each passing day--agreed, and not long after they were married. Only then did Jemma unveil the rest of her plan: she would not only return to her father a married woman, but with a Daeva by her side.

Wendar was again uncertain, but Jemma was insistent. At first she tried simple things she'd heard in old wives' tales about how to ascend, and before long Aether crystals hung above every door frame in their house. Wendar even bravely drank all the strange concoctions created by his new wife, even though he knew none of them would agree with him.

Despite her best efforts, Wendar remained Human. So Jemma decided upon even more drastic action....

One day Jemma and Wendar were deep in the Altgard woodlands collecting berries for their lunch, and wood for their fires.

"Wendar," Jemma said, pointing towards a small grove nearby, "I think I saw some fruit over there. Go and have a look."

The fight was painfully one-sided: Wendar was no warrior, and seeing he had no chance he quickly turned to run. The Karnif took chase, swiping at Wendar's back and cutting him with her razor claws.

Jemma quickly stepped in, used her skills as a Daeva to repel the beast, and rushed to her husband's side. Then she turned him over, looked into his eyes, and knew instantly that her plans had failed.

Wendar was still Human.

Wendar was also badly wounded, and as Jemma hurried him home she felt a deep and terrible sense of regret, which of course made her cry. She attended to him for two days without sleep, mopping his brow and giving him water, cleaning his wounds and giving him herbs. Despite her efforts, his wounds grew red and sore with infection, and he fell into a fevered delirium.

After a second night without rest Jemma's eyes finally closed and she collapsed onto the floor. She awoke hours later, and looked up to find Wendar's hand hanging limply over the side of the bed.

"Wendar!" She shouted and immediately jumped to her feet, tears in her eyes. She was quite certain she had caused the death of an innocent and pure man, and in despair that she had not even been there for his last moments.

"Wendar!" Jemma grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Wendar!" And at that Wendar opened his eyes and looked at her. A smile spread over his face, and it was then that she saw something that left her stunned.

He had that look--the look of the ascended few.

Wendar had recovered fully as Jemma slept, and the very next day his wife was teaching him to wield Aether. It was not long before Jemma and Wendar passed through the gates of Pandaemonium to great fanfare. Jemma's father greeted both with open arms, and begged forgiveness from his daughter.

All seemed well in Jemma and Wendar's world. But as we all know, what seems to be often isn't....

Wendar soon became one of the most respected Clerics in Asmodae, and when he was picked to join the first few groups sent to the newly-opened Abyss, no-one was surprised.

But Marchutan, Lord of Fate, hadn't finished dealing his cruel hand. Wendar and twenty-three other brave Daevas stepped through a rift one day...and never returned. The rift simply closed behind them, leaving them stranded forever, no-one knows where. Some blame Wendar's foul luck, but Jemma blamed only herself.

And so Jemma fled, and was never heard from again. Some say she now wanders the wild places of Asmodae, driven to madness by grief and guilt. Others claim to hear her sobs in the fields of Altgard, around the small hut that Wendar and his father once called home.

All of them agree on one point: that now, at least, Jemma has plenty of reason to cry.