In March 2020, the world was locked down, engulfed by the fear of a lethal pandemic. A deadly virus named COVID19 had hit humankind, at large. Nations, all around the world, had locked down their countries to mitigate the spread of this malevolent virus. COVID19 handicapped even the most powerful of the nations, economically, in just a matter of months. Mankind was coerced to stay inside their homes to follow the rules of quarantine. The virus killed hundreds and thousands of people across the globe and it infected millions. We realized how ephemeral and fragile our lives are, in the wake of this pandemic. Amidst that socioeconomic crisis, there was another outbreak of a virus called 'Racism' which has been around for a long time throughout human history, yet there's no cure for this disease.

In these chaotic and challenging times, I started expanding my work on my passion for writing a book, while I was spending my days trapped in my home. The culmination of this wish is the novel called 'A Tale of Shadow and Light'. I have always been passionate about writing and reading the stories that liberate the human soul from the bounds of this unjust reality. Stories that enable us to transport ourselves to a completely chimerical world, where anything and everything is possible and the only limit in that world, is your imagination.

I have always been an ardent reader of fantasy and comparative mythology. During the time of National Lockdown that was imposed in India, all the incidents that were happening in different parts of the globe inspired me to create my world which I could personify as a metaphor to planet Earth. I started building my world by drawing maps of different continents as they came to my imagination. From my reading of the ancient Indian myths, the Mesopotamian folklores, the Egyptian Mythology, and the Sumerian mythology, I could create a diversity of people that would populate my fictional world. I created and drew the maps of the four continents, while simultaneously creating stories about them.

I carefully studied the evolution of human societies and cultures all across the world from an anthropological perspective. I read and observed the traditions, customs, and blind faiths that are followed by the people of different sects and religions so that I could create a parallel structure of society for my fictional world. No culture in this world is utopian. All the ancient-and modern- civilization(s) have their shortcomings and imperfections and I wanted to portray just the same, in my own story, to make it more appealing and believable for the reader.

After populating my world with ancient tribes, lineages, bloodlines, and fantastical beasts; the next thing that came in line was astronomy and timekeeping. I invented the astronomical calendars that would be followed by the people of my world. I invented the seasonal cycle on my planet. I drew the star-charts, similar to the ones that were created by the ancient Indians and the ancient Greeks.

Next, I started working on my protagonists, antagonists, and supporting characters. This was the most pivotal aspect of my story because character development is the prime factor of every book. I wanted my characters to feel realistic. Despite possessing some supernatural abilities, I wanted my characters to be as human as possible, engulfed by all the material desires, sorrows, and imperfections. Hence, I started my book with the story of a boy named 'Mythra' who has been condemned by society, because of the religious dogmas and blind faiths. Mythra stands as a symbol for every person who has been denigrated and bullied, based on their caste, creed, birth, and sex.

When we look back at our history of mankind, people have suffered horrible torment at the hands of oppressors, because of their caste, creed, color, sex, and religion. I wanted to personify that discrimination in my characters, as they evolve through all that hatred and racial prejudice. I wanted my characters to portray the pain that haunts the world, even today. I wanted to portray their development, as they choose their way of dealing with these problems. I wish to show, through my book, that their actions are a result of the circumstances that they had to face in their own lives throughout the saga. Some of them become an epitome of vengeance against the injustice and the evil that is extant in the world. Some of the characters choose to become the saviors of mankind who aspire to liberate the world from all the tyrannical elements. Some of them evolve to become revolutionaries, who aspire to eradicate all the religious dogmas that have influenced the world for centuries.

After all that work, I finally started writing my book with a desire to include all these perspectives in a single volume packed with magic, fantasy, and adventure. I believe the reader would find the plot emerging slowly but steadily. With patient reading, it would reveal the core of my novel which stands for values like determination, non-violence, persistence, and survival.

This book is not just a fantasy saga but it's a tale, of how evil emerges in this world and how it can be tackled with compassion and righteousness. This book is not meant for people who believe that evil is inherent and the world splits into two categories as Shadow and Light. The book's fundamental idea is that the purpose of Light is never to vanquish darkness but merely to illuminate it.

The book is entangled and woven with hundreds of myths, fables, folklores, and backstories which portray the absolute principle that darkness is an immutable truth and Light is the only exception. It conveys the idea that destruction is natural but the preservation of life is the purpose of our origin. Ultimately, the reader will find himself/herself engaged in a fantastic and chimerical world where the plants grow and the rivers flow, where the rains drizzle as the winds whistle, where the beasts have the magic but the humans become tragic, where the birds sing a song and the sky meets them along.

This is my first attempt at writing a novel and I hope, that every reader of my work shall find himself/herself in some or the other characters of this story and he/she finds it relatable to their own life. Writing this book has itself been an adventure on its own. It is filled with victory and death, love and hate, choice and action. I hope this story finds you, and I hope it finds you well. Follow me on this grand saga, as we twist the classical fabric of Good and Evil. Follow me, as we evolve past the hackneyed ideals and beliefs --- that light stands for good and darkness symbolizes evil.

- STERLING, 2020

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Dedicated to my late Grandmother. The storyteller of my childhood.

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