Errant Story - Plot

Plot

The plot involves several groups who often intersect and overlap, but are often explored in separate chapters.

Meji Hinadori originally set out with the goal of finding immense magical power so she could pass her final project and graduate, the only way she can, using a loophole that if she can defeat the entire faculty, she would automatically graduate. Graduating would also keep her from being disowned by her wealthy maternal grandfather.

She quickly finds herself accompanied by Jon Amraphael, a Farrelian assassin on temporary hiatus, who questions his own motive for joining with Meji but finds the quest interesting to say the least. Meanwhile an order of "time monks" called the Ensigerum are trying to destroy the Gewehr Wraiths, the assassins' guild to which Jon belongs. The Veracian church is allied with the time monks.

Ian Samael is another half-elf who like Meji wants to find some source of immense power, so that he can heal his half-elf sister, who as an errant is immune to all normal forms of healing magic. He and Meji come together after both break into a Veracian library looking to steal the same book. A few brief hints of romance spark before they are separated during an attack by what remains of the Elvish army.

Jon and Meji are joined shortly thereafter by Sarine Elle, an Elvish ranger whose job is to exterminate any remaining Errants she can. (Whether every half elf is an Errant is one of the key questions in the plot.) She is also motivated by curiosity and a certain distrust of her superiors, as well as a need to escape the elvish city which she despises.

After much walking and equally much talking, the trio eventually discovers the "super secret rest home" of Anilis, one of the two Elven deities. While Jon and Sarine bicker over a forgotten night of passion, Meji takes her opportunity to tap the sleeping goddess—only to find her already absent.

After the trio flee from the angry eccentric demigods which guard the lair of the goddess, Ian makes a surprise return, super-charged with magic power, and abducts Meji—though not entirely against her will. Jon and Sarine go their separate ways as Sarine returns to the Elven city to report these events to her superiors. Jon returns to service with his guild and is given a new assignment.

As Ian has come to be possessed by what appears to be a powerful entity of some kind, assumed to be the Elvish goddess, he flies himself and Meji to his hometown to heal his sister as he had planned. When he finds out both his sister and mother have died in his absence, he instead heals half the town before trying to resurrect his dead sister, which fails spectacularly, leaving Meji and Ian's fate unknown.

The story then turns to Jon's new assignment, where he finds several surprises. He is first unexpectedly joined by Sarine, who needs him to locate Meji and Ian. His job then turns out to be a setup, and he is attacked by two Ensigerum monks—one of whom happens to be his long lost sister Sara, sent on this mission as a test of loyalty to the order. But together Sarine and Jon kill Sara's mentor Warrel and capture Sara herself. She then has no viable option but to join their party, and the new trio then travel to Tsuirakushiti in search of Meji and Ian.

When we next see Ian he is descending, alone and wrathful, upon the Veracian capital of Emerylon. There he is met with, and quickly dispels, the Veracian "god" Luminosita, with disastrous consequences to the city. Shortly after breaking into the Patriarch's chambers and demanding to know the whereabouts of the Elves, Ian is knocked unconscious by an Ensigerum monk disguised as a Veracian guard.

Meji meanwhile has returned to Tsuirakushiti, after Ian vanished at his sister's grave, leaving Meji stranded two continents from home. She meets briefly with Jon, Sara and Sarine when they arrive in town, when suddenly an early Elven diplomatic party arrives in Tsuirakushiti. Against her elders' warnings, Meji attempts to catch a glimpse of her Elven father and is abducted by his delegation, who then quickly return to the Elven city under the pretense of concerns about the recent disaster in Emerylon. Jon, Sara and Sarine then follow toward the Elven city, seeking to rescue Meji.

Ian now finds himself in the custody of the Ensigerum order. The time-monks' leader, Imperatrix Anita, having heard only a partial story about what happened to Warrel and Sara, is now convinced that some combination of the Elves, Wraiths and Veracian Church is trying to wipe out the Ensigerum. Having an enemy in common, Anita seeks to use Ian as a weapon to take out the Elven threat. Meanwhile, Jon, Sara and Sarine have infiltrated the underground Elven city of Praenublis Astu, though not as undetected as they had desired. After a brief stint of being held captive in a luxurious Elven embassy, the trio are brought before the Elven council.

During the council proceedings, Ian makes telepathic contact with Meji, learns that she is a prisoner of the Elves, and flies into the underground city to rescue her, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Learning that Jon is also present, Ian decides to "rescue" him as well, but is besieged by Elven forces who nearly overwhelm him despite his godlike power, though incurring great losses themselves. Ian is forced to retreat from the Elven city, abandoning Meji. Returning to his home town, he finds that his earlier attempts at healing have had delayed side-effects, and he is no longer so warmly welcomed. Deciding that his powers are useful for nothing but destruction, Ian returns to the Ensigerum to join forces to exterminate the Elves.

Meanwhile, Jon, Sara and Sarine depart by order of the Elven high council, to return Meji to Tsuirakushiti...