Melanie Nilles

Welcome back, loyal readers and fantasy fans! We’re happy you could join us for another interview with one of the many characters from the Legend of the White Dragon series. We’re counting down the weeks now to the release of the first book, Dragon Prophecy, scheduled for release the end of January 2008.

Today we’re honored to have Jayson join us. You’ll meet him in the first book.

Welcome, Jayson. Would you like to start off telling us something about yourself?

Thank you. If I told you, I’d have to kill you. But that’s messy work and too many dead bodies. *winks*

What can I say that you’d be interested in hearing? Not that I’ve a life of interest to mention but for what cannot be said. Otherwise, I’ve a dull life. Nothing of particular interest.

No? I’m disappointed.

So am I, but *shrugs* saying nothing of what I cannot say is all I can say of it.

*chuckle* Okay, I won’t ask what it is you can’t talk about. What can you tell us?

I am a mage, a descendant of the Majera. I’ve been trained to fight and use magic to a degree unmatched by all but a few…except the dragons and Majera. Oh! And the First Race…and the Great Magi, the first children of Tahronen. I suppose I should say I’ve a degree of skill unmatched by all but a few other magi, not counting the Great Magi.

Who trained you to fight?

Haiberuk.

Ah! We spoke with him some weeks ago. I’m surprised one of the creators would teach something violent.

In defense of the world, it may be necessary. There are creatures, abominations of the Darklord, which have not been seen in generations. While legends say they were defeated, few were destroyed. Some things cannot be destroyed. Those things we train to fight.

The Majera teach no violence. Quite contrary, they preach calm and connection. However, Chaos does not. It’s tools are violent. Sometimes you must fight as the enemy to defeat them at their own game. That is what the Majera teach–how to fight the darkness and its master.

We’ve heard the terms ‘darkness’ and ‘chaos’ before, but no one has clarified how it applies.

The Universe contains two forces of creation–Chaos and Order–and their servants of Darkness and Light. Only in use together can a world as ours grow and change. But somewhere in cooperating, one decided to best the other. That was when it all started. I know little more but for the history since then, as passed to us from Haiberuk. Now, we fight when necessary to save this world from falling into complete Chaos. For if one of those forces is defeated, the world will die, whether from stagnation or destruction.

If both of these forces are necessary, why would you fight Chaos or Darkness or whatever it is?

To diminish its power over us. Each person of the world contains a part of both, except those beings made perfect at the beginning. We are in balance, but that balance is fragile. It is a constant struggle to keep the dark side reduced, but it remains always, influencing our decisions. We fight the external darkness so its influence over the part within is diminished.

I think I understand.

Good. Then my work here is done.

All right. I take that as a cue that our time is up or you don’t want to talk about what you can’t talk about.

I’ll not talk about it further. I said nothing about it already.

I can take a hint. Thank you, Jayson.

Thank you again, readers! Come back next week for our twentieth character interview of one of the cast of the Legend of the White Dragon series. Next week we’ll have Istaria Isolder, the veiled princess of Cavatar.

(Note: For those joining in these interviews for the first time, you can download an updated PDF file of this and all previous interviews here.)