Today’s A to Z writing challenge is the letter “J” for Jealousy. Also synonymous with envy, jealousy is one of the most damaging emotions in human nature. It is considered one of the greatest sins among the seven deadly sins. It is also one excellent concept for an author to incorporate into a story because, at some point in life, we all know how it feels. We can verbally deny it all we want, but we know we have experienced it.
In my trilogy, “The Chosen One of Allivar”, jealousy is the attribute that leads to a fall of grace. The lead evil character Haggarfuse is first jealous of the creator for his power and then jealous because the creator favored the mortals over the immortals, making them subject to steward over them.
The main character of good, Arimar, must also deal with the attribute of jealousy when the woman he loves, Elissia, is seen laughing and smiling with another man, although very innocently. She notices he is watching and uses this to elicit a response out of him, any response that showed he has care for her. Here the jealously he feels exposes his emotions to Haggarfuse and becomes his Achilles heel as he begins to lead a company of 500 thousand freed individuals through the forbidden lands. His jealously has now become a detriment to his task. He must lead all the people, not just Elissia, so his attention is split.
Realizing the danger his emotions now places her in, he separates from her. He tries to ignore her on the long path, without an explanation of his behavior which is only to save her life. Elissia takes this as a sign of rejection and this infuriates her. On the path, the mortal antagonist, Grushame is in the midst to do the bidding of Haggarfuse. Without giving further details or spoilers, Grushame almost succeeds. Both Elissia and Arimar now come to a different understanding of their emotions and they mature from it; placing their own needs become secondary to the task.
In this mythology, I venture with the reader into various concepts of human emotions and how each one can be used in evil’s attempt to destroy. It is not just a journey of excitement and battle, but also a mortal quest for perfection, the conquering of evil and a rebirth of paradise.
