Arra
Arra (originally known as Alleria Riverbow, and briefly as Koranaar) is one of the central protagonists of The Metalwood Saga. Introduced as a fiercely skilled, non-magical archer living in the elven village of Sylrantheas, she struggles with feelings of inadequacy in a family of powerful mages. However, she is eventually revealed to be an immortal, twenty-thousand-year-old Eldrim, the ancient wife of Tarathiel (Trey), and one of the most devastatingly powerful Prime Mages in history.
Appearance and Personality
Arra is frequently described as breathtakingly beautiful, tall, and statuesque. She has pale, lightly freckled skin and piercing, unblinking blue eyes framed by long lashes. Her most distinctive feature is her long, luxurious auburn (reddish-brown) hair that seems to glow in the sunlight. She carries the scent of lavender, mint, and leather.
As a Hunter in Sylrantheas, she dresses practically in supple greens and browns. For her Waychoice Ceremony, her adoptive mother gifts her a stunning, custom-tailored dark brown leather outfit with a deep v-neck, laced sides, and a tiny bow and arrow embroidered on the hip. In her ancient past as a Valaraldan Senator, she favored elegant, cream-colored lace gowns.
Personality-wise, Arra is a fierce, highly intelligent, and resourceful warrior. Underneath her confident, occasionally snarky exterior, she harbors deep insecurities. For decades, she believed herself to be a "Mundane" (lacking magical Talent), which fueled a quiet resentment toward her magically gifted adoptive sister, Elanil, and a desperate desire to prove her worth. Despite these flaws, Arra is fiercely loyal, deeply empathetic, and driven by a strong moral compass.
Biography
The Ancient Era and The Sending
Twenty thousand years before the main events of the series, Arra was known as Alleria. She lived on the planet Valaralda as a prominent Senator in the city of Ilyrion, representing the liberal Ertha party. She fell in love with and married the brilliant, if moody, archaeologist Tarathiel.
When Tarathiel discovered the looming, apocalyptic threat of The Fall (Guruthos), Alleria used her political influence to push the controversial Sending Act through the Senate. Though the bill was ultimately struck down by her political rival, Speaker Leriaar (Lorelei), Alleria refused to let Tarathiel go alone. She joined him and a rogue group of volunteers on the illegal Sending, gating to Earth to find the Defense Mechanism.
Her memories of this time, like those of all the original travelers, were subsequently wiped by the trauma of the gates.
Koranaar and the First Rebirth
Five thousand years ago, Arra lived a fractured life in the Supe Valley of ancient Peru as a girl named Koranaar. Raised alongside her "brothers" Usunaar (Trey) and Talanaar, she lived peacefully until a band of marauding Kotosh warriors attacked their settlement. Koranaar was captured and brutally killed, a traumatic event that unlocked Usunaar's dormant powers as a Prime Mage.
Life in Sylrantheas
In the modern era, she was found wandering the Muir Woods with no memory of her past. She was secretly adopted by the village leaders, Silanar and Melenora, who hid her agelessness and raised her as their teenage daughter, Arra.
Growing up in Sylrantheas, Arra struggled immensely because she seemingly possessed no magical Talent, unlike her adoptive parents and her younger sister, Elanil. To compensate, Arra dedicated herself entirely to physical combat, becoming the deadliest archer and a highly proficient sword fighter in the village. She fell deeply in love with the handsome archer Fenian.
At her Waychoice Ceremony, rather than selecting a single profession, Arra defied tradition and boldly declared that she "Chose everything." Moments later, the Cothellon launched a devastating attack on the village.
The Awakening
During the Cothellon assault, Arra fought valiantly alongside Fenian and her best friend, Imra. However, they were soon cornered by the ruthless Cothellon leader, Lorelei. When Lorelei pointed a gun at Arra's head, Elanil heroically threw herself in the bullet's path, sacrificing her life to save Arra.
The profound trauma and grief of Elanil's death shattered a mental block inside Arra's mind. She instantly Awakened as a fully-realized Prime Mage. Mad with grief, she instinctively wielded unimaginable leafrunning and fallfoiling magic to completely obliterate the Cothellon's massive receiver site, Fennas Elenathon, before launching herself into the sky.
Return to Valaralda
Reuniting with Trey—who she slowly realized was her ancient husband, Tarathiel—Arra gated back to Valaralda to stop The Fall. Her return was fraught with emotional turmoil: she was grappling with the death of Fenian, the return of her ancient memories, Trey's fractured soul (having split into Trey and Quynn), and Trey's lingering entanglement with Lorelei.
Confronting Cariel
Arra's journey reached its darkest point when she confronted the rogue Prime Mage Cariel (also known as Magona or Selenia). Cariel revealed a horrifying truth: she was Arra's true biological mother. Cariel had placed a parasitic Soulbleed on Arra when she was an infant, siphoning Arra's physical energy for millennia to fuel her own immense magic (which explained Arra's frequent fainting spells).
Cariel captured Arra, physically crucifying her to a wooden bookshelf with shards of glass and metal, torturing her to draw out raw energy. Pushed to the absolute brink, Arra summoned unimaginable willpower. She mentally tracked the soulbleed back to its source and shattered the connection. Free from her mother's parasitic control, Arra engaged Cariel in a brutal, world-shattering aerial battle above the Palace of Memory. Though she tried to reason with her mother, Cariel proved too far gone. To save the world, Arra tragically but resolutely slit her mother's throat.
The Final War and Epilogue
In the saga's climax, Arra fought alongside Phoenix, Imra, and Rylan against the newly-released Twins and the corrupted, Xyclami-wielding duo of Trey and Quynn. Realizing that raw power could not defeat the machine's corruption, Arra put down her weapons. She walked directly up to Trey, kissed him, and used Mistweaving to remind him of his true identity: the compassionate, loving Tarathiel. Her love gave him the strength to overcome his dark half, merge his soul, and permanently deactivate Xyclami.
With magic gone forever, Arra reclaimed her true name, Alleria. She and Tarathiel formally renewed their wedding vows on the cliffs of Ilyrion, surrounded by their friends and allies, ready to finally live a normal, mortal life together.
Powers and Abilities
Master Archer and Combatant
Even before her magic unlocked, Arra was the deadliest warrior in Sylrantheas. She is capable of firing three arrows simultaneously with pinpoint accuracy without the aid of Bladedancing magic. She is highly agile, stealthy, and deadly in close-quarters combat using a falchion or a knife.
Prime Mage
Once her block was removed, Arra became one of the most powerful magic users in history, capable of utilizing all Seven Aspects of magic without needing physical Investment. Because she had trained so intensely as a Mundane, she applied unmatched tactical brilliance to her magic.
- Mergearrows: Arra invented a terrifyingly lethal hybrid magic. By combining Mergemelding (dark oak), Leafrunning (light elm), and Bladedancing (light poplar), she could mentally fire dozens of arrows from her quiver at once. These "mergearrows" tracked their targets flawlessly and phased through solid matter—including trees, armor, and forcefields—before solidifying inside her enemies' hearts.
- Shockarrows: By wrapping her arrows in forcefields and filling them with lightning, she created explosive projectiles capable of shattering Prime Trees.
- Mass Destruction: Arra demonstrated the raw power to level entire cities, obliterate fortresses, and hold off armies using immense storms and gravitational manipulation.
Weapons and Equipment
- The Yew Longbow: A beautifully crafted five-foot-eight-inch recurve longbow gifted to her by Orist (Allain's father). It was destroyed during the Cothellon attack on Sylrantheas.
- The Recurve Bow: A shorter, highly maneuverable combat bow she used during the war against the Remnant and the Cothellon.
- The Bow of Ancient Kings: A legendary artifact gifted to her by the Aiqua people in the Thesserin Desert. Similar to Trey's Tree Ring Staff, the bow contains all seven types of Primewood embedded in its grip, granting Arra an inexhaustible supply of magic.
Key Relationships
- Trey (Tarathiel): Her ancient husband and the true love of her life. Their relationship is tested by millennia of memory loss, Tarathiel's splintered personality (Quynn), and his lingering ties to Lorelei, but her love ultimately saves him from total corruption.
- Fenian: Her first love in Sylrantheas. She loved him deeply, and his brutal death at the hands of the Cothellon fueled her vengeance.
- Imra: Her best friend and fellow Hunter. Imra harbored a secret, unrequited romantic love for Arra. Arra cares for Imra deeply and aggressively protects her, but does not return her romantic feelings.
- Elanil: Her adoptive sister. Arra spent decades jealous of Elanil's leafrunning magic, but Elanil's selfless sacrifice to save Arra's life cured Arra of her resentment and unlocked her Prime powers.
- Cariel (Magona/Selenia): Her biological mother. A truly evil Prime Mage who viewed Arra only as a battery to fuel her own power via a Soulbleed.
- Lorelei (Leriaar): Her ancient political rival and romantic competitor for Tarathiel. Despite their bitter history, Lorelei later saves Arra's life, and the two form a complicated, begrudging respect.