Guild Wars 2

the chronicles of merrick is an adventure of war, druids, bards, and magicks. it tells the story of Merrick, a Druid of the Frozen forest of Everfrost. He wakes up after centuries of hibernation to find pillars of black smoke coming from a nearby village. The smoke is not coming from the flames he expects to find however—-they are coming from the flame of industry.
and lastly i will mention that this is an original work of fiction with no ties at all to Guild Wars 1, 2, or any of the lore therein.

Here is part I of my novel The Chronicles of Merrick, the Happening at Greyland

As friends fall with the snow
My home in the forest is all I know
My heart bleeds with the escaping time
E’re the fates dwell!
O, the night I watch
With pleasant thoughts and smiles
Cometh rain or cometh pain
For the forest, my soul I would gladly sell
Verse from the tale of Mal’Chek, last king of the Druids

Chapter I, Arrival.

Walking through a snow covered forest, a savage foe approaches. He is not bear or wolf, or mountain lion; he is man, slowly creeping into my haven in the trees. The trees speak to those who will listen, and I have listened for many years. Their branches bend and sway in the wind, but the trees cannot sense what I can sense, a monster comes to pillage my home.
My forest is called Everfrost, and I am its protector, the Druid Merrick, along with my master Mal’Chek, we are the last of the Druids. I too bend and sway in the wind just as the trees do, but I do so as many types of animals. Most often I am a curious white wolf, one that strays into the camps of travelers attempting to brave the forest’s bitter winds. I stare at these travelers, wearing an expression that says I am but a lost and hungry wolf, for who would suspect that I am a man in wolf’s clothing? Or the Raven flying overhead?
My full name is Merrick Elios J’lish, son of Mal’rick of the Western Warrior clans. I lost touch with my father after the last great Empire of the West, the Thessian Empire, pushed into my clan’s territory and wiped out my people. I was on my own until I met my master, Mal’Chek.
I moved to Everfrost some 700 years ago and have met a vast variety of travelers, some peaceful and some who are warmongers. My master, who taught me the ways of the Druid, gave to me the gift of immortality. I received this gift by taking the spirit of the Mother forest into my own, and each Druid has his own Mother Forest. All druids deemed worthy are given the ability to commune with his or her Mother Forest, but not all are successful in this communion. However not all druids, immortal or otherwise, possess the fortitude to live in hermitage for centuries with no companion but animals and close friends; so the number of ancients dwindles.
In the contrast of Druidic life, the rest of humanity seems to be after the same things recently, treasure, glory and industry, whereas I only seek to live in peace and harmony with my forest. There have been many innovations that I’ve witnessed have included flying machines and metal horses. Yet the sword and the bow still remain the weapon of choice of armies all across the lands. It is told that the Thessian Emperor Maliarchus is responsible for the beginning of this industrial innovation.
Unfortunately, with innovation came pollution and desecration of sacred places. Everfrost was once a taboo place to cut lumber from, but superstitions last only so long it seems. For centuries I have used the façade of docile Wolf, harmless Raven and weary traveler while I’ve lived in solitude and the forest has gotten smaller with each passing decade; a happenstance that I cannot ignore.
With each passing decade there is a new threat uncovered facing the sanctity of Everfrost, and the threat is something I’m not always aware of how to diminish. Some years I am able to do virtually nothing but eliminate the deforesters, whereas sometimes I’m able to teach them habits I think are better, and still my advice is not always followed. So along with being a hermit, I have developed into quite the cynic, loathing almost everyone and everything that isn’t connected to the forest.
More recently, pillagers and adventurers have been seeking the ‘Secret of Everfrost’, a fabled item that contains the knowledge of how humankind would be able to maintain a balance with nature and yet continue to invent new things. It also would grant immense knowledge and power to the first who read it, thus making them immortal. It is fabled that the son of a great king has recently been looking for this immense tome in order to dominate the known world.