AETERNITAS is a vibrant, character-driven epic academia & action fantasy in the vein of Harry Potter and The Last Airbender, with progression elements and deep worldbuilding. It grapples sincerely with a boy's quest for power and acceptance, and his encounters with love and loss as well as fame and fall, weaving themselves over a backdrop of an ancient and eldritch evil that is battled with high-octane action featuring creative elemental combat. "Get into Aeternitas, and everything can be yours." Or at least, that's what everyone says. Ever since little, Elwin wanted to be like the Great Founders – the first humans of myth who discovered how to wield the 4 Elements of nature. His father Carl, one of the greatest explorers of his time, would tell him bedtime stories about how The Founders could sunder the seas, move the continents, and create hurricanes out of nothing but their voices. Elwin was enchanted by their epic myths: how they reclaimed the earth from the primal monsters, ended the tyranny of other species, and rose to become the Sun, the Moon, and the everlasting stars. Their powers still ripple through time ten millenniums on, making themselves known by manifesting in every human child at their first coming of age. Elwin’s father Carl was gifted the power over Air by one of the Founders themselves, and very soon, Elwin would get an Element of his own to wield. But before Elwin has a chance to learn the secrets of the Founders and the history of the world, his father perishes in a dangerous expedition over the ocean, unfortunately taking with him thirteen-thousand brave voyagers and sailors. Drawing ire and blame from families who lost their members on Carl’s expedition, their flames fanned by a smear campaign organized by Carl’s rivals, Elwin and his mother and little brother quickly become the subject of pointed fingers, turning his life into hell wherever he goes. It doesn’t help that his father’s motives for the expedition were mysterious and the dangers too great. Little does Elwin know that his father had been killed, and that his father’s killers spring from an immortal class of horrific and eldritch beings that has stalked humanity for millenniums, intending to stop Carl dead in his tracks lest he discover a way to vanquish them forever. Pulling the strings of society behind the scenes, his father’s killers ensure that Elwin is forbidden to dream of ever following his father’s footsteps, consigning his family to live hand-to-mouth and compelling them to work as innkeepers. With his world crumbled around him and his dream of becoming great like the Founders ground to dust, Elwin leads an unwelcome and anemic existence at his middle school and spends his evenings helping his mother at their inn, stuck on loop with no hope of a different tomorrow. But one day, he receives two guests shrouded in secrecy, accompanying with them a mysterious connection to his father’s work. On the same night, a hidden time capsule from his father explodes out from the wall of his house. Their hints enkindle in Elwin a new hope for his dream: A chance to become the greatest hero that people would ever come to know. But doing so will not be easy, because he first has to enter the greatest Academy to exist in the present which turns away all but the exceptional few – and Elwin knows that he is frankly far from exceptional. The only way then is to be exceptional; and Elwin isn't going to stop at anything to manifest his dream. After all, since when was impossible a word? Especially when becoming the greatest hero the world has ever known means that Elwin will get to hold the very brushes to rewrite the universe?   Join Elwin as he embarks from the shores of his destiny into a brave new world, and becomes the center of an epic saga in the World of Aeternitas. "For when his world crumbled around him, Elwin Eramir never imagined that a new Epic would be written in his name..." TL;DR: What NOT to expect: - LitRPG - Harem - Isekai - Overpowered MC You can expect the following: - Slower pace progression fantasy, closer in affinity to traditional fiction - Hard-earned power - Single POV majority (95%+ is from the MC's POV, others for key context) - Dynamic character development - An epic fantasy world, with deep worldbuilding and rich lore - The 4 Elements; the people of their world built an entire scientific tradition, so the feel of the 4-Elements-system leans towards 'something which can be investigated and improved upon' rather than strictly 'hocus-pocus' - Action takes time to build up, but it's intense and tied to the story and character growth - Some wholesome slice-of-life elements - 1.5k – 4k word chapters; usually around 2k - Good ol' camaraderie and heroism - Tournaments, duels, competitions - Learning and training montages - Wise mentors - Kind, scary, and quirky professors - A Headmaster with mythical abilities - Eldritch monsters and shambling horrors - Transcendence [5 years of labor of love in the making, finally being serialized on RR!] [Cover design by Toshinori Heiichi. For cover illustration and design requests, please PM me directly through Royalroad.]