Symphony of Ages
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Symphony of Ages is a series of fantasy/romance books by author Elizabeth Haydon. The books tell the story of Rhapsody, a young singer of considerable talent who travels across time to a new land only to learn that it was foretold in a prophecy. Along with her two companions, Rhapsody fights to reunite a kingdom ravished by war and long standing prejudice.
Serendair is the Lost Island depicted in Elizabeth Haydon's Symphony of Ages series of fictional books. The name 'Serendair', when broken into two parts - Seren dair - literally means 'Star-land'. It was the place where time began, where the Ancient Seren - a race of tall, golden skinned people born of the Stars (Or Ether, as it's known in the book) - first settled.
Early in Serendair's history, a star named Melita fell from the sky and into the sea, wiping out half of the Island's land mass. As the race of Man began to prosper on the Island as well, the star at the bottom of the ocean became known as The Sleeping Child, and people believed that one day it would rise from the waves and take the rest of the Island with it.
The Island was said to have been destroyed by the star during the reign of King Gwylliam, who had foreseen the terrible destruction. He sent an Ancient Seren man, Merithyn the Explorer, to find an uninhabited land on which the Seren culture and the people could be preserved after the Island's death.
Merithyn landed in the realm of Elynsynos, a great dragon. She had transformed from her serpentine form into that of an Ancient Seren woman, and the two fell in love.
It was because of their love that the Seren fleets - three in all, consisting of eight-hundred and seventy-six ships - were able to land in the dragon's realm without being forced out. Merithyn's ship was lost, and when the First Fleet landed, Elynsynos, overcome with grief, retreated to her cave.
Almost all of the races from Serendair were represented on the three Fleets, but many of the elder races, such as the Lirin, stayed behind, spending the remainder of their days singing to Sagia, the Oak of Deep Roots, known to them as Yliessan, the holy place.
As well as being used in The Symphony of Ages series, Serendair is the Island where a young Nain boat-builder, Ven Polypheme, is taken after being found at sea among the wreckage of his ship. This takes place in Elizabeth Haydon's book The Floating Island, part of The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme series, an individual work set as a kind of Pre-History to The Symphony of Ages.
