Cover Art by Sean Harrington

Quest of the Brokenhearted is what one would call a spin-off.  This story shows what happened to Kira Grasdon after the battle with Baron Kernaghan.  She grew from a one-scene character that I created on a whim to a central figure in the overall story, so I wanted to give her a time to shine.  This story was heavily influenced by the Castlevania videogame series too.  The thought of a single warrior entering a castle or city of monsters to do battle felt like a writing challenge.  I also had to show how much Kira has changed in the years since the finale and explain why she would go on a suicide mission.  Of course, the songs had to show this as well and that was harder than it seemed.

Kira enters this adventure having no fear of dying.  In fact, she’s at the point where she is almost looking forward to it.  This gives her a disturbing level of strength and cunning because she doesn’t see anything as too risky.  I think the oddly upbeat tone of the song fits as well since Kira is kind of happy about this prospect.  Either she comes out a hero or dies in the shadows, which both seem like wins to her.

A fight song that really fits this story.  I can’t tell if I’m connecting it to Kira wanting to burn Lacarsis the monster city down or her own life.  There is a sense of someone being pushed too far and go berserk, which is kind of true here.  Kira has been pushed to her limits and is on the verge of breaking, which is why she goes on this quest.

These songs really aren’t requiring as much of an explanation as I expected.  Kira is standing alone here.  She does get a few allies, but they aren’t combat-related.  For every battle, she is on her own.  The ‘I stand alone inside’ part is true too because she struggles to remain distant from others.  After all, she really doesn’t want to get hurt again like she did in the Legends of Windemere finale.