Sunday Times 2
The demon within: Taking Sri Lankan fantasy literature to the outside world
The Demon Within What makes us human? That’s the question that kickstarts this dark fantasy story, “The Demon Within” by first time author Dilshani Yasodhya.
For those who are hungry for a little fantasy to spice up their book collection, here is a synopsis of this story:
After losing an unfair duel for the throne with his “brother”, the demon Prince, Darius the Ferocious, escapes to the human world as a disembodied soul. In his search for a vessel that can contain him, destiny brings him to a five-year-old girl, overflowing with spiritual powers.
Dilshani Yashoda holding a copy of her book
The girl — Maya Winters — unaware of the fact that the strange entity was a demon, agreed to provide him shelter in her vast psyche and promises to build him a new body. For thirteen years Maya works on her promise with dedication, even though she is aware that the task would cost her life. Her ambition of helping her friend does not waver even at the presence of her beloved brother Auden.
Things take a dramatical turn when a new and extremely handsome transfer student shows up at school and take a particular interest in Maya. With Darius’ new body complete, he realises that Maya has become too precious for him to lose. When Maya decides to jump off the school building to her death to allow Darius to break out of the psychic prison he is in, the sheer power of the demon’s desire to save her frees him from the psychic dimension and bring him to the human world.
After defeating the attack of the Demon assassin that was under the guise of the new transfer student Vance Hart, Darius escapes with Maya, to which Auden bears witness. As the demon Prince embarks on the journey of his revenge and redemption with Maya by his side, Auden reluctantly joins forces with Vance Hart or ‘Vanvalear the Serpent’ to find and rescue his sister.
This amazing story is not your typical tale of ‘good vs evil’. Neither does it hold to the characteristic expectations of our perceptions, or expectations. This new spin on demons and dragons and civilians of the underworld explores the legends and beliefs and the creations of ‘gods’ that reflect our own mortal histories.
Humans may not be at the top of the food chain in this tale of fantasy, but neither are they the representatives of good… at least not all of them. Through the main four characters, the author brings to light the strengths and weaknesses of both humans and demons.
As the characters evolve throughout the story, the reader can dive deep into advanced and complex civilizations of demons, dragons and the mystical beings called The Nyra. What is special about these characters is how we, as humans, can relate to these supernatural beings, empathise and even see ourselves in them — however flawed or blessed we may be. Sympathy for
a demon! Who would have thought! Let’s take a quick peek into
the mind of the creator herself.
Dilshani says she took nearly two years to write the book. “The story was originally developed as my final project for the Diploma in Visual Communication at the Academy of Multimedia and Design Technology. It was developed as a picture book. But the story was far from perfection. So, for the following two years, I edited the manuscript innumerable times until I had a story that met the standards of my own. I’m a perfectionist, so the standards are really high.
Asked where does she get her ideas for the book, she said, “Everywhere”.
Explaining the difficult part of the writing process, Dilshani said, ” At one moment, all the ideas are bubbling out of your head, it’s like you can see them floating within your grasp. And the next moment, it’s all gone. Nothing. Sometimes, it’s really hard for me to describe the situation that’s unfolding inside my head into words on paper. That’s why I included illustrations in the book to help out the readers visualise the story. Dark Fantasy is one of the genres in Sri Lankan literature that has a minimum presence. Most of the fantasy stories we read are from western authors or translations of western fantasy stories. This book is the author’s first attempt to close that void and bring
Sri Lankan fantasy literature to a new level.
The book is available in both paperback and e-book format. You can order your paperback copy from The Jam Fruit Tree Publications (WhatsApp – 072 7268078). The e-book is available on Amazon Kindle.