Step into a world of elemental magic, mysterious creatures, and a powerful enemy who has reigned supreme for over a decade. Will the heroes have what it takes to find all six legendary Elemental Stones of Power and open The Vault of Kings? Or will the Darkness prove to be too much? 

The Vault of Kings is a Young Adult fantasy series built on a fresh, new take on an elemental magic system. You've heard of Water, Earth (Nature in my case), Fire, and Air... How about Light and Darkness? Cool additions, sure, but are there more? With the ability for people to learn to combine elements, it opens up a lot of new and exciting techniques to explore! Try combining Air and Fire... Now we have Sand. Light and Darkness? You've discovered the mysterious power of the Void. Ice Magic? Metal? Lightning? There are so many new elements to uncover and explore! 

The story is clean and fun enough for kids, yet deep and engaging enough for adults too. See what others have had to say about previous books in the series:

I'm a one-man team, so with your help I can take the monstrous leap towards achieving my dream of becoming a full-time author. One step at a time though, let's just cover the cost of getting amazing cover art!


My main goal is to cover the cost of creating the cover art for book 6: Northrinde. Secondary to that is to cover the cost of the awesome merch that I have created specifically for this project. I want to give you cool stuff so that you will feel more connected to the story and want to come back for more! These are not stretch goals, just my goals in general. If we meet the $500 mark, then everything you see here will be available!
 

Each book is a part of the same series. Book 1: A Light in the Darkness. Book 2: Alliance. Book 3: The Tree of Life. Book 4: The Temple of Air. Book 5: The Scorched Lands. Book 6: Northrinde. Books 1 and 2 are around ~320 pages and books 4-5 are ~400+ pages with book 6 coming in at ~500 pages!

This is my first time doing crowd funding, so I wanted to make it extra special! As additional add-ons, you can choose to receive a signed, laminated map, and some awesome, high-quality poker-style chips that were (digitally) hand painted by me, the author! Each of the coins represents one of the 6 different elements. 

The five continents each contain their own mysteries and legends. Will the frozen lands of Northrinde prove as deadly as the harsh and dry dunes of The Scorched Lands? Follow the journey of our heroes as they begin their travels in the poor town of Shilvrst and discover the amazing world that has been hidden from them by the dark tyrant Maelos as they search for the six legendary Elemental Stones of Power.
 

  

It is said that the talents and personality that you had in a Premortal world define which element speaks to you the strongest in the mortal world. A 'Natural Attunement' of sorts. Did you hunger and thirst for Knowledge? Perhaps at any cost? Darkness might call to you. Were you driven by Passion? Desiring to spread the ideals of justice and righteousness? Light might call to you. Did Tranquility and peace surround you? Calming your actions and enhancing your focus? Nature might call to you. Was Freedom your driving force? The freedom to do as you please and express yourself in artistic and musical ways? Air might call to you. Did your Will and desire to become the very best drive you to great heights? Fire might call to you. Was your Faith the most important aspect of your life? A belief in yourself, a bright and prosperous future, the elemental hierarchy of the Gods, or even that the energies of the cosmos would inevitably flow to its destined and designed end? Water might call to you.

Will you answer the call? Will you discover who you were and define who you will now become? Express your personality with a poker-style coin that was (digitally) hand painted by me, the author!

     

📚 Welcome to Booktopia — a celebration of creativity and collaboration from a vibrant collective of writers, authors and artists collectively running crowdfunding projects from September 5th - September 26th.

🔥 Limited Cross-Collaboration Freebies — All 50+ Booktopia creators have paired up with a fellow participant to create two unique and limited freebies together. If BOTH projects successfully fund, backers who support BOTH will get the TWO [2] cross-collab freebies listed on their campaign page, one will ship from each creator. The more pairs of Booktopia creators you support, the more freebies you will earn ✨

🧧 1 FREE Limited Edition Booktopia 2024 reward if you back FIVE [5] or more projects. Exclusive reward for Booktopia - Black Metal Bookmark (*design coming)

All of Booktopia's creators have paired up with a fellow participant to create two unique rewards together.

I have partnered up with the awesome and creative author and artist, Sage! Her project is funding her Light Novel/Graphic Novel: Violet Eyes. Make sure to check it out! Click Here!

If BOTH projects reach their funding goal, backers who support BOTH projects will get the TWO cross-collab gifts for FREE!

Don't miss your chance to get an awesome Anya exclusive wallpaper, as well as one random poker-style coin representing one of the 6 elements of The Vault of Kings. Let fate decide which element you belong to and enjoy a beautiful wallpaper!

Shipping costs have grown a lot since 2020. I will do the very best I can to use the most cost-effective shipping methods available. This may result in your rewards being shipped separately.

All rewards will be dispatched from the USA.

PLEASE NOTE: Shipping costs ARE NOT included in the cost of your pledge. You will be charged for shipping - and have an opportunity to adjust your pledge - after the campaign, through the pledge manager.

The following costs are estimates based on August 2024 prices.

 

My name is Matt Taylor and I am the author of The Vault of Kings. This project started for me back in 2019. I was driving home from work feeling sorry for myself as I thought, "I don't have any real talents. I'm okay at a lot of things, but there is nothing that I am 'really truly good at'". It was at that moment that I had a strange thought come to my head. 

"You should write a book."

I laughed it off at the beginning. I'd always hated English and had never been very good at it. But the thought kept eating at me. I did love to tell stories, and my family and friends had always told me that I was a great storyteller. So, the adventure began. It quickly became my obsession, and now I am trying my best to fulfill my dream of being able to someday quit my job and make this a full-time endeavor.  

One small step at a time though. 

I have produced a book a year since 2019, and this year marks the 6th book that I will have released. The series will have 7(+1) in total, so I am getting very close to finishing. I have actually improved enough in the process that I have nearly doubled my speed, and I plan to have the entire series closed up by December of next year. I am dedicated to the small fan base that I have, and I plan on finishing this story and jumping on new ideas that have been swimming around my head once I have completed this first series. 

I hope that you will enjoy reading these stories as much as I have writing them. I have seen myself grow tremendously as an author over the years as I improve at writing. It is really awesome to hear people say that each book gets progressively better and better. There are more and more great things ahead!

The story of The Vault of Kings has several different inspirations, but the thing that most heavily influenced me was the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I wanted something different though, something that felt truer to me and how I wished that elemental magic could work. I decided to add a couple of elements to the mix: Light and Darkness, as well as changing out Earth for Nature. I also added the ability to combine elements to create wild and exciting new combinations, such as Void, Lightning, Metal, Crystal, and more! In this world, anyone can learn any type of elemental magic, but people find that they are better or worse at specific elements based on their 'natural attunement' which comes from talents that they held in a Premortal world. 

I hope you take the leap into my world and that it doesn't disappoint. I make sure to keep the language and themes clean for younger audiences, but also exciting and deep enough to grab the more mature reader as well. Thanks so much for giving The Vault of Kings a look!

May the Light be with you! 

-Matt Taylor