"The Sundering Flood" by William Morris is perhaps the first modern fantasy writer to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural. Osberne Wulfgrimsson and Elfhild are lovers who live on opposite sides of the Sundering Flood, an immense river, which they cannot cross. When Elfhild disappears during an invasion by the Red Skinners, the heartbroken Osberne takes up his magical sword Boardcleaver and joins the army of Sir Godrick of Longshaw, in whose service he helps dethrone the tyrannical king and plutocracy of merchants ruling the city at the mouth of the river.
