LEARN MOR
Prologue I: The world, concealed
In the era before the scientific revolution, mankind was not skeptical towards the existence of otherworldly beings. Tales of magical creatures have been passed down as epics through the generations, etched on cavern walls, and sung by children as nursery rhymes. Past tribes learned to co-exist with those creatures who brought no harm, and developed defense mechanisms and traditions to combat the ones who did. However, everything changed during the Renaissance, when the great philosophers rejected the teachings of the past, and began obsessing over the material world, viewing it only through their secular lenses.
Enter the modern world; The advances of the scientific community have led to unprecedented levels of prosperity. The information era has begun and with it an unrestricted flow of information passed around the world. Before the web, sightings of strange and intelligent creatures were tossed up as delusions and the overactive imagination of children. Tales of magic and unexplainable events were downplayed as scientific phenomena. But in our new, interconnected world, the truth could no longer be buried, concealed. With videos and first hand accounts of talking animals, unexplainable ailments, and feats of sorcery, the rumors of magic spread and spread until its existence was all but undeniable.
Our understanding of magic however, is still in its infancy. Tiny fractions of the population were born with an innate affinity for magic, and out of those only few know they have it and how to use it. These magic users choose to conceal or downplay their abilities, for fear of retaliation by those who fear the power these people possess and those who envy them.
Although the resurgence of magic has pretty much been accepted, the tales of old have not. Humanity is clueless to what creatures really lie just outside of our view, and what worlds lay parallel to ours. Fairies and trolls, elves and dwarfs, dragons and demons… what really exists and what is just fantasy? The world might be waking up but the traditions of the past are gone, and our safeguards against the otherworldly threats are long forgotten.
Prologue II: The Dreamer
“My name is Aurelia. That’s who I am, and nothing can change that. What I see and what I feel aren’t mine. They belong to someone else.
I have to be careful. I have to stay safe. I cannot get too attached. I know the dangers of taking the dive, but I must always return to myself.”
Aurelia Walker had a troubled upbringing. For as long as she could remember Aurelia has had the ability to dreamwalk, to enter the mind of another to see their dreams, emotions, and thoughts. For many, this would be a dream come true, to detach from your form and enter the mind of another; a surreal experience and insight into the woes, emotions, and thoughts of another. The host of the dream wouldn’t even know that you’re inspecting their very core being. But this power did not come without its faults. Every time she touches another she’s pulled into their mind; whether or not Aurelia wanted it so.
It wasn’t long before Aurelia faced reality, that this gift was nothing more than a curse, damning Aurelia to a life of isolation. It wasn’t such that Aurelia didn’t try and build meaningful relationships in her life, but this was an impossible task for her. A young child, lacking the emotional and social experiences that might help one cope with the knowledge of a prophet. For her, no matter where she went, or how many different schools she went to, it always ended the same. She could see through the lies of others, see the disconnect between what others said about her and how they really felt about her. Maybe had she kept it a secret, she could have just disguised herself as just a very empathetic person, but she was just a child, she didn’t know any better, and she just wanted to understand why the others felt the way that they did.
Even before learning of Aurelia’s abilities, the others could tell there was something off about her, something weird, inexplicable, and unsettling. And these feelings only perpetuated themselves, for Aurelia could see the fears and superstitions of her peers. But these feelings were unexplainable, innate and carnal rejections of Aurelia’s humanity. The others saw her not as human, or a girl, but something else. The horror and panic in the eyes of those she questioned left its scar on her psyche, and the nightmares she walked through thereafter shook her to her very core. The rumors that spread about her were not kind, and it wasn’t long before there was no one left in her life that didn’t fear or avoid her. Anger and confusion followed, Aurelia’s growing resentment towards herself and others continued to accumulate, bottled up inside her with no point of release. Sometime thereafter she hit rock bottom, the ultimate point of her pain and despair. In order for her to cope she let go… let go of any hope of forming meaningful relationships in her life. She put up emotional barriers inside herself and lived out the rest of her adolescence in isolation, so she could no longer be hurt by the feelings of others. Her coping mechanisms were enough for her to get by.
Aurelia now works as a private investigator, using her abilities as a dreamwalker to solve cases, some of supernatural origin. While she does it to help others, at the same time she slowly works on her own struggles and trauma, and over time has learned to become more personable and relatable to others. But the mystery of who Aurelia really is still lingers in her mind, all she really knows is that she is not quite human… she can’t be.
Prologue III: The Ineffable
The reality that we see, the physical world around us, is not all that exists. In this universe, there are other ‘planes of existence’, realms that are just as real as ours, but have different laws that bind them. These worlds run parallel to ours, and over time the ancient races of these different worlds learned to cross over between them… and into ours.
The Feywilds are the realm of fairies, a world of nature unscathed by its inhabitants’ need for survival. The fairies are extremely proficient with magic, and as such the struggles of the fairies are few to none. All of their needs and desires are fulfilled, they construct new homes within the trees with a snap of their fingers and never have to worry about their next meal. For these reasons the fairies had no need to create a society, everyone is self sufficient. Fairies will often live together though, simply to give meaning to their otherwise inconsequential lives, and will often spend time in a community before getting bored and finding a new one. This boredom often leads to fairies acting mischievous and pranking one another. They are very social creatures.
The fairies themselves are somewhat humanoid in appearance, tall slender creatures that take on animalistic features. Wings, antlers, tails, and other appendages are commonplace; symmetrical vertically like we are. Their skin is rough and pale, similar in texture to tree bark, and some have long and fair hair that drapes down from their heads. One wouldn’t be criticized for mistaking a Fairy for a human at first glance, as they are similar in size and often wrap their wings around them, giving the appearance of wearing a coat or dress.
The wilds themselves almost look like a dream. A gentle mist fills the gaps between the tall and narrow trees, the blue, purple, and green leaves glistening in the gentle blue sunlight. Many of the plants and berries glow and light up the forests like a christmas tree. Streams and creeks run about, having no real source or destination, just flow in a never ending loop, almost like the veins of a planet, supplying magic and nature to the world.
