Chapter 3: Induction
Phantasia and Queen Thetis stood at the border of the Innerworld, where the walls between the worlds were weakest. They had just arrived at a forest shrine in the middle of the Wind Queendom. It was the gateway to one of the remaining safe passageways between the faerie’s ethereal plane of being, and the humans’ material one.
The shrine, small enough so that only a few faeries could enter at a time, had been grown out of the trees surrounding it. Trunks created pillars, from which walls of marble leaves cascaded down, and from the gaps between them, golden light filtered down to reveal archaic designs on the gnarled floor. Two young sprites – faeries yet to grow bigger than Phantasia’s knees – circled around the perimeter of the gateway, awaiting the Queen’s presence.
“It won’t be like this on the other side,” she explained to the Princess, “Most of the shrines in the Outerworld were destroyed thousands of years ago. Instead, many humans went and built their own holy places over the crossing leylines, where the path between worlds is easiest. Fortunately, and by coincidence, many of those grounds were adequate enough to keep demons away. However, in the world as it is now, things are quite different,”
Phantasia could only imagine what the world on the other side looked like. Queen Thetis had spent several weeks schooling her on humanity, and it had been much more enlightening than the standard spiel she was so used to. She was fascinated by the concept of a world hanging upside down, above the abyss, where your thoughts couldn’t shape the world, but you had to build things piece-by-piece with your hands.
“But remember,” said the Queen, “That you will not be like them. They are born of the earth, physical beings. All we really are to them are spectres – though we can interact with their world, and them with us, we are still just beings of mana; phantoms with no real presence, invisible to their technology. That is why you must be careful and not reveal your true identity without just cause: they fear what they cannot truly touch, and that fear will harm you,”
The Queen closed her eyes and held Phantasia’s hands as she concentrated on the journey. After a moment, the world began to distort around her, as she thought of what would happen if she ever fell into the Underworld. The forest twisted into a blur of light, and with a sudden sensation that felt like both falling and ascending, Phantasia was plunged into a painful darkness. For one brief moment she could feel the Queen’s will clinging to her, and then the darkness gave way to grey.
Her destination was old and decrepit. A large building, built from stone and wood, parts of its high ceiling has rotted away, causing a rainbow of light to stream in. Decorated windows lined the walls, and from what Phantasia could make of those that were still in one piece, they appeared to tell legends.
She walked down the central aisle of the building, flanked on either side by the remains of old wooden benches that had failed to weather the world’s ruin. Moss crept up the walls, eating away at statues of human saints, while rodents scurried up and down them before vanishing into the shadows.
“Is this place suitable for your new home?” asked the Queen, after letting Phantasia take in her surroundings.
“a world hanging upside down, above the abyss,”
That… Is a great analogy