My story starts with a book. An old, falling to pieces, leather book that I found at a garage sale. The lady who sold it to me had never seen it before that morning, and gave it to me for $1. The book was nothing special, useful only as fire fodder, but I knew I had to buy it. I waited to open it until I was home and in the safety of my room. Yes, the book itself was nothing special, but the words written inside changed my life.
Dear Child,
I write this to you in hopes that it will find you in time. You are a Shadow Traveler, a being with the ability to travel between the dimensions of worlds. Specifically the worlds of stories. I assure you this is no joke, your ability to read this letter being proof. To anyone else, this is a blank book, but to you it is full of wondrous tales and marvelous pictures. This book helped me understand my powers just as it will help you. There are, however, rules to our power. They are as follows.
1. You cannot die outside of your native dimension.
2. You cannot kill outside your native dimension
3. You cannot carry passengers with you in your travels, this includes unborn children
4. Your body will continue to go through it's motions but you will not age; this being said, our people's female bodies are much more fertile, and are able to be impregnated by any humanoid creature
5. Once in a new dimension, there you must remain for at least 6 of their months
6. You have to return to your native dimension for 3 months in between your adventures
These are the rules set forth by our creators, the shadow people of Neerterra. Our talents are as follows:
1. Interdimensional travel; the ability to travel between the realms of reality, and once in a dimension, the ability to travel anywhere within that plane without any waiting period
2. Blood that heals others and turns the immortal human for as many hours as mouthfuls
3. Hyper regeneration
4. Inability to be mind controlled
5. Resistance to magick
6. Preservation of memories and personal artifacts
We are children of light, blessed by shadows. Now close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine the place you wish to go. See it in your mind and let it take form around you..
Best of Wishes,
Oidhche Perrin
I closed the book and jokingly followed the instructions, imagining in my mind Mystic Falls.
When I opened my eyes, my life had changed. No longer was I in my bedroom, rather I was lying in the middle of a road with a concerned man standing above me. Fog surrounded the both of us, and from the corner of my eye I could see a car.
"Thank god you're alive." The man said, turning his head to face the car. "Brooke, it's a girl. She's alive." It was then I realized what was going on.
I sat up, probably frightening the poor man half to death. But if my guess was correct, he was about to die anyways. "Run." I said to him, my voice hardly above a whisper. Unfortunately I was too late in my warning, because Damon had arrived. I watched in horrified fascination as the sapphired eyed vampire tore into the man's throat, gulping down his blood greedily before breaking his neck. Damon turned to me, a lustful hunger in his eyes. He dragged me over to the tree line, ready to feed from me next.
"There's no signal!" The woman, Brooke, cried out, stepping out of the car. "Darren!" She called out, breaking Damon's gaze on me. "Darren?" Her voice rang out again, this time full of fear and confusion. Damon quickly dragged Darren to behind Brooke and dropped his body on the car. Brooke took one look at her boyfriend's torn out throat and let loose a scream that would haunt me the rest of my life. She began to run, but her fate had been sealed. Damon plucked her from the road and began to drink the woman's life blood. I watched her die, and her death cemented one fact in me. Oidhche Perrin had been telling the truth, and I had somehow arrived in Mystic Falls.
