Prologue
"Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand."
-W.B. Yeats
To be a child who believes in something, anything, is special. There is magic in belief - for both the believer and the one being believed in though the child may not know it.
For belief? Belief can create. Belief allows the Guardians to exist and belief gives them their abilities - it makes them who they are. In return, they protect children (and the adults who carry their belief with them through their years) and make their lives a bit more exciting.
The Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman, and even Jack Frost - they each have their duties and their purposes. The belief in them keeps them going and it keeps them alive. They don't do it for themselves though, they do it for the children. Protecting their memories, their dreams… keeping them safe from boogeymen.
But the belief? It matters. For if there is no belief, there are no Guardians and a world without them would be a frightening place.
That's not my story, though I guess it will come into play later. I'm not a Guardian. For me to exist, there needs not be belief in me. I'm something different. I'm an Old One.
And my name?
Puck.