The Realmwalkers

Part One

“Jaya.” a soft woman’s voice could be heard.

Jaya still had her eyes closed, unaware that she was awakening. In her mind’s eye, she was at her old house near the coast just outside of Port Cinder. She searched for the voice she barely heard, emerging from her bedroom and down the hall.

“Jaya.”

The voice was louder and less dreamy-sounding, and she immediately knew it was her mother’s voice calling her from the kitchen. Jaya almost froze when she saw her mother standing at the counter, cutting some onions. She was facing away, but Jaya knew it was her dead mother. Jaya then knew that she was dreaming. “Why do you haunt my dreams, Mother?”

Her mother stopped chopping the onion and slumped her shoulders. The sound of the knife clanging onto the stone cutting board made Jaya blink. “I’d hardly think that I haunt your dreams, Jaya. Give your mother a break, huh?”

Something was off. Her mother never asked for a break from anything, especially when it came to ordering her around or scolding her for doing wrong. She went to speak up, but as though she had heard those thoughts, her mother quickly turned around, but also quickly morphed into a taller figure in a dark red cloak with its face hidden in the shadows. At the same time, the environment changed to that of the ruins of a city like she has never seen, with some of the ruined buildings reaching heights she could never imagine would be possible; all of it overgrown and rusted and weathered.

“Wh—“ Jaya went to ask, but the figure turned away to look at the ruins and began to speak.

“I am the Leywalker.” The voice sounded male, but had a frailness to it along with sounding slightly distorted, as though speaking through a mask. “I am the maintainer of balance between the universes.”

Now Jaya knew she had to be dreaming. She has never heard of such a being, nor can there be more than one universe.

“This is no dream, nor are you awake. We are in the Unrealm where only consciousness speaks. A space between realms.”

“So, is this some kind of kidnapping?”

“Hmh.” The Leywalker scoffed. “More like a death sentence.”

Jaya furrowed her brow even deeper. “Well, this is very different from the Halls of Orros they depict at the temple.”

“No, you haven’t died yet, at least, not according to your timeline.”

“Who are you exactly?”

“First, I must apologize for the ruse. I only meant to ease you into this… situation. To a select few of your world, I am known as a fatespinner, but in reality, I don’t spin the fate of individuals. I wield the fate of each universe and maintain their balance. It is an incredibly lonely and thankless job, but someone must do it. Someone must walk the leyline that is the Spine of Creations.”

Jaya only became more confused. She couldn’t fathom as to what a fatespinner would want with her. She knows that there is something special about her, however, she’s never amounted to more than a simple farm girl in a world full of sorcery and swordplay. Her thoughts were interrupted as the Leywalker suddenly turned to face her. She could barely make out features of a dark mask, but she couldn’t see the whites of his eyes nor of his teeth when he spoke.

“Your talents are exactly why we are speaking. I understand that you have been held back; denied what could have been. That is irrelevant now. What matters is that you embrace your destiny now.”

Jaya became a bit unnerved at this, but it was also mixed with his mysteriousness. “What do you know of my destiny?”

“I know of all destinies, Jaya. You are in the presence of He Who Touches The One.”

Jaya raised an eyebrow. “The one what?” For the first time she heard him breathe as he let out a light sigh, but she noted a strange hissing noise as he breathed in that she hadn’t noticed before. It didn't sound like a natural sound to her.

“In your world is a pantheon of what you call gods, but they are merely hypersentient beings. They are not creators so much as they mold the primordial essences into form as they see fit. All except for humans that is. Orcs, elves, gnomes, and all the others are merely bastardizations of the one true form. It may be hard for you to understand that there is only one god, and it is all of every creation and every universe. It is the something that encompasses nothing.”

Thank you so much for reading. I hope you have a wonderful day….[[|:-)