Pursued by the armies of Getu and facing certain death, many of the beings created by the other gods chose to seek refuge in the Mists. While not, strictly speaking, a death, this act did require the abandonment of ties to the mortal world and the physical body. Thereafter, such creatures were restricted to the borderlands and the Unseen - though unlike men and animals, they could freely cross the boundary, these journeys came at great risk - as they were now essentially bodiless spirits, death at the hands of Getu or his followers would have meant utter obliteration: When mortal beings die, their soul seperates from their body and goes on to the afterlife. When a soul is struck down, it has nothing to seperate from and nowhere to go.

As time passed, the beings that had fled the Seen World began to recreate their civilizations on the other side. No longer bound by the constraints of the flesh granted by their gods, they shaped themselves as it pleased them - some beautiful, some horrible, some a bizarre mix of the two. Unlike creatures moving through Shadow, the mist-dwellers retained some ability to interact with their previous home. They could speak to, and in some cases even touch, those who lived outside their realm. Few, however, chose to try; fearing the consequences. As future generations were born, the skill was lost - often, the children were never told that it existed. In some cases, their race had simply become so acclimated to the mists that they had been assimilated completely into the Unseen World. Only when the son of Getu left in his wake teachings of tolerance and peace rather than genocide and war did they dare to venture forth once more.

After Getu's departure from the world, the way was cleared for the mist-dwellers to return to it. Those who took part in the Council of Transubstantiation were not only able to re-assume physical bodies themselves, but to grant them to their brethren as well. Some chose to remain behind of their own accord; while others, either having no representatives at the council or being unable to claim a piece of the gods, were condemned to the same fate. Those who did not, for whatever reason, return to the Seen World became known as the mist-children. Though the difference in terminology was subtle, it was enough to incite both smugness and fear in those on the other side: These beings had no gods, no real home, and sometimes, no bodies. They were self-created, and for every such entity friendly to man, many more were mischievious or even malevolent. Some sought to lure victims into the mists on which to feed; others to seduce mortal women in hopes of producing viable offspring. A few were even said to force the souls of the living from their bodies, and claim those bodies as their own.

Where Shadow wreaks havoc on space and distance, the Mists do the same for time - those who are permitted to return home after spending an evening with the mist-children may arrive to find that weeks, months, or even years have passed on the near side of the Veil. Many, when faced with an unfamiliar world, go mad; some return to the point where they took their leave of the fae and plead for sanctuary among them. A few are granted it - usually those who have some talent useful or amusing to their new friends. Musicians and fools make up the majority of mortals in the Mists. Occasionally, a mortal is kept as a sort of exotic pet; in much the same way that a captured faery might be placed in a jar and perched on a windowsill.

Asunder - The World of Déchiré

Text © 1999-Present, Scarlet Seraph.