Refracted: Prologue

I haven’t told anyone this before, but I’m going to tell you now. I swear to God I’m important, I just…can’t prove it, yet. You see, I’m, not like you. I’m not normal. I don’t wake up every day and get ready to live the one, single, fleeting life I have to live. I don’t look out the window and see cars, and trees, and Children playing hopscotch and think, “This is a wonderful day.”

Instead, I wake up scared. I spend every waking moment wondering when the next time I’ll be ‘drafted’ will be. I walk down the street praying that the next second I’m not pulled away; whisked back into the fight I sometimes wish I was as ignorant and blind to as you.

Or, maybe I am like you. Maybe you and I are the same. There are a few handfuls of our kind out there, living amongst the Norms. Yet, we hide. We must, for society deems us to be freaks…to be an unwanted evolutionary leap. Mutants…abominations…threats to the human race and its ways…if you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all.

Whoever you are, I’m here to tell you that all that –everything they say about us –is a lie.  If you’re one of us then my advice for you is to go. Go! Run! Not in cowardice, but for survival. Find the others. Join one of our secret societies. It’s your best chance for survival.

If you’re not one of us, pay attention. Because this letter is for you and my time in this world, and the next, is short.

We are not abominations. We are not freaks. We are not mutants. We are not threats and we are absolutely not insane. We may be different, but that’s no reason for you to segregate us; to hunt us down as if we were rats. We’re not sub-human and you need to stop persecuting us because, one day, you’re going to need our help.

There’s darkness coming. There’s a world within our world. A world that children get lured into while they sleep. You coo over them, quiet their screams, wipe away their tears, and promise it was just a nightmare. But those nightmares…they’re real.

A war is raging around us and the benevolent are trying to warn us. They open up windows between our worlds so that we can catch a glimpse of what’s coming for us. Yet, you all ignore it. You call us freaks, but you and your children are the ones that are seeing things in your sleep –in your day dreams –and ignoring them.

You say, “They’re just dreams. Just our subconscious playing tricks on us.”

You say, “We dream, you claim that you actually see things.”

Truth is, we’re both seeing things. We just see more.

Soon enough, you’ll see. These nightmares of yours will start taking place when you’re not asleep. You’ll be working and see a shadow move out of the corner of your eye. Turn and it’s gone. You’ll hear things. Scratches, cries, whispered pleas, and someone calling your own name…but there’ll be no one around.

Some of you are already experiencing this. Some of you have sought help from mental institutions. You let doctors poke you, prod you, and fill your systems with all sorts of drugs because there has to be a ‘logical’ explanation.

Others of you have passed the signs off as being figments of your imagination. You think you didn’t get enough sleep, that you’re just too stressed, or that you’ve just got yourself so worked up that you’re mind’s playing tricks on you. You think, “There has to be a logical explanation.”

There is.

The concealed world exists.

Sure, there are many names for it. The vision, the realms, the mirror, the fantastical, the other world…some have even called it the lie. I find that last one amusing since the lie has been showing truth to us humans for centuries.

Oh, yes, centuries. Don’t think this is something new. It’s been going on for ages. My kind have been trying to warn you since the first crack in the wall that separates the two worlds occurred. Some of us are even well known to you. I won’t rat out my own kind, but let me just say that fiction isn’t always fiction.

All these windows that are opening, they’re going to shatter soon. The wall is going to crumble and our world is going to come face to face with its own reflection. Calling the other world a mirror really does fit well. You see, when you look into a mirror you think you’re seeing yourself, but you’re really only seeing a reflection. Have you ever tried to lock gazes with yourself? Tried to stare into your reflection’s eyes? The results are…it’s unsettling, to say the least. It’s eerie.

When you look into another person’s gaze you see a soul. You see life. When you look into a reflection’s, you see none.  There is no soul. It’s like the eyes of a solider who’s seen too much. Some would even say it’s your soul sending out a message, trying to warn you by blocking you from the other world. As if mirrors were the doorway. I scoff at that.

That’s not how it works. In order to understand the danger you must first understand the layout of the worlds. I’m not talking geography here. You need to think of the world, our world, as a map. Think of it as one of those big street maps that you can find at practically every airport in the world. Now, imagine laying that big street map out and being handed another. You open it and it looks similar to the first. All the streets line up, all the mountains are in the same places. Everything looks so familiar. If you didn’t know any better you would think it was the exact same one as the one you had laid down. But there are subtle differences and the names of cities, and states, and countries are all different. They’re in some unknown language. Something that looks a bit Chinese, but radiates power. What you’re reading are runes, but that’s not what is important.

Now, imagine yourself laying that second map out on top of the first. Understanding now? The first map is our world. The second is the other one. And they are aligned…and the boarders are in danger of being broken.

There is hope, though. There is good fighting against the evil on that second map. Good and bad, just like over here. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen six-winged creatures with fiery swords take out slithering, red-eyed monsters. I’ve seen huge black hounds pacing, waiting for a fissure to occur in the wall that’s large enough to let them through, only to be tamed and coaxed into submission by creatures of ethereal beauty.

We are not alone in this fight, but we are divided and you are defenseless. Our only chance is for you to educate yourself by listening to what my kind have to say. To educate yourself and to join forces with us. But that won’t happen with you silencing those of us who frequent both worlds.

I’m running short on time. This will probably be the last chance I have at getting through the wall. I’ve been jumping worlds a lot lately. A lot more than I should. Sometimes voluntarily, other times…not so much. It’s those times when it hurts. My body’s starting to grow weak. My wounds pain me. I could really use another blood transfusion, but our supply is as limited as my time with you.

If you’re reading this, even if you don’t believe a word of what I’ve said, I need you to do me a favor. Attached to this note should be a vial. Don’t open it. Don’t touch it. Don’t even stare at it. Don’t do anything with it, or to it, except what I tell you to. This is of the upmost importance. You need to take the vile to Dr. Victor Jones. Tell him you found it, give him this note –if you must –and instruct him to examine it. He must use gloves when doing this. In fact, it’d probably be better if he wore a whole hazard suit. Just make sure he gets it. Alright? The fate of our world depends on it.  

We are the guardians. The Refracted. And we are counting on your help.

-CJR5