What They Can't See NaNoWriMo Prep

KEY TERMS

Manifesters | Those people gifted with the ability to conjure, with sufficient concentration and focus, specific types of objects, as different types of manifestations require one to utilise different parts of the brain, there are five classes that a Manifester can belong to.

Regulars | With a name disliked by their own kind, regulars are the class to which most Manifesters belong, they are able to manifest inanimate objects, objects considered least complex.

Temperests | Manifesters that are able to conjure living things like animals and plants, though not including humans.

Sentients | Like Temperests, they can conjure living things, the difference being, this includes humans, a specialty which even for them, it is difficult to do with accuracy.

Immaterials | Rather than a tangible object, be it alive or inanimate, Immaterials instead have the ability to conjure and plant thoughts in the mind of another.

Akrophyls | The rarest ability that a Manifester can possess, the ability to conjure things from one's imagination without it already existing as a real thing, it requires the greatest skill and predisposition to be able to do and is not often seen.

The Blind | The term describes 'normal' people that do not have any of the ability that Manifesters do, such people are unable to see the things that have been conjured, hence are called 'Blind.'

The Unseen | A names given to people who were once Manifesters but as a result of their own lawlessness, have had their abilities revoked through a process known as 'Scorching.'

...Will add to when needed

1 | THE SETTING

The idea to create a useful visualisation of the setting from Willow's AMAZING map

Only a very small portion of the initial story takes place in what we would regard as the ‘normal world’ that we live in, the rest takes place on an Island called Eeirgaze. The land mass of the island is immense, spanning the width of a small country. If one were to view the map of Eeirgaze, you would notice that it has two distinct main areas, the larger and main body of the island, and a smaller detachment, known as the Darklands, and the two, at one point in the island’s history, were in fact joined.

Eeirgaze is an island that can only be found by a Manifester, with it being something that was originally conjured by one, it like everything else of it’s kind can only be seen by other Manifesters. With nothing resembling of performing the same duty as an airport, the only way to reach Eeirgaze is by boat, there is no magic portal or specific time of day that is needed to reach the island, it is always there, but in a way is invisible to The Blind. Whilst it wouldn’t appear to them as an empty stretch of ocean, it would look as though it were just an empty island, it would at first even for a Manifester, the difference being that manifesters will see the river leading towards Three Ties Port as what it is, and not a just a sheer cliff face like the rest of the island.

Everyone wanting to enter Eeirgaze must make the same trip, with all of them first setting foot on the island in Three Ties Port. The town connected to the port and sharing it’s name, is the second largest on the island, it shares with the others, the island’s distinct cobbled streets and tall narrow houses, the height of which making the water impossible to see from as close as two streets away from the port. Without the sounds of water heard on quieter mornings and the increasing amounts of sand between the cobbles as one got closer to the port, the town could easily be mistaken as being in the centre of the island.

South-east of Three Ties Port is the largest town on the island, not counting the capital. Eastmills is where about a third of the island’s residents call home, it’s location between forest and beaches making it a picturesque spot for people to live, it benefitting from the best views of the ocean out of the whole island. Here, the densely populated centre becomes less so as you move closer to the coast or forest, depending on direction, and the number of farmlands are seen to increase. With the food produced by manifestation only able to satisfy hunger but not sustain life, there is still a need for areas of farmland even on Eeirgaze. Just west of Eastmills is a place known as ‘Sparrow’s Ring,’ named so simply as a result of it’s shape and large population of Sparrow’s in the surrounding forests.

If you were to travel north-east as appose to south from Three Ties Port, not that anyone would choose to, you would reach Eeirak Summit. Starting from the edge of the forest nearest the summit, the steady incline upwards till the edge of the island makes this the highest point of the island, surpassing heights of the mountains in both Nine Ridges and supposedly the Darklands. Eeirak Summit, whilst having a human population of zero, is not uninhabited, it is the nesting place of the Eeiraks. These winged creatures, possessing features of both a bat and some form of human, were created near the time of the island’s creation by an Akrophyl, to be their watchers in the sky. They still do this to this day, their ability to sense any and all acts of manifestation making them perfect for their job, any control over them died however with their maker, and there is a spreading fear that it is only habit keeping them doing this duty, and that this will one day break.

The southern most part of the island, now broken off from the mainland is the Darklands, rather than a prison somewhere in the expanse of the main island, it was instead decided to segregate those that chose to disregard the rules, the Unseen, and banish them to the Darklands. The only way in and out of the Darklands is over a bridge under constant surveillance by a team of Manifesters, usually of varying classes, that or in the razor sharp claws of an Eeirak. The Darklands is the area most heavily watched by the Eeiraks, many seen frequently flying over the mountains within Nine Ridges, those caught trying to escape very rarely make it back to the Darklands for a second chance.

The newest of all the islands landscapes, despite still being thousands of years old, are the mountains of Nine Ridges. Manifested on the orders of the leader at the time, the mountains served as a vale behind which the Darklands and it’s residents can be kept out of mind. North of the mountain range is a town, large in size but growing smaller in population with each passing year, many people choosing to move to either the capital or Eastmills, out from the path frequently by Eeiraks on their journey to and from the Darklands.

In the north-west corner of the island, the capital of Eeirgaze, Eeirgaze City can be found. The location of the Eeirglade, where those that hold the power and decide the laws convene, and, if the Eeiraks haven’t already intervened, trials are held. Within the capital is two of the island’s three schools, and their respective training areas, as well as a multitude of fine homes, eateries and shops. All the buildings follow the same style seen throughout the rest of the island, tall and imposing, made of pale stone, where in the capital these are kept the cleanest and appear unusually bright. The Eeirglade sits directly in the capital’s centre, with everything else spanning out from it, it’s large glass rounded roof not really in keeping with the rest of the city.

Just south-west of the capital, a stretch of wide beach along with a small island of sand dunes separated by a body of water together make up the Unbroken Shores. This part of the island is well known for being cut off from the rest, literally, and also in terms of the peacefulness that the people that visit there find. The more curious people will head to the most southern point of the small breakaway of land, as it is from here that on clear days, one can see into the Darklands from behind the mountains, any other view of it is either blocked by the mountains in Nine Ridges of the dense forest that takes up the whole east of the Darklands.

Word Count = 1148/1000

THE MAIN CHARACTER

Leena Starling

Leena Starling was born on April 9th in 2006, making her fifteen years old. She was born outside of the island of Eeirgaze, to Kate and Frank Starling, both of whom are part of the Blind population, who are unable to manifest. Leena was the result of an unplanned pregnancy, whether this contributed to the growing distance she felt to her parents as she got older is unknown to her, as at the age of nine she was sent to spend the summer with her aunt, a trip that turned into a permanent move. Her parents knew there was something different about her, but they were not interested in discovering what this was, it was far easier for them to pass on the problems they had with her to her aunt.

In comparison to her parents, Leena’s aunt was a saint, and Leena was able to have a relatively normal and happy childhood growing up with her. From a young age, Leena had always had a very active imagination, she would spend hours drawing messy colourful sketches of various mythical creatures, fairies and enchanted castles that she had made up. In quite the reverse of roles, she would often create tales with such characters that her aunt would listen to on an evening.

Leena has always been rather casual in how she dresses, whilst other girls at her school would opt for everything to be pretty and pink, Leena was quite happy with a pair of jeans and a nice looking t-shirt. When she started high school however and realised the look she had grown so comfortable in wasn’t exactly considered to be fashionable amongst her piers she made a little more of an effort when going clothes shopping with her aunt – but still nothing pink and sparkly. She always has on her, a gold anklet gifted to her by her mother, not real gold, though it’s sentimental value to Leena was far more than it’s worth if it was. Although she was aware that her parents weren’t exactly good at being just that, parents, Leena was convinced that she was loved by them, receiving the gift of the anklet from her mother, as one that matched one Leena’s mother wore, was one of her happiest memories of when she had lived with them. For as long as she could remember, her mother had worn a dainty chain linked anklet, hers with an array of seashells lining the chain, her mother had noticed how much Leena loved it and bought her one of her own, hers with stars on it, for her eighth birthday, one of the last ones she would celebrate with her parents, maybe this made the anklet feel even more special.

Leena’s flair for the imaginative fictional extended into her school life, she excelled in English where she would have been happy to be given assignment after assignment of fictional books to read or stories to write. She loathed maths, a place where she felt she left her imagination at the door, it was all about rules, this method to do this, another method to do something else, she had been intrigued when her teacher had worked through a complex problem full of strange symbols on their first day – something he had said they wouldn’t have to do for a very long time, and not unless they continued with the subject. Though she didn’t count on this happening, she found watching the man solve the problem fascinating and wished they could do something like that.

Leena is a very strong willed individual, when she sets her mind on something, she won’t stop trying to do it until she had been successful, even when it comes to maths. In her mind there is a solution to every problem, the issue comes when she realises many of these solutions are actually impractical or not really viable solutions themselves. Leena wouldn’t be classed as shy, nor an extrovert, but rather someone that is a mix of the two, she is confident in going up and speaking to new people, in fact, she loves listening to all the new facts that new people always have to tell. As well as this, being something of fantasist means it should be of no surprise that Leena is often described as having her head in the cloud, mostly by her teachers in terms of her ability to concentrate on her school work.

Leena is not like her parents in terms of their belonging to the Blind population. Leena is able to manifest objects, specifically things created in her mind, making her an Akrophyl, the most uncommon type 0f manifestation ability and the one requiring the greatest amount of skill. Though the technique required and specific process one needs to follow means that it is highly unlikely for someone to manifest something by accident, there a some signs that point to someone being a Manifester. To those with a trained eye and who know what they are looking for, the brain of a Manifester when studies using medical equipment such as an MRI machine, has small identifiable details not present in those who would be considered Blind. It is through a such a way that Leena was identified as a possible Manifester. When her aunt grew worried about her continuous inability to have a night of proper sleep without the interruptions of her nightmares and waking up at various points in the night, and all this behaviour becoming more prominent after Leena took a small fall at school and subsequent knock on the head, Leena is offered an MRI by her doctor.

Leena will come to learn that she is highly skilled in her ability to Manifest objects from her imagination, unbeknownst to her, all the years she has spent building on her imagination by bringing to life all her creations, even if only in the form of drawings and stories so far, have worked to strengthen the skills she will need to try and make such things real.

Word Count = 1004/1000