~ The Human Villages ~

It has been an awfully rough autumn this year, the rain has been heavy, the winds have been harsh and the sun has been sparse while the skies have been abundantly cloudy nearly always. But those were all natural phenomenas, things that people could do nothing but suck up and deal with, for they could not make the Gods do as they wished, however.. There was also the problems with the spooked cattle, the missing storage-supplies, the dead, floating fish and houses that had been mysteriously repainted over the course of a night, in bright green... These were not natural occurences and was at first believed to be some kind of prank pulled by the younger and more restless of the population within the villages. But as time passed on and people tried keeping vigils to catch the culprits, they soon found that the cause was not the ill-bred and poorly raised children, but rather visitors who did not at all belong in the villages!

It would seem as though invaders from the world beyond had taken a liking to meddling and interfering with the humans and their lives. Something the humans, obviously, were not all that fond of at all! What, these dead fools thought they could just up and leave their graves and come back to cause trouble for those who had not yet left the realm of the living? Inexcusable! Upset farmers and fishermen verbally complained to their Elders, demanding that a soloution was to be had, or else there would be mutiny afoot! Amused, but also concerned, the Elders of each village decided that it was probably for the best if this situation be resolved and the restless undead dealt with. But how? They could not very well chase off the ghosts and spirits with their fishing and farming tooks, and it was even less likely that the ethereals would sit down, drink tea and reason with them about the importance of resting peacefully ever after.

So, what could be done? What would be done? Each village elder thought long and hard about what could be done, and how it should be carried out. Eventually, they each came to a similar conclusion. For while in their youth they had travelled the island, there was one place where people usually never went, and that was the mist and fog-filled heart of the isle. The ever-misty center of the island was like an entirely uncharted world where nobody dared enter and explore. Surely, yes surely this must be the location and cause for why the spirits and undead of the isle were suddenly causing so much trouble! Surely, something or someone within the thick fog was stirring up trouble and causing this situation to escalate! A decision was thus made.

Each of the Elders, from all three villages, told their people of their idea. They informed them of the mist-covered heartland, where nobody had ever gone to explore or investigate, how this must be the reason for why the root of the problem remained so well hidden and the only place where one was likely to find a soloution! The people, skeptics as they were, did not believe this to be true in an instant, and merely dismissed the propsed theory as nothing more than the wise-cracks and gibbering of old, senile fools. But as time passed on and more and more cows were painted purple, scared up into trees and houses turned upside-down (interiorly), the people soon realised they had no choice but to at least gamble on this idea. The Elders scoffed at their citizens' slow and reluctancy to accept their idea and, pulling of an act, were reluctant to even tell them of their plans.

But with enough whining, begging, grovelling at the feet and praises from the young, slender vixens of the populace, the Elderly leaders finally gave in and began to reveal their plans. It was so that they thought it best that someone go and explore the foggy heart of the isle, to chart and locate this unknown territory. If they could find the center, then the elders were sure that they would find the problem and could thus deal with it properly! ... The Elders failed to mention that the cause and root of the problem might be another ghost and that anybody who went was more than likely not going to be able to do anything about it, but hey, minor details never did anyhting but upset the masses! Each village thusly selected one or more people to form an expedition and travel to the heart of the isle, to find out what the cause might be.

How each village selected their expedition varied.

~ The Ethereals ~

While the humans busied themselves with preperations and planning for an investigation into the misty center of the world, the ghosts and spirits of the land were busy otherwise.Some of thse undead, those who dwelled around the inner reaches of the island, could as of late feel a strange, tugging sensation in their non-physical bodies. It was as if an invisible force was pulling at them, trying to drag them in a certain direction. And surprise, surprise! That direction just happened to be the center of the island, where the fog and mist never let up. Some ghosts and undead naturally resisted the urge and sensation, shrugging it off as nothing more than an itch or other pesky feeling.

Others however grew curious and interested in what it might be that had begun to pull and push them in that particular direction. Could it be that the center of the isle held the gates to the epaceful afterlife? Could it be a dimensional door to a playground for the undead? A shrine which would grant one another shot at being alive? The guesses were many and all pretty ridiculous, but what could you expect? Nobody had ever wandered into the misty heart of this island, not even the undead... Which was sort of odd when you think about it, it's not like there'd be any monsters around in there that could eat someone with an incorporeal body anyway, right?

Regardless! Over the course of time that passed, some undead could feel how the tug and pull decreased in intensity until it was all but gone, while other spirits and undead felt it strongly increase and get worse and worse. Why this was, how it was, or other similar questions all remained unanswered. And they would continue to remain unanswered until those affected by it made up their mind. Made up their minds and did what had to be done! Venturing to the heartlands and finding the source of this eerie sensation.

~ Center of the World ~

Ironically the center of the world was not the planet's core, but the misty center of the isle. Of course, scientists and scholars would probably disagree with this statement, but they are all non-existent or classed as witches and warlocks anyway, so why should we listen to them? Hah, take that educated and enlightened snoots!

Putting random insults aside, what was actually the center of the world? Was it just a no-man's land of mist and fog and haze where nothing lived, nothing entered and nothing left? No, no, far from it actually. While indeed there is an everlasting fog which shrouds the center of the world, this fog is nothing more than a circular wall which acts as a barrier. The mist and fog is so dense and compressed that it is quite impossible to see more than a few feet infront of oneself if you enter and being that there are no landmarks in the barrier, it is incredibly hard to determine which way you are going once you enter. Chances are, you'll stumble right back out the same way you came in. In terms of thickness, the wall of mist that surrounds the heart of the island takes roughly half an hour to fourty minutes to walk through, so as you might realise, it is quite thick!

But, assuming you do not get lost (and starve) in the wall of fog and somehow manage keep track of your direction, you will eventually emerge in the center of the world, the heart of the island. And just what exactly exists here in the heart? Why, there is a but a single, large, wooden, old-fashioned mansion standing. A mansion that looks to be in dire need of a remodelling and renovations-plan. At least on the outside. There is however, around the mansion, quite a large and very varied garden, containing flowers and shrubbries of all sorts. There are sunflowers and roses and lillies, berry bushes, thorn bushes and even some rocks with various kinds of moss! Ironically, the garden seems to be blooming flowers that are all out of season, meaning that spring and winter along with summer flowers are all blooming, despite it being autumn.

It is an odd sight indeed. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. What first needs dealing with, is those who are either sent to find this place, or those who feel drawn towards it...

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