Polarized

Prologue

(Before the events of Polarized)

It was a cool day in the spirit realm, and Noi was delivering a message to Blanche. A bout of rain in City Central held him back, but the downpour passed as quickly as it started, leaving pools of water behind on the sidewalk. The messenger stared at the pools, which displayed glimpses of the mortal realm on their surfaces. 

Noi had never been to the mortal realm before and he didn't want to go there. There was an unwritten rule among spirits requiring them to distance themselves from humans, after all. But despite Noi's reservations, the humans from Cloudgate fascinated him. That's because he knew that the spirit realm would be nothing without them.

The goddess of creation and power, also known as Blanche, gifted auras to several humans. The humans with auras possessed godlike abilities, but when an aura-haver died, their auras would get extracted by Blanche. Once Blanche received multiple auras of the same type, she could combine them together to create a core. These cores, or conglomerations of auras, were what gave the spirits their essences and eternal lives. Without humans, the auras could not be turned into cores, and spirits would cease to exist. And without Blanche, the spirit realm would fall into chaos because she was at the center of it all. Blanche has created all spirits for the sole purpose of serving her and only her, so if a single spirit failed to fulfill their duty, she could kill them if that's what she wanted to do. Spirits couldn't die of ordinary causes, but Blanche, being their only creator, was also their only destroyer. She was the only known being with the ability to assemble and dismantle a spirit's core.

Noi was currently delivering a message to Blanche, which he heard in his dreams. His ability was foresight, so he had to record these kinds of things. Though the messenger was used to interpreting prophecies, this one in particular was rather disturbing. He suspected it of telling of Blanche's downfall:

Creator, know your end is nigh

Because the North star of the sky

Its shine much needed, come and quell

The darkness from your rule, dispel

You'll wander down a twisted path

Fighting to keep your reign intact

Alas, your fate is marked by ice

Long is the wait for your demise

The North Star? What North Star? Would a literal star fall from the sky or does that mean something else? Noi pondered. Though he normally liked interpreting prophecies, the vagueness of this one frustrated him— he had to know what the "North Star" referred to so he could stop it from killing Blanche! Couldn't the senders of this message afford to be a bit more specific?! Noi thought. He knew this wasn't a game. It was a matter of life and death, and had to be treated as such.

But as confused as he was, Noi had to accept he was only a seer, and he would never have all the answers he wanted. All he could do was walk on.

End notes:
**In the spirit realm the surface of water isn't reflective, but not quite transparent, either. Think of windows to the mortal realm instead of mirrors.