Nyssala

Chapter 1

The Overlap and history of The Eastern Humans and Humanoids -

Nyssala, an extensive city in the center of The Overlap, is not a place to be tampered with. It's surrounded by The Ring, a fifteen mile range around Nyssala. The Overlap covers parts of an unidentified ocean and west side of a large island, where Nyssala rests. In the east, humans began colonizing, unaware of the exclusive range until a child with small horns and webbed hands was born. Eventually, The Eastern Humans figured out the existence of The Overlap, a place where creatures of the unknown can exist on earth, and began to explore and learn more about the strange phenomenon.

Creatures that live in The Ring are fearful and violent towards humans, mainly because of their past with the scientists sampling their blood and sucking magic out of their bloodstream. Even after nearly sixty-three years, you can still see scars on the creatures who were subjects, and if you were to introduce one of the young scientists involved in the ancient project, they would still recognize their scent. Only the most tortured of creatures will be able to recognize the voice of the human who tested on them, but most, if not all, of the test subjects remember their human's face. Strangely enough, Humanoids would be completely untouched if they were to wander into The Ring, and are more likely to become a creature's companion than an average human. No one knows why this is, but some theories claim that a Humanoids' altered appearance trick the creatures into thinking that they're creatures as well, or possibly that none of the scientists were Humanoids.

A Humanoid is a human who was born in or near The Overlap. In early stages of a newborn, magic is able to puncture through the first few layers of skin, but because humans are not adapted to take in magic, it cannot enter the bloodstream, and stays in the skin. (This is also possible with other earth-life, like deer, bunnies, etc.) As the human grows, the magic will start to create additions to the appearance of the human, but nothing more. This occurrence is known as magic composition. Some villages are discriminatory to the Humanoids, so Nyssala is mostly populated with them. However, that doesn't mean humans can't be found living in Nyssala.

The opposite of magic composition, magic concentration, is found in the bloodstream of creatures. Earth-life is incapable of absorbing magic into blood, for our veins are too thin and our heart is too weak. Our bones are also too weak to handle magic directly. The Eastern Humans for ages have been attempting to figure out a way to allow humans to carry/use magic without harm or skin additions, but all experiments have ended the same in one result or another. Either these test subjects became completely paralyzed because of the magic and died from the heart stopping and suffocation, or died in an instant explosion from trying to use magic and completely burst into intense black flames. Eventually, the humans lost hope and gave up after more than sixty trials in the span of nearly thirty-five years.

The Orphan and the Dragon -

An Eastern Human mother gave birth to a small child, Aria. The doctors cleaned her up and brought the newborn into a warming chamber to calm and dry her off, suspecting nothing unusual. Besides, everyone knows that Helen's Hospital is on the outskirts of The Overlap, right? Over the course of a day, Aria developed small, grey wings on her back from the magic gradually seeping into her skin. When the parents finally received her, wrapped in a fluffy golden blanket, they were enchanted with the small bundle of life. However, when they took her home, the blanket sagged off her shoulder and revealed her soggy, feathered additions. The parents were mortified at the "impure human", not realizing how close they were to The Overlap. They made plans that night to abandon the child in The Ring, where she "belongs", and move to the far East. The next morning, little Aria was left, helpless and alone, in the forest of The Ring.

A figure stalked around her territory, sensing something wrong. An intruder, for sure, but who, or what? The scent was nothing she was familiar with. Following the odor, she found, ruthlessly hidden in a small bush, a Humanoid child covered in rags. She poked around, checking the unknown stranger out, and discovered little grey wings covered in downy. Looking at her own, she swiftly wedged her body under the Humanoid, secured it with little strings of magic, and flew deeper into the overgrown forest.

As Aria grew, the Agarthian Dragon stayed the same. A teenage-like creature that's highly overprotective of her Humanoid. She was always close behind Aria, earning her the title Shadow Hunter, or Shadow for short. Once, Aria wandered too far outside the edge of The Overlap, near a small village, and was attacked by the village guards. They raised a staff with a symbol of a warped human head with an 'X' and chanted something, then went in for attack. The first punch resulted in many rows of fangs, seeping deep into the flesh of the fist. Deep green eyes stared emotionless into the unknown human, whose expression was exploding with pain. Another guard tried to wrestle their friend's hand out of the jaws of the dragon, to no avail, when Shadow suddenly recoiled her muzzle with such force it tears the fist off its arm. Aria shudders, hiding behind Shadow Hunter as the guard's shrill scream catapults itself out, giving the two intruders enough time to escape the surprise attack. Aria never trusted a human after that incident, and Shadow's distrust in them only deepened.

To this day, both Aria and Shadow are living peacefully together as companions in the vast city of Nyssala. Neither of them know how they found the city. "It just popped up," Aria claims. The two now live in a small but insulated and cozy shack, near the School for Humanoids. Aria doesn't attend, but she does receive tutoring from her friend Holly, who had found Aria resting underneath a fruit tree with Shadow. Holly has even offered to take her to the school for a day, but Aria refused, using an excuse about having to stay to care for Shadow Hunter. Luckily, Shadow didn't hear that, otherwise her relationship with Aria would've been injured. Helplessness is not an option.

Once a Hero, Always a Hero -

A scientist, obsessed with The Overlap and its mysteries, decided to take his six-year-old daughter, Holly, to the outskirts of the desert region in The Ring. The two were peacefully strolling along, little Holly pointing out every animal and creature she saw, no matter the rarity of the sight or how many were saw previously, and her father nodding and writing down some key observations for analysis later. Her father later noticed that Holly had been quiet for some time, almost too long, and when he was about to ask, What is it, Cupcake?, noticed no figure next to him. She was gone. The scientist frantically retraced his steps, afraid that the worst had happened, and kept thinking of absurd and nearly impossible situations his daughter may be in. When he finally found her, Holly was stiff, wide-eyes, open-mouthed, tail straight out, and pointing directly at a Desert Kitsune circling around a misplaced Skelly.

Its bone wings were spread as far as it could possibly go, without breaking any magic binds. The Kitsune eventually circled around again, Holly and her father now able to see its marked face, and in response, the Skelly circled around too, revealing a smaller Skelly to the wandering pair. The scientist's jaw dropped, adjusting his glasses to see better. He could not conceive the idea that two solitary creatures were helping each other. Holly then appeared in his view, putting herself in between the Skelly and Kitsune. Her father soon started to yell at her to get out of the way, he cautiously and slowly walking over to retrieve Holly and get her away from the potential threat, when she starts to talk to the Desert Kitsune. She told it that it was bad to attack helpless creatures, and asked it what it was going to do with them anyway. She then asked it to kindly continue with its day and patted it gently on its head. The Kitsune backed off, confused with this strange encounter with a possible upright Kitsune, or other creature. It then padded off to collect itself and go over what the heck had happened. As soon as she turned around, the Skellys were gone. A sad yet grateful Holly returned to her father, and the two walked back home, not realizing the surprise they had silently following them home.

The scientist opened the door to their home, when a small bucket of water dropped on their heads. Holly drooped her ears in shock and distaste, her father looking around to see who pulled off this absurd feat, when a Skelly landed on Holly's shoulder. He chirped, encouraging the smaller one to come down, to no avail. He rubbed his skull on Holly's cheek, then retreated to his sister. The scientist was delighted that the two Skellys followed his daughter home, and immediately took action to prepare for mental testing of this non solitary occurrence. If getting test results means he has to work behind Holly's back, so be it. He told little Holly he was going to perform a check up on them, then took the Skellys to the lab in the basement, fitted tracking collars, and put them in magic-absorbing cages. He then went to bed.

The next morning, the scientist woke up, ready to work, and went down to the lab, only to find the Skellys gone and the cages shattered. He went back up to scold Holly of breaking them out, but found she was gone as well. Drawers were thrown open, the bed was not made, and vials of concentrated magic from previous trials disappeared from the cabinets. His obsession had drove the one he loved out.