The Making of the Between

by the Crisses

No one remembers how long ago the Ancient Ones joined the worlds together in the Making. Two worlds in entirely different places were bridged by a shadowy byway, a vague world that harbored trespassers of both, changed those who stayed there too long, a partial reflection of both worlds. The immortal world of Faerie was gossamer and glitter; the mortal world of Kerri was stone and steel. Between was like a dream.

Creatures from both the worlds of men and faerie passed into the Between, homesteading, and the magic of the place altered them over the generations. Those from the Between were soon called the Sidhe. There were Sidhe elves, Sidhe humans, and Sidhe animals. Time in Between passed quickly for Faerie, and slowly for Kerri, but aging slowed while one was there. One's brother might go to Between, claim to have been there for 6 years, which might be 20 for you, meanwhile he would seem to have aged but a single day. His age would be betrayed by the eyes of wisdom on him, the eyes that had seen something of the Truths in the universe, eyes that as windows of his soul would tell you that he'd been touched by Faerie to his roots, never to be human again. This was Sidhe. This was what it meant to live in those shadowy byways. Your love and care of one another may be untouched, but his eyes would be haunted with the knowledge that he would return home, time would pass, and he would come to you one day to find you had passed on, for there you stand before him more aged than he.

Many souls who sought the Truths of the universe traversed the dangerous ways to come to Between, to glimpse into Faerie, to twist and turn the core magic of worlds into demonstrable reality. Many Sidhe were great wizards. They would visit Kerri, teaching magic as they went, and if you were one of the chosen, they would take you from your family, escort you on the shadowy trails to Between, and you would become their apprentice. You would live long years in the care of Sidhe, shaping magic at the heart of the world.

Nightwind

Dreal