Missive I - A Preamble

For as long as I can recall, I have wandered. From formless lands and realms of pure gods to that of the unholy and the fallen. I have wandered. I have borne the cloak of gray and donned the mask to hide my visage. I remember not why the bandages wrap themselves around my arms and over my neck but I can feel the pain of wounds. 

There is nothing of myself within my memory. Perhaps I was born of a reverie or a desire but I know not. And so I wandered to seek the answers to those questions. Those who I spoke to told me stories and I captured their chronicles. I realized that no matter whom I spoke with, I understood their language. I could hear the language of gods and angels and demons, and even that of humans. As I listened to these chronicles I began to recall. To say that I remembered would be a falsehood, but images came to me in misted phantoms and longing daydreams. I remembered a touch, the smell of a garden beneath the high sun. There was nothing of myself in these memories but I remembered Genesis. An intense wave of sadness came over me then. I could not remember her face or even her character but I knew her name. And I knew that if I could find Genesis, then I may be able to reclaim myself.

So I wandered and sought the stories, all the time asking for her. I traveled nameless and she continued to elude me. Once in a state of weariness, I stopped and rested with a traveler. A man of old age sat with me and asked my name. When I told him that I had none, he laughed and said that we all must have a name. I told him again that I had none and that I roam the realms in search of chronicles and in search of Genesis.

He told me that in days of old, above the sky, was the air of gods that existed between heaven and earth. It was of the firmament and not quite of this world and not quite of the next. The man said that I reminded him of that element and he called me Aether.

I took the name in thanksgiving and I bid farewell to the man. Thus I became known as Aether, the collector of chronicles. Still I roam in unending pursuit and here I pen the stories that guide me on my search.

Behold the missive. And with great longing, I invite you to read of the chronicles. Perhaps our paths may cross during my journeys of the realms.

Until then, I bid you farewell.

- Aether