To Be Your Friend In These First Steps of Life

Prologue: My First Months Pt.1

I had been a new soul who had recently awoken, a new light, the Elders called me, a confused one among the many others they had greeted. It had also been a nice experience when some older folks decided to help me through the first few realms, guiding me without complaint.

Venturing through these realms had proven to be very fun, although I did feel somewhat discouraged around the time I gained passage to the fifth gate, especially since by then, the Veterans and Butterflies had returned to their own lives.

So, not knowing what to do other than continue onward, I lingered on in the realms I had gained full access to, moving between them freely and meeting other Butterflies, Veterans and even Moths like myself... It was a pleasant feeling to just bask in the other's presence.

But I had to continue my venture into this fascinating world I had been born into, or well, this world I crashed into. I had hoped I could delay the inevitable, progressing through the 5th realm and actually unlocking the 6th realm this time, opting to free what spirits I could find in all the realms at the time as it was the most productive thing to do besides travelling ahead...

That. And my curiosity about the spirits had been making my mind itch. I needed to satiate it, it was starting to become unbearable.

The spirits of Isle of Dawn were easy enough to spot seeing as the place was mostly bare with the occasional rock structure scattered about on this sandy landscape. One spirit was hiding between the dunes to the far right, another was out in the open, ready to be freed, stationed just before the cliff we Moths would jump off of to get a flying start after gaining the help of a... bright child?

I'm still not sure what it is actually supposed to be but I could recall the voice, that familiar voice, whispering about it, calling it a 'winglight'. Anyways, the last spirit I found was hidden just under the miniature cliff-like structure I mentioned earlier.

After some thought, I decided that I should go back home to check if I had managed to relive all the spirits I had needed to find in this lovely desert, remembering that there were these odd empty spaces above each Gate, like it was waiting to be filled in.

I would've stayed to gaze at the eternal dawn that glowed through the cloudy horizon that led to the Isle Elder's Temple but I needed my confirmation first and foremost.

Sitting down on a rocky ledge nearby, I closed my eyes and pictured that small island I called Home. Or at least, what that voice called 'Home' anyway. After waiting for what felt like an eternity of sitting on the ground, I came to the realisation I was standing so I opened my eyes, finding myself at Home, on its grassy fields with the Gates towering over me...

This was a useful power to have, to be able to, essentially, teleport back Home no matter where I was. I wasn't quite sure of the logistics of this ability but I didn't plan on complaining about something so helpful.

I stepped back a few steps, standing on this circular slab of rock, an odd pattern etched into it, it looked old. Turning to face the Isle's Gate from where I stood, I looked above it.

I sighed with satisfaction and a hint of surprise, the emptiness was no longer there, instead there was now a bright constellation in its place. I hummed to myself quietly, each star in the constellation likely represented each spirit whose memories I had relived earlier.

Feeling content, I walked over to the next realm's gate.

What was the name? Ah yes, Daylight Prairie. I must admit, it was quite colourful and bright compared to Isle Of Dawn. It was also somewhat disorienting to suddenly shift from a desert-like environment to one so vibrant, although I suppose that change of scenery was hinted at in the Isle Elder's Temple on my first visit. The transition between the two realms had been baffling to me the first time, but I had found that there were far more confusing shifts in scenery than this later on.

Striding forward, I looked around and saw a lovely grass field, how it stretched just to the edge of the nearby ledge and into the clouds.

There was a small pond in the middle with those same oddly shaped caves that had those symbols carved into them as if indicating their purpose, where I could manifest accessories and different capes from light. There was a bench nearby and a meditation shrine off to the side. I glanced at the swirling clouds just beyond the ledge again before jumping off and flying through the tunnel made from these clouds.

Landing on the grassy hill, I blinked, finding the scenery to be quite pretty. The most noticeable thing though? The gate in the distance and the weird dome-like thing.

The first spirit was fairly easy to relive, sitting still under this odd dome of grassy rock, with butterflies accompanying the spirit. The same couldn't be said about the rest of them though, hiding in places that I could not easily access on my own. I was alone at the time while exploring that area and I grew quite frustrated when I realised I'd have to ask for help and it was unlikely to find me since there had been no other soul like me in sight at the time.

I spent several hours trying to trick one of those gates scattered around the main area of Daylight Prairie, the ones that required more than one person ready with their flame to light the door, before I noticed a darkened figure. They had a bodily stature similar to mine, though slightly taller. I could make out the shape of their cape but not of their overall appearance, it was unnerving to look at a mostly featureless person, almost appearing like a burned out candle wick, but it hadn't been my first time meeting someone else.

They were not so far from where I stood in this large, cloudy Manta Temple area so I chose to approach them. Flying over, I honked at them a lot, perhaps a little more than what would have been necessary to gain their attention. The person seemed confused for a moment, honking back at me as if to ask what I wanted.

I turned back to look at my target, that wretched door I couldn't open and honked again. I alternated between looking at the door and honking to explain my reason for the disturbance. Despite the months I've spent in this world, I have yet to figure out if the other inhabitants can actually speak in words like the voice I can hear occasionally or if they all just honked as a form of communication.

They honked at me and nodded, understanding the hint, and followed me back to that wretched two-light gate where I found a spirit tucked away within the darkness of that structure after I had opened it with the stranger's help. They must've realised that I was looking to collect any stray spirits from the area since they led me to another two-light gate after reliving this spirit.

Something told me that these gates in particular were going to be a nuisance if I ever decided to relive them again. Alone.

I bowed in thanks to the kind stranger who helped me relive the spirits behind the closed doors before heading to the next realm. I would go Home now but I could always just sit down and think of it whenever I wanted to go back so instead of returning, I continued onward through the gate to the next realm embedded within the Temple of the Prairie Elder that had been standing atop this huge cloud.