I have completed my first chapter for #NaNoWiMo. Here is the prologue for anyone who may be interested. This will be my biggest challenge yet, a novel first draft of 50 000 words.
The Dream Eater: A South African Morphology
Prologue: The Whispers of the Old Ones
The elders spoke of a time before the Bubbles, before the shimmering domes of privilege rose like mirages from the African soil. A time when the ancestors walked among the living, their whispers carried on the wind, their wisdom woven into the fabric of dreams.
They spoke of a time even further back, when traders from a distant land, a land of the rising sun, sailed their ships to these shores, bringing with them tales of wondrous creatures and powerful spirits. Among these tales was the legend of the Baku, a dream-devouring beast with the power to consume nightmares.
But the *baku* was not merely a creature of myth. It found a home in the spirit world of Africa, merging with a powerful ancestral spirit, a guardian of dreams. This spirit, once benevolent, became corrupted, twisted by a darkness that hungered for the essence of dreams, leaving behind hollow shells, empty vessels adrift in a world devoid of hope.
They called it uMdli wephupho - the Dream Eater.
It had slumbered for centuries, its power contained by the ancient rituals and the unwavering faith of the people. But the world had changed. The whispers of the ancestors faded, drowned out by the relentless hum of technology. The old ways were forgotten, replaced by the seductive allure of instant gratification, of manufactured escapes.
And then came the Dream Dust, a whisper from a distant land, a promise of oblivion, a gateway to a world where dreams were no longer bound by the constraints of reality.
The dust awakened the Dream Eater, fueling its hunger, amplifying its power. It seeped into the Reverie, the shared dreamscape, corrupting its beauty, twisting its wonders into nightmares...
more.
Any thoughts? It would be so appreciated.
