Prologue

Long ago, in a land where magic and all things fantastical were commonplace at best, there lived a Princess. Her name was-, well... That’s a little complicated at the moment so let’s just skip over that detail for now, shall we?

When the princess was born it was a joyous time, but also one of lament. The beloved queen had passed during childbirth, and the people mourned. The King especially was heartbroken, but his sadness turned to conviction, and he vowed to ensure the princess and the people of his country lived happily.

It was unfortunately also around this time that a terrible darkness seeped across the lands.

The dark itself was brought about by the terrible Demon Lord. Though no one had ever seen or met them, the tales and legends were so great that children began to hear of them at bedtime, and all feared that such a devilish creature would take them away should misfortune choose them.

Before the dark could reach the kingdom, the great King made a decree;

“Anyone who can defeat the Demon Lord shall be rewarded with a wish, granted by the wondrous mage Velho himself.”

Now, Velho was a name known as well as the King’s, and even in the farthest reaches of the world, where the demon lord’s darkness had no hope of reaching, all knew of the greatest mage to have ever lived.

To receive a wish granted by Velho was to receive the blessings of the gods themselves. Velho’s magic could change the course of time, create beauty from nothing, and bend space at his will. Some could even wonder why he himself did not take on the task of defeating the Demon Lord, though none would dare to question him in such a way.

After the King’s decree, many took up swords and staffs to set off into the west, where the darkness seemed to seep from, hoping for grandeur and a single wish to make any dream come true, but none prevailed.

Years passed and the darkness crept closer to the kingdom with each passing day. The allure of the wish had fallen to fear and hopelessness.

Fear not though, as that is exactly where our story will begin. Let us speak again of the princess.

The princess lived in a castle, of course, with her loving father the King. The two lived quite happily until the princess reached the tender age of “ambiguously young-looking, but probably a teenager”.

Once again tragedy befell the kingdom, and the King grew ill. He decreed once more that should anything happen to him, his dear princess would take the throne, and uphold the promise of the wish.

The princess however was not keen to the thought. She had secretly lived her life sullen, and was rather peculiar should you ask any of the maids. While she kept high spirits in front of her father, she loathed her princess training, took an interest in the occult, and was all in all a very glum and sad girl.

After the king’s decree, she formulated a plot. Upon the king’s death, she would perform a ritual to take her own life, and transform into a Spirit. She believed that if she became a Spirit, she could be free from responsibility and wander the world as she wished.

The thought had crossed her mind once that she could wish for Velho to make her a Spirit, but how could a princess defeat the demon lord?

Steeled in her will to escape her fate, she bided her time until the day arrived, and the king took his last breath.

The land mourned once again for the loss of its kind leader, but planning and celebrations began quickly for the princess to ascend to the throne.

Our princess began preparations of her own, and was due to perform her ritual the night before her coronation. She thought this to be poetic and purposeful.

She gathered a collection of grotesqueries in her room, and locked the maids out despite their panicked protests. A large white circle was drawn crudely in chalk on the carpet, the furniture pushed to the corners and walls, and an array of sinister looking items was piled in the center of it. Her stage was set.

She kneeled at the side of the circle, and opened an ancient and dusty book, with tabs, bookmarks and notes scrawled throughout. A well-loved book at first glance, but ominous in aura. Old World text filled the pages, and the princess began to read aloud.

The white circle glowed faintly at first, but its light increased with each spoken word. The pile of strange items in the center of the circle started to rise and float in the air as they spread out to align with the chalk lines and create a ring of oddities. Hair and bones and strange smelling liquids and all manner of things you’d expect to see in a witch’s brewery spun faster and faster around the room.

The princess left her book and stood up, taking a hesitant step forward. Was she ready to throw her life away? Would it really be so bad to continue to be the princess after all? Could she rise to the occasion and rule the people?

“No way!”

She jumped headfirst into the circle and spinning ring of objects, and the light that had been glowing with a dull intensity so far flashed so brightly it bathed the room in stark white for a brief moment, hushing all the candles, before fading just as quickly and leaving only darkness.

The body of the princess lay in the center of the circle. The room was still.

Just above where she had jumped, the princess felt herself. She opened her eyes and blinked, trying to adjust her sight to the dark, before looking down and noticing her own body crumpled on the floor below her.

She had succeeded into turning herself into a Spirit, and felt true glee for the first time in her life. She floated above herself, unbelieving that she had done it, and yet here she was, flying around her old room.

She passed through her bed, and zoomed through the furniture, confirming that she was ethereal and laughing all the while.

She zoomed past her grand mirror, and doubled back, wondering if she would be able to see her reflection like this.

Stopping in front of the mirror’s base, she slowly rose up above the frame, giddy for whatever the result could be. Would she be invisible? Partly see through? Would she look ghostly and dead? What wonderful sight awaited her?

And then she saw herself.

“A dog?!”