EVENTIDE'S TALE

Do you hear it? Listen closely. There, hidden beneath the whisper of the cool winds is the breath of change. Her song has fallen upon our fair town once more and we cannot go back.

Our night sky is alive with dancing lights. You know them as the aurora borealis but I know different. If you stare at the flickering waves of color you may be able to see glimpses of what lays beyond. If you listen carefully, the static some hear beneath their glow may clear, allowing you to understand the secrets they contain. Most of us are too busy and distracted to pay attention. We see only what is before us and not what lies beyond. Here in Eventide we allowed this blindness to guide us for too long until something happened to change that. Something we could not ignore. Allow me to start this tale the night our town lost its anonymity. It all started once upon a silent night …

The lights have always been a part of our existence. In those long winter months they are our ribbons of hope. On this night no one paid them any additional mind. There was no cause to; the lights were as fascinating to locals as a rock or tree. This night, however, everything changed.

They began as they always did – a single streak of pink whispering across the night sky. It was joined by curls of green and orange. The colors steadily built their intensity growing until no darkness remained. Their brilliance was such that people did not need electricity or candles to light their homes. People stepped into the frigid streets, shielding their eyes as their stared up at the sky. For three days the lights remained, not even diminishing during the day. Countries as far away as Mexico reported seeing the lights that night but they only lingered over Eventide. Scientists quickly descended upon our quiet community in search of answers they would not find. They told us this was a phenomenon that had never happened before. They told us it would never happen again.

They were wrong. I know different. It has happened before. Ask the Heritage – it is why they keep their secrets so close.

Leande is a world that exists within the whispers of earth. We spend our lives believing there is nothing more. We search for life on distant stars. We believe that this world is like a fist, separate and enclosed. It contains only what is within its grasp and nothing more. We are wrong. The world is so much more. It is like two hands clasped together. Each is separate and distinct entities but where they touch, they are changed. Life exists in our dreams, not our realities. This is where you will find Leande, within our dreams. Just because we cannot see her does not diminish her existence. There are times when her touch is more acute, where her kiss upon our frail world causes the sky to come alight with her beauty. When that happens she changes you. She changed Eventide.

Only those known as the Heritage knew of Leande and the way she changed a person. What was once ordinary became extraordinary. They knew because they were here the first time the lights lingered and changed, and they guarded this secret with their lives. Their abilities made them strong; their secrets forging a strong bond between them. For generations their abilities opened doors to them and allowed them to become Eventide’s elite. But one night changed all of that.

Fifty years have passed since that night. Scientists still frequent our town looking for answers and wishing to witness the phenomenon once more. They believe the greatest mystery Eventide holds are the lights. If only they knew what we are now all entrusted to guard.

It is not the generation that first saw the lights that are changed, but their children. They have begun to exhibit strange gifts – things humans are no supposed to be able to do. Some are excited by these changes, others are angered, and others still are terrified. The answers to why this happened are protected by those who have heard the tales before – tales they are not apt to share. One thing is for certain, this will change our town. Only time will tell how.

You may ask how I know all that I do, who I am and what my role is in all this. I will tell you only this: I am the Whisper Keeper, and these stories are yours to live and mine to record.