Here it is: My preliminary backstory for the Shape of the World.


Once upon a time, there lived a dynasty of three powerful people who ruled the workings of the world. One directed the weather, another controlled the water, and the last ran nature itself. When they died, their rule would pass to the single child of each, who would live for a hundred more years and pass it on yet again.

The rulers were benevolent, but generally stayed out of world affairs, content to run the world from the shadows. The people were happy with the arrangement. Each person had a little bit of power of their own, to aid them in the talent that they found for themselves. Most people didn’t think they could handle the responsibility of controlling the world. And they never thought that the Prime Shapers could ever become evil. 

They were right.

But a few people became resentful. They were not satisfied with their own power, even though everyone knew that each had all that he would need. They hated that three people got to control the workings of the world, and considered that they could handle it just as well, if not even better.

And so they began plotting. They scoured the world, searching for a way to take the power from the Prime Shapers and use it themselves. But all they found was a strange book detailing a process by which they could cause the world to work on its own, without the influence of the three rulers.

They changed their plan. They began quietly stirring up the people against the Prime Shapers, implanting the possibility in their minds that one day the rulers could become evil and turn the world against them, to rule it with an iron fist.

To those that wouldn’t believe them, they spread the lie that their rulers were weakening, and that they could no longer trust the Prime Shapers to run the world, lest they fail and the world fall apart.

The Shapers learned of the unrest too late. The leaders, who themselves had begun to believe their own lie, were already at the doorstep of the rulers. They listened to the concerns of the people, and knew that there would be no convincing them. So, reluctantly, they surrendered their rule and initiated the workings of the world.

Miraculously, they learned of a plot to kill them and their children just in time. It is said that a great swirl of water surrounded them, driving back their attackers, and that a great tree lifted them up high into the sky, where a wind swept them up and carried them far away. No one ever found them.

To this day, the tree that aided their escape remains. It is called the World Tree, for it rises higher and grows thicker than any other tree in the world. Some say that the wind that carried the Shapers away still blows through the canopy. No one who tries to reach the heights of the tree ever comes down. Legend says that they drown near the top.

Only my two best friends and I know the whole story. Our parents died in a dreadful accident. The only thing they left us was a note that asked us to unravel the mystery. And because of the things that we have learned, the things we have done--terrible consequences will begin to unfold. And there’s only one way to stop it.

We have to stop the world.