This is Friend (yes, that’s his name). Friend is not a human, nor is he of this world. Rather, Friend comes straight from the Void. ALLOW ME TO INFODUMP!!!!

jumpscare warning: LONG. ASS. TEXT.

The universe is split into two parallel planes. There’s of course the world as we know it, and then there’s the Void. The Void is a meaningless mirror of the world created out of Reflective Matter, a type of substance that mirrors what's on the other side of it. If there is a hill in the world, that same hill has been mirrored in the Void. Same goes for structures, bodies of water, land formations and even entire towns and cities, minus the inhabitants. Not everything is the same however, as the Void still has its own flora and fauna that exists along the mirrored landscape.

While the Void itself is mirrored off of the world, the fauna within is mirrored off of the energy that seeps into the Void. Negative energy will result in the creation of a dangerous being known as a Void beast. A Void beast is essentially raw rage, sorrow, and other negative feelings wrapped in a neat little violent package, ready to wreak havoc on the world above. They have no consistent appearance, but frequently take the form of otherworldly monstrosities.

On the other hand, positive energy culminating in the Void will result in a rare being known as a Lumian, which is exactly what Friend is. Lumians look similar to humans, but there are many differences. For one, they don’t have many organs or muscles. Their mass is entirely composed of Reflective Matter with a singular core inside. Secondly, they have weird, colorful protrusions on their foreheads. Many people assume these to be ears, but they’re actually called feelers, and they allow them to read other people’s emotions and communicate telepathically with other Lumians (due to there not being a native language of the Void).

Unlike humans and the other species of the world, Lumians are rare. Void beasts are far more frequent due to minimal negativity being needed for creation, but for a Lumian to be created, there needs to be a high culmination of positive energy. They make up for this imbalance by being able to destroy Void beasts with mere physical contact.

Now, many people don’t know what a Lumian is, as there aren’t any around today. But many years ago they were living among the people of the world as if they were just like them. Due to the Void being meaningless and pretty inhospitable to life, Lumians are naturally drawn to migrate towards our world, where they used to be welcomed with open arms. Due to being entirely comprised of positive energy, Lumians were beloved by the world for their near boundless kindness and selflessness. This harmony continued for years until a biologist hailing from the Hilltop Kingdom discovered something that, to the people’s eyes, was quite harrowing: the fact that Lumians and Void beasts were the exact same species. It was always known that they both came from the Void, but they were assumed to be completely unrelated.

Void beasts were a definite plague on society, so hearing that the Lumians are of the same kin came as an unwelcome surprise to the king. A meeting was quickly held between the six monarchs of Nayro Island to discuss the issue. Void beasts existed only to destroy and hurt, so who could say Lumians didn't as well? Nobody was that kind or selfless without some sort of ulterior motive. Frightened for himself and his subjects, the Hilltop king proposed the Void Defense Act, which unified the six monarchs' armies to kill any being of Void within the region; Lumians included. Once they had been wiped out, all entrances to the Void would be sealed to prevent any further beings of Void from escaping or being created. While the idea was initially met with negative responses, the repeated issues with Void beasts eventually led to a full agreement between all six leaders. The act went through, and the Lumians were hunted down and exterminated with little to no resistance.

Once they were gone, scientists were hired to seal away the many entrances to the Void around Nayro Island. It was a difficult process, so the greatest minds were necessary to do so. Among those scientists was Professor Felince Malson. She had been lovingly married to a Lumian, and was rightfully devastated when the defense act went through and she lost her wife. She had known one of their kind very closely, and knew the entire act was a bunch of bullshit. In an attempt to preserve the Lumian line, Felince intentionally only partially sealed one of the openings in hopes that some time in the future, enough positive energy will seep through and bring the Lumians back. She dedicated the rest of her life towards screwing over the king and making sure the friendly inhabitants of the Void were not forgotten, but her efforts were in vain as the name slipped into nothing as decades passed.

Many years later, the average person doesn't even know what the Void is. Lumians have been forgotten. Void beasts still manage to slip out thanks to the small opening, but they are shrugged off as monsters just like any other and killed the same as well. Things continue as they are until one fateful day, enough positive energy manages to culminate in the Void to create a new Lumian. Young and unaware of the events that had led to his birth, the boy found one of the sealed exits and watched the world outside through it. He was able to look out into the center of a small town, and he was nothing short of enthralled by it. He observed the many conversations and interactions of the people on the other side tirelessly, and was enamored by the many connections and lives of the earth’s denizens. He strongly desired to be a part of it all, so he searched for an opening, and after some time he found one. 

The opening was positioned atop a small elevation overlooking a town in the Hilltop Kingdom, which was also the town that the boy had observed for so long. He climbed through the tight hole into the real world, and wasted no time darting down the hill to the first person he spotted: a lone girl with bird wings sitting on the swings at a playground. The playground was empty, but the bird girl sat on the swings by herself, looking quite dejected. This would not do. The boy was determined to make friends, and friends weren’t supposed to be sad! He sat next to her on the swing, much to her surprise. After a few minutes, the girl tried to strike up a conversation with a simple “Hello”. That’s when the boy had a very sudden realization of a glaring issue. He didn’t know how to speak. He had listened to many conversations, but he just couldn’t figure out how to get the words to come out. However, he could write. He had collected many books, magazines and newspapers that had been left behind or carried through any openings by the wind, and swiftly pieced together how to read and write using them along with listening to people talking. Thinking on his toes, he quickly picked up a sketchpad and a pencil left behind by a previous guest of the playground, quickly writing a response. The boy was feeling quite proud of his quick thinking, until the girl asked who he was. The boy didn’t have a name, and additionally, he misunderstood the question. So he just wrote down “friend!” on the notepad. The girl found this a nice gesture. She didn’t have any friends, and she wasn’t picky like most of her classmates. When she asked again, making her question clearer that she wanted to know his name, the boy wasn’t able to come up with a solution, so they both settled on referring to him as just Friend.

The two talked for a while. The girl’s name was Ava, and she didn’t have the best reputation among her classmates. She was often picked on and pushed around, so she was glad to meet someone who was genuinely kind to her. As they hung around each other for the remainder of the day, they quickly became actual friends in their own right, enjoying each other’s company. By the time Ava realized how late it had gotten, she and Friend were practically best friends already (they trust each other WAY too much for two people who just met, mostly due to both’s inexperience in social interaction and desperation for friendship). The two agreed to meet at the playground again tomorrow and went home (By home I mean only Ava went home. Friend climbed a tree and fell asleep in an awkward position on a branch).

As time passed, Friend became a well-known figure in the community. The townspeople had no idea what a Lumian was, so they saw him simply as another child in their midst. However, this state of anonymity couldn't last forever. One day, King Oki, the reigning monarch of the Hilltop Kingdom, came down to the market to make a public announcement. In the middle of his talk however, he caught sight of Friend and Ava in the front of the crowd and was startled. His great grandfather was the one who proposed the Void Defense Act, so he was well aware of the Void and knew this was an issue. A big issue (not really).

He swiftly alerted his knights, and within a month of arriving in town, the young Lumian found himself being pursued by the entire Royal Guard. Realizing that he couldn't remain in the town any longer, he quickly gathered his belongings, said bye to those he had come to know, and ran for it. Ava, without asking permission from her parents (how evil), made the hasty decision to run away with him. For Ava, this was a matter of life or death for her first real friend. But for Friend, someone who didn’t yet understand the gravity and meaning of death, this was the perfect excuse to see the world. Being unable to stay in one place meant he could travel Nayro island and make more friends, and that’s exactly what he plans to do.

And so, Friend and Ava set off. So what if like, six armies want Friend dead. There’s a world to explore and friends to make, so potential death obviously takes third place in importance. This is just the setup to my story’s plot, which mostly entails Friend and Ava exploring Nayro Island and meeting new people, collecting friends as they go. I’ve got the basic plot skeleton laid out, but YOU GUYS DON’T GET TO SEE IT! NO SPOILERS! I’ll just show off the friends in order as I design them. Here’s some teasers for upcoming ocs in this universe tho

(this isn’t all of them, just a few favorites lol)

World building! world building! world building!