1

They were young. And they were Lost.

Some stories about other worlds begin with 'Once upon a time', others with 'In the beginning'. 

In this world the beginning is not known.

This World, sometimes forgotten and sometimes vaguely remembered by the Children and elders as 'Khoya': What was lost.

The elders in khoya tell tales of 'What-once-was'. A feeble whisper of the past. They spoke of a world not constructed and constrained. A world devoid of tall glass buildings. They spoke of other beings and half beings made of as fluid as water and as light as breath they called 'spirit'. They spoke of these spirits and life that existed beyond experiments in laboratories. They spoke of 'Colour': Strange hues and tones and pigments that spread like honey. They spoke of other life with four legs: creatures with a will of their own. Winged Creatures that would soar into the far reaches of space and dance with stars with painted wings and sing songs that told stories of other lands.

To the children of Khoya the words 'Of-their-own' seemed unimaginable. As did words like 'spirit', 'soul' and 'nature'.

To the children of Khoya this was myth. A jigsaw of fantastical mumbo-jumbo jumbled up in the elders' memories. And soon no one listened to those tales either. 

There was no room for fantasy here. Only routine. And magic disrupted routine.

And what's the point of a story if it isn't even real? They said.