The Universe

The Beings of the Threshold

Not all who dwell at the thin places are Aeonian. South-east of Ribbeck, in the Spreewald, where the Spree divides into a hundred channels, people have long told of smaller wonders that lingered where the world grows thin.

• The Wandering Lights

  Over the meadows and in the marsh, when evening falls, lights move that no one carries. The old folk say they are not false lights that lure you into the deep, but the breath of the threshold itself made visible. Whoever does not follow them, but only watches, is shown where the here comes to its end.

• The Watermen

  In the dark channels of the Spreewald and the still ditches of the marsh dwells what keeps whatever sinks. You greet the water before you take from it, and take no more than you can give back. What lives there is no terror, but a measure.

• The Quiet Ones of the Woods

  There are woods that seem to listen, where a single step weighs heavier than elsewhere. Nothing shows itself, and yet you are not alone. Whoever feels this and stays calm is held by the place rather than watched, and leaves richer than they came.