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Prologue

Note contains Season Seven spoilers

It has long been the holy grail of physics to find the Theory of Everything, indeed it was what Albert Einstein was working on when he died, as he wanted to fit Quantum Mechanics, which he hated to his General Theory of Relativity.

Then came String Theory, which led to M Theory and even a Quantum Foam where there were many ”bubble” universes

While not quite coming up with the theory of everything this search for the holy grail of physics, would lead to the concept of parallel universes.

(From the BBC Horizon series)

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See the entire programme here

For many, this remained a quaint theory for the cosmologists and the theoretical physicists, but it was very real.

For such another parallel universe did exist, and in it was a certain world. This world orbited two yellow suns and had four moons

This world was created, as a habitable world, formed by the collective unconsciousness of humanity to be inhabited by various creatures from our folklore, our fantasy stories, our nightmares and fears. Where even virtues and vices took on tangible forms, for they were born also out of the human collective unconsciousness, and were worshipped as the gods of ancient peoples, long dead.

As this world was born from this strange artefact of humanity, there were residents there who considered this a strange mystical quality of their world, and hence their world, was termed the Mystical Realms. They had no concept of planets, as humans do, so the name stuck, even when a human suggested they recall their world the planet Mystercon.

Returning to the ancient gods, once worshiped by ancient races on Earth, their reign as gods was not to last, for humanity grew up. These ancient gods retreated back to the world of the Mystical Realms, and became the major spirits of virtue or vice. Some accepted their lot; some did not two in particular wanted to resume their god like status amongst the humans, the Spirit of Lust and the Spirit of Malice.

Many of the other major spirits had their existence brought to an end, some say at the hand of the Spirit of Lust, some executed by the now dead Lord Low Troll, and some killed in the troll – orc civil war that had been started by the Spirit of Lust.

The remaining major spirits chose to live out their days in the Mystical Realms, while on Earth the legacy of some of their visits to our world, the minor spirits of virtue and vice, were tracked down by a human agency known as Inter Dimensional Entity Control. Once found, as they were part human, the minor spirits were only too eager to renounce their spirit side and embraced their humanity and became fully human, which they did with talisman’s of permanence supplied by the trolls, after they had been fashioned by elven magicians.

The Spirit of Malice, who had once been the Egyptian god Set, was captured by the trolls, the guardians of law and order on the Mystical Realms, with a little help from humans on Earth, and imprisoned by elven magic, where he remains to this day.

As for the Spirit of Lust, she was trapped by a human, in a virtual universe as it was shut down, so it was believed. This virtual universe was one among many that were formed out of the collective unconsciousness of the humans playing giant online computer games such as second life or the World of War craft. This collective unconsciousness of the game players had allowed residents from the Mystical Realms to enter them, fleeing at that time from the bitter civil war that was started by the Spirit of lust.

When the Spirit of lust entered this virtual universe, a human, by the name of Graeme Andrews, caused it to start shutting down and then left with a minor spirit of virtue, leaving the Spirit of Lust trapped inside.

As far as everyone knew, these two spirits were out of circulation, one imprisoned by the Elves and one crushed to oblivion, so everyone thought.

As for here on Earth, the defeat of the Magnus Timor, who had tried to destroy both worlds, had come at a high price with the loss of many human lives.

In America, the voices of those who once argued that all those from and all those connected, however loosely, to the Mystical Realms were a threat gained new strength. The only ace for those who believed in free and open co-operation and a more humane policy was the news that the drow, the ancient enemies of the elves and equal in their magical abilities, had made an alliance with Russia, leading to an uneasy truce between the two factions.

Meanwhile Colonel Samuel Peters, the operational director of the IDEC section, known as The Facility, which was once based in the UK, before it’s, destruction by a terrorist device, quietly grieved over the loss of his right hand man, and the young British woman he had recruited. He has seen both apparently blasted into nothing by the Magnus Timor in the final battle. They were dead, they had to be

As both worlds reeled from the aftermath of the encounter with the Magnus Timor and people, human or otherwise mourned their dead, what everyone wanted was a period of calm, so those on the Mystical Realms could rebuild a society shattered by war and then the evil cult of the now defeated Magnus Timor, and so those here on Earth who believed the authorities on the Mystical Realms could be useful allies, could silence those who would intern or exterminate even the innocent children who had once been minor spirits of virtue.

But aftermaths can be funny things, as out of the chaos new heroes can arise, or those long forgotten can return, but then so can new threats arise, or those thought long gone can return. But always there will be some who will capitalise on the chaos, to follow their own agendas, ready to strike and sometimes they will do this from the shadows . . .