Part 1 back cover, from Simon’s point of view:
Born on Earth, die, pass through Hold to be judged, reborn in Aurra, die.
Repeat.
That’s what the twins, Garder and Milla Nolland, taught me when I first arrived in a world I wasn’t meant to see as someone still living their life on Earth. Aurra is very different than the world I know, though both lands are deeply connected. Aurra has different continents, cities protected from a caustic haze by giant “sun spheres,” the ability to recollect past lives, and Alchemagi, a talent that allows its people to manipulate the elements.
A fantastical land, yes, but not a heaven. It’s a very human place, where people strive to be close, even in its dense metropolises. Yet the government here is cold and hasn’t adapted to the times. Now I find myself with these twins, a girl who can talk to animals, and a “wizard” of alchemagi, on a quest given by a man named General Rivia. I’ve gathered that it is a very dangerous adventure, as it involves acting against those in power, the Guard. And there are rumors of a many-clawed and fearsome demon that can travel between the worlds. I wasn’t meant to be here, but I know one day I will, so I hope I can play some small part in making it a better place to live.
~ Simon Thalst, Photographer and Earthen Humanitarian
I began writing the Aurra series long ago, as my fantasy universe against my sci-fi Valice universe. But I didn’t want to write something set in a Medieval age with castles, elves, and swords. Well, not just swords. I wanted to ride a modern fantasy that takes the “alternate, parallel world” trope and spins it into something unique, to give a purpose for this alternate world, to make it accessible by every human being on Earth. There’s only one real way to establish this interconnectivity between the two realms: rewrite the rules of the universe.
Inspired heavily by the His Dark Materials trilogy, I wrote of a land that was Earth’s mirror, an old, dreamlike world of a deadly haze but also beautiful community, where magic still exists and a shift between the mental and sense of self and the physical reality defines a community of people who have been born and reborn, often many times. They have distant memories of how the worlds used to be and developed. They’ve lived lives on Earth across countries, identities; genders and races. In Aurra, they become philosophers when on Earth they were repairmen; wizards when they were once dentists. Former royalty is reborn as a commoner, and a poor man who died alone on Earth can become a king. Once the cold hands of judgment in the world between worlds, little more than a void where people wait, is over with… they can spend a lifetime dreaming, making new friends, maybe seeking out those left behind from their past life (or lives). In Aurra, memories across centuries help define who people really are, meaning that these characters are special in a way that has rarely, if barely ever, been explored in fiction.
This is all just the nature of Aurra, so what about the story itself? I sought to write something where events flow into each other organically, so I chose not to define chapters with titles. I think of it as a grand adventure across worlds, mixed in with a little bit of a road trip, glossed with magic, blades, arrows, strange beasts, people who talk to animals, and an old guard that seeks to maintain control over “heaven.” Over the course of the series, we will witness the growth of the main characters, more revelations about the universe, Aurra’s first ever war, and the end of all things that comes before the big transition into a new way of life.
More than anything, with the secrets of life revealed and the fear of death all but broken apart, Aurra is a story about humanity and the people we meet and lose along the way.