Before the village

Shene was born a Wishmur, a creature whom keeps the natrual order of the world balanced. Two wishmurs will be born to one family, the first-born will furfill dreams, mantaining an output of gratitude. The second-born wishmur will deny wishes of great significance, maintaing an output of want and need. Shene was born after his sister, Dhenlei. Once Dhenlei turned 10 years old, she was told about her and her brothers duties. Dhenlei knew her bright, oblivous brother would not handle his job as the crusher of dreams well, and knew Shene would inevitably turn into a shell of a person. To protect her bother, Dhenlei snuck Shene out one night, and left him at the gates of Dundur, a town outside the wishmur territory.

Mrs. Thori finds Shene after he knocks on her door, and takes him in. Thori notices Shene's discolored fingertips, and realises that he is a " Hoks ". The people of ' Ekolos ' do not see wishmur (a subpecies of hoks) as human, so Thori knew she had to hide Shene's wishmur features so that he would not be killed.

Childhood and the war

Shene grows up in the village beside his best friend: Mrs. Thori's son, a human boy named Weisheng. Shene is a bit of a stray cat to the villagers, he appeared one day and lived amongst the people an oprhan. Thori only took care of him, and was never considered to be his mother. Shene and Weisheng fall in love when they were about 14/15, having been close since Shene was 6 and Weisheng was 7. Weisheng has always wanted to be a soldier, esspecially because of the raging war effort that started when he was about 10. One day, Shene is exposed as a hoks. Shene is forced into hiding, and the people of Dundurs begin speaking up about the hoks unharmed across the sea. As word of a revolution spread across Ekolos, the fight began as one of the three sons of the king declared a war.

The nation of Ekolos broke an " eternal silence " and attacked a hoks nation in the name of the great wish (a rule set in place by the first king of Ekolos, saying that all hoks are beings of great suffering, created to divide the existing non-hoks.) During the war, Shene lives mostly isolated, but meets Weisheng every day in secret. Shene turns 15. One day, Weisheng dosent visit him. Shene waits out the day, and when Wei once again doesn't meet him, he gets worried and hurries back to the village. He knows where Wei fights because of their talks, and sees him fighting at the border.

Shene cant control his emotions, and his " mark of dreams " appears. dispalying him being a wishmur. The non-hoks soldiers turn to defend themselves, and are ordered to capture the wishmur, a rare being indeed. Wei tries to protect Shene, and they run. Wei knows there are too many of them, and begs for Shene to use his powers, knowing wishmur are powerful. Shene tries his hardest, but ultimately fails, and freezes in place as Weisheng is shot. Shene is crushed and heartbroken, but is motivated to run as he gets shot with a sort of device. He runs into a secret path of the forest, and hides. He feels cold and tired, and suddenly, Shene falls asleep.

Teen years and " the awakening "

Shene wakes up 102 years later, unharmed and not a day older. Shene is confused and wanders into the villige nearby, not remembering a thing exepct for Mrs. Thori and the village of Dundurs. As he approaches a man that night, he's greeted with yells and a man ready to kill him. After that, Shene realises that ' here ' is not the Dundurs he knew, and that he is not safe. While trying to think of a solution and basking in the sun, he hears someone, he runs. The person chases him, for some reoson. He climbs onto a low tree, trying not to make noise. Once the boy chasing him sees him, his fear spikes and the ' detection charm ' (hung in Ekolos to detect hoks) catch on fire as in to activate. He runs, trips and is caught by the boy.

The boy seems to not remember what those charms mean, and is interrogating Shene while he looks for answers in his notepad. The boy seems to be very surpised to learn that Shene is a ' terrifying Hoks ', and while he remains cautious, the boy agrees to not turn Shene in in exchange for the ability to study and draw him, studying a wishmur being a rare oppurtunity and a chance for the boy to prove himself. Shene and Cylas, the forensic artist boy, spend some time together. After around 3 weeks of confusion and getting to know each other, Shene misses home and keeps getting visions of a specific plant. Cylas cant find the plant in any bottany books, but does find one by the shore one day, washed up. He realises there is land across the ocean, and decides to leave his home with Shene, in search of answers.