The Adversary

The Ectoplasmic Torsion Index (ETI) of the Northern Lights regulates the birth of magical creatures. Some associate ectoplasm with ghosts. They say it is the sticky substance that ghosts excrete on their surface when they wish to interact with the real world. This would allow a ghost to move a squeaking door or tickle the back of your neck.

Ghosts realized a long time ago that they had no interest in horrifying people and anything they might try pales to the horrors humans can inflict upon each other. Ghosts exist when the deceased feels they need to hang around to comfort those they left behind. Life challenges get in the way of many of the living -- substance abuse, mental illness, addiction, gambling, violence..., When a person dies all these challenges cease and they can see the destruction they have wrought while among the living.

Problem is many of the challenges are hereditary. Every condition had a positive application at some point in history. One example is the ability to ignore all potential negative consequences when faced with battling a sabre toothed tiger likely to their own death. While the tiger always won, The tiger learned that there is easier prey to eat.

But those who are immune to consequence today are little match for laws and moral standards. And like the tiger, some people learn to fear these people and that can lead to many problems. A few examples include Genghis Khan, Hitler...

All the above is to show there is some reality in all beliefs or lore. Back to the topic at hand, magical creatures. The ETI governs how long a magical creature remains in the womb so to speak. If the ETI is too high the northern lights are too sticky, and the creatures are never born. If the ETI is too low, the creatures fall to their doom. You see this as meteors.

Magical creature pods come from outer space. The earth's magnetic poles pull the pods to the poles thus allowing them to be nestled with the Northern Lights, and the Southern Lights as well. But this book will deal with efforts to protect the Northern Lights. A just as capable band is dealing with the Southern Lights, but they are being written about elsewhere.

Many things seem simple at first where the hidden meaning is buried deep. There is no greater example of this than Goldilocks and the Three Bears. This story was written to reflect the challenges of the ETI. It can't be just a bit too little or too much, it has to be just right.

And here is the challenge for the High Tundra Drifter and Starfire, how to keep the ETI just right, while many find it in their best interest to disrupt it for naïve and short-term gain. It is not possible for them to see the folly of their ways. They are the ones who would fight the sabre tooth tiger, but their time has long passed. Many ghosts come from this once honored stock.

Many detest ghosts but if taken in context of they were not born in their time, some can apply sympathy for their plight. But they are fought on all fronts, nevertheless.

The remainder of this story describes how these ectomancers, those who bring their own form of magic to manipulate the ectoplasmic torsion index, try to impose their misguided will. And how Starfire and The Drifter fight this battle against seemingly hopeless odds.

For 10,000 years, the earth had been in a wonderful equilibrium where stable weather patterns provided and environment supporting a wide variety of creatures. This condition needed the constant care and attention provided by the magical creatures. Some are always good; the unicorn is the best example. But others can be less reliable, and the troll is the example here. They lack the fine brain of the unicorn nurtured during their long gestation period within the northern lights.

Earth had been under surveillance by the ectomancers for a long time. They came from a galaxy beyond the reach of our best telescopes. The resources on earth were of great interest to them. Few planets have the right Goldilocks index to have large amounts of coal, oil, and natural gas.

These products were not coveted for energy generation, but their advanced chemical structure are the building blocks for a vast variety of products of value throughout the universe. The building blocks had been in peaceful slumber for hundreds of millions of years. The Trans-galactic council protected earth from exploitation but leadership changed to a more self-centered authoritarian structure.

This works well for the short term and is somewhat easy to create. Just tell inhabitants there are many terrifying things and only the tyrants can protect them. But in fact, the objects generating the terror are usually manufactured lies and the tyrants are those to be feared.

The alliances that protected earth had been shattered allowing the ectomancers to invade with the intent of denuding the earth of all petrochemicals. Some thought coal, oil and gas are dead, long ago surrendering life as their ancestor plants died. Nothing can be further from the truth. As the ectomancers awoke them from their slumber, they were enraged. They relentlessly attacked all that made the earth a wonderful hospital place.

Weather became inhospitable. There were massive droughts and floods, temperatures rose as did sea levels. Shifting seasons wreaked havoc with ecosystems essential to sustaining vibrant life. Waves of bugs no longer aligned timewise with the hatching of birds depriving them of much needed nourishment. Mosquitoes and other disease vectors were no longer contained by natural barriers.

The ectomancers recruited trolls and other life forms to do their evil bidding. They drilled into the ground, stripped the land clean, and in many ways disturbed the slumber of the fossil organic matter (FOM)-- just a fancy word for coal, oil, and gas.

The troll had a sense of honor on par with unicorns, but they lacked the discernment required to always do the right thing. Or one might say, they did not have the opportunities to keep their fingernails clean. The unicorns greatly respected the trolls even though they were often at cross purposes.

The magical creatures had a prime directive to return the FOM to their resting places to chill their anger. But the ectomancers were pulling it from the ground as fast as possible, so it could be distributed throughout the universe through the vast network of wormholes, direct portals from one place in the universe to another.

The age-old question is who is smarter the troll or the unicorn? That would be like asking what is more beautiful a poem or a sunset. They are very different things with boundless potential for beauty. In the case of trolls, they are very social creatures with a complex society and they live at equilibrium with their environment. In that context they are brilliant.

A unicorn is a solitary creature looking out for themselves and issues they hold dear. You would not have a unicorn society because they just would not know what to do. But neither the troll nor unicorn select the environment into which it is born. Sometimes they get lucky and sometimes not. Both are brilliant in their own way. But comparing a troll to the unicorn standard is ridiculous and vice versa.