Excerpt:

My name is Aikaterine. My grandfather was the first leader of my people. Through him I have learned a great number of things, including the stories of how our people were driven out of society and why we eventually created a whole new world in which to live.

Humans found and loved beauty then raged a war upon us, those whose beauty was deemed inadequate.

Bowing before the others we hoped they would take no notice of our existence. They were the beautiful ones and we were left to pull bags over our heads to make known and to hide our shame. The others beat us and killed us. It was not murder because we were never human. They made a sport of hunting us but never hang our heads on the wall like the dear that they prized when they killed. Who would want to look at us above their mantel? We fled into the woods where we were given the Knowledge of the Forest. We ran from all civilizations to find we could create our own.

Those things happened a time ago. There have always been talks of rebellion and claiming back the Earth. Lately these debates are ever growing and more prominent in our meetings. How does any seemingly ignorant member of our society calculate an opinion on a story that has passed down the generations for thousands of years? They cannot. It would be a disservice to our people to attempt such a thing. Of the original society few still live to clarify the tale. Those that do are of no solid mind to reveal it to us. Our ancestors created and entered the new world severely beaten and with heavy hearts. They were deprived of the necessities for life and many died shortly after arrival. Those that managed the first wave of hardships lingered just long enough to provide solid footing for the rest of us. I was too young to remember the old world but I was present as a child at the opening of the second gate and my memory has never yet failed me. I remember every word of my grandfather’s recollection of dark times. This is why I have been given the task to preserve our history and write it in its purest form so that our future generations will never lose the lessons of the past and to aid in the decision towards or against a rebellion of the people of the bags.

Humans never can trust those that they do not fully understand and peace has never been achieved because of this, in our worlds, yours, or any other.