The Outer Universe Calendar System

Before reading this book, you should know that the Outer Universe has a different calendar system than our world. This calendar is based on how many years have passed since the final Outer Universe war ended and the city of Astrapolis was founded, much like how our calendar is based on how many years ago Jesus Christ was born, give or take. Instead of putting AD (anno domini) at the end of the year, people in the Outer Universe put AU (after unity). If a particular year represents the number of years prior to the founding of Astrapolis, it will be followed by BU (before unity). The majority of this story will take place in AU, so putting AU or BU will not be necessary.

The Outer Universal calendar has thirteen months and all of the months have twenty-eight days in them except for the second one. Their year starts on our day of November 1, when the Outer Universe has "died." In other words, it is the middle of autumn and there is no flourishing plant or animal life. The Outer Universe will be "reborn" on the winter solstice, when sunlight slowly makes a comeback.

The months are as follows:

The Soot Moon (November 1 – November 28)

The Life Moon (November 29 –December 27)

The Frost Moon (December 28 – January 24)

The Dove Moon (January 25 – February 21)

The Clove Moon (February 22 – March 21)

The Birth Moon (March 22 – April 18)

The Sepia Moon (April 19 – May 16)

The Grass Moon (May 17 – June 13)

The Flare Moon (June 14 – July 11)

The Ocean Moon (July 12 – August 8)

The Dragon Moon (August 9 – September 5)

The Harvest Moon (September 6 – October 3)

The Spirit Moon (October 4 – October 31)

In our calendar system, a day is a 24-hour period that starts at midnight. In the Outer Universe, this 24-hour period is split into day and night intervals, with a new day starting at sunrise and a new night starting at sunset. Therefore, if it is 11:00 at night on the 14th Night of the Flare Moon, two hours later (at 1:00 in the morning), it will still be the 14th Night of the Flare Moon. As expected, these intervals can vary depending on the time of year and how far away somebody is from a planet's equatorial boundary.

The nation that would eventually become Vitalia was settled in our year of 8327 BC, well over 10,000 years ago. Naturally, the calendar year at this point was 0 AU.

This would mean that our date of December 19, 2009 would translate to the 20th Day of the Life Moon, 10-336 AU.

Just so you won't have to do the math, we'll be nice and tell you that the first chapter begins on March 15, 1855. Hopefully, you can calculate the years from there.

Introduction

As far as science goes, the universe is expanding. At least that is what the Doppler Effect tells us. The human race has only gotten as far as to step on the moon's surface and view our planet from the gracious alien perspective, but we have seen much more with the help of high-powered telescopes. This is only the start, though. We are but ameobas on a Frisbee – nay – a massive boreal forest. The universe is large enough so that, no matter how much we discover, it will never be enough. We're not at all sure what constitutes the other 90% of the universe that humanity has not seen, but The Doppler Effect tells us that there will be more and more of that unknown abyss each day. The real question is, into what is our universe expanding? Dark energy is the fuel that drives our universe's expansion, but where is that proverbial car headed?

We'll tell you where it is headed: A place that mankind can only theorize about. People have conducted theories about other life in the universe, but has anybody ever conducted a theory of life beyond our universe? Based on what advanced scientific minds say on the matter, we can only assume that it is a place where darkness stretches on forever. Or a place where people wear shoes on their heads and play a version of polo where they ride giant, three-eyed rainbow-colored anteaters. Or an exact mirror replica of what is going on in this universe at this very second. Unfortunately, we do not know the whereabouts of an outside universe or whether or not it even has boundaries. Unless humanity will be around long enough to conjure up technology to take us to these boundaries, I am not entirely sure we will ever find straight answers to any of these questions. For most of that time, anyone who asks the question, "what is beyond our universe" will only be met with wacky speculations.

We could go on and on about the theories of what lies beyond, but that would fill up the entire book. We do have one hypothetical explanation and it's probably the most interesting one of them all. But that's the wonderful thing about speculation; the person of that time or place does not necessarily have to be right. In fact, nine times out of ten, he usually isn't. Presented in this book is just one of the possible speculations. It should not matter if they cause an actual astrophysicist to snort like a bull and pull the "scientifically inaccurate" card. The scientific laws could be turned on their heads, so that argument is automatically invalid. Hear me out: Let's say that there are stars and comets and planets outside of our universe. Let's say that some of these planets foster life and contain people as well. Let's say these people eat three meals a day, go to work and make friends. Let's say that there are governments and authority figures that make important decisions. This place is pretty easy to imagine.

Now let's say that some of these people are born with the ability to warp reality to their liking and create things out of nowhere using a paranormal force known as magic. Let's say that some of these people can (if they want to) happily live in pockets of deep space where there is oxygen and gravity. Let's say that these people can directly contact a netherworld where gods and spirits of all shapes and sizes reside. Not so easy to imagine anymore, is it? We will be sticking to this theory for the duration of this epic story. If you cannot imagine teens riding gryphons to the prom, don't worry – the events in this story might not be true. Or maybe they are.

Who are we, you ask? Why, we are the Royal We. We insert ourselves into the character of our choosing and yet we are everywhere at once. We are the narrative force that knows of the past, present and future, as well as other tenses that have not yet been discovered. We are not the prestigious member of any royal family, for that honor goes to the main character. Rather, we are above them, above the land, above the clouds, even above the gods. Yet at the same time, we are just as human as you. We do not stop a story until it has a satisfying conclusion no matter how sad or happy it makes one feel. We do not smite the people with lightning bolts, we move the plot along. We do not discriminate, we elaborate. We will promise that we will not insert some sort of commentary, but sometimes it cannot be helped. The best part is this none of the characters even know that we exist. There shall be no fourth-wall-breaking, not even from the most intelligent person in the room. Sit back and enjoy, for they do not know that you, Dear Reader, are in on this.