Cira Dawn is one of my favorite characters, and definitely one of the most surprising as far as where her story went. Originally a D&D character, I have adapted her backstory somewhat to suit the Muunfel setting. Here’s a look at one of the misadventures of Cira well before she even considered having a child. This is shortly after she experienced a madness-inducing dimension hop.
Among the massive pile of treasures Cira and her companions claimed from the beast was a small cube. Cira picked it up and turned it over in her hands, and it buzzed with energy. When one side was pressed, Cira gasped as a sharp pull began right between her shoulder blades, like one of her many kaleidoscope friends was leading her off on a new adventure.
Phinn started to fade away, as did the others, one by one. Cira frowned as she realized they weren’t coming with her. Wait, she wanted to cry out, but her lips were sealed by whatever was yanking her out of the world. Phinn looked startled and leaped towards her, his hands outstretched. She slipped through them like water. The lights and shadows around her began to blur and spin in a sickening show of acrobatics. Cira, her senses overwhelmed by the pulling sensation and the sights and sounds of madness, lost consciousness.
When she awoke, the spinning had stopped. Cira didn’t know where she was, but when she really thought about it, she didn’t know where she had been before. With sudden panic, Cira bolted to her feet and stumbled away, her eyes searching her new surroundings for her friends.
They were gone.
All she saw were trees. Trees here and there, rocks among them, the unfamiliar assaulting her from all sides. Birds tittered in the high branches, leaves crunched under her feet.
There was nothing guiding her here. Cira stopped abruptly, swayed where she stood, and snapped her fingers to no particular rhythm.
“Am I real? Yes. Is this real? Yes. No. Yes. I’m real. I stand in shoes. I can’t see colors. I have a reflection. I have … I have … who? Where?” Cira muttered to herself as she trekked through the forest. She found that she couldn’t make sense of her memories. Where was she? She knew she had a life before. A loving family. Friends.
Lyriam. Eberon. Mother. Father. Phinn. “They. Aren’t. Here,” Cira articulated, staring intently at a mossy boulder. She ran a hand over it and flinched. “I am here but they are not,” she echoed, an oddly peaceful look on her face.
And then Cira Dawn burst into tears.
Writerly Things 