The world you are about to enter is indeed a very real one called Lumenagea - a world that is no closer to you nor farther from you than you yourself allow, a mysterious world few eyes have yet seen. Truly it is not unlike our own, though in some cases it may appear to be quite different. If you have not been there, you are likely to find it strange, for its people devote themselves to beliefs, traditions, customs, and manners in their cultures which even I myself cannot seem to understand, though I have been spending a good deal of my time visiting and studying them and even testing out their ways for myself.
Nevertheless I certainly continue to find them an unfailingly fascinating set of folks, and wish with all my heart to share with you the enlightening depths of their virtues and vices, wisdom and folly, courage and sacrifice and cowardice and betrayal. For if this strange people has begun to open my eyes, they may also open yours. May their story shine a new light on your own, their struggles strengthen you in yours, their mistakes and wrongs motivate you to overcome your own weaknesses, their sacrifices inspire you, and their every true joy deepen your own.
Now there are many realms in Lumenagea, as there are many nations in our own world. But I confess there is one in particular that has always absorbed my attention far more than any other, and that is the realm of Miras. It is a young kingdom, having been established less than 200 years ago. On the west, it borders the ancient kingdom of Arria, with which it shares a history any patriotic Miran would be sure to keep in remembrance. For there was a very dark time, and as they say, history repeats itself. And Mirans are taught to bear that in mind and be watchful.
But if you are to become acquainted with the world of Lumenagea, I must help you get to know some of its people (called lumens) in as personal a manner as I can. Fortunately I have gotten to know a certain young lumen very well, whose past, present, and future are sure to reveal the deepest secrets of that mystical world. So I will do my very best to transport her thoughts, feelings, and experiences from her world to ours, and translate them sufficiently for the human mind to understand that of a lumen.
Thankfully this lumen friend of ours has been a faithful journal-keeper from teenagehood, and I can share various entries to help fill in the gaps. To begin with, I think that the following journal entry of hers will do a better job of making introductions than I can: