FOREWORD: I (the author of this website) was invited to participate in Miss Renderosity, a 3D modeling contest sponsored by Renderosity.com back in 2014. At that time I had been interested in 3D software and modeling for about 6 months – essentially I was a rank amature. I leapt at the invitation though, and took pains to learn quickly and develop a then fledgling Bunni zu Heltzer model into an attractive model that I could proudly present in competition using the month I had available before round one entries were due. She got voted into the second round coming in 69th among the hundreds of models entered. She has been a character of mine in the Guild Wars MMORPG game-series for 13 years – I’ve had time to work out her background.
During the Miss Renderosity 2014 contest, I met RodS, as he is known at Renderosity. He had an entry that did not get selected into the second round – an injustice in my opinion – but we came out of the contest as friends. He has published a library of characters in a story about a covert operations organization which consists almost entirely of female operatives dedicated to opposing the forces of evil in their world. That is the storyline Bunni will become interested in in this story.
When those who published the site that inspired this one graciously allowed me to “pick-up where they left off,” I worked Bunni into the story as the functional equivalent of Dr. Stephen Strange – not in any significant way yet, but keep watching. This is a non-essential short story about her.
Dark Powers
“There are powers – dark indeed, and little known to common people – which actively pursue their own ends. From time to time they make decisions which affect the fate of all with callous indifference. Even you, dear reader, know nothing (or very little) of these powers in spite of your ability to view our world from the outside. These powers are left unchecked to cultivate and farm the masses, in your world and in this, harvesting untold benefits for their private enjoyment. Occasionally their activities are detected. On rare occasions they are recognized for what they are by entitles possessed of the where-with-all to do at least try to do something about it.
“There is another universe parallel to my own which I would not have noticed but for the fact that a feywild named Kinnie recently migrated there. Until that event, this parallel world was much like yours; unremarkable – devoid of the mystical powers I refer to. I don’t yet know why Kinnie migrated there. Now, other mystical energies approach this parallel universe. Perhaps this Kinnie inadvertently attracted them. Perhaps others there have worked to such ends. It is possible, though unlikely, that they made their way independently.
“A clandestine organization of mostly women there fits ominously important adventures into its usual diet of misadventurous antics. They have recently become aware of the approach of these new powers whose intentions, they fear, diametrically oppose their own. I am uncertain of where either of these forces fit in the continuum of good and evil. Unknown to either organization, I struggle against this uncertainty to understand whether I have a role in this saga and what that role might be.
“I am a Vampiress – dead, yet not dead these past 5000 years – an unfortunate byproduct of my studies to master Necromancy. For this effort and this consequence, I have suffered much injustice and many indignities. Exile, solitude, persecution, these have been my companions for millenia hiding from ignorant pitchfork-and-torch mobs. Recently, things have changed. I now “pretend” to be a Vampiress, a role that sells well in the entertainment industry with the recent popularity of vampire and zombie tales. I now enjoy interacting with normal, even mundane, people; I now hide in plain sight.
“I do not relish the idea of losing my celebrity status, certainly not to the likes of the darkness which seduced and corrupted me so long ago. I fear one of the new influences in this parallel universe may be a manifestation of such a darkness. If it can threaten there, it can threaten here. I will learn how to identify it and stop it there thus avoiding using my own world as a laboratory.”
Acknowledgements:
The image in the scrying dish is property of RodS at Renderosity and is used with permission.