There was once a magical town called Haven. At one time this Haven was home to many, but now it was only home to one: A God named Bythos. She was responsible for keeping the town in good working order, which she had done for all eternity. After some time, the isolation of her work made her bored and lonely.
One day she decided she was ready for a change, and so she roamed the streets looking for something different. Surrounded by row after row of Grecian-style buildings, she stopped at one and walked inside.
She walked down a few aisles and saw a hanging sign with the words "Maya" written on it. Just below the sign was a metal, spiral staircase. She gripped the railing, taking one last look at the bright light from outside before descending into the darkness below.
The room was not bright but had an Earthy glow to it. Saturated Reds, Blues and Greens covered the walls. At the bottom of the staircase was a stage, a bright yellow spotlight pointed at it. Next to the stage was a bookcase full of books.
Bythos loved the feelings and wanted more, so she read on. The play was filled with many different characters, each of which came with a wide spectrum of desires, beliefs and emotions. When Bythos was finished reading the play, she felt drained of her energy. She had allowed herself to feel and think the way each of the characters had. And while she was tired, she was eager for more.
This time when she grabbed a book of plays, she decided that she'd read each characters part out loud. When she did this, she was pleasantly surprised to see that she Felt even more. It seemed the more she got lost in the words, thoughts and emotions, the more intense the feelings became.
Bythos understood that the plays were not real, that they were make-believe stories with make-believe characters. But she enjoyed getting lost in them. She liked the way it felt to attach to the characters and their desires, beliefs and emotions. Reading the lines out loud allowed Bythos to get more lost in the illusion that was the play. And whether the play was a comedy or a tragedy, Bythos was just happy to be on the ride.
But all that wasn't enough, she wanted to really immerse herself in what the characters were going through. She decided to make a duplicate of herself, one for each of the different characters in the plays she was acting out. And to make it easier for her to believe she was acting opposite another separate individual, she had each of the Bythos wear a different costume and mask. Now, Bythos could play both Julius Caesar and Brutus simultaneously.
Bythos got lost in all of the characters she played. At times she was so immersed in her role that she forgot she had lines already prepared and began to go with what her emotions told her instead. She didn't always like what she said or what others said to her. And this make-believe fantasy slowly turned into more of a nightmare. She started to forget that these plays were for fun, that she was pretending. She was no longer enjoying the roller-coaster ride of emotions, but feeling lost in them instead.
The sensations inside Bythos became stronger and stronger. She became anxious and depressed, wondering what was wrong with her. She began to lose herself more and more in each of the characters that she played, losing sight of her true identity and believing that she was one single character and nothing more.
All this, simply because Bythos had gotten lost in her imagination, unable to see the reality in front of her. Each person whom she feared, disliked or hated, each character in her life who made her feel something she didn't like, behind each of their masks was just another Bythos, lost in their own make-believe world and their own make-believe character.
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