Introduction
Before we begin our adventure into the virtually unknown, I'd like to set the stage for you and give you a little insight into my version of AlphaWorld.

The AlphaWorld you know is a public building world in the Active Worlds Universe. People come to AW to chat with people from around the (real) world, build the house of their dreams, or explore the vast, uncharted regions of virtual space. Because it is only "virtual reality", people in AW are not burdened with reality's laws. They can fly over land and sea, walk through walls as if they didn't exist, instantly transport themselves from one location to another, and create entire structures out of thin air.

Now, we all know that this could never be possible in the real world. But just imagine for a moment that somewhere out there, all of these things are possible. Imagine if the average person in the real world had the ability to fly, or teleport, or make something out of nothing. What a world that would be! This is what the true AlphaWorld is. A real world where every single solitary person can fly at will, can walk through things, (called 'shifting' by the locals) and a myriad of other abilities.

No one knows how it is that they came to have these abilities. In fact, no one has even bothered to ask. They have assumed all along that they were simply born with these abilities and that they are part of being (virtually) human, much in the way "real" humans assume that being born with the ability to reason is just another thing that separates them from the rest of the animal world.

So think of this as a parallel version of the AW you know, exactly the same as the AW you interact with in every way. The one big difference is that, instead of you donning an avatar and diving into virtual reality, the avatars themselves are real people. Butch, Willy, and even Birde are all real people with real lives and real stories. In fact, this AW is so much a parallel of your AW that their histories are almost identical, and you will have the chance to see how AW's history has affected the people who truly live there.

This is their story, the story of a group of normal (at least in their perception) people just going about their daily lives, oblivious to the events going on around them that could change their world forever. And so our story begins...

Note: For continuity's sake, our story begins before Circle of Fire came to own AlphaWorld.