Book 5 · Aether - Moon Land
The Secret of the Hinterworld
The front countries call it the Hinterworld, or the Shadow World. Its inhabitants call it Moon Land. Here the search for the treasure ends - not as expected.
The Land
A land in the shadow of Cloud Mountain. Blueish and grey by day, with strange vegetation and glowing fungi. At night it turns brighter and more beautiful, because moonlight reaches it at a different angle.
The Society
The so-called hinterworlders are descendants of refugees and displaced people who sought shelter here and have been cut off for generations. The prejudices of the front countries are simply wrong.
The Guardian
The hinterworlder: solitary, suspicious, socially rusty - and not remotely evil. "You are a backwoodsman." - "Me? You are the ones from behind the mountain."
The Trial
In the moonlight the children see shadows on a rock face and take them for the riddle itself. They interpret patterns and read signs - and miss that the shadows are only images of something else.
In focus
The treasure is no gold and no chest, but an insight that then genuinely changes the world: the four countries are not neighbours, they are a cycle. Long ago a high culture at Cloud Mountain built an enormous barrier, with the best of intentions. It blocked an old wind corridor and knocked everything out of balance.