The City of Hauberk
 
The City of Hauberk is the kind of place everyone forgets... on purpose. 
 
People have a bad habit of forgetting Hauberk, Missouri exists.
They forget about the quaint little courthouse at its center, the celestial-themed college bookstore across the street, or the coffee shop a few blocks away where characters will occasionally find Balthazar sleeping. Sure, some folks remember, but they’re local and know what the city knows – that most people forget about Hauberk, Missouri.
 
They’re never sure why. Maybe it’s the water? Or the scenic views that pull in the gaze, especially as the sun sets and the clouds, grey silver, turn the sky pink and purple at sunset. And how, as night falls and the stars begin to wink into existence – one by one – screaming little cold lights that died long before their light shone, over the town. But maybe it’s something else?
 
That’s the problem – people forget. There’s just something about how you feel when you leave, like a weight has been lifted, or your knowledge of things forbidden and forsaken has now been driven out of time, out of alignment with the self, causing you to ripple out of existence at dawn, just like each of those cold, forgotten stars in the morning sky that dies as the sun rises. It can be confusing, the half light of dawn, when the darkness still creeps but its voice is only whispers and the town, even if it is safe, still feels wrong.
 
Welcome to Hauberk, Missouri.