Basil Elton

Basil Elton is a lighthouse keeper in Kingsport, Massachusetts. In "The White Ship" he explores Fantastic Realms in the search of mystical Cathuria, the "Land of Hope".
Elton and the Captain of the White Ship travel past many lands with the first being the land of Zar, where “dwell all the dreams and thoughts of beauty that come to men once and then are forgotten.” The ship sailed past the splendid terraces and phosphorescence oceans of Zar; the Captain says those who go to Zar never return to their homeland.
After Zar were the mighty spires of Thalarion, City of a Thousand Wonders. According to the Captain "only daemons and mad things that are no longer men" live in the Thalarion and it is ruled by the eidolon Lathi. Obviously, while Thalarion appears wondrous, something in the city either kills people or drives them insane.
After Thalarion came Zura, the Land of Pleasures Unattained. While the shores of this land was composed of lovely groves and woodlands and beautiful singing and laughter could be heard, the wind from Xura brought a horrible odor "...with the lethal, charnel odor of plague-stricken towns and uncovered cemeteries".
Finally, the White Ship comes to the harbor of Sona-Nyl where "...there is neither time nor space, neither suffering nor death". Elton lived in Sona-Nyl for many years. He hears tales about Cathuria, the Land of Hope, and convinces the Captain to take him to the Cathuria, which according to legends lies beyond the Basalt Pillars of the West. The Captain warns Elton that the seas are perilous where the Cathuria lies but yet he still agrees to take him to the Land of Hope.
However, beyond the Pillars there was no Cathuria. Instead what they found was "...the distant thunder of falling waters, and to our eyes appears on the far horizon ahead the titanic spray of a monstrous cataract, wherein the oceans of the world drop down to abysmal nothingness". The White Ship fell over the massive falls and amidst the crashing Elton could hear the shrieks of men and things that were not men. Later, after the crash, Elton realized he was on the platform of his lighthouse in the waking world. All of the years Elton spent in the Dreamlands translated to only less than an hour in our space-time. The next morning Elton found some wreckage on the rocks, a single shattered of white spar (mast of a ship), at the base of the lighthouse as well as a strange dead azure bird. Elton never saw the White Ship or any other visitor from the Dreamlands ever again.
Category:Characters
Category:Protagonists
Category:Dreamers