“There are many universes and many Earths parallel to each other. Worlds
like yours, where people’s souls live inside their bodies, and worlds
like mine, where they walk beside us, as animal spirits we call daemons. 

So many worlds. But connecting them all is Dust. Dust was here before
the witches of the air, the Gyptians of the water, and the bears of the
ice. In my world, scholars invented an alethiometer – a golden compass –
and it showed them all that was hidden. But the ruling power, fearing
any truth but their own, destroyed these devices and forbade the very
mention of Dust. One compass remains, however, and only one who can read
it.”—Serafina Pekkala/ The Golden Compass