by Tom Hoffman
“It makes it really hot, hard to breathe. I’d rather have flies eat my ears than suffocate in this awful place. Why didn’t the Thirteenth Monk tell us how bad this was going to be? It seems like he should have said something.”
“Orville, this isn’t fun for any of us. We have to stay positive.”
“Great idea. Let’s see, I’m positive I hate this swamp. I’m positive I wish I wasn’t here.”
Sophia’s jaw tightened. “That’s not funny and it doesn’t help anything, it makes it harder for the rest of us.”
Proto was humming softly to himself. “Any bites yet? I think I may have seen a poisonous snake but I’m not certain. It could have just been a big hungry worm. Hard to tell.”
Four days later they took refuge on one of the numerous islands that dotted the swamp.
Sophia and Orville had stopped talking to each other.
Proto was rambling on about scary creatures he may or may not have seen and hideous creatures they might possibly encounter.
Brother Solus sat silently, a perpetual scowl on his face.
“Proto, would you please tell Sophia this cold vegetable stew is absolutely divine. I especially like the tasty dead flies I found in it. Scrumptious, the best part was the crunchy little wings. So tasty.”
Sophia glared angrily at Orville. “Proto, would you please tell Orville if he doesn’t like my vegetable stew, he can shape his own dinner, maybe a yummy dead fly pudding covered with swamp mud and worm guts.”
Orville tossed his bowl to the ground. “We have to go back. We’re never going to find Aislin. This swamp goes on forever, there’s no end to it. I do not like this place and I especially don’t like that we’re fighting with each other, fighting with our best friends.”
Sophia’s face softened. She set down her bowl and scooted over next to Orville, putting her arm around him. “You’re right, we shouldn’t be fighting with the people we love.”
Brother Solus spoke for the first time in days. “Now we know why it’s called the Swamp of Despair.”
Two nights later a ghostly Aislin Mouse appeared during dinner. Orville gave a shriek, pointing to the wavering apparition. Four sets of wide eyes were watching her.
“Please, please help me.” She faded away and was gone.
Sophia squeezed Orville’s paw. “We have to find her. We have to. Did you see the look in her eyes?”
“You’re right, just because we’re in the Swamp of Despair doesn’t mean we have to lose hope. Every step we take is one step closer to finding her, and one step closer to Brother Solus remembering whatever it is he’s supposed to remember.”
Aislin’s appearance rekindled the adventurers’ determination, and it was with renewed vigor that they set off into the swamp the following morning.
Orville was the first to see the blue door, a door which happened to be floating six inches above the water.
“Is that…”
“It’s Ebenezer’s front door. What is it doing here?”
“If it’s really his door, we could open it and be home.”
Sophia gave him a look he would not forget.
“I didn’t say we should open it, I said if we opened it. Of course we’re not going home without Aislin. It’s probably some kind of trap anyway, luring us into a creepy dungeon or something.”
Five days later the muddy and exhausted adventurers simultaneously gave a rousing cheer. In the distance was an emerald green forest. They had reached the other side of the swamp. At midday they entered the glorious forest, patches of brilliant pink and yellow wildflowers scattered across the dappled sunlit ground.
“This is heavenly, no more biting flies and mosquitos. There’s a big meadow right through there, we can stop and have lunch.”
The four adventurers made their way through the towering trees into a delightfully bucolic meadow, a sparkling blue pond in the center of the jade green pasture.
“Whoo hoo!” Orville dashed ahead of the others, jumping into the pond. “Good bye, swamp mud!”
“Cannonball!” Sophia leaped in after him with a huge splash.
Brother Solus was less exuberant in his entry, wading cautiously into the clear fresh water, but the grin on his face was just as wide.
After a rousing and boisterous frolic in the pond which included lots of splashing and several spectacular somersault dives by Orville off Proto’s shoulders, the adventurers relaxed in the soft grass, letting their clothes dry in the warm sun.
“This is lovely. What a beautiful spot.”
Orville studied the trees at the edge of the meadow.
“It is beautiful, but it also looks kind of familiar. Why do I feel like I’ve seen it before?”
“I’ve never seen this pond before.”
“Not the pond, the forest on the far side of the meadow. There’s something about it. Let’s go look. I’m getting a really weird feeling.”
Sophia and Orville strolled across the meadow to the edge of the forest.
“It does seem familiar, but I think it’s just that the trees are like the ones in Muridaan Falls.”
“Look at the path running through the forest.”
“Oh, no.”
Orville ran down the path, stopping short when he emerged from the forest, pointing mutely to the rustic thatched homes which lay before him.
“It can’t be. It’s not possible.”
They had come full circle, back to the beginning, back to the village of Okeanos.
Chapter 38
Okeanos Revisited
Orville sank to the ground. “It was all for nothing, we’re back where we started.”
Sophia was silent, her eyes on the thatched huts.
Brother Solus stared blankly at the village. “How did we get here?”
Sophia held up her paw. “Stop, let me think. The answer is here, I just have to find it.”
Orville lay on his back, his eyes on the azure blue sky above him, on the puffy white clouds floating overhead. “We’re never going to find Aislin, the Shadow King tricked us. We did all this for nothing.”
“He didn’t trick us. I know why we’re here. Everyone follow me.”
Sophia strode forward through the village, the others trailing behind her.
“Orville, keep your eyes open, you’re going to like this.”
“We’ve already seen Okeanos, we’ve already been here.”
“You’ve already been here, but nobody else has.”
“What are you talking about?”
As they rounded the final curve in the narrow village lane, Sophia pointed to the round weathered gray building at the end of the path, a freshly painted sign resting on a wooden easel.
Orville’s eyes grew wide.
OKEANOS BOOK FAIR
TODAY ONLY
ALL VISITORS WELCOME
“Who put the sign up? I don’t understand.”
Sophia turned to face the others.
“The journey we made was to another dimension, not to another place. We never left Okeanos, but we did travel to another dimension occupying the same space. This is where Orville found the red book, where he encountered the Shadow King and saw Aislin Mouse.”
“Are you saying the Shadow King is in that building?”
“He has always been there, we just couldn’t see him. Now we can see him, now we can rescue Aislin.”
Proto’s eyes were blinking rapidly. “Most confounding, but I cannot find fault with your impeccable logic. At long last we shall meet Orville’s terrifying Shadow King.” He rubbed his silver hands together.
“What are we going to do? We can’t just go barging in and face that crazy burning charcoal stick creature. You didn’t see him, you don’t know what he’s like. He was terrifying, the scariest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Brother Solus stepped forward, placing his clawed hand gently on Orville’s shoulder.
“I will go first. It is time I did what is right, what I know I must do. Whatever fate may have in store for me, I wi
ll know I did the right thing.” He glanced curiously at the book fair sign, then swung the front door open and entered the building.
“Come on, he’s going to need our help.”
Orville gulped.
When they entered the building Orville’s insides turned to ice. The great round table was there, piled high with mounds of books. Standing next the table was a haggard but very solid Aislin Mouse. She looked weak, as though she was having trouble standing, leaning on the table for support.
She stared at Orville, trying to focus on him. “Are you real? Are you really Orville?”
“Yes, I’m Orville, we’re here to take you home, back to Ebenezer, back to Muridaan Falls.”
Before Aislin could reply a dreadful scratching sound filled the room. Orville gave a yelp.
“It’s coming! The Shadow King is coming!”
The far wall shimmered and blurred. The scratching noise was almost unbearable, Sophia pressing her paws over her ears.
The horrendous noise stopped abruptly when the burning and smoldering charcoal stick creature scuttled into the room, leaving a trail of orange and yellow sparking embers behind it.
Orville’s legs grew weak. It was far worse than he had remembered.
Sophia called out to the creature. “What are you? What do you want?”
The great smoking beast glowed brightly, flames licking out from the dreadful confusion of smoldering charcoal sticks.
“He wants me.” Brother Solus stepped toward the monstrous creation.
The charcoal stick figure stopped at the sound of Brother Solus’ voice. Orville couldn’t tell if the creature was speaking or if he was hearing its thoughts.
“Brother Solus, you are here of your own accord?”
“I am here by my own free will.”
“You cast me out, rejected me.”
“You were too painful, I would not have survived with you in my thoughts.”
“And now?”
“I have lived for centuries not knowing the truth of who and what I truly am. I have played the part of a reflective and virtuous Mintarian Gray Monk, but Brother Solus was my own creation, my escape from impossibly painful memories. My goal was to forget, not to remember, my deepest desire to remain ignorant, not to increase the depth and breadth of my understanding.”
“And now?”
“I have learned a great deal in the last few weeks from my new friends. It is time for you to release Aislin Mouse. Let her go home. I am ready.”
“As you wish, so it shall be. Aislin Mouse, you are free to go. You may return to Muridaan Falls with your friends, or you may travel back in time to the moment before you opened the door and stepped into Elysian, all memory of this place forgotten. You will open your front door, walk to the general store, purchase a bag of flour, and return home to find Ebenezer still asleep in his bed. No time will have passed. What is your choice?”
It took Aislin only a moment to make her decision. “I want to remember this. I will go back with Orville and his friends. I have learned a great deal from you, from this shadow world of the unknown, seen many things I do not wish to forget.”
“As you wish, so it shall be.”
Brother Solus moved closer, standing directly in front of the Shadow King.
“You terrify me. You are the dark shadow of myself?”
“I am the unknown, both the light and the dark. I am everything you have forgotten, everything you shall learn, everything you may have been or will be. I am the hidden darkness within you, I am the hidden light within you.”
“And yet I hold power over you?”
“You hold the power to cast me out, and likewise the power to close your eyes and listen to my voice.”
“I will listen to you. That is my choice.”
The sparking embers stopped falling from the Shadow King, the flickering flames dying away, the edges of the great charcoal sticks softening, becoming blurry and diffuse.
Orville stepped back. “What’s it doing?”
“Do you wish to remember the reason you cast me out?”
“Of my own free will, I choose to remember.”
The Shadow King transformed into a great roiling black cloud, swirling and crackling. Brother Solus held out both paws, the dark roaring miasma that was the Shadow King streaming into him.
“Oh no. No, no, no!” Brother Solus sank to his knees, great wracking sobs pouring out of him. The Shadow King was gone.
Orville, Sophia, and Proto could not move, stunned by what they had just seen, stunned by the overwhelming waves of grief coming from Brother Solus.
Sophia stepped over to Brother Solus and put her paw on his shoulder. Orville did the same.
Brother Solus looked up at them, a look of horror on his face. He falteringly rose to his feet. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. It was all my fault.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”
“Where did the Shadow King go?”
“He is back inside me, my lost memories, my secret voice within, my inner self. When I arrived in Elysian I cast him out, rejected him, forgot everything, forgot who I was, what I had been. I created a new self, a new personality, a safe one. I became Brother Solus, the last of the Mintarian Gray Monks.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Mintarian Chief Master Scientist Gnuj, creator of the Metaphonium Haven Project, and I am responsible for the death of eight million innocent Mintarians.”
Chapter 39
A Knock on the Door
“You came to Elysian after the Metaphonium in Thuvia had been destroyed, trapping the eight million Mintarians in the synthetic world?”
“Yes, the Metaphonium Haven Project was over, all twenty-nine Metaphoniums destroyed, but I still had the modified multi-world Metaphonium in my laboratory. I could not live on Mintari after what I had done, so I used the last Metaphonium to enter Elysian. Soon after I arrived I cast out all memory of my life before Elysian. I became Brother Solus.”
“That’s how we got here, using your multi-world Metaphonium. Aislin and Ebenezer found it hidden inside a wall in their house in Muridaan Falls.”
Master Scientist Gnuj took a step back. “It was not destroyed?”
“No one knows how it got there, but it still works. Aislin, I was just thinking, how did you know what keys to push to get to Elysian?”
“It was just by chance that I pushed one of the dials and twenty-four keys lit up. I pushed them all, but nothing happened until I opened the door and saw Elysian.”
Gnuj let out a yelp. “That’s it! I am such a fool, why didn’t I think of this before? The first generation Metaphoniums were capable of creating only one synthetic world, but the modified version can create hundreds of thousands of worlds!”
“What does that mean? Why is that good?”
“It means I can use the last Metaphonium to access the synthetic world created by the Thuvian Metaphonium. It means I can bring everyone home.”
“It’s been a long time, over fourteen hundred years. Are you sure you should do that?”
“I have to try. I recorded the data for all twenty-nine Metaphonium worlds in my journal. It’s somewhere in this mound of books, I hid it before I cast out my memories.”
“Do you remember what it looks like?”
“It’s yellow, square, and well worn.”
An image popped into Orville’s head. He’d seen a yellow tattered book just before he found the red book.
“When I was here the first time, the books changed as I walked around the table. I remember seeing a beautiful green book the color of budding spring leaves, because I mentioned to Aislin how pretty the color was. When I walked around the table again the green book had vanished, replaced by a tattered square yellow book.”
Proto scanned the enormous mound of books, then strode over to the table and pushed a small pile of dusty volumes aside, revealing a bright green book the color of budding spring leaves.
“That’s it, that’s the one! Don’t move.�
�� Orville took one turn around the table, then began his second turn. “See how the books are changing on my second time around the table?”
“They’re not changing, Orville.”
“Yes, they are, look at them.”
“They may be changing for you, but they’re not changing for us.”
When Orville completed his second trip around the table, the green book was gone, in its place a tattered yellow book. He plucked the book from the table, triumphantly holding it up. “Got it!”
Gnuj ran over to Orville, grabbing the book.
“This is it, it’s my journal! Everything I need is in it. You have to take me back with you, back to the last Metaphonium.”
“We can return through Ebenezer’s blue door.”
“Orville, wait, I have an idea! Help me move all these books off the table.”
* * * *
Orville’s mum stopped and listened, her ears perking up.
“Did you hear that?”
Eldon looked up from his morning newspaper. “Hear what?”
“That odd sound coming from upstairs.”
Eldon disappeared in a flash of blue light, blinking to the upstairs hallway. He could hear thumping and thudding sounds coming from Orville’s room. He blinked up a powerful sphere of defense, then flicked his wrist. The bedroom door flew open.
Eldon stood motionless, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Hundreds of books were falling down from the ceiling, Orville’s bed covered with heaping mounds of dusty old tomes, volumes spilling out across the bedroom floor. Eldon blinked off his sphere of defense, gently closing the door. He grinned to himself as he walked down the stairs and back to the kitchen.
“It’s nothing serious, just books raining down from Orville’s ceiling.”
Orville’s mum gave a sigh. “You’d think after all these years I’d be used to such things.”
“At least we know they’re safe. I’m guessing Sophia had something to do with it. You know how much she loves books.”
* * * *
Ebenezer’s paw was resting on the Metaphonium, his eyes on Aislin’s photo, his thoughts a lifetime away. He straightened the picture, running a feather duster across it, giving a start when he heard a knock on his door.
