Out of Time the Grand Quest

by Christopher Douglass

  “So how do I get back home?”

  “You don’t.”

  Chapter 3: The Girl who Role-played

  “This world isn’t so bad you know. You eventually get used to it. Not to mention, it has so many wondrous things to see. Magical creatures, impossible lands, things that can only exist here where magic is real.”

  Kimberly looked up at Grell from where she sat on the back porch. Out in the yard Joel was chasing down purple beetles as big as rats who gave off sparks of lightning every so often. Grell leaned against the railing, watching her husband flicking water onto the beetles to stun them.

  “Is that what all those other Phasers like me do? Get used to it?”

  “Well-- yes. They get used to it or they kill themselves. Some can’t cope with the drastic change, usually those that get pulled from the past have the hardest time of it.”

  “How exactly did I get here then if all these Phasers end up on Atlantis?”

  “Near as me and Joel can figure, Maria did a summoning at the exact moment a time rift opened up. So you were sort of shifted from your original destination directly here.”

  “Has that ever happened before?”

  “Joel says it happened once a very long time ago.”

  “And what happened?”

  “The man that came through nearly destroyed this world.”

  “And why is that so bad exactly? I really don’t understand how the three places are interconnected with my world. If this alternate reality is destroyed, wouldn’t everyone and everything just appear in my world?”

  “Yes, and that’s the problem.”

  “Why?”

  “Imagine you have a glass, with water filled up to the very brim. No more water can be fit within this glass. It is so full that when a single drop hits it, some spills out. This spill out gets drained to another glass, which eventually fills up to the brim as well. Now, when a drop falls into the first cup, the runoff that fills the second overflows that one. This runoff magically feeds back into the first cup, creating an infinite loop. Those two cups are your world and this one. Atlantis sits in the middle of both, being powered by that excess runoff and managing both worlds. It is more complicated than that of course, but close enough for my needs.

  “Now, imagine if someone were to suck all the air out of the first glass and shove all the water from the second glass into it. Some of it would fit, but most wouldn’t. A magical field would prevent any water from running off out of the glass as all that liquid from the second cup kept pouring into the first. What is the natural result do you think?”

  “The first glass shatters as the pressure inside exceeds the force pushing against the outside of the container and the container itself exceeds its stress point.”

  “Exactly. And once that floodgate is released, there is no way for Atlantis to exist anymore either. It does not belong in your reality, being part of the first world before the great reset. It exists only as long as your Earth exists. Perhaps at the very beginning this reality of magic could have been merged with your world without any danger while still keeping Atlantis stable. But now, it is too late for such a thing. So the three realities are kept in constant balance, with Atlantis in the middle making sure it stays that way.”

  “How do they do that exactly?”

  “I don’t know honestly. I was never smart enough to be one of the Great Sages. Or have access to that kind of confidential information. I was only eighteen when I was summoned over here. I do know they are the ones that somehow control the quests and decide what needs to be done. Remember how I said my quest was to make sure Jesus was crucified? From the history I learned as a girl of the old reality, Jesus was never crucified, his teaching gained huge momentum, but eventually died out on its own. But in this reality, the opposite happened.

  “The thing is, some anomaly bled the history of the first reality, into the history of your reality. The quest is a window of time when these kinds of inconsistencies and bleed over must be rectified, and history put back on it’s proper course as it is supposed to be.”

  “And what happens if the quest fails?”

  “Disaster strikes your world. Sometimes your history is rewritten, but most times your world rectifies the problem itself. Have you ever heard of Pompeii?”

  “Of course, the city that was covered by an erupting volcano. We learned about it in school.”

  “That was one example of a failed quest. That volcano was never supposed to erupt when it did. The people were supposed to have been moved to safety and the city would be rebuilt afterwards to become a thriving center of commerce. The quest that failed didn’t even have anything to do with Pompeii. It wasn’t even in the same general area or time frame. But because the quest failed, the world began to crack under the stress of this magical universe and your non-magical one being shoved together. That stress caused the volcano to erupt prematurely and destroy the town with the people still in it. Altering the very course of the future and rewriting your history that had already happened. These sudden changes that were rewritten caused yet more stress that resulted in yet more catastrophes until the world settled down once more into its new course.”

  Kimberly fell silent again, staring at the book in her lap as she ran her fingers over the blank white cover. This was all so much to take in. It felt like she had been pulled into some strange story and was living out the life of some heroine, not drab old bookworm Kimi.

  “I’m surprised. Most Phasers are usually knocking their knees together after learning all this information. You are pretty composed.”

  “I’m terrified. But being scared won’t do me any good. The more information I find out, the more I have to work with and the less scared I will be of the unknown. That’s what I have always believed. But to be honest, the more I learn, the more terrified I become. The only reason my knees aren’t knocking together is because I’m not standing up. If I did, I’m sure my legs would turn to jelly and I would fall flat on my face.”

  “Why don’t you tell me a bit about your life? Perhaps that will help you sort things out and make you less scared. Talking about the known and familiar can dispel your misgivings about the new and unknown.”

  So Kimberly told the old woman about her dull boring life. About not knowing who her father was, about not liking to stand out much. How she liked to read and even how she liked to put on costumes in secret and pretend to be other people. For some reason she didn’t feel ashamed of telling this woman all this. Of revealing secrets she wouldn’t even tell her mother. Perhaps it was because this world was just so fantastical that such small mundane things seemed silly. Or maybe it was because Kimi felt this woman wouldn’t laugh, scoff at, or mock anything she said.

  Because of this, she ended up telling the woman how much her mother’s job and the way she made money bothered her, despite Kimi always saying otherwise. And how she had a crush on the college student Jeremy. The old woman just nodded and listened quietly, eventually sitting on the stoop next to her as Kimberly spoke of random things as they came to mind.

  And it helped. Kimi could feel the calm settling over her. Her stomach stopped doing flips as her body threatened to vibrate apart. She was still scared, and more than a little overwhelmed, but she didn’t feel she would break at any moment either.

  “Thanks. That helped.”

  “No worries dear. I’m always here to listen. Why don’t you take a walk around the town and get familiar with the area? It’s not all that big, and it gives you something to do. If you just sit here mulling over things, you're going to worry yourself sick again. Lunch will be ready in about an hour, so just be back by then.”

  “I think I’ll do that.”

  As Kimberly stood up, Grell handed her a small pouch on a rope. Kimi took it questioningly as the old woman hoisted herself to her feet with a wink.

  “I filched that from Joel’s collection, I doubt he will miss it judging by the amount of dust that was on it. You seem to be attached to that book, so I tho
ught you might like something to protect it. When we were on our journeys, Joel was always stuffing his tomes inside. If he could fit ten books in there, I doubt one will give it much trouble.”

  Kimi looked at the pouch doubtfully. It fit in the palm of her hand with ease. How was a book supposed to fit inside? But this was a magical place after all, so maybe it was like the fairy tales of bottomless bags. Prying the lip open, she spread it wide. As she did, the mouth kept growing and growing along with the bag until she could slip the white book inside easily. As she pulled the wooden button tight around the mouth, the pouch shrank until it again rested on her palm. Kimberly could faintly feel the hard cover of the tome within the pouch as Grell chuckled at her surprise. Plucking the pouch from her hand, the woman settled it around her neck, tucking it into her shirt for safekeeping.

  “I told you, this world is full of many wondrous and magical things you won’t find anywhere else. Not all of them are bad, or some evil monster trying to eat your face off.”

  Kimi smiled tentatively at the woman before heading through the house and out into town alone. Now that she knew a little bit about this strange world, she could see the influences of time. Steam powered heating units using wood and coal next to electrical units with wires running off underground. That led to questions such as where the wires went to. Were there modern day electrical outlets in some houses or an electric plant? Kimberly decided to take Joel’s advice and not think too hard about such things. If she thought too hard about it her brain might catch on fire. She had to just accept it was magic.

  But their explanation did bring up important questions. Grell had said people from the future, like her, were sometimes pulled back in time. But she also admitted they could not go past the year they were currently at, which was 1490, because the future was not set in stone yet. So how was it possible she was here at all? If she was from a future that had not yet been decided. If some quest failed again, wouldn’t the future she came from be wiped out of existence? Or maybe it is because it failed that it would be created. Heck, Columbus wouldn’t even land in the Bahamas archipelago for the first time until 1492. Most people still believed the world was flat. Virginia wasn’t even a gleam in some pilgrim’s eye yet.

  And what would her mother think when she found her missing? She might not be on the best of terms with her mother, but it wasn’t like they had a bad relationship either. She had never wished to run away, and rarely argued with her mom. So it wasn’t like she was really ill content with the way her life had been. Kimberly just felt like it had been a normal one. She hadn’t been gone a day and already she wished to go back. She might have wanted life to be more like some story book, but not at the cost of leaving everything she knew behind like this.

  She found herself in some kind of park, with flat open fields all around. Gravel paths meandered from place to place under the shade of a variety of trees that had no right to exist side by side. Boys and girls were running around playing a game of tag, their clothing ranging from medieval breeches to futuristic glittering fabric. Another group of children were playing knights, tapping sticks together in an imaginary battle of good verse evil.

  “They are all orphans you know.”

  Kimberly looked to her left quickly where a middle aged man seemed to appear out of nowhere. She was sure he hadn’t been hiding with magic, she just hadn’t noticed him coming up behind her. He grinned at the way she jumped, holding out his hand for her to shake.

  “Daniel Gram at your service, though most people call me Uncle Gram. I manage the orphanage here, with lots of help from everyone else of course. Children who’s parents go missing for one reason or another find themselves in my care. Those who are older live on their own, but I still keep an eye on them until they get settled.”

  “Go missing?”

  “You know, dying while on quest, random Orc or Troll attack while out in the woods, magical beast mauling, or just plain up and disappear without a trace. You’re a new face around here so I assume you are from Atlantis and someone’s partner. It can be quite a culture shock coming from such a technologically advanced place to a backwaters reality like this. If I can do anything to help you get settled in, let me know.”

  “Oh, okay, sure.”

  Kimberly didn’t disabuse the man of his assumption. Both Grell and Joel had warned her not to broadcast the fact that she was from the future around too much. After some thought she had come to the same conclusion. Being from the future, she knew history that hadn’t happened yet. Not to mention technology that had not yet been invented. Items that came through time rifts were fine for them to have it seemed, but inventing completely new technology was a big no-no. something to do with keeping the balance Kimi didn’t comprehend. It was how the last person who had come here like she had nearly destroyed this universe. He had thought he was doing a good deed by enlightening the magicians of the time and giving them advanced technology. But his act of kindness nearly killed them all.

  Kimi noticed one boy around ten, sitting under a tree watching the others playing. His legs were pulled in and his chin was tucked against his knees while his sad looking eyes followed his peers. Kimi pointed at the boy before looking at Daniel.

  “Who’s that?”

  “That’s Jordon. He’s always by himself. I don’t know why, since he doesn’t talk much. He’s only been at the orphanage about a week now, and no matter what I try I can’t get him to open up. He is probably still grieving over his parents.”

  “You run the orphanage but you don’t know what his problem is?”

  “I never said I was the best one suited for this job. But someone had to do it and most of the kids take a liking to me. I do the best I can, but I’m not super-human.”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound like I was judging you or anything, I just found it surprising. I always imagined someone who took care of orphans always knew what was wrong.”

  “Well I try, but that kind of thing only happens in stories.”

  “Mind if I go talk to him?”

  “Be my guest. If you can help him where I can’t, all the better. Like I said before, I get help from everyone in the city. Sometimes that help comes in the form of a listening ear better suited than mine.”

  Kimberly gave the man a nod before heading through the rich green grass towards the boy. Jordon looked up only briefly at her approach before returning his gaze to the other children.

  “Mind if I sit next to you?”

  The boy didn’t answer, but scooted over a bit to give her space to sit down. With a small grin she wasn’t sure he even noticed, she sat, propping one leg up and locking her arms around it. Kimberly wasn’t sure exactly why she was so interested in this boy. It wasn’t like she was all that good with children to begin with. Or that outgoing period. But there was something about this place that made her more adventurous. That gave her the confidence to do those things she was too afraid to do in real life.

  “You know, I’m kind of like you. I got pulled away from my home and everything I knew and I’m told I will never see them again. But you want to know what I think? I think you should try playing with the other children. I mean, they are all in the same boat you are right? All of them have lost their parents just like you. So don’t you think they would understand how you are feeling? I’m sure Daniel is worried about you too.”

  The boy didn’t say anything, just shook his head slightly. Kimberly didn’t push him, instead turning to watch the boys and girls playing their different games.

  “You suck at trying to cheer people up.”

  “Well excuse me for not having much experience in this kind of thing.”

  Jordon was silent for a while longer, the minutes taking on a life of its own in Kimberly’s mind. Finally he spoke again, still refusing to look at her. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

  “Ask what? I’m just here enjoying the view and randomly talking to myself. I always liked sitting under trees in the park at home while reading my books. There
is something about the feel of grass under me and bark at my back. If you want to talk that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s fine too. I was never big on talking about my problems to other people personally, so I can understand if you are like that too.”

  “You won’t laugh?”

  “Well, I might if you make a joke. But I wouldn’t laugh at someone’s problems, because I’ve been laughed at before. And that made me feel really small inside. It hurts to be laughed at like that. To be called a nerd, or made fun of because of my looks.”

  The boy finally glanced at Kimberly out of the corner of his eyes before hiding his face in his knees.

  “Ash you can hear, I have a lishp. The other kidsh laugh when I shpeak.”

  “Is that why you aren’t playing with them? You don’t need to talk to play tag, or pretend to be a knight fighting monsters.”

  “No, my lishp ish only part of the problem.”

  “So what’s the other part?”

  “I don’t know how to role-play. They shay it’s eashy, I jusht have to imagine a shtick ash a shword but I only shee a shtick. A dragon ish just a tree and an evil wizard ish just another person.”

  “Really? That’s what’s holding you back? You want to know what I think? I think that’s a stupid reason. Sure, role-playing is about taking on another persona. And it helps to be able to imagine seeing a tree as a dragon, or another boy as a wizard in his wavy robes and pointed hat with a long gray beard. Maybe even imagine lightning striking from the sky as he laughs at the clouds. But you don’t need those things to role-play. You can imagine yourself using a stick to learn swordplay if you want. Or beating on a tree to make the dragon shed its illusion for all to see. The purpose is to have fun right? To interact with other people maybe. Just figure out what is fun for you and do it. If whacking branches together in a mock fight isn’t fun for you, there is nothing saying you have to do it. But if you have fun just mindlessly running around trying to tag somebody else, then don’t let your lisp or your lack of imagination hold you back from that.”