At this point, there is a brief warp in the air and a translucent figure, barely a few inches in height, materializes over them.
“If you kids are done, we have business to do. Louise is in her room. You have a scryscape to weave and a call to surf.”
“You don’t surf calls, Alain. You make calls.”
“Make, surf, click. Whatever. Get to it. Amra’s team is watching, so be careful.”
“No worries, Alain. This will be an easy one. I even have a little love letter to deliver to Amra. I was writing it while I took a gondola to this godforsaken street.”
“What love letter?” the girl aims for casual curiosity but misses it by some.
“Oh, nothing at all,” the boy pockets the note and heads for the phone. He makes a motion in the air that brings up a polished warp. The warp starts as a grey swirl that clears to show a beautiful woman in a red dress. A hotel room can be seen in the background. The boy smiles and picks up the phone. He dials a number. The woman in the warp picks up the phone.
“Louise...?”
“Oui...Qui est-ce?”
The Wordscapist starts weaving his next scape.
***
A conversation between Lirii is impossible to document in a coherent format. A structured maelstrom of thoughts, ideas and intents that transcends time and space is exchanged through a shared communal pool. One such exchange however is critical to this tale, and is summarized here for the sake of context.
There is a place outside the universe as we know it. It is outside time too, existing in a pocket of probability that will never happen. This place is home to inter-galactic mystics who are known to Wordkind as the Lirii. What they call themselves doesn’t translate too well into any language known to beings that use standard means of communication (written, spoken, telepathic).
There aren’t many Lirii. Sexless and formless, the Lirii sustain their numbers by voting into being any required additions. Formed by thought and purpose, with the Continuum as their only sustenance, each Lirus is powerful enough to destroy entire worlds.
The Lirii are omniscient. This isn’t the same as omnipotence, as knowledge of everything that can and may happen does not necessarily translate into knowledge of what will happen. The Lirii have their ways though of working through high probability futures and narrowing down options. At times, for the odd rare occurrence that is important enough for them to want a particular outcome, the Lirii meddle. With their all-seeing vision into all possible pasts, presents, and futures, the Lirii realize the severe repercussions of this interference (an extreme outcome of what is known on Earth as the Observer effect). At times, they deem these repercussions acceptable. The Lirii have been concerned about half a millennium’s worth of space-time planes on an otherwise inconsequential planet called Earth. Some possible futures show that a Continuum source might open up on these planes and might even find a sentient host, who could control this power. A sentient being connected to the Continuum is either a Lirus or a myth. Once in a time-space eternity, a third possibility opens up; a physical life form with the power of multiple Lirii.
Such a being is usually outside the Lirii vision. There is nothing the Lirii detest more than a blind spot. This occurrence needs to be mitigated at all costs, through indirect facilitation or direct intervention. This particular blind spot had managed to evade the Lirii for too long. They had tried indirect facilitation and it hadn’t worked. It looked like the problem had compounded now. There might even be two of them.
It was time for direct intervention. The possible extinction of all life on Earth comes up as a possible outcome on some planes. The Lirii unanimously agree that this is an acceptable loss. They have started planning for the event. It would take time and painstaking effort, at least by Earth standards. But to one outside time, patience isn’t a virtue; it’s inevitable.
Arpan Panicker is an enthusiast - whether it’s travelling, food, gadgets, movies, motorbikes, theatre or animals. He has always found solace in reading everything he could get his hands on. His favourite author and inspiration is (and will always be) Terry Pratchett.
After experimenting with careers in journalism, copywriting and web design he settled in the Learning and Development field, which satisfied his need to write, be creative and keep up with the latest technology. He and his wife currently work together as Learning Consultants in Pune, India, with their very dog-like cat.
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Wordscapist: The Myth (The Way of the Word Book 1) Page 35