Jigsaw World

by JD Lovil

  “So, why are you willing for us to take it away?” Markus asked. The man looked toward him and smiled, which made the vampire fangs much more prominent. The man looked sad, and for just a moment, even older than Markus had guessed.

  “Because I have lived forever. The Book has changed the world, and made us all immortal, never dying and forever.” The man said. “We cannot even die at our own hands. Men were never made to live forever, and if you take the Book away, I will finally be able to lie down.”

  They reached the mouth of the sarcophagus, and the man motioned them toward the glow within. “There it is. Take it, and go quickly.”

  Vera reached into the midst of the glow, and she lifted out the object which made the light. It did not look much like a book, more like a tablet or a Reader, if they displayed moving letters in some unknown script, and if the entire device was transparent, so that the display could be seen from the front or the back. In short, it was like a clear square silicon wafer that displayed a living script, and from what they knew, it also did strange things to the world around it.

  “Vera, we should get this back and use it, then put it someplace safe.” Markus remarked. “Otherwise, the world around us will start to change like this one has. This isn’t the kind of stability we are looking for!”

  She agreed, and they quickly bundled the Book up into a backpack, nodded their goodbyes to the old Vampire man, and started back the way they had come. Soon, they saw the forms of what were doubtlessly the companions of the old one loping toward them, but now the mists of change washed over them, and when it receded, they were once again walking down the hallway. A Minute later, they were through the doors and back in the parlor with their friends.

  They did not really need to describe their adventure to Tom and Karla. The orb of the Sorcerer had faithfully shown it all. With so little to explain, it was but a short time before the four of them were settled down for a night of debauchery and rest, before the task on the morrow.

  ******

  18 Infinite reflections

  The night had been a long one, and they were all excited about Vera’s new play toy, The Book of Eternity. Tom suspected that it was more than excitement, however. The Book may already be working on the world, and on them. Such surges of energy and excitement must be a common occurrence in the presence of the device. In the presence of the device would very rapidly come to mean anywhere on earth. They needed to use it and lose it, fast.

  Tom had bounced out of the bed that morning, and despite having a short sleep, he felt well rested. He was actually looking forward to his and Karla’s little expedition today. He was going to be taking the Colt Anaconda 44 magnum revolver, and a fine miniature Scottish Claymore for his left hip. It was miniature at a 34 inch length, which was good when he sneaked it out of the Sage’s armory. He had asked the Herald to get him some silver bullets for the Colt, and so now he was armed for the more exotic types of foes.

  Karla was still drowsing in the bed, not being disturbed by the animals. Tom was attempting to be very subtle about the way he was molesting her as she slept, and so far, she either had not been awakened by the handling, or she had, but was enjoying it too much to end it. But now it had gone on too long.

  “WAKE UP!! VAMPIRE CLOWNS ARE COMING!!!”

  The lovely green eyes of Karla snapped open, and she immediately reached down toward her waist, where Tom assumed that she was used to wearing a knife, or perhaps a whip. Just as she was starting to realize that her weapon was not on her, she also realized that no threat was really present, and if it had been, Vampire Clowns were a rare menace. Parasitic cow paddies were a much more common threat.

  As she came off of the bed, the pillow reached a ballistic trajectory toward Tom’s head. Having been savagely attacked by her, the only thing that Tom could do was to hold her head in place as he pinned her tongue to the mat in a morning tongue wrestling match. Having met her match in this department, she reached for the staff that comforted her, and proceeded to engage in what might be seen as a freestyle milking activity. When at last she was successful, it was not a pound of flesh she received.

  A few moments later, they had recovered from their activities, and wandered into the kitchen for some semblance of breakfast. There they discovered that Markus and Vera were already up, and had done the wifely duty of breakfast production, this time with blueberry pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs. Tom wasn’t going to complain.

  They all dug into the food with gusto, and when they had finally finished it off, they each got a cup of the tar like substance that Vera called coffee. It was good, but the tar in the tar pits that animals had been preserved in had been thinner. More than one cup of it would probably result in vibrating out of one’s skin.

  Idly chatting after the ingesting, and during the digestion, centered on the tasks set before them, and the general consequences of participating in those tasks. They universally agreed that the artifacts were having an effect upon them, and upon the world around them. They were all feeling much more energetic than the situation called for, and Markus noted that a minor cut that he got yesterday healed up before his eyes in a matter of minutes.

  They had felt just a bit of an anomalous sensation after Tom brought back the Stone, and it was more pronounced, but still subtle after Markus brought back the Staff. When Vera nabbed the Book, it was like the air was supercharged. Tom suggested that the addition of an artifact seemed to escalate the effect about ten times, so that now it was a noticeable one thousand times more charged than it was before the first artifact. Add on the Seed, and the charge would be around ten thousand times as large.

  The common consensus was that once they had all four of the artifacts, they should use them to complete the mission, and then they need to get them out of the world as soon as possible. Tom for one, could not forget the depth of sadness on the face of the old vampire.

  Once they were all finished with the food, the coffee, and had exhausted the small store of information and speculation they had on the subject of the artifacts, they decided that it was time to find the Herald or the Sorcerer and see what was going on today. As soon as they stuck their heads out of the door, they discovered that both of them were taking their ease at the table in the courtyard.

  They all settled in around the table and each of them took a glass of the chilled lemonade that was available. The Herald handed them the newspaper that he had finished perusing, and they each collected their favorite sections to read. The girls got the fashion and entertainment sections, Markus took the classifieds and sports sections, while poor Tom was left with the only parts of the newspaper which actually contained news.

  According to the headlines, the President had declared martial law once again, and had sent the army into Mississippi to pacify the people there who unreasonably expected a weekly paycheck to cover both shelter and food! Ever since he had dissolved the Congress and suspended elections, the people who had previously supported him had started to turn against him. The President confessed on a recent television show that this was very confusing to him. He knew that he was doing a wonderful job.

  Markus pointed out that a soccer game in Rio had been cancelled after a glowing orb had appeared above the maddened crowd, and had dipped into the crowd. Every person that it touched had blown apart like a watermelon with a firecracker exploding in its middle. Some 216 persons had been killed before the stadium could be emptied.

  Vera noted that for the first time in ages, romantic comedies were much more popular than action adventure movies, and Karla showed the group that there was actually some chain mail and other armor type fashions appearing in both the male and female new fashions. Without a doubt, the dangers of the modern world were definitely changing human behavior and interests.

  “The trip tonight will be a little different from the previous one.” The Sorcerer said. “This time the team will be stepping through a mirror portal, which will send them on a path through the nearest cluster of worlds. You will be able t
o see where the Seed is located by walking into the most fecund of the worldlines.”

  The group took a moment to wrap their heads around that concept. Basically, if one is looking for water in a jungle, one looks at the places where the jungle is thickest. By that logic, if one is seeking a worldline where it is being induced into breeding more worldlines, then you look for the area where the worldlines are most densely packed, if you can figure it out.

  “Come with me, and I will show you the mirror.” The Sorcerer continued. “At 6:45 this evening, we will all meet up back at the mirror, and Tom and Karla will go into it.” With that, he got up and started toward the East Wing of the house, which none of the group had been in before. They got up and followed him.

  When they got inside the Wing, the Sorcerer received a key from the Herald, and unlocked a very old looking hardwood door. It creaked open, and inside the room was a table somewhat resembling the round table of King Arthur, with a half dozen seats around it that looked to be a cross between wooden bench chairs and an easy chair. At least the seats and arms of the chairs were padded.

  In front of the table, lit on either side by very old looking lantern formed lights, and by candelabras on either side as well, if someone should decide to light them, a huge mirror stood. It was at least eight feet tall and six feet wide. The surface of the mirror appeared to be totally black at the moment, but one felt that the mirror had a tremendous depth. The ensemble exuded both dusty age and a slightly terrifying supernatural atmosphere.

  “This is the Mirror of the Worlds.” The Sorcerer said. “When it is activated, it will show the nearest shadow earth, and then one can walk through the mirror into that world. The team will be charged with an energy so that they will continue to be able to traverse other near earths beyond the first one, and will return through the mirror when they have succeeded.”

  “Are you saying that without this ‘charging’ we will not be able to see other worldlines and come back?” Tom asked. “Is this going to be safe?”

  “Oh yes. You have less than a ten percent chance of getting lost in the worlds.” The Herald replied. “We are not worried. We have Markus and Vera in case we lose you!”

  “Thanks a lot!” Tom snarled. “Maybe we should take you with us.”

  “Oh, no, I have a date tonight.” The Herald rushed to say. “Don’t worry. You will be fine.”

  “You have seen the Mirror.” The Sorcerer said. “Relax until 6:30, and we will meet back here right after.”

  “How do we recognize the Seed when we get close?” Karla said. “It would be a shame if we get to it, and can’t figure out which Thingee it is.”

  “It is more or less shaped like an almond, it is maybe ten inches long and six or seven inches wide. It will almost be like touching a live wire to touch it. The world around it will be changing rapidly, as seen through the vision that will be put upon you to see the worlds.” The Sorcerer said. “Don’t forget that you will be seeing the worldlines from inside and from outside the worldlines during this trip.”

  The group went out to the courtyard to drink more coffee and discuss the ramifications of this undertaking that all of them had somehow been committed to. It was now just around noon, so they had a long time to wait until the evening’s travels. In times like these, nothing passes the warm hours of the afternoon like fishing with a cane pole for wide mouth bass. The Herald had assured the group that the bass did indeed inhabit the pond. Twenty minutes after the first fishhook saw wetness; Vera found that bass did indeed live there.

  The four of them spent a wonderful six hours pulling fish out of the water, swiping beer out of the conveniently nearby fridge, and exhaling enough tobacco smoke to make patches on any nearby ex-smokers redundant. Vera forced Markus to fire up the portable grill that they found in the courtyard, and they did the old tin foil grilling of the unlucky catch.

  It finally was time to start the adventure. Full stomachs and a minor desire to take a nap is not the best way to face an imminent adventure, but it is far from the worst way to ready oneself. These tasks tend to include long and dusty walks; and a full belly and a canteen full of water takes some of the hardship out of it.

  A few moments passed, and Tom stood hand in hand with Karla in front of the Mirror of Worlds. They gazed deeply into its icy blackness, half seeing movements deep inside the glass, if it truly was glass. The Sorcerer had given them a few last minute instructions, encouraging them to ‘follow their feelings’ on the path to take. The Herald joined him, and they mumbled the same sort of arcane words that they had done the day before, and Tom felt something electric pass through his body. He looked at Karla, and she had obviously felt something similar.

  The Sorcerer looked at them and nodded. Still hand in hand, they stepped as one through the mirror. Tom felt an intense and frigid cold as he stepped across the threshold of the glass, as though he was feeling the freezing temperatures of outer space for a fraction of a second. His vision was as dark as the mirror face as he crossed the boundary, just for the second of his crossing.

  A flash of flaring light, and then he was standing under tall trees beside a river, holding the hand of Karla and feeling out of place. She looked shaken, but she snapped into a focused concentration with the sound and glimpsed movement in the nearby brush. They both knew that there was something watching them from deep within the vegetation, but they also sensed that which they sought was not within this world.

  The thought is the deed, in this strange version of a quantum mechanical world. The world about them blurs, not once, but twice, and then they are crouched beside an odd plastine thing which might have been a roadway, or it might have been a wave guide for some unfathomable electromagnetic frequency. It stretched far into the distance, and certainly could have been some futuristic version of an interstate highway.

  Above it, something glided along its length some dozen feet or more from the thing. The thing which glided was segmented like a streamlined train, and there was no indication of what the motive power of the craft was. Tom knew that which they sought was not in this world either, but there was some influence of this world by the device. He looked at Karla, and she nodded agreement. The world around them blurred again.

  Once more the world returned, and there was a battle above them, craft that might be the descendants of the jets of the modern world was striking back against a fleet of craft that looked remarkably like the triangular craft that they had seen in Grand Prairie. The jets were doing pretty good, but they were not tough enough to take on interstellar craft and win. They were losing the fight, but every once in a while, one of the alien craft would crash and burn.

  Tom still felt like this world did not contain the Seed, but it was very close. It was probably why the aliens were fighting so tenaciously for this bit of the planet. Tom felt it here, but it was still a world away. Or at least half a world. Imagine if you would, that this world is the face of another, more primal form of the world. Somewhere directly below the battle and therefor right next to Tom and Karla, the Seed existed, but a dimension, or a light-year, or a nanometer away, and out of the aliens reach. But not out of Tom and Karla’s reach. The world around them blurred a final time.

  In front of them, on a raised dais sat a box of cedar wood. Tom and Karla stepped up to the box, and Karla opened it. Within the box was the Seed, an almond shaped somewhat segmented looking object which projected a great and primal power. Karla reached out and touched the Seed, and Tom saw her eyes flare for just a second like the sun. Just a second, and then she was her, looking exhilarated and tired and perhaps a bit shocked all at once.

  “Looks like we have found the Seed.” Tom remarked. “Ready to go home?”

  Karla nodded, and closing the box, picked up the box with the Seed inside, and made ready. They each concentrated on the return, and the world once again blurred around them. Tom once again experienced the Stygian darkness and the frigid cold that he experienced as he crossed the mirror’s boundary, and suddenly, he stood in
front of the mirror beside Karla. Karla held in her arms the box, which contained the Seed of Creation.

  “What happened? Why are you back already?” Markus asked. “Did something go wrong?”

  Markus was confused, because from his standpoint, the two of them had barely just then stepped through the mirror, and then they had stepped back through. He could barely credit the idea that they had been gone for maybe an hour their time. He could not deny that they had obtained the artifact, so they must have been gone long enough to do so, but it just seemed impossible.

  Markus and Vera had to acknowledge the success of the mission when they saw the Seed, and so the rest of the night was spent in tales and stories, in drinking and in smoking, in rememberings and in telling of dreams. For the first time, the four of them allowed themselves to begin to believe that they might be successful in their mission. After all, they had collected four of the most powerful tools that had ever existed anywhere, and powerful men (and maybe other things) were coming out of the woodwork to help them succeed.******

  19 Reunion

  Karla and Tom were busy feeding each other small squares of watermelon. Markus and Vera were sitting across from them at the table with that uncomfortable look that people get on their faces when they are subjected to such displays of intimacy with no easy exit available. Tom and Karla knew this, and so they were not going to make it easy for their associates.

  A bee buzzed into the vicinity, attracted by the sweet wetness of the melon. Carefully sighting, Tom used one of the disposable spoons to flip it in catapult fashion toward Vera, who promptly shrieked and ducked the hurtling insect. She displayed a form of humorous displeasure with her three laughing companions, but quickly got over it.