News From The Station Between Worlds..
Your weekly round-up of stories from across the multiverse.
The Tall Man.
I met a tall man on the train one day, so tall that he had to stoop and fold himself into the seats.
“What’s it like up there?” I asked “You must see and understand many things?”
“Many things” replied the tall man. “Ask me any question and I will answer it.”
Thinking carefully, I asked the most important question that came to mind.
“What is the purpose of life?”
“Aha!” laughed the tall man “The purpose of life is to ask questions like that.”
“What’s the point of asking questions?”
“What’s the point of existing?”
Round and round we went until the journey was over.
The Masked Ball.
Are you ready for the party!? Your soulmate is waiting for you at the Masked Ball, but you’ll have to find them first.
All guests are expected to wear a mask and play a part. Choose your part carefully because time is weird at the ball, and once you’re in character you won’t be able to drop out of it.Stay for too long and you’ll start to wonder which is real: you or the character. Some people have completely lost themselves this way.
The Masked Ball is big so it’s easy to get lost. Other guests might offer to help you but remember, none of them are who they say they are, so it’s better not to trust them.Feel free to drink any cocktails but avoid the champagne.
It will make you doubt the identity you chose and even the person you really are, so you’ll be too afraid ever to leave the ball.If someone invites you to the top floor, walk away. They steal identities up there, so you’ll have nothing left. If the person follows you, run.
I’ve heard that your soulmate waits in the diamond ballroom. When you think you’ve found them, you’ll both have to take off your masks. Be very sure, because once you’ve shown each other your true selves, you are both in danger and will have to leave the ball immediately.
Oh, and one more thing.
Some people wear masks beneath masks beneath masks, and even soulmates aren’t always what they seem.
Yggdrasir and The Sleepers.
Yggdrasir was the first entity in the first world, but even he had no idea where he came from or how he was created.
Plagued by these questions he created world after world, but each one only led to further mysteries and more unanswered questions. Driven half mad, he created the Sleepers and put them to sleep in the Elysian World, convinced that if he gave them enough time to dream of reality, they would come up with an answer to the question of existence.
At last, the Yggdrasir was able to settle, because he knew that he would eventually know everything, even if he had to wait for a long time.
Countless aeons passed before he returned to the Elysian World and woke the sleepers.
“Well?” he demanded as they stirred from their dreaming slumber “What did you dream?? What is the meaning of existence? Where did I come from?? What is reality??”
Yawning deeply, the Sleepers told him that they knew the answers but warned Yggdrasir that he wouldn’t like them.
“Tell me anyway!!” he demanded furiously “I have waited long enough!”
“The truth is simple. We dreamed you up in our deep sleep, so that somebody would one day wake us up.”
For more stories, worlds and characters, my books ‘Tales’ Volumes I and II and novel ‘The Conductor’s Tale’ are out now and available around the world :)