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The Transformation of Oz - Part Two
The Transformation of Oz - Part Two
A Faerie Tale of the Multiverse
Interlude Three: The Fountain of Youth…
As a king, I am unused to thinking like a child, but there was ever a side of me that was eternally young. As the counterpart to the divine queen of the other world, who is my reverse yet my soul’s mate at the same time, I know this to be true. Today, I ventured into a part of the other world that I had never seen before. Beyond the western country, in the purple hills of eternal twilight, there was an ancient castle once inhabited by a powerful witch who kept herself eternally young by sapping the life force of the fairest maidens she could find. Within the darkest vaults of her castle lay a fountain imbued with the blood of those long-slain maidens. It seems the other world refused to grant the witch the usual gift of near-immortality given to all others of a purer heart who are brought into the realm. Therefore, she found a darker path to the same gift… but, apparently, met her end through other means, leaving behind her only the castle and its’ twisted secret. I was here to destroy the fountain and ensure that, once the land was transformed, no other dark power could follow in the witch’s footsteps and force immortality from the land. Having braved the steep trail up the craggy mountain where the castle was perched, and having made my way through the abandoned halls… abandoned by all save strange animals that were part bat and part monkey that is… I now found myself in a tomb whose walls were lined with human bones. On the floor was carved a pentagram in human blood, and in the middle of it was the dark and terrible fountain. However, the blood it once spayed forth had long since dried up, even though there still did lie: the skeletal remains of the maidens the witch slew to fuel the vile artifact. I reached out to touch the fountain, and from it blood poured forth anew. Nearby was a bucket of pure, clean water and I walked over to it, making the sign of the cross over it and picking it up. Almost upon instinct, I hurled the blessed water into the fountain and the dead maidens each rose up and screamed in shrill, banshee-like cries. Then, they fell to the floor once again and crumbled into dust as the vile fountain ceased to bleed, and never bled again. I touched the horrid decoration one final time, and was satisfied to see that it was without any further life or power. I prayed for the souls of the maidens to find peace at last and made my way from that evil fortress, content that it would now serve only as a tomb and nothing more. This was the only true threat to my plans for the other world, and now that it was dealt with I could consider the land in no immediate danger. The great day of transformation was drawing nigh, and that would be dangerous enough a happening for all. Mine would be the hand to shape the land’s fate.
Chapter Four: The Eternal City…
It was not an emerald city, as I had nearly expected it to be. But at the time I asked that question, I was convinced that I was dreaming and perhaps in some distant Land of Oz, so to speak. Yet, I was awake and this was but another face of reality! So ignorant was I of the multiple layers of the universe, and the parallel levels of the world we live in. But I grew wiser, before the end of my sojourn there. Alice and I walked hand in hand, each keeping the other in good spirits lest the land change with our mood. Soon, we came to a section of forest wherein tulips grew as tall as a child in places, and nearly as tall as a man in other places. Alice called this place the “Garden of Delights”, for the beauty of it surpassed all imagining, even in the moonlight of a night that grew ever darker. Patches of daisies grew here and there, and I picked a bunch and put them in Alice’s hair. She gave me a tulip to hold unto, its’ scent fresh and pure. “I never noticed such scents before!” I exclaimed, and Alice told how they don’t exist in the world we left behind, those scents. “Only mundane scents linger there.” And I basked in the wonder of the garden. I jested: “At least these aren’t poppies.” But my joke went over Alice’s head. “So when will we get to see the Wizard?” I smiled. Alice laughed a little, not quite getting what I meant, and replied: “The Eternal City has no ruler, no power that governs it! No wizard, nor witch… no king, nor queen. The place itself is alive with a magic of its’ own, but not in any way you or I might notice.” And having seen the many wonders of the other world thus far, I realized she was not jesting at all. Soon, we left upon a paved path made from faded yellow bricks. The irony of that was lost to Alice, but not to me. “So, we are in the Land of Oz, after all!” I finally said. Alice replied: “This place is known in all the dreams and visions of mankind. Oz, Eden, Wonderland… call it what you will, it is the same place. The same far side of reality.” And, for the first time I noticed that Alice’s sandals were silver in color. “Silver slippers and all.” I said, realizing: “And here I am, on a quest to find a heart in a way. I guess that makes me a Tin Man, eh?” And Alice simply noted: “No, you aren’t turning into tin. You’re still just fine.” But I had seen the darker side of this domain, and knew it was no perfect land of childhood joys. My jests were perhaps not in line with the truth all about me, and I knew it all too well. “How many people have crossed into this part of reality, Alice?” I inquired. She replied: “More than perhaps I have even come to know here. And mind you, I have been here a long time! It is just that, like the elves… there are folk perhaps as old as time itself in the other world. Like the folk who built the Eternal City! No one knows from whence they came, or to where they went. Like the city itself, the builders are a mystery lost to time. It is said that they came from the heavens even, but I am not certain I believe that. All anyone knows for a certainty: is that none who now dwell in this domain can claim for certainty to be the builders or their descendants.” And I stated, almost reverently: “Here today, gone tomorrow.” And Alice was delighted I understood: “Yes! Exactly. That is within the power of this realm… it can attract people to it for a time and then let them go when that time is passed. That is why we must hasten in our quest! Before our time together is up, we must fulfill the love that is in our hearts for one another. We might not ever get a second chance at this.” And it was ironic, that she who showed me that life was worth living… was so bound by constrains of time, lest life and love pass her by. Was I much different… was life itself, any different? We spend too much time waiting for love, when sometimes it is right in front of us, waiting. Age is the price we pay for delaying too long, and death lies at the end of that road, for none can turn back the years, no matter the wishing. “We will succeed, Alice! I can promise you that with certainty.”
We then crossed fields where the grass grew so high that we had to keep close to one another and brush it aside with sticks so we could not become lost. I could hear the cawing of crows of immense size, and wondered if the land had grown in size… or if we had instead decreased in our own stature. I did not ask, for I did not want to know. Sometimes we could hear singing far off, only to endure hours of maddening silence. We came to a cliff whereon sat a gigantic sphinx, who guarded a slender stone bridge across a bottomless chasm. The sphinx asked us: “What is fresh in the beginning, easily savored in the middle, but oft forgotten before the end?” and I offered the only answer that came to my mind: “Life! It is fresh when you are young, it is easy to savor when you grow up, but in death it must be forgotten.” And the sphinx told us that the answer sufficed. We could pass. Alice told me: “You know, he asks a riddle unique to each person who would pass. The answer always lies inside of them, but not everyone realizes it. Some seek the answer without, and never get to pass this bridge.” But we passed with ease and with certainty. Below us, the roar of dragons could be heard, and fiery mists could be seen. “Is that Hell?” I asked Alice, who said merely: “Only to some.” And she said no more of it than that. Once across the chasm, we passed towering mountains along paths choked with vegetation in places. Soon, we descended into a deep valley filled with an overgrown jungle. The air was warm, but not unpleasant, and soon we were once again finding ourselves surrounded by more familiar woodlands, much like those we had left behind us hours before. We stopped for a time by some ancient ruins, where the moss and vines covered the old structures like a skin covers a living thing. I was lying on one of the stone, staring up at the leafy canopy and the evening shadows above, when Alice laid down next to me, and wrapped a slender arm across my chest. “Will you promise to dream of me, at least sometimes?” she asked of me. “You mean, when my time here is at an end and I must go back?” I asked. She nodded, and I agreed. “I will dream of you, Alice, if you choose to walk in my dreams.” And she agreed to walk in them any time she could find the means to enter therein. She kissed my chest, and I fought the desire to kiss her in return. “Soon…” I whispered to her. “Soon, we will have our hearts’ desires.” And Alice was worried: “I hope I still look pretty as a grown up!” And then it was I realized just how much she was still a worried little girl. I found myself running my fingers through her long, curly hair, and her kisses returned. I did not try to stop them this time. They were only kisses, after all. But her eyes! They were not a child’s eyes any longer, and I could see that too. Somewhere in the distance, thunder sounded and lightning was striking the land hard. The passion she was holding back must have been intense! Clouds blocked the moon, and in the utter darkness that followed I could feel her kisses upon my face as well. Hoping the dark would conceal the deed… I kissed her back, and could not contain the affection in those kisses. “I love you, Jon!” she whispered. And I found myself whispering back: “I love you too, Alice.” But kissing was all we did, and soon the clouds passed with the passions we got in check once again. “Alice…” I asked, “If we succeed, and if we know love without the present limits, will it tear this world apart as surely as if we deny our love forever?” and Alice put her gentle hands upon my chest, caressing softly. She said: “If it does, I hope we go out smiling!” and her mad thoughts matched my own. “Can you see now, my true age?” she said. And indeed, I could.
Beneath the starlight and amidst the haze of the jungle, Alice and I made our way to an immense ruined city. Once, the slender marble minarets and crystal domes must have been magnificent… for even now, reclaimed by nature, it was breathtaking to behold the Eternal City. Instead of an emerald city, it was a city covered by emerald vegetation, where once perhaps crowds gathered and people sang. Today, only the wind sang through those avenues. Only the wind, and the crickets! A sense of profound peace hung about the site, even though it was at first lonely and abandoned to the eye. There was magic there, as in the tales Alice had told me of the place. But would that magic grant our wishes? We walked silently and reverently into the ruins of the great palace at the heart of the city. Therein, was a massive hall of columns decorated with entwining serpents that curled from the base of each column to the ceiling… to the ancients, they were symbols of wisdom. Wisdom that was here lost to time. We climbed the steps up the dais upon which the great throne sat, across cracked and crumbling stones. High, arched windows let in the moonlight, casting the room in a pale hue that was many times the shades of night. Above the throne, now vacant, was a huge statue. It was a head, totally bald, of some man who perhaps had been king here, and upon it was carved at the base the words: “I am the great and terrible. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!” and therein was the irony. Time had reduced those works to this, and yet still they remained. The arrogance of human endeavor, even here, could never be wholly wiped clean by nature. That is why this place was so peaceful… because that arrogance was no more. I looked to Alice, who appeared afraid, unsure of what to say or to do. “There is nothing here. Only abandoned halls, and broken dreams of people long gone. People apparently too selfish to have granted wishes, if this inscription is to be understood.” I stated. “Do we…” and Alice appeared unsure of what to say or do. “Do we give up? No, we…” she began, but then a woman appeared to us from out of the shadows. Rather, the ghost of a woman! She was tall, with cascading black hair down her back, and she was pale, her skin bone white. She wore a flowing gown of emerald green, with dark green ribbons around her waist. Upon her head, she wore a golden circlet with two large red artificial roses upon the sides. The circlet had an emerald set into it at the front, and there was something familiar about this spirit. She spoke with a voice that sounded far away, ever distant and cold: “In life I was Ozymandia, the rightful ruler of this land after he whose image you see before you was cast down! I was born a boy named Tip, and became a woman when my heart’s desire was granted to me. That was, to become ruler of this land! No male could, and so I was made female by the powers of this place that existed back then, in those golden ages of which my reign was the brightest. But the powers had something to work with, for I was born to the proper rulers of this city, and so was royalty all along! My wish therefore, was easy to grant, once I became princess rather than prince. A powerful sorceress aided me, and so it came to pass that my wish was made reality. But lo! Who are you, that comes to these ruins?”
But before I could answer the spirit, the sound of hoof-beats echoed on the ruined cobblestones outside the hall. Suddenly, into the hall rode my dark side incarnate: the shadowy demon I had evaded confronting for so long. Now, it would end for both of us. I spread my arms wide and happily said to it: “Welcome, brother! And what will you ask of the good queen?” And the dark wraith of myself said menacingly: “Look at me, brother. Do not turn your gaze aside, as you have done in the past. See yourself in me, and know that we are one and the same.” I replied cheerily: “Two sides of the same coin… as this realm is to the Earth I was born into.” I looked deep into that featureless face, and saw within the shadows the mirror of my very own countenance looking back at me. “I have not failed, as you can see.” I exclaimed, and the wraith stated matter-of-factly: “You have, and yet you have not.” And my hands clasped the dark one’s, embracing the cold of their touch. Every sorrow of my life was in that touch, and every loss I had learned to put behind me. Yet, those things were a part of me, even shaping me into the man I was now to one degree or another. I could not lose them, for they helped to define me. What is joy, without sorrows to make us appreciate it? What is Heaven, without Hell to make us want to do right? What is a man, save for a mixture of many things! Take any of those things away, and what are you then? You are nothing. And, as surely as I embraced this wisdom, I felt my dark side merging with me, the shadow passing into the light that casts it before or behind it. No more menace was left in it, and no more fear had I for it. We were one, as we had always been and would always be. Alice had seen my darkness, as well as my light, along our journey… and she too did not fear it. That lent me the power to unite with the darkness at last, and become a whole person. A child had become my strength, and so I turned bravely to regard the long-dead queen of the Eternal City and answer her. “I am one who has come far, through trials and troubles as well as delights aplenty. I have come to ask of you a favor, the granting of this little girl’s heartfelt wish. Will you do this thing for us?” And the specter of the queen simply stated, coldly and without even a hint of human emotion: “That is not a name! State your name, and the name of your companion. I can grant you information, but you must allow yourself to be recognized first.” Information was not what we came here for, but I reasoned that perhaps the granting of wishes might be as simple as learning the right information to make them come true… and so, in a reasonable way I came to the conclusion that this being might be able to help us. We had only to tell her our names, and all would be well! That was the first time since coming to that realm, that I believed a complete lie.
Interlude Four: The Hand of God…
One more interlude after this, and the great play would be over, the actors having played their roles to perfection. I was a king, and yet that was but a passing role, a mask in the art of the theatre that was the other world. Soon, I would play no more, for my true work and final calling would begin in earnest. I sought out the domain of the ancient sorceress spoken of in the lore of the other world, who lived in the distant south. Supposedly, she was one of four witches who represented the cardinal points of the compass. Two of these witches were long dead, one had vanished altogether, but the sorceress of the south remained. It was said that she was waiting for someone to come and release her from supernatural bonds, and I felt this my duty before the hour of change was come. The lands of the south were not too unlike those lands elsewhere in the grounds of the other world, were: nature now reigned and mortals served the natural order with reverence. At one point, I passed a forest in which a huge and ancient lion roamed freely amongst other animals: they who served it like a king. The lion regarded my passing with a look whereby if he could speak, I think he would have… but the curious moment passed and I walked on hurriedly. I passed a land of shattered buildings, seemingly made from expensive china plates and cups, a place that resembled a heap of broken shards more than the ruins of ancient habitation. And, after witnessing stranger things than words could tell of, I arrived in the land of the southern sorceress. In a center of a circular plain surrounded by a bottomless chasm, there was her tower of ivory! A sight few in the other world have witnessed to tell of. It is said that the unworthy were cast by the sorceress into the abyss below. But I knew my cause was just… for it was to ascertain the desires of the forgotten lady herself, and not for any desires of mine. Selfless was the cause, and so a slender bridge formed whereby I could cross the chasm unhindered. In this way, I did come into that bone-white dwelling place. Within there was no one, and my voice echoed throughout empty halls as I made my way up spiraling staircases towards the topmost floor. There, I entered a room shaped of the four compass points, and aligned perfectly thereto. In the center of it, a woman was suspended weightless within a shaft of lavender light. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, more elfin fair even than the queen of the elves herself. Yet, her eyes were ancient and sad to gaze into, for therein did lie unfathomable burdens. I spoke to her, asking what she desired most of me before the great reshaping of all things. But she could not herself speak, and so I could not help her, or so I thought. Unthinking, I reached out my hand to touch the lady within the shaft of light, to see if I could rouse her from her endless reverie. The light faded, and so her form fell to the floor and aged in seconds, crumbling to dust before my shocked eyes. Her dying voice was carried to my ears upon a sudden wind. She thanked me for the gift of death, as the wind scattered her ashes away. I wept for her passing.
Chapter Five: A Wish Fulfilled…
I told her my name, and explained that my companion was called Alice. We told her how we came seeking the powers of this place to grant wishes, for Alice wished to grow up in body so she and I could know a deeper kind of love. Ozymandia merely stared blankly. Her eyes were black as oblivion, and her face impossible to read, for so blank was her expression. “I am sorry but your names are not known in the city’s records. Do you wish to learn about any other of the city’s prominent inhabitants? Simply press the button on the leftmost column to continue.” And it turned out this was no ghost after all. Just a holographic recording made centuries before. Alice had accidentally activated it by leaning against the column, and once I explained to my companion what a hologram was, she realized the situation for what it truly was. I found the button on that part of the column again, and pressed it. The image went on for some time, taking on the form of other once-important people now long gone. At length, it went out and we were alone in the empty great hall of the palace. Alice began to laugh, and I joined her in that laugh. “All this way, for a recorded message!” she cried out. And I exclaimed: “What, not even a man behind a curtain?” and soon, we sat down tired and exhausted on the steps of the throne’s dais, holding each other to keep comforted and not heartbroken. “Alice, are we the first to come here in recent years?” I asked. “Yes.” She said; sounding defeated at last as she looked into my eyes, her own hungry with a passion that could never now be requited. I returned that wanton stare with one no less true, and we realized the joke was on us. Then, the solution hit me. “Alice, your powers prove you are part of the green that is the very fabric of the other world. Can you not use your power over the natural world to alter time and age yourself?” But then, Alice realized: “You would have to go from the green for a time, back to your own world. Otherwise, you too would age and become old. For you are an adult now, and I am but a girl! Plus, I have yet to master that much control over my… abilities. I could end up aging too far, and having to reverse time here just to fix it. Such stresses would kill you, surely.” And I realized the truth in her words. “Plus, once I leave this realm, I might not be able to be brought back to it again.” I stated, sadly. Alice suddenly sprang into my arms and kissed me with a woman’s passion upon my lips. I returned her kiss with equal passion. She then pulled out of my arms and whispered, serenely: “That was just in case I can’t bring you back! Farewell… for now.” And so she clicked her silver sandals three times, and I found myself back in the woods past the cemetery, where my entire strange odyssey began. “Was it all a dream, after all?” I speculated. Waking dreams could be a sign of madness… but surely the girl was real enough. I called out her name, and then just simply: “Little girl!” but no answer came. I was wandering aimlessly in those woods for a time, before the absurdity of it hit me. Should I go home and forget this, or stay for a while and wait, just to see what happens? And so I opted to wait, since there was nothing more important to go home for at that time. I sat on a log and waiting, until a wooly bear caterpillar crawled unto my pinky finger. I shook it away, and waited. All this was so familiar! I longed to hear Alice’s voice, to touch her soft hair, to feel her small hands clasping mine with that strange strength that only she possessed. I should have just given in and loved her as she was, no matter the right or wrong of it in this world. She lived in a different world, and I should have realized that. There, there is no “right” or “wrong”, nor good or evil either. There was just feeling, emotion, and existence. If she will just call me back, I reasoned, then I will not deny her anything. Because I love her, even if that makes me “wrong”. Nature is the nature of the green, and that is the soul of the other world. The laws of nature are not the same as humanity’s. Like God’s, they are separate and eternal. Alice was becoming a goddess of nature, and I had to accept that. Why was it so hard for me to realize this, until now? But love is always so very hard a thing to understand in us.
Hours passed, and suddenly Alice was there. “Hello there, Jon! I hope you didn’t wait for me too long.” And I confessed that it was a long time indeed. “Oh, I’m sorry. Look, I couldn’t do it. I could not age myself even one day! That’s the law of other world, I guess. Once immortal, always immortal… plus, now that I’m one with the green of the land itself, I’d be just as immortal here on plain old basic Earth. However… other world isn’t Earth, and like the old saying goes…” I thought of one just as good, and said to her: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” and so she clasped my hands and willed us back into the other world. Being a gentleman, I cannot speak of the fulfillment of our love for one another. It was merely a facet of my time there, and one I had to learn to accept. The morals of our society are not those of the other world, and so there: things are just different, and I had to accept that. So much peace did Alice and I find in that simple acceptance, that I was feeling loathe to ever be leaving her side. Night was nearly past in other world, and it was surely morning on “Earth”. I was laying in the Garden of Delight, staring up at the stars after a lengthy, carefree slumber. I could not recall a night when I had slept so well! Alice and I had spent hours giving in to all that we had held back before, and her added experience with her powers kept the land stable enough, although a few times I thought I heard thunder and lightning coming from the direction of the jungle. Thus was I left tired, but content! She awoke me with a kiss, and said to me that it was nearly time for me to go home, lest I become a part of the green forever. “But Alice, there is nothing I want more!” I exclaimed, and held her close. “Jon, you don’t know the burden of immortality. We might love each other for many centuries, but what then… would you forsake your destiny in the outer world, merely for love of me?” I then asked her if my destiny back there included love. “Yes, you will find love at last. That is part of your destiny, and you cannot turn it aside, not even for me. But lo! Every time you are out in the natural world, will you not think of your time here? You surely will, and that is my gift to you as a goddess of Faerie. The magic and memory of our time together: in all its’ glory! You never treated me as a child, seeing me as I truly was. Yet, you never took advantage of me, waiting for my consent to love me. For that, I will treasure you always, most beloved of mortals.” And I saw that she was changed. She was a goddess, no longer a child or a woman, and I had to respect her wishes. “Who are you, Alice? I mean… who have you become!” And she kissed my lips madly, giggling childishly as she sang, slowly: “Little Alice is now part of Wonderland, the two are one by universal command… a Tin Man came to find his heart, and helped little Alice to perfect her art.” And as she sang this, a sense of pure euphoria came over me. The love of a goddess, not a child, was by now coursing all about me in the green of the other world, and I was helpless before the power of such rapture. “But, I’m not made of tin… see, I’m fine.” I stated, echoing words spoken by Alice not so very long ago. She pulled my face close to hers with an inhuman strength, kissed me again with intense passion, and said, simply: “I know. I figured out the joke.” And suddenly, we were elsewhere: the Eternal City, in a million different realities. Each one we stopped at was a parallel to the reality I knew. The fabric of the Multiverse spun all about me, and I knew that we were at the center of it. The hub of a massive wheel, that spins forever and never ceases. Chaos, but with a law all its’ own! Alice and I were symbols in a greater system of symbols, and each had its’ place in creation. I had a destiny, even if I knew it not… for all living things do. The green is all around us, and the other world is just one facet of our own. For a single world in the Multiverse is want to have many facets indeed! I was drifting away from this ecstatic vision, and coming down from a universal high. There was no place to go now, but back.
I was holding unto Alice, and she was holding unto me as we journeyed without movement through the fabric of reality and time itself. I could see why it could not be changed… for, to change time you would have to change it for not just one world, but countless others linked to it by unseen parallel lines. And perhaps in changing what was, you could run the risk of totally destroying all that is. Chaos without law to temper it is no longer itself, but anarchy. And so, even a goddess could be bound by rules and limitations! “I understand everything now.” I said, and Alice smiled and was glad that I did. Eventually, we came back to the Eternal City, where Alice sat upon the previously vacant throne. “Now you know why all had to transpire as it did, and could not have been otherwise.” She stated certainly. And seeing her enthroned in moonlit majesty, I realized that only the truth was hers to speak, for a goddess had no cause to lie. I came to rest at the foot of the throne, and felt her hand upon my weary shoulder, comforting and sure. Then, she clambered off the throne and got down to my level. She was just a child once more, and not a goddess. “Jon, my beloved… do not despair so! If two souls are meant to be together, then the powers of the Multiverse will find a way to unite them. Besides, you never did ask me what corner of the Multiverse I came from, and so I only told you when… not where.” And there was something in that oddly worded sentence of hers that had betrayed a secret knowledge of which I knew nothing, and dared never ask her about. “I love you, Alice, and I will trust in your wisdom that all will transpire as it should… as it must.” Alice looked around at the ancient hall, and cheerily said: “I think I’ll add some green curtains over there, and there. And perhaps I’ll get the elves to work on repairing the old place, too. Oh, Jon, my darling… it is so exciting… I’m going to restore this whole city to its’ former glory! I’ll have all the time in the world for such a project, too. I’ll have to bring you over through your dreams, to show you once it is complete. It will be utterly magnificent!” But I confessed that I might not live long enough for that, and Alice merely giggled, saying: “You’ll not be immortal, Jon, but you will live far beyond a single life’s span and still enjoy much youth and life. That is my parting gift to you, and the nature of your long stay here in the other world!” And then she kissed me with a woman’s passion one final time. One final time, I responded with all the love within me. I was emptying all of it into that single kiss, holding on as long as I could to such a golden moment in time. Or perhaps, beyond time so to speak. We never said goodbye, for I knew we would meet again. That was our fate. I felt the green far away, and the other world grew distant. Such a thin veil lies therein, but it covers the vastest distances of all.
My last sensation of the other world was of Alice as the resident goddess of the Eternal City, enthroned in its’ emerald glory. That city always had a queen, and she would rule it with the utmost compassion. In some parallel worlds, she ruled a splendid kingdom where perhaps I reigned with her as king. But in this corner of creation, the one we think is the heart of it all she sits alone in the ruins and remembers the love we shared together for so brief a time. She will be there until the end of time, and I will keep her in my heart at least that long. Naturally, I will love again! Life goes on… but my unspeakable, forbidden passion for a lonely goddess will remain locked away in a special place in my soul, for all eternity. As I made my way back home from the woods where Alice sent me, the woods where our journey began… I felt different than when I had first entered therein. I no longer desired death, but a greater zeal in living was now mine. Was this, then, some wild oat I needed to sow, in order to embrace life at last and put the sorrows of the past behind me? Perhaps, but also it was more than that! My awareness of this world and all the worlds that surround us has increased. Maybe I am on my way to becoming something more, just as Alice was. Only time will tell. I could see the road now, and hear the noise of cars. It was morning, and people were going to work. I would be taking the day off, though. It was time I stopped taking life so bloody seriously, and just started living, and enjoying life. As I was walking down the street, a tall blonde woman was walking towards me. She wore a thin, white blouse with puffy sleeves, and baggy pink pants. Her feet were adorned with silver-colored sandals. Her eyes were blue mirrors of my own, and I knew at once her name was Alice. “Good morning, Alice! Might I say, you look beautiful today?” and she replied: “Thanks, but I think you have me confused with someone else. My name is not Alice, it’s Amy.” I apologized and asked if she would like me to buy her a coffee or a juice someplace. “After all, I don’t drink.” Amy then replied: “Neither do I. Sure, let’s go get a juice. So, what’s your name?” I told her my name, and she said: “Odd, I have the strangest feeling that we’ve met somewhere before.” And I confessed the same notion about her: “Perhaps we met in a dream, Amy! Sometimes, people can meet for the first time… in dreams.” Somewhere in the green, Alice was watching and she was content. She said to herself, for I could not hear her say it: “There are many parallel worlds, Jon. I did not ever once say I came from yours, and lo! You have met my counterpart, already. She is no queen, but I think she will make you very happy. After all, it is your destiny.” And to think, just the day before… I was thinking about giving up on life! One day, I must put my experience to paper, though likely no one will believe me. Amy would understand, and perhaps think the notion a romantic one, that we had met before, but in another form.
Interlude Five: The Hour Draws Nigh…
“Oh so tender is the heart, and foolish the mind! All a-dancing with spectacles golden sublime… but where do such dreams of fair shining hue, with all their power issue forth from ever true?” She was singing this song today, my beloved queen. Today is the hour of our transformation, when the green of the other world will be reborn anew… and from this eternal city at the heart of all the universes around us, creation itself shall be recreated. My hands are clasped in hers now, as we sit on the steps of the grand dais before the Emerald Throne. Outside, the masses are gathered of those who dwell in this realm that are loyal to us. But who is not? I scoured the land in search of dissent, finding none. Just because some are not present for this event, does not mean they love us less. Many have families and the illusion of jobs to perform. Not all brought into the other world realize it is a place in which you may do as you please so long as you harm no one. The ancient creed of the Luciferian ideal: “Do as you will, shall be the whole of the law! One law under divine will. Do as you will, but harm no one.” I have often wondered how it is that people view such a rule as evil, when it is clearly wisdom. There is a tingling in my palms, as some energy courses about between and through Silveranna and myself. The energy is building, becoming more powerful, almost tangible to behold! We join our lips in a passionate kiss, and the energies in each of our bodies merges in that moment, mingling and becoming one. Our eyes are closed, but I can hear the surprised sounds of those camped out to witness this event before the throne, on the whole of the ruby red carpet. What are their eyes beholding that ours cannot see? I dare not open mine, for this is a mystery of God. My palms are beginning to merge into Silveranna’s and hers into mine. Our thoughts are merging too. I remember all that she ever lived, and she remembers all I ever was. Thousands of names, thousands of lifetimes, so many worlds and eras! Dark and light… yang and yin… negative and positive… female and male are we: am I. I move my limbs and there is one pair of limbs to move: my own, which is also hers. I open my eyes, and see the multitudes gathered to witness this moment. I am not a male or a female any longer. Nor am I mortal… but am I divine? I decide to test and see. I stand, and as I do some retainers rush forward to clothe me in an emerald-colored gown. The same gown the ancient queen Ozymandia once wore. My face is feminine, smooth, and beautiful. Like an angel’s must be! I can see it reflected in a mirror hanging on one of the walls. I have no gender, though, nor have I a need for one. The color of my hair is a mostly my own… but with streaks of Silveranna’s all throughout it, like tendrils of light snaking through my darker tresses. My eyes are emerald green, with no white in them at all! My build is feminine, but I have not a woman’s breasts. I am wholly androgynous now, and within me is a tremendous power. All I need do I open my mouth and give forth the command… and then, they will know that I am divine. They will all love me!
Epilogue…
I was shaving one evening, when I heard a mighty storm outside. Amy was asleep, waiting for me to come to bed, and I was getting the nightly business done. The wind was howling like a tornado, and somewhere far off I could hear thunder and the sound of lightning striking the plains of the small town we lived in. All of a sudden, the mirror reflected a familiar scene of the cosmos, and I knew who was sending me this vision. “I’ll never forget, either, Alice. How can I, when every night I fall asleep gazing into your adult face? In a way, we got our wish after all, didn’t we! And whether I cal you Alice or Amy, my love for you is the same. It will endure forever.” And then the storm subsided, and I saw Alice’s face amidst the stars in the mirror, as she said to me the last words I ever heard her speak in that form: “Thank you, Jon! I knew you would understand what I had meant when I said you had a destiny to fulfill yet. Now get back to bed, I’m getting lonely.” Sure enough, Amy was lonely. I held her close, and we made love. When it was over, she said to me: “Thank you! I knew you would understand my desire.”
Afterward…
Jonathan Coronis was not immortal, but he aged so slowly that he may as well have been. In time, he watched his beloved Amy age and die… and saw the changing of whole nations. He wept many bitter tears, and knew just as many heartfelt joys. He fought in wars, and could not die. He sought peace, but could not be content. He had to find his beloved again, and so he sought the wisdom of sages and holy men the world over, only to realize just how little they knew of creation compared to him. He had walked where they did not, and so after wandering for many lifetimes of men… he returned to the woods where all of this began. The land had changed, but those woods were still there, near that now-ancient cemetery. He went into the forest, and no one ever saw him emerge from it again. In the other world, he beheld the marvels Alice had created there and was glad to remain there as king of the Eternal City, having glimpsed those marvels only in dreams since leaving it before. This was, in the end, his destiny… and it took him lifetimes to prepare for it. But now he was home, at the only place he ever really felt at home in! His eternal struggle for peace was over, in this reality, even as on some other parallel world… it was beginning anew.
Interlude Six: The Last Judgment…
When I spoke, it was two voices merged into one with complete harmony. Male and female vocal patterns so perfect that it was as if they were one beautiful voice! I urged the land to change, and it changed. What was barren gave forth life, and what was living… lived to the utmost. The people changed, too. Where there had been uncertainty in any heart, there was now a profound relief. Where there has been despair and fatalism, there was now only joy. I dried away their tears, and mine was a kingdom of heavenly splendor. The other world became a paradise, the great good land of the fairy tales. And from this old, eternal city at the heart of it… the Multiverse began to feel echoes of this transformation. I was not God, but somehow God was working His / Her divine will through me, and I saw that it was good. On the world of my birth… Earth, Terra, call it any name you will… wars stopped for a single moment as people felt something shift in themselves and the world around them. A greedy man: who had been cutting down trees for money… threw down his saw and begged the heavens to forgive him. He spat on the saw, and planted a sapling instead. “What have I been doing?” was the cry of so many on that day. And following that instant came a great sorrow as people repented of the evils they had done against nature and one another. They knew I had seen their deeds, and they feared they would be judged. I had the power to judge them, but I did not. They never knew they were forgiven, that they had been given a second chance. But they were! I shifted my will into their reality, and came out amongst all the peoples of all nations on that day. At my side was a multitude of wonderful spirits from the other world, and it gave the appearance that God had descended with all His / Her angels at long last. So many of the wicked were beyond all redemption, though, but I merely smiled and beckoned them to follow me. I led the unredeemed of countless nations to one single place: Mount Etna, where of old the Greeks believed the pit of Tartarus… of Hell… to be. I stretched forth my hand, and they climbed the slopes of the mountain, many dying on the way. I bade the ancient volcano to live once again, and it did. The fires of Hell were below them, and I asked the damned if they felt unworthy of the paradise to come. I judged no one, for they judged themselves. Their own guilt, and no commandment of mine, then delivered them into the flames that received them hungrily. Then, the volcano erupted and all the evils of modern times passed from this world. On other worlds, similar events were transpiring, for I was now the hub around which the greatest of all wheels now turned. I went forth from Mount Etna, and tried to decide where I should build my earthly kingdom. I, and the inhabitants of the other world, had transcended the ancient boundaries, and so our world and that of “reality” were merging together, and becoming one. Soon, all of humanity would be nearly immortal. How ironic, for just yesterday they were on the verge of utter annihilation: as nuclear weapons lay pointed at this country or that! “Today, they forget how to use those weapons, and with a song I will send those instruments of chaos into the sun to perish.” I sang, that day, and as I did… the world knew peace at last. One law under divine will. That law was love.
A Faerie Tale of the Multiverse
Interlude Three: The Fountain of Youth…
As a king, I am unused to thinking like a child, but there was ever a side of me that was eternally young. As the counterpart to the divine queen of the other world, who is my reverse yet my soul’s mate at the same time, I know this to be true. Today, I ventured into a part of the other world that I had never seen before. Beyond the western country, in the purple hills of eternal twilight, there was an ancient castle once inhabited by a powerful witch who kept herself eternally young by sapping the life force of the fairest maidens she could find. Within the darkest vaults of her castle lay a fountain imbued with the blood of those long-slain maidens. It seems the other world refused to grant the witch the usual gift of near-immortality given to all others of a purer heart who are brought into the realm. Therefore, she found a darker path to the same gift… but, apparently, met her end through other means, leaving behind her only the castle and its’ twisted secret. I was here to destroy the fountain and ensure that, once the land was transformed, no other dark power could follow in the witch’s footsteps and force immortality from the land. Having braved the steep trail up the craggy mountain where the castle was perched, and having made my way through the abandoned halls… abandoned by all save strange animals that were part bat and part monkey that is… I now found myself in a tomb whose walls were lined with human bones. On the floor was carved a pentagram in human blood, and in the middle of it was the dark and terrible fountain. However, the blood it once spayed forth had long since dried up, even though there still did lie: the skeletal remains of the maidens the witch slew to fuel the vile artifact. I reached out to touch the fountain, and from it blood poured forth anew. Nearby was a bucket of pure, clean water and I walked over to it, making the sign of the cross over it and picking it up. Almost upon instinct, I hurled the blessed water into the fountain and the dead maidens each rose up and screamed in shrill, banshee-like cries. Then, they fell to the floor once again and crumbled into dust as the vile fountain ceased to bleed, and never bled again. I touched the horrid decoration one final time, and was satisfied to see that it was without any further life or power. I prayed for the souls of the maidens to find peace at last and made my way from that evil fortress, content that it would now serve only as a tomb and nothing more. This was the only true threat to my plans for the other world, and now that it was dealt with I could consider the land in no immediate danger. The great day of transformation was drawing nigh, and that would be dangerous enough a happening for all. Mine would be the hand to shape the land’s fate.
Chapter Four: The Eternal City…
It was not an emerald city, as I had nearly expected it to be. But at the time I asked that question, I was convinced that I was dreaming and perhaps in some distant Land of Oz, so to speak. Yet, I was awake and this was but another face of reality! So ignorant was I of the multiple layers of the universe, and the parallel levels of the world we live in. But I grew wiser, before the end of my sojourn there. Alice and I walked hand in hand, each keeping the other in good spirits lest the land change with our mood. Soon, we came to a section of forest wherein tulips grew as tall as a child in places, and nearly as tall as a man in other places. Alice called this place the “Garden of Delights”, for the beauty of it surpassed all imagining, even in the moonlight of a night that grew ever darker. Patches of daisies grew here and there, and I picked a bunch and put them in Alice’s hair. She gave me a tulip to hold unto, its’ scent fresh and pure. “I never noticed such scents before!” I exclaimed, and Alice told how they don’t exist in the world we left behind, those scents. “Only mundane scents linger there.” And I basked in the wonder of the garden. I jested: “At least these aren’t poppies.” But my joke went over Alice’s head. “So when will we get to see the Wizard?” I smiled. Alice laughed a little, not quite getting what I meant, and replied: “The Eternal City has no ruler, no power that governs it! No wizard, nor witch… no king, nor queen. The place itself is alive with a magic of its’ own, but not in any way you or I might notice.” And having seen the many wonders of the other world thus far, I realized she was not jesting at all. Soon, we left upon a paved path made from faded yellow bricks. The irony of that was lost to Alice, but not to me. “So, we are in the Land of Oz, after all!” I finally said. Alice replied: “This place is known in all the dreams and visions of mankind. Oz, Eden, Wonderland… call it what you will, it is the same place. The same far side of reality.” And, for the first time I noticed that Alice’s sandals were silver in color. “Silver slippers and all.” I said, realizing: “And here I am, on a quest to find a heart in a way. I guess that makes me a Tin Man, eh?” And Alice simply noted: “No, you aren’t turning into tin. You’re still just fine.” But I had seen the darker side of this domain, and knew it was no perfect land of childhood joys. My jests were perhaps not in line with the truth all about me, and I knew it all too well. “How many people have crossed into this part of reality, Alice?” I inquired. She replied: “More than perhaps I have even come to know here. And mind you, I have been here a long time! It is just that, like the elves… there are folk perhaps as old as time itself in the other world. Like the folk who built the Eternal City! No one knows from whence they came, or to where they went. Like the city itself, the builders are a mystery lost to time. It is said that they came from the heavens even, but I am not certain I believe that. All anyone knows for a certainty: is that none who now dwell in this domain can claim for certainty to be the builders or their descendants.” And I stated, almost reverently: “Here today, gone tomorrow.” And Alice was delighted I understood: “Yes! Exactly. That is within the power of this realm… it can attract people to it for a time and then let them go when that time is passed. That is why we must hasten in our quest! Before our time together is up, we must fulfill the love that is in our hearts for one another. We might not ever get a second chance at this.” And it was ironic, that she who showed me that life was worth living… was so bound by constrains of time, lest life and love pass her by. Was I much different… was life itself, any different? We spend too much time waiting for love, when sometimes it is right in front of us, waiting. Age is the price we pay for delaying too long, and death lies at the end of that road, for none can turn back the years, no matter the wishing. “We will succeed, Alice! I can promise you that with certainty.”
We then crossed fields where the grass grew so high that we had to keep close to one another and brush it aside with sticks so we could not become lost. I could hear the cawing of crows of immense size, and wondered if the land had grown in size… or if we had instead decreased in our own stature. I did not ask, for I did not want to know. Sometimes we could hear singing far off, only to endure hours of maddening silence. We came to a cliff whereon sat a gigantic sphinx, who guarded a slender stone bridge across a bottomless chasm. The sphinx asked us: “What is fresh in the beginning, easily savored in the middle, but oft forgotten before the end?” and I offered the only answer that came to my mind: “Life! It is fresh when you are young, it is easy to savor when you grow up, but in death it must be forgotten.” And the sphinx told us that the answer sufficed. We could pass. Alice told me: “You know, he asks a riddle unique to each person who would pass. The answer always lies inside of them, but not everyone realizes it. Some seek the answer without, and never get to pass this bridge.” But we passed with ease and with certainty. Below us, the roar of dragons could be heard, and fiery mists could be seen. “Is that Hell?” I asked Alice, who said merely: “Only to some.” And she said no more of it than that. Once across the chasm, we passed towering mountains along paths choked with vegetation in places. Soon, we descended into a deep valley filled with an overgrown jungle. The air was warm, but not unpleasant, and soon we were once again finding ourselves surrounded by more familiar woodlands, much like those we had left behind us hours before. We stopped for a time by some ancient ruins, where the moss and vines covered the old structures like a skin covers a living thing. I was lying on one of the stone, staring up at the leafy canopy and the evening shadows above, when Alice laid down next to me, and wrapped a slender arm across my chest. “Will you promise to dream of me, at least sometimes?” she asked of me. “You mean, when my time here is at an end and I must go back?” I asked. She nodded, and I agreed. “I will dream of you, Alice, if you choose to walk in my dreams.” And she agreed to walk in them any time she could find the means to enter therein. She kissed my chest, and I fought the desire to kiss her in return. “Soon…” I whispered to her. “Soon, we will have our hearts’ desires.” And Alice was worried: “I hope I still look pretty as a grown up!” And then it was I realized just how much she was still a worried little girl. I found myself running my fingers through her long, curly hair, and her kisses returned. I did not try to stop them this time. They were only kisses, after all. But her eyes! They were not a child’s eyes any longer, and I could see that too. Somewhere in the distance, thunder sounded and lightning was striking the land hard. The passion she was holding back must have been intense! Clouds blocked the moon, and in the utter darkness that followed I could feel her kisses upon my face as well. Hoping the dark would conceal the deed… I kissed her back, and could not contain the affection in those kisses. “I love you, Jon!” she whispered. And I found myself whispering back: “I love you too, Alice.” But kissing was all we did, and soon the clouds passed with the passions we got in check once again. “Alice…” I asked, “If we succeed, and if we know love without the present limits, will it tear this world apart as surely as if we deny our love forever?” and Alice put her gentle hands upon my chest, caressing softly. She said: “If it does, I hope we go out smiling!” and her mad thoughts matched my own. “Can you see now, my true age?” she said. And indeed, I could.
Beneath the starlight and amidst the haze of the jungle, Alice and I made our way to an immense ruined city. Once, the slender marble minarets and crystal domes must have been magnificent… for even now, reclaimed by nature, it was breathtaking to behold the Eternal City. Instead of an emerald city, it was a city covered by emerald vegetation, where once perhaps crowds gathered and people sang. Today, only the wind sang through those avenues. Only the wind, and the crickets! A sense of profound peace hung about the site, even though it was at first lonely and abandoned to the eye. There was magic there, as in the tales Alice had told me of the place. But would that magic grant our wishes? We walked silently and reverently into the ruins of the great palace at the heart of the city. Therein, was a massive hall of columns decorated with entwining serpents that curled from the base of each column to the ceiling… to the ancients, they were symbols of wisdom. Wisdom that was here lost to time. We climbed the steps up the dais upon which the great throne sat, across cracked and crumbling stones. High, arched windows let in the moonlight, casting the room in a pale hue that was many times the shades of night. Above the throne, now vacant, was a huge statue. It was a head, totally bald, of some man who perhaps had been king here, and upon it was carved at the base the words: “I am the great and terrible. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!” and therein was the irony. Time had reduced those works to this, and yet still they remained. The arrogance of human endeavor, even here, could never be wholly wiped clean by nature. That is why this place was so peaceful… because that arrogance was no more. I looked to Alice, who appeared afraid, unsure of what to say or to do. “There is nothing here. Only abandoned halls, and broken dreams of people long gone. People apparently too selfish to have granted wishes, if this inscription is to be understood.” I stated. “Do we…” and Alice appeared unsure of what to say or do. “Do we give up? No, we…” she began, but then a woman appeared to us from out of the shadows. Rather, the ghost of a woman! She was tall, with cascading black hair down her back, and she was pale, her skin bone white. She wore a flowing gown of emerald green, with dark green ribbons around her waist. Upon her head, she wore a golden circlet with two large red artificial roses upon the sides. The circlet had an emerald set into it at the front, and there was something familiar about this spirit. She spoke with a voice that sounded far away, ever distant and cold: “In life I was Ozymandia, the rightful ruler of this land after he whose image you see before you was cast down! I was born a boy named Tip, and became a woman when my heart’s desire was granted to me. That was, to become ruler of this land! No male could, and so I was made female by the powers of this place that existed back then, in those golden ages of which my reign was the brightest. But the powers had something to work with, for I was born to the proper rulers of this city, and so was royalty all along! My wish therefore, was easy to grant, once I became princess rather than prince. A powerful sorceress aided me, and so it came to pass that my wish was made reality. But lo! Who are you, that comes to these ruins?”
But before I could answer the spirit, the sound of hoof-beats echoed on the ruined cobblestones outside the hall. Suddenly, into the hall rode my dark side incarnate: the shadowy demon I had evaded confronting for so long. Now, it would end for both of us. I spread my arms wide and happily said to it: “Welcome, brother! And what will you ask of the good queen?” And the dark wraith of myself said menacingly: “Look at me, brother. Do not turn your gaze aside, as you have done in the past. See yourself in me, and know that we are one and the same.” I replied cheerily: “Two sides of the same coin… as this realm is to the Earth I was born into.” I looked deep into that featureless face, and saw within the shadows the mirror of my very own countenance looking back at me. “I have not failed, as you can see.” I exclaimed, and the wraith stated matter-of-factly: “You have, and yet you have not.” And my hands clasped the dark one’s, embracing the cold of their touch. Every sorrow of my life was in that touch, and every loss I had learned to put behind me. Yet, those things were a part of me, even shaping me into the man I was now to one degree or another. I could not lose them, for they helped to define me. What is joy, without sorrows to make us appreciate it? What is Heaven, without Hell to make us want to do right? What is a man, save for a mixture of many things! Take any of those things away, and what are you then? You are nothing. And, as surely as I embraced this wisdom, I felt my dark side merging with me, the shadow passing into the light that casts it before or behind it. No more menace was left in it, and no more fear had I for it. We were one, as we had always been and would always be. Alice had seen my darkness, as well as my light, along our journey… and she too did not fear it. That lent me the power to unite with the darkness at last, and become a whole person. A child had become my strength, and so I turned bravely to regard the long-dead queen of the Eternal City and answer her. “I am one who has come far, through trials and troubles as well as delights aplenty. I have come to ask of you a favor, the granting of this little girl’s heartfelt wish. Will you do this thing for us?” And the specter of the queen simply stated, coldly and without even a hint of human emotion: “That is not a name! State your name, and the name of your companion. I can grant you information, but you must allow yourself to be recognized first.” Information was not what we came here for, but I reasoned that perhaps the granting of wishes might be as simple as learning the right information to make them come true… and so, in a reasonable way I came to the conclusion that this being might be able to help us. We had only to tell her our names, and all would be well! That was the first time since coming to that realm, that I believed a complete lie.
Interlude Four: The Hand of God…
One more interlude after this, and the great play would be over, the actors having played their roles to perfection. I was a king, and yet that was but a passing role, a mask in the art of the theatre that was the other world. Soon, I would play no more, for my true work and final calling would begin in earnest. I sought out the domain of the ancient sorceress spoken of in the lore of the other world, who lived in the distant south. Supposedly, she was one of four witches who represented the cardinal points of the compass. Two of these witches were long dead, one had vanished altogether, but the sorceress of the south remained. It was said that she was waiting for someone to come and release her from supernatural bonds, and I felt this my duty before the hour of change was come. The lands of the south were not too unlike those lands elsewhere in the grounds of the other world, were: nature now reigned and mortals served the natural order with reverence. At one point, I passed a forest in which a huge and ancient lion roamed freely amongst other animals: they who served it like a king. The lion regarded my passing with a look whereby if he could speak, I think he would have… but the curious moment passed and I walked on hurriedly. I passed a land of shattered buildings, seemingly made from expensive china plates and cups, a place that resembled a heap of broken shards more than the ruins of ancient habitation. And, after witnessing stranger things than words could tell of, I arrived in the land of the southern sorceress. In a center of a circular plain surrounded by a bottomless chasm, there was her tower of ivory! A sight few in the other world have witnessed to tell of. It is said that the unworthy were cast by the sorceress into the abyss below. But I knew my cause was just… for it was to ascertain the desires of the forgotten lady herself, and not for any desires of mine. Selfless was the cause, and so a slender bridge formed whereby I could cross the chasm unhindered. In this way, I did come into that bone-white dwelling place. Within there was no one, and my voice echoed throughout empty halls as I made my way up spiraling staircases towards the topmost floor. There, I entered a room shaped of the four compass points, and aligned perfectly thereto. In the center of it, a woman was suspended weightless within a shaft of lavender light. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, more elfin fair even than the queen of the elves herself. Yet, her eyes were ancient and sad to gaze into, for therein did lie unfathomable burdens. I spoke to her, asking what she desired most of me before the great reshaping of all things. But she could not herself speak, and so I could not help her, or so I thought. Unthinking, I reached out my hand to touch the lady within the shaft of light, to see if I could rouse her from her endless reverie. The light faded, and so her form fell to the floor and aged in seconds, crumbling to dust before my shocked eyes. Her dying voice was carried to my ears upon a sudden wind. She thanked me for the gift of death, as the wind scattered her ashes away. I wept for her passing.
Chapter Five: A Wish Fulfilled…
I told her my name, and explained that my companion was called Alice. We told her how we came seeking the powers of this place to grant wishes, for Alice wished to grow up in body so she and I could know a deeper kind of love. Ozymandia merely stared blankly. Her eyes were black as oblivion, and her face impossible to read, for so blank was her expression. “I am sorry but your names are not known in the city’s records. Do you wish to learn about any other of the city’s prominent inhabitants? Simply press the button on the leftmost column to continue.” And it turned out this was no ghost after all. Just a holographic recording made centuries before. Alice had accidentally activated it by leaning against the column, and once I explained to my companion what a hologram was, she realized the situation for what it truly was. I found the button on that part of the column again, and pressed it. The image went on for some time, taking on the form of other once-important people now long gone. At length, it went out and we were alone in the empty great hall of the palace. Alice began to laugh, and I joined her in that laugh. “All this way, for a recorded message!” she cried out. And I exclaimed: “What, not even a man behind a curtain?” and soon, we sat down tired and exhausted on the steps of the throne’s dais, holding each other to keep comforted and not heartbroken. “Alice, are we the first to come here in recent years?” I asked. “Yes.” She said; sounding defeated at last as she looked into my eyes, her own hungry with a passion that could never now be requited. I returned that wanton stare with one no less true, and we realized the joke was on us. Then, the solution hit me. “Alice, your powers prove you are part of the green that is the very fabric of the other world. Can you not use your power over the natural world to alter time and age yourself?” But then, Alice realized: “You would have to go from the green for a time, back to your own world. Otherwise, you too would age and become old. For you are an adult now, and I am but a girl! Plus, I have yet to master that much control over my… abilities. I could end up aging too far, and having to reverse time here just to fix it. Such stresses would kill you, surely.” And I realized the truth in her words. “Plus, once I leave this realm, I might not be able to be brought back to it again.” I stated, sadly. Alice suddenly sprang into my arms and kissed me with a woman’s passion upon my lips. I returned her kiss with equal passion. She then pulled out of my arms and whispered, serenely: “That was just in case I can’t bring you back! Farewell… for now.” And so she clicked her silver sandals three times, and I found myself back in the woods past the cemetery, where my entire strange odyssey began. “Was it all a dream, after all?” I speculated. Waking dreams could be a sign of madness… but surely the girl was real enough. I called out her name, and then just simply: “Little girl!” but no answer came. I was wandering aimlessly in those woods for a time, before the absurdity of it hit me. Should I go home and forget this, or stay for a while and wait, just to see what happens? And so I opted to wait, since there was nothing more important to go home for at that time. I sat on a log and waiting, until a wooly bear caterpillar crawled unto my pinky finger. I shook it away, and waited. All this was so familiar! I longed to hear Alice’s voice, to touch her soft hair, to feel her small hands clasping mine with that strange strength that only she possessed. I should have just given in and loved her as she was, no matter the right or wrong of it in this world. She lived in a different world, and I should have realized that. There, there is no “right” or “wrong”, nor good or evil either. There was just feeling, emotion, and existence. If she will just call me back, I reasoned, then I will not deny her anything. Because I love her, even if that makes me “wrong”. Nature is the nature of the green, and that is the soul of the other world. The laws of nature are not the same as humanity’s. Like God’s, they are separate and eternal. Alice was becoming a goddess of nature, and I had to accept that. Why was it so hard for me to realize this, until now? But love is always so very hard a thing to understand in us.
Hours passed, and suddenly Alice was there. “Hello there, Jon! I hope you didn’t wait for me too long.” And I confessed that it was a long time indeed. “Oh, I’m sorry. Look, I couldn’t do it. I could not age myself even one day! That’s the law of other world, I guess. Once immortal, always immortal… plus, now that I’m one with the green of the land itself, I’d be just as immortal here on plain old basic Earth. However… other world isn’t Earth, and like the old saying goes…” I thought of one just as good, and said to her: “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” and so she clasped my hands and willed us back into the other world. Being a gentleman, I cannot speak of the fulfillment of our love for one another. It was merely a facet of my time there, and one I had to learn to accept. The morals of our society are not those of the other world, and so there: things are just different, and I had to accept that. So much peace did Alice and I find in that simple acceptance, that I was feeling loathe to ever be leaving her side. Night was nearly past in other world, and it was surely morning on “Earth”. I was laying in the Garden of Delight, staring up at the stars after a lengthy, carefree slumber. I could not recall a night when I had slept so well! Alice and I had spent hours giving in to all that we had held back before, and her added experience with her powers kept the land stable enough, although a few times I thought I heard thunder and lightning coming from the direction of the jungle. Thus was I left tired, but content! She awoke me with a kiss, and said to me that it was nearly time for me to go home, lest I become a part of the green forever. “But Alice, there is nothing I want more!” I exclaimed, and held her close. “Jon, you don’t know the burden of immortality. We might love each other for many centuries, but what then… would you forsake your destiny in the outer world, merely for love of me?” I then asked her if my destiny back there included love. “Yes, you will find love at last. That is part of your destiny, and you cannot turn it aside, not even for me. But lo! Every time you are out in the natural world, will you not think of your time here? You surely will, and that is my gift to you as a goddess of Faerie. The magic and memory of our time together: in all its’ glory! You never treated me as a child, seeing me as I truly was. Yet, you never took advantage of me, waiting for my consent to love me. For that, I will treasure you always, most beloved of mortals.” And I saw that she was changed. She was a goddess, no longer a child or a woman, and I had to respect her wishes. “Who are you, Alice? I mean… who have you become!” And she kissed my lips madly, giggling childishly as she sang, slowly: “Little Alice is now part of Wonderland, the two are one by universal command… a Tin Man came to find his heart, and helped little Alice to perfect her art.” And as she sang this, a sense of pure euphoria came over me. The love of a goddess, not a child, was by now coursing all about me in the green of the other world, and I was helpless before the power of such rapture. “But, I’m not made of tin… see, I’m fine.” I stated, echoing words spoken by Alice not so very long ago. She pulled my face close to hers with an inhuman strength, kissed me again with intense passion, and said, simply: “I know. I figured out the joke.” And suddenly, we were elsewhere: the Eternal City, in a million different realities. Each one we stopped at was a parallel to the reality I knew. The fabric of the Multiverse spun all about me, and I knew that we were at the center of it. The hub of a massive wheel, that spins forever and never ceases. Chaos, but with a law all its’ own! Alice and I were symbols in a greater system of symbols, and each had its’ place in creation. I had a destiny, even if I knew it not… for all living things do. The green is all around us, and the other world is just one facet of our own. For a single world in the Multiverse is want to have many facets indeed! I was drifting away from this ecstatic vision, and coming down from a universal high. There was no place to go now, but back.
I was holding unto Alice, and she was holding unto me as we journeyed without movement through the fabric of reality and time itself. I could see why it could not be changed… for, to change time you would have to change it for not just one world, but countless others linked to it by unseen parallel lines. And perhaps in changing what was, you could run the risk of totally destroying all that is. Chaos without law to temper it is no longer itself, but anarchy. And so, even a goddess could be bound by rules and limitations! “I understand everything now.” I said, and Alice smiled and was glad that I did. Eventually, we came back to the Eternal City, where Alice sat upon the previously vacant throne. “Now you know why all had to transpire as it did, and could not have been otherwise.” She stated certainly. And seeing her enthroned in moonlit majesty, I realized that only the truth was hers to speak, for a goddess had no cause to lie. I came to rest at the foot of the throne, and felt her hand upon my weary shoulder, comforting and sure. Then, she clambered off the throne and got down to my level. She was just a child once more, and not a goddess. “Jon, my beloved… do not despair so! If two souls are meant to be together, then the powers of the Multiverse will find a way to unite them. Besides, you never did ask me what corner of the Multiverse I came from, and so I only told you when… not where.” And there was something in that oddly worded sentence of hers that had betrayed a secret knowledge of which I knew nothing, and dared never ask her about. “I love you, Alice, and I will trust in your wisdom that all will transpire as it should… as it must.” Alice looked around at the ancient hall, and cheerily said: “I think I’ll add some green curtains over there, and there. And perhaps I’ll get the elves to work on repairing the old place, too. Oh, Jon, my darling… it is so exciting… I’m going to restore this whole city to its’ former glory! I’ll have all the time in the world for such a project, too. I’ll have to bring you over through your dreams, to show you once it is complete. It will be utterly magnificent!” But I confessed that I might not live long enough for that, and Alice merely giggled, saying: “You’ll not be immortal, Jon, but you will live far beyond a single life’s span and still enjoy much youth and life. That is my parting gift to you, and the nature of your long stay here in the other world!” And then she kissed me with a woman’s passion one final time. One final time, I responded with all the love within me. I was emptying all of it into that single kiss, holding on as long as I could to such a golden moment in time. Or perhaps, beyond time so to speak. We never said goodbye, for I knew we would meet again. That was our fate. I felt the green far away, and the other world grew distant. Such a thin veil lies therein, but it covers the vastest distances of all.
My last sensation of the other world was of Alice as the resident goddess of the Eternal City, enthroned in its’ emerald glory. That city always had a queen, and she would rule it with the utmost compassion. In some parallel worlds, she ruled a splendid kingdom where perhaps I reigned with her as king. But in this corner of creation, the one we think is the heart of it all she sits alone in the ruins and remembers the love we shared together for so brief a time. She will be there until the end of time, and I will keep her in my heart at least that long. Naturally, I will love again! Life goes on… but my unspeakable, forbidden passion for a lonely goddess will remain locked away in a special place in my soul, for all eternity. As I made my way back home from the woods where Alice sent me, the woods where our journey began… I felt different than when I had first entered therein. I no longer desired death, but a greater zeal in living was now mine. Was this, then, some wild oat I needed to sow, in order to embrace life at last and put the sorrows of the past behind me? Perhaps, but also it was more than that! My awareness of this world and all the worlds that surround us has increased. Maybe I am on my way to becoming something more, just as Alice was. Only time will tell. I could see the road now, and hear the noise of cars. It was morning, and people were going to work. I would be taking the day off, though. It was time I stopped taking life so bloody seriously, and just started living, and enjoying life. As I was walking down the street, a tall blonde woman was walking towards me. She wore a thin, white blouse with puffy sleeves, and baggy pink pants. Her feet were adorned with silver-colored sandals. Her eyes were blue mirrors of my own, and I knew at once her name was Alice. “Good morning, Alice! Might I say, you look beautiful today?” and she replied: “Thanks, but I think you have me confused with someone else. My name is not Alice, it’s Amy.” I apologized and asked if she would like me to buy her a coffee or a juice someplace. “After all, I don’t drink.” Amy then replied: “Neither do I. Sure, let’s go get a juice. So, what’s your name?” I told her my name, and she said: “Odd, I have the strangest feeling that we’ve met somewhere before.” And I confessed the same notion about her: “Perhaps we met in a dream, Amy! Sometimes, people can meet for the first time… in dreams.” Somewhere in the green, Alice was watching and she was content. She said to herself, for I could not hear her say it: “There are many parallel worlds, Jon. I did not ever once say I came from yours, and lo! You have met my counterpart, already. She is no queen, but I think she will make you very happy. After all, it is your destiny.” And to think, just the day before… I was thinking about giving up on life! One day, I must put my experience to paper, though likely no one will believe me. Amy would understand, and perhaps think the notion a romantic one, that we had met before, but in another form.
Interlude Five: The Hour Draws Nigh…
“Oh so tender is the heart, and foolish the mind! All a-dancing with spectacles golden sublime… but where do such dreams of fair shining hue, with all their power issue forth from ever true?” She was singing this song today, my beloved queen. Today is the hour of our transformation, when the green of the other world will be reborn anew… and from this eternal city at the heart of all the universes around us, creation itself shall be recreated. My hands are clasped in hers now, as we sit on the steps of the grand dais before the Emerald Throne. Outside, the masses are gathered of those who dwell in this realm that are loyal to us. But who is not? I scoured the land in search of dissent, finding none. Just because some are not present for this event, does not mean they love us less. Many have families and the illusion of jobs to perform. Not all brought into the other world realize it is a place in which you may do as you please so long as you harm no one. The ancient creed of the Luciferian ideal: “Do as you will, shall be the whole of the law! One law under divine will. Do as you will, but harm no one.” I have often wondered how it is that people view such a rule as evil, when it is clearly wisdom. There is a tingling in my palms, as some energy courses about between and through Silveranna and myself. The energy is building, becoming more powerful, almost tangible to behold! We join our lips in a passionate kiss, and the energies in each of our bodies merges in that moment, mingling and becoming one. Our eyes are closed, but I can hear the surprised sounds of those camped out to witness this event before the throne, on the whole of the ruby red carpet. What are their eyes beholding that ours cannot see? I dare not open mine, for this is a mystery of God. My palms are beginning to merge into Silveranna’s and hers into mine. Our thoughts are merging too. I remember all that she ever lived, and she remembers all I ever was. Thousands of names, thousands of lifetimes, so many worlds and eras! Dark and light… yang and yin… negative and positive… female and male are we: am I. I move my limbs and there is one pair of limbs to move: my own, which is also hers. I open my eyes, and see the multitudes gathered to witness this moment. I am not a male or a female any longer. Nor am I mortal… but am I divine? I decide to test and see. I stand, and as I do some retainers rush forward to clothe me in an emerald-colored gown. The same gown the ancient queen Ozymandia once wore. My face is feminine, smooth, and beautiful. Like an angel’s must be! I can see it reflected in a mirror hanging on one of the walls. I have no gender, though, nor have I a need for one. The color of my hair is a mostly my own… but with streaks of Silveranna’s all throughout it, like tendrils of light snaking through my darker tresses. My eyes are emerald green, with no white in them at all! My build is feminine, but I have not a woman’s breasts. I am wholly androgynous now, and within me is a tremendous power. All I need do I open my mouth and give forth the command… and then, they will know that I am divine. They will all love me!
Epilogue…
I was shaving one evening, when I heard a mighty storm outside. Amy was asleep, waiting for me to come to bed, and I was getting the nightly business done. The wind was howling like a tornado, and somewhere far off I could hear thunder and the sound of lightning striking the plains of the small town we lived in. All of a sudden, the mirror reflected a familiar scene of the cosmos, and I knew who was sending me this vision. “I’ll never forget, either, Alice. How can I, when every night I fall asleep gazing into your adult face? In a way, we got our wish after all, didn’t we! And whether I cal you Alice or Amy, my love for you is the same. It will endure forever.” And then the storm subsided, and I saw Alice’s face amidst the stars in the mirror, as she said to me the last words I ever heard her speak in that form: “Thank you, Jon! I knew you would understand what I had meant when I said you had a destiny to fulfill yet. Now get back to bed, I’m getting lonely.” Sure enough, Amy was lonely. I held her close, and we made love. When it was over, she said to me: “Thank you! I knew you would understand my desire.”
Afterward…
Jonathan Coronis was not immortal, but he aged so slowly that he may as well have been. In time, he watched his beloved Amy age and die… and saw the changing of whole nations. He wept many bitter tears, and knew just as many heartfelt joys. He fought in wars, and could not die. He sought peace, but could not be content. He had to find his beloved again, and so he sought the wisdom of sages and holy men the world over, only to realize just how little they knew of creation compared to him. He had walked where they did not, and so after wandering for many lifetimes of men… he returned to the woods where all of this began. The land had changed, but those woods were still there, near that now-ancient cemetery. He went into the forest, and no one ever saw him emerge from it again. In the other world, he beheld the marvels Alice had created there and was glad to remain there as king of the Eternal City, having glimpsed those marvels only in dreams since leaving it before. This was, in the end, his destiny… and it took him lifetimes to prepare for it. But now he was home, at the only place he ever really felt at home in! His eternal struggle for peace was over, in this reality, even as on some other parallel world… it was beginning anew.
Interlude Six: The Last Judgment…
When I spoke, it was two voices merged into one with complete harmony. Male and female vocal patterns so perfect that it was as if they were one beautiful voice! I urged the land to change, and it changed. What was barren gave forth life, and what was living… lived to the utmost. The people changed, too. Where there had been uncertainty in any heart, there was now a profound relief. Where there has been despair and fatalism, there was now only joy. I dried away their tears, and mine was a kingdom of heavenly splendor. The other world became a paradise, the great good land of the fairy tales. And from this old, eternal city at the heart of it… the Multiverse began to feel echoes of this transformation. I was not God, but somehow God was working His / Her divine will through me, and I saw that it was good. On the world of my birth… Earth, Terra, call it any name you will… wars stopped for a single moment as people felt something shift in themselves and the world around them. A greedy man: who had been cutting down trees for money… threw down his saw and begged the heavens to forgive him. He spat on the saw, and planted a sapling instead. “What have I been doing?” was the cry of so many on that day. And following that instant came a great sorrow as people repented of the evils they had done against nature and one another. They knew I had seen their deeds, and they feared they would be judged. I had the power to judge them, but I did not. They never knew they were forgiven, that they had been given a second chance. But they were! I shifted my will into their reality, and came out amongst all the peoples of all nations on that day. At my side was a multitude of wonderful spirits from the other world, and it gave the appearance that God had descended with all His / Her angels at long last. So many of the wicked were beyond all redemption, though, but I merely smiled and beckoned them to follow me. I led the unredeemed of countless nations to one single place: Mount Etna, where of old the Greeks believed the pit of Tartarus… of Hell… to be. I stretched forth my hand, and they climbed the slopes of the mountain, many dying on the way. I bade the ancient volcano to live once again, and it did. The fires of Hell were below them, and I asked the damned if they felt unworthy of the paradise to come. I judged no one, for they judged themselves. Their own guilt, and no commandment of mine, then delivered them into the flames that received them hungrily. Then, the volcano erupted and all the evils of modern times passed from this world. On other worlds, similar events were transpiring, for I was now the hub around which the greatest of all wheels now turned. I went forth from Mount Etna, and tried to decide where I should build my earthly kingdom. I, and the inhabitants of the other world, had transcended the ancient boundaries, and so our world and that of “reality” were merging together, and becoming one. Soon, all of humanity would be nearly immortal. How ironic, for just yesterday they were on the verge of utter annihilation: as nuclear weapons lay pointed at this country or that! “Today, they forget how to use those weapons, and with a song I will send those instruments of chaos into the sun to perish.” I sang, that day, and as I did… the world knew peace at last. One law under divine will. That law was love.
Published 27th Mar 2015
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Anonymous
31st Mar 2015 11:33am
Jessica,dear sister,this surely could be publishing material,youre a born story teller for sure as you tell from the heart.
This is a tale to sink in slow so I will put it on my list.
Kind regards
Fay
This is a tale to sink in slow so I will put it on my list.
Kind regards
Fay
Hey there, sister! Super happy you're enjoying part two of this tale. Thanks for the high praise of it also! I do indeed weave such stories from the heart and let the worlds and characters I create from there live and breathe with a bit of their own life. I've always believed that to be the mark of a good storyteller and writer, so that is the way I go about it. I totally agree with you about taking your time to read this at the proper pace... I've oft found that epics like this are always best taken at their own pace and not rushed through, since there are so many subtle levels and layers to the story and so much to be discovered and fascinated by therein! Super pleased to see you've enjoyed both parts thus far. Thanks so much for taking the time to post your delightful comments upon them too! They are always welcome. :D
