Chapter 2: Unanswered Questions

Wonder’s first day in Ur turned into Wonder’s first night, which then turned into his second day, and on and on for several more days while he and Koro walked, jumped and flew through Groddle Forest. It turned out that Wonder did quite enjoy jumping—though he would have also liked to try flying—and he did a lot of it, even when it wasn’t strictly necessary. As they walked, jumped and flew Wonder would ask Koro questions and Koro would answer to the best of her ability. Whenever he would ask about Koro’s past Koro would try to steer the conversation toward other things which turned out to not be much of a problem because Wonder was still extremely easily distracted by all of the things around him.

Over first few days he asked about the world and its people, where it had all come from and where it all went. Koro, not being a Glitch herself, tried to tell Wonder whatever she could recall. It turns out she had been watching the Glitchen quite a bit before everyone disappeared and had learned a good amount about their beliefs and practices. She didn’t have an answer for everything (“Why do the streets have such funny names?”) and not all of the answers she gave were accurate, but she did her best to be helpful.

And so they wandered aimlessly for a while without a clear goal in mind. When you live in a world after it has ended there doesn’t seem to be much point in having a point, or so Koro reasoned. They never did encounter any other Glitchen, but they did occasionally come across a piggy or butterfly ambling as aimlessly as they were. Koro wasn’t much help in explaining how they might be useful and the animals themselves weren’t very forthcoming, so they mostly just let each other pass.

While they never found another Glitch they did find plenty of evidence that there had been many around at one time. There were objects and food and drink strewn about everywhere. “What happened here?” Wonder asked one day while they were trekking through a particularly messy street. Wonder had shown much interest in individual objects and their purposes, but this was the first time he really considered the mess as a whole.

“Well, as far as I can tell everyone knew the world was ending—or at least they thought it was—so they figured why keep the place tidy? Instead they threw a giant party and this is what’s left.”

Wonder considered that answer for the rest of the day and much of the next. He appreciated all of the new items he was learning about and he especially appreciated the food and drinks left around since he didn’t know how to prepare it for himself and Koro couldn’t teach him, but the thought of a world so suddenly abandoned made him sad.

They continued wandering through the forest until they came to a meadow. After the meadow they found themselves climbing higher up into the mountains. They had been hiking through the mountainous region—Groddle Heights according to Koro—for going on three days when they reached a dead end street.

This wasn’t the first dead end they had come upon. Ordinarily they would just turn around and walk the opposite way for a while, but this walking and jumping and flying had been going on for ten days and Wonder was beginning to wonder if they were just going to continue to do this forever.

“Can we stop here and rest a while?” Wonder stood near the stone that marked the end of the street.

“Sure. Is everything OK?” Koro landed on a low hanging tree branch nearby.

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I know I don’t understand a lot of things about this world, and I really love walking with you and seeing it, but I feel like there’s got to be something more than this. I mean, what did all those other Glitchen do that lived here before?”

“I don’t know, kid. I really don’t. I mean, I can tell you what I saw, but I didn’t really know any Glitchen personally so it’s hard for me to know their reasons.”

“OK, well, that’s another thing. How do you know so much about the Glitchen without really knowing anything about them? I thought you said you were from before?” Wonder started to pace uneasily. Talking about these things was starting to get him worked up, which had never happened to him before, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Pacing seemed like a natural thing to do.

“Well,” Koro started, but was already at a loss of how to answer. “The thing is, I saw quite a bit of their—your culture—“

Wonder cut her off. “You keep saying that, but it seems like you can’t even answer half of what I ask you!” He was really getting going.

“I know, it’s just—“

“Like this thing,” Wonder pointed to the stone carving. “We’ve seen a dozen of these or more, one at the end of every dead end street, but you can’t even tell me what they’re for!” And with that he slapped the top of the stone and everything went black.

<< Chapter 1: First Steps | NOTES | Chapter 3: Alone Again >>

Chapter 2: Unanswered Questions

Wonder’s first day in Ur turned into Wonder’s first night, which then turned into her second day, and on and on for several more days while she and Koro walked, jumped and flew through Groddle Forest. It turned out that Wonder did quite enjoy jumping—though she would have also liked to try flying—and she did a lot of it, even when it wasn’t strictly necessary. As they walked, jumped and flew Wonder would ask Koro questions and Koro would answer to the best of her ability. Whenever she would ask about Koro’s past Koro would try to steer the conversation toward other things which turned out to not be much of a problem because Wonder was still extremely easily distracted by all of the things around her.

Over first few days she asked about the world and its people, where it had all come from and where it all went. Koro, not being a Glitch herself, tried to tell Wonder whatever she could recall. It turns out she had been watching the Glitchen quite a bit before everyone disappeared and had learned a good amount about their beliefs and practices. She didn’t have an answer for everything (“Why do the streets have such funny names?”) and not all of the answers she gave were accurate, but she did her best to be helpful.

And so they wandered aimlessly for a while without a clear goal in mind. When you live in a world after it has ended there doesn’t seem to be much point in having a point, or so Koro reasoned. They never did encounter any other Glitchen, but they did occasionally come across a piggy or butterfly ambling as aimlessly as they were. Koro wasn’t much help in explaining how they might be useful and the animals themselves weren’t very forthcoming, so they mostly just let each other pass.

While they never found another Glitch they did find plenty of evidence that there had been many around at one time. There were objects and food and drink strewn about everywhere. “What happened here?” Wonder asked one day while they were trekking through a particularly messy street. Wonder had shown much interest in individual objects and their purposes, but this was the first time she really considered the mess as a whole.

“Well, as far as I can tell everyone knew the world was ending—or at least they thought it was—so they figured why keep the place tidy? Instead they threw a giant party and this is what’s left.”

Wonder considered that answer for the rest of the day and much of the next. She appreciated all of the new items she was learning about and she especially appreciated the food and drinks left around since she didn’t know how to prepare it for herself and Koro couldn’t teach her, but the thought of a world so suddenly abandoned made her sad.

They continued wandering through the forest until they came to a meadow. After the meadow they found themselves climbing higher up into the mountains. They had been hiking through the mountainous region—Groddle Heights according to Koro—for going on three days when they reached a dead end street.

This wasn’t the first dead end they had come upon. Ordinarily they would just turn around and walk the opposite way for a while, but this walking and jumping and flying had been going on for ten days and Wonder was beginning to wonder if they were just going to continue to do this forever.

“Can we stop here and rest a while?” Wonder stood near the stone that marked the end of the street.

“Sure. Is everything OK?” Koro landed on a low hanging tree branch nearby.

“Yes. No. I don’t know. I know I don’t understand a lot of things about this world, and I really love walking with you and seeing it, but I feel like there’s got to be something more than this. I mean, what did all those other Glitchen do that lived here before?”

“I don’t know, kid. I really don’t. I mean, I can tell you what I saw, but I didn’t really know any Glitchen personally so it’s hard for me to know their reasons.”

“OK, well, that’s another thing. How do you know so much about the Glitchen without really knowing anything about them? I thought you said you were from before?” Wonder started to pace uneasily. Talking about these things was starting to get her worked up, which had never happened to her before, and she wasn’t sure how to deal with it. Pacing seemed like a natural thing to do.

“Well,” Koro started, but was already at a loss of how to answer. “The thing is, I saw quite a bit of their—your culture—“

Wonder cut her off. “You keep saying that, but it seems like you can’t even answer half of what I ask you!” She was really getting going.

“I know, it’s just—“

“Like this thing,” Wonder pointed to the stone carving. “We’ve seen a dozen of these or more, one at the end of every dead end street, but you can’t even tell me what they’re for!” And with that she slapped the top of the stone and everything went black.

<< Chapter 1: First Steps | NOTES | Chapter 3: Alone Again >>

Chapter 1: First Steps

The Glitch stared blankly at the world around her for several minutes. Her head was still spinning from the process of being freshly imagined and she wasn’t sure what to do just yet.

“I have a body, that’s important,” she thought. “Appendages in a useful number. Lots of skin, and in such a lovely color too. Is that yellow? Perhaps blue? I’m not quite sure which colors are which. That’s something to investigate later.” Her mind was rapidly expanding to take in all the new information available to one so recently thought into existence.

“I suppose maybe I should try standing up,” she said aloud to no one in particular since no one was around to hear it anyway. “Hey! I can talk!” she exclaimed. “I’m sure this will come in most handy.”

She slowly got to her feet and did a few squats and leg bends to get a feel for her new legs. She turned and bent her arms at the elbows to test for range of motion. She flexed her fingers and toes. She opened her mouth and blinked her eyes. She tried to close her nose and ears, but nothing happened. “Must be defective,” she thought. “Oh well, nobody’s perfect.” She swiveled her neck and tried to take in the forest surrounding her. “What is this place?” she wondered aloud.

As she gazed at the trees and rocks, something caught her eye. Her desire to investigate it immediately took over, except there was a problem. The thing, a small wooden box with a crank and some squiggles on the front, was over there, and she was over here. Being over here was all fine and well for a little while, but now she wanted to be over there and she wasn’t really sure how to make that happen.

“I would like to be over there, please, near that thing if you don’t mind.” She tried what she thought to be a very polite request, but nothing happened. Clearly that wasn’t the way of it. She thought for a moment and then it was obvious to her what the problem was, so she tried a different track.

“Please, if you would be so kind, I would like that thing to be here, near to me so that I may inspect it. Thank you.”

Nothing happened.

Well this was certainly disconcerting. “If I can’t be moved to it, and it won’t be moved to me, what other course of action can I take? I’m not sure I can be any more polite with my requests and I feel that yelling isn’t in my nature, though I may try it someday just for fun,” she thought.

Clearly no one was going to do the moving for her since there was no one around that she could see, so she devised a plan to lean, ever so slightly, toward the thing and hope that—well, hope that something would happen. She immediately put her plan into action and leaned just a little.

Just like that the thing was closer! She began feeling very clever and more than just a little pleased with herself, but it wasn’t enough. The thing was still some ways off and it wasn’t getting any closer. She leaned a little more, and it helped a bit, but she wasn’t sure how long she could keep this up.

She devised to lean just a little more, but as she did so something wholly unexpected happened.

She fell over.

I suppose it makes sense to you, but remember she was brand new to this world and had to figure things out on her own. There were no other Glitchen around to teach her how things like legs worked. Luckily there was someone else nearby watching her progress or this might have been a very long story.

As she lay on the ground wondering what just happened and feeling very disappointed in her spectacular failure she heard a voice.

“You’re not from around here are you?” it asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” she answered. “I’m from here. Right here on this very spot. I’ve been here all of my life.”

“That much I know. I was here when you got here. What I meant was you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.” The voice wasn’t mean, but it sounded a little uneasy.

“Oh, yes, you are right about that. I’ve only existed for—well I don’t know anything about time yet, but it can’t have been very long. I’m trying to look at that thing over there,” the Glitch shifted to pull her arm out from under her and point toward the object on the ground, “but I seem to be stuck on the ‘how-to’s’ of getting over to it—or getting it over here to me. Would you mind giving me a hand?” In the back of her mind the Glitch wondered about the voice that was speaking to her, but not knowing enough about voices she didn’t know to look for its source. Plus she was really very determined to see the matter through of investigating that thing on the ground.

“Very well, I’ll help you, but you have to promise to be nice to me.” The voice wavered a little as if unsure about how to proceed. “Do you promise?”

“Of course, why would I be mean? I’ve never been mean to anyone in my life and I don’t intend to start now. If you can help me I’ll be more than nice; I’ll be grateful!”

“Well, OK then.” There was a brief silence followed by a fluttering noise like something falling softly to the ground near the Glitch. “You know how to stand don’t you? Balance yourself on your legs? I saw you do it before.” The voice was much closer now to the Glitch’s right side.

“Yes, I do. It made me feel tall.”

“Alright, well, do that again. Stand up. Once you’ve done that, just move one foot in front of the other and keep your balance, like this.” And with that a large black bird moved into the Glitch’s field of view. It wasn’t the most graceful walk—a little stuttering perhaps—but it got the job done and was fine enough as an example. “Personally I never much cared for walking. Short distances, maybe, but flying is really the way to go. Why you Glitchen never learned how to fly I’ll never understand.”

The Glitch’s face lit up with understanding. She took to her feet with an exclamation of joy.

The bird let out a shriek and half-jumped, half-flew back a few feet. The Glitch slowly took one… two… three wobbly steps before stopping to steady herself. “It makes so much sense! How did I not see it before?” She turned to look at the bird and the bird was looking back at her in a manner that suggested it wasn’t sure if it should stay or fly out of there as fast as possible. For the moment curiosity was winning out over the flight instinct, but just barely. “Thank you! You’ve been a tremendous help!” And with that she turned back toward the object on the ground.

It took another three steps to get there and by that time the Glitch was quietly laughing at herself for being so foolish. “I could have never leaned this far. What was I thinking? What a silly idea!”

While the Glitch was busy examining the thing on the ground the black bird hopped a little bit closer and stared at her curiously.

“What do you think this thing is?” The Glitch had picked up the object and was turning it over in her hands. “It’s got some funny marks on the front and these little—“ Right at that moment the wooden box began playing a bright tune and the young Glitch discovered what a button was. “Hey! Listen to that! I just pushed this thing on the front and it made music! I like music I think.”

The bird was still staring at her. “You really don’t know anything about this place do you?”

The Glitch thought for a second. “Well, no, not really. I just woke up didn’t I? By the way, who are you? I should like to know who I have to thank for helping me out.”

The bird shifted uneasily. “I’m a—my name is Koro. It’s not really a name, really, it’s more of a rank, but it’s as good as a name now that I’m all that’s left.”

“All that’s left? What do you mean?”

Koro hopped a bit closer. “Well, my friends and family, all of my people, they’re gone from this world.”

The Glitch looked down at Koro sadly, “I’m sorry. That must be terrible to be all alone.”

“I think it will be, but it’s only just happened.”

The Glitch thought for a second. “Well, it’s a good thing I showed up. Now you don’t have to be alone anymore!”

Koro eyed her suspiciously. “That’s the thing. I’m not supposed to be here anymore, and neither are you. All your people disappeared as well. I think something’s gone wrong and now we’re the only ones left.”

The Glitch stood and stared back at Koro in shock. “There were others like me? And they’re gone? But why?”

Koro lowered her head. “I’m sorry, kid, it’s a long story.” She looked back up. “What’s your name anyway?”

The Glitch looked down at the music box in her hand. “You know what? I don’t know. You’re the first person I’ve ever talked to.” They stood in silence for a moment more before the Glitch looked up and really tried to take in the world around her for the first time. “I wonder what this place was like, you know, before everyone went away. I wonder if I would have liked it.”

“Hmm… wonder… sure why not? You’ve got a lot of questions and maybe I can help you out some, but for now you need a name, so how does Wonder sound? That seems like a good fit to me. What do you think?” Koro looked up expectantly.

The Glitch looked around and seemed to consider the name in her mind. “Wonder… yes. Yes I think I like that name quite a lot actually. Wonder. Wonder. wonder. WONDER! Wonder.” She continued to repeat her new name over and over in different ways as if trying it on for size. After a minute or so she turned back to Koro and smiled. “Wonder. I have a name and it’s Wonder! Thank you again, Koro. You are turning out to be really quite a good friend.”

If birds could smile Koro would have, and maybe she did, who’s to say? “Thank you, Wonder. So are you.”

“So, what do we do now?” Wonder asked with renewed excitement.

“That’s a good question. To be honest, I’m a bit out of my depth here. I’m not really sure what we should do, but maybe I can teach you some things while we’re figuring that out.”

“Really? I’d love to learn some new things. That walking bit was really spectacular!”

“Well, buddy, if you liked walking you’re going to LOVE jumping!”

“Jumping? What is that? It sounds fun.”

“Again, personally I prefer flying to jumping, but you Glitchen seemed to go absolutely crazy for jumping. It’s all I ever saw anyone do.”

“I can’t wait to try it out! How do I do it?”

“It’s easy, let me show you…”

<< Prologue: The End of Ur | NOTES | Chapter 2: Unanswered Questions >>

Chapter 1: First Steps

The Glitch stared blankly at the world around him for several minutes. His head was still spinning from the process of being freshly imagined and he wasn’t sure what to do just yet.

“I have a body, that’s important,” he thought. “Appendages in a useful number. Lots of skin, and in such a lovely color too. Is that yellow? Perhaps blue? I’m not quite sure which colors are which. That’s something to investigate later.” His mind was rapidly expanding to take in all the new information available to one so recently thought into existence.

“I suppose maybe I should try standing up,” he said aloud to no one in particular since no one was around to hear it anyway. “Hey! I can talk!” he exclaimed. “I’m sure this will come in most handy.”

He slowly got to his feet and did a few squats and leg bends to get a feel for his new legs. He turned and bent his arms at the elbows to test for range of motion. He flexed his fingers and toes. He opened his mouth and blinked his eyes. He tried to close his nose and ears, but nothing happened. “Must be defective,” he thought. “Oh well, nobody’s perfect.” He swiveled his neck and tried to take in the forest surrounding him. “What is this place?” he wondered aloud.

As he gazed at the trees and rocks, something caught his eye. His desire to investigate it immediately took over, except there was a problem. The thing, a small wooden box with a crank and some squiggles on the front, was over there, and he was over here. Being over here was all fine and well for a little while, but now he wanted to be over there and he wasn’t really sure how to make that happen.

“I would like to be over there, please, near that thing if you don’t mind.” He tried what he thought to be a very polite request, but nothing happened. Clearly that wasn’t the way of it. He thought for a moment and then it was obvious to him what the problem was, so he tried a different track.

“Please, if you would be so kind, I would like that thing to be here, near to me so that I may inspect it. Thank you.”

Nothing happened.

Well this was certainly disconcerting. “If I can’t be moved to it, and it won’t be moved to me, what other course of action can I take? I’m not sure I can be any more polite with my requests and I feel that yelling isn’t in my nature, though I may try it someday just for fun,” he thought.

Clearly no one was going to do the moving for him since there was no one around that he could see, so he devised a plan to lean, ever so slightly, toward the thing and hope that—well, hope that something would happen. He immediately put his plan into action and leaned just a little.

Just like that the thing was closer! He began feeling very clever and more than just a little pleased with himself, but it wasn’t enough. The thing was still some ways off and it wasn’t getting any closer. He leaned a little more, and it helped a bit, but he wasn’t sure how long he could keep this up.

He devised to lean just a little more, but as he did so something wholly unexpected happened.

He fell over.

I suppose it makes sense to you, but remember he was brand new to this world and had to figure things out on his own. There were no other Glitchen around to teach him how things like legs worked. Luckily there was someone else nearby watching his progress or this might have been a very long story.

As he lay on the ground wondering what just happened and feeling very disappointed in his spectacular failure he heard a voice.

“You’re not from around here are you?” it asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” he answered. “I’m from here. Right here on this very spot. I’ve been here all of my life.”

“That much I know. I was here when you got here. What I meant was you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.” The voice wasn’t mean, but it sounded a little uneasy.

“Oh, yes, you are right about that. I’ve only existed for—well I don’t know anything about time yet, but it can’t have been very long. I’m trying to look at that thing over there,” the Glitch shifted to pull his arm out from under him and point toward the object on the ground, “but I seem to be stuck on the ‘how-to’s’ of getting over to it—or getting it over here to me. Would you mind giving me a hand?” In the back of his mind the Glitch wondered about the voice that was speaking to him, but not knowing enough about voices he didn’t know to look for its source. Plus he was really very determined to see the matter through of investigating that thing on the ground.

“Very well, I’ll help you, but you have to promise to be nice to me.” The voice wavered a little as if unsure about how to proceed. “Do you promise?”

“Of course, why would I be mean? I’ve never been mean to anyone in my life and I don’t intend to start now. If you can help me I’ll be more than nice; I’ll be grateful!”

“Well, OK then.” There was a brief silence followed by a fluttering noise like something falling softly to the ground near the Glitch. “You know how to stand don’t you? Balance yourself on your legs? I saw you do it before.” The voice was much closer now to the Glitch’s right side.

“Yes, I do. It made me feel tall.”

“Alright, well, do that again. Stand up. Once you’ve done that, just move one foot in front of the other and keep your balance, like this.” And with that a large black bird moved into the Glitch’s field of view. It wasn’t the most graceful walk—a little stuttering perhaps—but it got the job done and was fine enough as an example. “Personally I never much cared for walking. Short distances, maybe, but flying is really the way to go. Why you Glitchen never learned how to fly I’ll never understand.”

The Glitch’s face lit up with understanding. He took to his feet with an exclamation of joy.

The bird let out a shriek and half-jumped, half-flew back a few feet. The Glitch slowly took one… two… three wobbly steps before stopping to steady himself. “It makes so much sense! How did I not see it before?” He turned to look at the bird and the bird was looking back at him in a manner that suggested it wasn’t sure if it should stay or fly out of there as fast as possible. For the moment curiosity was winning out over the flight instinct, but just barely. “Thank you! You’ve been a tremendous help!” And with that he turned back toward the object on the ground.

It took another three steps to get there and by that time the Glitch was quietly laughing at himself for being so foolish. “I could have never leaned this far. What was I thinking? What a silly idea!”

While the Glitch was busy examining the thing on the ground the black bird hopped a little bit closer and stared at him curiously.

“What do you think this thing is?” The Glitch had picked up the object and was turning it over in his hands. “It’s got some funny marks on the front and these little—“ Right at that moment the wooden box began playing a bright tune and the young Glitch discovered what a button was. “Hey! Listen to that! I just pushed this thing on the front and it made music! I like music I think.”

The bird was still staring at him. “You really don’t know anything about this place do you?”

The Glitch thought for a second. “Well, no, not really. I just woke up didn’t I? By the way, who are you? I should like to know who I have to thank for helping me out.”

The bird shifted uneasily. “I’m a—my name is Koro. It’s not really a name, really, it’s more of a rank, but it’s as good as a name now that I’m all that’s left.”

“All that’s left? What do you mean?”

Koro hopped a bit closer. “Well, my friends and family, all of my people, they’re gone from this world.”

The Glitch looked down at Koro sadly, “I’m sorry. That must be terrible to be all alone.”

“I think it will be, but it’s only just happened.”

The Glitch thought for a second. “Well, it’s a good thing I showed up. Now you don’t have to be alone anymore!”

Koro eyed him suspiciously. “That’s the thing. I’m not supposed to be here anymore, and neither are you. All your people disappeared as well. I think something’s gone wrong and now we’re the only ones left.”

The Glitch stood and stared back at Koro in shock. “There were others like me? And they’re gone? But why?”

Koro lowered her head. “I’m sorry, kid, it’s a long story.” She looked back up. “What’s your name anyway?”

The Glitch looked down at the music box in his hand. “You know what? I don’t know. You’re the first person I’ve ever talked to.” They stood in silence for a moment more before the Glitch looked up and really tried to take in the world around him for the first time. “I wonder what this place was like, you know, before everyone went away. I wonder if I would have liked it.”

“Hmm… wonder… sure why not? You’ve got a lot of questions and maybe I can help you out some, but for now you need a name, so how does Wonder sound? That seems like a good fit to me. What do you think?” Koro looked up expectantly.

The Glitch looked around and seemed to consider the name in his mind. “Wonder… yes. Yes I think I like that name quite a lot actually. Wonder. Wonder. wonder. WONDER! Wonder.” He continued to repeat his new name over and over in different ways as if trying it on for size. After a minute or so he turned back to Koro and smiled. “Wonder. I have a name and it’s Wonder! Thank you again, Koro. You are turning out to be really quite a good friend.”

If birds could smile Koro would have, and maybe she did, who’s to say? “Thank you, Wonder. So are you.”

“So, what do we do now?” Wonder asked with renewed excitement.

“That’s a good question. To be honest, I’m a bit out of my depth here. I’m not really sure what we should do, but maybe I can teach you some things while we’re figuring that out.”

“Really? I’d love to learn some new things. That walking bit was really spectacular!”

“Well, buddy, if you liked walking you’re going to LOVE jumping!”

“Jumping? What is that? It sounds fun.”

“Again, personally I prefer flying to jumping, but you Glitchen seemed to go absolutely crazy for jumping. It’s all I ever saw anyone do.”

“I can’t wait to try it out! How do I do it?”

“It’s easy, let me show you…”

<< Prologue: The End of Ur | NOTES | Chapter 2: Unanswered Questions >>

Prologue: The End of Ur

Legend tells of a whimsical land called Ur that was formed in a dream shared by eleven sleeping Giants. It was full of funny creatures called Glitchen who did all manner of ridiculous things. They mined and cooked, blended and petted, jumped and splanked, all in the name of fun and imagination. They played for a good long while and wanted to believe that their fun would never end.

But then one day the Giants began to wake up.

As we all know time passes much slower for the dreamee than it does for the dreamer, so as the Giants awoke it was not a sudden and shocking ending of the world; instead the Glitchen were aware of what was happening and they knew they didn’t have much time left.

The day the first trembles were felt was a day of great mourning. Some Glitchen were angry, some begged for more time and some denied that anything was happening at all. They reasoned that the world still existed, so what evidence was there that the Giants were waking up at all?

In the end no manner of bargaining or begging could change the fate of Ur, however. The Giants did stir from their sleep and on the last day there was a great celebration. It was a party to end all parties since technically it was the end of all parties. Glitchen shared food and drinks; danced in their favorite places and made whatever peace they could with a situation they could neither control nor fully understand.

On that last day the Giants spoke into the minds and hearts of all the Glitchen for the Giants loved their creations, but knew the Glitchen could not exist in a dream world without the dreamers. Some of the Giants offered words of kindness; some, words of regret; while other reminded the Glitchen to be strong and rejoice for the time they had been given. When the end approached there were many hugs, kisses and tearful goodbyes but everyone was anxious to know what would happen next. As the last Giant opened its eyes the entire world held its breath and then... it was all just gone.

But then something altogether unexpected happened. In the midst of the crying and praying, just as existence was blinking out for the inhabitants of Ur, somewhere in Groddle Forest a Glitch sat up and opened its eyes for the first time.

Chapter 1: First Steps (male) >>
NOTES

Chapter 1: First Steps (female) >>