Wonder was still a brand new Glitch,
true, but she had begun to get a handle on what to expect from the world around
her in a general sense. She was a good judge of how high she could jump and how
often she needed to eat. She learned to anticipate what things would feel like
before she touched them and what to expect if she picked them up or dropped
them. These are all things most people learn fairly early in life and as those
things go Wonder was doing fine. That’s why when she got all worked up and
slapped the top of the Dead End Stone she thought she knew what to expect.
Though she wasn’t actively
thinking about it, in her mind she expected the stone to feel cool to the touch
and smooth along the top. She knew it would be solid and it would probably
sting her hand a little to hit it so hard, but she was feeling a build-up of
some new emotion that made it seem unimportant at the time. What she did not
expect, however, was to then feel like she was being compressed into a ball the
size of a grain of sand and then blown back up all in an instant. It was a
shock to say the least.
Even more shocking was when she
came back to her senses a moment later and the stone was gone. Not only that,
the whole street was gone with a new one in its place.
“Well, this doesn’t make any
sort of sense at all!” She yelled into the empty street. After all she had been
through, and tried to make sense of, this was just too much. As she stood there
considering if she should yell again or try something altogether different she
realized she was alone; Koro was nowhere to be seen.
“Koro! Koro, where are you?”
Wonder shouted her name and looked around slowly, scanning the skies for her
friend. “Koro, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to yell. I don’t know what came over
me. Please, come back. Don’t hide from me!” But no matter what she said Koro
didn’t show.
Wonder tried to calm down and
take stock of the situation. So far she knew several things without further
investigation: One, she was now in a completely different place. Two, she had
no idea how she had gotten there. Three, Koro wasn’t with her. And four, now
that they were separated she felt very foolish for shouting at Koro and hurting
her feelings—an emotion she was only now beginning to understand. Wonder
resolved to find her and apologize if she could, and the first step in doing
that would be to investigate her new surroundings. Maybe find a clue as to
where she was or how she had gotten there.
The first thing she noticed was
that the scenery was completely different. She wasn’t just on a different
street; she was in a different region entirely. Where before she had been
standing on a rocky ledge with mountains in the distance she now found herself
in some sort of bog. The sky was dark and there were strange looking plants
growing all around, along with a few of the more familiar trees she had grown
accustomed to seeing in her travels. Her curiosity only increased when she
noticed a small building in the middle of the street. She walked over to it
trying to guess what might be inside.
So far this was only the second
building she had come across in her short time in Ur and the first—a machine
shop of some sort—just left her baffled. So many machines and Koro couldn’t
explain what any of them were for.
Oh, Koro! How Wonder wished she
were with her right then. Surely she would understand what was going on, or at
least have an idea of what to do about it.
It is not an easy thing for a Glitch
who had only recently learned about regret to push her feelings aside and carry
on with the task at hand, but that’s exactly what Wonder did. She knew she
would never find Koro again if she didn’t find a way back to the Dead End Stone
and her answers might just be inside this building. She hopped quickly up the
steps and tried the knob, but it wouldn’t turn.
Having only encountered two
buildings thus far in her existence Wonder was not familiar with the concept of
a locked door. Thinking maybe the knob was only stuck or the door was jammed, she
tried again but met with the same result.
“Well, this is just brilliant,
isn’t it?” she mumbled in the general direction of the door, but the door
seemed unimpressed. “How am I supposed to get back to Koro if I can’t get
inside this thing?” She tried the knob a third time before she began to get
agitated.
She felt her frustration rise up
again and began to yell and pound on the door. “Why won’t you let me in?! I
need help and you’re keeping me from getting back to my friend you stupid
door!” And with that she gave it a good, hard kick to drive the point home. It
didn’t make sense to her, but Wonder did actually feel a little better after this
outburst even though it hurt her hands to hit the door and her toe was
throbbing from the kick. “Stupid door.”
“Can I help you?”
The voice startled Wonder so
badly she immediately forgot about glaring at the door and spun around to see
where the voice had come from. She didn’t see anyone, but it sounded as close as
if someone had been standing at the foot of the steps. “Who said that? Where
are you?”
“I’m right here.” The voice came
from an open book leaned face down against a rock next to the stairs.
“A talking book? That’s
amazing!”
“What? No, don’t be silly, books
can’t talk! I’m a rock, obviously.” The book tipped back away from the rock to
reveal a face. “And you woke me up.”
Wonder really wasn’t sure what
to say to that so, for lack of a better response she just apologized. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t know you were there. Actually, I didn’t know rocks could talk.”
“It’s alright; I don’t mean to
be grumpy. I’m just a bit groggy. I haven’t taken a nap in years you know.”
“No, I don’t know.”
“Well, it’s true. Never had the
time. There was always something to do or someone to guide. I enjoyed it of
course, but it was exhausting. Then everyone disappears and I figure I’ve got
some time to relax and now you’re here banging on locked doors and shouting at
empty houses.” The rock paused a second to consider what he had just said.
“Speaking of which, why—how are you here?”
Immediately Wonder’s surprise at
finding a talking rock dissipated and she remembered why she had been shouting
at that stupid door in the first place. “Um, well, the truth is I don’t know.”
“Which one don’t you know? The
why you’re here, or the how?”
“Both, to be quite honest. One
minute I was standing on a street with a friend, then everything went dark and
I found myself standing here.”
“Hmm…” the rock considered
Wonder’s words. “What were you doing on the street just before you got here?”
“Shouting at my friend,” Wonder
admitted as she looked down at her feet.
“Shouting, huh? You do a lot of
that, don’t you?”
“Actually, no, that was my first
time. It’s a new skill I’ve learned.”
“Shouting is not a skill,” the
rock replied briskly. “Were you standing near anything? Did you touch
anything?”
Wonder looked up at the talking
rock excitedly, “I was! I did! The stone—the Dead End Stone at the end of the
street. I hit it and then I was here!”
“Alright then, mystery solved!
Obviously that ‘Dead End Stone’ was a Visiting Stone.” The rock seemed very
pleased with himself.
“Oh! Cool!... So what does that
mean exactly?”
The rock rolled his eyes.
“You’re new here aren’t you?”
Wonder nodded.
“Visiting Stones work like this:
You touch one, it transports you to a random Glitch’s home street.”
“Home Street? So another Glitch
lives here?” Hope began rising in Wonder’s heart.
“Not lives, lived. Sorry, friend, the Glitch who lived here is gone just like
everyone else.” Then seeing the disappointment on Wonder’s face he said a
little softer, “I really am sorry. I miss having them around too, but they all
left when the Giants woke up.”
“Oh.” Wonder didn’t quite
understand what the rock meant when he mentioned Giants waking up, but she was
feeling too sad about being alone again to ask.
“So what’s your name anyway?”
The rock asked, trying to re-engage the young Glitch.
“My name is Wonder. My friend
Koro named me.”
“Wonder, huh? That’s a good
name. My name is Maurice, but I never cared for it much. Pretty much everyone
just calls me Magic Rock.”
Wonder was still feeling very
confused and still a little disheartened by everything that had happened in the
past few minutes, so she simply replied with a quiet, “Nice to meet you, Magic
Rock.”
“Likewise. Now, what can—“
At that moment a great crash
from around the side of the house made them pause in their conversation.
“I swear to the Giants that
thing is going to be the unimagining of me.” Magic Rock looked up at Wonder. “He
means well, but he is the clumsiest butler I have ever seen.”
“Butler? I don’t—“ but Wonder
never finished her sentence for at that moment a hodgepodge of parts vaguely in
the shape of a Glitch-like creature came around the corner. It had two legs,
two arms and a body all in different patterns of black and white, with a head
like a sunflower and a striped green and white tie. Wonder had never seen
anything like it and she racked her brain to reason out what it might be, but
her experience with the world of Ur was too limited to be of much use.
The jumble of bits hobbled over
to Wonder who was still standing on the steps of the house. “Good day, Miss…”
It stretched out its greeting expectantly.
Wonder was still in a bit of a
shock. She turned to look at Magic Rock for guidance. Magic Rock simply gave
her an encouraging look as if to say, “Go on. He won’t bite.”
“Uh… Wonder. Just Wonder, no
Miss.”
“Well then, good day, Just
Wonder. I am Mr. Trinkets, at your service of course!“
“No, Mr. Trinkets. Her name is
Wonder. Forget the “Just” if you please.” Magic Rock, for all his earlier
frustration at the butler, corrected him gently.
“Very pleased to meet you, Mr.
uh… Trinkets, is it? But I’m afraid I don’t quite understand. Who are you now?”
“Yes, Mr. Trinkets, and I am the
Butler for the Glitch that lives on this street. It is my job to greet guests,
pass along messages and bestow wisdom and guidance where I can. In my master’s
absence I have also taken it upon myself to care for the crops, herbs and
trees. Are you in need of anything? Corn or Parsnips, perhaps? My master
encourages the free harvesting of whatever he has available as long as you
would be so kind as to replant what you take.”
“No,” Wonder stammered out a
response, “no thank you, I think I’m alright at the moment.”
“Are you sure? We have several
large plots and no one has been by to harvest for several days.” Mr. Trinkets
leaned in closer and dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “We have some
excellent Purple Flowers if you’re interested. Top notch quality.”
Wonder wasn’t sure how to
respond, but luckily Magic Rock saved her from having to come up with
something.
“Alright, alright, Mr. Trinkets,
she doesn’t need anything from the gardens just now, but thank you for the
offer. I believe she was trying to get back to her friend and I was just about
to try and help her.”
At the mention of Koro, Wonder
remembered what she had been trying to do in the first place. “Magic Rock, you seem
to know a lot more about this place than I do. Would you be able to help me get
back to Koro?”
“Yes, of course, easiest thing
in the world.”
“Really? That’s wonderful! Thank
you so much!” Wonder’s voice rose with elation and suddenly she had an idea. “Well,
I wonder—I mean it would be up to you—but I wonder if maybe you and Mr. Trinkets
might like to come with me?”
“Come with you?”
“Sure, you could travel with us.
We haven’t met anyone else on the roads and you seem to know a lot about this
place and the way things work; we could really use your help. Koro means well,
but I don’t think she knows as much about this world as she claims.”
Mr. Trinkets replied, “Thank you
for the invitation, ma’amsir, but we can’t leave our posts. Who would be here
to greet our master when he comes back? An adventure is a fine thought, but I couldn’t
abandon my master like that.”
Wonder looked back at Magic Rock
questioningly.
Magic Rock sighed. “He doesn’t
know. Or rather, he does, but he doesn’t really want to accept it. I tried to
explain when it happened, but he refuses to listen. I can’t blame him, though.
After all, what’s a butler without someone to buttle?”
“I have told you already, our
master will come back as he always has. We are still here, so the world must
not have ended, therefore he will be back and I will be here when he returns.”
Clearly they had touched a nerve.
“Well, what about you then?”
Wonder asked Magic Rock.
“I really… I just couldn’t leave
Mr. Trinkets. He can be stubborn and a nuisance, but he is my friend and I
won’t leave him here alone.” There was a touch of disappointment in Magic
Rock’s voice.
“Oh.” Wonder stepped down
heavily from the landing in front of the door. “That’s OK. I understand
sticking with your friends, especially now. It’s one of the few things I
understand, actually.” With a heavy sigh she turned back to look up at the
house and wondered what sort of Glitch lived there and what it would have been
like to come here and visit during happier times. “Well, I guess you’d better
send me back.” Just then she noticed something under the door mat. “Wait a
minute, what’s this?”
It was a note. Wonder had seen a
few scattered around with all the other things in the streets. She had gained a
rather rapid ability to read them, but she soon stopped because they were all
goodbye notes left by Glitchen preparing for the end. Some were sweet and
sentimental, while some were happy and thankful, but most were sad and Wonder
couldn’t bear to think about an ending like that, so she quit picking the notes
up when she saw them.
This one was clearly more than a
random goodbye left in the street. After a quick scan Wonder held the note out
to Mr. Trinkets. “Here, I think this was meant for you.”
Mr. Trinkets looked at it
questioningly before reaching out to take it from Wonder. “I don’t understand.
I’m a butler, why would someone leave me a note?”
“Read
it and maybe you’ll understand,” Wonder offered gently.
Mr.
Trinkets looked down at the note. “It’s from Master!” he said excitedly. He
began reading it to himself and as his eyes scanned the page his face fell. At
last he picked his head up from the paper and looked back and forth between
Wonder and Magic Rock. She wasn’t sure if it was possible for a butler to cry,
but it looked to Wonder like he was about to.
“Well,
what did it say?” Magic Rock asked.
Mr.
Trinkets hesitated while he looked at Magic Rock pitifully. He looked back down
at the paper and began reading. “My dear Mr. Trinkets, you have been my
faithful assistant since I was imagined here all those long years ago. I could
not have asked for a better friend or confidant and I am more sad about leaving
you behind than anything else. Unfortunately this isn’t my choice. The Giants
are waking up and I won’t be around much longer. If you’ve found this letter
then you can be assured that I won’t be coming home. Once I’m gone this street
as well as this house and everything inside it is yours to do with as you
please. It breaks my heart to say goodbye like this, but I want to make sure
you understand everything. Magic Rock will help you as best he can, but you are
the master of yourself now. Take care and be well. I will miss you always.
Love, Sebastian.” As he read the final words Mr. Trinkets let the note drop to
the ground and turned and shuffled back around the side of the house.
Wonder
looked back at Magic Rock. “Should I—?”
“No,
no. He’ll be fine. It’s just a bit of a shock. Give him a moment; he just needs
to make peace. As silly and stubborn as he is, he is also more resilient than
he looks.”
Wonder
nodded and took a seat on the front steps of the house. She and Magic Rock sat
in silence for several long minutes before they heard the shambling footsteps
of Mr. Trinkets coming around the house again. They looked up to see a sad sort
of half-smile on his face.
Mr.
Trinkets shuffled over to the note, picked it up, folded it neatly in half,
then in half again and stuck it safely in some secret pocket. “I didn’t want to
believe it,” he began, “but it’s really true, isn’t it? Well, that’s fine. I
mean, it’s not really fine, but there’s nothing to be done about it now, is
there?” He paused a moment and looked
down at the ground. “I guess, in the end, it’s enough to know that he cared
about me like I cared for him.”
After
another moment of reflection Mr. Trinkets looked back up at Wonder and Magic
Rock with a grin. “Now then, what was that about an adventure?”
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