There was that squeezing feeling
again, just like the time she touched the Visiting Stone. The only problem was
Wonder hadn’t touched a stone this time. When she popped back into existence Wonder’s
legs gave out from under her and she fell to the ground. Teleporting is no fun
when you’re not expecting it, and unfortunately Wonder was never expecting it.
Her head was swimming trying to
process what had just happened. The last thing she remembered was Uncle
Friendly towering over her and pushing something into her hand. She looked down
to see the paper still clutched there, but it was disintegrating from the edges
in. She frantically tried to read the words on the page before it was nothing
but dust, but all she managed to make out was the word “Drifa” and some sort of
official seal stamped with Uncle Friendly’s name. The paper finished crumbling
into nothing and Wonder let it fall to the ground. She wasn’t exactly sure what
happened, but she knew Friendly was to blame and all she could think about was
how to get back to her friends.
Wonder got to her feet and
looked around for the first time. She was in a place unlike any she had seen
before. The land was stark and white; there were mountains in the distance and
trees dotted the landscape. The ground was covered in a soft powder that was
cold to the touch. “Snow?” she wondered aloud as she scooped a handful. “I
think I remember Magic Rock talking about snow when I asked him about the different
regions of Ur.”
There were several small ridges
on the street, so she climbed the tallest of them and took another look around.
The view was tree-covered and snowy in every direction. She knew she was in a
snowy region, but she had no idea where this might be in relation to where she
had been before.
“Why does this keep happening to
me?” she asked herself. Exasperated, she sat down in the snow to think about
her options.
‘Obviously my first task is to
get back to my friends,’ she thought. ‘Uncle Friendly is not the helpful
cyclops they think he is and I need to tell them what happened with Gwendolyn.
So then, the question is how to do that?’
Wonder sat for a while taking
out all the things she had brought with her. There didn’t seem to be much in
her bags that would be immediately helpful: some food and drinks, as well as some
tools she still hadn’t learned to use yet. She also pulled out her Cumbimal—Firedog—as
well as her Firefly Jar, and the music block and Crystal Heart Gwendolyn had
given her. These last two she examined very closely.
The music block was still giving
off an intense feeling of power and it made Wonder a little nervous. She
considered playing it to see what would happen, but quickly decided against it.
She didn’t want to risk making things worse if she played it in the wrong
place.
The Cyrstal Heart looked very
much like it had when Gwendolyn had given it to her, though its light had faded
some. It felt cool to the touch and she liked the way the light reflected through
it when she turned it in her hands. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was
looking for, but Gwendolyn had told her that the Heart would help her find the
way.
Unfortunately unpacking all of
her belongings didn’t do anything except highlight the helplessness of the
situation. She fell backward into the snow with a groan of frustration, closed
her eyes and yelled into the sky, “WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!”
She hadn’t really expected a response
so you can imagine her surprise when she got one.
“I’m not sure I understand the
question.”
Wonder’s eyes flew open as she bolted
upright and looked around. She couldn’t see anyone, but she had learned that
voices might come from anywhere in this world. “Hello? Who said that?”
Slowly a figure faded into view
in front of her. “I’m sorry; I forgot you couldn’t see me. It’s been so long
since I’ve actually talked to another Glitch.” Floating in front of her was a
Glitch, gray, see-through and sad-looking. It reminded Wonder of Gwendolyn.
“Are you a spirit?” she asked.
“Some Glitchen call us ghosts,
or the Half-Forgotten, but you may call me a spirit. It all means the same
thing.”
Wonder climbed to her feet. “I
met one of you. Another spirit I mean.”
“You found one of my brothers?”
the spirit asked.
“No, not exactly. I mean, it
wasn’t a ‘he.’ I met Gwendolyn, in the tower.”
The spirit smiled. “Ah, well
this all makes much more sense then.”
“Umm… OK.”
“Did she give you a quest?”
This took Wonder by surprise. “She
did, but how did you—“
“And did she give you anything
to help with that quest?”
Wonder held up the Crystal
Heart. “She gave me this.”
The spirit looked at the heart and
nodded. “Then you should know what to do.”
“But I don’t, that’s the
problem! I’m supposed to save everyone, or disappear everyone or whatever, but
I don’t know how!”
“You have the Heart, let it
guide you. It will help you find your way, and while you are on your way it
will also help you remind this world of what it once was.”
“Do spirits only know how to
talk in riddles?” Wonder’s frustration was getting to her.
The spirit just laughed. “I’m
sorry; as I said it’s been a long, long time since I’ve spoken to another
Glitch; really had a conversation I mean. The Heart helps. It makes it possible
for us to speak like this. These are all things that make sense from my
perspective, but are harder to explain to you. Just keep it with you, use it as
a guide, you will understand.”
“Will you come with me? I’ve
lost my friends and I don’t want to travel alone.”
He looked sad as he responded. “I’m
sorry, but I can’t leave this street. I’m stuck here until you set me free.”
The spirit’s words brought back
the monumental task Gwendolyn had set for her. He seemed to know what Wonder
was trying to do and looked forward to it.
“But don’t worry,” the spirit
continued. “I’m sure you won’t be traveling alone for long.” As he spoke these
final words he faded from view and Wonder was left alone on the snowy ridge.
After packing everything back
into her bags, Wonder considered what the spirit had said and looked back down
at the Crystal Heart in her hands. She held it out and faced this way and that
trying to get some sort of feeling or indication from the Heart. Once again she
got nothing, so she had to resort to common sense, which was less than
reassuring. The only saving grace was that she figured she couldn’t possibly
get more lost than she already was.
Thinking back on the route they
had taken to the tower she knew it was at a low point in Ur so she turned her
back to the mountains and headed in the most downhill direction she could find.
Wonder didn’t know it, but this was actually a pretty good idea and she was
going in the right direction.
Before long she came to a cave
entrance and immediately began to doubt her choice, but just as she was about
to turn back the Crystal Heart started to glow a little more than it had before.
It was enough to make Wonder pause in her tracks and turn back to the cave. The
Heart shined a little brighter as she moved toward the cave and Wonder began to
feel that she was headed in the right direction. Finally some of what Gwendolyn
and the other spirit had told her started to make sense.
She followed the path through
the cave which dropped steeply before coming out the other side. When she
emerged from the cavern she was met with the breathtaking site of the snow
covered forest in a moonless night. The sky was dark, but the snow caught the
light radiating from the Crystal Heart and reflected it back into the trees.
Wonder was awestruck and sat down to try to take it all in.
She wiped back a tear thinking
about how she would never see this place again or any of the other places she
never got to visit. It hadn’t been that long since her conversation with
Gwendolyn and she was still trying to come to terms with what she was supposed
to do. Right there, sitting in the snow, she realized that knowing what’s right
and actually doing it are two very different things.
As she sat and stared into the
trees she heard a shuffling noise behind her. She looked over her shoulder and
saw a piggy snuffling around in the snow. She had seen many piggies around Ur,
but never really thought much about them. Now she wondered about this Piggy.
She wondered what its life was like before, what its voice sounded like and
what kind of things they might talk about if it could still talk.
The piggy walked up to Wonder
and nudged its head under her hand asking for a pet. She obliged and turned
back to look into the forest again. While the piggy sat under Wonder’s arm the
Crystal Heart began to glow brighter in her lap. Wonder noticed it out of the
corner of her eye and watched it pulse gently a few times before returning to
normal.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The
forest at night, I mean. That’s why I hung around here.”
Wonder’s head spun around so
fast she almost fell over. “Did you just talk?!” she asked the piggy.
The piggy looked up at her in surprise
and replied, “Why yes, I believe I did.” And then, “Look at that! I did it
again!”
“But piggies have never talked
to me! How… why…?” Wonder was completely baffled until she remembered the Heart
and what the spirit told her. “Remind them of what they once were,” she
whispered to herself.
“I don’t know what happened. I
remember being here, in the forest, with Glitchen running all around waiting
for something, and then… it’s like I was in a daze until I woke up sitting here
with you.”
Wonder smiled at the piggy. “I
know what happened, and now I know what I need to do. I’ll explain it all to
you on the way if you’ll come with me.”
“Go with you? Well, sure I guess.
I don’t have anything else to do at the moment.”
“Great! By the way, what’s your
name?”
The piggy thought for a moment, “You
know, I’m not sure. I think I used to have one, but I can’t remember it. I
suppose you could name me.”
Wonder considered that before
responding, “How about Desmond?”
The piggy laughed. “And they
shall call me ‘Desmond!’ By the way, where are we going?”
For the first time Wonder felt
confident about her decision. “Not far, just to the end of the world.”
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