The journey to Jethimadh Tower
was uneventful. They headed over the hills and back toward the coast into
Rasana and from Rasana to Roobrik. Wonder was amazed at the huge forest that
made up the regions of Roobrik and Balzare. As eager as he was to reach their
destination he couldn’t help but climb some of the taller trees and gaze out
over the canopy into the sunset. It made him think about how many other
Glitchen had stared out at the sunset in that exact spot.
From Balzare they traveled down
into Chakra Phool. Immediately Wonder had a spark of recognition.
“This looks like your home
street! Does that mean it’s nearby?”
Magic Rock tried to explain.
“Not exactly. Home streets don’t really belong to regions of Ur. They exist,
sort of, outside. Our home street looked like that because our master had a
particular fondness for this area.”
That didn’t seem to fully
satisfy Wonder’s curiosity, and now he began to question how Home Streets
worked without being attached to Ur. Unfortunately even Magic Rock couldn’t
really answer those questions. “That is a secret of the Giants,” was the best
he could come up with.
The group continued through
Chakra Phool, descending down into a deep pit and then back out the other side.
Magic Rock continued to try to communicate with animals, rocks and trees when
they came across any, but it was all to no avail. By this point, however, it
stopped being surprising. They kept hoping they would find something that would
talk back, but so far no dice.
They stopped once so Wonder
could examine a swarm of fireflies floating above their heads. Magic Rock
showed him how to use a jar to catch the flies.
“Does it hurt them to be in this
jar?” Wonder seemed very concerned looking at his full jar of fireflies.
“Oh, no, not at all,” Magic Rock
assured her. “They don’t mind. In fact I suspect they enjoy the attention.” Wonder
stuck the jar in one of his bags and they continued on to Jethimadh.
As soon as they came over the small
incline into Jethimadh they could see the tower off in the distance.
“I’ve heard stories about this
place,” Mr. Trinkets said in awe, “but I never thought I’d see it with my own
eyes.”
“It is rather tall, isn’t it?”
Koro squeaked out.
Magic Rock informed them, “It’s
the greatest structure the Glitchen ever built.”
“It’s magnificent!” Wonder
could hardly contain his excitement.
They headed toward the tower
located in the middle of Jethimadh and hopes were high as they got closer. As
they approached, however, they heard something that none of them expected. The
group was only one street away from the tower base and they began to hear
voices; a lot of voices, actually. They looked at one another and quickened
their pace.
Just before they rounded the
corner Koro stopped Wonder in a panic.
“What, Koro? What’s the matter?”
“I, uh, I don’t know, I just
can’t go out there.” Koro was clearly upset about something. Magic Rock and Mr.
Trinkets exchanged a nervous look.
“What are you talking about?
Aren’t you excited? All those voices, it could be more Glitchen; it could even
be more of your kind!”
“Yes, of course, I just—it makes
me nervous to meet a big group like that.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Koro, but we
have to go. Even if they aren’t Glitchen they might be able to help us, and
anyway we still have to get to the tower.” Wonder couldn’t understand Koro’s
behavior, but he had to convince his friend to keep moving.
“OK, yes, you’re right. Maybe,
um, maybe I can just hide in one of your bags. Would that be alright? I’ll hide
in your bag and you can meet whoever is out there and I’ll just stay hidden.”
Mr. Trinkets spoke up. “She’s
right, Wonder. If she’s nervous there’s no harm in letter her hide in your bag
for a while.”
Wonder really didn’t know what
was going on, but his desire to meet whoever was on the next street overrode his curiosity. “OK, yeah, sure, that’s fine.” Wonder offered up one of his
empty bags. Koro just fit.
With his friend’s odd behavior
still nagging at him, Wonder and the others stepped into the next street to see
the voices were not at all what they had expected. There, gathered all around
the base of the tower, was a mass of creatures Wonder had never seen or even
heard of before. There were floating logs in grass skirts, lizard things with
giant faces that looked like masks. There were scarecrows and mushrooms and
floating squids with see-thru-bodies and fires inside of them. It was the
strangest gathering of, well, anything Wonder had ever seen. And there at the
head of the group, standing at the top of the stairs to the tower entrance, was
a massive one-eyed slug-like thing with a mustache and wearing a shirt and tie.
He seemed to have their attention and no one noticed the three (four if you
count Koro, who was safely hidden away) travelers who had just walked onto the
street behind them.
“Of course!” Magic Rock
exclaimed under his breath. “The Vendors! Why didn’t I think of them? I just assumed
they had all disappeared with the Glitchen, but here they are. Here they all are!”
Wonder couldn’t take his eyes
off the gathering, “What are Vendors? Are they mean?”
“Oh no, no, no; not at all!”
Magic Rock whispered. “Vendors spent their days on the streets of Ur buying and
selling equipment. They had quite a mutually beneficial relationship with the
Glitchen.”
“Yes, but they never left their
streets! What are they all doing here?” Mr. Trinkets seemed a little unnerved
by this odd assembly.
“I’m not sure, but I assume it
has to do with what’s happened to Ur. They probably had the same idea as us and
came to the tower for answers. Uncle Friendly seems to be addressing the crowd;
let’s listen to what he has to say. Maybe he knows something.”
So they turned their attention
to the creature on the steps that Magic Rock had called Uncle Friendly. He didn’t
look especially friendly to Wonder, but he hadn’t been here when things were
normal, so he decided not to trust his own judgment just yet.
“It has been too long, my fellow
Vendors!” he was saying. “It would seem that the Giants are gone! It appears
that they are awake and have forgotten about us, but we’re still here. So what
does that mean?” He paused for dramatic effect while he looked around at the
assembled Vendors. “It means that somewhere in their minds they are still
dreaming.”
A voice shouted out from the
crowd, “How do we know the Giants even exist?”
“A valid question in times like
these, but look in your heart! We all know the Giants are real; we’ve heard
them speak! Was that just a shared Purple hallucination? Some strange dream
after drinking too may Cloudberry Daiquiris? No! The Giants are real whether we
want them to be or not. I know this to be fact. And I know that if we’re still
here and this world is still here then we have not been completely abandoned.
There is still hope!”
At that a great cheer erupted from
the crowd. Uncle Friendly looked quite pleased with himself. He flashed a smile
at another cyclops-slug in a dress off to the side of the steps.
Once the crowd had died down
another voice shouted, “But what about the Glitchen? If the Giants are still
dreaming why did the Glitchen disappear?”
Shouts of agreement sprung up
from other parts of the crowd at this question.
Uncle Friendly looked slightly
nervous while motioning to the crowd to keep calm while he considered his
answer.
Magic Rock whispered to Wonder
and Mr. Trinkets. “Perhaps now is the time to make ourselves known.” The three
of them started making their way to the front of the crowd. Even as more
Vendors were shouting questions at Uncle Friendly those around Wonder, Magic
Rock and Mr. Trinkets fell quiet in shock and parted to let them passed. As
they climbed the stairs at the base of the tower the crowd had gone completely
silent. Uncle Friendly watched them approach with his mouth hanging open and no
small amount of surprise in his eye.
“Good evening, Friendly,” Magic
Rock said, then turning to Uncle Friendly’s female counterpart, “Helga, nice to
see you.”
Uncle Friendly was still staring
mouth agape when he quickly came to his senses and tried to recover some of his
poise. “Magic Rock, what are you doing here? I thought you were gone for good.”
“Funny, I thought the same about
you all.”
“And you’re traveling with a
butler? That’s a new one, even for me.”
“Mr. Trinkets, at your service.”
Mr. Trinkets gave a low bow.
“But then who is this?” Uncle
Friendly turned to Wonder. “I thought all the Glitchen disappeared during the
Awakening, I saw several vanish from my shop with my own eye.”
“This is Wonder. He’s new.”
Wonder suddenly felt very
uncomfortable standing in front of all these strangers. “Hi,” was all he
managed to get out.
“We were hoping you might shed
some light on what’s going on around here,” continued Magic Rock.
Uncle Friendly stared at Wonder
for another moment before replying. “Well then, it seems we have a lot to talk
about.”
