After his conversation with the
spirit in the snow and his realization of the power contained within the
Crystal Heart Wonder knew what he had to do. It wasn’t that there was a sudden
solution to the problem; he just realized what was right and what was
necessary. So he set off immediately with Desmond by his side. They went
wherever the Crystal Heart guided them, waking up any creatures they found
along the way. Whenever an animal regained its senses Wonder always asked if
they would like to join him. Most of them did, but some of them preferred to
stay behind. Rocks and trees were affected by the Heart’s power as well, though
they obviously couldn’t come along. In this way Wonder quickly gained a
substantial following.
They travelled for days on end,
not wanting to lose the momentum they had built. With the Heart guiding them
they made excellent time across the land, amassing more followers and heading
toward their ultimate goal. Everything seemed to be falling into place, but
Wonder couldn’t ignore the sadness that was brought on whenever he thought
about his friends he had left at the tower. He had accepted his fate, but he
would have liked to have seen them once more to say goodbye. Unfortunately he
only had the Crystal Heart to guide him, and he didn’t know where it was
leading. That’s why he was so surprised when the group found themselves in
Jethimadh.
They had travelled through a
similar region once already, but as soon as they crossed the border into
Jethimadh Wonder could see the tower in the distance and he knew where they
were. He decided to make a detour to the tower to check on his friends regardless
of where the Heart wanted him to go. Coincidentally the Heart was leading him
right back to the tower anyway, and this gave him confidence.
With his animal followers at his
back he arrived at the tower just in time, it seemed. Magic Rock and Mr.
Trinkets looked as if they were on trial and poor Koro was locked up in a tiny
cage being swung about by Uncle Friendly. Listening to the end of Friendly’s
rant about traitors and saving Ur he knew he had to speak up, but this time
he wasn’t afraid of what might happen because he knew he was right.
“I’m sorry, but this world can’t
be saved. Not in the way that you think. If you really want to be saved the
Giants need to wake up, and I’m the one who has to do it.”
The crowd seemed to be holding
its breath, not really sure what to make of this new development.
“What is this?!” Uncle Friendly
didn’t try to disguise his anger this time. “The traitor has returned? This
doesn’t change anything. Now you can stand trial with your friends and we can
keep you all from doing any more harm.”
Wonder stared Uncle Friendly
down and approached the steps by a path that had opened up in the crowd.
Desmond followed immediately behind, but the rest of the animals stayed where
they were at his request.
“No, you’re wrong,” Wonder
answered back once he was face to face with Uncle Friendly. “We’re not traitors
and we’re not trying to destroy your world, you just don’t want to see it.” His
words were firm, but not angry, and just loud enough for everyone gathered to
hear.
“I heard it from your own lips;
you want to wake the Giants and doom us all to non-existence!”
“True, the Giants need to be
woken, and this land will cease to exist, but that doesn’t mean we will. The
Glitchen have already moved on and this land will follow one way or another. Ur
was always a temporary thing. A land created in a dream could never last
forever.” Wonder turned to address the crowd. “You all had your time here to
enjoy your lives. It was too short, but holding on to the decaying memory of
what this place used to be is not the way to celebrate it.
“I can’t put the Giants back to
sleep, and even if I could it wouldn’t do any good for anyone. In this state of
half-waking Ur is slowly dying from the inside out. You’ve already seen the
rocks, trees and animals losing pieces of their old selves. Eventually entire
streets would start to fade until there was nothing left. It would be a long,
slow, painful death. Ur deserves more than that and so do you. Help me, and
let’s end this world the way it was always supposed to end: with music and
cheering and friends by our side. I can’t save the world in the way that you
had all hoped, but I can lead us into the next one the way the Giants intended.”
Wonder stared out at the Vendors
and they stared back at him, too shocked to say anything. He turned to face
Uncle Friendly who was staring down at him as if seeing him for the first time.
His shoulders dropped and Wonder could almost swear he saw a tear forming in
that giant orange eye of his. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed
it again and instead handed the cage to Wonder and walked away. The Vendors
took this as a sign and cheered for Wonder. It didn’t seem to matter that he
planned to end the world, it somehow gave them hope.
Magic Rock and Mr. Trinkets
rushed over while Wonder let Koro out of the cage.
“You made it back!” Mr. Trinkets
shouted.
“We were so worried about you!”
Magic Rock added.
Wonder laughed in spite of himself.
“It seems like you should have been more worried about yourselves. What
happened here?”
“You were gone and we didn’t
know what to do, so we sort of tried to start a revolution.” Mr. Trinkets said.
“It didn’t really work.”
“I can see that.” Wonder lifted
Koro up in his hand and looked her over. “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine now. I stuck around to
help after Uncle Friendly sent you away, but I got caught. It’s a good thing
you showed up or I don’t know what would have happened.”
“Speaking of which, how did you
find your way back?” Magic Rock asked. “And what’s with all the animals?”
The animals that had followed
Wonder were now mixing in with the Vendors and they seemed to be explaining
things as best they could. Animals in Ur always had a knack for
sensationalizing events or remembering them somewhat differently, but the main
parts of the story seemed to be getting across.
“When I was in the tower I met
Gwendolyn, a spirit from a lost age. She told me everything about Ur fading
away and waking the Giants. She gave me this,” Wonder held up the Crystal
Heart, “And told me it would guide me to the end of my quest. When I got sent
away it led me back here and along the way I used it to wake up any animals I
found, to help them remember who they used to be. Which reminds me, guys, this
is Desmond,” Wonder motioned to the piggy at his side. “Desmond, this is Magic
Rock, Mr. Trinkets and Koro.” They all nodded and greeted Desmond.
“I’ve heard a lot about you
fellas. Nice to finally put a face with the names,“ he replied.
“So, what’s our next move?”
Magic Rock asked.
Wonder thought for a moment.
“Gwendolyn said this would guide me to the end of my quest, and it brought me
here, but I feel like this isn’t it.” He held the Heart in his hand and closed
his eyes, turning one way and then another, taking a few steps and then walking
back. Finally he opened his eyes and smiled. “It’s that way,” he said pointing
off in the distance.
“What is?” Koro asked.
“I’m not sure, but we’ll find
out soon enough.”
Once the situation had been
adequately explained to everyone they were all given the choice to go wherever
they wanted. Most of the Vendors chose to follow Wonder, but a few stayed
behind, including Uncle Friendly who seemed quite ashamed of everything that
had happened. Wonder tried to comfort him and say that he understood his heart
was in the right place, but he couldn’t convince Uncle Friendly to come along.
Instead he stayed at the tower with Helga and a few others, determined to meet
the end where they had made their new home.
All-in-all for a party that was
heading toward certain destruction the group that left the tower base that day
was in pretty high spirits. Animals and Vendors were talking and laughing,
remembering better times and enjoying the company.
Wonder led the group with Magic
Rock, Mr. Trinkets and Desmond at his side. Koro flew happily above them
occasionally coming in to land on Wonder’s shoulder and talk about unimportant
things. They tried to enjoy what they expected to be their last journey together,
but it was hard to ignore the fact that none of them would be coming back from
it. Still they kept things light and happy as they traveled through Chakra
Phool and into a dark, craggy region. The terrain proved to be a bit of a
challenge, but they were greatly aided (and entertained) by the fungus-like
growths that shot them up into the air allowing them to easily reach new
heights.
They kept traveling and
eventually the sky lightened and the weather turned cold. Snow covered the
ground and ice covered the rocks. Wonder and Desmond told the others about
their first meeting and the beauty of the snowy forest at night. They each
secretly wished they could see it one more time, but kept that to themselves.
It wasn’t long until they reached a street that looked like many other streets
they had traveled through, but to Wonder it felt different.
“It’s here, something’s
different about this place,” he said, looking around.
High above them he noticed a
door.
“There,” he said pointing it out
to the others before springing upward from a bouncing growth. The others
followed suit and shortly Wonder, Koro, Magic Rock, Mr. Trinkets and Desmond
were all standing on the ledge to the door. The rest of the group waited down
below, talking among themselves, not aware that this might be the end of the
line.
Wonder looked at each of his
friends. “I think this is it, guys. Through here is the end; where Gwendolyn
says the dream world and the waking world are closest. Are you ready?”
They nodded in agreement and
Wonder opened the door and stepped through. Everything was dark and he turned
to see his friends still standing on the ledge. “What are you waiting for?
Let’s go.”
Koro shook her head. “We can’t
come in,” she said. “It won’t let us pass.”
“I’m afraid she’s right,” said
Magic Rock. “It looks like this is a place for Glitchen only.”
The words hit him hard. After
everything he had done in the past few days and all the confidence and courage
he had gained Wonder still couldn’t help himself and broke down crying right
there inside the doorway.
“But I don’t want to go alone!” he
sobbed. “I need you with me.”
“You’re wrong,” Mr. Trinkets
said. “You don’t need us there with you. You’re strong enough to do anything on
your own.”
“He’s right you know,” Magic
Rock added. “You’ve done more in your short time than most Glitchen could do in
a hundred lifetimes.”
“Besides, you won’t be alone.
We’ll all be right here, thinking about you and waiting to meet back up on the
other side.” Desmond offered.
Wonder looked at them each and
smiled through his tears. It wasn’t until that moment that he remembered the
last words Gwendolyn ever spoke to him, “You have friends. Trust them. Lean on
them to get you to your goal, but in the end you must walk the final road
alone.” And Wonder knew she was right.
He stepped back out and gave
them each a hug because he couldn’t say goodbye. Last of all he sat on the
ground in front of Koro.
“We’ve had our ups and downs,
but you were my first friend and you stood by me when I wouldn’t return the
favor.”
Koro looked up into Wonder’s
face. “You were my first friend too, and friends don’t just abandon each other.
You never let me down. You always came back for me.”
Wonder offered his hand and Koro
hopped onto it. He lifted Koro up to his face and kissed the top of her head.
“Goodbye, Koro. I hope we see each other again.”
“Goodbye, Wonder. I’m sure we
will.”
He placed Koro back on the
ledge, stood up, gave his friends one more sad smile and then walked through
the door without looking back. It was the scariest moment of his short life.
Once the door closed Wonder
found himself walking on a narrow strip of grass in the sunset next to a wide
body of water. It seemed so peaceful he couldn’t help but stop and stare out
over the water for a moment. In the distance he could see another narrow strip
of land with a hill on it. He was completely alone.
After another moment of quiet
reflection he listened to the Crystal Heart. This place felt like the end of
life, but not the end of a world. He still wasn’t where he needed to be so he
moved on through another door opposite the one he had come in. When he walked
through he expected to be in a new place, but instead he was standing on the
hill he had seen in the distance. The rules of time and space seemed to be breaking
down here near the edge of reality, but that didn’t bother him much. What did
bother him was the lack of a door or another way out of any kind. He knew that he
was close to his goal, but he wasn’t sure where to go next.
Wonder sat in the grass on the
hill and stared out over the water once again. The colors of the perpetual
sunset made him sad and he wished his friends could have seen it with him. He
let his eyes follow the gradation of the sunlight from bright yellow to orange
to pink to violet to blue and up to where the stars began to twinkle in the
dark. He lay back, feeling the grass under his hands; trying to soak it all in
before everything went away. He closed his eyes and breathed in the air here at
the end of his life. It was sweet and pure.
He opened his eyes again to try
to count the stars and see their patterns, but something else caught his
attention. Up in the sky he saw what looked like letters among the clouds. He
sat up and tried to make them out, but wisps of cloud kept drifting by
obscuring the shapes. He continued to stare until his eyes hurt from the strain
when finally the sky cleared revealing the simple message.
“Bye.”
He whispered the word to himself
while he stared up into the sky. No sooner had the sound left his mouth than he
began floating up toward the word. He looked back down to see the ground
retreating as he kicked his feet and flailed his arms, but it was no use. He
was being pulled up by some mysterious force and there was nothing he could do
about it. Then in an instant he was calm as if a wave had washed over him. He
felt the Crystal Heart and realized that he was finally going where he had been
meant to go since he had woken up alone in the forest all those weeks ago.
Wonder floated up into the sky
until the letters dissolved into nothing and he could see Ur laid out below in patches of blue, brown and green. From up there he could see where the outer
edges were already starting to fade just like Gwendolyn told him they would. He
wondered how long this world would have lasted left to its own devices, but there
was no way of knowing.
Below him was Ur, above him were
stars and empty blackness, and all around were chunks of rock floating
independently. He guessed that these may have been bits of Ur pulled away from
the surface when the Giants awoke, but it was just speculation. He found he
could jump between them quite easily, and with a little effort he could even
float around without touching the ground at all if he wanted. He wasn’t as
graceful as Koro, but Wonder could understand what she meant about flying being
preferable to walking.
He floated from rock to rock,
exploring. There weren’t any trees or minerals here, but on every rock,
covering every inch, he found notes left behind by Glitchen. He had stopped
reading the notes scattered around Ur a long time ago because they made him
sad, but he decided to take the time to read some now. These were some of the
last thoughts of the Glitchen and he thought someone should remember them.
Wonder sat and read the notes
for a long time. Some of them were short and sweet; simple goodbyes. Others
were longer, more dramatic, but equally as heartfelt. He read poems and songs
and confessions and each one he read he placed back exactly where he had found
it.
Once he was done he dried his
eyes and took out the music block Gwendolyn had given him. He held it in one
hand with the Crystal Heart in the other. They both seemed so insignificant. It
didn’t make sense that the objects that would bring about the end of the world
should fit so neatly in his grip. The thought made him laugh and think about himself
and how insignificant he had felt his entire life.
He sat down at the edge of one
of the floating rocks and let his feet hang over the side. He held the Crystal
Heart in his lap and sat the music block next to him on the ground. He pushed
the play button and as the first notes rang out he looked down between his feet
at the world he had helped bring to a close.
