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- Robin bent down towards TLG until his snout was almost touching TLG's node. TLG tried to move but was frozen with fear. Long gone was the feeling of comfort and security emitted by the Ghost head who had now been replace by an indescribable unearthly creature. Although the creature was neat in appearance, its perfection, and starkness were juxtaposed, giving Robin an incredulous existence. As if it’s very existence broke the eternal laws of nature.
- TLG was trapped against the edge of the perfect stage giving TLG nowhere to go but down. All TLG could think about was running away, but in his heart he knew there was nowhere to go.
- What have I got myself into? He thought to himself.
- In a panic, he turned and jumped off the stage to the grass below. As he fell, he was swooped up before he could touch the ground.
- ‘Where do you think you’re going?’ Robin inquired while he held TLG with both fury paws placed firmly under TLG's armpits. Robin’s eyes gleamed with manic curiosity. TLG could detect a strong smell if Hydrangea leaves in the creature’s breath. A smell that he only knew as a child and had long since forgotten about but the smell was so strong it brought back a flood of memories about exploring the garden as a young Gnome. He remembers breaking the leaves off the bush and smelling the aroma at the sap was freed from the stem. Suddenly he felt more reassured as he looked into those large glassy eyes.
- Robin smiled broadly exposing yet more shiny teeth and continued.
- ‘You can go two paths little one. With me, or back to where you came from. Either way, I must take you there. You cannot ascend the vortex without a Robin. So which will it be?’
- TLG resigned. ‘I guess we need to find Odelin.’
- ‘I knew you would make the right decision little one.’ replied Robin as he lifted TLG onto his back. ‘Hold on tight little one.’ He warned TLG as they set off.
- *The Mirror*
- Robin jumped down onto to grass and stood in front of the mirror, waiting for a signal from TLG.
- ‘What are you doing?’ TLG finally asked.
- ‘I do not know’ Robin admitted. ‘Could I get you to think of your Odelin? Please could you carefully think about where he is?’
- ‘Why?’
- ‘Please, trust me.’
- TLG put his mind back to the apparition, and just as the memory of Odelin emerged, Robin put his head down toward the centre of the mirror then suddenly launched himself with TLG in tow, at the glass.
- TLG closed his eyes and ducked down behind Robin’s ears expecting the impact but none came. TLG could feel the galloping force of Robin accelerating. The inertia was constant as Robin kept on accelerating. TLG dared to open his eyes. He looked around but could hardly see for the speed of the air flowing past him was like a hurricane battering his eyes. TLG pressed his head down against Robin’s fur until his head was in an air pocket. He opened his eyes this time and could see.
- To TLG’s amazement, they were both moving like a rocket through dense forest. He could hear trees and branches giving way under his torrential unearthly power. TLG could feel the occasional sting of particles of debris found their way to his air pocket. It was as if he were ripping a tear through reality itself. TLG looked behind him but all he could see was a roster tail reaching at least fifty yards into the air. The tail was made of debris cast off from Robin’s breaking force as he smashed impossibly through the dense forest. TLG just held on for his dear life as they smashed though trees, and anything that stood in their way. It felt like he was riding the wind again, as in his vision in the cave. He felt the now familiar invulnerable feeling. TLG threw his head back and closed his eyes tightly embracing the experience of this exhilaration.
- *The Hillside*
- This went on for about half an hour until Robin started his deceleration eventually coming to a halt in front of a cave in the side of a large out crop of rock protruding from the side of a hill.
- ‘There you go little one’ Robin said as he grabbed TLG from his back and lowered him to the ground.
- TLG looked around at the plants. They all looked very unfamiliar. They seemed to grow out of the ground and then grow back into the ground. All the trees where that same as they arched up and branched back to the ground with massive aerial roots. TLG could see other smaller shrubs with red leaves that sporadically sheltered under the u-shaped branches of the trees. There were also curious flowers, which grew from the branched of the aerial trees and seemed not to belong to the trees.
- ‘Where are we?’ TLG inquired.
- Robin was just standing there with complete composure as if he had never left the perfect stage.
- ‘We are back in your universe but we are on another planet in around another star to yours. Follow me’
- Robin trotted off into the cave and TLG stumbled after him. TLG followed Robin further into the cave until Robin stopped about twenty yards into the cave. Robin sniffed at the wall.
- ‘Your friend is in here.’ Robin said as he reached up to a small cup sized indention in the wall of the cave.
- Robin pushed his perfect machine-like, clawed paw into the indention and to TLG’s surprise and astonishment, effortlessly but violently ploughed through the wall of that cave of solid rock with one swift and powerful sweep. There was an explosion as a torrent of debris blew out of the cave as Robin kept ploughing and swiping at the cave wall digging deeper as if feverishly searching for some lost hidden treasure. TLG had to stand back to avoid the torrent of bedrock that gave way like butter under a hot knife to Robins assault.
- TLG retreated from the deluge and hid around the side of the cave entrance, to wait for Robin to finish. TLG watched as gusts pulverized rock sprayed out of the entrance to the cave.
- After a short time, there was a pause. TLG wondered if he should venture around the corner to see what Robin was doing but was afraid he would start the pulverizing again, so he decided to shout instead.
- ‘What are you doing?!’ TLG shouted to Robin.
- ‘I am getting your Odelin!’
- ‘But where is he?’ TLG could only imagine Odelin’s situation. Was he stuck in some tomb in the rock?
- ‘Is he trapped in here?’
- ‘You could say that.’ Robin bellowed in reply as he resumed his attack on the cave wall. TLG retreated around a corner again but just as he did, the barrage halted. TLG poked his head around the corner hoping to engage Robin again. Robin was bent down over the rubble, sniffing pawfuls of broken bedrock. He then picked up a small shard of bedrock about one inch in length and about one eighth of an inch wide and held it in front of TLG’s eyes.
- ‘There, see?’ Robin presents a large claw from his other paw and points it to a speck of dust perched on the end of the slither of rock.
- ‘Look closer.’ At that, a beam of light starts streaming from the end of his claw illuminating the speck, on the rock. TLG looks closer.
- ‘What am I looking at?’
- ‘You are looking at a grain of earth once part of this stone. It is not unlike any other speck of mineral in this world except for the fact that this particular speck of mineral contains you friend’.
- ‘Then how do we get him out?’
- ‘We do not. We need to go to him.’
- ‘But how?’
- ‘We need to cross the Quantum horizon’
- ‘Quantum horizon?’
- ‘It is the border between the Macroverse and Microverse. All universes are part of another universe and each parallel universe is a universe that shares the same Macroverse. A Microverse is a Xroud which is both the smallest largest thing in any universe.’ Robin paused for a moment as if to assemble his thoughts.
- *Xrouds*
- ‘You see little one. It is important for you to understand this because it will help you understand where you are, because one can easily get lost in these universes if one does not keep track of where one is.’
- ‘It goes a bit like this’
- ‘A Xroud is a universe’
- ‘A universe consists of galaxies’
- ‘Galaxies consist of stars and planets’
- ‘Planets consist of Mineral’
- ‘Mineral consist of atoms’
- ‘Atoms consist of Xrouds’
- ‘And a Xroud is a universe’
- ‘And it goes on like that infinitely folding in on itself and repeating, with every possibility being realised. This condensate is the result of the Meta universal ethic.’
- ‘There is an eternity of scale and of space and the laws of nature repeat themselves at the Quantum horizon.’
- ‘Your Odelin is in a Microverse of a Microverse of a Microverse of a single Xroud in this speck of mineral as far as I can smell.’
- TLG was astonished by this revelation and his head was starting to spin.
- ‘How do we get to Odelin?’
- ‘We will use a vortex. Vortexes are everywhere. You just need to expect one for one to appear, and I expect one will arrive for us shortly.’ TLG got the clear impression that the ghost head was speaking through Robin, as the voice did not befit this creature. The voice was wise and noble but the creature looked macabre and sinister. It was as if the ghost head was using him as a puppet to skip around the universes of eternity. TLG wondered to himself if Robin had a say in this possession. Certainly the two together seemed very powerful. Just like a God. A very strange God. TLG mused to himself.
- Robin leaned down to face TLG ‘Look here little one’ he said. ‘Here it is.’
- Robin extended a long claw from his paw and scraped the small speck of dust from the stone.
- ‘Watch’ Robin hissed.
- *The Vortex*
- Robin’s claw pointed at the speck of dust and the speck started expanding in size before TLG eyes. TLG looked around him and noticed that everything was expanding except Robin and Himself. TLG tried to move but was frozen on the spot. It was as though time had stopped but he was still aware.
- TLG tried to speak but could not and as he looked on in his frozen universe, he noticed that everything seemed to be racing and frozen at the same time. Then he noticed everything around him was expanding so fast that it was not recognizable. Matter seemed to be pouring out of itself as if in a constant explosion un-tethered and violent. He could still see Robin in front of him frozen with his extended claw, motionless and timeless.
- Suddenly all went black except for a perfect line across his vision and a constant perfect high-pitched tone that was uncomfortably loud. Then the line started bubbling in perfect intervals that stretched out of TLG’s peripheral vision. The line started separating into parallel, bubbled lines until TLG could see nothing else. Then the bubbles started distorting in unison as if tiny pincers had attached them to the top and bottom and where pulling in opposite directions, forming spiral arms on each one. Suddenly TLG realises he has seen these shapes before, in his visions.
- Then all was halted except for the constant ringing in his ears. TLG felt completely frozen. TLG felt his body did not exist. Like his mind was just floating in a void, unable to attach to anything. He started to panic. He desperately wanted to cling and grasp onto something, anything. Even himself, but he felt so empty, so desperately untouchable, that only desperation itself seemed to have substance. Then things started changing. TLG felt himself slowly emerging from the void. The perfect constant tone started changing pitch, getting lower and lower and the bubbled spiral lattice started getting bigger and bigger until just one spiral was all he could see. Eventually the sound disappeared and the bubble just turned into a foggy ambiguous mass that surrounded TLG.
- Eventually, from out of the fog, two large glistening eyes slowly emerged from the fog. This reminded TLG of the time Robin first appeared to him. Robin was still in the same position as frozen as TLG himself was. Frozen and still staring at a speck of dust.
- The fog started clearing and TLG found himself in exactly the same moment as he was moments before the world exploded.
- ‘I was expecting to go somewhere else.’ TLG said as he realised he could now speak and move once again.
- Robin turned and spoke to TLG ‘You are somewhere else.’
- ‘I do not feel like I'm in a different place.’
- ‘You are in a different universe’.
- TLG paused to contemplate his remark. ‘But everything looks the same.’
- ‘That is because most universes are parallel on the border of the Quantum horizon and that means they will be almost identical. We will not need this universe for long as it is just a bridge to where we need to go to find Odelin.’
- ‘How many universes do we need to go across?’ TLG inquired to the all-knowing Robin.
- ‘Three, so we had better keep moving. Hop on little one.’ At that, Robin scooped TLG up onto his back and off they went. Robin trotted back to the cave entrance.
- TLG surveyed the scenery a he had scrutinised earlier and could not see anything different. There were still the same trees with orange leaves that grew up long and tall and those strange flowers that moved like little upside down spiders filtering the air for little insects.
- ‘Is this universe exactly that same as the one we just came from?’
- ‘Not at all’ Robin replied.
- ‘But it looks the same.’ TLG proclaimed.
- ‘You only think it looks the same, but it is very different. One of the problems with travelling across the Quantum horizon into another universe is that changes from one universe to another can be very subtle and surprising ways.’
- Just then, Robin turns to TLG and exclaims
- ‘No time to waste! We must continue’ with that, he scoops TLG up onto his shoulders and trots out to the clearing in the orange forest out side the entrance of the cave and puts TLG back down.
- TLG plucks a blade of orange grass from the floor of the clearing and studies its closer as Robin wanders around chanting to himself some strange and unfamiliar language. It looks just like a normal blade of grass and he marvels at the thought of plucking the limb from this little flora, and wondered if it felt any pain as the sap dripped from its severed leaf.
- If this blade of grass could think, I’ll bet you it would never have imagined it would end its life like this. He mused to himself.
- Robin, who had also been staring at a patch of grass near the centre of the clearing approaches TLG and bends down to face him at his level. His eyes intensify as he searches TLG for some hidden thought or secret. Robin then lifts his head and looks stares into TLG’s lightning cloud with more curiosity than ever. TLG can see the lightning from his cloud flickering as a reflection in Robin’s huge eyes as grew ever glassier. The sparkling and flickering reflections, giving Robin an even more, menacing appearance. TLG felt as though his very soul were being drawn into those huge eyes.
- Suddenly Robin withdrew his gaze from TLG’s cloud as if snapping out of a trance and extends his huge grin to TLG.
- ‘Can I ask you to concentrate like you did before? Think of your Odelin again little one. It’s this only way we can find him.’ Robin looks anxious and, his confidence seems to wane.
- ‘Sure, if it helps.’ TLG replied slightly bewildered by Robin’s obvious emotional fluctuations.
- TLG closes his eyes to bring Odelin into his thoughts but just as his does, Robin launches into action.
- ‘Ahhhck! I knew it.’ Robin hisses. ‘This is unfortunate!’
- ‘What is wrong Robin?’ TLG asks. Seeing Robin concerned was not something TLG expected, or felt comfortable with for that matter. TLG wondered if this creature was not as powerful as he had come to believe.
- ‘It would appear that your Odelin is in a strange and remote place indeed.’
- ‘What do you mean?’
- Robin hangs his head and exhales as if he is about to deliver some bad news.
- *The Broken*
- ‘I'm afraid your Odelin resides in one of the most inaccessible universes a creature could exist in. But it all makes perfect sense to me now.’ Robin is pacing around the clearing with his paws clasped behind him.
- ‘At first I was very surprised to see you. It was hard for me to imagine a creature like you could exist let alone Odelin. I knew you were a fringe creature but now I see the complex and tenuous nature of you existence. Both you and Odelin.’ Robin glanced at TLG’s cloud again.
- ‘Where is he? Can we still get to him?’ TLG asks anxiously.
- ‘We must get to him, there is no question.’ Robin states solidly.
- ‘Why is he so unreachable?’
- Robin directs a reassuring gaze at TLG and explains with earnest.
- ‘The reason you and Odelin are here is because of a broken place. A universe afflicted with such absurd nature that it breaks the very ethics that constitute the Meta Universe. This place was created by a creature called a Starmite.’
- ‘A Starmite?’
- ‘Come little one!’ He exclaims with enthusiasm. The seriousness has gone from his face and his confidence has returned. It was as if he had suddenly stumbled upon a solution to their dilemma.
- ‘We’re off the visit the Starmites!’
- *The Scope*
- Robin outstretches his arms in front of him with his paws open with his shiny black claws extended. Robin lifts his arms into the air and makes wild circling gestures with his hands. Suddenly TLG feels a shock as the ground seams to shake and contract, then expand slightly. ‘Curious.’ he finally broke his silence.
- In front of Robin, at the centre of his circling gestures Robin seemed to be controlling a clear glass ball suspended before him.
- ‘Where did you find that?’ TLG asked, but Robin did not reply. He just kept entertaining the glass sphere suspended before him.
- TLG approached Robin and his sphere, to get a closer look. At closer inspection, it did not appear as familiar glass at all. It was as if the sphere was missing, but the lens effect of the light bending around a glass sphere remained. It also seemed to be growing.
- ‘What are you doing?’ TLG ask politely but Robin just continued to nurture his sphere.
- Robin continued mumbling to himself but also started looking around, as if he were searching for something in the forest. His gestures around the sphere grew wilder and more pronounced and his expression grew maniacal. TLG started to feel a little anxious about what would happen next. Eventually the sphere was twice his size, suspended there in mid air hovering above the ground like a giant glass ball without the glass. TLG had the impression that Robin had woven the elements of air and fire into a perfect elementary artefact that could only exist in another universe.
- Gradually Robin halts his mutterings, trots over to TLG leaving his ball floating in the air behind him.
- Before TLG could speak, Robin descends on TLG, casts him to his shoulders, turns, and leaps into the sphere he had manifested earlier. Suddenly they are weightless. As if, gravity had just disappeared. TLG floats off Robin’s shoulders and finds himself drifting away. TLG struggles to swim but it is no use. He just flounders uncontrollably. ‘What is happening?’ TLG shouts in exhilaration.
- ‘Do not worry, you will get used to it. You are in an Etherscope’.
- TLG’s hand then touches the inside of the ball. It was like touching an invisible sponge with and impossibly soft surface. TLG found he stuck gently to the surface as if by a gentle magnetism. He steadies himself and looks towards Robin. Robin was staring at him with that huge unearthly grin of his, showing off his impressive battery of teeth.
- ‘What is going on?’ TLG asks.
- ‘We are going on a voyage through the heavens, to visit the Starmites.’
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