Karyn had never felt more exhausted in her life. This entire situation was not just surreal any more, it felt dangerous. Traversing a desert was one thing, but to have it filled with creatures that resembled a video game... she didn't have the fourth wall to protect her, neither did she suspect, having extra lives. This.. was real... a real world, with real danger and the potential for loss of her life existed making her feel a survival instinct that was normally alien to 'civil' humanity. Her scorpion body however, was a great boon in this situation. She glanced down at it, with it's tough exoskeleton and poised tail capable of harming or stinging other creatures.. though she was in this situation, she was certainly not unequipped to handle it. The impressions she left on the sand were somehow.... those of a powerful predator. She actually felt rather proud and pleased in some way.
Fazalune was studying her closely. Something was on her mind the closer they reached their destination and it made a rather grim expression on her otherwise cheerful demeanor. "It's not too far now... the Tower of Sand is at the center of all these pools.. you can see it from here."
Karyn stared ahead, shielding her eyes with her hand to look further. The tower looked to be made of sand itself... no windows, just strange arches that went all the way to the top in what she imagined must have been about fifty feet high. Dusty sand-balls were blowing around it, carried by the wind. "What... is that tower doing?"
"Rebuilding itself dear," explained the elder scorpion woman. "Nothing endures in the sands.. not even the tower. The Woman within keeps the tower maintained with her power. In some ways it is also a safety net.. nobody would dare harm her, if they knew the tower would collapse around them." She gave a wry chuckle at that.
Karyn wondered of the implications; that someone would need such protection... she knew so little of this world, or its politics and power structure. "She's... important then to this world?" Karyn wondered... perhaps she was like a queen, or a seer?
"This world.. and others," nodded Fazalune. "Though I can't really say more... nobody really knows." The elder woman started to lead them up another dune. The sun was starting to set. In a way that was a good thing as it did settle the sandspools from any sudden give. That meant they could risk a short cut.. but if they delayed too long, sandworms could also attempt to feed on any detritus left behind. She gazed at her companion... Karyn was young and strong.. Fazalune was sure she could manage... she was more concerned of her own health, but the Lady would provide water. She drank the last that she had, knowing this was it now... "So, tell me what do you think of your journey so far?" she asked curiously not letting in that they were out of water.
Karyn thought about it as she hefted the camp on her scorpion torso. "I'm.. I don't know... pretty exciting so far."
"Hm... are you not scared?" Fazlune asked innocently, though there was something guarded in her tone. "It would be natural for you to be so..."
Karyn frowned. What was she trying to get at? "N-No. I am here to help my friend Jon."
"hmm..." 'Friendship certainly made this girl fearless...' she thought quietly. Still with what laid ahead she tried to press further. "This Jon... he is.. really just a friend then?"
"Yes... you're not hinting it might be more then that? I mean- Friends can do things for friends..." Karyn was a little annoyed. Was it because Jon was a boy? She couldn't be friends with a boy? They were good friends and that was it.. of all the people Jon trusted with knowledge of the stone, it was Karyn alone...
"True..." Fazlune wiped a brow of sweat from her weathered face. "However, not many friends would go to the ends of the world.. and other worlds for one. He must be in some ways... very special."
"He is," whispered Karyn thoughtfully. "Just.. not in... the way you might think..."
"I see... well... I.. feel rather humbled before such friendship, to be honest Karyn. I do hope you see him... Come along, this is the last part of our journey... the sand bridge."
As the wind cleared, Karyn could see it. A strange bridge made of sand. It appeared to be suspended over a pit. She couldn't see much underneath, just a sea of dust. The width looked wide enough for their scorpion bodies but.. there was nothing to suggest how it was suspended except by magic.
Karyn stared at the bridge. "So.. this thing isn't going to collapse is it?"
"Legend says... it will collapse if you use it three times. Though I don't believe it to be true. The Lady just enjoys her privacy I think... "
For some reason, Karyn laughed at that. That certainly would be a rather -gamey- thing to do... She walked, carefully and cautiously as the structure took the brunt of her weight with not a creek. Fazalune walked carefully as well behind her. "Do watch your tail dear..." She chuckled.
"Sorry." Karyn brought her tail a bit forward to her view. She glanced down to the dust... she could just glimpse more of those deep swirling pools of sand beneath them much larger then the ones they had traversed. It was like looking at a gate to the abyss. It kicked up strange swirling storms above waving tornadoes of fire. The winds were gentle on the bridge, shielded by sandstone but looked ferocious beyond it. Karyn didn't want to stumble, there was no guard rail or anything like that. She just took it one step at a time... She had never been so glad to be back on the dunes.
"Not so bad was it," smiled Fazalune. "I might need to rest a bit inside..."
Karyn nodded. Finally they were at the front door and hopefully to safety. She gazed up at the top.. she thought she could see some kind of light but whatever the source she couldn't make it out. The arches were all around, making it look like a sand paper version of the leaning tower of Pisa. As she approached the door just... opened, with a loud swoosh of dry air.
Karyn stepped inside, with Fazalune at her side, enjoying the quiet shade. The first chamber appeared to be the same yellow sand, much as if she had stepped into a pyramid. It was a bit nerve racking to note walls shifting and moving, yet somehow retaining their structure no matter what they shifted into. It felt like this building was somehow.. alive. "Where to now Faza?"
Suddenly, the sands of the floor shifted, dividing Karyn from her mentor. "Faza!" She shouted as she tried to push the wall. In desperation she even tried the sting of her tail.. the first time she did that. It was strong but made no impression on the wall as it simply absorbed it.
Karyn was alone... slowly, one single door shifted open.
Fazalune sighed as the wall divided them. It was not surprising to her... she waited patiently, as a column of sand slowly pushed her upwards...
I assume... you didn't tell this one of the final test? spoke a voice.. it rang across Fazalune though she stood impassively.
"Of course not... However... there is something different about this one. Her name is Karyn.. she used to be human."
There was a pause before the voice began again. She is one of us now... she has to be tested as one of us...
Karyn stepped into the corridor... the walls were different here. Gone were the sandy stones, replaced by smooth finishings of glass, so fine it was like a thousand mirrors. She had stepped into a kaleidoscope, all reflecting the same room.. the same person. As she walked, she could see even the floor were of the same glass finish letting her see 'underneath' her scorpion body, the raw underbelly startling her and almost making her ill. "So that's what I look like there..." she grimaced. Her new body was being reflected in all sides, in every hue and fine detail. She kept on walking, there wasn't really any other option but to press on. She wished Fazalune was here... she realised just how much she hated being on her own. "Hello?" she called out warily, but there was no reply. Her new body made odd taps on the glass floor. The sensations from seeing what her body looked like, a closer awareness of this alien form's presence... She felt something akin to fear from it.. fear of her new body.. but also curiosity. It didn't feel 'wrong' exactly just.. different.
The mirror images flickered and move... for a moment the lights completely went out, and Karyn was stumbling in the darkness of this strange chamber. "Hey- what gives..." her voice echoed out, in a multitude of sounds. Replicated dozens and hundreds of times over. Then the lights came back on... Karyn was surrounded by many other Karyns. All of them were her, all of them looking lost and confused as each other. "W-What's happening?" All the karyns said this identically at the same time. They each moved in completely in sync, as if trying to figure out the truth of this situation.. Karyn.. or at least one of them, or all of them? She.. wondered for a moment if she even was the real one... what if she was just an illusion seeking... no that couldn't be the case. She knew she was the real one.. Slowly she walked as did all the others in their own paths, reflecting the same choice made over and over to move forward. Some moved left of her, some moved right.. all of them though trying to reach their various endings.
"I'm afraid people will hate my body," she heard one of the Karyns admit.
"I'm afraid I will never see my home again..." echoed the voice of another.
"I'm afraid that... I could enjoy being a scorpion," whispered another biting her lip.
Karyn glanced briefly at the three but continued to walk on. "I'm not afraid," she said to herself. There had to be a way out of here... she wasn't afraid of anything...
"But you must be... we're all you..."
Karyn tried to ignore the voices. It was a distraction, was this some sort of test? She had to press on. She had to find Fazalune. She had to find Jon and everyone... Finally she found what appeared to be the end of the mirror. As she put her arm through it, all the other Karyns glanced at their arms, shocked as their very existence seemed to come to an end.
One of the Karyn's suddenly grabbed her. "No don't go through there! If you leave here we're all going to stop being! Please don't do it!"
Karyn tensed and pushed the other Karyn away. "I have to go! I have to!"
As she ran into the darkness, all the other mirror versions of herself faded. She glanced back at them.. a pang of guilt wondering what just happened... a deep rumble of the sands beneath her feet emanated as she started to rise higher. She felt strange by that experience..unsettled.. a bit sad, but those were only illusions, right? "F-Fazalune?" Karyn called out. She was now in a new chamber, she guessed in the upper levels of the tower.
"Come dear, we're in the presence of the Lady... I am sorry you had to endure that... it's one of the requirements... I couldn't go there with you." She helped Karyn up. They were now at the very top of the tower, high above the desert.
The Lady of sands approached.. she appeared to be a snake-woman of some kind. Karyn eyed her tail which was... incredibly large. It had to be over twenty feet long, filling up the other side of the tower. She was curled up around some kind of crystal. She held a staff, and looked surprisingly young from her human appearance and dark brown skin. "Karyn.. Fazalune has told me so much about you. Welcome to our humble world... I am the Lady of the Sands..." She spoke in whispered hushed tones.. careful of her words as she regarded the buxom young woman.
"What happened? What were those mirrors?" Karyn demanded.
"They were... aspects of yourself, in other times and circumstances- at least the circumstances that allowed you to be in this world. To be here is to be here in all lines of your existence... I do not pretend to understand it, but suffice to say that, all the possible you exist here.."
Karyn felt really weak. She felt like she had endured something very... alien... she didn't know if she would ever understand it. "I- I am I want to find Jon... I was told you could help."
"Where are you from dear?" Asked the snake-woman with a lovely smile on her face.
Karyn slumped down. "I'm from.. a.. a world called Earth... I guess you don't know it."
"Hm... Earth..." the snake-woman let a piece of the ground rise up by magic taking on the form of an orb. With a spark of light from her staff it turned into glass. Karyn saw it was now a replca of her own world. "This planet.. perhaps?"
"Yes! You.. you know my world?"
The snake-woman nodded placing the orb on the ground. "I... have to explain to you something, child. What do you know of travelling.. dimensions? Is this something your people do often now?"
"No... not.. that I'm aware of," said Karyn warily. If they did it would probably be a secret.. but who knows. "Why..."
The snake woman coiled the Earth globe around her snake tail, letting it run across the sand. "What are you Karyn..."
"A.. scorpion.. thing?" she asked warily wondering if that was the right answer. "But I was human.."
"More fundamental then that child.. what are you?"
" a girl?" Kryn asked cock-eyed. "Look... I came-"
"-and even more fundamental then that?" she interrupted Karyn. "Go as deep as you can, I need to understand the depths of your understanding of reality..." she picked up the sands and as if to hint something to Karyn, scattered it onto the globe.
"Well... atoms... we're made of carbon.. water..."
"Ah.. so you have some alchemical knowledge... good, that makes it easier to explain..." She placed place the Earth-orb down on the floor, leaving an impression there. She then crawled with her large snake body, and drew a large circle around.. with a single dot in the sand at the center with her finger and made a line to the Earth. "This is your... universe..." she gestured to the large circle..." This is your world.." She gestured to the orb. ".. and this is your origin, the origin of all things within this universe alone... All is sand, and all sand comes from a single point.. a single place... the stars are born, and all subsance..."
Karyn folded her arms over her large bust. She didn't really know what she was getting at. "Right.. so... I'm not there... I'm here now... why is this important?"
"I am getting to that." She drew another circle, this time wrapping around Karyn. Karyn was able to see up close the strange and lovely scales of the Lady of Sand. "This is the universe you are in now... but... there is a problem... where is your origin... there is none... not here for you... it is a paradox... you are here with no history, not even to those.. what did you call them, atoms? Yet you are here... existing. This is not allowed by fundamental laws..."
Karyn wasn't sure what to make of this. "Is this why I'm a scorpion here?"
The snake-woman gave a flicker of an amused look. "Hm.. no... that is something nobody can explain, if there is a will, a rhyme, a reason or purpose... that is up to you. I can only tell you the symptoms of how this happens. But tell me, what else are you... besides the physical..."
"Well... I'm Jon's friend." Karyn replied curtly. "That's why I'm here..."
"Indeed.. as thinking living beings, we affect the lives of others... now imagine the hole left behind, when you travel to a different place. Your history there is but an echo now... I'm sorry child, but I fear nobody will remember you in your own world for as long as you are here."
Karyn gasped. "You... you're lying. There's no way! I have my family there..."
"They can't remember you... but it is not as if you never existed. You did exist there.. there are echoes of your existence, people will still lead their lives as if you had been there... if you return, they will remember you again..."
"But... why?"
The snake woman sighed. " because finding your way back to your own world is very... difficult. If I were to guess... this is a kindness, to all the people you leave behind. On some level they do remember you.. but on another, they can not have their own destinies altered by your absence. The sands must flow... this is the fundamental nature of time itself... the universe tries to fix the paradox by filling in the holes where it can... not always easy..."
Karyn started to cry.. she felt Fazalunes comforting hand on her shoulder. This was a lot to take in... she didn't realise travelling to other worlds meant such a sacrifice... would she have done it knowing this? Still... "I- I guess.. I'm glad they wont be worried about me.. while I'm gone... but if I never find my way back..."
"Their lives will continue... some might remember you more then others but... only if they were destined to. Is this not what you would wish for in such circumstances? Imagine the pain you could put them through... I sense you were loved deeply," The snake-woman gave a sad look for a moment.
Karyn's eyes suddenly lit. " are you from another world?"
Darrin slept soundly.. he thought he had a weird dream as he was rather slow in getting up. He had this dream where he had somehow ended up in the body of a young cat girl. He placed a hand on his chest, feeling... well... nothing unusual there, a feeling that provided more evidence he could dismiss such a strange thought. Still something wasn't right.. ".. it wasn't a dream," -she- realised wide awake, with her hand a little lower down. She really was a cat-girl.. in a weird world...
She got up with a stretch and yawn, her tail waving at the promise of food.
"Hello Diana, I'm glad to see you awake." Sarah smiled, as she petted the cat-girl affectionately.
Diana squirmed at the touch but.. she didn't mind it so much. Sarah was treating her as a kid.. not a cat... or.. well... could she really be offended by them treating her as she was?
"We heard you had a way to get on a ship. We're.. also hoping to travel. Would you let us accompany you?"
"Huh?" Diana blinked. This was probably the first time anyone ever asked her opinion... instead of just 'assuming' things. She liked Sarah though and Tom... "Yes!" She said enthusiastically. "I- I really would like that."
Still something was bothering Diana. "Um... Sarah.. I.. I don't have many clothes an'.. I didn't pack much when I left. Do you think you could.. buy me some stuff?" She asked hopefully. Her current clothes were just a bit too dirty having been wondering in the forest and now sleeping in it.
Sarah smiled. "I think we can get a few new clothes for you sure."
Jon glanced up to the sky. "I suppose we can reach the air from here," she said looking down a clearing. A nice hill to get a bit of speed and.. hopefully she wouldn't hit any trees.
Maggie looked thrilled for some reason. "Oh I can't wait to flock with you!" she said brimming with excitement. She started to stretch out her wings. "Arn't you gonna warm up?"
"Well- I suppose?" Jon started to move her wings. In some ways it felt.. kinda nice to do. However the way she was doing it, made Maggie giggle.
"You're so funny..."
Jon fumed. "I'm doing exactly what you're doing, how is this any different?"
Maggie then got closer to Jon, eyeing all the feathers. She started to pull her arm, using her own wings to nudge her. "You're wings are all stiff cause you havn't been walking right with them," she explained. "Look see? I walk like this," she raised her wings again, with that odd haunched look that to Jon made her look rather.. predatory. "While you are walking like this.. like um.. a penguin!"
Jon gasped. "Hey- wait a minute, do penguins talk in this world?"
"Maybe? I dunno," Maggie giggled. "But if you keep walking like that, you're gonna do bad things to your wings. You got to have them loose, and breezy. Since they are all stiff, try this out." she started to shake her arms, making the feathers ruffled.
Jon tried to do this too... it was.. interesting. Maggie was right, the bones did feel stiff with the way she kept them straight and to her side, much as if she had normal human arms. She relaxed her 'fingers' as they adopted the natural curve to her wings. She felt.. silly though. It looked like she was trying to be.. scary? Intimidating? Like she was some kind of scarecrow..
"That's better! Oh wow, you look ready to attract a mate like that..." Maggie giggled again.
"Urgh... please no.. let's just start flying out of this forest before something weird happens..."
"You gotta go first, I'll follow your trail. That's sorta the tradition when flocking. Otherwise people will think something's really weird about you."
Jon began to flap, running down the hill. She could feel the wind again pick up under her arms.
Maggie started to follow, still giggling as she naturally focused on Jon's tail to center her own flight. They were now both up in the air!
Jon felt.. safer up here. She could take a breather.
"I've never seen a harpy fly with clothes before. It looks really weird," Maggie mentioned as she tucked her legs in. "You're not too bad at this but.. uh, you might want to pull your claws in more. You're not exactly cutting the wind right.."
"I think I get it," said Jon as she started to follow Maggie's example. This.. this was now suddenly, a lot easier. It was all the little things added together.. somehow, she felt stronger now. It was like discovering how to swim when everything all just clicked together. She glanced back at Maggie who was watching her very intently. "How far to the human city?"
"Not far, just over there.. I can't wait to get more shiny stuff!"
