Worlds Away
A reclusive yet distinguished professor who has just given a lecture at a college arranges to meet a group of small students afterward and proceeds to explain that he is not actually the person everybody knows as Lorenzo Marcus. He then proceeds to insist that “There are many worlds caught in the loops and whorls of time. Seldom do they intersect, and so for the most part they are unknown to each other. Only in Fionavar, the prime creation, which all the others imperfectly reflect, is the lore gathered and preserved that tells of how to bridge the worlds.” This is the imagery of a massive multiverse presented by that respected professor who is now insisting he is a mage named Loren Silvercloak and his companion was once King of the Dwarves. Talk of multiple worlds existing within time loops that, by his own words, remain almost completely anonymous to the other is the part where any rational students quietly excuse themselves and tiptoe back to sanity. These students, however, continue to listen and before long are bridging the worlds themselves.
The Bridging
Getting from Toronto to Fionavar requires magic. The students involved are about to go on an amazing adventure that would literally test the limits of sanity of anyone who made a spectacle complaining about the minor inconveniences imposed during the Covid-19 epidemic. “Then the cold of the crossing and the darkness of the space between worlds came down and Kevin saw nothing more. In his mind, though, whether for an instant or an age, he thought he heard the sound of mocking laughter. There was a taste in his mouth, like ashes of grief. Dave, he thought, oh, Martyniuk, what have you done?” Loren Silvercloak has already presented the mechanics the bridging the gap between these worlds as something difficult and perilous, but this imagery hinting at the consequences of a last-second change of heart powerfully conveys the true fragility of attempting this passage. What Dave has done will be revealed in full, but the sound of sardonic guffaws and the ashy flavor of mourning will linger until that mystery is finally solved.
The Accident
Most of the narrative of this story takes place in the faraway world, but flashbacks reveal crucial information that will have a significant bearing on the actions of the students in this weird world. Perhaps the single most crucial moment occurs when a Mazda blows a tire and crashes into a Ford right in front of Paul Schafer. He has no time to brake and is destined to become the third vehicle involved in a multi-car accident. “Except there was a foot, twelve inches’ clearance if he went by on the left. He knew there’d been a foot, had seen the movie in slow motion in his head so many times. Twelve inches. Not impossible; very bad in rain, but. He went for it, sliced the whirling Mazda, banged the rail, spun, and rolled across the road and into the sliding Ford. He as belted; she wasn’t.” In that faraway world, Paul will remain haunted by the inescapable reality that as he guided the car into it, the clearance had shrunk so much that size no longer mattered. It was the delay that mattered, and he can’t shake himself free from the guilt of that delay. The passenger who was not wearing her seatbelt was his girlfriend who had just informed him she had accepted the marriage proposal of another man. The event portrayed in this imagery will wind up having a profound impact on every person in a world that Paul didn’t even know existed at the time.
