All sentient life is connected. The appendages may be different, we may eat different things, and live in different universes, but at the end of the day, we’re all one big family.
It’s time to explore the branches of the multiversal family tree, and today, we present:
Node 4 Paradise Earth Year 4-1644
Bright Lives
from The Golem (2022 Annual) – Issue 1 –
…The Earth of the Paradise universe is blanketed in a lush forest, including the vast oceans that are filled with massive, ancient trees with long roots big enough for people to build towns on top. Over land masses, humanity and other animal species live in the vast forests that cover the continents and they make their homes among the trunks and the canopy or on the floor of the forest that is completely devoid of light in places where the canopy is thickest. Humanity is not the dominant species of Paradise Earth, but humanity thrives and they have created a complex, global civilization in the trees that consists of a series of extensive tramway systems operated by people who organized and bartered for food and other goods in exchange for passage on the tram. Some created fully realized trading posts at either end of the tramlines, others hotels or restaurants. Humanity is much more kin to its ape cousins in this universe and though technology has evolved to the point where flying machines and vehicles for traveling over the forest floor existed, they were a rarity because humans prefer to swing from a complex system of ropes to reach far off locations when the tramways is unaffordable. The only currency on this Earth are practical goods, no other monetary system has evolved over the long history of this Earth.
Paradise Earth has been visited by beings from other planets and there is a permanent colony of beings known as the Ascendant who live on the continent of Antarctica. Little is known about these beings and why they settled on Earth, but some Earthlings speculate that the legendary Golem creature that stalks the dark places of the world-wide forest was somehow unleashed into the Earth by the Ascendant. Few humans have interacted directly with the Ascendant, but stories of past encounters are rampant. No human has set foot on the continent of Antarctica since the arrival of the Ascendant. They have a secret society that exists inside of a camouflaged dome that makes Antarctica appear uninhabited from the outside. Many humans say the Ascendant are a myth, but there is ample evidence of their presence, though only speculation what brought them to earth for the extensive time that they have lived on the planet.
The origins of the creature known as the Golem are mysterious, but records on Earth indicate that it first appeared in the aftermath of a violent crash of an alien spacecraft in the south pole that caused worldwide quakes. Many believe that the Golem is one of these creatures that crash landed on Earth and managed to escape the south pole.
Crone, who is possibly the oldest living human on Earth, is also one of the most skilled practitioners of magic that many people recognize as a function of reality that can be wielded by elders and special practitioners. Crone operates a clandestine school for magic users that is located somewhere in the world-wide forest. Only users of magic, or those sensitive to it, can locate this school.
Only one human of Paradise Earth has ever left the planet. This human has yet to return to Earth. Only Crone is aware of this person and she is in constant contact with them, though she is not sure where exactly in the universe this person is located…
– Issue 5 – To the Bottom of the World
Crone was not excited about the journey to Antarctica but she was glad to be accompanied by her goddaughter Sarah. Sarah sat in the tram, in the window seat next to Crone, and she stared out at the scenery she had never laid eyes on before. All of her life up to the point had been spent in the same forest where she was born and even if she had visited the large bodies of water in the forest or on the coast, she hadn’t seen any of the sights that zipped by them as the tram made the long journey from the large northern continent to the larger southern continent where they would connect to another tram to take them to the south pole of the globe. They were over the ocean and Sarah marveled at the gigantic trees that breached the waters and grew to gargantuan heights into the blue sky overhead. They had large canopies, but the trees were spaced far enough apart that the canopies didn’t run together to create a roof over the ocean like the ones over land masses.
When she managed to tear her attention away from the view through the window, Sarah saw Crone pouting with her arm crossed over her chest.
“How are you not excited to see all this?” Sarah asked Crone after hours zipping through the air.
“It is all old news to me,” Crone said. Her eyes were closed. “Don’t dwell on me, child, enjoy this. I remember the first time I left the north continent and took this tram over the great ocean. I couldn’t take my eyes off it, I didn’t sleep the whole ride. But this ain’t my first time, and maybe it’s ‘cause I’m so old now, but this fast movement is making me dizzy. It’s best just to sit here with my eyes closed.”
Sarah half smiled at her godmother and she put a hand on her ancient hand that looked delicate grasping the soft armrest of her chair.
“How much longer?” Sarah asked.
“Long,” Crone said and opened her eyes. She smiled at Sarah. “But if I got to take this long ride, I’m glad to be doing it with you.”
This made Sarah happy and she wrapped an arm around the soft shawl draped on Crone’s boney shoulders.
“I’m glad that you are here with me,” Crone started and she paused as her expression grew weary and she closed her eyes again. “I just wish none of this had to happen like it is. I wish we was going south just to enjoy the sights. But we don’t have that luxury, child. You so young, and it’s not fair what we asking of you, but you the only hope, Sarah. After what you did to that Golem and all his dark minions, we need you to save the universe. It ain’t fair, but I can’t do it anymore. And if neither one of us can do it, the whole universe in trouble.”
“I still don’t understand why we going to the south pole,” Sarah said. “The Golem admitted that he came from there and that the people that made him, them Ascendant, are still there and stronger than him.”
“The Golem was an accident,” Crone explained. She did so reluctantly, like she had to force the words from her mouth, but it was information that Sarah would have to know eventually and it was probably better to learn before they arrived at the home of the Ascendant. “The Ascendant who crash landed on Earth all those years ago, was running from something. They called it the black mirror, or the dark reflection, but they was scared, and jumped across universes to escape it. The Ascendant aren’t hiding out down there, though, they’re planning to fight that dark reflection that is still after them.”
“What does that even mean, dark reflection?” Sarah asked.
Crone shook her head slowly. “That’s what we traveling to find out. I know people got a lot to say about the Ascendant, but baby girl, only two people know anything about them and done actually talked to them before. And one of them ain’t been on Earth in a while. The Ascendant ain’t never been no enemy of humans, that Golem just got out of control.”
“So why everybody think otherwise?” Sarah asked.
“Because people stupid,” Crone said with a chuckle. “When things look different, the human instinct is fear, and I guess that’s understandable. People ain’t been around as long as they have cause they trust anything that roll up on them, but who knows where we would be if we knew how to trust. Honestly, though, the Ascendant didn’t do nothing to change people’s opinion of them, they could have traveled up from the bottom of the world and made everybody’s life better with they technology, but they been busy with other stuff.” Crone sighed. “Worse things, baby girl.”
Sarah nodded resolutely. “Godmother, I will do everything I can. These worse things, they like the Golem?”
Crone tilted her head, pondering the best way to explain the complexity of the situation that she only knew part of herself. Her understanding of the coming dangers were acquired through telepathic exchanges with members of the Ascendant over the many years she had been unwilling to travel back to the bottom of the world, and she knew that what threatened her universe now was the same threat that had chased the Ascendant to Paradise, though Crone had thought that her universe, Paradise, was repellant to the threat because it was home to the enigmatic Ogi, who Crone had accepted into herself long ago.
Crone eventually nodded at Sarah. “The Golem stalked the darkness, getting bigger by consuming anything he couldn’t corrupt. And what he did corrupt, he did with his strange way, breathing his dark cloud into them and remaking them into his dark army. The Ascendant made him to travel the universe searching for any sign of the threat that they ran from. He was a small robot, could fit in your hand, and it flew faster than light all around. When it came back to Earth, it was corrupted, it had found the only shred of the Ascendant’s enemy deep in the universe and it changed. The Ascendant thought they had destroyed it once they discovered the taint, but the tiny pieces came back together in the woods and it grew to become the monster that we knew. Sarah, you beat something that even the Ascendant couldn’t beat, something that scares them to death.”
“So it’s a bunch of Golems trying to attack the whole universe?” Sarah asked.
“No, baby girl,” Crone shook her head slowly. “The Golem is nothing compared to what the Ascendant are scared of. I can’t see exactly what’s got them all riled up, I can’t imagine Ogi let them in our universe after all this time. She’s the one been keeping them out. But the Ascendant are riled up.”
“How can anything be worse than the Golem?” Sarah asked. “Whatever is going on, we’ll figure it out, godmother. I’m not even scared while I’m here with you.”
Crone smiled. “Try to enjoy the sights. I didn’t want to burden you with all this on the trip. The sights out that window are glorious and you should be able to enjoy them, before whatever happens when we get to the bottom of the world.”
“I can still enjoy it,” Sarah said and she turned her attention to the view zooming by underneath them through the tram window.
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