The Disc of Jo is space, but it is Essence blue in various shades. Imagine standing on the surface of the planet Earth on a cloudless day, then ascending up from the surface, into the light blue sky overhead, up and up until you leave the glowing blue atmosphere, into the blackness of space that is spotted with the light of far away stars or other celestial bodies reflecting the lights of those stars. But imagine that instead of black space, the blue atmosphere of Earth continued forever, containing the entirety of the cosmos, always blue, sometimes containing clouds, other times pods of large whale-like creatures or flocks of giant bird-like creatures, and always breathable and life-giving. That is the disc of Jo. Arriving at it from the discs that it overlaps is like approaching a cliff, and there are remnants of the overlapped disc in Jo’s Disc that are eventually recycled into the things that exist there. It should be noted that all of the constituent parts of the features of other discs are created in the wondrous stars of Jo’s Disc; they create water, rocks, and minerals that disperse around the Discs at the direction of the Fonlands itself. Somehow, the disc of Jo is the sky, the space, high above the other discs while simultaneously occupying the same plane that rests atop the slumbering serpent.
One does not walk Jo’s Disc upon arriving, but floats the Essence blue to arrive at the planets, clouds, or other surfaces that exist. Naturally occurring wind currents move around the space in regular patterns and are key to movement in the vast space. Large trees get caught up in the wind currents that Fonlanders of Jo’s Disc use to navigate around space if they are unable to build spacecraft capable of propulsion. These trees grow from seeds produced by flowers native to the star that Jo calls home. The seeds are similar to Earther dandelion seeds and are large enough for some Fonlanders to use for travel, but the seeds are capable of collecting debris that floats the disc and allows them to grow into the trees used for mass transit. Some of these floating trees contain entire societies, others are dedicated to mass transit that gives Fonlanders access to various landmarks all around the Disc.
After riding the wind currents and seeing the incredible floating trees, I was eager to experience the most unique aspect of the location; being on the surface of a Star. The Stars of Jo’s Disc are similar to the stars of my home universe in the sense that they give light and produce heat, and they largely formed in the same ways, but the Stars of Jo’s Disc are sentient and are able to allow things to rest on their surface, even to take root and grow in some instances, by controlling the intensity of their heat. The Stars were the first dwellers of Jo’s Disc after Jo was named the Vodun, and their immense gravity formed planets, asteroid chains, ice and rainbow rings, where large communities of the disc have emerged.
I flew from the surface of a seed that I had been riding that was teeming with activity, including vendors and I was able to taste and thoroughly enjoy the cuisine. There are no natural currents that travel close to the star where I would find Jo, and I had to travel for a while before I arrived at the brillant ball of white light that contained what appeared to be yellow continents around its surface. It was brilliant in the way a star is, but it wasn’t ever too intense, even as I approached and eventually landed. I could see the flat horizon against the Essence blue cosmos beyond it. The surface was like glass and I felt compelled to kneel down to touch it. It was warm and I judged that the glass layer must be very thick the way the churning light inside seemed to exist at a distance.
“Are you the magical Earther?” I heard a strong, feminine voice say with a strong sense of mockery.
I looked up and was surprised to see Jo in all of her glory. She is taller than Gu, almost as tall as Xevioso, and as I stumbled to my feet, I incanted to grow larger to her eye level.
“Admiring the ground, are you?” she asked and I started to babble. “No, no, that’s not an insult. I imagine that you have never experienced anything like this before. I find it delightful to experience the mundane through the eyes of someone new to it all. Would you be interested in talking to Damballa? He is the father of every star in this space and he likes a good conversation.”
“The star is Damballa?” I asked with bemusement. She began to walk and I followed her. I could feel the sentience below my feet suddenly and it was gargantuan. The only other experience that is comparable is walking in the Red Mountains of Eel, but even the immensity of the Red Mountains is dwarfed by the size of Damballa.
“He is,” Jo said and she stopped, then lifted both her arms. A table and two benches grew up from the glass surface and she sat, then motioned for me to sit. “He is very chatty. I hear that you are a being of considerable power, can you commune with him currently?”
As I relaxed on the bench opposite her, I closed my eyes and focused on the energy emitting from below me. I shook my head and half smiled at her.
“With time maybe, but it is too much to wrap my brain around at the moment. Maybe once I have acclimated more to this environment.” I looked around myself. “You occupy the surface alone? I thought I saw land masses as I arrived.”
“The surface is very large and we are in a very remote spot. I like Damballa’s surface because of his proximity to the column of Divine Essence from the Lofted Disc. The most powerful beings of this space exist here, emboldened by the Essence of the Mother-Father, and it is easier to post up here in case I am needed. You really think that you can talk with Damballa?” she asked curiously and the expression on her face was puzzled. “It requires a medium for most beings to communicate with stars, are you a medium?”
“Not naturally, but I acquired certain abilities as my universe’s Master of Arcana. The powers of a medium are used to communicate with the dead where I am from. Is Damballa a spirit?”
“Of course,” Jo said matter-of-factly. “All stars are spirits, but not like the deads Owuo corrals. The stars are alive, but the only way that beings of your size can communicate with them is through spiritual communication, which I thought only mediums could achieve, but you are not a medium.”
Of the Vodun that I had interacted with intimately, she was the first that seemed genuinely curious about me and despite how welcoming she was, the curiosity felt like scrutiny from the godly woman.
“You say that your universe made you its Master of Arcana?” she asked and I nodded. “Then you are a Vodun of your universe? But Vodun are called masters?”
When she said it that way, it was hard to argue that I wasn’t a Vodun of my universe.
“And the black thing, Zacchaeus. He is another of your universe’s Vodun? I have heard that he single handedly faced something called Omega and saved a planet.”
“Zacchaeus is very powerful, but his powers are complicated. I don’t think that we are as powerful as a Vodun, though.”
“That is not what Sakpata says, he is convinced that you have broken the game that has allowed him to acquire so much of that rhasd that his Fonlanders love so much. Lêgba says that you two are as problematic as the Ògún card. The question is, why are you trying so hard to hide it?”
As she said that, there was an incredibly loud snapping sound and I noticed a crack in the glass that contained the ferocious light and heat of Damballa. I stared at Jo with panic and she smiled casually.
“I know why you have come here, and I will indulge your games, Master of Arcana, but you will not leave here until I understand the full extent of your powers and the real reason why you and the other Outsiders are here in the Fonlands, and in the other universe that the Fonlands encroaches upon, and its Outerspace Time. Shall we roll to start?”
PRL Serials 