(Not) the last journey
His[1] long life had brought him to a lot of different worlds already. There were the ones that were simply round[2]; those were probably the most common there were. They could not be counted because there were too many of them, but some of them were special. There was the one that had existed for a long time[3] and then vanished. Apparently, the creatures living on the “planet”, as the called it, had not read a note informing them of the imminent destruction of their homes for building an interstellar highway. Only the most intelligent of species had managed to escape. Oh, and one member of the less intelligent ones that had thought they were the most intelligent.[4]
There was another one, in the shape of a ring. This one had been fun to stay on for a while, but in the end, it got a bit dull. There were some others of that sort, but none of them had been any more promising.
In some remote corner of whatever universe that was he had come across a few other worlds that he had previously taken for fairy tales. Those were disc-shaped, supported by four elephants each that in turn stood on the back of a giant turtle. What seemed odd that most of the creatures on the other worlds had in some way or other described something like that already. Of all those worlds[5], there was one which was vibrant with life of all sorts, full of magic and apparently thoughtfully crafted by its creator. He spent a good deal of his last years there and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. At one point, he had to leave, though. He said the turtle good-bye and continued his travels through time and space.
Eventually, he ended up in a strange region he had never before seen. The structure he was standing on could only be described as enormous, even to someone his size[6]. It looked just as boring as a lot of other worlds he had been to, but it was different. The surface of the thing was grey. That was something that you could get elsewhere, so it did not seem odd. Some of the parts deeper down were white. Now, that was not the problem either. It was more the fact that it looked so empty. On most other structures he had been to, there had been something on the surface. Rocks, trees, animals, things without names, you name it. Here, what was most striking was that there was practically nothing. The only thing that could be noted was that the surface[7] had little creeks in it. Some dents here and some folds there. Other than that, there was nothing.
He had had the impression, but it turned out not to be true. He found out that the thing could be covered in about everything there was. There were openings in what on other worlds would have been described as “the sky” that showed different worlds. Creatures appeared and disappeared for no apparent reason. Worlds within worlds were created, bloomed and crumpled to dust – and you could watch them. You could zoom in to see the details, but you could also get an overview of everything on a large scale. That thing was able to create and it was able to destroy. He did not know how, but that was what was happening. Things came and went, nothing that was there yesterday could be taken for granted today[8]. But somehow, he could influence it. It had its moods, as odd as that may sound for something so big, floating through spacetime, but even those could be changed. What started out badly could end very much better or even worse. It was not something fixed.
He discovered that there was something like wells on that thing. If you dug deep enough, you could get to the essence stored within, unfolding things that in other universes would have been worlds by their own right, or even entire universes. This thing was, by all means he had seen so far, the largest thing there was, and it was bigger on the inside. It could host a myriad of universes all full of worlds, and no two of them were the same. It could also be used to look at the tiniest of things, all of its resources devoted to this one piece. It was, if there ever was something like this, a wonder. He could not imagine any creature having something like that at their disposal – the sheer possibilities would have to get the owner of it close to insanity. If you had more of one of those at your disposal, the things you could do would be endless. You could do an end to all suffering and greed, but you could put an entire universe to chaos as well. No creature that was ever to be would be able to handle it.
So he had found out, but since he had discovered it, the thing would not let him go. It promised him sweet things (and it delivered) and it punished him enough to wonder if everything went as planned. It never let him go, though.
So his journey came to an end. The worlds he had visited lay behind him, an unlimited amount of worlds before him. His journey went on. The thing that had captured him was called “imagination”. He did not need anything else.
[1] I am using “His” to try and cope with the lack of a better description. Each and every occurrence of “he/his” could be replaced by “she/her” or “it/its” or whichever pronoun you happen to prefer. It doesn’t matter. The entity described doesn’t need sex or gender.
[2] More or less
[3] Not for him, but you know what I am up to…
[4] Which says something about their being intelligent
[5] Since they seemed to replicate
[6] Not that the concept of “size“ could have been applied to him
[7] Which had a funny feeling to it. Soft. But not comfortable.
[8] Ignoring the fact that “yesterday“ and “today“ did not really apply.
