Day 11

Part 1 – Fourside’s Game
Though it doesn’t happen often, sometimes worlds collide. When people try to imagine this they picture big explosions, natural cataclysms, and the stuff of doomsayers. But that isn’t the way of the universe.
Well that’s not true.
It’s not the way of the universe we know. Nor is it the way of many of them. In all of reality there are few universes that go ab0uot things that way because, well, if they did they wouldn’t be around very long.
What happens is that universes sometimes step on each others toes.
And it’s not at all how people think. That’s because people have a remarkable ability to ignore things even when they are staring them directly in the face. Universes merge. They blend and they split.
The interesting thing about universes is that they work a lot like gods do. Gods are born through belief and die through obscurity. Universes are molded on belief and interaction. Rules are laid down and if they work, they spin worlds.
Once, in another time far away, nine universes all got to the same place at the same time. That doesn’t happen very often. It could only happen once actually, and it did.
What made it such an event, was that each universe had something similar but different. They weren’t copies, but they shared a lot of ideas. They all contained the same planet for example, more or less. The planet was bigger in one of the universes, and in another it didn’t have much in the way of people on it. But that’s how things are.
These nine universes converged and the result was a new universe, a mix of them all. They each gave concessions, but they all wanted to keep the planet in question. It was a very important planet, after all. And universes tend to be very selfish as individuals.
So each universe molded part of itself into the planet. And the outcome was a new universe with a very small planet that held a lot of impact. No one wants to be left out of the party after all. The rest of the universe sorted itself out, but the planet stood as a testament to the merge, and as such was keenly watched by the forces of the newly born universe. The merge had pushed people realities apart into a planet to share. The continents had shifted around and the world had reshaped itself in ways most couldn’t begin to imagine. Here in a new state there was a clean slate on top of existing worlds, which made it the equivalent to an experiment of the mad scientist that was the new universe.
And as a step towards the “oh wow” point, the only residents of the planet that survived the merge redubbed the planet Nonaverse, though few understood why. What’s in a name anyway, they said.
It’s on this planet that we find a figure. In his city he was much like every one around him. He obeyed the rules that built his city, his life, and followed the path that was set for him. Everyone in his city played a Game. They all knew about it, but it wasn’t something to be feared. It was just what came next. His people were old and sparklingly new. Of all those on the planet, there were none who argued that they were the most technically advanced society. They wouldn't hesitate to say that, if only they knew that his civilization existed.
But the world didn’t. His civilization lived on a disc suspended over Deep Darkness, the south western continent of the planet, built out of the eastern mountain range lining the coast. They called their disc Lux, and watched the planet removed, save in certain cases.
That’s another story though.
Lux had Games in all of its cities. They were necessary to keeping the flow of the place in order. It was the only place on the planet where the game was played, because it was the only place that knew how to play, which was one of the reasons why Lux was the way it was.
Lux had many wondrous places and unique features but that was one of them that set them further apart from the rest of the world then most. Their games were one of the most important parts of their lives, and most people living in Lux didn’t know about them, at least not until they played, supposing they got a chance to.
The elders of Lux knew the secret. That had been one of the reasons why they had survived.
The figure also knew the secret, but was not one of the elders.
The figure had dark blue hair and fair skin. He was fairly young but conveyed that sense of aged wisdom that some young people do. He was slender and not especially strong. His job didn’t require him to be fit in body.
He ran some of the Games occasionally. They were enjoyable and he knew that it was his duty to run them to the best of his abilities. Still, he often thought of the world outside of Lux.
On this day, he stood leaning on a balcony, overlooking his city of Arcanum and thought to himself,
Why couldn’t I run a Game in a city outside of Lux?
Then he set out to make it happen. This isn’t the story of how he made it happen though, grand tale though it is. This is the story of some of the Games he ran.
It’s also the story of a different place in the Nonaverse, the place where he settled and started his Game.
It’s also, in a way, a story about a creature called Dom.

// Happy birthday Leela, hope you feel better. -a