Dim Prisons and Drakes, chapter 56.

So, a surprise. I didn't get this one done in time, so I'd appreciate it if you just considered it part of last month's post and went ahead under that premise. I missed it by one day....

Anyway, please enjoy.

The conversation stopped, and multiple sighs resounded across the room.

The guy who'd called us out was one - and after it, he motioned us in. "Right, it's not your fault. Come on in, and let's get you settled."

I led us in getting out of the way, just in case someone else needed the door. The old guy led us past the first table to the second, this one loaded down with papers and maps.

"So, where are you from?"

Karl stayed silent. Okay, it was my show then. "Ohio. A little town called Solace."

"Right, right, I knew that," the man muttered as he leaned into the map, one of the United States... but not the old United States; this one had other markings for countries and even some states were named differently.

He knew it now; in the same way that I would know who he was, if he told me. Well, probably. For some reason, in the world we found ourselves in, those who had risen to a certain level of power were known; we all had a reputation of one kind or another.

"And who might you be, sir?"

"Ah? Oh, my apologies. You may call me Sturm."

Knowledge I shouldn't have sparked. Sturm was the... head wizard or chief wizard of the kingdom, and answered directly to the emperor-king himself. Which let me know there was both a chief wizard, what his moniker was, and the fact that the United States had a king now. Or an emperor-king, even. All things that I knew, that were on the tip of my metaphorical tongue, but not in mind until now.

Just as had happened seconds ago for the old man in front of us.

"So, Ohio is the same as here then?" Said old man was still pouring over the map.

I pointed out the relevant area. "Roughly. Some regional differences, of course, which seem consistent to the terrain. Both flora and fauna."

The old man grabbed a pin, dunked it, and made a small note that even I'd have trouble reading from a distance, for all that his penmanship was excellent.

"How far does it reach?"

"Across the sea, at the very least. We've had two ships; one of which arrived from what used to be France, and the other from what used to be the United Kingdom. Both have told us that not only are the seas more dangerous than before, but their land masses have also been changed."

The United Kingdom was still the United Kingdom, but that included other races and not just other nationalities. France was the kingdom of Gaal. Gaal was a land of knights and paladins, known for their holy and martial nature. Again, I knew what I didn't know, and more blanks were filled.

It was both wonderful and a bit disconcerting to have the blanks filled in this way, but I had to deal. It was better than not knowing, I guess.

"So it's safe to assume this, whatever it is, has affected the entire planet."

"And the heavens beyond," one of the other old men said. He was stroking his beard and consulting other charts. "Some of the planets have differing courses, and some of the stars have moved."

That...

That should be impossible. What had happened to space time? Where and when were we?

"Any leads at all?"

Sturm snorted. "We aren't entirely helpless. We know from divination and rituals," the face of disgust he pulled over those two words told me he was once a man of science - "That we are not where we were before. The gods themselves have told us that much, though what that means in entirety or how it happened they've been silent about."

The other old man chimed in: "Our best guess is that somehow our entire world simply slipped from its universe somehow."

...What? No, that made no sense at all. "Then what happened to the earth that belonged here? We'd be seeing it if we were the interloper."

It'd be killing us if we were the interloper. Even with the new issues we had, gravity was a harsh mistress. We'd be knocked out of orbit by now, even if the earth that belonged here was on the complete different side of our orbit.

Also, there had been no shudder, no sense of our revolutions stopping or slowing, nothing at all when the incident happened. I doubt any slip into another universe by an entire planet would go so smoothly and transfer momentum without a single issue.

Still, that was something. If this collection of bright minds were right, we'd only violated all known laws of physics a dozen times and ended up in another universe. But if all that was true, then how did we get back? How did we fix it? Could we even fix it?

I mean, we had magic now, so surely we'd be able to, right? Magic broke all known laws of physics anyway, on the daily. What was one more? One giant planet sized one more?

"Right, so what have you got so far?"

The man, supposedly the best magic user on the continent, at least on the east coast, gaped at me for a moment like a landed fish. "Very little. Nothing, really. We have some ideas, but we're talking about a spell or ritual that affects an entire celestial sphere."

"Many, many ideas," the other man said, still not looking up from his star charts. "Too many, one might say."

So they were arguing then. I risked a glance over, catching the fierce whispers and forceful tones from a few tables over.

The worst part was, I heard enough of what they were arguing to know that if I entered the discussion, I'd only make a fool out of myself. There was actual math involved in it, and the minds over there were likely much better than mine.

Something something use the orbits of the solar system to power a ritual designed to send us home, once we find out where home is. So that was what the old guy was doing while chatting with us.

Would that even work? I didn't even know. I knew I could ask, though, and a couple of people - or entities - I could pose the question to.

Which begged the question on why I hadn't before?

The answer was simple. I wanted to have humanity, or in this case human adjacent life forms, solve the problem on their own. If all these entities existed in the way we now knew them to exist, what would the price for their help be? How bad could it get?

"Right. So I guess I better get to work then? Get caught up to speed on what you're all proposing? Another outlook can't hurt anything, can it?"

Oh, I got some mutters at that. Clearly not everyone agreed. Most importantly, though, there were no objections made to my face - just a lot of acrimony and frustration. People blowing off steam, likely after having been here for days and not finding any form of solution. Even a hard one.

"Right," Karl said, breaking in. "I think we'll get out of everyone's way then. We don't really have much we can contribute to this discussion other than eyewitness accounts of things we've seen since - the event."

"We will take those, of course," Sturm said, shooting down his hopes. "There is no such thing as bad data. However, you can give your statements on what you've seen and the state of things downstairs. There is precious little room up here for armed men, and what little there is has already been taken."

Karl nodded. Ethan nodded. Randolf nodded. Everyone turned to leave.

Everyone but Matt, who walked over and casually leaned against the nearest wall.

Oh, that was a mistake. He'd be bored inside of five minutes. His decision to make, however.

"As for you Muse, we should get you started. If you walk over to that table there, and start at that end, you will be quickly brought up to speed on all that we know and suspect so far, and why."

Not a bad way to arrange things, honestly. Start at one table and keep going; it likely worked well for newcomers.

The heaps of scrolls and papers were more than a little disheartening, but there was nothing for it but to get started.

At least the format was something I understood; these were all first hand accounts and reports about what was happening outside both inside and outside the city, from adventurers and adventurous souls alike, detailing a picture of how and why the world changed. From how people and animals were different to the changes in geology and geography itself, it was all here.

Soon, our accounts would be added to this. I wonder what the others would make of the fact that there were actual dinosaurs running around in the Midwest.

"It's bullshit, you know."

The voice at my elbow startled me out of the account of actual sea monsters just off the coast.

The man wasn't close enough to really spark outrage; his soft voice carried, and it was worse for me, of course. However, he wasn't in grabbing range; Matt was watching, his eyes sharp, but he wasn't moving yet.

The man himself was a human, around late forties in age, with dark black hair and a trimmed beard that tapered maybe an inch past his jaw. He was on the larger side, maybe six feet with some muscle bulking up a rather fine set of black robes with dark blue trim. He had a symmetrical face with a roman nose, and failed just shy of being both delicate and handsome both.

Something about him rang a bell; as if I knew him. Maybe if he told me his name....

"Sorry?"

He took that as an invitation and took a step closer. "Their theory. It's bullshit. I get that they think there would be no technology around, no space junk, satellites, or radio signals due to it being a different universe, but how does the theory explain the effects on us? How we know each other, or have knowledge that we shouldn't?"

He was right, it didn't. I gave Matt the all clear signal; he was beginning to straighten up; he slouched back - confirming why he was even here at all for one and all, as if I needed it. "I was hoping there was an answer to that in here. The gods themselves, maybe?"

Gods were Gods after all, they could do a lot of things, and giving us all the knowledge of how things worked in order to ensure we could survive would be a thing they could and should do... assuming they were real and invested at all.

Given Les, I could only assume some of them were; I'd seen the results, after all.  

"How does that explain you? You have ears, a longer lifespan, a similar yet different body? You dwarven friend, how does that explain him? No, there is a simpler solution for all of it. We did not simply travel from one universe to another. We merged with one."

...What. No that... but it made sense, in all the most awful ways. We were different than we were; we knew what we knew because we had become them and they had become us.

How much did this guy know? "How are we not just puddles of meshed goo?"

The guy shrugged, a smile that screamed gallows humor on his face. "Don't know. That one may have been fielded by the gods. I wouldn't even know how a universe could merge without all matter on it being shredded into atoms. All I know is what I can observe, and this one is obvious."

He was going to force me to ask. "Who are you?"

"Oh right. Sorry, You may call me Ash."

I knew that name, if it was him. (Which was another notch in Ash's theory.) Ash 'the black' was a well known wizard from the northeast, rumored to have some questionable morals.

I'd heard he even dabbled in necromancy.

That smile was back. "Seems my reputation precedes me. Hello."

Right, that thing I had to watch out for. I schooled my expression. "I'm not that worried yet. You may call me Muse."

I held out a hand and he shook it, his smile morphing into something a little less dark and a little more genuine. "It hit some of us less than others. Pleased to meet you."

Right. "So, assuming you're right, the question remains on how we fix it."

Ash shrugged again. "Not sure we can. Assuming I'm right, which I'm fairly certain I am, this is so much worse than simply moving us back to where we were. We would have to separate ourselves somehow. Piece by piece, atom by atom, and... more metaphorical bits. Because somehow, those people and things? They are still here with us, even if they aren't occupying the same space and making us "goo".

Yeah, that was... I had even less of an idea where to begin with making such a ritual than in making one to throw a planet across dimensions.

It did explain the couple places we'd stumbled across where things didn't make sense, though; they hadn't quite meshed correctly. Like that one village that had seemed haunted.

Oh Gods, those people... they hadn't been ghosts. they were still there, somehow. In pieces, unable to pull themselves together....

I was going to be sick.

"You alright?" I came out of it to find Ash leaning in, concern written clearly on his face.

"Yes, I'm... well, not fine, but alright. I just realized something I didn't like."

No matter how bad it was, we needed to figure it out. We owed those people, and any others in the same situation, some kind of life, either here with us or over there with... other us? Something like that. This was going to get confusing.

"Well, there is plenty of that to go around," Ash opined. "For now, I'm working on the basics, but it isn't my specialty. We need more people grounded in the basics of this world, like physicists were on ours."

I got it. I might even qualify; I was a sorceress with a firm grounding in elemental forces. Forces I might be able to ask for ideas on how we might reverse things using those same magics.

"It didn't take you long, Ash."

I looked glanced back to find Sturm behind me. What was Poe even doing? He was supposed to be watching for people sneaking up on me.

He was off on Matt's shoulder, of all places. Watching but silent. Matt of course, was sparing him amused glances in between his own watching.

Both were clearly still on the job, but not big on letting me know it.

"Good afternoon, Sturm."

Sturm looked clam, yet very angry. "Less than fifteen minutes, and you're filling another one's head with lies."

What? "Wait a minute..."

Ash sighed. "We both want the same thing."

Sturm spared me a glance before rounding on Ash again, pure vitriol in every line and syllable: "No, we want to figure out what happened and how to repair it. You want to send us off on red herrings and impossible wild goose chases."

Ash's hands clenched into fists. "Your explanation does not explain everything that we've observed going on. If you follow the scientific method at all, it is clear about theories that don't cover all of the observable facts."

They had more evidence like mine? I wanted to ask where, but I no sooner opened my mouth than I was interrupted.

"Those observations, as you call them, could be anything. Flying dutchmen, will-o-wisps, swamp gas... We've no hard evidence, just eyewitness accounts. And we all know how unreliable eyewitness accounts are, especially when those accounts are given by the untrained and uneducated."

....Right. "So I'm uneducated and untrained? Last I checked, while I might not be your equal in experience, I know what the scientific method is. You should read my account of my travels here, as there are several incidents which point to Ash's theory and away from your own, even at a glance."

Sturm glared at me. Full on glared. I could feel hostility roll from him in a wave. "I am myself, and not someone else. Not some mix of someone else; myself alone."

Of course he was, but didn't he realize that could have changed? With all his memories either drowned or switched, how would any of us be able to tell who we had been before? I had a faint sense that I was still myself as well, but I could also point to things, past experiences in my mind, that I knew I hadn't personally been involved in. Elements of myself that might be different.

Even my body didn't feel as odd as it should. Perhaps; it was hard to say.

This was the true horror of it, at least for those of us that were here and not in places like the ghost village that wasn't. We couldn't be sure who we really were, and only deal with this situation as we were now.

Some people had issues with that, clearly, even the greatest among us, and I couldn't really blame them.

"Excuse me."

The man who interrupted us was an elf. With a start, I realized he was the only other elf I could see in the room; even with most of us being magically inclined, were we really that rare?

I also realized I knew this elf; vague memory stirred, as if from a long and dark hallway in my mind.

He was tall, even for an elf, with white skin just a shade darker than my own and delicate, aristocratic features that made him appear to be cut from sharp angles. Whatever, it worked for him. Even the long platinum blonde hair, held back from his eyes by a circlet of all things, worked for him. He was dressed in long gray robes and had a mantle on.

"Lady Muse. It is good to see you. Might we talk in private for a moment?"

He clearly knew me. Time to be awkward. "I'm sorry sir, I cannot place a name to your face."

A faint look fo surprise stole across his features before they became more guarded. "Ah, yes. I should have expected as much. You may call me Silja."

AH! Silja, the elf who travels. A rather famous mage known for adventuring and writing books. Rumored to be very strong.

You know what? I was done with this, at least for now. This guy, out of anyone, might have news. "Sure. Out on the parapet? Can we go out of the parapet to talk?"

I turned to Sturm, who only had eyes for Silja, and who looked very sour. "Sure you may. Just don't attempt to go inside anywhere but here."

I moved, and Silja followed.

Matt levered himself up. There was no way he wouldn't follow, but a few hand signals would keep him out of earshot.

He didn't look happy about it, but no one looked happy at the moment, so it was fine.

Hell, I was sure I didn't look happy either.

We moved outside, and the guards just watched. Silja stayed silent, walking close beside me with his arms folded inside his robe sleeves. Thew wall wasn't exactly private; there were soldiers out here too.

I hesitated, and Silja took the lead, walking us to the next tower and around the lee side of it. There he spoke a spell; one I knew, a variation of my silence spell that I recognized.

It didn't block all sound, but it formed a ring of silence around us instead, which would keep our conversation private. He was serious about this. Somewhat alarming that he could do all that with one word, but I didn't feel threatened by him at all, for some reason.

Then he turned with a flourish and went to one knee with fluid grace. "Princess."

...What.