Worlds Without End?
I was ten the summer I met Bilbo Baggins. I walked with him to the Lonely Mountain, facing Smaug, feeling small in a world that looked so large and terrifying. I wanted more, so unavoidably I walked with Frodo as well. Not only did I walk, but I rode horses and eagles too. And I discovered that Bilbo had just but had a glimpse of the world; that it was much larger, and truly more terrifying than I had ever imagined. And I enjoyed every step of the way.
I later met Hari Seldon. He single-handedly forged, for me, an eternal love for all things scientific and weird. His colleagues R. Daneel Olivaw and Elijah Bailey strengthened that love, and could never forget Dr Calvin. I flew through the stars with them all, witnessing galactic empires rise and fall.
Just like the Empire that depended on the Spice fell. Paul Muad’dib Atreides was the young man responsible for that. Though after meeting him, I was left wondering how much of his life he could control, and how much was fate.
I accompanied another young man, Jim Hawkins, in his travels among pirates, the wind and sea foam caressing my face while grabbing the rigging of the Hispaniola above her bowsprit. I grew along with him, feeling Long John Silver’s love and betrayal at the same time.
I experienced the world differently through the eyes of White Fang. I felt fear, hatred and loneliness, but I also learned freedom, companionship and friendship. And finally love.
Oh, and the adventures I had alongside Ivanhoe! Tournaments, secret identities, anonymous knights, ladies to love and respect, evil villains! Meeting Richard the Lionheart, King John, and Robin of Locksley!
Captain Nemo showed me the depths of the ocean, but also how deep hatred and revenge can run. But his Nautilus was an amazing vessel, which I met gain together with his master in his late years, as a surprise appearance upon a mysterious island. That prepared me for the fearsome Robur the Conqueror, who I met twice as well, once aboard his Albatross, then on his Terror. I had the feeling that Nemo and Robur were sad figures, misunderstood by the rest of the world, regardless of their harsh, cruel behaviour.
My friend Bastian Bux took me along with him to visit Fantastica, where we met the Childlike Empress and her hero Atreyu, and for the first time we really took part in the story. Sadly, we were just about to lose ourselves to Fantastica, but Atreyu saved us.
Fantastica left me thirsting for more, so I fell with Alice through a hole, following a white rabbit, and the creatures she showed me there were the maddest of them all. I witnessed her efforts to make sense of that underground world, only to see her later involved in yet another delirious adventure, in a world she reached by traversing a mirror.
The young Gascon, D’Artagnan, was also a friend who raised to the command of the French corps of Musketeers. Of all things, he met his three best friends by dueling with them, after which they became inseparable. Through them, I learned you can make enemies as formidable as your friends, as the Comte de Rochefort, Cardinal Richelieu and, above all, Milady, attested.
Formidable beyond comprehension were the innominable foes from beyond the stars that many ordinary people faced, often giving them names in a futile effort to try and comprehend them, and failing. Their final destiny was to lose their sanity.
And the detectives. One of them, French, who left me agape when I learned of his exploits, sharing a world with extraordinary inhabitants who experienced their worst nightmares. And the greatest of them all, the Englishman whose powers of deduction surpassed those of any other person who came before, or after. I was so pleased to finally make his acquaintance that I accompanied him and his roommate in all their investigations.
All those memories will remain. They will keep me company now, as I watch the flames destroying our old library.
~~~~
This is my accompanying entry for the Weekly Writing Exercise: June 13–19, 2016 on the Writer’s Discussion Group in Google+. I am responsible for creating the prompts for the Exercise, so I don’t take part, but I still like to write a story each week.
I just loved this image ever since the first time I came upon it, and I was keeping it to use as a prompt for the future. But as I said, the future, apparently, is now.
I had a great time writing this little story, but believe me, the ones at the WDG are much better.
