Another very short short story by Michael Beuster*
*Details of this story were inspired by the work of Kim Harrison (“The Hollows” series) and Terry Pratchet (“Discworld” series), but used in a different and unique context.
A week had passed since I embraced my newfound talent, the skill to understand the nature of things just by looking at them; an ability that – for the lack of a better term – I came to call my “second sight”. My girlfriend Carol was already in full remission. It only took four days for her to completely recover once I was able to pinpoint the cause of her sickness. A lot had happened since then, but I was still mainly adjusting to the change.
That morning I found myself on the way to my favourite bakery which I frequent almost daily, but hadn’t visited since Carol became sick. It felt nice to get back into my normal routines and just thinking of the freshly baked rolls made my mouth water and I could all but smell the warm dough. I was suddenly halted by a graffito on the wall that I saw a dozen times before; the image of a massive face, about 7 feet wide, in which the artist integrated real bricks to stand in for the face’s teeth. The first time I noticed it about two months ago, it was a smiling face with kind features. Over time the face grow more and more desolate – and old. Currently the smile was fading, dramatically accentuated by its brick-teeth falling out. I always assumed the artist was revisiting his work, changing it ever so slightly to make a statement about decay and how time goes by. That was until today.
Powered by my second sight, one look at the painting let me understand what was going on: There was a troll captured in the wall, unable to move and slowly dying. While this thought sank in, I suddenly notice what exactly I just realized, namely, trolls are real. That led to the awareness that there are probably other realms, not just the world we know and live in – and those domains are likely populated by mystical creatures. My head started to spin with hypotheses and questions: Are all sightings studied by cryptozoologists real? Does the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Yeti and similar creatures actually exist – but in other realms and are sometimes spotted when crossing over into our reality? Is there more truth to fairy tales than we thought? Are there places where magic is real?
I was brought back to earth, so to speak, by the thought of the trapped living being right in front of me. I looked closer at the bricks and felt subtle vibrations emitting from the stones. There was a force field running though the length of the wall which you could only recognize if you knew how to look at it. I understood that this must be a ley line, one of those mystical magnetic energy fields building a network of paranormal routes around the world. The ley line was resonating on a specific frequency usually not noticeable by a human’s perception – but I could feel it. I tried to touch it, but only felt the stone wall. As my hand lay still on the flat surface I looked closer and little by little started to see the vibrations of the wall against my palm. I also observed my hand vibrating, but on a different frequency, which appeared to be earth’s natural harmony.
Maybe, I thought, I could manipulate my own frequency to match it to the ley line. I concentrated hard and ever so slightly the pace of my vibration shifted – until it was a match to the ley line. Curiously I pushed forward a bit – and my hand was slowly moving through the massive wall. I quickly pulled it out of the wall and inspected it: Still five fingers – good. All appeared to be fine, no damage occurred to my probing extremity. So I positioned myself right in front of the wall, but a few steps left from the creature’s face, and focussed my mind until my whole body was vibrating to the melody of the line – and then I took a step, right through the stone barrier.
All went black for a split second – and then it got blindingly bright for about the same amount of time. My eyes needed a few moments to readjust - and there I was, standing directly in the ley line. It was like standing in a hallway, though there was no man-made structure to it. The walls, floor and sealing appeared to consist of pure energy, glowing in a light gold tint and humming in a soothing tone. To my left the line stretched out like a tunnel and to my right the way was blocked by a massive rock, spanning across the width of the corridor – and a bit beyond on both ends. The troll was trapped, its body caught in the ley line. I could see it breathing – or whatever you want to call the respiration of a silicon-based creature. Its breath was flat and it was apparent that without help, the troll would be dying soon.
This is what I concluded: The troll must have entered the line from its side and then stumbled; its feet still in its own realm, the body stretched across the ley line and its face already forced out of the line by just the slightest layer – and into our reality. Since the creature just scratched our reality and not completely entered it, its presence only manifested through the face showing up on the wall. I would recon the same is true for other realities – a similar manifestation probably showing up across the whole multiverse. This was assuming you can use ley lines to cross over into every existing dimension there is, which I somehow felt to be true. There was another thought that took my mind for a spin: There are several, maybe even an infinite amount of, other dimensions – and they might all be reachable via these ley lines; worlds filled with the most wonderful beings and unprecedented monsters. I felt excited just imaging the possibilities, but my thoughts quickly returned to the problem at hand: How could I help this stony-faced entity escape from its lethal trap, transfixed and anchored by being part of two dimensions at once, which obviously was the reason for the troll’s imprisonment – at least obvious to me, as I suddenly understood.
My task was clear, but far from simple: I needed to either move the troll’s feet from its realm into the ley line or push its face from our reality back into the line, hence lifting the dual-dimension-induced rigor, but the colossus was way too heavy for me to move. Not even an army would be able to lift this sad stone giant; it had to weigh several tons, as it basically was a sixteen-foot-long and ten-foot-wide massive rock. But giving up was no option for me. I never even spent a second thinking about the troll being a threat, should I be successful in freeing it. In folklore and fiction trolls are usually depicted as being violent and mean creatures, but from its face I could tell that this wasn’t based in facts. I felt that it was probably not the most accomplished being, but a gentile and kind spirit. And even if trolls were mean, no creature deserves to die of starvation, being trapped between realities. But how was I supposed to free this entity if I wasn’t able to move it?
As I tried to find a solution to this conundrum I looked at the opposite wall, the barrier separating me from the troll’s realm. I noticed that though the force field hummed, there was no vibration emitting from it. I looked back to the portal I just walked through – same thing there. As I glanced at my hands I realized that my frequency has returned to its normal state. That was interesting because it meant I was either trapped in here or the line itself is neutral on the inside and uses one’s current frequency to carry you across into the according reality. In that case one could use each side of the line to cross over – only the frequency would decide your destination. I tested this theory by first pressing my hand to the wall I used to enter the line – and it passed through. Release surged through me; I wasn’t trapped. Over at the other side the same happened. To make sure the way indeed led into my own reality, I stuck my head through the barrier and could see the inside of an abandoned building, matching what I was expecting to see on the other side of the painted wall.
If only I could enter the troll’s dimension, maybe there was a way to push its feet into the line. To do that, I would need to emulate its frequency. I looked at the creature and, as a matter of fact, it was resonating in its own realm’s harmony. I touched it and concentrated; again my body’s frequency slowly shifted until it matched the troll’s tune. Before stepping through the wall, I stopped; better to sneak a quick peek, so I wouldn’t end up walking into danger. The view was incredible. There was a green meadow stretching as far as I could see with the bluest sky imaginable. To my right there was a stream, which water – I imagined – would probably be the clearest I would have ever tasted. To my left I could see a forest full of gigantic and ancient trees. It appeared to be safe to enter this realm – and so I did.
In this dimension the ley line just ran through the meadow and I could see the troll’s feet sticking out of it. If you didn’t knew you would just assume they were a stone formation – which was likely the thing passers-by were thinking; explaining why no one had tried to rescue the prisoner so far. Still there was no way I could move its feet back into the line – though I tried tentatively. I walked around for a few minutes, trying to come up with an idea. As nothing came to me, I decided to return into the line. I matched my harmony to the line again and stepped through. After a few more minutes inside, still not coming up with an idea, I used my own frequency to walk back into my reality. There I stood, looking at the sad face on the wall. It seemed to have grown even a bit sadder since I last looked at it, as if the troll was aware of my failed attempts – and I guess it was, it just couldn’t communicate with me as its face was attached to my reality, likely preventing the creature from speaking; if it could speak at all.
Standing there it suddenly hit me. I had a real plan – but I couldn’t do it alone. I called Carol and recruited her for this rescue mission. I would have called her anyways, because – truth be told – who wouldn’t want to show off to his girlfriend by crossing into another dimension with her? While I was waiting for her to arrive, I laid my hand on the entities face, ensuring it that I had a plan to set it free. Carol only took a few minutes to show up and was looking a bit dumbstruck. Of cause she knew about my abilities and – to my big surprise – had no major issues adjusting to them. But I could imagine receiving a phone call about rescuing a troll trapped between dimensions might have been a bit much for anyone. I explained the situation to her in more detail to bring her up to speed.
The crucial part of my plan depended on me being able to also match Carol’s harmony to the ley line. I took her hand and concentrated. I could feel my frequency slowly changing and when my whole body was vibrating to the tune of the line, the waves swept over to Carol and began to change her frequency as well. It took longer with Carol, but it worked – probably because it was the first time for her – and after about a minute we were fully synced. Together we stepped into the line and I gave her a moment to take it all in. Her eyes sparkled with excitement and it made me feel so lucky to have her in my live, to be able to share this experience with the one I love – and with her not just tolerating it, but actually enjoying and embracing this craziness. “So, what’s next?” she asked. I wanted to show her the troll’s realm with its breathtakingly beautiful meadow, but that could wait. Next up was freeing our rocky friend from its entrapment.
We stepped back into our reality and positioned us in front of the face on the wall, with Carol to my right. I took her left hand and tuned us to the humming of the line again. Then I touched my left hand to the wall, a little to the left from the graffito, while Carol put her right hand to the right of the painted face. Now the line was running through us, its outline slightly rerouted, taking a bypass through our bodies. That way we temporarily extended the circumference of the line, just enough to position the creature’s face back into the line. In front of us, the face suddenly grew joyful again and then ever so slightly retracted back into the wall – until the image was gone.
We broke the connection with the wall and looked at each other, both being satisfied – and curious. Without saying a word we both knew we wanted to get back into the line and meet the troll, but before we did, I quickly collected the bricks from the ground that represented the creature’s fallen-out teeth. Then we re-entered the ley line and there was the troll, waiting for us. It was smiling kindly with some of its teeth missing. I extended my hands, holding up the bricks I collected from our reality and the troll nodded in understanding. It received its teeth and placed them back into its mouth, where they immediately took hold, restoring the most pleasant smile I ever saw. “Thank you,” it growled in a deep voice, which sounded like two stones being ground together – which was probably exactly what was happening – but still had a friendly tone to it. “You saved my life,” it stated. “I was trapped for ages, my wife must be so worried,” he followed up – which made me realize that there truly were genders amongst trolls. I wouldn’t want to be presumptuous about his gender, but now that he was standing in front of us, a quick impression from my peripheral vision confirmed that I wasn’t.
“Do you want to join us for a while?” he asked. “My wife would be delighted to meet my rescuers and I could show you around a bit,” he added. I guessed a troll would most likely live in a cave or a quarry and wouldn’t be entertaining other species that often, so it wouldn’t be the most comfortable stay – but it was an adventure, so I didn’t care. I looked at Carol and knew she was thinking the same. I nodded and we took him up on his offer, because – after all – who would refuse the change to have a gentle giant as his tour guide to explore a marvellous new world? “Lead the way,” I proposed while taking Carol’s hand. I noticed that I didn’t even need to touch the troll to reproduce his frequency. I knew it by heart, its tune forever stored in my memory; ready to be recalled whenever I would need it. As we stepped into this beautiful yet unknown realm I looked at Carol, her eyes blossoming with wonder, mirroring my feelings. I was filled with excitement about things to come – and I wasn’t alone.
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