They had been exciting stories. One about the take-down of an anime villain, another about a couple of robbers getting their comeupance, one about a particularly annoying vampire family getting pwned, another about a reporter's harrowing ordeal as a hostage to a diabolical young couple of mages, with those mages finally getting what they deserved in the end. Still another was about a particularly fascinating, odious villain who could give anyone lessons in double-dealing and playing the supreme victim act. But it had taken some interesting information coming to light to uncover her true intent and agendas.
In addition, the stories sometimes refered to past events which hinted at some pretty interesting backstories.
Now, she had come to the end of the stories on this particular page, but she wanted more. Adding to this was the strange desire that can come over some readers who get so wrapped up in what they are reading. She wished she could meet the characters and be part of the next story, if there were to be any more to come.
She shook her head, grinning in amusement at herself. It was just a web page for goodness sake. Something written in cyberspace.
She could always write her own story to continue these adventures, but somehow that idea seemed a bit hollow. She could never write anything to measure up, and anyway, who would read it?
She was just about to turn off her Ipad and check out what was on TV when the buzzer went.
A minute later, she was happily opening the item she had ordered on Ebay.
It didn't look like much, just a small box that might've contained anything.
But when she finally got it unwrapped, inside were two rings, one green, the other, yellow. Beautiful shiny things that came with a small pad of information.
"These rings are the closest one can get to the transport rings used by Polly and Diggory in the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, "The Magician's Nephew. Now you can have a little magic of your own and put them on before watching your favorite show or reading a good book. You might end up feeling as if you are actually living the adventure."
She knew it had been an enticing sales-pitch, these rings wouldn't really do anything, but she liked collecting special items to do with her favorite shows and books etc. In this respect, she was no different from any other fan.
But she soon discovered there actually was something different about those rings.
Much to her astonishment, there seemed to be a soft humming sound coming from them.
"What? No way, I'm just letting my imagination run away with me. Or maybe it's my Ipad, though it didn't make that noise before. Hmmm." She picked up the Ipad, and turned it off.
Still, the noise persisted.
It wasn't the TV, that hadn't been turned on yet.
Next, she checked the light switches. Turning them off and on made no difference, and anyway, as she had left the rings on the counter to move about the apartment, she couldn't hear the hum as much.
She returned to the counter to examine her latest purchase.
Yes, the hum was definitely coming from the rings, or the box that held them.
"Hmm!" Her grin broadened with excitement. "I'm surprised these didn't cost a heck of a lot more, being designed right down to the sound the book describes!"
She closed the box and examined it, looking for a battery compartment.
There seemed to be none. But for now, there was no sound either.
"Light activated," she speculated. "Cool." She opened the box again.
The sound could be heard once more.
"Heh!" She picked up the green ring, looked at it, and after a long moment, put it in one of her pockets.
Next, she picked up the yellow ring, intending to put it in her other pocket, and that was when she got the surprise of her life!
Instantly her surroundings disappeared before her eyes, and she couldn't see anything clearly.The feeling of weightlessness added to the confusion. Could this rreally be happening!?
In a panic, she did what she hoped would get her back home, if these rings worked the same way as they had done in the book. She put the yellow ring into the empty pocket as she had planned, then reached into the other to touch the green ring.
In a few moments, her apartment building came into view, then her own apartment, and then finally she was back inside, home, safe.
She headed for the nearest chair and sat down to catch her breath and her composure.
So what now?
She couldn't exactly put THIS on her blog or on any social networking status message. Everybody would think she had gone mad.
She sat there, practically motionless, for a long time.
Then she went and got her Ipad. She turned it on, then opened the email application, planning to email the person who sold her the rings.
But then, she changed her mind and exited the email application. What was she thinking of saying to the seller anyway? Ask why they had been sold, being so beautiful? She couldn't give away why she wanted to know, and by the same token, it wasn't likely the seller would come out with it either if they had experienced something similar.
She shook her head, and with a grin of bemusement, went on to browse the web.
It was then she remembered the stories she had been reading, and wishing there had been more of.
This brought an idea to mind.
What if she could get into the story after all, by way of the rings!?
She tsked at herself a moment later. "Girl, you are officially sad."
But what the heck? Why not try the rings out again? She'd rather be sure than go on thinking she'd just lost her mind for a few moments when the first adventure had startled her so badly. She wanted to get good and used to them, and then who knew what adventure lay ahead? She wasn't the type to just put them away and remain afraid to try them out again.
So, she reached into her pocket with the yellow ring.
Once again, her apartment disappeared, her vision swam, and she felt weightless.
She removed her hand from that pocket and reached in the other to touch the green ring.
Once again, she was back home in a few moments.
She did many more test-runs to get used to the feeling and to affirm she would always get back when she wanted.
Then, she finally decided to transport without touching the green ring again until she was quite definitely in some other location.
So, on went the yellow ring, gone was the apartment, there was that swimming vision and weightlessness, then a soft green light, and a sense of coming up through water, which was somehow not wet or keeping her from breathing.
It was just as she had imagined it to be when reading the Narnia books, especially now that she was no longer afraid of it.
Then, she came up and climbed ashore, out of a pool, onto a grassy landscape, with many trees all around.
She straightened up, turned, and looked into the pool she had climbed out of, and smiled excitedly.
Just as in the book, the pool did not seem to have wetted her at all.
She sat down to relax, but set her watch alarm to go off in five minutes. She remembered the book describing that if you just let yourself go in this place, the peacefulness would literally hypnotise you, and you might forget everything, including how you'd arrived and where you had come from. The Wood Between The Worlds, as it had been called, was by no means an evil place, but you did need to keep your wits about you or have some means of waking yourself up again if you didn't want to doze here forever.
She sighed contentedly and lay down on the grass, looking up at the leafy green-ness above her, and taking in the rich smell of growth around her.
Her eyes began to get heavy, and were nearly closed when "Beep beep beep!" Her watch startled her awake.
"What?" She sat bolt upright and looked around.
A moment later, she recalled where she was and why.
"Oh, that was nice." she breathed, and then headed back to the edge of the pool.
There were many other pools just like this one, but she made sure to stay nearest to this particular pool, because it was her way back home.
She put on the green ring and jumped into the pool.
The wood vanished, things blurred, weightlessness, and then, she was back in her apartment.
"Hah!" I'll never sell these things!" she grinned.
But all of this had taken its toll. She sprawled on the couch to nap for a few hours.
When she awoke and had eaten something, she decided to go traveling via the rings again.
This time, she had taken along some tools for marking things as she went, just in case she happened on a place she'd want to return to later.
Once in the Wood Between The Worlds, she managed to scratch out the word "IPAD" in the dirt, and then she tied a string loosely around the nearest tree trunk. On that string was a shiny but worthless piece of fake jewelry that no one who was interested in valuables would want to steal.
Having taken care of marking the home pool, she was now free to try others and see what sorts of places she could find.
One world was inhabited by things that looked like giant versions of insects and spiders of our own world. She beat a hasty transport out of that one.
Another one was in the midst of a battle, and there were guns going off, and bloody forms running and writhing everywhere.
"Hey, miss!" One soldier called, coming right toward her. "You shouldn't be out here, this is a war!"
She touched her yellow ring and got out of that world too, just before the man got within reach.
The next world was warm, bright, and very quiet. There didn't seem to be anyone around.
There were tall trees bearing strange transparent fruit that looked a lot like water balloons of different shapes, sizes, and colors. The delicious fruity smell was probably coming from them.
Curious and feeling very tempted, she walked on until she got to one that had some yellow fruit on a few branches low enough for her to reach. she picked one and smelled it. It even felt like a water balloon, but smelled like the best lemonade in the world, or a fresh lemon slice.
She waited a few more moments to see if anything would start happening. Should anyone or anything suddenly come out and tell her to clear off, she was prepared to do just that. But no one did.
There were no signs around, saying if any of these trees or the property belonged to anyone, none telling any travelers whether or not to take any. So, she returned home once again, and put the fruit in the fridge, intending to try it later.
She marked that pool too, so she could get back into that world later if she desired.
Then, she tried going to several more worlds until she came to one that consisted of a series of doors all in rows, going down so many hall-like passages. Each door had some sort of sign on it, many were in different languages, but the ones in English contained many familiar titles of books and movies, and others that were unknown.
Her eyes lit up when she found "Les Miserables" "Midsummer Night's Dream" "Star Trek" "Neverending Story" "Oz" or "Stargate 1" and many others she recognized from beloved books and movies.
She decided to get back to the Wood Between The Worlds and mark this pool that lead to this world of doors that would hopefully turn out to be a quick way into any fictional place she had ever read about or seen on the movie or TV screen.
Once that was done, she came back into the world of doors, and wandered about, trying to find out where everything was.
As with the first time, the very first door had the word "Home" written on it. She figured that would take her home, so decided not to try it out just yet.
The place seemed to be all laid out like a huge library, but it was missing the nonfiction section.
She walked through the classics and comics sections, fantasy and scifi, and many others, unable to make a decision where she wanted to enter first.
Then, she came to a door that was separate from all the others, and didn't seem to be in a particular section. The sign on this door said "What if." Below it were these words:
"What if you could rewrite any adventure. What if you could meet anyone you desired? Enter at your own risk. Anything could happen."
If she hadn't had a way out via the rings, she might not have dared. But this could turn out to be great if she could actually get the chance to meet and be in a story with some favorite characters.
She touched the door, and it opened on its own, to her surprise.
She stepped through, and into a place that first looked like a massive blank page.
There was nothing there!
It was all whiteness. No scenery, no words, nothing. Just a white expanse. All around her, the light was like that of a blank but lit up computer monitor. The only sound was her own footsteps.
She sat down after a few minutes and shut her eyes, because the glare was starting to get to her.
When she opened them again, she was surprised to find herself somewhere else.
At the entrance of what looked like an on-ramp to a space ship.
Her eyes went wide, and she cautiously made her way forward. And now, she was inside the cargo bay.
She stared around in wonderment. There were crates everywhere, some of them spilling forth items she had never seen before. She cautiously went to investigate the crate nearest her.
She picked up a strange object, shaped vaguely like a carved stone snake. She frowned, puzzling over it.
To her surprise, the snake abruptly writhed to motion. It looked up at her with blank eyes, hissing curiously.
Without a sound, she hastily put the snake down, backing away from the crate.
A new sound drew her attention. A very soft swishing, like something's tail brushing the ground gently.
She swallowed nervously, looking around the cargo bay.
A very tall reptilian creature emerged from behind an even taller stack of crates. He studied her with intense yellow eyes, cocking his head slightly.
Before she could fully react to him, her attention was drawn to the on-ramp by the sound of conversation.
"And that, Sigma, is why you NEVER even TOUCH a Runidian kiter tree."
"It's not like I was planning on touching one to begin with, Bez. But, whatever, I heard that overly meticulous advice is a sign of affection."
"No way! Could this really be...?" she thought as she continued studying her new surroundings.
The conversation continued.
"H'm! You WOULD think that!"
"Oh, hush you two, or I'll have Matrix separate you!"
"Like I need any incentive for that, Criter."
"What - seriously!?" she thought, but didn't dare to express aloud.
Four people entered the cargo bay, a tall red-headed woman, a short brunette, and two tall men with black hair, one unnaturally pale, the other sporting a jaunty hat at a rakish tilt.
The red-head paused when she saw the stranger. "Come, come, Thande, you're getting old. How did she get aboard without your noticing?"
The pale man studied her curiously.
"She's unarmed, if that's anything. However, there is the most curious energy signature about her..."
The red-head shrugged. "No matter. I've forgotten my manners." She squared her shoulders and straightened her coat. "I am Captain Bez Marshall of the Nautilus. This is my first mate and ship doctor, Matrix," She gestured to the man with shaggy black hair, who smiled. "This is Sigma Notrahn, our resident xeno-expert, for lack of a better title," Here she pointed to the short brunette, who also smiled. "Criterion MacAfee, who's a recent addition to the crew and, consequently, is still finding his position," The other man grinned and waved. "And I believe you already know Thande, our...combat expert." Thande nodded to the newcomer.
She nodded back with a smile.
Bez continued. "Now, return the favor and let us in on your name, eh?"
"Gretel." The newcomer replied quietly.
She was starting to realize where she was, and it was no dream. It sent an exhilarating shiver through her. She knew these people, or at least knew some of their stories. Criterion was new to her, but that was to be expected. After all, she had only seen part of their adventures. But if she was here, with them, then-then the "What if" door had taken her to the adventure world she so longed to be a part of. A grin burst over her face at this realization.
Bez noted her excitement and smiled.
"Gretel, eh? Now that's a proper name!" She gestured to Matrix, who closed the on-ramp.
"Thank you." Gretel responded with a broad smile.
"And now," Bez began, her eyes glinting curiously. "There is the tale of how you came aboard this my fine vessel. Do tell."
"Well," Gretel shrugged. How was she going to explain this? But maybe they would understand better than the average person from back home.
Bez frowned suddenly. "Ah! My head, my head is so stupid! Again, I forget that I am entertaining a guest who somehow snuck aboard my ship without the knowledge of the venerable Thande. Come. We will continue this discussion in the control room."
She turned on her heels and walked to the end of the cargo bay, waiting on an elevator panel. "Well, c'mon, I don't have all day!"
Gretel grinned and held back a laugh as she followed Bez's crew to the elevator panels.
Thande merely leapt up to the next level, and waited placidly for everyone else to catch up.
"Show off." Criter crooned at Thande as he passed.
They moved down a hall and into the control room.
Matrix smiled. "We really ought to think about expanding this room. Funny how often we get close to capacity."
"Maybe someday, Matrix. Now," Bez again turned her attention to Gretel. "As you were saying."
Gretel had been looking over the control room, fully absorbed by the technology. "Huh? Oh, right." She proceeded to tell the crew about reading their adventures, getting the rings, and her explorations.
Bez whistled, impressed. "Brilliant."
Gretel returned the grin, feeling relieved. She had inwardly been trying to prepare herself for a bad reception, she was a stranger after all, and these people had dealt with some pretty nasty strangers in the past who tried and sometimes succeeded in doing some damage.
Criterion nodded. "That land of doors sounds intriguing."
Sigma grinned in agreement. "Amazing."
Even Thande was interested.
"Yes, I'd never seen anything like it." said Gretel.
"Hey now, that explains the weird energy signature Matrix picked up. Your rings!" Bez pointed out. "And I suppose that your sneaking aboard...well, even Thande gets lost in thought every now and then. But don't press your luck with him. He's not one to repeat mistakes."
Gretel allowed a soft laugh to escape her.
"Wait a minute!" Matrix exclaimed. "Gretel, seeing as you are familiar with some of our adventures, I assume you are aware by now that you are missing a good portion of the equation." Matrix looked over at Bez. "Unicom?"
"Well, look who's all high and mighty now!" Bez chided playfully, removing a small sphere from her pocket. "The others are going to want in on this!" She glanced at Gretel. "I assume you don't mind sharing your treasure. After all, you're in a proper adventure now. Time to, well, be adventurous."
Gretel smiled and nodded. This was incredible. "A heck of a 'what if'!" She thought excitedly. "Sounds good to me." she said cheerfully.
Bez nodded. "Great!" She pressed a button on her Unicom. "Hey, come in, guys, this is Bez. I think we have something that'll interest you guys..."
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