Challenge #02115-E292: A Roadmap to Neverthere
"Look, the directions are simple; go down that way, and turn left on Thursday." -- Anon Guest
Navigation is difficult in realms where time is nonlinear. In the fractured temporal core of Lymnaal, directions are almost meaningless as well. One can walk away from a point, steps never wavering, and meet oneself coming the other way. There are places bordered by red paint. It is wise never to set a foot there.
Yet people still operate in this broken place. People are stubborn like that. Since time has no meaning, consequence can precede action. Familial relationships turn to those who nurture, rather than those who make, and directions anywhere are four-dimensional. Technology grows, as technology always does. The way to get anywhere is a wrist-mounted calendar and compass combo. Watches have no use in Lymnaal. Between one step and the next, it could be dinnertime, teatime, bedtime, or three in the morning, when nothing good ever occurs.
This is where there is only one state of being, and that is: Lost. Nevertheless, there are nodes of clarity. Entire volumes of space that are in one place and time simultaneously. It is there that pockets of civilisation spring up. Here, in a city called Thursday the 13th, Ykkaan has arrived.
Because it was a completely different town, called Saint Swithins' Day, that Ykkaan had been aiming for. She consulted the map, a crystal with incursions in something close to the right places, and sighed. She should have taken that left turn at Bellnacht. Nevertheless, there had to be a mapwright somewhere in the city, and an inn. Here, at least, there were sign posts that could be relied upon to remain readable, legible, and undecayed before one could blink. Out in the more fractured wilderness, even chiselled granite was not reliable. It couldn't decay, but it could erode and, in extreme cases, turn molten.
Even turning around and retracing your steps wasn't a reliable way to get around it. Not in the fractured wilderness. Ykkan followed the signs to a mapwright to get her map reconfigured. If she had trade goods that were worth anything here and now[1] she could upgrade it to a self-updating crystal so that she wouldn't get lost. Frankly, she was lucky to get anywhere at all, having found herself on Xeno's Highway[2]. Honestly, she was grateful to find herself off it again, anywhere.
The mapwright hummed and hawed as Ykkaan rummaged in her Schroedinger Box[3] for anything useful.
"Don't suppose you'd like a kitten?" Ykkaan asked optimistically. "Just popped into existence. Guaranteed fresh."
"I know someone who has a toaster," the mapwright blinked as ze contemplated the kitten. "Been meaning to branch out into hovercraft[4]." Ze sucked air through hir teeth. "If you have a paired paring device for pears... or a nighttime knight?"
Ykkaan rummaged deeper. "I have five retriculated splines. Is that good enough?" She held them aloft.
The mapwright was impressed. "That kitten and two of those splines will do it. Definitely. With those, I can throw in a porridge pot[5]."
"Done and sold," breathed Ykkaan. Guaranteed porridge was nothing to sneeze at, especially in the fractured wilds. "And if you could point me towards Thursday the 13th, that would be a great help."
The mapwright checked Ykkaan's map crystal against hir own, synchronising them. "Ah yes. This week, you're in luck. Take Shirataki road until you leave the borders, then it's straight on until Thursday and turn left." Ze pressed the upgraded crystal into Ykkaan's palm and loaded up her Schroedinger Box with the pot. "You shouldn't be able to miss it unless you trip on the trip."
[1] As opposed to there and then, which is always out of reach and always worth more.
[2] A stretch of road where one has to stop whenever one has traversed half the distance to one's goal. The only worse road to find oneself on is Moebius street, where one has to walk down it twice in order to go back to where one started.
[3] Ironically, the only way to make sure one's belongings remain in a definite state in the fractured wilds. May occasionally produce surprised cats.
[4] Only in places like this can Troll Physics be real. Buttered toast plus cat equals antigravity.
[5] Also: fairytales.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / kharlamova]
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Retriculated splines! XD