Inside the large red sphere crouched a strange-looking man. The sphere began to slowly bounce, and each time it touched the tiles on the floor the man would twist into a new position. This went on for a few decades by itself, until a plant began to grow somewhere on the never-ending plane of tiles. In a way, it reminded the man in the sphere of himself somehow. After the plant had grown up, lost its leaves, and shriveled up into a dusty, lifeless shell, the man lost interest in his sphere and emerged onto the tileplane a little ways off from the remains of the plant. Picking it up, he noticed that it was himself. After thinking this over, he realized that this was impossible, and thought it over again. The man wondered how on earth the plant had gotten onto his private tileplane, and couldn't think of how, so he began to become frustrated. He was, in fact, frustrated at the sphere, for he began to believe that it had some part in the plant being what and where it was. So, he chose a particularly uninviting looking tile and thrust the sphere into the depths of whatever lay beneath the stormy face of it. Bored with himself, he grabbed the dead plant and dropped it into his infinite-capacity back-pack, which proudly now contained its most interesting item in a long time. Then, throwing the bag onto his shoulders, the man set off across the plane looking for a tile that he had not entirely become annoyed with.
* * * * * * * *
Somewhere off in another plane of existence a boy sneezed. At the exact same moment, a boy sitting next to this boy was hit on the head by a fast-falling large red sphere that seemed to fall straight out of the sky, and was knocked unconscious. The sneezer gasped and then began to scream, "Moom!" (gasp) "Moom!" ------ etc. A large pale-skinned woman could soon be seen running towards the boy-pile, a worried expression on her muscular face. The woman came to a stop before the boys and abruptly sat down, putting her hand on the unconscious one's face. "Rorhen, how in H®L did this happen?!" The sneezer coughed and replied, "That big bubble fell on him, Moom!". Moom swiveled around in her crouch to view the area indicated by Rorhen's pointing finger. "What the... a new weapon of those dammhed Morbenns, by the look of it... it's strange it didn't go off yet. Quick, Rorhen, grab your brother. Move!!! Rorhen snatched up the younger boy in his arms and handed a dark, pointed weapon to Moom. The two beings leaped up and started to race off into the cruddy and demolished landscape towards an ominous-looking staircase leading downwards into some kind of huge underground military camp.
Chapter One Tile World 94628628563222562868828GY
"Ptew." "Watran-Laih?" The strange little man (who's name was Poo, by the way) had slipped down into an interesting new tile-world. He was, at the moment, holding a very strange conversation with a large red-cheeked type-1.0060.0002 human who stood tiredly behind an odd-looking old wooden wagon. He switched his Lingomechanizmª. Poo was on the edge of a lush green forest, in springtime, it would seem. The air was fresh, the sky was blue, and birds were singing. A little ways off there was a well-trodden dirt path leading away towards a beautiful sun-lit glade. "Do you need help, sir?" Poo was startled by the now-intelligible voice of the wagon-owner. "...Yes, of course. Just a moment." Poo pondered what he should do in this plane while he was here in his immortality. Perhaps he should ask the man where the path led to, but it didn't really matter. "Yes?" "Could you tell me where that path leads to? I'm not from around here." "Oh, that road goes up through Parallae. Be careful, though. I've heard rumors of strange events occurring lately. Perhaps..." "Thank you, I'll keep that in mind." Poo had an idea. He reached into the pleasant infiniteness of his pack and pulled out the remains of the dried flower. "Do these things grow around here, by any chance?" The cart peddler frowned. "...Uh, no, sorry. I don't believe so, sir. Someone in Parallae might know more, though. Hey (yawn), you want to buy an old lamp or something? Something to help you on the way to Parallae? That is where yer goin', isn't it?" Poo pondered some more. "Thanks. Yes I believe so, to answer both questions." He got out a pressed Tauncoin from his Infinipackª. "Here. In exchange for that walking-stick there."
Poo walked slowly along the forest path with his pretty new walking-stick, enjoying the atmosphere and feeling almost content. Every once in a while he would sing a little tune. He realized that this was one of the more low-tech tile-worlds, and he liked that. It was peaceful and happy in some special way. The plant still confused him immensely. "Shploooahh!" A comical green organism which resembled a large frog leaped from the bushes onto the path in front of Poo, blocking his way. It grunted and grinned at him, revealing an incredibly long and glistening tongue. Poo was frightened. This tile-world had a sense of magical power surrounding it, and he was uncertain about the organism's level of power. He greeted the creature. "Hello there, friendly one!" laughed Poo. "What is it that you want from me?" The creature spluttered, stuck out its tongue, and grinned at Poo, saying nothing. Poo liked this situation. It interested him. But he wanted to get to Parallae, and he couldn't tarry. "Here." Poo stuck a bean in the frog's mouth and stepped over it. He resumed his walking. The frog-like one turned around, grinned at him, and did a "farewell" Shplooah. Now that he thought about it, the froggish creature reminded Poo of the plant. That brain of his was starting to scare him. Sunset was in progress, it would seem. Poo wondered what Parallae would look like, and what it was, even. It was getting dark and lonely, and so was Poo, so he pulled a silent-running Bio-engine from his pack ( "borrowed" off a Dydhr in TW15426736778422A, come to think of it) and sped on at forty-five times his previous walking-speed. Two minutes later, Poo reached a hill that provided a fantastic first view of Parallae. The sun (there was only one of them in this world) had set, and the people of Parallae had already lit their 40,000 lamps. So this was Parallae, of the magnificent and low-tech tile-world 94628628563222562868828GY. Before Poo spanned a great city, with lighted towers and great glowing steeples. In the center of the city was an enormous structure with glowing patterns resembling veins streaming downwards from its apex. Somewhere, a clock struck ten. Poo shoved the Bio-engine in his bag and began to slowly jog down the hill on the sloping path. Crickets chirped and fireflies blinked by the side of the path as he made his way down to the city gates of Parallae.
Chapter Two Parallae
"Sring!" A beam of light shot out and began to scan Poo. He stood still in front of the tall stone gates, waiting. Must be more out here than big grinning frogs, he thought. Perhaps it was good that he had gotten there before night really set in. The beam shut off, and the gates opened. A group of people dressed in yellow tunics appeared by the side of the entrance to the city, and ran out towards Poo. "Hello, hello!" laughed a tall grinning brown-bearded yellow-wearer. "I am Marq Ghende, of the Traveler's Welcoming. Welcome to Parallae, Poo. We've been expecting you. We have heard so much about you from Bobb, our captain. Come inside! I'm sorry about our gates. We don't mean to be rude, but it keeps the demon frogs out of our fair city." Poo thought he was going to faint. It was all too much. "Yes, of course. I...dh..." Poo fainted.
* * * * * * * *
He came to in an extremely fancy and comfortable bed located in the highest chamber of the Harlequin Bee Parallae Royal Hotel. It would seem that he had been brought here by the yellow-tunic wearers and had slept all night. Slept. Poo gasped and clutched his forehead. Something was incredibly wrong. He was not capable of sleep. He was one of the 26 Oos, who had been given everlasting life, a private tileplane, and an Infinipackª infinite-capacity back-pack. He was eternal, an Oo. It was all that plant's fault! And how in the life of an Oo could the people of this city know that he was one of the twenty-six? Poo moaned. "Oh, hello there, Poo. I see you've had a refreshing sleep." It was the voice of Marq Ghende, now white-robed, who had just entered the room. He smiled. "After you are bathed, dressed, and have eaten, I will escort you to the chambers of our Kwynn. She is anxious to see you." The robed one handed a glistening golden ball to Poo. "This is Harlan. She will be your escort." Well, thought Poo, after the welcomer had left, this is certainly a very confusing and frustrating tile-world. "Hello there." It was the voice of the ball. Poo glanced at the object still in his hand, and could see a smiling female face. "Hello to you, too," sighed Poo. He pulled out the flower from the bag beside his bed. "I don't suppose you know anything about this . "
