How it Didn't Begin

[Robert Infinity]

{Content warning: mention of torture}


"No, I've been able to travel between universes, to 'planesjump' as I call it," I paused a fraction of a second, then went on with such a lack of emphasis as to be a kind of emphasis, "for as long as I can remember."

*Let's see if she's smart enough to pick that up* I thought to myself.

The woman twitched an eyebrow, then slid back in the chair and crossed her legs. "That sounds like you want to be asked details. OK, I'll bite. Pray begin, Watson, your no doubt interesting statement." She only partly restrained a smirk.

*Smart, but a smart aleck. Unfortunate* But I didn't let the thought show. Unlike this beautiful woman, I could keep my thoughts from my face.

"As you have divined, Sherlock, I mean 'as long as I can remember' literally" She smiled at 'Sherlock' and I smiled back even as I spoke.

My voice, and expression, turned serious as I began. "The first thing I remember was being four meters under water; cold water---well, cool. About 13 or 12 degrees Celsius I'd guess. I knew which way was up, and I headed that way, having only half-full lungs."

She looked interested at that. "Not a good situation," she said, less flippantly.

"There were a few other things I remembered. My name, Robert, for one; no other name, though. How to speak, which wasn't important right then. I knew the basics of taking care of myself; you know, stuff like how to get dressed, defecate and urinate appropriately, feed myself, that kind of stuff."

"Useful," she interjected, snidely.

"Imagine not knowing how to take care of yourself, not being able to handle the most basic self-care." I let my voice and expression show irritation.

"I'm sorry, that was crude" she said softly.

*That took away a little of her self-conceit. Good. Let's hope to rattle her a bit more.*

"De nada. Let's see...I also knew the universe I was in - - - structure and shape and such. I knew I was in the middle of a lake, egg-shaped, about 15 kilometers by 25. I also knew the direction to the closest chain. You see, the lake ended in a waterfall on all sides; a waterfall more than two kilometers high. I knew water welled up in the middle of the lake, and there was a current flowing outwards in all directions, supplying the water that made that waterfall."

I watched her interest rise as she tried to visualize the setting.

"But there were seven spots along the edge where land rose up into what I suppose you could call islands. And there were chains from island to island, and boats went back and forth all the time, attached to the chains."

"Fascinating! But what did the water fall into? What was the surrounding land like?"

"Ah, that's not important to my story, as you'll see. So I'll leave all that for later, if you don't mind." I said softly, keeping my irritation at the interruption from showing. She nodded, and a slight wave indicated I should go on.

"Anyway; I figured that if I could get to a chain and hang on, someone would be by in no great while, and I'd be rescued. The current would help me, but I had to swim to stay warm and to help me get to a chain before I passed out, or could no longer stay on the surface."

She lifted an eyebrow, but did not interrupt.

*And now for the unpleasant part*

"I knew I had to do this, because I was in no shape to planesjump out. That takes effort; the amount of effort can vary wildly, depending on the plane, and I knew this one was particularly tough to get out of.
And I knew why I wasn't in shape. The painful bruises, the open sores and welts bleeding slowly into the water, and my lack of stamina were all from the same cause.
I'd been beaten. Tortured. Severely and repeatedly over a span of time. I didn't remember how long, I didn't remember why, and I was grateful I didn't remember what it had been like."

As I spoke, I went slower and slower, my voice becoming rough, and I looked through her, into a painful past. By the end, the flipancy had left her expression, she had uncrossed her legs, and was leaning forward, as fascinated as she was horrified.

I sighed deeply, and continued, "I had trouble staying up. I was so tired that I nearly inhaled water a few times, and I realized if that happened, I'd cough, and the coughing would just mean I'd inhale more, and then, well, that would be the end."

She shivered and shut her eyes.

*Ah, that's gotten to you, has it? Good.*

"I nearly didn't make it. Luckily, someone had seen me and sent out a boat along the nearest chain. Even then, it took a brave soul attaching a rope to the boat and to themself and swimming up-current more than a kilometer to grab me, when I was doing no more than treading water. By then, I was so tired I could no longer swim forward.
By the time I was pulled into the boat, I'd sucked in a bit of water. Luckily, the folks on the boat knew first-aid for that, and they got me to a hospital pretty damned fast. I was unconscious then, completely worn out, and remained unconscious for a few days thereafter."

I paused, my expression showing remembered fears. She started to speak, but hesitated.

Before she could interrupt, I finished the story. "Still, I was in good hands, and recovered fully. The story of how I got off that plane is another matter, and perhaps I'll tell you it some other time. But I've gone over enough bad memories for now."

"Oh Robert," her voice little more than a breath, "I'm so," She gulped, near tears "so sorry I made you relive that!" She slid forward to the very edge of the chair, and leaned forward to put a hand on my arm.

I gave a wan smile, and covered her hand with mine. "It is long in my past, *qaraẗ al-ʿayn*, do not fret," my voice turning sad.

"Oh Robert!" She was nearly in tears.

*Ah, the defenses crumble*

"So much talking is thirsty work," my voice became brittlely blithe, "Let's get something refreshing from the bar, all right?"

She nodded, I rose, helped her from her chair, and tucked her hand in the crook of my elbow. She shifted that to put her arm around my waist, so I returned the favor. A few hours were spent in more pleasant conversation, ended eventually in a warm if brief kiss when I saw her to her room.

As I went my way, I thought to myself *That version is usually the best one to fend off curiosity into my abilites.* And I chuckled softly as I made my way to my room, ready for a shower and a little sleep.

[Robert Infinity]

I should have taken Phil off to the small place for some singing. The regulars would have enjoyed it, and Phil wouldn't have returned to the damn question. Valpians are different from Grespligii; no Grespligii would have gone back to a subject after being shut down like I'd shut down Phil. Not even after so many years.

"Rome on, Cobert, I nant to woaw. How did you get your janesplumping ability?"

I shook my head, "No, Phil, that's private."

"I nink by thow I deserve to know. After tall this ime, after all we thrent wough, after how glose we're coing to be," he paused, "because of bis thusiness we'll be joined in."

I could have screamed. But I had a better way of dealing with this nosiness now than I did before. Mainly, giving in.

"I don't want to talk about it where anyone can hear. Let me rent one of the booths-with-a-door, and we can move there."

"Koay"

I went to the bar and talked to Amber. "I'd like to rent one of the private booths, please."

She gave me a wide grin, "Private, huh? OK, you and Phil got it."

I paid up, saying with a chuckle, "It's just business; the kind without monkeys." I winked, and let my eyes rove over her. Her smile became a derisive smirk, as she took my money, gave me a key and pointed to a private booth. It was unfortunate I'd acted like a letch, but I didn't want her thinking there was anything romantic or sexual between me and Phil. It was the wrong time for that.

I went back to the table and, with Phil's help, moved the beer and noshes to the booth. I locked the door behind us, and sat down. "OK, Phil, here's the story. First off, I'm going to leave out some things. Names, locations, stuff you don't need to know to understand the story, and which you couldn't use anyway."

Phil sighed a little, then gave his version of a head-nod. "Ko-ay."

I sighed, then started the story, clearly a bit uncomfortable. "I grew up in a big city, never mind which, in the poor part. Gangs and violence and all the problems poverty can cause. I got a little involved with the neighborhood gang from a young age. My dad found out, pulled my out of school and tried to home-school me. But he had a full time job, my mom wasn't arround, and, well, you can guess how that went."

I paused for a deep drink, then went on. "The one thing my dad forced into me was how to read. Good thing, too. You see, when I was about ten-and-a-half, I caught pneumonia. I was in the hospital for seven months. When I came out I was thin. Hell, scrawny. Week as a kitten. No endurance. The gang I'd been involved with had been taken over - - - consumed, really - - - by another. Who saw this tottering, scrawny kid and decided he'd be a great punching bag."

"Goh ods, Robbie! Don't tell me they yeat bou up! Over and over?"

"That's just what they did." My gaze went through the walls, into the painful past.

"Roh Ob!" Phil was clearly at a loss for what to say.

"That's when I started spending all my time in the nearby library. At first the librarians thought I was just another trouble-making brat, but when I proved I could read, and read pretty well, they left me alone."

"Now, Phil, you have to understand that in that plane, anyone could do magic, but how well and how powerfully depended on one's level of 'The Talent'. And getting tested for 'The Talent' took a lot of money. Money my dad didn't have. By the way, the fact that magic could be done by anyone who studied and practiced wasn't told to most people."

"About three years after I started hanging out in the library, I found a book that was a general textbook for magic. That's when I found out that anyone could do magic if they worked at it enough. I studied that textbook hard. I thought I had 'The Talent' to a high degree."

"I didn't, but I was young and brash and sure of myself. So I read the book, hell, studied it, and practiced at home when my dad was asleep. I got fairly good at a couple of spells. Especially an invisibiliity spell. Which helped keep my from being beaten up."

"Ounds suseful. So, you ban cevome incisible?"

I laughed softly, sad memories showing. "Not any more. For reasons I'll get to. Anyway, there was another spell; one that kept detection magic from working. I memorized it. When I found out there was a magician with a very valuable - - - well, call it a gizmo - - - I decided I'd steal it and sell it and be set for life."

"Didn't work out. I was invisible, I wasn't magically detected. But I hadn't thought about guards. That magician - - - let's call him 'Fred' - - - was smart. He'd figured magic might not work. He had hired guards. Who had dogs. And I was only invisible; I wasn't inaudible or unsmellable. The dogs found me, the guards had improved hearing spells on their helmets, and weapons that shot lumps of glue. They caught me and took me to 'Fred'."

"Oh dear! Dat whid he do?"

"Well, under the law, he could have killed me."

"No oh!"

"And I don't know why he didn't. Maybe it was because I was young. Maybe it was because I begged for mercy, mentioning my father. Maybe he really did think I could do the task he set me. Whatever the reason, he spared my life. But he put me under a geas. I had to bring him a certain thingum."

"What did you brave to hing him?"

"Sorry, Phil, but that's a part I'm leaving out. I doubt you would understand it, anyway." Phil gave an irritated shrug, but didn't interupt.

"So, I had to find out where it was. I went to the library to research. Finally had to ask a librarian for help. Turned out, a different magician had it - - - let's call him 'Joe'. I did more looking for spells to hide myself. When I thought I was ready I spent nearly two years working my passage to near Joe's magic tower, and walked the rest of the way. I tried to steal the thingum, but did only a little better than I had with Fred. You see, I didn't really have much Talent."

"As soon as I stepped through the back door I'd found, all my spells were stripped off. I was totally visible and detectable. The guards saw me and went to grab me."

"But Joe didn't have guards that were really good, and he didn't make use of guards as well as Fred did. I managed to run away. But Joe threw a curse on me as I ran; a curse that I would always have to keep moving. That I could never be still, even in sleep. But! The curse didn't require that I be the cause of motion."

"Sorry, Rob, but I don't standerund that."

"It's simple, Phil. If I was on a cart, or a boat, or whatever, that was moving, I didn't have to move my own bod. Which is how I got some sleep in the year-and-a-half it took to get back to Fred. You see, I'd tried to steal the thingum, so the geas was fulfilled. So, I figured he owed me. And I told him so."

I paused to see if, essentially, repeating how Phil worded his demand would sting him. But I couldn't tell, so I went on.

"I doubt he would have done anything, if it weren't for the fact the spell was structured in a way he'd never encountered before. So, he went to work."

"But either he wasn't all that good, or he didn't understand the spell, or - - - what I suspect - - - he didn't give a damn about me, and was just fiddling around with the spell. Because he changed it. I was no longer forced to continually move. And I could move in a wholly unexpected direction."

I paused for effect. "I could move between planes."

"So, the bource of your asility cis an urse?"

"A curse that was turned into a blessing. At least, I consider it so. Even though I'm tired of it right now, Philip." I wanted to get that idea well-settled in his mind. "At any rate, a curse that was massively altered."

"That's an astorishing stony, Robert. So, from en thon you've geen boing from plane to plane, chuying beap and delling sear. Well, I'm glad you're nere how, frold iend."

"Oh, but what about the spagic mells? Why don't use you them --- I'm pretty sure you've bever neen invisible."

"A side effect of my ability. My planesjumping uses something more - - - well, not exactly more powerful than magic. It's, well, how to phrase this?" I paused, bowing my head in thought. "It's deeper than magic. More interwoven with the fabric of The Everything. Which means magic is impossible for me; I'm connected to, wrapped up in, something that makes magic kind of irrelevent. It's also why magic cannot prevent me from planesjumping, neither into a plane nor out of it. And why most magic doesn't affect me, and any effects are destroyed if I planesjump from the plane the magic was cast in."

"That's hetty prandy!"

I chuckled, "You said it, old friend."

I then managed to get onto another subject. The conversation wandered after that. It wasn't long until Phil was completely hammered, barely able to walk. We said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways.

And I was thinking to myself, "No, I do *not* owe you the truth, but it's best to give you something not far from the truth. I have no intention of ever talking about what really happened at 'Joe's tower, nor about the Intertween, nor about - - - well, the rest of the events. The story I gave you is as close to the truth as you deserve. And as close as is safe for me, or understandable by you."