Passage through Mobius - Uusi

You find yourself standing in a cool, dark place with damp stone beneath your feet. You hear the sound of claws hitting the ground from a distance as an unknowable number of creatures scurry away, voices calling out commands to each other in the opposite direction. It's dark and your eyes haven't adjusted to it yet. All you can see is a weak orange light reflecting against a damp stalagmite. Curious, you take a few cautious strides toward it as the voices grow closer and the clawed footsteps become inaudible. The source of the light comes within view; the dying embers of a fire that appears to have been hastily put out. You light up your staff with a tap on the ground and cast your eyes around this chamber. You see something that makes your breath catch: eggs. Kobold eggs, to be precise. Black kobold eggs, to be exact.

The voices are almost here now and suddenly you are filled with panicked urgency. You swing your staff onto your back, grab the closest egg and begin running just as the first of the men spot you.

"One of them's making off with the loot!" he yells to his companions. "I'll catch it, you collect the rest!"

Thinking quickly, you attempt to cast several spells, but this world refuses to bend to your will. You run deeper and deeper into the caverns, dodging rocks and leaping over chasms, finally finding a crevice in the wall that you're pretty sure a human can't fit through. You trot a ways further until you're sure you're safe and then you find a comfortable enough place to take a rest. You take the staff off your back and place it on the ground next to you, casting ersatz shadows around the chamber. You lean your head back against the cave wall and close your eyes.

"It is a fortuitous happening that we have not truly been thrown back to a prior time period, or you would have just caused a classic temporal paradox, Uusi," says a familiar voice that seems to originate from the egg in your hands.

"As I'm sure you've surmised, I happen to be the great and illustrious Other Uusi, or rather, Other Uusis. I don't blame you for being befuddled. The answers you seek are as complicated as they are absurd. Suffice it to say that I am not you, but you were me, and perhaps one day we will be one and the same. An exciting prospect for myself, but understandably a disappointing fate for yourself. However, permit me to assure you: death isn't so bad!"

"My own exploration of the arcane was cut short. We had barely begun to explore our incredible potential, and frankly it's satisfying to know that my estimations of my own prospects were accurate. You have the opportunity to achieve in life what we thus far have only been granted in death. We will be observing from this side, along with your antecedents and perchance even our progeny. We never reached sufficient maturity to determine if we desired any. Remember though, an ascent bartered for with your freedom can rapidly become an anchor forestalling your acclivity. Also, if you become your own universe, I will jubilantly be metamorphosed into your first resident."

The light from your staff glows brighter and brighter until it envelopes you fully, and you wake up.