Adventure Contest Entry: At the Crossroads (an origin story)

At the Crossroads
Crossroads, PID 11004

Allyson Robicheaux awoke disoriented with a massive headache lurking in the back of her head.  
“Ugh...waking up with a hangover is becoming all to frequent these days,“ she complained to herself.
Suddenly, her headache jumped straight onto her temporal lobe and began danceing the Flamenco in her skull as the blaring of an alarm clock assaulted her.  Allyson yelled as she lunged off her bed to beat the alarm clock into submission.

After subduing the alarm clock, Allyson stumbled into the bathroom and grabbed about five aspirin from the bottle in the medicine cabinet. Downing the pills, she looked at herself in the mirror, she saw a tall willowy brunette with a great figure and a pretty face.  Not a super-model, but definitely a face that drew the attention of men.  Of course, right now that pretty face looked pretty green.

“Well if the voices in my head would shut up, I wouldn’t have to drown them with alcohol,” she thought in self-pity. She knew she should talk to someone about the voices, but she was afraid they would think she was crazy and she’d end up in the loony bin. Maybe her sister would understand...

“Oh, who am I kidding? I don’t even understand!  I think I’m crazy!”

Allyson started hearing the voices about two months ago. At first, she thought it was just the neighbors in the adjacent apartment, but that idea went out the window when she started hearing them while at the park, the restaurant where she was a bartender, the public library, the bus...pretty much everywhere she went.  Not all the time, but enough to drive her half-crazy.  

Indistinct murmuring, not enough to hear words or recognize the speakers, but it definitely sounded like conversations. She couldn’t tell if the conversations were directed at her or not. While the tone of the conversations varied somewhat, it had the feel of a calm discussion about something. It wasn’t unemotional, as she could definitely hear laughter at times, but she never heard an angry tone.

It was maddening how distracting the constant whisper of a not quite heard conversation was. She started drinking just so she could get to sleep at night.  Not a good idea, but she couldn’t think of anything else to drown out the murmur. Luckily, the noise level at work was enough to drown out the noise in her head, but the silence in her room,  even with the radio or TV blaring, wasn’t enough to blot it out. She was close to her breaking point and knew she needed to ask someone for help.

And now, for last few nights, she’s been having dreams that make no sense to her.  They are disjointed scenes, depicting places and events that she doesn’t remember with people she doesn’t know – or almost knows.  It’s as if the dreams weren’t hers to begin with.

Sighing, Allyson decided to take a walk in the park near her apartment. Walking along the paths, she watched people enjoying the mild spring day, walking dogs, playing on the playground... seemingly unaware of the problems facing the world. Suddenly her attention was drawn to a shining gold coin laying on the pathway in front of her. Picking it up, she felt....something. The coin looked like an old gold coin, but something told her it wasn’t an ordinary coin, aside from being gold. Still, she couldn’t help but feel that there was something fundamentally different about the coin than anything she had ever felt before.
Allyson wondered why a gold coin was just lying about on the ground in the middle of a public park. She looked around again, trying to spot anyone watching her or obviously looking for the coin they had lost.  She saw no one and focused on the coin again, her worries momentarily forgotten.  

“Now what is this doing here?” she thought

“It’s a gold coin from the Leprechaun’s Pot of Gold,” a voice said.

“Don’t be silly! This is Louisiana, what would a gold coin from Ireland be doing here?” Allyson absently replied aloud.

“He scattered them all over the world for people to find and return to his pot.” the voice replied.

“That makes no sense at all! Why would he do...? Wait a minute!” Allyson looked around wildly. “Who is that? Who are you and where are you?”

“Our name is Crossroads and we are trying to hold a conversation with you, now that we don’t have to work through a fog of tequila,” said the voice in a snarky tone.

“Well excuse the hell out of me! You know, most people get checked into an asylum when they start hearing voices, so I was just a little stressed!” Allyson sarcastically replied. “So why are you talking to me anyway? Isn’t there someone more important you could be talking with?”

“Not to our point of view, Allyson.  You are very important to us and we are glad we can finally get through to you!” said Crossroads.

“Me? I find that heard to believe!  And why can I hear you clearly now?  All I heard before was indistinct muttering or meaningless words.  Or it was disjointed dreams that made absolutely no sense.”

“We believe it is because of the gold coin.  It is imbued with a little bit of the Leprechaun’s magic and it seems to have catalyzed your ability to hear us. Your powers are just now coming into maturity and we think you just needed that extra push from the coin’s magic to break through,” explained the Crossroads.

“Ability? Powers? What the hell are you talking about?  I’m not one of those metahumans that are all in the news these days!  I work in a restaurant trying to pay off my student loans! The only ability I have is figuring out sales tax without a calculator!  The only power I have is attracting loser boyfriends!” cried Allyson. "And apparently I slipped into true insanity because I'm talking to myself and actually getting answers!"

“Calm down, Allyson.  Let us explain it to you.  Why don’t you sit down on the bench over there and just close your eyes.  By the way, you don’t need to talk out loud to us, just think it and we will hear it.”

“Oh!  Wow I must have looked like a loon arguing with myself there!” Allyson thought scathingly.

“Actually, you’d be surprised how many people do that. Anyway, get comfy and we’ll tell you a story. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....,” intoned Crossroads.

“Seriously? You’re a Star Wars geek?” scoffed Allyson.

“Well, I, personally, am just a big nerd – Star Wars, Star Journey, comic books, all that.  But collectively, we are a very diverse group.”

“Us? Collectively?  So there is more than one of you here?”

“Yes, but to be more specific, there is more than one of ‘you’ in here.”

“What?”

“So, what do you know about the theory of multiverses?” asked Crossroads.

“”Um... at a key point in time, when a decision is made or an action is taken among several options, a universe splits off for every possible outcome. It is exactly like the original universe up until that decision point is made. After that it diverges according to the outcome of the decision,” said Allyson.

“Yes!  This happens every time there is a pivotal point in history. Depending on the decision or event, a new universe (or several) is created. Now we don’t know what qualifies as a ‘pivotal point’ but it isn’t limited to human events or just this world.  There are universes where mankind never evolved, where the dinosaurs didn’t become extinct, where this solar system never formed! There is a cosmic reason that we don’t understand and probably never will,” expounded Crossroads.

“Okay, I get the multiverse concept, but you really haven’t explained who you are and why you are talking to me,” Allyson said with a sigh.

“We are a collective entity able to cross the barriers separating the universes. We exist in every universe humans exist in. In many cases, we represent each universe’s version of the same person. Individually, we all have different skills and, in some cases, powers and abilities. But we all share this ability to span the multiverse.”

“And you are one of us,” Crossroads stated.

”One of you? How can you know?” queried Allyson.

“We can only speak to our counterparts in another universe ,so if we can speak to you, you are one of us,” he explained.

“Uhhhh....” Allyson stammered.

“OK, it’s like this; you have the ability to speak mind to mind to any of your counterparts in a parallel universe.  You may also have other abilities that are unrelated to the multiverse power, like flying, super-speed, shooting laser beams out of your eyes, things like that. With enough experience, you can use the skills and abilities of any of us. If one of use can shoot laser beams from our eyes, you can do it, too. Or fly, or run fast, or whatever. You can also use our skills – martial arts, lock picking, first aid, trauma surgery, hanging drywall...if one of us can do it, you can borrow our skill to do it.”

“We can also give you advice and direction when you need it. Just be aware that since we are from a different universe, what we know or so may not apply as well in your universe.”

“I know this seems daunting and confusing, Believe me, we have all gone through it! There are so many aspects to this, that it is hard to process at the beginning.  Don’t worry!  We are always here to help!” finished Crossroads.

“I don’t even know how to start processing this,” complained Allyson. “What should I do? What about this coin?”

“Ah!  That is a good place to start! We think that your universe is closest to mine in history, so there should be an organization in your universe that organizes people with superhuman abilities. Right now they should be gathering all these coins. You should take it to their headquarters.  You will be able to get training for your abilities from them, too,” Crossroads said.

“Um, I think they are called BADGE but I have no idea how to contact them or where they are,” said Allyson.

“If it’s anything like what’s happening in my universe, the heroes are gathering in Ireland, according to the news at least.  You should go there and give them the coin,” suggested Crossroads.

“Sure, I'll just hop in my private jet and fly on over to Ireland.  No problem!” Allyson replied, tone dripping with sarcasm. “As I said, I’m a waitress trying to pay off college loans. My parents pay for my apartment!  I don’t even have a car!”

“Well, then, this is a great teaching moment! We’ll show you how to dimension skip,” Crossroads stated smugly.

“Dimension skip?”

“Yes! Okay.  We’ll start small. Close your eyes and visualize your apartment, as if you were standing right in the middle of it. Got it pictured?”

Picturing her tiny kitchen, Allyson mutters, “Yeah....”

“We’ll show you what to do, but you have to do it yourself.  You have to be able to feel what it’s like to slip between the universes and slide along the barrier to a new location. It’s actually easier to do it than explain it,” Crossroads assured her. “Now follow along....”

Suddenly, Allyson’s mind was filled with the image of a vast, shimmering, multicolored wall of energy. She instinctively knew this was a dimensional barrier, and in so recognizing it, realized she knew the trick to see the barrier on her own without Crossroads help. It just required a little twist in perception.

“Now, if you can visualize a place in your mind, you can find its location along the dimensional barrier. All you need to do is to ‘go’ to that spot,”  

It was so simple once Crossroads explained it! Allyson could feel the spot her apartment occupied along the barrier. She just reached out and touched it. She felt a small ‘shift” and suddenly the sounds of the park disappeared and it was quiet. She opened her eyes and found herself standing next to her refrigerator.
“Oh my God!  I did it! That was so cool! It was so easy!” Allyson caroled her excitement aloud. “No more bus stops for me!”

Crossroads complimented her, “Yes, very well done.  You took to it naturally.”

“I have so many questions! Is there a distance limit? Is it instantaneous or is there a time delay? Is there anywhere I can’t go?” Allyson started firing off questions rapid fire.

“Slow your roll, girl!  As far as we know there is no distance limit. One of us is from a universe where they have colonized Mars and she can skip to Mars as easily as to her bedroom. As for time delay, none has been detected. We appear at the moment we have left, like stepping through a doorway.  You can pretty much go anywhere you can visualize as long as it is an actual location.  You don’t even have to know the place personally; you can get your visualization from a photo or video. Not a painting or drawing, though.  That never works, no matter how accurate the drawing is,” explained Crossroads.

“One more question...,” Allyson continued. “Well, two, actually. One: can I take people with me when I skip?” Allyson asked.

“Yes, but everyone has a limit on how many they can skip with.  It has to do with how long you have been skipping.  The longer you have been skipping, the more people you can transport,” answered Crossroads.

“Okay. And two: what is your name? I mean, you keep referring to ‘US’ but I don’t know your individual name.”

“Oh, well, I guess I was too much in the ‘Hero’ mode. In my universe I adopted the ‘mysterious, multi-faceted” persona and always refer to myself as ‘Us’ or ‘ourselves.’ It’s just an affectation really, but it’s, accurate, since we almost share a ‘hive mind’ and can access abilities and skills from anyone of us, but no one outside of us understands what it really means,” the voice in her head explained. “Anyway, I can’t believe you haven’t figured out my name already...it’s Allyson.”