The Day the World Stopped

Rain flitted over to me, concerned and confused at why I'd collapsed, and if I was alright. "I'm fine," I told him, "It was that book. It triggered something in my brain, I think it's similar to what turned you into a bird, but not shapeshifting, it's hard to explain." 

The confusion dissipated somewhat but the worry remained. "I'll try to stop falling over so much, but it has been a strange set of days," I somewhat chuckled. With that we decided to get on preparing for sleep. With the Sun still in the air and not a clock in sight, determining what the time was was difficult, but it felt appropriate to start preparing for bed.

Scrounging up what we had, I layed down a comfy bed consisting of a book mattress and backpack pillow, with Rain deciding my hair was a comfy enough resting place, we broke out the bits of emergency food we'd taken and had a dinner of crackers and cold beans.

Deciding to ensure our safety a bit more, I poked my head out of the makeshift entrance to listen if anything was about. Silence. Over a minute of nothing was good enough for me so I went over to the telescope lying next to the door and rolled it in front of the hole.

It was hardly a good fit and did little to stop any determined intruder, but at least they wouldn't be able to sneak up on us without a sound. We'd be awake if we were to die.

Lying down on the makeshift bed, I made myself as comfortable as possible and lied down to sleep, Rain joining me in my hair. I hope this works.

Before I'd even realised it, my eyes snapped open and I found myself back in that land of stars. They seemed somewhat different though, no longer floating aimlessly and without direction, they now seemed to have a purpose. They reflected the stars that I could see in the real world, floating up high next to that blazing ever-still sun. The planets and other celestial objects hadn't joined them, I wonder why?

"Your soul is not strong enough to emulate those things, for now the vague prophecies of distant stars is all your soul can copy. But enough about those distant things, let's talk about their cause." The echoey voice of the cat rang out, slowly coming closer and clearer before it felt like it was ringing in my head, the word cause sounding like a whisper in my soul.

I looked up. A set of glowing rainbow eyes looked back with an unnerving smile that in no way resembled a cat. 'Do you know what that was, when I touched the book? And why can I see those stars and planets even though it's a constant day, what do they mean?' 

"One gift of sight, natural and immediate, and one gift of action powerful but hard, it is not an uncommon improvement, though what exactly it is you can see is rather unexpected." The cat responded naturally, though with a curious glint in their eye.

"The higher your consciousness, the more planes of existence a being can access. There are innumerable of these realities, that all crossover and affect each other. The source of ideas, the emotion sea, afterlifes, when a being of one reality becomes greater than the barriers meant to contain them, they touch upon one of these places. That dyes your consciousness allowing for it to be molded into that reality's shape. From then on you can see parts of that plane and get a say in how they affect your world."

The cat paused, beckoned with his paw for me to follow before strolling off. "You must've figured out by now that those things and meanings you see in the sky are the sight I was talking about. But the effect is a bit more, how shall I say, strange." the cat chuckled.

"It was hidden away trying to take a shape that fit it, like I did, and found one when you picked up that book, and read its strange title."

The cat now stopped before a specific place and reached out with both front paws to grab something. It grasped something too big for it to comfortably hold, like an unbalanced hug, and pulled out from the empty space a book.

The book felt as though it was ancient, written and bound before chaos itself was born and the whispers of the earth filled space. It was large and dense, with a cover black as night, the material undetectable, as if space itself was contained between the front cover and the back. Glowing silver metal swirling and shifted, chasing the infinite night and trying to fill it with its starry glow. It encased the sides and made up the clasp that held its pages together, unopenable.

I reached forward, down towards the cat and picked the book up, holding it reverently in my hands. It felt heavy and dense, not just materially, but I knew in my soul that it contained great and unknowable things. Upon my touch the clasp came undone, and words appeared across it, filling that night sky. The Grimoire of Change.