Work Text:
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 99-100 – the Wood Between the Worlds
We are resting briefly in the Wood before we make our next jump. As always, it is a danger to stay here: already I can feel my memories slipping away, like water between the fingers of cupped hands. Good thing there are so many of them, now.
Eustace has already stood up to pick our next pool. I suppose it is a special occasion: this will be our hundredth world after all. It has been so long since we first took the rings, completely ignorant of all that was to come, that now I almost cannot image any other life.
Eustace has found-
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook - A non-exhaustive list of worlds
Page 1
World 1 – Maze world
A tall maze made of what looked like pink and blue crystals. The crystals grew rapidly and shifted the maze around us in a matter of minutes. There were no people, animals or other living creatures in sight or in hearing distance. Dark green clouds filled the sky.
World 2 – Mountain valley world
A deep valley surrounded by round-peaked mountains. The only flora to be found were small shrubs with sharp thorns, which moved to point at us when we walked past. At the base of the valley there was a clear lake with a small village next to it. It was inhabited by long-limbed and small-eyed people who spoke in a slow language that we could not understand. They avoided us, but did not seem hostile.
World 3 – Island world
Clusters of small islands as far as the eyes could see. Beaches were rocky and crawling with crab-like creatures: their multi-colored shells covered the shore and glinted in the sunlight. Sharp-beaked birds circled through the sky, gliding on the wind and occasionally diving for a crab-creature.
Something large and fast moved through the water.
World 4 – Pond world
A rocky, mountainous terrain. Here and there we found small ponds fitted in between the peaks. There seemed to be something growing in them (possibly plankton or other microscopic organisms) which gave the water (or water-like liquid) different colors. No other life in sight.
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 15 – The City of Aranar
As we now use Scrubb’s diary to keep track of all the worlds we’ve visited, I’ve decided to take up a journal of my own. It will give me something to do while Scrubb is writing in his; and I really think we ought to keep record of more than just the facts of these places. For example, I have Scrubb’s entry for this world open beside me and all he’s written so far is:
“A big city in the desert, with a branched river running through. A place of trade and commerce. The city has its own currency, called “Pebbles”, which can be traded for with goods and services.”
And really, that doesn’t say much at all! But Scrubb insists the notebook (that’s what he is calling it now) is meant to be an easily searchable index, and that including more information would just muddle everything. Well, he can do what he likes and I will do the same.
This is the nineteenth world we’ve visited since we got lost in the Wood between the Worlds. At first we ran around like headless chickens, thinking that Narnia must be just around the corner. I suppose we were in a bit of a panic. But we found no trace of it, nor of England. I suspect we must have chosen the wrong direction at some point, but we’ve got no idea what’s the right one.
After the fifth world we visited like this, with no plan or direction, we finally decided we should be sensible about this. I thought we ought to search in a spiral pattern, so we would be sure not to go too far in one direction. Then Scrubb suggested we should keep track of the worlds somehow and that’s where his diary came in.
Currently we are in the great city of Aranar. It is the biggest city I have ever seen: when we climbed a small hill earlier we could look as far as we wanted in any direction with no end in sight. Everywhere we looked we saw buildings made of stone in all the colors of the earth, never more than three stories high. We could see at least five branches of the river, which were full of boats and barges. The streets were also flooded with people; most of them looked human, except that their skin did not just come in colors like beige, bronze, brown, and black, but also rich purple, dark blue, and a silvery, almost translucent white.
How people so pale survive in this place I haven’t got a clue. The climate here is hot and dry and the suns are scorching (did I say, there are two of them!): Scrubb already got a wicked sunburn. We should try to find sunscreen. This city seems to have everything.
Right now we are in a sort of inn. It cost us nearly a quarter of our Pebbles: the smooth round stones that function as this the city’s currency. They are small enough that five of them easily fit in the palm of my hand and they are engraved with a golden sun. We traded for them with small things we collected on our travels. Especially the colourful shells of world 3 were highly praised. Maybe in the future…-
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook - A non-exhaustive list of worlds
Page 5
World 17: The Garden
Description: An immense garden stretching out in all directions. There are orchards, fields filled with vegetables, and flower beds in all shapes and colors. All seem to be thriving. There are Dryads who guard the garden and need to be asked permission before taking anything. The Dryads are fond of stories and will trade for them.
Uses: Food- fruit, vegetables, herbs, nuts, honey.
World 18: A hollow place the shape of a pool, filled with grass instead of water. We cannot enter it.
World 19: Swamp town
Description: A town in the middle of a swamp or marsh. All the houses and buildings are built on stilts and are connected by gangways. Have seen few people, but those few are short and thin with scaled skin and feathers sticking out at their necks and upper arms. We thought inhabitants were reticent or wary of strangers but discovered that the town is ravaged by disease and most are sick. Left as soon as we found out.
Uses: -
Dangers: plague/sickness, do not go back
World 20: Dome world
Description: A landscape of fields, rivers and forests covered by an enormous dome – purpose unknown. No people in sight, only small woodland animals (squirrels, rabbits, birds we did not recognize) and tracks that look like they belong to deer. There is no visible sun, but inside the dome light is steadily present: Pole and I have been here for what we estimate to have been a few days but did not see it turn dark. Outside the dome it is always pitch-black.
Uses: nobody around- resting place?
Dangers: unknown
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 22 – The Great Forest
For four days we have been walking through this never-ending forest. It is an old forest, ancient going by the width of the trees, which could contain entire castle towers. They reach so high that we can’t make out the leaves, though based on the beams of red and purple that shine down from above there must be some. The forest floor is covered with dark red moss. Mushrooms as big as us and shaped like chalices cluster around the thick tree roots that disappear into and dive out of the ground as they please. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so small, even when I met actual Giants.
Clearly this is not Narnia, but we both feel a strange urge to explore. To see more of this place. Scrubb reasons that we have not seen all of Narnia, so who’s to say you can’t find a forest like this somewhere on the map: better to make sure. But we both know that’s just an excuse. Besides, we would know if we were in Narnia.
We have agreed to give it a week going by Eustace’s new watch (it doesn’t entirely count time the way we are used to, but it is close enough) and then we must move on to the next world. Something tells me we could wander this wood forever and never find anything but trees, mushrooms and, at times, gigantic animals.
Just yesterday we saw a creature that looked like an enormous boar, heavyset with long, shaggy fur. It was early in the morning and we were breaking our fast when we saw it move through the forest just a few trees away. It seemed to be rooting through the earth and occasionally sniffing a mushroom. I don’t think it knew we were there. For a brief moment I considered trying to shoot it: our food supply is running low and there is nothing here to eat except the mushrooms, which we dare not even touch. But a shudder went through me at the thought and I quickly suppressed it. I don’t think our arrows would have pierced its hide anyway.
On the bright side, I believe my archery is improving and so is Scrubb’s! We can now almost always hit a still target exactly where we mean to. We have been practicing on the trees whenever we take a break from walking (Scrubb and I take turns picking the target), though I feel slightly uneasy to damage them this way. It feels wrong to intentionally harm this forest. I’m glad that we have stopped carving up the trees in the Wood to keep track of the pools we’ve visited. The ribbons are much nicer.
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Question: How big is the Wood between the Worlds? What does the rest of it look like?
Methods: Travel further into the woods to look for any change or signs of a border. Pole suggests that we get some more ribbons, perhaps of a different color, and use them to mark our path.
Results: Pole and I both set out in opposite directions and continued until we were out of ribbons. We went quite far and ended up completely out of sight of where we started. Yet, we agree that the Wood never looked any different. We both observed only the same-looking trees and the same-looking pools, which appeared to go on indefinitely.
Discussion: Our exploration was limited by the number of ribbons we had on us; it might be possible to continue our search using a greater number of them in the future. However, it is unclear how far we would have to travel to answer our question and if this is even possible. A continued search would also increase our risk of getting lost (again). Therefore, have decided suspend our exploration of the Wood for now.
Conclusion: We don’t know how big the Wood is and we may never find out.
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 27 – The Consortium of Scholars and Sorcerers
Another world, another inn. We managed to afford a small room on the ground floor of a place called the Grey Fox. It is crammed into a tiny alley between two of the five universities in this city and it is dark and dusty, with most of the customers keeping to themselves. Our room only has one window, which looks out on the brick wall on the other side of the alley.
They call this place the Consortium of Scholars and Sorcerers. It’s not much of a city: most of it is taken up by the universities, which all teach a combination of ordinary subjects, such as language and medicine, as well as less ordinary ones, like sorcery and witchcraft.
Scrubb and I were both quite thrilled when we discovered that. We’ve come across a few worlds where magic is present or even abundant, of course, but we haven’t found any place before where they actually teach it! I know Scrubb is eager to sit in on a lecture or two and I am equally anxious to go explore.
I want to walk through the narrow, twisting alleys and beneath the university towers: so tall that they disappear into the clouds. I want to talk to the academics and sorcerers, who walk through the streets radiating such confidence and skill. I want to find out more about the different universities and what sorts of magic they teach there. There must be so much to see, to learn. Just thinking about it makes me excited!
We both agree we will stay here at least a few days more. With all the travelling we’ve been doing we deserve to take a break- and what better place than this? Narnia can wait.
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook - A non-exhaustive list of worlds
Page 7
World 25: Plains world
Description: Plains of pink grass boxed by a mountain range in the West and a sea or ocean in the East. The ground is hot underneath our feet although the overall temperature isn’t very high. A group of travellers – armed with bows and spears and riding rhinoceros-like animals with horned tails as well as heads – camp in the area. The presence of laughing children in their group, as well as how well practiced they seem to be at setting up camp, suggest that they might lead a nomadic lifestyle. They do not speak our language.
Uses: -
Dangers: unknown
World 26: Ice world
Description: What appears to be a small planet (horizon more bent than earth) covered in ice. Lights (red, blue and orange-colored) move underneath the ice; origin, identity and purpose unknown. The sky is purple and the sun small and distant. There is little difference between night and day; stars are always visible.
Uses: -
Dangers: Cold. Exposure.
World 27: The Consortium of Scholars and Sorcerers
Description: Five highly competitive universities built within a city. Their curriculum includes subjects such as history, geography, language, natural sciences, physical sciences and the study of human behavior (among many others), as well as subject that include some sort of “magical” component, such as potions, alchemy, divination, runes & symbols, enchantment, and elemental magic . Most students and teachers at these institutes look human, but all possess magical abilities.
Uses: knowledge and skills
Dangers: Its magic is not benevolent. Inhabitants are power hungry and deceitful. Do not return.
World 28: Cave world
Description: A network of caves and mines that appear to reach deep into the earth. There is no exit in sight and halls are lit with flickering stones. Strange symbols (runes?) are carved into the walls and on the ceilings of some passages. Pole is insistent we do not explore.
Uses: -
Dangers: unknown
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Observation: Different worlds seem to have different physical and mental effects on us. For example, Pole and I both agree that our bodies were stronger and we had more stamina in Narnia than in England. This seems to be supported by experiences described by the other Friends of Narnia. We have felt this effect and other changes several more times during our travels, though sometimes very subtly. We have even experienced gaining different abilities, or senses, in some of the worlds we have visited. Losing them again can be difficult.
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 38 – The Waste
…-We’ve found a building that looks like a monastery of some kind, though it is broken down and there are no people. It is quiet and desolate like the rest of this world; I don’t know what happened here. We will sleep here for tonight, and the-
For any person who might read this: DO NOT TOUCH THE RINGS! I repeat: DO NOT TOUCH THE RINGS I have no time to explain, only to hide this here so our captors won’t find it, but to whoever may find this journal: leave for your own safety!
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Observation: We have now come across a few “empty” pools (the imprint of a pool, filled with grass). There seems to be no pattern to where they occur, or how often, but they all look the same.
Question: What are these empty pools? How are they created? Are they the beginnings of a world? Their end? Something else entirely?
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 56 – Archeon Town
Eustace is already asleep, which he does much of these days. His leg seems to be getting better, but I feel anxious with him indisposed like this, unable to travel, and I hope that he heals quickly. I want to leave this place.
We are staying in an abandoned hut by the sea. There is a small village nearby where I sometimes go to get food or supplies. As the only settlement within a week’s ride, it is a popular spot for travelling merchants, doctors and musicians, as well as for messengers. They stay there for a few nights to rest, replenish their provisions or have their clothes fixed, and pray at one of the temples. The biggest temple is for the sea goddess, but there are a few smaller ones for the wind and weather gods and one for the god of trade.
I have visited them a few times, but I never linger. I don’t like leaving Eustace undefended for long. He can hold a bow if he needs to, but he won’t be fast to use it. It leaves me uneasy.
Sometimes I wonder where we would be now if we had never gotten lost in the Wood Between the Worlds, if we had reached Narnia like we intended. Would we have found out what the mysterious shade who appeared in front of us wanted? Would we have been back in England already, celebrating our victory of saving Narnia and quietly wishing we were still there? Or would we have ended up in a similar position as we are now: injured and hiding? I don’t-
I think I hear noise inside, I will go check up on Eustace.
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Observation: Time moves differently in different worlds (see: Narnia vs England). Yet, any time we re-enter a world from the Wood between the Worlds, we seemingly arrive at the same moment we left (see: the Island world (world 3), the city of Aranar (world 15), and the Garden (world 17)), irrespective of how long we stayed in the Wood, or how many other worlds we visited in between.
Question: How does time work in the Wood between the Worlds?
Hypothesis: The Wood is a timeless space, or a space in between time. A sort of buffer zone that cancels out any time difference between the worlds. This would explain why there is never a time difference when entering a world from the Wood, but direct transfer can cause problems (i.e. moving directly from England to Narnia or the other way around).
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook - A non-exhaustive list of worlds
Page 14
World 66: Empty world 4
World 67: The Trellar Highway
Description: A sort of high-way consisting of more lanes than the eye can see. Some of the lanes are made or dark-green asphalt and are ridden by shining metal vehicles- sleek, pointed, and low to the ground. Other lanes are full of carriage pulled by ostriches, bull-like creatures, or seemingly nothing at all. These lanes are made of dark-brown cobblestones, reddish earth and, curiously, something that looks like wood. Further in the distance there are even stranger vehicles, which are difficult to describe. We cannot see who is inside in of these vehicles
Uses: -
Dangers: high-speed traffic
World 68: Death world/Disaster world
Dangers: War, plague, acid storms, venomous owls, cursed stone, famine, religious sects, malevolent werewolves, etc. Never go here again.
World 69: Helrijk City
Description: A walled city at the edge of a ravine. Outside of the walls there are houses made of wood with straw roofs, inside most buildings are made of stone. Population is a mix of human, dwarf, troll, and harpy. There are also men and women with long hair and beards, green robes, and wooden staffs- who Jill thinks are druids. Hygiene is poor and crime rampant.
Uses: -
Dangers: Robbery, murder, food poisoning.
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 70 – The Empire of the Stars
It was clear from the first second that this world is not Narnia, or England (finding either one of them seems like a wishful dream these days). There are beings here more foreign to us than any we encountered in Narnia – floating, octopus like creatures with twelve scaled arms; luminescent flying insects that flicker in and out of existence like they are not really there; moving machines seemingly directed by mycelium-like networks captured in a glass globe on their head; and more –, yet there are humans as well, although few and far in between. Eustace sometimes rambles about the likelihood of finding the same beings (humans, but also other animals, and beings like dryads and dwarves that seem to crop up all over the place) in so many different worlds. When I watch him scribble about it in his notebook, that intense look on his face, I cannot help but feel-
Anyway, I am glad that the presence of other humans means that we can often blend in.
We are still here, at the centre of a great empire that spans multiple planets and solar systems, because this city is said to have the greatest library in all the known systems. We hope that a civilization as advanced as this might have some information that could help us, like how to get home. It is a long shot, but worth the try at least.
We have no idea if we are any closer to it than we were at the start, so many worlds ago. Perhaps we’ve just drifted farther away. It feels like it has been years or decades, but in truth we have no idea how much time has passed, if “time” is even real for us anymore. In some worlds we’ve visited, days last for weeks, or it takes a year for a full turn of the moon. In others, day and night switch every hour and people live and die in a matter of months. As a results days and weeks and months blur together.
Eustace and I still look the same, I think. We have aged a few times, but the Wood undoes any effect time has on us. Though it is hard to remember what we looked like before- before we were flung into the Wood, dizzy and unprepared, and ran half-way across before we even realized what was happening. Many things are getting hard to remember.
Sometimes I wonder if this is our life now. Always moving, never settling down: will we go on like this forever?
It is only the thought that Narnia needs us, that we cannot abandon it, that keeps me moving forward. The knowledge that no matter how long we spend getting there, it will seem like less than a second when (if) we arrive. I don’t know if this is a blessing or a curse.
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Observation: Being in the Wood between the World makes us both drowsy and forgetful. If we do not stay alert, we are at risk of falling into a slumber, forgetting where we are or who we are, and losing ourselves to the Wood. The longer we are in the Wood, the harder it is to stay focussed. We do no not seem to be building up an immunity to this effect of the Wood (the opposite would be closer to the truth).
Question: Are there any long-term effects of spending time in the Wood?
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 80-81 – the Wood Between the Worlds
We just saw the most unbelievable thing.
We had just escaped from a band of bloodthirsty pirates by the skin of our teeth and were standing next to the pool we had just come out of, out of breadth and leaning on each other. I was so relieved that we had managed to escape without getting killed or injured, and that we had avoided taking any of the pirates with us as we fled (the one time that happened was a disaster), that I wasn’t paying attention to our surroundings.
Until, suddenly, Eustace squeezed my arm and whispered: “Jill, look!” in a voice so filled with awe that I automatically did so.
That is when I saw the bird. It looked like a cross between a heron and a stork: a long neck and beak, silvery blue-and-green plumage, and long legs that disappeared into the pool it was standing in, just three pools away from ours. It was camouflaged so well that we could have easily missed it, only I had the strangest feeling that it was deliberately drawing our gaze. Willing us to see it.
I felt dizzy, staring at it like my eyes, or my mind, could not believe what I was seeing. It was like my senses were in conflict with my brain, or with the feeling in my gut. Something told me that what I was seeing was an impossibility. That it was beyond my comprehension. I looked at the being and thought of Aslan, but even he seemed like an unwitting infant in comparison.
As we stared at it, it slowly moved its beak through the water and seemed to take something out of it. Then it lifted its head and flew away.
We stood there, paralyzed, for longer than I would like to admit. Then, as if a spell was broken, we rushed off towards the pool the Bird had fished in. The water was completely clear and unremarkable. And the ribbon on the tree said 68.
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Question: If the pools are different worlds, then what are the trees? What is the grass and the earth? What is their purpose and why do we perceive them as we do?
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Observation: Occasionally we find things in the Wood that do not belong: fabric that does not fit any of our clothes; a piece of jewellery; purposeful carvings on a tree. Recently, we discovered a pair of seemingly ordinary guinea pigs sleeping under a tree.
Question: Where do these things come from?
Hypothesis: We are not the only ones who travel the Wood between the Worlds.
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 93 – The Dragon World
Dragons. We’ve found a world filled with dragons.
They are everywhere: racing or tumbling across the sky, perching on treetops and hanging from branches, sleeping and playing on the ground. There are dragons as small as a housecat and as big as whales, with shining scales and wings twice the size they are. Eustace cannot tear his eyes away from them even now, though we’ve been here for a while. I could hardly stop looking either, but I wanted to write this down. They are glorious.
We have seen dragons before but not like this: not so many of them, so close to us. Not ones that are as beautiful as these.
A large number of dragons seem to be circling a mountain that peeks out from the jungle in the distance. There are curiously shaped constructions on it. It is hard to tell from here, but they seem like they could be man-made, not dragon-made. I wonder if there are any humans here. In a moment, I will ask Eustace if he wants to go investigate.
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Observation: There are specific and peculiar similarities between some worlds, especially those with pools in close proximity to each other. At times they share mythologies, religions, stories, or even objects or architectural details.
Question: Are the different worlds connected?
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook 2 – Observations and Hypotheses on the workings of the Wood between the Worlds
Question: What would happen if water from one pool was transferred to the next? Or if a pool was drained, or something added to it?
Eustace Scrubb’s Official Notebook - A non-exhaustive list of worlds
Page 25
World 97: The Great Bonfire
Description: An enormous bonfire set in the middle of a great field. The fire is recently set: not all wood (thick branches and what look like entire trees) is burning yet. Groups of strange creatures dance and sing around it. They seem a mix of human and animal- deer, bear, crocodile, rat, leopard are a few I can distinguish. Some ritual seems to be going on, purpose unknown.
Uses: -
Dangers: unknown
World 98: The city of Ilor
Description: A city in the sky, suspended by unknown mechanism (enchantment? advanced science? gravity manipulation?). Buildings made of reflective material, but inhabitants – winged, half-bird, half-human people – do not seem bothered by this. Infrastructure not suitable for the wingless.
Uses: -
Dangers: Falling
World 99: Underwater world
Description: The outskirts of an underwater kingdom. The water seems to be kept away by some sort of spell. There are hills in the distance and what appears to be a temple on one of them. Illogically, a river runs past us, which disappears when it reaches the outskirts of the spell. It is warm and bright, with a glowing sphere above us, just below the border between air and water.
Uses: -
Dangers: unknown
Excerpts of Jill’s journal
World 99-100 – the Wood Between the Worlds, continuation
-another empty pool. It must be our eight now, though I would have to check the list to make sure. An empty pool as our hundredth world, an omen if I ever saw one. Whether it is a good or a bad one, though, I cannot say.
I remember how mystified we were the first time we found one. How we argued about what they could possibly be. We still do not know, at least not for sure, but we both have our suspicions. Perhaps one day we will find out if we are right.
Eustace is urging me over to our hundred-and-first world. I feel strangely excited. Another jump, another world.
Here we go.