time

Here’s a terrifying thought.

            In our world, there is no “ice power”. Cold is just the lack of heat.

            Likewise, darkness is just the absence of light.

            But over there, through the portal, to the universe where magic works, heat and cold both have real, opposing power. Likewise, their darkness isn’t just the lack of light, there is a real substance or force to darkness, and they can both exist either in opposition to each other, or in some cases in a state of balanced equilibrium (My friend Te-Jun is both a mage and a scholar and can talk your ear off about this).

            So, does that mean there could be yet another universe, opposite of ours? One where there is no heat…only the energy of cold? And what they call “warmth” is really just the lack of cold?

            Or no real light? Not light as we know it, but just the lack of their substantive darkness?

            That the magic universe has both: heat and cold, light and dark, that would mean they were in the middle. And here we have light and heat and the lack of them…and there’s somewhere else that has real cold, and real dark.  And the lack of them is the only thing they have that passes for….

            I’m going to give myself nightmares. That such a world might exist is horrifying enough. But that our world…with all its pollution and war and poverty…isn’t the middle world but is somehow the bright universe.             I need a drink.

                       –Notes from a Senior Planeswalker’s Private Journal.

Given the differences between the way the worlds work (Ice Magic, Combustion, and many others) it seems odd that planeswalking is possible.

            If simple chemical processes like combustion don’t work in the other world, how is it that the countless complex biochemical processes that make life possible do? I have crossed between the two worlds many times, and breathed the air of both worlds with the same set of lungs. In my travels to that place I have eaten grilled manticore steaks (yum!), fillet of basilisk (over rated), and deep-fried hippogriff (not worth the calories), and digested them and drew sustenance from them without trouble.

            Likewise, my friend Te-jun has accompanied me discreetly a few times into our world, and he didn’t have any trouble either. Even though, as their own scholars say, every living thing has at least trace amounts of that other world’s “fire” element in them, whatever differences between the worlds that make Fire Magic inert here apparently don’t effect how it works as part of their metabolism (or “life force” as they call it). He was able to eat all kinds of things: glazed ham, Caesar salad, French fries, Kale smoothies, a bowl of Cheerios… and although he had some opinions about them that surprised me, it didn’t effect him any differently than food from his own world.

            Can all life cross between the worlds and survive? Or just humans? If a hippogriff came to this world, would it die instantly if some necessary magical part of its life force couldn’t work here? Or would it die slowly? Or would it’s body adapt somehow, maybe suffering as it acclimated to the different scientific and magical laws, and feel fine after adjusting?

            Wonderings aside, I do not feel comfortable with the idea of carrying out such an experiment. It never occurred to me to worry about it when I brought Te-jun over for a visit. In hindsight I suppose that was reckless. But for their sakes, I won’t take the risk of inviting any of my Elven or Dwarven friends to this universe.

                       –Notes from a Senior Planeswalker’s Private Journal.

Projectile weapons that don’t rely on complex technology or chemistry to function work equally well in both universes (bows and arrows, catapults and boulders, etc.), but guns don’t work when brought to the magic universe. Or to put it more precisely, bullets don’t.

            The priming agent and propellant used in modern ammunition (“gunpowder” has been obsolete for over a century) don’t combust in the same ways they need to in order to cause the projectile to fire.

            In theory, one could engineer bullets that use “fire” element (with different precise mixtures for primer and propellant), and manufacture them to fit the caliber of any common modern firearm brought over from our universe. 

                          –Notes from a Senior Planeswalker’s Private Journal.

            To hell with that. Just use a Fire Wand!                                

           –Scrawled handwriting found in the margin of the page.

In our world, burning a log of wood in a campfire is a combustion reaction that uses the log as fuel. Burning a log of wood in a campfire in the other universe releases the “fire” element contained in the wood, as trees, and all living things in the magic universe, contain some degree of fire element.

            What they call fire and what we call fire look the same, outwardly, but are subtly and profoundly different in their natures. Just as combustible chemicals do not react the same way when brought to their universe, the “fire” element doesn’t work the same way when brought to our universe.           

This also why most forms of magic don’t work in our world. Ice Magic doesn’t work because there is no “cold” force. We have to rely on refrigeration technology, which creates a lower temperature (less heat) in an enclosed area by shuffling heat around. Fire Magic doesn’t work because there is no “fire” element in our world for them to draw from, and any fire element brought to our universe doesn’t work the same way when it’s here.

                          –Notes from a Senior Planeswalker’s Private Journal.

In our Universe, the “element” of fire is really just the occurrence of a chemical combustion reaction. But in the other universe, fire has substance, just as earth, water, or air does.

As such, matches or lighters from our universe do not function in the other because, like everything that comes from our universe, they do not contain any element of “true” fire. They are just ways of starting a combustion reaction.

Combustion chemical reactions, as we understand them in this universe, do not work In other universe. Any technology that relies on combustion (cars, propane torches, etc.) does not function there.

                          –Notes from a Senior Planeswalker’s Private Journal.

            In our Universe, “cold” is really just the absence of heat. There is a minimum temperature: the point at which there is no heat. It is physically impossible to get any colder (defined as zero degrees Kelvin, which is the same as -459 Fahrenheit, or -273 degrees Celsius). There is no such thing as “negative heat”.

            But in the other universe, “cold” exists independent of heat. They both exist, as opposing forces. Mages might specialize in fire magic or ice magic, or have some of both.

            Given this, I wonder if it means their universe does not have a minimum temperature.

                 –Notes from a Senior Planeswalker’s Private Journal.