The Convergence

“The Convergence” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Dhruv Shah, Aditya Birla World Academy, India.

The Convergence

The sun hit my eyes as we crossed a bare bridge in our car on the way to Virginia. My family was moving to Virginia as my father’s quest for greener pastures was finally fulfilled. I was quite upset about this because it meant leaving all my friends and wonderful memories behind. The drive itself was monotonous and it just felt creepy going to our new house. We reached there soon and it felt as though my feelings were not completely wrong. The house was like an old mansion of medieval times but uninhabited since many years. My father bought it as we got a very good deal. The front yard had irregular toad stools and over grown grass with weeds. There was no clear cut fencing but trees all around kind of concealed its entrance. The main door was old and rusty and the hinges made a creaking sound as we opened it. There were scratches all along the walls and it looked as if a monster had come and lived in the house. Suddenly a creepy old hag came out and told us that we could start loading our stuff in. I assumed this was the owner of the house and that’s when even the tiniest desire to live in this house left me. She cackled and told us to have a good time and left. There was something about her tone that scared me and I knew that this was no ordinary house.

As we walked in, I went to check out my room. It was quite dusty and ragged. The only pieces of furnishing in it were a bed and an old closet. It was getting dark by the time we finished unpacking and once the house was set up we went for dinner at the dining table. After dinner I decided to go to bed but as I opened my closet to take out my night suit I realized this was an old fashioned walk in closet which had a place for my clothes and a small changing room. As I took my night suit and went into the changing room I noticed a small crack in the wall and so I touched it to inspect how deep it was. But the moment I touched it, it fell apart and I noticed a small door only big enough for me. As I opened it, I saw only a few books and cans of old food. This room must have been some hidden storage room. I changed into my pyjamas and walked around to inspect it but it was just a load of rubbish lying around since God knows when.

Suddenly, I realized that I had left my pair of change inside so I opened the door again and Lo! Behold what I saw left me stunned to the core. There was no room but a vast open ground with all types of people walking around. I rubbed my eyes, pinched myself to make sure I was in my senses. What I had seen defied the very laws of science. How could another world exist inside a closet? I convinced myself that I was day dreaming, my thoughts being influenced by the movies like Interstellar, the Lost World, which I had seen recently. I just turned back to the door to get back to bed, but there was no door!! Just a wall existed, surrounding me on all sides. I panicked and looked around for somebody familiar to whom I could ask what was happening. I felt as if I had entered a book of “Strange Stories and Amazing facts”. There was Thor, the Thunder God walking around with Loki, his brother and the God of mischief on one side, Greek God Zeus conjuring a rain storm on the other side and a mummy chasing tomb raiders elsewhere.

None of this made any sense and I couldn’t ask anybody what was happening because there was no bridge for communication as we were from different times. History was my weakest subject because our teacher in Chicago, Mr. Brumbles never made the subject interesting. I tried hard to recollect whatever titbits of ancient history I could and that’s when it struck me that if history was there then even the laws of history had to be there. I remembered doing a project on Norse mythology which stated the phenomenon of “Convergence” which was the alignment of the seven worlds. It bends the fabric of reality and that is why the door must have opened for me. It is believed that due to Convergence, the dimension of Time is aligned and it allows teleportation of people across worlds and times for a very short period of time.

Then it became clear to me if I had to go home I had to wait for the convergence again. But I couldn’t wait indefinitely for it to happen as I wouldn’t survive this new world. I headed off to find Thor because he was a Norse God. Then I remembered that Loki was the god of mischief and sight and he would understand me as he was gifted to master any language. When I found them I told Loki what was happening and he translated it to Thor. Thor knew about the convergence and he knew a way to help me but he wanted something he had lost. His Hammer had been taken by a Tibetan snake dragon and he wanted it back. Only if I got it for him would he help me. So with no other option I set out to get the hammer with a sword and a shield to the Tibetan Highlands. In this world, travelling across continents didn’t seem a task. I was told that everyone here just had to think of a place they wished to go and one would be there next instant. Cool but pretty dangerous too! I was in front of the dragon the next second. I wasn’t afraid because I was always fond of animals and thought of them as friends. I already knew the process of taming this shrewd animal. A belly rub with affection would do the job! I had learnt this fact when I adopted a dog named Laika from the shelter home for abandoned animals. Few minutes of a belly rub retrieved Thor’s hammer. After I got Thor’s hammer he told me that I had to go through the convergence again to go home and the only way to do that without waiting was to go to the Greek God Zeus and use his power vortex of lightning to go back in time and then go home.

We went to Zeusin Olympus, the land of the Greek Gods where he was in a meeting with all the Greek Gods. Reading the Percy Jackson series made me feel as if I had been here before and I could identify Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and Hera easily. I couldn’t believe I was actually in front of them. Loki explained Zeus my problem who said that the only way to power up his power vortex for time travel was by putting a kilowatt of energy inside it. This could only be possible if the Egyptian Pharoah permitted. Egyptian civilisation has been one of the most ancient and highly advanced than any other known civilisation. The majestic Pyramids and the facts associated with them prove that. There are multiple pieces of evidence in the form of hieroglyphics, scriptures and paintings which hint the presence of electricity at that time. Alternative theories also suggest that the Pyramids were not merely tombs but powerhouses to generate electricity. So now my next request would have to be to the Mighty Pharoah himself. I was a little scared as I had read that the Egyptian Pharoahs were not very social except towards royalty.

I closed my eyes and the next moment we were in the Egyptian court. I was overwhelmed to see the boy king Tutankhamun on the throne and it ignited a ray of hope in me. I explained my plight and the need to go home which he understood probably being of my age. He immediately ordered his ministers to open the largest pyramid which was the tomb of his ancestor Pharoah Khufu. However we had to solve the riddle of the Great Sphinx as there was no “take” without “give” in this world. For those of you have not heard about the Sphinx, I would like to tell you that there is a myth in Egypt that in the ancient days a horrible creature blocked the way from Egypt to any other land. To pass, people would have to answer a very hard riddle which nobody has solved till date. There is a myth that one day a mysterious stranger solved it and killed the Sphinx. The Sphinx had a body of a lion, a head of a woman, a tail of a snake and wings of an eagle. As we were stood in front of the Sphinx, I was taken into its clutches and the riddle was asked, “What stands on four legs in the morning, on two at noon and on three at night?”I had no idea about anything like that. Alas! I was doomed! But then my head came back on my shoulder and I realised that Thor, the invincible God of Strength was with me. I pleaded for his help and in the next instance; the Sphinx’s head was blown off with his hammer. The riddle however remains unsolved to this very day.

I rushed to Zeus who took the electric source and put it in the power vortex. As soon as it was ready, I bid goodbyes to all my aides and walked into halo created by the power vortex to go into the past and arrive one minute before the Convergence. The ride was rocky but then it got worse as from a lightening spiral, the power vortex became a whirlpool and that is when I blacked out. I got teleported at the right moment and stood in front of my closet door. I wasted no time in opening it and rushing to my room. It seemed that time moved at a different pace in my world as only an hour had passed during this whole adventure and I could hear my mother screaming at me to switch off the lights and go to bed.

I recollected the whole adventure and finally fell asleep. The next morning began with my usual routine to go to school. I went into my closet to change but dared not to touch any walls. The school started with History being the first period and the topic on the board was “The Pyramids”. I smiled to myself thinking that I had experienced the Pyramids more than anyone has ever known about them. I got to think that maybe I should go back to my hidden closet world and solve all of “History’s Mysteries”!