The Train of Lost Destinations and Newfound Hope

Part Three

Ecrits Blogophilia Week 33.16 – The Red Queen Effect

Hard Bonus: Include a line from the movie “Pretty in Pink”

Easy Bonus: Mention your favorite candy (starburst)
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The light inside the mountain was like nothing I had ever seen. A shimmering, crystalline light, presenting like a hall of chandeliers and glimmering ice. The floors appeared liquid yet were solid beneath our feet. “Where are we?” I managed to stutter.

“All shall be explained my Dear, hurry we have an appointment with your Timeline keeper.” Lady Winterbourne shouted from ahead. Simon was silent and looked equally confused.
“Timeline Keeper?” I was in awe as the scenery seemed to shift and turn like a slow motion film I was moving through. Suddenly a line of black veiled entities formed before us and Lady Winterbourne hastened to catch up with them, they were leading us now. But where?

A large arch appeared and a dense fog rolled in covering the black veiled entities, I could not see Mrs.Winterbourne or Simon. I was alone in the fog. When I looked up I could see gold letters across the arch. The words were in Latin and I knew them well.

Pro Mundi Vita. “For the life of the world” I had known this phrase as a little girl, in the bible it was quoted as “In Christe lumine pro mundi vita” which translates to In the light of Christ for the life of the world. But what did it mean now? On this archway, with changing moon phases shifting in the sky above it. It was all so much to take in.

and now the sky was changing colors…pink, violet, indigo, cerulean, shifts and changes.

I ascended the staircase hoping to find the others, but there was no sign of them, nothing.

I really did not want to be lost in this surreal place, this palace or kingdom of the complete unknown. I was beginning to feel a sense of terror, yet calm all at once, it was so hard to explain.

Just then at the top of the staircase I looked up to the open sky and watched a large starburst. It was now falling in fiery particles which turned to a deep red veil, and flowing like the tail of a kite, it landed before me, in form. Another veiled entity, only this one was red, not black.

The staircase was gone. A dark mysterious beach in it’s place and a lady in red before me.


“Do not be afraid Celeste,” she said, “I was your timeline keeper in the time beyond before, and now I am merely the keeper of dreams. I was once a very important figure in this world, but one night long ago, I lost you during your night travels, and they exiled me to the ends of the earth. I am here now, because, I just wanna let them know that they didn’t break me. And I want to do right by you.”

“I am so confused,” I looked into the face of this kind lady and just wanted to know everything all at once.

“I will explain everything, come let’s have a seat.” suddenly two chairs and a table set with a silver tea service appeared. I took one seat and she took the other.

“Allow me to introduce myself, I am the Red Queen. Here in this place it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that.”

“Isn’t that from Through the Looking-Glass?”

“Ahh right, you do know your literature. Well done Celeste. Okay let me explain things as simply as I can. The world you live in, is real. It just changes and shifts depending upon many factors. For example when you dream at night, sometimes those are merely subconscious thoughts jumbling around and creating pictures, but there are other types of dreams, lucid dreams. In those dreams you may or may not travel and have what some call an out of body experience. That is where the Timeline keepers come in. It is their job to keep you on the proper timeline, to return you safely to your body before you wake.”

“I am following you,” I was suddenly made aware of the many times I had been jolted awake in the middle of dreaming only to feel the sensation of a heavy weight or hooded being pressing down upon my chest. Could that have been a Timeline keeper keeping me tethered to this world?

“Celeste, I must ask, do you remember exactly where and what year you met Simon?”
“Umm, you are the second person to ask me this today and truth be told it is a bit fuzzy.”
“That is because you met Simon on the Dream Plane. It was all a vision that you were living while asleep, and when you woke up I was not there to guide you back and your thoughts made him very real. He manifested onto your timeline.”

“Oh my God? What does this mean?”

“It means you stole my son Dear,” Lady Winterbourne emerged from the fog. “On your new timeline, I could not exist. And you have had him all to yourself for the last thirty years. I invited you both to my Train to remedy this.”

“But how do we remedy it?”

The Red Queen stood up, “I think that is my cue to leave, my bothy is calling, I wish you all the best.”

In a flash of red light and sparkle she was gone.

“Where is Simon?” I inquired of Lady Winterbourne.
“He will be here shortly, I wanted to present my case to you both individually so there will be no influence between you.”

“I see, go on then.”

“Celeste my Dear, Timelines are tricky things. Quantum, Divine, all a mixture of the magic that is merely Science not yet explained. So in my world, where things are more let’s say advanced, Simon had a destiny to fulfill. A Destiny that could be imperative to the collective. And with you, he has been devoted only to your cause and your folly.”

“Folly? You think my life is folly?” I was getting a bit irritated at her manipulative tactics.

“Well let me be blunt. Had you not drawn Simon out of the ethers, you would be a world famous author, credited with one of the largest timeline shifts known to mankind. And Simon, he would have continued as one of the most benevolent and effective Spirit guides the collective has ever experienced.”

“Wow, well if this is all true I really need to know what you are asking of me here.” suddenly my heart was in my throat and my entire body was tingling with the sense this may actually be the truth.

“It’s quite simple Dear, you have two choices. One we return to the train and drop you off to your original destination, the time will be 1995 and you shall relive your life from the moment after you Dreamt of my son. Only it will be just that a dream and nothing else, you will be free to live your life on your own timeline as you choose.”

“Hmm okay, and what is the second choice?”

“The second choice is we return to the train and you and Simon have a luxurious trip, and upon final departure you two shall return back to the world you have created with out me.”

“I am sensing there is a catch.” Lady Winterbourne did not have a good poker face.

“Well your choice and Simon’s choice must match up, if they do not match there will be the risk of a third option.”

“What is the third option?”

“We all remain here, in this station of limbo for the good part of eternity.” Her eyebrow lifted and her words landed with the impact she intended.

“So you have already told Simon all of this?”

“I have, it is your decision we are waiting on.”

“How long do I have to decide?”

“Well I can spare you a moment Dear, but as the Red Queen said, if you want to get somewhere you must run twice as fast.”

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End part three
Written by Christine Wichman c. February 13, 2025
Photos taken from Pinterest