“Ah, but more than that child,” the fully grown Ursala began, smiling with a look of sadness in her eyes as she gazed into the face of the troubled abbot, “We have to make it more complicated. Consider the idea that there is not one book in here showing us the Past, Present, and Future. There are hundreds of books–thousands of books–showing us essentially the same man. But not exactly the same man. In each book there are differences. Something has been added or subtracted from the drawing. Each book then becomes unique. The same man… yes. But one with subtle differences.”
I felt the confusion mounting in the abbot’s mind. The ominous strangeness of our surroundings, the presence of two Ursalas, the explanation of what the Netherworld contained was beginning to overload the poor Niscian’s
