Trapped With An 'Opposite'

Chapter Three - D Is For Dimension

"Hey! Wake up!"

Daniel jumped to his feet and stared at Al for a minute. He seemed surprised, then smirked. "Cool, you're awake."

"Yep! What are we doing today? Explaining more about the Dimensions? Talking about our families?" Daniel joked.

"Actually, I'm teaching you about Dimensions today." Al replied. Was he in a good mood?

"Really?"

"Yes. First of all, Dimension names. The three main ones are Opposites, Weird and Arts."

"What?"

"Okay, so you know how AUs have names?"

"I might...?"

"Do you know about Ų̷̢̼̠̳̻͐̈́ͅn̵̢̢̨͖̹͚͕̭̼̝̬̼͇̠̈́̽̂̏̈̋̂͑̈́̅́̑͠͠d̸̳̫̝̞̥̳̫̯̥̐͐̿̽̄́̔̈́̒͋̄͆̈́̊̕é̶̟̐́̃̒̊̔̆̊̕ŗ̵̣͓̱͕̱̮̎̊̒̈́̉́̕͝ͅͅt̴̖͓̖̼̪̜̲̭̘̺̝͙́͑̆̇̋̓̾͜͝à̴̡͓̺̮̩̠̜̯͆̽̆͗̆̋̄̄̍̎̽̀͂̓l̷̡͍̬͇̯͇͍̯̠̯̟̣̹͓̂̌͋̇͗͗̐̊͆̽̓͘͝͝ͅe̴̗̝̱̮̻͇͔̔̈̂͆̿̆͆͌͑̓̈́̇͘͝͠͝? F̷̛͕̮̯̝̠̤̲̮̦̎̽͐͆̅͊̅̄̏͋̈́͐͘͠Ń̵̬̹̬̾̓̕͜Ą̸̢̧̧̛̜̘̝͖̠̺̙̘̙̺͑̃̂̃̑̀̕͠͝ͅͅͅF̷̧̡̼͈̙̱͈̳̱̮̠͙̞̍͛̈́̒̑̋͘͘͘͘͝? B̷̑̊̈́̈́͐̅͛͆̀̿̆̄̎̐̿̀̓͐̄̍̏̔̋̊̏̆͠͠Å̸̢̧̛̛̛̼̠̜̳͍̰͖̪̤̠̳̥͈̖̩̈́͒̂͐͂͛͆͒̇͑͆̚͝͝T̸̛̰̥͕͙̳̫̘̞͗̆̋͆̇̄͆̂͗̉̆̎̈́̽̄̕͝I̶̧̮̲̟̬͍̘͚͚̖̼͔͎͔̗̍̄͗̇̆̋̀̑͑̀̾̅M̷̢̢͕̱͓̪͔̞͇̹̹̹̍̏̆̓̍͑̓̒̚͝͝? Ņ̷̭̙̦͆͐̇́̔͂̈͗̇̏͝ì̵̛̼̤̭̯̹̙͚̜̑̃͌̾̀̔͛n̷̢͇͎͂̓̉̊͗̆̀͛͗̚j̴̥̫̭̹̞̇́̿̋͊̒̀͂̂͐̅͠͝a̸̢̻͆̉̂̈͆͂̐̏̚̚͠ĝ̸̢̧͔͕͎͉͓̭̝̪̱̼̹͍̄̃̾̇͆̇̇̑̎͠ͅo̴͕̻͊͐ͅ even?

"No."

Al sighed. "We're gonna have a lot of work to do..."

"So, let's get started! I want to learn as much as I can!"

"You're like my Opposite in that way, and I hate it." Al rolled his eyes. "Alright, so AU Masters mark AUs with a number. AU#1 for example, is the first AU, and the only one that's real. There are other AUs, each separated into different 'ranges'. AU#1 - AU#100, AU#101 - AU#200, stuff like that."

"How far does it go?"

"Up to AU#I. Now, throw that all away! We don't do that here!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is we give our Dimensions actual names!" Al explained. "The Opposites Dimension, the Weird Dimension, the Arts Dimension, the Illusions Dimension. All great places, you should check 'em out sometime!"

"Okay, so there are different names for each dimension?"

"Yep! This can come in handy. You need to know what dimension you want to travel to, where everything is, and what your version of that dimension will look like. You're going to be a Dimensions Master, not an AU Master, so you can't cross over AUs. You get one version of each dimension, and that's it!"

"Are there as many dimensions as there are AUs?"

"No, not nearly! We get way less variety, but it also means there's less fights. There's only so much you can think of in terms of dimensions, so people prefer AUs, because there's no limit."

"AUs are infinite?"

"Almost as infinite as infinite gets!"

"Really? Why aren't they infinite?"

"They'll all be destroyed one day, except for AU#1. That's why." Al smiled at the thought. "People like fighting over numbers for their AUs, which is why most AUs go unnumbered. It's because the AU Master just can't keep up with them all."

"So what does this have to do with dimensions?"

"I don't know. You tell me! You asked."

"Fair point." Daniel admitted. "So, I get one version of this world?"

"Yep! Same for the Weird Dimension, For the other dimensions, there are no alternate versions of them whatsoever."

"Really? Not even ones that AU Masters can get to?"

"AU Masters can't open up a portal to a place that isn't there. They'll end up in some sort of Void very similar to this place."

"This is in your head, right? Why so empty?"

"This is the imaginative part of my brain. Problem here is, I don't have an imagination." Al explained. "My Opposite has a very strong imagination, so I'm left with nothing at all."

"Wow. So, how do you travel between dimensions?"

"Have you ever heard of the Cartesian Plane? It's like a grid, with four quadrants. The only one you need to worry about as a Dimensions Master is the negative negative quadrant, or quadrant three."

"I've heard of the Cartesian Plane before!"

"Good. So then you know how to find the coordinates for the different dimensions."

"Yeah, I think so. Do AU Masters use the Cartesian Plane?"

"Yes. They use quadrant one."

"What about quadrants two and four?"

"No one knows. They could be that Void I mentioned earlier, or some other places. Who knows, honestly?"

"So, how do we open portals?"

"Like this." Al grinned, and held his arm and hand out to the side. Daniel's jaw dropped as a black, oval shaped portal opened up a few inches away from Al's hand."Go through."

Following Al's instructions, Daniel walked through the portal, and he expected Al to follow him through. Instead, without another word, Al closed the portal behind Daniel, who began to cry at what he saw.