Worlds Between Worlds

Chapter One: Multiverse

Hey, everyone. Welcome to what is basically a Star Wars version of Marvel's What If series. I had several ideas for some one-shots and then I thought that I could make this so it would be a place to put ideas that probably couldn't be made into full stories.

I hope you all enjoy this collection of stories.

Bedlam

The Mid Rim world of Bedlam was nearly a barren rock, located near the pulsar of the same name. It was unremarkable, for the most part. The only known permanent dwelling there was the Bedlam Institute for the Criminally Insane, which once held a force sensitive Nautolan. There was also a small space port that served as a quick stop on the way toward worlds like Felucia and Abraxin.

While physically unremarkable, like many worlds like it, Bedlam was of interest for a different reason to those of a more spiritual mind, or those that enjoy spacer tales. Bedlam, specifically the Pulsar, was said to be a leak point between Realspace and Hyperspace, or even other dimensions. There are myths and legends of encounters with beings of unimaginable power that can control the fabric of time and space: The Bedlam Spirits as it were.

When told of these beings, many dismiss them as just tall tales. Though, many veteran spacers take the tales with caution or think they are real, especially those that have seen other things that shouldn't be real, those that were lucky enough to encounter a Starweird and live to tell the tale believe the Spirits exist.

However, despite what the denizens of the Galaxy think, the Spirits do exist. For beyond the veil of Hyperspace and Realspace, there was Splendid Ap. He took the form of a pink conical shape with an odd symbol for a face. When the other three spirits abandoned reality for other games, Splendid Ap stayed behind. He was fascinated by existence and the myriad of ways that it could be influenced. For he, unlike the others, knew that a single decision can alter history on a scale unseen before. That one branch of time could splinter into thousands of different stories.

Some time ago, Splendid Ap and the other three, being Tilotny, Cold Danda Sine, Horliss-Horliss manifested in one universe and made some experiments with time and space and some living beings that Tilotny ended up killing and Ap had to fix it. The others were gone and elsewhere now, but he wanted to continue to experiment with reality.

Stories, that is what he wanted to experiment with. Deciding that is what he was going to do, he entered one of the time-fixed realities to begin his work. Ap looked around and saw no one and was disappointed. He felt that stories were better if they were shared. He gazed through space and time to find someone that would be worthy of his stories and when he found them, he brought them to him. The being summoned to him appeared to be of a species he did not recognize or what religious order he was part of, but he knew he was a Shaman of the Whills, specifically one of the Keepers of the Great Journal of the Whills that recorded the story of the Galaxy.

The Shaman appeared on the rocky surface of the planet in a dazed state, which was fair considering that he had been brought there through time and space. He looked around and when he saw the Spirit, he was afraid.

The pink conical being tried several languages trying to communicate with the shaman it had just plucked out from his time stream, before setting on Galactic Basic.

"Greetings, Shaman of the Whills," Ap greeted in an ethereal voice.

"Who are you? Where am I?" The Shaman asked, scared for his life. He was lost, confused and thought he was going mad. He was worried he had experienced Hyper-rapture and was seeing things.

"Be not afraid. My name is Splendid Ap, I am one of the Bedlam Spirits, masters of time and space." Ap introduced himself to the tiny mover as they had called the one woman and those four soldiers that encountered them one time. Ap had to resurrect them after Tilotny and the others killed them. Ap had supposedly accidently sent the troopers back in time, due to not understanding the linearity of time, but it was no mistake. He did it to preserve a bit of the timeline. Princess Leia had found the remains of the troopers when she arrived and thus, he had to maintain it, otherwise it would cause a contradiction in a time-fixed universe, one of two in the Multiverse. Paradoxes were to be avoided, even by one such as him.

"What do you want with me, Splendid Ap," Shaman asked, still confused. The Bedlam Spirits were an old spacer tale like the Starweirds and other eldritch creatures. Many believed that they did not exist, and yet here one was talking to him.

"I called you here to be a chronicler. You help keep the Journal of the Whills, yes?" Ap asked, wanting to make sure he got the right kind of person.

"Yes, I am one of the Keepers," the Shaman confirmed. "What do you want me to be a chronicler for?"

"My experiments. Naive Tilotny thinks me an idiot as one time we manifested in this universe, I seemingly could not maintain a single form and split into multiple copies. They called me stupid for this. However, they were wrong. Unlike them, I see the fabric of reality for what it truly is, and all the branches that fate may take." Splendid Ap informed the Shaman, and he was confused by what the Bedlam Spirit told him. "Cold Danda Sine and Horliss-Horliss grew bored of interacting with the material world and convinced Tilotny to move on as well, but not me. From our place beyond the fabric of Hyperspace, I continue to watch the Multiverse that I may have caused to happen. I am not entirely sure of that. Memory is a fickle thing, after all." Splendid Ap seemed to laugh, further confusing the Keeper. "You see, Tiny mover, this universe is but one of infinite possible ones. I want to show you others and to see what kind of stories we can find to tell."

"I don't have a choice in this, Do I?" The Shaman asked.

"Nope," Ap said as he conjured writing material for the Shaman to use to record his Journal of stories.

"Very well then, let's get started then," the Shaman sighed with resignation at being forced to do this. Splendid Ap glowed with power a moment and both of them rose into space, to the Shaman's wonder that he could be there and be alive without problem. Ap took them both through the dimensional leak to his realm and the Shaman couldn't help but marvel at the sight before him. It was the timestream, or rather all timestreams, all branching from one another. Now, he understood what the godlike being was talking about being part of a Multiverse.

"It's beautiful," the Shaman remarked, amazed. He had never seen anything like it before

"I know, we are here, in a World between Worlds, as it were. From here, we can observe everything we desire," Ap said from behind him. Shaman looked down and saw that he was standing on some kind of star bridge, and that he could walk around and everything. What the Shaman did not notice was that as Ap said World between Worlds, he looked off in a direction away from the multiverse in front of them briefly before turning back to him.

"I am now more willing to help you, great Splendid Ap," the Shaman said as he picked up the old journal that would serve as the Journal of Stories and sat down next to the Bedlam Spirit.

"Good, let us begin." Splendid Ap began to narrate what he wanted the other man to write in the book.

The Force, the energy field that permeates all of creation with Light and Dark. It creates and is created by all living things, surrounds them, and penetrates them, for it binds the Galaxy together. It also binds the fabric of time and space, which makes up all of reality. It is not just a path to a single fate. It is a collection of branching possibilities, where a single choice can alter fate, creating endless amounts of alternate worlds from the ones you know.

As the Shaman of the Whills wrote, he had to wonder as to what the being was talking about when he said 'ones you know.' Was Ap talking to him, was speaking to a potential reader of these stories, or was there someone else in mind. It was not uncommon for beings to read from the Journal of the Whills, if they managed to find the Ancient Order of the Whills. An interesting case when a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Tenebrous came to them and looked upon the Journal, in exchange for some information from him. Also, they have occasionally issued a public broadcast of some of their writings. People knew they were out there, just not where. Many that fight in the Galactic Civil War hope that their tales would be worthy enough for the journal.

Some universes are so similar that it is impossible to know what changed, and some are radically different. However, there are two separate universes on the opposite ends of the continuum that are completely different from each other except for certain events over the course of nearly four decades. These are the foundational universes that all others split from. For example, in one universe, General Han Solo and Princess Leia Organa Solo had three Jedi children and then lost two of them to war, one of which fell to evil. An extragalactic race of conquerors invaded and devastated the galaxy in that universe. In the other, Han and Leia only had one son that also fell to darkness, but in the end redeemed, allowing for the final defeat of a great evil. In between these universes, there are infinite alternate realities. All of them hinge on a single pivotal moment at the Battle of Yavin. It is funny in a way, that this moment would end up becoming the set point for the Galactic Calendar.

As he wrote what Splendid Ap was saying to him, the Shaman was again confused as to what the Spirit was talking about. Neither of those possibilities had happened yet from the time period he was from. Well, Yavin had, but not the others. Then again, Ap and his kind could manipulate time, so he figured that Ap was speaking of future events, which he would need to note for the others in his order when he gets back.

I am Splendid Ap, and I am one of the Bedlam Spirits, masters of time and space. While the other Bedlam Spirits, as we are known, have moved on from experimenting with the material realms, I have not. I continue to experiment on a far grander scale, as I have many questions. I will be your guide to the infinite realities, so come along with me, and ponder the question: What If?

Ap paused his narration to allow his assistant to catch up. "That will do for an intro, my assistant." The Shaman finished writing what he had been told so far, turned to a fresh page and awaited his next words. Seeing that his assistant was ready, Splendid Ap began again.

Currently, my gaze has focused on the period of time leading up to the Battle of Yavin, on the side of the continuum that would give rise to the First Order as it is known in that side of the Multiverse. Specifically, the ones that make up the team known as the Spectres have gained my attention and I have multiple questions to have some fun with them.

Splendid Ap's gaze shifted over toward the other side of the Multiverse for a moment, and thought about what experiment he would try and his gaze fell upon a droid grand moff and thought it was perfect and so began to manipulate time and space to his liking. As he worked, the Shaman had to watch in wonder and a bit of fear as to what he was about to see, but he knew this would be interesting to see, as not many got to see existence from the outside as it were.

Hey, everyone. I hope you enjoyed that introduction to this collection of one-shots. This was just my way to provide an overarching narrative to the stories to come.

Why did I choose Splendid Ap for the Uatu the Watcher role? Well, there is a theory I heard, related to Supernatural Encounters, long story, that said that he created a Multiverse to explain the differences to New Canon and Old Legends EU, so that is why. As I thought about it, it made more sense, the same why the Shaman of the Whills came into this as that is part of some of the OG ideas Lucas had where the stories we know from the films are from the Journal of the Whills, before he abandoned that idea.

Supposedly a reference book, one for ROTS I think, says that about hundred forty years after Yavin, R2-D2 was telling a Shaman about the Skywalkers and it was recorded in the Journal.

I hope you all decide to come along with me and Splendid Ap and ponder the question What If?