10. Epilogue
Didrik and Ismaraldah ran around in a frenzy, then left immediately. The Goddess of Time had now spend a lot of time with the Curse and feared she would forget Didrik any second. She mumbled about a plan, almost had an argument about how dreadful the plan was, then stopped herself because she didn’t want her last moments with Didrik to be a fight.
Ismaraldah only had a short message for the sloths.
“We … are going to try something. To make sure Didrik and I never forget each other, and can time travel wherever we like. Maybe the world ends. Hopefully not.”
“Probably not,” said Didrik assuringly.
“You won’t notice anything at all,” she said. “But … but a lot will be lost to time.”
Crying, kissing, they entered the wooden clock again.
Sotho looked around. The number of sloths had shrunk. He didn’t know if he’d forgotten them by seeing them fight all night … or if they’d died.
One person, at least, had not died. And he promised to spend every day with this person now.
His best friend Lothan could stand again, with effort, a grimace and a smile. He had to watch the entire battle from afar, but claimed he had helped a lot by pushing a few twigs and telling me where Ismaraldah might be.
Half of Slumberland, about twenty-five Treetowers, had been destroyed or burned. But Sotho only saw the other half that stood proudly.
Together they visited Slumberland’s border, to look at the humans again. They wandered aimlessly, confused and unsure why they were here again.
A panda wandered around too.
“Tyyyypical Ismaraldah,” said Jacintah grumpily. “Leaves without me. And gets angry when I do the same to her!”
“You can’t just … teleport to her?” asked Sotho.
“If I knew where she was. Hello, we’re sisters, we’re not telepathic!”
Sotho smiled and had an idea that seemed obvious now. “Can’t you make the Flamefeaster disappear? You’re the Goddess of Place!”
Jacintah crushed his wish. “No. I am not coming close to that thing. And I can’t move things from a distance. Hello, I don’t have telekinesis! I think you’re more likely to move all of Slumberland than that cursed thing.”
No, Slumberland didn’t need to move. Or change. It was the best and prettiest place on Somnia and Sotho would never leave it.
“Then … then we only have one choice, right?”
Later that day, a group of sloths visited the smaller human building. They’d started to dissemble it now, but the Wish Fulfiller was still there, attached and running. They did their best to avoid the people. Even though they didn’t see the sloths—they were literally invisible to their eyes now—they’d still be incredibly confused if they bumped into each other.
One by one, the sloths attached the Wish Fulfiller … and let it erase their wish. Remove their desire to get rid of the Curse, to wish for a better place to live, to fear forgetting their family too quickly if they spend time together. All of it was removed by the machine—and replaced with nothing.
Smiling, chatting and playing, filled with energy and the idea to organize a party, they walked back to Slumberland together.
And the more they did together, the more they actively rebuild and explored Slumberland, the more Sotho felt like they could fight a little against the Curse. A few memories returned. A few relationships seemed to last longer.
Increasingly often, he received visions of how Slumberland used to be. Or he discovered important hidden machines because a vague memory gave him the idea that something was hiding behind those shrubs.
And so he dared visit their own legendary Wish Fulfiller tree again, joined by Lothan and Jacintah. That looted and broken Treetower that, if legends were to be believed, held a real Wish Fulfiller long ago.
As he entered the hut, he was overwhelmed by emotion and memory. A sloth in the corner that drew schematics for the machines. Two sloths in another corner that proudly watched their creations. A very young sloth that hammered a nail to attach a cable car rope, using force he didn’t know sloths could produce.
Instead of a short anxious glance, they now took their time to really explore the hut. And below some piles of wood, or behind a comfortable bench, they discovered all sorts of schematics and notes. They found a diary written by someone as they built Slumberland from nothing.
His ancestors had not taken ages to build this empire. And they had not been magical. They had simply worked hard and done it.
It was also the painful proof that sloths had let this all happen. Yes, sloths simply had the genes that made them lazy and want to hang from a branch all day. But nature seemed a combination between it is what it is and you can change. And the curse had been an excuse, for far too long, to pretend they couldn’t change.
The Wish Fulfiller was not a magic creature that turned any wish into truth. It was simply the name for a group of sloths that built beautiful Treetowers and fulfilled the simple wish to live in a nice home that way. They could just as well have called them Dreamgivers or Wonderarchitects.
In the end, thought Sotho, everyone really wished for the same things. To live another day, with your loved ones, and experience something new. And that’s what all the sloths would do, from now on, he promised himself.
A new visitor arrived.
A human!
They reached for anything that could be a weapon, then calmed down. It was glassman, the biologist that was against the entire operation. It was also the only human that still wore that armor.
“Oh, oh, my apologies.”
“Yes! Apologize!” said Jacintah immediately, the only one who could understand him. “All those ancient trees are gone! What do you have against trees?”
He seemed to have accepted that some animals could talk. He looked guilty and ashamed. “If trees could provide internet, humans would plant them everywhere and never cut them down. Unfortunately they merely provide the oxygen we need to survive.”
“Are you happy now?” said Jacintah. She pointed through the window at the blackened scar that ran through Slumberland like a sharp knife.
“Happy? I never wanted this. I just wanted to do more research, learn more, discover new animal species in unexplored territory. Is that wrong? Wanting progress? Discovering the universe?”
“And what will you do with your life once you know everything and have everything?”
He smiled kindly. “I heard you talk about Mindy. She has been her and tried to help you, hasn’t she?”
Jacintah translated. Sotho and Lothan nodded.
“She is world-famous now, miss panda. What am I saying—she’s universe-famous! Long story. But I want to continue her research. Give me some time with the Flamefeaster and I will find a solution. I have this armor to protect myself.”
The sloths had removed their wishes. They now simply accepted the Curse was there and wouldn’t go away. Something told Sotho that a human would never do that. A wish is a goal, and progress is all that matters.
They’d have to discuss this. But Sotho felt certain that glassman would get permission.
For when he looked a little longer, through the window, all he saw were happily sleeping sloths all over Slumberland. Him and Lothan yawned too and knew a blissful, content nap was coming.
Jacintah laughed at them. “It was one of the final wisdoms Ardex wrote down, before he …”
She rubbed her eyes and struggled to remember the precise words.
“Don’t feel sad for those who work tirelessly all day, who try and fail, and stumble forward in uncertainty. Feel sadness for those who sit around doing nothing, leading very comfortable lives of very little note. No rest without unrest, no sleep without dance.”
Her gaze became distant. “Many times in our history, beings wanted to change the world but concluded society was not ready yet. Not ready to treat everyone equally. Not ready to think critically instead of burning random women as witches.”
“They did that?” Sotho asked incredulously.
Jacintah nodded, but didn’t look at him. “Well, society is ready now. The humans live in immense wealth and comfort. They could feed everyone if they wanted and have more than enough space—so why do half of them wish to destroy forests, while the other half wishes to simply not starve?”
She shook her fur, as if she wanted to get rid of filth.
“Bah! I’m starting to sound like my sister. Now I have to figure out where miss white panda is hanging out!”
The sloths waved her away and took, for the hundredth time that day, joined by the young giggling sloths, the swerving slides that brought them to the ground level. They
And so it was that life continued …