Member-only story
How to Travel to an Alternate Universe
On the power of dress
A Torii gate stands solemnly before the Shinto shrine, a shade of flaming red so brilliant yet out of place in the gentle green sea of bamboo. Stand before its ancient pillars and look up; it looms overhead and seems to grow in stature the longer you stare. Take a step forward — a breeze washes over you, pierces through you, so slight you wonder if you’re imagining it — and emerge into the realm of the sacred.
No one has been able to quite agree on the right mode of cross-dimensional travel, but few get as many style points as the feudal Japanese. In recent times methods have become increasingly crude: Alice squeezes herself down a disgusting hole in the dirt dug for wild hares to take dumps and reproduce in. Harry Potter, the Chosen One, The One Who Lived, hurls himself at a major structural support in a well-maintained train station. Intriguing, but only in a way similar to watching a dog chase its own tail and wondering why their brains were tuned like that.
We can all agree, however, that there is another world out there. To some, it is religiously sacred; to others, magical; perhaps, a safe space. Everyone has a different idea of how that universe looks like and how to get there. For me, getting there is pretty damn simple.