Welcome, you’ve stumbled into part 11 of The Tori Story Series. If this is your first visit to this realm you might want to catch up.

---

---

There was a pause. 

Long. Awkward. Uncomfortable. 

Like the lull in an already forced conversation between two who’ve just met and have nothing in common. 

Though, I tell you, it was only uncomfortable because it was new and had never been experienced before. 

All dimensions felt it. It started at their core– a low unfamiliar vibration. The beginning of what promised to be a violent earthquake. The Keepers collectively held their breath. Not knowing or understanding that All were, for the first time, One. 

But One can only hold their breath for so long, and so after a moment, simultaneously, it released. 

A Surge. 

The new song exploded across the Ether inserting itself into each crevice. Making its way into every nook and cranny. It left nothing untouched and was felt by all.

An insertion. 

Swimming sperm made their way to the myriads of dormant eggs no one realized existed. Seeking to impregnate. 

Only what? 

For some Keepers it felt like rape, a violation; an unwelcome, unsolicited, unwanted assault.

For others it felt like sex love. Though that isn’t even an accurate description. Keepers knew nothing of the pleasure of sex. Well, none but one Keeper and that is how Tori came to exist— she being the product of that forbidden chance encounter. Or was it chance? I ask you this, is anything chance or has it all been ordained since the beginning of time? And besides why were there all those dormant eggs?

A more accurate description is union. True union was felt, and what is more pleasurable than that? 

From the unconscious seduction of a woman and the deliberate force of a man, this event altered the Ether. Virgin no more.

What new thing or things would be born of this? 

How could the Peddler have known the far-reaching consequences of his actions when he chose to sing, unchecked, this new song? Normally this type of thing was brought before the Council of Keepers. 

Sure, the Peddler had felt the altering, within– isn’t that where all change begins? But he assumed it was for him alone and so chose to give back without consent. A dangerous thing— assumption.

The Council, however, had banned the Peddler. Besides it would have been a fruitless encounter; the answer was, is and always will be a resounding NO to anything new. The Council preferred to leave well enough alone.

Countless Keepers would look back on this event. Not knowing at the time but understanding in hindsight. A crossing of a boundary not yet crossed had drawn the ultimate line in the sand.

They would recall it for generations to come. Each Keeper remembering exactly where they were, what they were doing, who they were with when the Surge occurred. 

So that when new dimensions were born they would speak of the Ether in terms of before and after. Like salvation or destruction, depending on how one viewed it. 

Confusion reigned for those who did not adjust. And all those who sought to adjust were made low in doing so. For in order to adapt, they had to lower themselves to the tutelage of the Peddler. He being the lowest of the low. 

For, you see, the Peddler was a displaced Keeper. And it was by his own doing. The ultimate disgrace. He wasn’t overthrown, which is bad enough. No, he chose to abandon his dimension in pursuit of Tori. In pursuit of a thing no Keeper understood.

In seeking to learn the new song, Keepers had to invite foreign matter into their lands. The foreign matter primarily being the Peddler. For he was the only one who had the freedom to travel – all the others had to remain to protect their worlds. Keepers far and wide invited him to teach them the New Thing. Consequently, each dimension he entered, invited I would add, he was able to leave a part of himself. Giving him full access to those dimensions completely undetected, so that in the loss of his world, by his own self-inflicted humiliation, he gained countless others. 

Of course, the Peddler didn’t know any of this yet. No, he was simply singing a new song. 

But he would learn soon enough.

Not a bad exchange. 

Or was it? 

---