A Grym Reality

Hello, Max, and welcome back to our ponderous place where we do our best to enlighten our friends and followers (as well as the random wanderers who stumble in) about all things magical as we happen upon them.  Generally, this information comes from the great number of journals I have which were authored by the Sorceress Mary Morgan.  Included are handwritten notes, photographs, drawings, and even small keepsakes that she may have saved out of fondness or, perhaps, fear.

This week, however, I was thrilled to receive a letter bearing the return address of my dear friend Mr. Persnickitus Crum, that esteemed Chronicler Supreme who was kind enough to narrate my most recent book Magpie & Dilly, the actual (Five Star!) "prequel" to my Buggy Crenshaw books.  A finer Scholar I have never met!  (Although, as you can see in the image below, he still hasn't quite figured out the proper postage to bring a letter from his world into ours!  I found this very odd...)

Before I get to Mr. Crum's letter, however, please allow me to welcome everyone and say how very much I appreciate your visit.  Time is a limited commodity these days, so I am thankful you've decided to spend a little of yours here at Ponderous Things.  If you by chance enjoy your visit, then please kindly click the Join This Site button over there to your right so that I'll know my efforts are not in vain.  While here, you are, of course, welcome to not only read this particular post, but also to wander about the various pages and, by all means, visit our archives (highly recommended). 

And now, back to the matter at hand:  as you can see, Mr. Crum's letter has obviously seen better days, but it did arrive in a timely enough manner and relatively intact, thankfully, for what this envelope held is more than a bit bizarre!  In fact, had it not been for my friend's warning on the back of the envelope ("KEEP A VERY CLOSE EYE ON ENCLOSED DOCUMENTS!"), I may very well have let the "cat" out of the bag...only worse!

First to present itself was this rather frightening image drawn no doubt by the Sorceress Mary Morgan.  (I am beginning to recognize the specific style of her art, or S'N'Art, if you will!)  Aside from simply wanting to keep the collection intact, I could not determine precisely what Mr. Crums' reasoning was for sending this drawing of a creature Mary Morgan called the Grym.  (For a closer look, simply click on the image and when finished, use your browser's "back" button to return here.)  I do know, however, that a monster called the Grym terrorized Mary Morgan for many years and was in fact responsible for...Well...obviously I can't say if I'm to move forward with my current project (Mary Morgan's Journal), so let's move on to the next item I discovered inside Mr. Crum's letter.

Apparently, while Mary Morgan was on her quest to find the Grym, she came across this cave drawing of what (according to her notes on the bottom of the photo) she believed was the Grym's ancestor.  According to my sources in the magical world, a member's family tree has a great deal to do with the depth or absolute power of their magic.  It can accurately be said that the longer the bloodline, the more powerful the magic!  And so, not only does this cave drawing tell us the Gryms have been around for millenniums, but also that they would certainly not be the ones to tangle with should a disagreement arise.  


I'll be the first to admit that I was absolutely enthralled by this information.  Not only does this tie the Gryms to the Stone Age, but according to Mary Morgan, they may also have history in what she called "Old Atlantis"!  Utterly stunned by the mention of that long lost continent, I scrambled to get my notepad and in so doing, I admit I did exactly what Persnickitus Crum warned me against:  I took my eyes off the documents!
Fortunately, I am not a complete amateur at these matters, thanks to Mr. Parsimonious Creed, a hero from that other world who attempted and achieved this very trick not so long ago (please visit the archives for A Focus on Hocus Pocus).  What I learned from Mr. Creed was that certain drawings, when made on parchments derived from "living wood" or "wizard's wood" (said to have a will of its own), can act as a conduit for the subject! What exactly does this mean?  Why, only that this monster--the Grym--could easily have stepped directly out of his drawn image and into our world to terrorize us rather than Mary Morgan (if she is indeed still alive as I highly suspect)!

As soon as I glimpsed what was taking place, that the drawing was coming alive, I immediately recalled the lesson I learned from my friend Parsimonious Creed and armed myself for a battle to the death!  Obviously, I survived, but not without my trusty paper shredder: 

And so it goes:  another tricky Demon outwitted in the very nick of time!  As many of you know, I've had several close calls like this since beginning Ponderous Things and delving into the magic and mystery of that other world that I thought only existed in my books.  Although I've since learned quite the opposite, there is one thing I am still in the process of...processing:  trust no one!

Despite knowing and trusting (absolutely, without doubt) my friend and Scholar Persnickitus Crum, I admit to a wee bit of doubt arising directly after this incident.  Why would Mr. Crum send me such a dangerous document? I wondered.  But, of course, I knew for a fact he wouldnt!  Upon closer examination of the letter I received, I discovered two things: 
 




First, this blatantly obvious misspelling of Persnickitus Crum's last name:  there is no 'b' at the end of 'Crum'.

And secondly, this rather ostentatious mark on the wax seal.  Had I paid closer attention, I would've no doubt seen that it is the face of the Grym mocking me!  As for the warning at the bottom of the envelope that I pointed out earlier, I consider this a very clever means of putting my suspicions to rest.




Although I am certain there will come a day when I learn to be ever more careful while handling the letters and packages I receive from that other world, until that day comes I must face what I've come to know as a Grym reality:  anything is possible, especially when it is the least probable!


Until next week, please do share this post with everyone you know and encourage them to follow Ponderous Things just as I encourage you.  If you enjoyed your stay here, then by all means,  please click that Join This Site button there to your right.  I find it especially encouraging to see happy new faces there week after week!

As always, thanks so much for visiting and do your very best to dream big!

P. S. If you would like more information on the magical world, or would like to meet some of the characters who live there, then please invest in Magpie & Dilly as well as Buggy Crenshaw.  All books are available in paperback and Kindle editions and are indeed modest investments that pay enormous dividends!