25 The Illustrated City

25 The Illustrated City The Illustrated City?' gasped Peanut. ' So I was right. Everything here has been... drawn by somebody. ' At some point, yes. ' So who did all of the drawing?' asked Rockwell, wiping hot chocolate from his top lip. 'Whoever it was must have been pretty handy with the old pencils.' Ah, now there's a question' replied the old lady. ' The answer is... a great many people. Thousands and thousands.' She put down her mug, stood up and walked over to one of the slightly skew-whiff bookshelves. She started peering at the spines of the books. 'Chroma has been around for as long as anyone can remember. Longer, actually. The history books tell us that it

began as a small settlement on a tiny island, and that it has grown over the centuries. It really is quite big now. If it's so big, how come I've never seen it in my junior atlas?' said Little-Bit. 'Or on Mummy's globe in the living room? Or on Google Earth?' Ah well, you won't find it on any of your maps, I'm afraid. You see, Chroma is a very special place and only a few very special people from your world ever get to come here. 'What's so special about us, then?' asked Rockwell. Mrs M's eyes narrowed. 'That remains to be seen.' She pulled a large book bound in green leather from the shelf and returned to her armchair. 'First, let me tell you a bit about our city. As I said, it all started on an island in the centre of a circular lake. And that lake is where all of the magic comes from. 'Magic?' said Peanut. 'What magic?' Ah. Now we get to the nub of it,' said the old lady, smiling. 'You see, to put it as simply as possible, Chroma is the place where the world's creative and artistic energy comes from. All of it. If Chroma didn't exist, planet Earth would be a pretty colourless, soulless place. The source of all artistic creativity in your world and mine—is right here, in this city. Specifically, in the Rainbow Lake. She opened the book and slid a large piece of folded paper from a pocket on the inside cover.

It is said that when the original inhabitants swam in the Rainbow Lake, they were suddenly overcome with the urge to create. To draw, to paint, to sculpt, to make. And they found, to their amazement, that whatever they created, even if it was just a flat drawing, became real. If they painted a loaf of bread, they could pick that bread up and eat it. If they drew a horse, they could sit on its back and ride it. The water from the Rainbow Lake made everything that they could possibly imagine real. So almost immediately they started to generate houses, streets, factories, trees, rivers, fields. Very quickly, the city started to expand, and right at its heart, on the island itself, one very special building was erected a huge, multicoloured tower, over five hundred metres tall. It was, and is, called the Spire.' I want to swim in the Rainbow Lake!' shouted Little-Bit. Mrs M grinned. 'Obviously, as the city grew, so did the population.' She started to unfold the piece of paper. 'It became a thriving hub of beauty and creativity as more and more people contributed to its good looks.' 'You said only a few very special people from our world get to come. So we aren't the first outsiders to travel here, then?' said Peanut, leaning forward. 'Far from it. Nobody is quite sure how they got here there was a rumour about hidden portals, something like that-but the visitors always kept their secrets and nothing

was ever found.' Mrs M stood up and spread the paper on the table in front of them. It was a map. 'Many, if not all, of the most celebrated creatives from your world have spent time in Chroma. Some have even had districts named after them.' She pointed at the piece of paper. 'This should give you an idea of how big the Illustrated City is.' The three children looked at the map. Peanut recognised lots of the names from the tall signpost. Mrs M folded her arms. ' So there you have it. One city, three regions, twelve districts. And we—' she tapped a bony finger near the top of the map—'are right here.'