Mist Opportunity: 3 (The Cryptic Chronicles)

'On a cold and grey Valentine’s Day, the air seemed to hold its breath, and Colin Holly noticed. With the uneasy atmosphere enveloping him, he forced himself to look at his newspaper and to begin solving the daily cryptic crossword. Starting with the top line, he very soon wished he hadn’t. The meaning implied by the combination of those two resulting words caused desperation to flood through Holly’s body. Now more than ever, he felt the frustration of having no control over his transition into a world where his house was not his own. The arrival of a small, fat chicken, with dark brown fur and the head of an otter, made the welcome announcement that he had already made that transition, enabling him to offer whatever help he could. And… and, he had the name of the Complier…

Some minutes later, televisions across the land were being switched on to the worst news they’d experienced in some time. But all hope was not lost: Cordelia had the solution. What else were libraries for?

Would this answer be enough to halt a comet on a collision course with earth? Perhaps the Pitch-Black Army, rampaging across the country, was an equally worrying problem. The sense of doom was all-pervading and maybe this time their success wasn’t so assured, maybe they would need help, or at least some form of resistance to the events that would surely overwhelm them.

Only time would tell…'

This is a crossword-based, London-located speculative fantasy story from renowned crossword compiler Marc Breman, whose puzzles have appeared in almost every national paper. Set in a parallel world almost identical to our own, the Cryptic Chronicles series is based on the question of what the world would look like if it was governed by the daily cryptic crossword puzzle.