Above Eden: Of Science, Magic, and Gods

Caelu sat in her chair and smiled, her skin feeling fresh and clean… yet completely bare. Her previous dirt markings were missing, and her tattered clothes had been replaced with strange new ones composed of unfamiliar strings.

The clothes felt… smooth and soft, like well-maintained fur. Yet, it wasn't animal skin, instead created by some sort of plant; she could sense that much.

There was much about the strange humans that were taken for granted amongst their tribe, but Caelu could easily see the wonders in even the simplest of objects.

She grabbed the dirt from the jar Elize gave her and created a network of elaborate drawings and symbols that she had memorized her entire life. "As I mark myself with the touch of Tesa, so too will his mark be upon me."

The process took several minutes, and she looked vastly more organized despite the streaks and lines of earth caked on her body. Caelu lifted her bare feet and glanced at the hard, ceramic floor, carefully lifting small bits of dirt that had fallen during her marking. After whisking the dirt with a wave of magic, she placed the jar back on the desk and glanced around the room.

""E-lek-trick-ity"" Caelu muttered, staring at the bright warm glow on the tall, straight lamp on her desk. She stared at the bright light before following the strange black tail snaking out of the lamp and into a nearby wall. "What a strange name."

Her vision focused on her surroundings: a comfortable bed with the softest blankets and pillows, a pile of hastily stored boxes made of sturdy yet lightweight material, and a few trinkets and bound parchments stuffed into a small shelf nearby.

There were many familiar things amidst the pile of mysteries, yet even they were different. She could sense the faint presence of metal in all of them and only received a dull thud as if her connections to the items were severed.

These humans were… nothing like the tales the elders recited. She had seen much, enjoyed much. Perhaps they were tricks meant to disorient her or lower her guard. Yet she could feel them, and her mental probing only provoked a gentle curiosity, touched by genuine happiness and generosity from their emotions.

Was it because they were from a place afar? Were these humans different from those that warred her forefathers?

"The word electricity comes from a word in our world called "elektron," which means amber."

Caelu turned to Elize, who was standing beside her with her arms behind her back. The brown-haired golem from Earth remained impassive like always, though she seemed satisfied with helping Caelu. "Amber? Why amber?"

"Because rubbing amber on furs such as wool generates sparks and attracts the objects together: static electricity."

Some of the words flew over her head, but Caelu nodded all the same. "So amber can create electricity?"

"In the simplest of terms, yes."

"And electricity is like… lightning, like you said earlier? Leader Moore said they're used to power your tools, right?"

"Correct. You are understanding new things very well."

"The elders mentioned that I was a fast learner," Caelu declared pointedly, her ears sticking up while she puffed out her chest.

"Then, hopefully, this will be useful for you," Elize replied. She walked over and pulled out the thin tool Caelu had seen during her first meeting with the woman. It was stubby and transparent, with a small metal surface on the bottom. "This is a tablet."

"A strange looking one, but I guess it is shaped similar to one."

"Unlike the tablets you know, this tool can assist us with many tasks…"

"Like what?"

"Taking a "picture," reading the entirety of humanity's knowledge…"

"What's a "picture?""

Elize blinked. "A form of realistic painting, where we use a tool to capture the moment in real life and instantly form it onto a parchment."

"That sounds rather magical," Caelu mentioned.

"It is entirely "scientific.""

""The sum of all your knowledge.""

"Precisely. At first, humans from Earth also relied on drawing things to transcribe what they saw in the real world into a visual medium. However, as their knowledge and understanding advanced, they harnessed chemicals and the likes to create a way to capture their view of the world as realistically as possible. Allow me to demonstrate."

Within a flash, Elize picked up the tablet and pressed a button, earning a small beep before she placed it back onto the desk. Caelu stared as she stared at… herself on the transparent screen. "That's… me."

"A picture of you, yes."

Caelu gaped at the device and shrieked. "Did you… capture my soul just now? Am I a prisoner to this tablet? Was this all a trick?"

"Do not panic," Elize answered. She picked up the tablet and took a picture of herself, showing the result to the elf. "It is merely a tool to capture your likeness. It is not some… device to seize your soul. Though you are not the first to think so."

A small part of her doubted otherwise, but Caelu steeled her nerves and slowly poked her fingers on the screen with the picture. Elize watched wordlessly, though she raised an eyebrow and released a slight pang of… amusement from her emotionless self.

Her finger bounced off, and the screen maintained Elize's unimpressed face. Caelu detected a distinct lack of magic, though considering these humans' usage of tools rather than the mystic arts, that wasn't evidence. "... Can it take pictures of anything?"

"Of course."

For several minutes, Caelu took pictures of objects within the room, including one of herself and Elize together. It had taken her a few attempts, but she had figured out the pattern for commanding the tablet to do something with a series of taps. The elf grinned and tapped the tablet twice to zoom in on a picture. "Can I have one?"

"Perhaps in the future. Unfortunately, I believe it is time for me to introduce you to this tablet's more… mundane features," Elize announced. She took the tablet away and swiped to something else, a screen that contained strange letters and symbols. "The tablet has access to all of humanity's knowledge from the beginning to the current day. This is a "dictionary," a way to exchange your people's language into the common English."

"I beg your pardon?"

"It will allow you to understand your language and our language, English, simultaneously."

"Ah… but I am unable to read."

"I will verbally teach you for the next several hours; that is my task. Now, let us cover the basics of the English alphabet…"

For the first time, Caelu had a clear sense of time. Her tribe had always tracked time through a magical sundial that worked underground. Yet, it was always an estimate of time, perhaps to the nearest "hour."

Here, time was down to the "seconds" and "minutes," made possible by a tool called a "clock."

This new understanding of time also exasperated her, as she realized that six hours had passed, almost a half-night cycle, on learning how to recite the English alphabet.

Her initial eagerness to learn was… dulled to an extent.

"T… U… V… W… Y?" Caelu said.

Elize shook her head. "X. You are very close to learning it. Considering you are learning an entirely foreign language that has almost no similarities with your tribe's language, you are doing well. "

"You said even children could do this!"

"Human children. You are making excellent progress; do not be deterred."

"... May I take a short break?"

"Of course. This is not something forced upon you; you are to learn at your own leisure."

Caelu sipped the clear, cool water that Elize had delivered earlier and chomped on a pastry known as a "chocolate muffin." She swallowed the sweet filling and licked her lips. "What is this brown sweet thing?"

"Chocolate."

"It is a fantastic delicacy," Caelul exclaimed. She licked the remnants of the chocolate on her fingers and smiled. "There is nothing akin to this back at home."

Elize stared at the muffin and blinked. "It is the fruit of a tree back at home. Perhaps we can plant one in this world after some proper vetting and rules."

"Why would you need rules for this fruit?"

"... There are dangers regarding any new plants and animals in foreign environments. Which is why such an action will require extensive studies and tests."

"Plants and animals should grow freely everywhere. Why limit this wonderful fruit to only one place?"

"Perhaps we will get to the importance of balance in "ecosystems" and the dangers of invasive species some other time in the future," Elize stated.

"Of… course?" Caelu answered, confused by Elize's words. After swallowing the crumbly bread, Caelu took another sip of water and stared out the small window in the corner of her room. "Do you think they'll allow me to fly on one of those planes again?"

It had never occurred to her how… vast the world was before the arrival of these strange humans. Her world was limited to the space within the earth, which her people called home, and the occasional visits to the forest for hunting or patrolling. The only time she spent consecutive nights on the surface was during her Trials.

Prior to today, when Caelu stared up at the sky, all she saw was a forbidden place, despised by her people and menacingly glaring at her tiny vestige. It was an eternal reminder to remain planted on the earth or face uncertainty about the reaches of the sky.

Yet the "planes." Those fantastic metal beasts, roaring in ways that no monster in the Forest of Tesa could. Rising into the air like a spring gale despite its brutish looks and weight. Darting and zipping through the sky like her brother amongst his friends.

The way she could see an endless amount of earth.

The sharp yet tickling whispers of the wind.

The boundless limits of the air.

It had opened her eyes to new horizons, and she could never imagine a world where she was eternally looking upwards.

Why maintain such a narrow view within the earth, when one could see the earth in its infinite glory, in the sky?

"Possibly, as long as they do not impede the warriors in their daily tasks."

"I've wanted to ask… you say you come in peace, yet you have so many warriors amongst your tribe."

"The United States has a significant army, with millions of warriors. However, the organization we serve under, the "United Nations," is the one leading this… quest. This quest consists of a collection of warriors and scholars from tribes across our world, in pursuit of learning and exploring this world."

"So you… went from your home tribe to another tribe," Caelu asked. She tilted her head and frowned. "Why?"

"The situation in our world is complex, but the short answer is that after a series of devastating wars, many of the tribes on our planet agreed to… limit the amount of warfare and tribe-sanctioned violence. This goal has been achieved with… mixed success, and there is currently an uneasy peace across our world. The United Nations is tasked with ensuring that the tribes remain at peace and use volunteers from member tribes to maintain that peace."

"A series of devastating wars? How many?"

"There were two wars we call "world wars" on Earth. Both killed… approximately a hundred thousands of thousands people in total. Entire nations and cities were destroyed, and terrible weapons and tools were developed to kill more people more effectively. There was also a more recent "War of the Pacific," where our tribe battled with another large tribe… with great cost of life as well."

"... It sounds similar to the death and destruction caused by the War."

Elize turned her attention and stared at the elf, her bright red eyes focusing with eerie concentration. "What is the War?"

"A conflict that destroyed our forefathers hundreds of rotations ago…" Caelu said. Her words tapered off momentarily, her body shaking at the thoughts of the grim tales she had told since her earliest days. "I can not imagine your wars to be more devastating than the War. For it wasn't a war between mere mortals, but also a conflict between the gods."

"Please elaborate."

"Throughout the realm, hundreds of different groups, ranging from clans to kingdoms, are considered the physical guardians of their patron gods. They are much like how Tesa blesses my tribe. The War was a terrible conflict between almost all these groups, primarily between the Church, the Unitary, and the Kingdom of Lonsaure, the former home of all elves in the mortal realm."

"I assume that the war led to the Kingdom of Lonsaure's destruction, along with the dispersement of elves across the continent. Hence your tribe's underground lifestyle."

"Within the earth, but yes."

"The Unitary being… the Unitary Realm of Lisoria. And the Church is the Church of Eopsin?"

Caelu's ears twitched reflexively. "Humans."

"Humans from this world," Elize clarified. "The humans from Earth are not the same."

"So are you not a hu… Never mind. From what I've seen so far, you're right. Yet, I can not speak for my entire tribe."

"People will always fear the unknown. In due time, I am certain that your tribe will see differently. However, I would like to learn more about this world, your people, and the War. For example, was it your people who repelled the monsters away from our place in the forest that night?"

"Yes." Caelu paused, considering the possibility of the information being used against her tribe. She shook her head and answered truthfully. "It was to prepare for The Trials. A group of younger elves, including my brother, was to be sent into the forest and be given a day to prepare for the onslaught of monsters. They were to survive for a week, and if they succeeded, they would've been ushered in as full members of the tribe."

"Is your tribe governed by… war chiefs?"

"The elderly retired ones, yes. All are adept at both magic and weaponry," Caelu boasted.

"I see. And tell me about your dirt markings and Tesa."

"Of course! These markings are to honor Tesa, our patron god. It's so that we always feel close to him, no matter where we are..."

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AN: Shoutout to Philip Mackinoths, Demoniose Oculus, Rémi Dufour, and deathraven181 for their support on Patreon. Thank you so much