--Outer Eden
Nichole "Nick" Thom woke up gently, face down in the dirt, to a light breeze passing over her back. The sound of birds chirping came into focus before she could open her eyes. When she did, she saw the trunks of trees, all in a row. 'I'm in some kind of apple orchard', she observed. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, trying to remember how she got here.
'I don't know what I did last night, but I hope I enjoyed it. Okay, Retrace your steps, Nick. What's the last thing you can remember?' She asked herself.
'I was... in the car with my boyfriend.' She answered herself. 'Everything is still fuzzy. We just graduated, we got into an argument, he was driving me home... and that's it.'
She turned around, and her jaw dropped. In front of her was a drop in the ground of about eight feet, which leveled out into what appeared to be a vast expanse of flat floor hand-made from stone. In the near distance beyond the world's largest parking lot, stood a large wall made out of monolithic stones. Attached to the outer corners of the walls, like gargoyles, were gigantic sphinx-like statues, with lion bodies, human heads with big, curly beards, and wings on their backs. Towering over the walls from behind, were rows and rows of enormous, pearly white pyramids and ziggurats. As her eyes followed the buildings upwards, some colors caught her eye, and her jaw dropped even further. Above her, in all directions, stretched across the sky, was some kind of ceiling made out of crystal or glass, high above the stratosphere like a great, glass bubble. It almost even appeared to have water over it, based on the distortion of the gentle sun light passing through. A velvet-blue aurora stretched across the sky making the greens and reds of the apple trees pop against her eyes like some kind of Disney Princess magic camera filter. To her left, there appeared to be a concentration of dark clouds gathered directly beneath the glass, which seemed to be actively misting the apple trees below it; the whole pillar of the operation slowly creeping along the orchard rows.
Nick backed slowly into the orchard as she drank it all in, trying to sort it all out. 'I'm clearly lost. I've never even seen pictures of this place before. What happened last night? Is there gonna be a bunch of embarrassing photos of me when I get back home? Am I still on whatever drugs I took? That must be it, I still feel a bit woozy."
She stumbled a bit on her own equilibrium.
'Wait-' she blinked. 'I'm not woozy. This feels more like vertigo.'
She felt a strange sensation, as though the very ground she was standing on was no longer down beneath her feet, but up at an angle, although gravity was still holding her to the ground like nothing had changed whatsoever. She turned around and yelped.
There before her was a figure, hovering at an angle - or rather, her and the entire planet she was standing on was at an angle compared to it! The figure was semi-translucent, but almost blindingly bright, and though it was hovering more or less in one spot, it gave off the impression that it was flying vigorously through the air around it. The thing itself was a mess of feathered wings and eyeballs, all spinning and collapsing in on itself in fractals and fourth-dimensional wheels. In the center of it all, was a baby's face wearing a propeller beanie, staring directly at her.
It opened its mouth and spoke to her:
"...I'm ...I'm s-sorry, what?" She stuttered, as politely as she could, trying not to anger it.
The baby face squinted at her, and spoke again, "You're speaking a different language. What language is that?"
"I'm speaking English," she answered. "What language were you speaking?"
"I'm speaking the only language that currently exists," It answered. "I've never heard of English."
"Well, you've picked up on it rather well, bravo," she applauded.
"I have not. I simply gave you the gift of tongues. You are now speaking the human language."
"You gave me the what of tongues?" She giggled. "Sir, are you flirting with me?"
"I don't know who you are. This is a problem."
"Buddy, no offense, but you're terrifying, and if you knew who I was, that would be even more terrifying."
"You understand not," said the baby face. "I am Xabriel. I am an intelligence agent. A principality of organized information. It is my very existence to know every human. And I don't know you. Hold still while I get a look at your genetic code."
"Gonna buy me a drink first? I have a boyfriend, you know."
"...Curious. You're a very interesting phenomenon." Said Xabriel.
"I get that a lot," said Nick.
"You appear to be a Sethite, only you're behind thousands of generations too many," it almost looked like Xabriel was scratching his chin, but the overall effect was like a miniature mushroom cloud made out of backlit MC Escher stairs. "This is impossible. If your genetic coding is correct, the whole of creation would be far older than I know it to be. It's completely incorrect."
"Well, it's not my fault," Nick defended herself. "My genes run in my family."
"In addition to that," Xabriel continued. "You appear to have had far too much direct exposure to a sun. How old are you?"
"Okay, first of all, don't ask a girl how old she is. Secondly, don't insult her skin. It's just bad manners."
"Are you a time traveler?" Asked Xabriel.
"I don't know," answered Nick. "What year is it?"
"The year of the rabbit."
"Maybe, then," Nick nodded without having listened to the answer. "That makes a lot of sense, actually. I was starting to think maybe I was on another planet, you know? Cause of the glass ceiling. Where I'm from, the sky is just kind of... naked up there. Direct exposure to the sun and whatnot. Like you were talking about. But then I thought it was weird that an alien planet had apple trees."
"That settles it, then."
"I'm Nick, by the way," she introduced herself. "Can you get me home?"
"I'm afraid not," answered Xabriel.
"Oh, no!" Nick carefully sat on the ground, needing to anchor herself a little in response to Xabriel's fluctuating body, but unsure if she was going to fly off if she tried. "You can make me talk in another language, but you can't send me through time?"
"I'm an intelligence agent, not a travel agent."
"It's fine, I guess," she said, passive aggressively.
"Do I understand correctly that in the future, the sky shield is gone?" Xabriel asked.
"Oh!" Nick rose to her feet. "You don't know? Aren't you afraid if you know too much about the future, you'll change it?"
"No," said Xabriel simply.
"Why not?" Nick asked, sitting back down.
"It is not my place to deviate from the Will of the Lord based on my own understanding."
"The Lord? Wait, is that what you are? An angel?"
"Yes."
"Are... are you my guardian angel?"
Xabriel did something that might have been laughing, but also might have been growing three other heads; a lion's an eagle's and a bull's. Either way, it was a very joyous looking event, and it infected Nick with a desire to laugh along with him.
"I WISH I was a guardian angel! No, I didn't even know who you were until just now. I am a minor intelligence agent. I am very small, personal obfuscations and revelations. That's why I needed to meet you, otherwise you will never meet anyone else here. Behold!"
"Oh, fun! What am I beholding?"
"Candle approaches," said Xabriel. "He is a Sethite. Tell him you are lost and that I am sending you to Outer Eden. You will be safe there. The Lord, our God is above time itself, and if you are here, it is for a reason according to His divine Will."
"Sure, sure. Will I see you again?"
"I do not know. Anything is possible now."
"Freaky," she nodded. "Hey, this gift of tongues is pretty handy. You should give it to my friends."
"You are asking me to wait for thousands of years until you and your friends are born, and give the gift of tongues to your friends?"
"Yes please."
"I will try to remember," Xabriel folded in on himself and disappeared. The ground underneath Nick once again seemed to be the source of gravity, and everything was once again right side up.
Nick stood up carefully, and turned on her heals when she heard footsteps running toward her between the apple trees. A man approached, and slowed to a stop when he saw her. He was tall, and his thick, wild, brown hair made him look taller, as it shot upwards off of his head in all directions. He had on some kind of long, sleeveless leather robe that hung down to his knees, with a belt around the waist, and stilted sandals made of wood and thinly woven rope. His beard made it difficult to guess at his age. He carried a stick with a pelt sack tied to the top of it. Nick's overall impression of him was that he looked like a caveman hobo.
"Are you an angel?" He asked.
"Why is everyone here flirting with me?" Nick rolled her eyes.
The caveman hobo blushed a little, but kept looking at her expectantly.
"No," she answered. "I'm not an angel. You just missed him."
His shoulders sank, and he let out a heavy sigh, "That's too bad. I saw the light in the distance and felt his presence and I ran here to meet him."
"I don't think he wanted to meet you back," said Nick.
"Did he say that?" The caveman hobo asked, forlorn.
"You're Candle, right?"
"Yes, that's me."
"He told me you were coming," she explained. "Then he buggered off. Couldn't be bothered to wait five more seconds."
"Oh."
"Hey, he did say you could help me though," Nick offered.
"Oh?"
"He said you could take me to someplace called Outer Eden? He said I'd be safe there."
"Yes, Outer Eden is where I live," smiled Candle. "I would be happy to take you there. Where are you from? Your clothes are strange."
"What's wrong with my clothes?" Nick looked down at herself, at her perfectly ordinary Portland Trailblazers hoody, sports sweats and sneakers.
"I can see between your legs," he pointed.
"Why are you looking between my legs?" She asked. "Are you some kind of pervert?"
"Oh, no," he blushed again, and averted his eyes.
"I'm teasing you," she laughed. "They're called pants."
"We should go," Candle said, matter-of-factly. "And we should take a few apples with us."
They picked some apples from a nearby tree, and put them in Candle's bag before he led her out of the orchard and along a small path of cobblestone that cut through a large field of long grass, purple flowers, and other weeds. The path lead to some large hills.
"Who's orchards are those? Are we steeling?" Nick asked.
"We planted them," Candle said. "They were an offering to the Cainites. But we can take these. Where are you from? Are you not a Cainite?"
"No, I'm..." Nick paused, trying to decide how specific she needed to be, when she didn't totally understand herself how she got here. "I'm... from another time. My name is Nick."
"It's nice to meet you, Nick of Time," smiled Candle.
Nick laughed.
"I don't believe you, of course," said Candle.
"No, I suppose you wouldn't," Nick smiled back. "But I'm not from here, at any rate. I've never even heard of the Cainites, or Outer Eden. And I don't know why there's a big, glass ceiling over our heads."
"You're kidding me!" Gawked Candle. "Eden is where all of mankind comes from!"
"Like the Garden of Eden?"
"Yes, you've heard of it," Candle nodded. "So you must be one of us. Perhaps you're just from farther out. I hear people from farther from the garden are a bit... confused. It makes sense that you'd be confused."
"And what's with the sky bubble?"
"You are too confused," Candle shook his head. "The sky is the sky. Perhaps you hit your head?"
"Just pretend I'm a child," Nick said, irritated.
"In the beginning, God separated the waters of the sky and the waters of the deep," Candle said, slowly, and slightly condescendingly. "Up there is the heavens."
"That explains nothing," Nick pouted.
They walked awhile in silence.
Nick finally asked, "are we really going to the Garden of Eden?"
"Yes," Candle nodded. "Well, sort of. I live in outer Eden. You know... because we can't actually get into the eastern Garden anymore." He looked at her as he spoke to try and gauge how much she already knew. She listened blankly. "Did you know we can't get into the Garden?"
"I had a hunch," said Nick. "In my time, we... we have a really old book with a few sentences about the Garden of Eden. Most of us think it's a myth and that none of it really existed."
"Hmm," Candle scratched his chin. "You've been estranged from your own history."
"Are the Cainites like... named after Cain? Like from Cain and Abel?" She asked.
"Yes," Candle nodded. "Okay, so you know who Cain and Abel are."
"A little," Nick nodded. "I know Cain killed Abel."
"Do you know who Seth is?"
"No," Nick admitted. "Though in my defense, it's a pretty common name where I'm from."
"Okay," Candle said. "I am a Sethite. Seth was also son of our first Patriarch and Matriarch. He replaced Cain after he was exiled. Do you know what family you belong to?"
"My family name is Thom," Nick answered.
"I don't recognize that lineage," responded Candle.
"That's because I'm from the future, I told you," whispered Nick.
After a couple of hours, they came to the foot of the hills, and followed the cobblestone path between them. The hills were dotted with all manner of herbs and shrubs, releasing a number of fragrances in the air. The path forked off periodically in other directions. Whenever they came to a fork, Candle wouldn't even break pace, he'd just continue walking up one path, and Nick followed figuring he must know his way around pretty well. The farther in they got, she also saw that there were other markers along the sides of the path; small wooden structures with little benches in them that almost looked like bus stops, or gazebos, and wooden stakes in the ground that held up small boxes with open sides that housed little potted plants, usually cherry tomatoes. After clearing a few hills, they rounded the corner of one, and Nick saw structures peaking out from behind the hilltops. When they came to the last hill, the cobblestone path forked around it in both directions, and one center path lead up on top to a well. They took the center path up to the well, and at the apex, Nick got an eyeful of the city from above.
After the hill was a shallow slope, all the way down to a giant river. The river flowed outward from a mountain, or what may have been an artificially constructed wall. It was hard to tell, because it was impossibly massive, and stretched upwards at a ninety degree angle, perhaps all the way to the glass ceiling. She couldn't tell because the top was obscured by cloud. At the bank of the river, on the side of the mountain, was a forty story tall statue of an angel; not complex like Xabriel, but with the form of a robed human with wings. The angel statue was holding a gigantic sword-shaped pillar that was completely engulfed in flames. At its feet was erected a building that looked like a cathedral, with three different towers, and three tall doors. An expanse in front of it was occupied with several tents, freckled with small fires.
The town crept out from the river, and from where Nick was standing, the sun reflected off the water, making it look like the gridded streets were made of part water, part light. Most of the buildings and houses were shallow, only one to four stories tall, and were denser along the waters. The water ran right through the middle of the streets, canals, decorated with flowers on either side, and people floating in buckets and baskets here and there. Farther in land, the water canals were replaced with vegetation, trees and gardens. The buildings were painted in brilliant colors, and clothes-lines were hung between them. Most of them had flat stone roofs, but several were tarped up with stitched cloth, and some were covered with a layer of straw. Various fires were lit throughout the town in front of the buildings, and she could see the glowing firelight flickering against the tops of the walls. On the outer edges of the town, further canals flowed from the river and fed into rice gardens, and more orchards and rows of crops. The houses spread all the way up the hill to where Candle and Nick were standing, with two tall stone obelisks on either side of the cobblestone path marking the entrance.
"This is the most beautiful town I've ever seen," said Nick, gawking at.
Candle looked down, sheepishly, "it's not as impressive as the Cainite city, called Enoch, but we put a lot of love into it."
"What, that big, gloomy, walled off pyramid nest?" Nick looked at him. "With a solid three miles of flat rock holding up nothing? That place is creepy. This place is beautiful. And that big flaming angel statue is at least as impressive as anything they've got."
Candle continued looking down sheepishly, "Oh, yeah, that's... we didn't build that."
"Who built it?" Nick asked.
Candle looked embarrassed.
"It's okay if you don't want to tell me," said Nick.
Candle looked up and smiled, but he still looked sad, "it's been there since practically the beginning. Inside there, that's the Garden of Eden, where we all came from. The angel statue keeps us out. We keep hoping one day we will be worthy enough for it to move again and let us in."
Nick looked hard at the distant statue. It did have a certain foreboding quality to it.
"You keep hoping?" She asked.
"It's hard sometimes," he said, quietly. "You know we die now, right?"
"What?" Nick. "Is that thing killing you?"
"No, not the angel. We just die," Candle explained. "We... grow old. We go to sleep and never wake up. Or we fall, or drown, or get sick, and the wind stops occupying our bodies. We are a cursed people."
"Oh," Nick blinked. "That's normal, though, right?"
"Pardon me," Candle said. "It's hard for me to know what you know and what you don't know. You knew Cain and Abel, but not Seth. You knew of the Garden of Eden, but not the angel with the flaming sword. Now you know of the curse of death, but not of the sky. I don't see the pattern."
"I'm sorry," Nick apologized. "But death is normal where I'm from. It's a part of life."
"Death is not normal," said Candle defensively. "We didn't die in the Garden. Our Patriarch, Adam, and our Matriarch, Eve, they thought when they were banned from the Garden that their first born child, Cain would be the foretold Messiah that would make them worthy again to enter into Paradise. But Cain killed Abel. And so now Abel can never enter the Garden. Because he is dead. We didn't even know what death really was until that happened. Do you see?"
Nick thought about it, "see what?"
"We were already large in number by then," Candle continued. "We worked and we toiled. We tried to recreate the Garden out here in the wilderness as best as we could, and we started a tradition of an annual harvest sacrifice, every year in the harvest season. We wanted to show that we were worthy, that we could be trusted, for the curse of sin to be lifted, and for us to return to our home. Every year, we did exactly as it was commanded of us."
"Commanded?"
"Yes. Until one year, Cain thought he would improve upon the form of his harvest grain offering. His thoughts turned to vanity, pride and impatience. The angel's sword burned up his offering. In front of everyone, his sacrifice was not favorable. He was embarrassed, and his family, the Cainites, blamed him for shaming them. Cain grew angry at God, and jealous of Abel, whose sacrifice was favorable that year. He killed his brother. We were all terrified. Cain was banished, and the soil no longer bore fruit for him, so he and his family left to where you were, and built the city of Enoch. We were not sure if we would ever be allowed back into Eden after that. And then Adam died, out of nowhere. He withered, and his hair fell out, and he lost his teeth and much of his memory. And then, one day he just didn't wake up. And so he will never return to Eden either. And then Eve, our Matriarch died. And so now she will never return to the Garden. Do you see? We keep on hoping, and sacrificing, and praying, but we've already lost so many people. I believe we will return someday back to the Garden. But will I be alive to see it?"
"Hmmm," thought Nick. "Have you tried building a small boat, and sailing into the side of the Garden through the river?"
"Have we tried..." Candle laughed a big, boisterous laugh. "You are here at the gates for less than an hour, and you ask if we've tried entering through the river! We've been here hundreds of years!"
"But have you?" She asked again.
"...Uhhh... you know what, I will have to ask if anyone has tried entering the Garden through the river. Come!" Candle bounded forward between the obelisks and gestured for her to follow. "Come meet my family! You've come at such a good time, we are all preparing for the harvest festival in a few days!"
"Oh!" Nick skipped into the city after him.
The city was just as beautiful in the streets as it was from the outside, as they passed house after house, underneath clothes lines and hanging lanterns, the sun gently glowing through the great glass ceiling and the aurora streaking across the sky made the light dance off of the vibrantly colored houses, roofs, flowers, and fabrics. People were walking here and there tending to the gardens in the middle of the streets, and tending to food cooking over open fires. Nick could smell burning spices and vegetables, and blossoming lavender and other pleasing aromas the whole way down toward the water. At one point they passed a man wheeling a wooden wheelbarrow filled with cheese. Everywhere they went, Nick could look up and see the angel statue with the pillar of fire looming over the roofs, and usually the top of the temple as well. They periodically passed large intersections; at one of them, there were carts of different kinds of foods, fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and jars of milk, wine and other beverages she didn't recognize, and people were going around trading with each other. People were bustling in and out of the streets, usually in small groups, some dragging along domesticated farm animals like sheep and goats. In the center of the intersection, three young women were in the middle of painting a large mosaic on the cobblestones. Nick caught herself smiling stupidly at everything.
"You have to try something!" Candle suddenly wheeled excitedly on his heals to face Nick. He took her hand and guided her to one side of the intersection, where a woman had set up shop under a tarped overhang. She was stirring something yellowish white in a cauldron sitting over a small fire.
"Lady Eel! It's so good to see you!" Beamed Candle.
"Hello, Gentleman Candle!" Eel greeted him back. "How is your wife?"
"She is well, thank you," answered Candle. "I want you to meet my new foreign friend, Nick of Time."
Nick laughed, "is that the name that's going to stick?"
"So good to meet you!" Eel greeted her warmly. "I suppose Candle brought you here to try my mud? He's right to do so."
"It's the best mud you'll ever have," Candle promised.
"Okay, not a very appetizing name, but let's try it," said Nick.
"Alright, here we go," Eel turned behind her to a table stacked with small bags and small, stone cups. She selected a bag and a cup and brought them to the front table. She then pulled out a small circular, stone coaster with two metal rods poking out of either side, bent at the top into tiny hooks. She placed the stone cup on the coaster between the hooks, and opened the bag by the draw strings, and smelled.
"Mmmm, smell this," she said, as she held the open bag in front of Nick. "This is the dirt. Don't worry, it's not really dirt. It's my special mixture of ground up nuts and hard beans and spices."
Nick took a whiff. It smelled nutty and a little floral.
Eel tied the two strings around the hooks, over the cup, so that the bag was open facing upwards. She then took a ladle full of the white-yellow liquid from the cauldron and carefully poured it into the bag. A thick, brown, sludgy liquid oozed through the tiny bag's weaves and slopped into the stone cup. Eel pulled a smooth, oblong stone out of her apron pocket and pressed into the cup, and the compressed the mud to the bottom, so that the top of the cup was all a thinner, brown liquid.
Eel handed Nick the cup, "Blow on it. It's still a little hot. And try to drink around the mud at the bottom."
Nick tasted the mud. It was bitter, milky, nutty, and floral.
"Not half bad," she said. "It's almost like coffee, but weirder."
"What's coffee?" Asked Eel.
"It's... a beverage from where I'm from," Nick responded, evasively.
"Where are you from?" Asked Eel. "Are you from Enoch?"
"No, I am not."
Eel's face grew serious, "Are you from... farther out? Don't tell me you're from the Academe?"
"No," said Nick, but Candle nodded.
"I think she's from farther out," he said.
Eel folded her hands together and smiled at her, "well, how wonderful! Of course it's wonderful. All of mankind is welcome to come home to Outer Eden, even if they're just passing through for the Harvest Festival."
"What's the Academe?" Nick asked.
"Pardon?" Eel blinked.
"You seemed a little worried that I was from farther out than Enoch."
"Oh, well," Eel looked down, embarrassed. "You'll excuse my mannerisms, I hope. I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that so often when we see people from farther out, they're almost always a little... confused."
Nick raised one eyebrow, suspiciously, "are people from the Academe... confused?"
"You don't want to hear about the Academe," Candle laughed. "Come on, let's keep going!"
"Wait, what do I owe you?" Nick asked Eel, before Candle could drag her away.
"Oh don't be silly!" Eel waved. "We're all just sharing! Besides, you're a guest of the Sethites!"
"Oh, okay! Thanks!" Nick and Candle waved goodbye and bounded off down another street.
Candle and Nick wove through several other streets, allies and intersections, and around every corner, Nick got another eye full. She thought perhaps the distinct and beautiful flavor of the place could be attributed to the lack of mechanical manufacturing. The roads weren't paved, they were laid with stones, and the houses and tents were impressive, but clearly made by whoever lived there, and without interference from city codes and regulations. Every brick, every plant, every window, canopy and fire pit in this entire city was carefully put into place and adjusted by people who had to stare at it all day. It was all so personable and cared for. As they got closer to the river, the streets grew wider. The gardens in the middle of the streets that bore fruits, vegetables, spices, and scented flowers, were offset by canals of water. Small boats and buckets were tied to the stone railings, and people were rowing by, as an alternative mode of transportation to walking. Most everyone, it seemed, were either out at an intersection trading goods, or outside the front of their houses cooking something at their fire pits. The children were running amok if they weren't helping, playing games. Sometimes she saw elderly people sitting in chairs by the fire pits as well, but one person did pass by her pushing a wheelbarrow with an elderly woman in it.
They came to a small bridge over one of the larger canals, which had an underpass, and Nick saw two young people around her own age, sitting by the water, in the middle of a long kiss. Candle chuckled but averted his eyes and continued over the bridge. Nick stared for a second longer before following, but stopped again when she saw the bridge's railing had frayed, multicolored ribbons tied all over it. She reached out and touched the dangling parts. None of the ribbons were terribly alike, and they didn't seem to be tied there in any particular order, just a simple knot each, so they hung down and waved around in the wind. She wasn't even sure they were ribbons, they looked like they were torn off of other larger things.
"What are these for?" She asked Candle.
Candle turned around to see what she was referring to, "Oh those? Sometimes young people, they are overcome with attraction, and they want to spend alone time together when they're not supposed to. They sneak out in the dark of the night by candle light and they come here. And the girls will tie these here as a memory, and supposedly only they know which one is theirs."
"Oh, that's cute," said Nick.
"It's trouble," frowned Candle. He straightened up, and stepped closer to Nick, locking eyes with her. "Children, they are impulsive. And in the night, without getting their sleep, with no supervision and only the company of each other, they risk being given over to their passions and defiling themselves. They risk irreparable stains on their future marriages, and creating chasms between them and their family." He leaned in closer, a wide grin creeping across his face. He touched a red ribbon and whispered, "this one is mine."
Nick giggled.
"My boyfriend and I are alone all the time," she said. "Though our culture isn't the same as yours, so it doesn't... create chasms or anything. We get left alone to make our own decisions, cause we're adults."
"That's incredibly irresponsible of your culture," said Candle.
"I wonder what he's doing right now," said Nick, unfazed. "It's starting to sink in a little that I'm stuck here and I might not ever see my home again. This place is so beautiful and interesting, and I'm having a great time. And I think if I went home now, I'd be disappointed. But also... what do I do?"
"You don't know how you got here?" Asked Candle.
"I have no idea," said Nick. "And neither did the angel. He couldn't zap me back home with his angel powers. I might be here for good. My boyfriend must be freaking out. And my mom! Oh, and my friends... I guess they're not freaking out, cause they're not born yet. But they will freak out in a few thousand years."
Candle considered her words, and said thoughtfully, "I grieve with you. Friends and family are a significant thing to be separated from. I still think you are confused, and if I'm right, we will find your tribe. But either way, you are home. Eden is home to all mankind, and the farther we are from it, the more lost we get. Both in space and in time."
"Oh give me a break, you can't even get in," Nick said defensively.
Candle hung his head, "I meant no offense, Nick of Time. This is as close as we can get to the Garden. And so we stay, so that we only get this lost. It's not so lost."
"You're not any more in the Garden than I am, bub," said Nick. "And I don't appreciate you judging my culture. You don't know me."
Candle stepped backwards, smiled and bowed, "I apologize. You are right, of course. Let's keep going! I want you to meet my family. You can stay with us as long as you'd like." He continued on, and Nick followed.
A few more blocks and bridges later, they stopped at a house that had stuff carved into the walls. There were stone pillars in the front, and on the side, and some stone blocks, all covered in writing. Nick tried to take a closer look; they had little boxes, lines, dots and angular shapes. She blinked a couple of times; the script was completely legible to her, as though it were written in plain English.
"Man, the gift of tongues is really cool," she whispered to herself.
A woman sat in front of the house carving and chopping a barrel of vegetables, and passing them off to a little girl who sat next to her sorting them into baskets. A small toddler, maybe one or two years old, was running back and forth; when he got too far in one direction, the woman called out, "you're going too far, love, come back!" and he'd laugh and turn around and run the other direction, until the woman called again, and then he'd get upset and scream for a second, before running back in the direction he ran the first time and repeating.
"This is my family!" Candle bounded forward, proudly. The woman looked up at Nick and Candle, startled. Candle introduced them, "This is my wife, Sigil, my daughter, Vigil, and the baby is my son, Lantern! Family, this is my new friend, Nick of Time!"
Nick giggled, "Sorry, you probably don't know why that's funny to me."
Sigil rose to her feet and put her carving knife and a carrot down on the stone in front of her, "Welcome! Welcome! Are you from Enoch?"
"Uh, no," Nick answered.
"She's from farther out," offered Candle.
"Oh," nodded Sigil, thoughtfully.
"I'm from the future," explained Nick.
"Oh," nodded Sigil, thoughtfully.
"You, uh..." Nick gestured back at their home, at all the writing. "You write all this?"
"Some of it," Candle said, excitedly jumping. "I'm practicing. I'm going to become the next keeper of stories. I have a long way to go before I'm as captivating as my great-great-grandfather, Kindle."
"You guys have a very obvious naming convention," said Nick. "Is Eel's mother named Guppy?"
"Oh you met Eel!" Sigil said, delighted. "Lovely woman, I love her mud. Her mother's name is River."
"Kindle is getting very old in age," said Candle, solemnly. "But he's taught me a lot! Look at this!" He bounced over to one of the stone columns. "This is an account of the seasons. I transferred it from a tablet to this column, so that all the same seasons were on the same sides, and look!" He pointed to two opposite sides of the columns. "If you lay it out like this, you can track event patterns!"
"My husband, perhaps our guest might not be as interested as you in your stories," Sigil suggested, politely.
"It's okay, ma'am," Nick reassured her. "My boyfriend is also a huge nerd."
Candle gave Nick a peak inside the small house, the walls of which were also covered in writings, while Sigil and Vigil went back to cooking. Candle distractedly recounted a couple of half-stories before Nick offered to help the girls with the food. Candle unloaded the apples and began to peel them.
After awhile, the sky began to dim, and the violet aurora grew more vibrant against the darker blue of the glass. An older, heavier man wandered over to say hello.
"Candle, my friend!" Greeted the man.
Candle smiled broadly and rose to meet him, "Logs!"
"His name is logs?" Nick asked to herself. "I'm not sure I'm mature enough to take that seriously."
"Eel told me you were in the company of a foreigner," said Logs, gesturing at Nick. "I take it by the strange clothing this must be her?"
"Logs, this is my new friend, Nick of Time," Candle smiled.
"Welcome Nick of Time!" Logs threw his arms up gleefully. "A name as strange and foreign as your clothes!"
Nick rose to her feet, "Bold words coming from a man named Logs."
"How far out are you from? You're not from the Academe, from the look of you. I'd say... Lilith?"
"Never heard of Lilith," Nick replied.
"Hmm, don't tell me, I'll guess it," Logs scratched at his beard, thoughtfully.
"I'll bet you won't," Nick smirked.
"Wherever you're from, you chose a good year to come for harvest! I hear they're bringing the relics out!"
"Ah the relics," Candle chuckled.
"What are the relics?" Asked Nick.
"They're just a bunch of old artifacts the priests keep in the temple," Candle replied. "They are holy to us, but some like Logs here make more fanfare of them than they are worth."
"Do not disparage them," Logs waved his finger at Candle, then turned his attention to Nick. "I used to be like you. I'm a Sethite, but I didn't believe in the stories of the Garden or the relics; they all seemed exaggerated. So I left. I traveled very far. I spent some time at the Academe, even. I got nostalgic and came back to visit one festival and they brought the relics out. I saw them, I did."
Logs leaned in closer, smiling with his eyes, "I saw a woman was healed of her wounds by the Skull of Abel."
"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Candle. "You fill her head with these things, she'll get her hopes up about the nature of the artifacts. They aren't magic."
"I'm sorry, did you say the Skull of Abel?" Asked Nick. "As in..." she mimed smashing a rock against someone's head and made a splat sound with her mouth.
"That's right, I saw it myself," Logs grinned. "Big hole in the top and everything!"
"Ew," said Nick, matter-of-factly.
"You say ew, but those relics made me believe in the old stories again," Logs waved his finger. "They made me believe in miracles too. God still sees us. And then there's the Seeds of Eden."
"What are those?" Nick asked.
"They're seeds," Candle explained. "They say Father Adam smuggled them out of the Garden when they were banished. You see, Father Adam and Mother Eve, they were bade to eat of any fruit from any tree in the Garden, except for one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they disobeyed and they ate of the forbidden fruit. It was for eating this fruit that we are all exiled, and why we all die."
"That seems extreme," Nick said. "What was so special about that fruit that God should punish all of you for your grandfather eating it?"
Candle sat back down, "My friend, knowledge is like swords. If you have not been taught how to carry a sword, how to chop and cut, then you are likely to hurt yourself. So it is with knowledge. That is why knowledge must be bestowed prayerfully, never taken or stolen."
"Does that mean you don't know?" Asked Nick.
"It means it is not God who kills us," answered Candle. "It is the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil taken unearned."
"But you still keep the seeds around?" Nick asked.
"We offer them back, that is why they are seated in the Temple," Candle continued. "But nobody, God or angel has come to claim them."
"We take it to mean that the knowledge of good and evil cannot be unlearned, just as its fruit cannot be uneaten," added Logs.
Nick thought about this. She looked back up at Candle and asked, "have you tried planting them?"
Candle and Logs looked at each other, dumbfounded, then broke into abrupt laughter.
Nick and Sigil finished up the food while Candle and Logs became lost in high minded conversation she could barely follow. Sigil didn't say much, but she offered to guide Nick through the festival as Candle would be shouldering part of the storytelling duties this year. Lantern grew tired and fussy, and Sigil became occupied with nursing him. They all ate as the sky grew dark. The light flickered on the walls of all the buildings from the various fire pits, as well as from the giant sword on the angel statue. Nick could look up and see the aurora still gracefully flowing like a river of purple. 'Nobody will believe me if I ever make it back,' she thought to herself.
They thought they heard a booming sound from off in the distance. They shrugged it off, and continued talking, but then they heard it again, slightly closer. They stayed quiet for a few minutes, listening. When nothing else happened, Sigil suggested they get the children to bed. Candle stood up and walked into the street, looking around. A couple of men ran up the street in a hurry. Nick stood up as well when she saw them.
"What is happening?" Candle asked.
"Get the women and children inside," said one of the men. "Tubalcain has come to the Temple."
"Tubalcain?" Candle asked, perplexed.
"He has brought with him large weapons of iron, and giants."
"Nephalim? Here?" Candle stiffened up, and ran back over to the fire pit.
Sigil scooped up Lantern, and started to usher Vigil inside.
"Did he say giants?" Asked Vigil.
"Hush now," Sigil reassured her. "Let's get inside. We will be alright. God provides."
"Sigil," Candle said.
"I heard," said Sigil.
"Kindle is at the Temple. I have to go."
She turned back around to look at him, fearful.
"Get the kids to sleep. Keep Nick safe. I will return."
"Don't you go rushing into unnecessary danger, my Candle. You stay."
"I can't."
"I will go with him," Logs rose to his feet.
"Neither one of you are soldiers," Sigil protested.
Candle put his hand on Sigil's shoulder, "Logs will come with me. We will not approach. We will stay out of the way and find my grandfather. When I am satisfied he is safe, I will return."
Sigil looked like she was going to protest more, but instead ushered the children inside. Candle and Logs wheeled on their feet and made their way down the street.
Nick stood alone in stunned silence by the fire for a minute. She looked back at the house, then back at the street. "Giants," she whispered to herself, "well I'm not gonna miss that, am I?" before taking off after Candle and Logs.
She bounded down a couple of streets in the direction she saw them leave, and had to stop and look around. She assumed she was quick enough to catch up to them, but the streets were dark, and she didn't know what turns to take. 'Am I lost?' She asked herself. She turned and saw the big, flaming angel sword in the sky and smiled, "I'll just meet them at the Temple then."
She tried to run as quickly as she could, but she could barely see. The sword only illuminated so much, and the aurora's glow didn't seem to help at all. She would occasionally come up on a pillar of smoke rising out of a fire pit that had recently been snuffed out in a hurry. She almost fell into a canal a couple of times, and at one point, she ran down an alley that led to a dead end. Eventually, she reached an intersection, and saw men running toward the sword with torches that lit up the street. She followed them, trying not to be noticed. They emptied off of the street into a large courtyard, decked with tents, packed with people. She could see towering above their heads, the Temple, as big as any cathedral. Towering above that was the angel statue; the fire light from the sword cast upwards on its face making it look ominous and foreboding. She pushed her way through the mob, trying to find Candle.
Once she got close enough to the front, a large silence hit the crowd. She peaked between shoulders and saw what looked like several large cannons aimed straight at the temple. 'They didn't invent cannons yet,' she thought. 'What is this?' The cannons were on wheels, dragged by humongous, bulky, giant men. They almost looked like ogres, with long, red hair, elongated heads, and deformed faces. They had almost comically bulbous, muscled, hairy bodies, and wore nothing but a loin cloth and sandals. Along the feet of the cannons were regular sized soldiers carrying lances, swords and spears. A gangly looking man in a tall, woolen hat, and pointy shoulder pads climbed on top of the on of the cannons. He lifted what looked like a megaphone to his lips and began to address the crowd.
"Do not panic!" He roared. "You will all be safe, so long as your priests comply!"
The doors to the Temple opened, and more soldiers came out. They pointed their spears at old men in robes with long beards, as they carried a table out of the Temple and into the courtyard. Nick started making her way closer to get a better look. A soldier brought an old man bound in ropes in front of the cannon the gangly, pointy man was standing on. He stopped talking in the megaphone, but both men were shouting at each other, and she finally got close enough to make out some of what they were saying. The people in the crowd were frightened, being kept back away from the cannons by soldiers, and she couldn't get in any closer.
"Your struggle is useless, old man!" Growled the pointy man. "The relics are ours now! They will be brought back to Enoch!"
"I don't understand you, Tubalcain!" The old man shouted back. "You could have come any time! We have always welcomed the Cainites in Outer Eden!"
A murmur of welcoming agreement waved through the crowd of Sethites. Tubalcain shot a glair across the crowd, and hopped off of the cannon to address the old man on the ground level.
"You are an old fool to think you can welcome us here!" He growled. "You yourselves are not even welcome here! This is a cursed land!"
"This land, we offer to God-"
Tubalcain grabbed the old man by the hair and screamed in his face, "THIS LAND YOU OFFER TO A FALSE GOD, DO YOU NOT SEE THAT!?" He cast the man to the ground and climbed back onto the cannon, pulling up his megaphone. "Sethites, my brothers and sisters! Here me! You think we have abandoned God, but it is God who has abandoned us! We are exiled from Eden, and we toil and we die! Behold, you stand at the door and knock! Does anyone answer?!" The Sethites remained silent. "HAS ANYONE! EVER!! ANSWERED!!???" They still remained silent. He continued, "Our people now die, and your God does nothing! He either cannot or will not do anything! Therefore he is either a powerless god or an evil one! But I bring to you news of the new gods! Behold! Our new gods have promised us conquest! Azazel has given us knowledge of the mysteries of the universe! He has built for us mighty cannons! The Watchers have granted the wombs of our women the gift of mighty giants! With them, we will subdue the Earth from here to the realm of the Leviathan! But first, we will have your relics!"
Tubalcain hopped back down from the cannon, and began to walk toward the table. He halted, spun back around, and shouted, "And kill this old man!"
A soldier moved toward the old man and drew his sword. Someone screamed from the Sethite crowd. Nick looked over and saw that Candle had shoved passed the soldiers and lept between the old man and the pointy end of the Cainite sword.
"Who is this?" Tubalcain pointed, annoyed. "Please move."
"This is my grandfather," Candle said. "You cannot kill him. He is a good man. The murder of a good man is cursed."
Tubalcain walked slowly toward Candle, calmly and thoughtfully, "Oh, child. If Cain killed one man and was avenged sevenfold, I will be avenged seventy-sevenfold." He jerked around to face the angel statue and shouted at it, "DO YOU HEAR ME!?? WHAT WILL YOU DO!? WILL YOU CURSE ME!!?? WILL YOU BRING YOUR FLAMING SWORD TO ME LIKE YOU DID TO MY GRANDFATHER'S OFFERING!?!?"
The angel statue did not move. "I thought not!" Tubalcain snarled, turning back around. "The skull of my grandfather's vanquished foe belongs to me, and I will take the seeds as well! We are no longer offering them back to God! Kill the old man, and his grandson too!"
"Hold it!" Nick shouted as she jumped onto the relics table. Everyone turned to look at her. Somehow, she'd slipped passed the guards unnoticed.
"Another one?" Tubalcain groaned. "Does everyone here want to die to-day?"
The soldiers began toward her. She swallowed hard, "Um... Don't kill them, because..."
She looked down at the relics. She picked up the skull and tossed it into the crowd of Sethites, causing an immediate panic. She took the opportunity to scoop up the seeds and jump back into the crowd, disappearing in the chaos. Tubalcain and the soldiers ran toward where the skull was thrown, the giants stayed in place watching the fiasco. Candle seized the opportunity to frantically untie his grandfather.
Tubalcain emerged back into the clearing, holding the Skull of Abel above his head, shouting for everyone to calm down and maintain order. He instructed a soldier to grab the seeds, and upon discovering they were missing, a panic once again broke out in the crowd. Nick had a hard time shoving her way through the mob. She had to find Candle and get out of there. A soldier grabbed her by the arm, and she couldn't break free of his grip.
"I have her!" He yelled. Tubalcain once again called for order, this time less successfully. He gestured at a giant, who fired a cannon at the Temple, blowing off one of the spires. Everyone fell silent. The soldier brought Nick, struggling, up to Tubalcain.
"Give me those seeds, girl," he snarled.
"What, these?" She said as she popped them into her mouth and swallowed them.
His eyes grew wide.
There was an audible gasp from everyone in the crowd, including the soldiers, followed by frantic murmuring.
Tubalcain leaned in to her face, "who are you?"
She didn't answer.
"WHO ARE YOU!!??" He screamed in her face. "Who are you, little worm, that you should desecrate the holy relics!? That you should throw the Skull of Abel and swallow the Seeds of Eden!?" He bit his knuckles, and looked like he was going to cry. "You've managed to make yourself an enemy of both the Sethites and the Cainites to-night. What do I even do with you!??"
"Feed her to the Leviathan!" Someone shouted from the soldiers.
"Who said that?" Tubalcain asked. "Come out here!"
One of the soldiers, a big man with a strong frame stepped forward and knelt before Tubalcain.
"What is your name, young man?"
"I am called Pattern, sir," answered Pattern.
"Pattern," Tubalcain repeated. "That is an excellent idea. Will you escort this witch to the Edge of the Earth to be swallowed by the Leviathan?"
"I would be honored to be entrusted by Tubalcain with this task, sir," Pattern answered.
"No!" Candle ran out of the crowd between Pattern and Nick.
"You again!?" Tubalcain spat. "Hasn't anyone killed this man yet? Why is he yet alive to interrupt my murdering for a second time?"
"Please," Candle pleaded. "She is not a Sethite. She has never been here. She is my guest. She does not know the significance of the relics. Take me in her place."
Tubalcain leaned in, "you know I can't spare her. Her body is a temple of death now."
"They were only seeds," Candle pleaded. "We have to have faith that our God is a God of mercy and understanding. She should not be punished for her ignorance."
"None of us should be punished, neither for our ignorance nor our understanding," he snarled back. "Yet here we all are, dying in the streets, unable to reenter the Garden and eat from the tree of life. Pattern! Rise and bind this man, and the girl and escort the both of them to the Edge of the Earth to be swallowed by the Leviathan. Sacrificing his life to spare a sinner makes him complicit to her sin. Stop in Enoch for supplies. Tell them what happened here to-day. Tell them Tubalcain sent you."
Pattern rose, and with the help of other soldiers, bound Candle and Nick up with rope.
Tubalcain climbed back onto a cannon and somberly addressed the Sethites through the megaphone, "My family, my brothers and sisters. To-night there has befallen us a tragedy. A wicked witch has consumed the Seeds of Eden. Let us take this opportunity to come together in unity, for we are of one Earth. Let these things be my gesture of good faith. We will take the Skull of Abel, and withdraw our giants. This week, we will both celebrate the Harvest Festival, both the Sethites and the Cainites. One last time. My soldier, Pattern, has volunteered to escort the witch to the End of the Earth, to be consumed by the Leviathan. We will leave for one year. We and our Nephalim will conquer other lands for the Empire of Cain. We will bring our whole family back together once and for all. We will return here in time for next year's harvest to seize this land last. If your God has not removed the angel and opened the gates of Eden in that time, we will lay siege to the walls and break in by force."
At these words, he hopped off the cannon and gestured for the soldiers and giants to retreat out of the city. Pattern followed suit, dragging Candle and Nick along behind him by the rope. Candle looked backwards as they left, to see the Temple had caught fire where the spire used to be. He smelled the smoke, and faintly heard the murmurs and sobbing coming from the Sethites as they were left to pick up the pieces.
"What have you done?" Nick whispered at Candle, loudly. "It could've just been me! It didn't have to be you! You have a family! You have children!"
"I did the right thing to do," Candle whispered back. "Maybe I can find a way to free us. I have faith in God."
"Quiet back there," Pattern barked, yanking the rope.
