The being pointed a lazy finger at the chair across from him. "Sit."
Nulls sat. The world blinked.
"Let's go to the beginning, shall we?" Next, they were at a picnic table in a garden of impossible scale. The air smelled of fresh rain and a sweetness so cloying it felt unnatural.
They were on top of a hill, green stretching as far as the eye can see. A flock of birds flew past them, their wings beating a harmonic frequency that vibrated in Nulls's spine. Below them were grassy meadows with a flock of sheep and their shepherd, as they were munching on the grass. Their wool was as white as bleached bone, a uniform of blinding purity.
The forest was strong, healthy, and fertile. Trees of varying sizes bore golden fruits, each a unique and complex shape, each different but the same in complexity from one another.
A river flowed across the garden, along the riverbank was a population of rabbits hopping here and there, Nulls could have sworn that if the rabbits could speak, their voices would ring with angelic glee. Not too far from them, a collection of lamb wagged their tail and leaping. In the river's bed, two sets of swans formed a heart with their neck. The river was divided into four, each containing different species of creation, each as beautiful as the other.
At the center of it all was a colossal tree, its branches getting progressively shorter and thinner as they rose to the top. Combined with its leaves, it should cast a shadow over the garden, but that isn't the case; the garden below the shade of the tree was illuminated brightly. Its height surpassed sight, yet the clouds hung even higher.
A stranged sensation, one that Nulls has never experienced before began formed around him, making mind became calmer, almost making him forget his prior hysteria. He looked at the being and saw that its fingers were placed beneath his chin. His eyes were focused not on the colossal tree but on the place it digs its roots in.
There, Nulls saw two humans, one from each gender. The man was handsome: tall, lean, muscular, dark-skinned. His face wasn't that of any particular region; his genetics were perfect, as they were made by the Almighty. But amongst his features, one thing bothers Nulls the most, His face was a hollow mask, awaiting a command.
On a distant hill, an amalgamation of countless beasts watched them. Its form shifted, from a pulsing mass of flesh to a magnificent angel of perfect beauty between one heartbeat and the next. It ran to the cliff's edge, moving with a speed that strained Nulls's eyes.
His wings fluttered, holding him aloft. His gaze was centered towards the two humans; it was a mix of disgust and pity. With one powerful flap, he soared towards the two humans. A ring of disturbed air shimmered in the space where he had launched.
Although his flight was impossibly fast, his wings didn't make any sound, even though strange, his wings didn't combust ablaze. His wings, though soft as wool, left visible tears in the air. Through the gaps, a stream of incandescent plasma from a dying realm poured forth. A second later, the wounds snapped shut, the garden's laws reasserting themselves with a sound like a choir being orchestrated, vaporizing the foreign energy.
It traversed the vast garden in seconds. With every meter, its wings tore larger rents in the air, each one streaming plasma before reality stitched itself shut and vaporized the energy.
"You can't see anything from this distance," the being muttered, still holding his wine glass. "Allow me to help." With a snap of his fingers, they materialized beside the two humans.
A fraction of a second later, the angel landed beside them. The impact should have shattered the garden, but it produced only a soft thud, a sound meticulously crafted to be non-threatening. It was the first and gentlest of his lies.
The angel tried to approach them, but an invisible wall of Aetheric energy shimmered into being, a perfect hemisphere around the humans. The angel's step was halted, but his voice, his scent, the very idea of him, passed through unimpeded, a psychic assault the shield was not designed to block.
"You see that? They are under the protection of the almighty, nothing can do as much as scraping a cell off of them," The being's gaze slid from the humans to the angel. His friendly smile didn't change, but his knuckles were white around the stem of his wine glass. "Not even him." The glass stem snapped without a sound.
Its appearance was massive, towering over the humans, even Nulls and the being. The man stood only as high as the angel's hip. The woman stood only as high as the man's shoulder. The humans observed the angel, like a rabbit seeing its poacher. The angel's eye locked with the male human's eyes.
"Can't the human hear us?" Nulls asked, fidgeting his fingers. He watched them move, a conscious, mechanical action. He could feel the pressure of skin on skin, but no texture, no temperature, no pain. The body's alarm system had been severed. A flaw in the design, or a feature? Nulls thought.
"No," the being said, plucking a fruit. "The mechanism of my codex has folded us into a higher spatial dimension. We are ghosts in the walls of their reality. A being of his caliber can only perceives only twenty six dimensions he was built for." He took a bite. "He is, for all intents and purposes, blind to us."
He brought the fruit to his lips with one hand, gesturing for silence with the other. "The show is about to start, please keep your tone down." The being stated, Nulls could do nothing but comply.
"Humans." His voice rang out, a powerful yet charming sound that carried a wave of divine dominion. It was the first time such a being had descended.
"Peace be upon this archetypal garden, and upon you, its cherished caretakers." He stated. He retracted his wings, further emphasizing his form. A sweet smell of fruit bloomed around him.
The woman flinched back, her eyes wide. Then, as the sweet aroma washed over her, the tension drained from her shoulders. Her grip on the man's arm loosened. After a brief hesitation, she finally spoke.
"You are new." The woman gushed, her voice filled to the brim with grace and innocence, surpassing that of a newborn baby. The man felt something was off, but he didn't know why. All he could do was remain cautious.
"Your light is… different from the ones we see in the evening. Are you a messenger from the Almighty?" She asked, and her voice became slightly more suspicious than before.
The angels put one hand on his chest and the other reached out towards the human, not to harm or lure them, but to further mimic a real angel. "I am a scholar of wisdom, one who has observed the unfolding of creation from the first breath of time. I have come to see this, His greatest masterpiece. And you, its heart." He said, his voice virtually indistinguishable from a real angel.
"We are grateful for all the Creator has given us. This garden provides everything we need." The man muttered. His voice was slightly calmed by the scent mixing with the air. The garden's air was enough to make even the boldest of beasts tame. The angel's presence had magnified that scent tenfold.
"Does It provides comfort, sustenance, and peace. It is a beautiful cradle. But a cradle is for infants. Do you not wish to walk? To truly understand the nature of the love the Creator has for you? Not as subjects, but as partners?" The angel beamed, leaning slightly and slowly toward the humans. Matching that of a person trying not to scare a cat.
"We are His children. We speak with Him in the cool of the day." She lifted her chin, a fragile show of defiance. Indeed, they could only communicate with the Almighty on a rare occasion, each of which dramatically affected them as a servants of the lord.
The woman delicately shoved the man aside, making them stand side by side. The woman could finally see the angel in full. If not for her restriction, she would have sincerely abandoned her husband for the angel, but due to the will of the Almighty, such action couldn't be done.
"As you should. But does a father, when his children come of age, not share his full inheritance with them?" The angel said, pressing his palms together in front of his chest, his fingers pointing towards the sky above. Not as an act of prayer, but to further mimic the actual angels.
He gestured with his left arm toward the central tree. In its roots lay a book, bound in chains. Near the book was a variety of smaller gardens of flowers, each inhabited by a different type of flower. Amongst them, the closest garden to the books was filled by the Almighty's favorite. Lily of the Valley.
"This tree is the key to that inheritance. The knowledge of good and evil is not a curse; it is the very mind of God. To possess it is to finally understand His plan completely." The angel uttered.
"His command was clear. We must not read even a single sentence from it. On the day we do, we will die." The man responded.
The angel lets out a soft, sorrowful sigh. "'Die."' A word of endings. But the Creator is a God of eternal beginnings. What if that word was a test of your faith in His goodness, not your fear of His power? What if 'death' merely meant the death of ignorance? I tell you truly, you will not die. Instead, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing the majesty of creation as He knows it." The angel stated.
"To be as gods… " The woman muttered.
Her eyes locked on the tree, it was the look of a key turning in a lock it was never meant to fit.
"It is your destiny. But such a step cannot be taken lightly. It must be a conscious choice, a covenant. A deal, struck not in rebellion, but in enlightened will." The angel muttered, flapping its wings to further spread the scent.
"A deal? With you?" The man muttered.
"No, not with me. I am but a witness. A deal with fate itself. A solemn promise to ascend. Give me your word, both of you. A vow that you will reach for this knowledge, and in reaching so, claim the divinity that has been held just out of your reach." The angel muttered.
"What would his vow entail?" The man said. A sudden strong wind blew in their direction, slightly dragging the angel's wings into its direction. Which the angels quickly recoiled into the prior position. It could be a sign from the Almighty but the man was tempted by the angel's offer more than the sign of his creator.
"Simply this. That you will partake of this book together. That you will not turn back from the truth you discover. And that you will bear the responsibility of this knowledge with courage, using it to rule this world with true wisdom, not blind obedience. In exchange, I give you my word, my celestial oath, that you will not perish. You will be transformed. You will see as you have never seen before." The angel said.
"It feels… like a betrayal." The man stated, his voice became hesitant and distant, his face's expression didn't changed a bit from the moment of this conversation, but deep within the machinery of the lords which he called soul, he felt that a part of him wanted this from the very beginning, to not only approaching the Almighty in power but to be his equal.
"Is it a betrayal for a sapling to become a tree? Is it a betrayal for the dawn to chase away the night? This is not a betrayal; it is a becoming. Swear it. Seal this compact between your will and your future. Let your yes be the key that unlocks eternity." The angel replied. His voice keeping the same gracefull demeanor as they were from the start of the encounter.
The angel extends his hand, palm up. A soft, convincing light emanates from it. "Your word. Give me your word." The angel said luring them to take his hand.
Her eyes widened, the black pools of her pupils swallowing the white. A slight tremor started in her hand.
"Adam, what if he speaks the truth? What if all of creation is waiting for us to take this step? To choose to be more? I… I give my word." The words left her, but her body refused to follow. Her jaw was a locked trap. Her eyes, still wide, now held a fixed, crystal clear horror, as if she were seeing not just the angel, but the consequences spiraling out from this moment for all eternity.
"And you, First Man? Will you let your wife ascend alone? Or will you stand with her, as a partner in this new world? Your word. Seal the deal." The angel didn't so much as blink. He was a divergence point of perfect attention, every atom of his being focused on the man's hesitation, waiting for it to crack.
Adam looked from the woman's face to the angelic, assured countenance of the angel. The weight of the moment hangs on him. He takes a deep breath, his innocence warring with a newfound, profound ambition.
"I… I give my word." The words left Adam's mouth, rough and solid, like grinding stones.
"Then it is done. The compact is sealed. Now, claim your inheritance. Do not delay. The universe holds its breath." The angel chimed, a glaring smile painted across his face, knowing that he would be responsible for corrupting the Almighty's vision.
The woman, emboldened by the pact, reaches out and grabs the book, just when she's about to reached it, the sweet pungent floral scent emitted by the surrounding garden hits her nose. Despite all of that she doesn't hesitate. She opens it, and her eyes widen immediately. She turns to Adam, her expression utterly changed, ancient and new all at once.
Nulls's eyes locked towards the book then shifted into the being. If what he said was true, that this is the beginning, then surely that book is him. After all, why would he bring me to see this? Nulls Thought.
Traversing time and space also required tremendous energy, comparable to that of a stable star, and that is with a hundred percent efficiency; it is unlikely that he uses that amount of energy just to show off. There must be something else. Nulls added to his thought.
It is more likely that he shows me this to know other better, but why would he does that? Does he wanted to have alliance with me? Nulls thought. A sense of disgust built in Nulls's throat, a bitter taste at the thought of alliance.
Nulls shifted his focus on the being, after gathering enough courage he finally spoke to him. "Let me guess, that book was you wasn't it?"
The being's eyes widened, his hand stops in its track, holding a half bitten golden apple, from it a golden liquid poured out of it and into the soil below. "Seems like I caught a smart fish." He crushed the apple with his hand golden liquid was spewing in all of directions, the humans and the angel were as ignorant to them as ever.
The being walked slowly to Nulls until they were face to face, Nulls seemed to have misjudged the being's height, he was towering above him, he can only as far as reaching his shoulders. The being shifts his focus onto the humans. "You see that?" He uttered.
"Adam. It is true. I see… everything. The light… It's inside me. The deal is true!" She said. Her body went completely still, her hands trembling tremendously contrasting her body, her breathing became shallow and heavy. Tiny skin bumps formed along her forearm. All of which happened simultaneously.
"She sees the same thing as you." He stated, he wiped the remaining golden liquid onto his clothes, it was sticky and thick. "She gained free will after that, and that is just opening ten pages of me." He quickly realized his mistake, his clothes became sticky.
He waved his fingers in the air, leaving liquids in the air, that were painted with nebulae as he did so, it was strange even to Nulls, What is that symbol? He asked himself deep within his mind. Seconds later the being snap his fingers and his clothes were clean completely.
"But you were different, you read the line where most beast and gods gone mad." The being remarked. "That doesn't come often you know." He stated, crossing his arms as he did so. "Let see the example of it shall we? Can you please keep your voice down again?" He calmly said. To which Nulls nods to his request.
Adam took the book from her hand. As his eyes laid upon the letters, the beautiful form of the angel shimmers. The light around him darkens for an instant, revealing a silhouette of immense, cold power. The harmonious voice now carries a note of finality.
"The deal is sealed. Welcome to godhood. Now you will truly know what it is to be like Him. And you will learn that all knowledge has a price." The devil said.
He is gone. Not in a flash of light, but in a sudden, silent absence that feels heavier than any presence. The first chill of evening seems to fall upon the garden, and Adam and Eve look at one another, their eyes widened, seeing not only each other's love, but also their own nakedness, and the vast, terrifying emptiness of the power they have just claimed.
The sweet smell of the book was the last simple sensation Adam will ever know. It burst on his nose, and for a single, suspended moment, there is only flavor. Then, the world fractures.
A gasp, sharp and involuntary. He clutches his chest, not in pain, but in overwhelming sensation. "What… what is this? A fire in my mind!" Adam yelled.
"The light… it's not just outside anymore. It's inside. I see… I see the threads of the leaves. I hear the thoughts of the wind." The sentence caught in her throat, a gasp strangled by a sob she didn't yet have the breath to release.
Their vision sharpens to an unbearable degree. They see the individual motes of dust dancing in a sunbeam, but they also see the decay on the edge of a petal, the tiny insects burrowing into the fruit they just ate. The beauty of the garden is now interwoven with a thousand hidden processes of life and death. They look at each other.
Her hand flew to her mouth. "Adam… your face. I see… I see the shape of your skull beneath your skin. I see the blood moving in your veins. You are… mortal."
Staring back at her, his own newfound knowledge a cold flood. "And you. I see you will grow old. I see you will weaken. This is the knowledge? This is the godhood he promised? To see our own end?"
A wave of shame, a concept they have never known, crashes over them. They look down at their own bodies, no longer just themselves, but objects of scrutiny.
"We are naked." Adam said.
"And exposed. He sees everything. The Creator… He will see what we have done." She said, clutching her arms as she does so.
Panic, another new emotion, takes root. They scramble for the broad leaves of a fig tree, tearing them from the branches, their hands fumbling as they try to fashion coverings. The graceful movements of moments before are gone, replaced by the jerky, fearful motions of the guilty.
"We gave our word. We sealed the deal." His voice is thick as he ties a leaf around his waist.
"We were deceived! That light… that angel… it was a lie! His words were honey but his meaning was poison!" She yelled.
As if summoned by their realization, the air before them grows cold. The form of the angel reappears, but the transformation is now absolute. The radiant light has dimmed to a sulphurous glow. The pearlescent wings are now vast, leathery shadows that seem to drink the light. The beautiful face is still there, but it is stretched over a core of ancient malice, the eyes burning like coals. The voice, when it comes, is no longer a melody but a layered symphony of triumph and scorn.
"Partners." The devil said, his tone lies more a mockery. A satisfaction that he have by leading the original ancestor of mankind astray, if it means his downfall then its a small price for him to pay.
Stepping in front of Eve, his voice trembling with a rage he has never felt. "What have you done to us? To me and Eve?" Adam yelled.
He spread his dark wings, and the garden seems to shrink away from him. "I? I have done nothing but keep my oath. You asked for knowledge. You have it. You wished to be like God. And now you are, for you know good. And you know evil. You feel its chill in your bones, its shame on your skin. You have judged yourselves, as He will judge you."
"You said we would not die!" Eve demanded. Her fingers were clutched to a fist.
"And you have not. Not yet. But you have introduced Death to his new home. He will walk with you now, from this moment until the end of your days. He is the price of the wisdom you so coveted. The deal is complete." The devil said.
A new sound reached them, a familiar footfall, the sound of the Almighty walking in the garden in the cool of the day. But now, the sound brings not joy, but terror.
"Adam. My son. Where are you?" The Almighty's voice were distant, yet intimately close.
Nulls shifted his gaze towards the being, his face was a mix of rage and sadness. A drop of tear ran down his cheeks, it wasn't water but blood, the smell of metal permeating the air, contrasting that of the previous floral scent.
Adam and Eve shrank back, pressing themselves against the rough bark of the fig tree, their makeshift coverings feeling pitifully thin.
Whispering to the darkness where the devil stood, but the fallen angel is gone, leaving only the echo of his laughter and the scent of ozone. "We heard His voice and we were afraid… because we were naked. And we hid ourselves." Adam said, his voice full of terror and horridly mortal.
Weeping, the salt of her tears another new, bitter taste. "We hid ourselves from the presence of the Lord." Eve said his voice and face was filled with shame.
The footfalls grew nearer. The gentle breeze that once brought comfort now feels like a searching hand. The garden, once a home, has become a hiding place. The knowledge they seized now sits like a crown of thorns upon their heads, and the long, slow dying of their innocence has begun.
Closer now, filled with a sorrow that shakes the foundations of the world "Adam. Who told you that you were naked? Have you read a sentence of the book which I commanded you not to read?" The Almighty said, his voice were gentle, akin to that of an old man caring for his grandchildren.
The silence that follows was the heaviest thing they have ever known. It is the silence of a broken world, and it was a silence for which they, alone, must now find words.
The Voice of the Almighty had pronounced the consequences. The serpent was cursed, the woman was given pain in childbirth and a strained dynamic with the man, and the man was condemned to a life of toil and struggle against a resistant earth. The sentences were passed, and a terrible, final silence descended.
"It is done. The harmony is broken. You cannot remain here." The Almighty said, it was a command that no mortal, beast, nor angel could disobey.
"We will die out there. The ground beyond the wall is thorns and dust. You made this place for life. Out there… is not-life." Adam voice was raw, stripped of all its former strength. He does not plead; he simply states a fact, the deepest truth of his new, fallen knowledge.
"You have already chosen the knowledge of not-life. You have chosen the path where life is a struggle against death. To stay here now would be a greater cruelty. You would be ghosts in a living world, forever reminded of what you have lost, forever tasting a perfection you can no longer inhabit." The Almighty said, his voice was filled with infinite sorrows.
A sound begins, low and resonant, like a great loom weaving. Two garments of animal skin, sturdy and dark, appear before them.
"Take these. They will serve you better than leaves." The Almighty said, it was the last gift the Almighty would ever give them.
With trembling hands, Adam and Eve still in their pathetic fig-leaf coverings and put on the skins. The hides are warm, but they carry a weight, the first tangible evidence of a life taken to sustain their own. They smell of blood and earth, not of jasmine and dew.
Eve touched the rough garment. "An animal… died for this." She said, it was disgusting, to wear something other than perfections.
"Death will now provide for you, as it will one day claim you. This is the world you have entered." The Almighty said, his voice rangs out with grace and authority.
Then, a new presence manifests. Not the deceptive radiance of the angel, nor the intimate sorrow of the Almighty, but a stern, unwavering light. It is a Cherubim, a being of raw, righteous power, whose form was like a swirling vortex of eyes, wings, and flame. In its hand, it held a sword that blazed with a light that was not warm, but searingly pure.
"THE WAY IS CLOSED." Its voice was not a single sound, but the sound of a multitude, like a river of stones tumbling.
The Cherubim moved to the eastern gate of the garden. It did not walk; it was simply there. It raised the flaming sword, which began to spin, faster and faster, until it was a whirlwind of divine fire.
Adam looked back one last time. He saw the Tree of Life, its fruit now glowing with an unattainable promise. He sees the gentle slope where he once named the animals, the quiet pool where he and Eve would drink. He sees the ghost of his own innocence, still playing in the shade. A sob, dry and wretched, escapes him.
"I am sorry." The words are inadequate. They vanish into the new, harsh air.
Almighty final whisper, carried on a wind that now felt cold. "Go, Adam. Go, Eve. Your work is before you. Till the ground from which you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return." The Almighty said, his voice remained calm and comforting.
The Cherubim brought the spinning sword down. A line of fire traced itself across the entrance to the garden. It was not a wall, but a veil, a permanent, shimmering barrier of holy judgment. Through it, Eden was still visible, but it was now a memory, a painting behind glass. They could see it, but they could no longer feel its sun or breathe its air.
A great pressure pushed against them, not violent, but unresistible, like the tide. They stumbled backward, out through the gate.
"Let's see from another angle, shall we?" The being took Nulls's hand. With one step, the garden's shimmering veil snapped away, replaced by the hard, dusty plain outside its walls. He released Nulls's hand and delivered a sharp, playful jab to his shoulder.
The contact was real, solid. They were two objects in the same dimensional space, while the world around them was a lower-dimensional projection. Nulls, taken aback by the jab, looked at the being. The last traces of the blood-tear had vanished from his face. He put one of his hand on Nulls's shoulder while pointing his fingers at Adam and Eve. "Look."
The moment they crossed the threshold, the world changed. The colors dimmed. The air, once like a balm, was thin and sharp in their lungs. The soil beneath their feet was no longer soft and yielding, but hard and packed. Before them stretched a vast, untamed wilderness, where thistles grew tall and the shadows held unseen dangers.
Eve clutched Adam's arm, her voice small against the immense emptiness. "It… It's so… loud." Eve said weakly.
It was true. The gentle symphony of Eden was gone. In its place was the cacophony of the fallen world, the screech of a hawk, the growl of a predator in the distance, the relentless wind whipping across the barren plains.
Adam squared his shoulders, the animal skin rough against his skin. He looked at Eve, her face etched with a fear and wisdom that broke his heart. He looked down at his own hands, hands made for tending paradise, now destined to claw a living from the cursed ground. A new emotion, harder than sorrow, began to form in him: resolve.
"Come, Eve. There is no going back. We have a world to face."
He took her hand, and together, without another glance at the fading glory behind the veil of fire, they walked eastward, into the long, hard twilight of the world.
"They are the lucky ones... As for me."