My mother wasn’t an idiot. She looked at me for a moment and instantly realized what I was thinking about. As she smiled, I felt myself being drawn to her gaze as the flow of time in the room seemed almost nonexistent.

  Books hung on the shelves, and dust floated around the room in waves. Yet I still watched her eyes, her lips, and her nose, that all seemed so… under the golden light of the sun.

  “Are you looking at home?” She asked tenderly.

  I nodded.

  “I may have overstepped a bit, Amir. Here, let’s look at everything around the Sherwood, shall we?” My mother asked, obviously trying to cater to my desires. I would have honestly wanted to learn about the entire world, but even glancing at some of the names took the newfound mystique away from it.

  Places like and

  From the ocean floor to the tips of towering mountains, there were people.

  There was everywhere.

  My mother’s gentle fingers drifted from the Sherwood, going up north, where I saw a huge mountain range. It was S-shaped, and it seemed to stop travel attempts in any direction northeast.

  No roads were marked on the map.

  None that I could see, at least.

  “This is the And just above it is the sometimes called the If you want to travel to Avernea, the best way is to get a ship at the port town near there.” My mother looked like she was giving advice to a young traveler— of course, the traveler was me.

  Next, her fingers went directly south.

  “You’ve wondered why Iyad won’t let us travel, right? Because the mountains are in the northeast, and ” My mother tapped the swirling waves of Am in front of her, disorienting me slightly. “is the It’s called a for a reason, you know.”

  It seemed like the remains of claw marks upon the Earth.

  Except they stretched and curved across hundreds of kilometers of land.

  My mother’s fingers moved further downward.

  “Just one more thing to tell you,” She smiled happily.

  Reaching out for her cheek, I took both my hands, patting her on the face. Eyes widening in surprise, her gaze quickly melted as she grabbed my hands as well, rubbing them across her skin. The heat of her face and my hands merged with the light of the sun to create a wonderful warmth.

  I wasn’t sure why I did something like that.

  It was just… Right now, I felt a bit

  “One more thing? What is it?” I asked, peering at the map.

  Then, I saw the golden letters, humming in the air.

  The name rang a bell, and I realized that my father had spoken with Cidris and Sara about it during the Dowsing— something about a It was all very strange, but because it didn’t have much to do with me, I gave it no attention.

  “The last thing I will tell you about is that on Caerthys, there are five Ones that have existed since the very beginning, that have thrived until now— they are called

  Hmm… interesting… But only Caerthys?

  “What about Avernea? I see kingdoms like that there as well…” I pointed at the several large civilizations on the Avernean continent— for some reason, I couldn’t read the language they were written in.

  The air seemed still.

  “You should have let me finish, you know!” My mom pouted slightly. “The five great cities of Caerthys are , and finally . But in the old world, there were — five of them came to Caerthys, and the other five went to Avernea.”

  “Hmm, then what are the ones in Avernea called?”

  My mother looked at me curiously.

  “I wouldn’t know— I’ve never been there.” She pointed at the map, tilting her head as if to think for a bit, and then laughed out loud, as if she had realized something.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Oh, I guess I didn’t tell you, did I? The map only shows places that I’ve been to. One of my mother’s dreams was for me to travel the world, but I’m afraid to say I met your father around halfway.” Coughing slightly, my mother covered her mouth as her face flushed with red.

  Looking closer, I could see that she was right.

  Most major areas were named, yet many weren’t.

  I wondered… What would I do with a map like this?

  Would I travel the world?

  “So… what now?” I asked my mother out of pure confusion. Her eyes were hovering on the Sherwood, and she looked like she was only staring blankly.

  Blinking twice as if she was in shock, she rubbed her temples.

  “Ah, sorry, Amir. Yes, I was originally going to tell you but since I’ll just let you figure things out for yourself, let me give you a brief summary of this world’s ” My mother closed , setting it on the ground, and then dusted the cover of

  However, the “map” hovering in the air still remained.

  looked like a normal book.

  My mother skimmed through it easily, humming the tune she had been playing on the piano as she raced through each and every part of the book like it was nothing. Halos of Am formed around her eyes as she did so.

  “... What are you doing, mom?” I found myself asking.

  “Reading… and done.” She responded simply.

  You mean to tell me you read that entire thick book in just a few seconds? Don’t lie to me, mother!

  Ah, hell, who knew?

  Anything was possible, I guess.

  Damnit.

  My mother’s voice slightly shifted.

  Vaguely aware of what was going on, my eyes darted fearfully around the room as I looked for any signs of someone looking at me. Finding nothing hiding in the shadows, I tried to feel for any disturbances in the natural Am— Perhaps… everything was fine?

  I hoped so.

  I’ll read this summary exactly— it should be enough for you now, shouldn’t it?” My mom giggled as she turned the page, leaning backwards and finally lying on the floor like it was a bed. I found myself doing the same thing.

  We were both sprawled out on the floor, almost sleeping.

  ”

  Instantly, my eyebrows perked up at the mention of a “Child”. A rush of happiness covered me as I fantasized about many things in my head. The child? Could it be child?

  The one from before my birth?

  Honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered. I still believed He was watching me…

  Wherever He was.

  By ‘Paradise’, I thought he meant the upper world, the very top layer of the map. Although my mother had for some reason chosen not to explain it, it seemed quite seductive— as the map showed, it was a whole lot of beauty.

  Nothing was ugly, the philosophy goes!

  There was a ton of value in my mother’s words.

  So I hungrily devoured them.

  The blind may look their whole lives for something that isn’t there.

  I assumed, in this case, that this “Ascension” was just a concept— promised by a credible source. That was the only believable thing I could think of now, after all. As my head lay against the hardwood floor, I sighed.

  See, this is what I meant? You’d have to be completely blind to believe in this.

  There was absolutely credibility backing it!

  Ruins… records… What a load of shit.

  Still, it was interesting.

  My mother’s voice softened as she talked about this part.

  “If that was the year then, what is it now?” I asked curiously.

  My eyebrows were scrunched together.

  Somehow, I didn’t even know this.

  My mother paused, looking up at me.

  “You were born in 1732 AWA, meaning right now it’s 1737 AWA.” She responded simply, without much emotion in her voice. Burying her head back into the history book, she began to finish her reading.

  All very… eerie. Disconcerting. Strange.

  Dissonant.

  My mother’s voice trailed off as she spoke the final words of the passage.

  The strange shift in her voice disappeared completely as she blinked, staring at the book in her hands, muttering something under her breath. She opened her mouth and then closed it just as quickly, setting the book down.

  She picked up the third book quickly, as if something was hurrying her on.

  “Wait! Wait, not yet!” I said, waving my arms frantically.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the silhouette of a man at the door.

  Probably father or Cidris— he didn’t open it, though.

  “... Yes, Amir?” My mother asked gently.

  Her voice even when it should have been stern was

  “Are we still in the golden era? Is the world still peaceful?”

  Obviously fazed, my mother blinked.

  Then, she pondered for a moment, lost in thought.

  “I’d say… We’re not in the golden era.” She laughed at the thought, not bearing to explain any further. I looked at her, annoyed at her cryptic tone, which didn’t reveal anything of use to me.

  Damnit,

  “Why aren’t we? What happened? What era we in?” I pressed.

  Her voice faltered as her smile vanished.