Early morning mists hung over the buildings of Vindenne, the city slowly waking up as the chilly air permeated every home. Deep in the heart of the city at the edge of the business sector the in progress school was coming along nicely. Despite the concerns for how long such a project would take it turned out having the primary architect on site, as well as a goddess, did wonders in speeding the process up. The new building was not the focus of today however as instead there was something to be done in the small hut erected on the building site.

This hut was about the size of castle bedroom and was built from solid slabs of stone, the obvious work of magic. Inside there was a small fireplace in which a small fire was burning below a very small chimney. The furniture consisted of a single wooden table with several chairs, all very plain to look at. On the far wall there stood a large slab of black slate which had been cut to an incredibly thin margin, perhaps only half an inch. Various small chalks and a thick brush sat on a small cup on the tiny table before it. There was also a single small stool that stood there as well.

Standing on this stool was of course me, the teacher of teachers in this wild kingdom of scientific drought. I had swapped out my normal outfit for a cute little suit and tie combo, a long skirt, and long stockings all in cerulean. My hair was tied back into a ponytail using my galaxy hairpin and I even wore a pair of fancy glasses. All of this to make myself truly look the part of know it all teacher.

My students today were the four adults that had been chosen to be teachers themselves: Bachous, Fayio, Caston, and Adva. They were all sitting at the table in front of me while I stood on the stool at the chalkboard. Of course they were well learned enough to do basic teaching but today they were here to learn some more specific stuff. Who better was there to learn from than the goddess herself?

Today's subject was on biology, specifically the immune system and blood in general as well. These were important topics for anyone to know about as hygiene in general in this world was severely lacking compared to where I was from. This little class was also helpful in distracting me from the situation with the visitor from a few days before.

Yes that hero type from Pheoa was indeed from where he said he was and thankfully sending him to Quarely was a good move on my part. My lord friend was quite upset with me because of the treatment I had given what amounts to a foreign dignitary. Thankfully his diplomatic skills were able to smooth things over for the most part, though the attitude of the local goddess certainly wasn't seen as a positive to that arrogant knight.

Adva noticed me lost in thought and raised her hand timidly.

“Um… Goddess?”

Her voice snapped me back to reality and my eyes instantly snapped up and onto her. This caused the poor woman to jump with a start. I smiled to help ease her nerves.

“Oh. Sorry about that everyone.” I said quickly. “Now where was I?”

The oldest one of my students Caston sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. His perfectionist personality was once again making him frustrated with my methods. He said nothing to that effect however as he wasn't about to question the goddess. He did however remind me of the current topic in his deep voice.

“You were just beginning our lecture it seemed goddess.” He said half trying to hide his frustrations. “So far you had told us how blood carries things around the body such as air and nutrients.”

I clapped my hands together in realization.

“Ah!” I exclaimed. “Thank you!”

With the flick of my wrists two of my books whirled into existence on the ends of the flowing blue ribbons around my waist. The books opened and displayed diagrams of red blood cells and platelets in a vein. There was also a picture showing more detailed examples of them.

“You see…” I started explaining while pointing at the floating books with the end of a switch. “Oxygen and its counterpart carbon dioxide are actually taken inside these red blood cells. That's how 'air' quote-un-quote is taken around the body. Many other nutrients are carried around the body just by floating in the fluid inside your veins called 'plasma.'” I looked back at the four of them. “There's a whole mess of stuff floating around in there. The only reason your blood looks as red as it does outside of your body is due to all those red blood cells carrying oxygen. Otherwise it'd be clear or even blue!”

Bachous, our other older man, grunted.

“These cells you've said before make up every living thing. Too small to be seen by the naked eye.” He shrugged. “Not that I don't believe you goddess. Its just how can such tiny things change the color of blood?”

I adjusted my glasses and crossed my arms over my chest as I looked over to him.

“Well oxygen changes the color of lots of things.” I replied. “That's why metal turns red when it rusts.”

Caston lifted his right hand to his chin and rubbed in deep in thought.

“Truly? Interesting.”

I then lifted my left arm up and pointed with my right hand at the veins on the back of my forearm.

“If you don't believe me about your blood just look at your own arm.” I stated matter of factually. “See how these little veins are blue on your arm? You ever noticed how other parts of your body get red when there's lots of blood in them? Such as your face? These are examples of blood without oxygen and blood with oxygen in it.”

All of them looked at their own arms and were in different states of surprise or revelation.

Favio in his usual flamboyant manner gasped and examined his arm closer than the others in fascination.

“Amazing goddess! To think we knew so little about such a simple thing about our own bodies!”

In response to their dumbfounded reactions I couldn't help but laugh out loud. It was understandable of course seeing what kind of world they lived in, but I couldn't help but get giddy when I'm able to share knowledge.

“Don't worry about it!” I said smiling. “Everyone has something to learn. This is all pretty advanced stuff I suppose.” I then got an idea and jumped. “Oh I know! Why don't I show you?”

They all looked at me in confusion and then between each other.

Adva raised her hand again. “I thought you said these cells were too tiny to see goddess?”

As she spoke I jumped down off the stool I was standing on and my books closed themselves, floating behind me like balloons attached to my hips.

“Yeah they are.” I replied. “But I have something to fix that.”

In just a couple steps I reached the table on the opposite side as my four students. This was something I had been wanting to do for a while now actually. With some flair I whipped a small microscope out of my demi-plane pocket and placed it on the table. I then slid it across the table towards my students and then slapped a small glass slide on the table and slid it over too.

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“Why don't one of you prick your finger and put a drop of blood on that glass there?” I asked. “Then you can see for yourself what your own blood looks like.”

The four of them looked at each other and it was Bachous that decided to do it. He pulled his small knife off his belt and carefully poked the end of his finger. Then he let a drop fall onto the glass.

Adva winced as she watched.

“That looks like it hurt!”

Bachous just grunted gruffly.

“I've been through worse believe me.” He replied. “Is that good enough goddess?”

I nodded and quickly snatched up the slide.

“Yup! Now look in here.”

Quickly I slid the slide into place on the microscope and then turned on the back light on it. This light was really a simple diode powered with a tiny spinning crank generator. I pointed to the eye piece and the little crank.

“Spin this and look here.” I instructed.

Bachous did as I said and looked into the eyepiece while spinning the little crank. After adjusting his eyes he gasped and jumped back in his seat.

“I… I don't believe it!” He cried. “What magic is this?”

I tilted my head to the side.

“It's not magic. Its just a lot of layers of glass magnifying what's put under them. That's just what your blood looks like.”

“Can I see?” Adva asked.

I nodded and slid the microscope over to her.

“T-Thank you!” She said.

The woman then peered into the eyepiece herself and gasped in awe at what she saw. Her words had been stolen by her and she just stared without speaking. After several moments however she sat back up and blinked as if still processing it all.

“Here let me see!” Favio said reaching for the microscope.

Adva didn't stop him so he slid the microscope over and looked into it himself.

I flinched at how he handled it.

“Be careful with it!” I exclaimed. “That thing's very delicate!”

After Favio had his turn next Caston got to look inside it. While he was doing so the others started asking questions about what they had seen. Surely such an amazing sight would leave their minds swimming with questions.

Adva spoke up first.

“Goddess. There was all kinds of weird stuff in there. I think I saw the red blood cell things. I recognized their shape. What were all the other things?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned.

“Ah… Well that's a lot to go over.”

Favio spoke up next.

“I thought the blood was supposed to be colored? It was plain as could be inside that little spyglass.”

“Well you're seeing it way up close.” I replied. “You can't expect the overall color of the whole to be seen in its individual parts at that size.”

Caston finally pulled himself away from the microscope and allowed Bachous to take it to look inside it again. The old man was deep in thought and seemed to be concerned about something he'd seen.

I dropped my arms to my sides and looked over at him.

“Is something wrong Caston?”

Caston looked at the microscope and then at me, still deep in thought.

“I saw things moving around in there.” He said thoughtfully. “Those tiny things were all alive weren't they? Is our blood made up of tiny living creatures? What madness is this?”

The others seemed to be thinking about this now too and there was a mixture of concern and fear on their faces. Such thoughts were understandable I suppose and it would be best to get it all explained before true horror set in.

I slid my stool over using telekinesis and lifted it up into the air at the same time I jumped up onto it. My books floated to either side of me and opened up, the pages showing illustrations of all manner of cells. There were bacteria, red blood cells, skin cells, along with those of plants.

“This is going to be difficult for you to accept I suppose.” I said with a sigh. “If its too horrible for you to comprehend let me know alright?”

My students all looked over to me with rapt attention. Bachous was the one to speak.

“Tell us goddess.” He said. Then he added. “Please.”

With another deep sigh I floated the books in front of me, using my switch to point the various cells as I spoke about them.

“Well…” My explanation started. “You see in truth every living thing is made up from these small things called cells. This is the red blood cell you've seen before. This one is what the cells of plants look like. This one over here is called a bacteria and its a free roaming kind. A topic in of itself truly.”

I paused a moment for this information to sink it completely. So far none of them had gone insane and I took that as a good sign. For good measure I waited a few more moments before continuing.

“Yes cells are alive.” I said crossing my arms over my chest again. “They eat, make waste, and even breathe. This is not to say they are alive in the same sense that you and me are. Every single creature or plant big or small is made of these cells that live and die within the span of minutes or hours. Every day your entire body for the most part is remade by the uncountable cells that make up it, dying and being created anew by other cells. Copying themselves and passing on the new generation. Cells have no minds, no thoughts, no emotions. They are like a rock rolling down a hill with one purpose which they fulfill and then pass away.”

Using one of my books I pulled up a picture of the very microscope they had just used and through moving the image it split apart into its myriad parts.

“Its no different than this microscope before you. All our bodies, the plants, and the animals are machines made up of a billion tiny parts like grains of sand. Only these grains of sand are much smaller and can die.” I then lowered my arms and sighed. “I understand this is difficult to grasp but its nothing to be terrified of. Just as stones crumble into dust so too are creatures made of living dust. This is fact and integral to understanding how life itself functions.”

Explaining all of this made me wonder what my biological makeup truly looked like. As a goddess I certainly seemed to be a living thing, though one that didn't need to perform any of the basic functions of life. There was no need for me to eat, drink, sleep, or even breathe if I didn't want to. How I could be considered alive was beyond my current understanding. I had tried my own blood under a microscope before and found it looked just like any other person's, yet it was off in some strange way. The mysteries of creation only continued to amaze even me. Would I ever fully understand what I myself had become?

My students were all taking this information in with various degrees of emotional reaction. The information they were receiving was revolutionary and even in part was enough to shatter one's entire worldview. What they were going through now was very similar to what I went through when I woke up and discovered I was now a goddess. An endless parade of questions marches through one's mind and all of them demand answers. One could flirt with insanity as the mind tries to grasp this new and unfathomable way of viewing the world around oneself. Even the simplest things you thought you once understood are shown to you in ways you could never have imagined.

I waited in silence for my students to make the next move. They were in a difficult time in their lives right now and I didn't want to alter the outcome by disturbing them. The things they learn under my tutorage would be things they surely thought about for the rest of their lives. Thus we all sat in silence for what seemed like minutes as they processed things.

Eventually it was Adva who spoke first. The woman might not have been the smartest of the four but she had a caring heart. Perhaps her strong desire to teach others helped her own mind be more adaptable than her older peers.

“Goddess…?” She asked softly. “Life really isn't simple is it?”

I smiled gently and looked her in the eyes. If only she knew how much there was to learn. It was quickly becoming my greatest regret that infinity was too great for even my newfound goddess-hood.

“Nothing is simple Adva.” I replied gently.

The three men had yet to speak and were still lost in their own thoughts. They each glanced at me wondering if they were expected to speak. I just smiled back at them and decided this was a good time to take a break. There was a good reason I had brought up this topic of blood after all and there was still more I wanted to teach them.

I floated my stool down to the floor and stood up from it, my blue ribbons twisting around my waist again as the books vanished into the air.

“Why don't we take a break for now?” I half asked and half ordered. “Parhaps for half an hour to an hour. Once we reconvene there's more I want to tell you. I did bring up this subject for an important practical reason after all.”

Caston, ever the practical one among them, seemed to slide back into his usual self upon hearing this. He stood up from the table and gave me a slow bow.

“Yes…” He said slowly. “I think that's a good idea goddess. We'll see you then.”

I nodded and started walking around the table towards the door.

“I'll be hanging around the site if you need me for anything alright? Ya'll be safe ok?”

With that said I opened the door and walked out into the construction site. There were a few workers here already going about and doing various tasks. If only they knew what sorts of psyche shattering revelations were going on inside the small shack just nearby.

It was the topic of illness that led me to make my lesson about microbiology today. I wanted to teach these teachers about how sickness actually worked and the ways bacteria and viruses interacted with the body. It was a complicated topic to be sure but one I had thought them ready to be introduced to. Perhaps I had been wrong in my assessment. I'd have to wait and see the state they were in after this break. Hopefully I hadn't broken them. Down in my heart I had a feeling they'd be alright.