“See, it wasn’t that dangerous,” Phisola said while Eric sorted out the things they brought from his camp.

“I bet I’d run into five of those dinos without you. Are you using some magic to repel them?”

She let out a small chuckle: “Don’t be silly. Why would I use magic on such weak creatures?”

“I do remember one of them running away from you. I had one follow me around since I managed to domesticate it a little bit. But it ran away as soon as we entered the bath. The hot bath you showed me yesterday.”

“Ah yes, I do remember hearing some panicked screeching. I thought it was you.”

Eric chose to ignore the obvious jab, “But it ran away long before it saw you. So I wondered if maybe you have some passive magic at work.”

“Passive magic?”

“A magic that stays active for a while. A magic that lasts.”

“Why would you call a lasting magic passive? Wouldn’t it make more sense to call it lasting?”

“It’s just a term I found in a video game. The term itself doesn’t matter.”

“And what the fuck is a video gejm?” She asked while sitting down on a large rock.

“It’s just some entertainment. It doesn’t exist in this world,” he stopped sorting his things, lifting his head and looking as if he had just had a revelation, “I … I think I can actually show it to you! Let me check …”

“Entertainment?” There was a hint of amusement in her voice, “That would certainly be welcome. Although, I don’t have my hopes up since it’s your people we are talking about.”

“That attitude is about to change. The whole point of this trip was to show you I come from a very civilized, scientific place.”

“High civilization isn’t necessarily a good thing, you know. People living in one usually forget what life is all about and how the rules of nature work. But that does explain some of your stupidity.”

“Wait … give me a moment, and I’ll show you …”

Phisola’s eyes widened a bit as she saw Eric’s face illuminated with some unnatural light. It looked as if the light came straight out of his palms.

“Ok, the phone is still working. I can’t call anyone, but hopefully the apps … come on … fuck!”

“My, oh my,” Phisola said in a level voice while observing him attentively, “What got you so upset?”

“Can’t reach the server! I’m so fucking stupid, I should’ve known! That’s what happens when all the games require you to be online these days!”

“Oh no, so sad,” she said mockingly.

“Oh well, no video games for you. And it’s such a shame since I’m sure you’d love the plot. But I bet these other things will amuse you instead. Ok, let me just … tell me, what are you more interested in, writing or a little bit of fire?”

“What?” Her brow rose skeptically.

“Oh yes, you can do fire on your own, so that probably won’t be so interesting to you. Let’s start with writing then.”

He stood up and approached her, holding a white square in his left and a small, black cylinder in his right hand.

“Ok, so this is called paper,” he said while showing her the white square, “We write on it. It’s nothing fancy, but it gets the job done and, more importantly,” he started flipping through it, showing her it’s made of many thin layers, “it’s very practical. You could write a whole book on this one if you write small letters.”

“And that’s supposed to impress me?” She asked.

“No, but this will.”

Stolen story; please report.

He took the black cylinder and pressed one end of it, only for a hidden, pointy tip to poke out of its other end. Then he started writing with it on the paper.

“This right here is my name, Eric. There’s no ink and no mess. I can even touch it right now,” he said while rubbing his thumb on the letters, “and it won’t smudge. Very convenient for writing all those reports.”

“Hmm …” Phisola mused as she rubbed her finger on the letters, “yes, that’s useful. But I don’t see how you can consider this to be something life-changing. It’s just improving upon something that already exists.”

“You think that because you don’t realize this thing can write in zero gravity. Do you know what gravity is?”

“That word is foreign to me.”

Eric slumped visibly: “Oh great. Then you probably don’t know about the space too.”

“I do know about the void.”

“The void?”

“Yeah, I know about it. Everyone knows about it.”

“You call space void?”

“Yes, we call void void. Shocking, I know.”

“No, no, no, I’m using different words here.”

She smiled with amusement: “I know, idiot, I’m just messing with you. So, is this other void a different kind of void?”

“No, void is more of a general term. Space is a … a place.”

“Yes, void is place, I know.”

“Well, this thing can write in it.”

“That’s a huge claim, considering that void is one huge emptiness.”

“No, it’s not. It just looks that way to us, but the space is full of energy that we can’t see. We call these invisible things dark matter and dark energy. Just because we can’t see it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

“Are you telling me your people can look into the void?”

Now Eric gave her an amused smile, making her frown deeply before continuing.

“Don’t get cocky! What’s the point of creating a quill that can write in void if you can’t go there?”

“I’m not cocky, I’m just … ha, ha … seeing space is so easy. You see it every day. Ok, not here. You haven’t seen it in a long time.”

“Stop testing my nerves and respond.”

“Space is the night. When the sun goes down, we can see the space with our own eyes.”

“Yes, I know that the void is the eternal night, but you aren’t making any sense. Are you saying that the void takes over once the night falls?”

“Not really takes over as much as it is revealed. It’s always there. It’s just that the sunlight is creating this illusion that the sky is blue when it hits the atmosphere, but once the night falls, the illusion is gone.”

“Huh. Sun the trickster,” she said with some satisfaction in her voice, “You sound like a demonic fanatic right now.”

“I don’t know much about your fanatics, but this is true.”

“That’s what all the fanatics say. Do you have any evidence?”

“Our scientists got plenty of it, but I never thought about how I’d explain it to someone. I mean, it’s basic, common knowledge where I come from.”

“Now that’s a lame excuse for not knowing how to explain something.”

“Well then, how about you explain why night and day are different?”

“Why would I explain anything when I made no claims? The burden of proof falls on those who make claims. You don’t prove your claims by saying the other side can’t disprove it.”

Eric’s eyes opened wide in shock, “Wow, that’s very scientific! It almost sounds like the scientific method.”

“It’s basic logic. Otherwise, you’d be arguing with idiots until the end of time. But more importantly, you didn’t provide any evidence yet.”

“That space is seen at night?”

“That the night we see is the void.”

“Ok, let me try. But don’t hit me if I fail, ok? I’m not trying to be annoying, I just never really thought about explaining it to people.”

“Go ahead, explain the beliefs of your cult.”

“First of all, what is the night? What is the night to your people?”

“It’s the absence of light.”

“… true. But the light can reflect. It can bend and create optical illusions. Are your people aware of that?”

“Of course we are! We all know that the light can reflect off the river or glass!”

“Yes. And the daylight comes from the sun, right?”

“Duh,” Phisola made a mocking facial expression as she agreed with the obvious.

“Ok. I’m not trying to be patronizing, I just had to create the proper setup. Now, what if the sunlight isn’t hitting the earth directly? Uhh … do you understand when I say hitting the earth?”

“Hitting the ground.”

“Good enough. What if, before the sunlight reaches us, it hits an invisible, gaseous wall above the planet?”

“You think there is an invisible wall up in the sky, made out of gas?”

“Not up in the sky, above it. What is above the sky?”

“More sky.”

“You think the sky has no limits? Do you think it’s endless?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Because it does. It matters a lot because that determines the nature of the world.”

“I never thought about the sky or its limits. That’s not something devils are concerned with.”

“Well, the sky does have an ending, and if you manage to fly high enough to reach it, you will realize there is nothing but the night above it. There is nothing but night once you go high enough.”

“That actually reminds me of some myths the races of this world have.”

“You don’t have to fly that high to understand it. Those people have probably reached the same conclusion through some other means. Maybe through some calculations?”

“Calculations? Don’t be an idiot! The races here don’t know how to count to hundred, let alone do calculations! They just have some myths about how those who try to achieve much will find nothing but doom. The usual bullshit tales to scare the cowards into being submissive. But still, you didn’t prove anything. You’ve only clarified your claims but didn’t provide any evidence.”

“I know how it works, but I don’t know how to prove it, especially down here in the cave. There’s plenty of evidence back in my world, but clearly I can’t bring it here. However, I can prove something else. Maybe that will help you have a more open mind about my people and our achievements.”