The first sensation was that I was floating; I stood upon nothing and yet was not falling. All around me was a golden color, but there was nothing else substantial there.

Suddenly there was… something? Or was it nothing? It was nothing, but it was more than the previous absence of things – it distinguished itself from the emptiness around it. It was black and bottomless, despite being of finite size.

“You should recognize it,” said Father who appeared at my side.

Confused, I responded, “I don’t. It looks like nothing.”

“‘Nothing’ is precisely what it is,” he revealed. “It’s your ‘zero’.”

“Father, where are we?” I asked.

“We are standing where all things in our world are derived,” he told me. “Welcome to the World of Forms.”

I reached out to touch zero.

“Stop!” cried Father. “Think Philena – what is you times zero?” I retracted my hand as though zero were a hot stove.

Then there was something else: it was so small that it had no size, yet I could still see it.

I asked Dad what it was. “That is The Point,” he told me. “It is the location in space.”

Then there was a line that went on forever; it was the straightest line I had ever seen.

“This is the line,” I said, half-asking. “All straight edges are derived from this line.”

“Correct, but we should get moving,” said Father. “We need to move beyond the abstract to get to the answers you seek. Also,” he warned, “that blood will only be able to pay for so much knowledge, so be careful with what you want to remember.”

I looked down into the pitcher, and indeed there was noticeably less blood.

“You move by willing yourself in a direction,” Father explained, demonstrating. “Now follow me, I have made this journey before,” he ordered. “Stay close and pay careful heed to my words. This is not a place of safety, especially as we move to the more complex forms – crossing Bear or Lion’s territory would be a death sentence. Gravity help us if Predator hears or smells us.”

I must not have paid for the intermediate journey, for I lack the memory. I only remember coming upon a house; of course, it wasn’t just any house but rather the House – the house from which all houses are derived. Flying in all directions around the House were what I first mistook for spheres of glass, for they were perfectly transparent and distorted the image of what was behind them. However, upon closer inspection they could also pass through objects.

Father reached to open the door.

“Wait,” I said. “Shouldn’t we knock first?”

“Why?” asked Father. “We are family after all.”

“Dad… whose house is this?” I asked, worried.

“Whose do you think it is?” he asked, opening the Door.

Inside there was a Cat and a Dog. They were like all the Cats and Dogs I had ever seen, yet they were without flaw. The ethereal, glass-like spheres filled the air inside.

“I am in the study,” came a voice from within. It was the voice of my father and mother. It was the voice of the patrons and slaves. It was the voice of everyone I had ever heard, and it was so much more. It carried authority and familiarity. It held the weight of a commandment and the comfort of advice.

Father moved deeper into the house, and I followed. He opened another Door and there stood a Human, the Human.

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“I hope we are not intruding, Humanity,” said Father in the politest of tones.

“No, but you did cut this visit awfully close,” Humanity – for this was the essence of Humans – said. “Another few days and I would have been at war.” Humanity put down its Pen. Humanity was the same golden-like color that the House, the Dog, the Cat, and this whole world seemed to be. It was perfection incarnate. There was nothing I had ever seen that came close to its beauty.

All the sculptors had failed; the artists may as well have used twigs. Poets’ efforts were all in vain. I was struck with a great love of Humanity. It wasn’t a love that a wife has for her husband. It wasn’t the love a mother has for her child. It wasn’t the love that two soldiers might share. Their love was a shadow of this love that I suddenly felt.

“So why have you brought me my mind?” Humanity asked Dad. “Has she disappointed you? Do you wish to trade her for something else, like my Weapon?” Humanity gave a hearty laugh, full and genuine. It filled the air with humor and me with joy. “In all seriousness, you should have brought my mind here sooner.”

“I apologize,” said Dad, deferentially.

“I understand why you were so hesitant,” consoled Humanity, “but it would have been better if you had not been so.”

“Your mind?” I asked. “Why do you say that like it’s a person?”

“I am sorry,” said Humanity, turning to me. “You go by Philena, don’t you?”

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Philena, the reason why you see into the future, peer into the minds of men, and improve your mind at will is because you are my mind made flesh,” Humanity explained, finally answering the question I had wondered all my life. “Knowledge of the future is required for perfect intuition, and knowledge of another’s thoughts is required for perfect empathy. Mastery of oneself is required for perfect reason.”

“How is this possible?” I asked. “How could you bring a Form into the material world?”

“You have brought that blood here so that you may pay for knowledge from this world,” Humanity reminded me. “With enough value, you can bring an object from here into your world. Of course, to bring the whole thing without compromise would require infinite value – you cannot improve your intellect and wisdom without limit. You are still bound to the material you have.”

“So then, if I come from here, I have no blood relation to you Father.” I realized. Why would this man, Aristocles, have kept something this monumental from me. He had hidden the truth from me, the mind of Humanity made flesh. How could he? There was also the fact Aristocles had refused to arrange my marriage. “You said there is one man worthy of me. Is he from here as well?”

“Ah,” said Humanity, nodding its understanding. “He must have referred to my body, who now goes by the name Maximos.”

We felt a great stirring, a great drive to meet this ‘Maximos’. “Then we must go and find him,” I said, turning to leave.

“Stop,” ordered Humanity. “You still have blood left. Is there anything else you wish to ask me? I have all the knowledge in the world.”

I looked into the pitcher to find half of the total blood left. I thought about what to ask; depending on how important it was, this could be the last thing I learn from here. “How did the world come to be?”

Humanity gave me a smile. “At the dawn of creation, there were no laws – just the Forces,” it answered. “They wrote the laws of the universe together, but of course each wanted domination over all the others. This made Gravity the weakest, and Light was divided against itself. The Force of Division were made to continuously work against the Force of Union. To mitigate this imbalance, each of the Forces made their own race capable of changing the Laws of the universe.” They smiled sadly, adding, “The constant war that I have been fighting against Sahalia has been a part of this grand struggle over the Laws that govern reality itself. Even the Forces themselves are involved in this constant struggle, for whoever is the lone survivor will be able to elevate their Force – their God – above the rest.”

Not only would Humanity have to defeat the Sahalians but there were two other races that must be vanquished for the future to be secured. I also realized that I would be pivotal in this struggle. I had always know that to some degree, but now the heft of my purpose was truly felt. I looked down and saw there was still blood left. One problem at a time. “Tell me about the Sahalians and their Light,” I requested.

Humanity answered, “‘Light’ is perhaps a misleading name. While Light is a part of what that Force governs, it isn’t all. Sahalia’s Light also governs chemistry, electricity, and magnetism.”

Despite my lack of knowledge of the words ‘chemistry’, ‘electricity’, and ‘magnetism’, their meaning was still conveyed nonetheless

I thought of how plants and animals used chemistry to grow and use energy. “If chemistry is made weaker, then won’t we starve?” I asked.

“If Gravity were to become the supreme force, then humanity would have no need for food or even air,” Humanity answered. “All the races exist in a lesser form due to the existence of the other Forces. If Gravity were the only Force, we would all exist as distortions in spacetime, just as our souls do.” It gestured to the clear spheres that filled the air. “In fact, if Gravity were the only God, then there would be no difference between the material world and this one.”

The next thing I knew, I was being pulled out of the scroll by the man I had once called Father.