'Now that Runia knows that I'm fallen and is somewhat okay with it, I want so ask her how much she knows about this world, but I'm afraid it will backfire. While it's true she probably does know a lot more than me or even a bit more than Lumie, her mental state while appearing well isn't, the way she talks, the way she walks, to the way her face and hands tremble: she appears calm, but is barely holding it together, so I should wait.
I'll ask her tomorrow, or maybe even the day after. As for now I should converse with Lumie, according to that old grandfather clock in the corner, it's currently 10:21, so I have the whole day ahead of me.'
I turned to Lumie, "I'm going for a walk, you can come if you like." She stared at me with a newfound indignation, so I left without her. I approached a small flight of stairs until I reached a wood and metal door and undid the hinges and locks and creaked open the door.
The sky was completely overcast and gravel path lay ahead, twisting through the surrounding trees. The atmosphere was what you would expect from a forest. Tall trees as far as the eye can see, (even if that's only because said trees are blocking your vision)
It was nothing special, in fact, the only noteworthy thing about them was that they were all evergreen, and if biology and evolution work in any similar fashion here then they do on earth, which I assume they do, then this place most likely gets really cold for long periods of time, with very short warm periods such as these in a year, which makes me count myself lucky to not be transmigrated into a ceaseless winter in an evergreen forest.
I started walking the gravel path, as I looked around the landscape of seemingly the same thing, I noticed something interesting, 'assuming this is a planet of similar size, due to the general theme of the trees, I am between this planet's tropic and cancer and arctic circle or am I between this planet's tropic of capricorn and antarctic circle.
Meaning, I have to go south or north to reach bigger civilizations near the equator, and looking at the moss on the trees, and assuming the sun does indeed rise east and sets west, I can confirm that this gravel path, heads neither directions, due to all the moss on these trees all facing sideways.
Which means, that it will most likely lead to a town and that town will most likely be closer to the equator than this house's property, due to a shorter trading time from the theoretical bigger cities near the equator.
So, in conclusion, follow the path=people. Yeah, I probably didn't need all that circumnavigatory knowledge and theories to find that out. Well I am really just trying to waste time here, so I guess it's fine. I should head back now, although I said it was warm, that was only relative, being a taiga in all, even if it's in summer, gets kinda chilly after a while if one doesn't bring a jacket.
I headed back, approached the steps and opened the door and closed it behind me. Going to the kitchen I was met with Runia, as she belatedly remarked, "Ah, J-Vanitas, you're back already?" I pondered that last word, already. My eyes drifted to the corner, I looked at the grandfather clock again, it said, 10:30.
I was only gone for 9 minutes, it felt a hell of a lot longer. So much for wasting time, I didn't do shit. After some inward contemplation I responded, "I got cold, sorry for worrying you." she responded in kind, "No, no it's okay, really!" she said with audible reverence.
That reaction was over the top, but if it's her current state, it's understandable. She may think of being as some sort of god. Hell, she might of every fallen that way. Maybe that's the common view here, I need to interact more with Lumie to verify that ideology.
"I'm going to my room." I said, trying to give Runia more coping space, it's only been 9 minutes after all. "Yes!", she responded swiftly yet unintelligently. I just stared at her, 'that wasn't a question.' I didn't have anything more to add, so I walked down the hallway.
As I entered my room, I saw sights I didn't see before, most of it the cobwebs in the corners, but more importantly, books. Dilapidated, ruined books, but books nonetheless. I needed something that was about the history of the empires, anything about the fallen, and maybe even shifting sand monoliths. Although I'm not too confident on finding anything about that monolith, even if I had every book in the world at my disposal. It honestly might not exist outside my authority.
I scanned the books, most of them fictional novels, but one did catch my eye: The Heavenly Demonic Daoist Multiversal Celestial Galactic Master of the Heavenly Demonic Daoist Multiversal Celestial Galactic Master Sect ascends to The Heavenly Demonic Daoist Multiversal Celestial Galactic Master.
Because of the author's need to put only 3 words of the title on each page and cover, I had to flip open the first eight pages to fully read the title, the sign of a true novel. I couldn't stop laughing, this was comedy gold, according to the title this "Heavenly Demonic Daoist Multiversal Celestial Galactic Master", did absoultely nothing, in a sect named after himself he ascended to the exact thing he was previously.
The thing that makes this funnier is that it's obviously a parody, using terms like galactic and multiversal, words that are similar to that of celestial, but never actually show in any translation. Show this to a suicide contemplator, this is the kinda stuff worth living for.
I was excited by this prospect, until I turned the ninth page to a spider. I threw that book so hard, It broke through the window, I probably destabilized the structural stability of the house. I wouldn't say I have arachnophobia, I just have an extreme need to leave the vicinity when I am within 500 feet of any arachnid.
After calming down near my door, I walked back to my bookshelf, reviewing the book selection john had. Still, nothing of importance or comedic value, it seemed like I didn't miss anything in my first go around. I really am just in the wrong section for useful information.
It's about time I talked to Lumie, thinking this thought I walked out of my room and down the hallway to the kitchen, this time to be met with no one. I wondered where Lumie was, so I decided to explore the household. It didn't take me long to find her, as she was in the first I checked.
Well, to be realistic, it wasn't really a room, it was the porch. I walked on the open roofed porch, the clouds were no longer overcast, so I instinctively looked up at sun. I always knew this planet wasn't earth, but I thought it close at least: breathable air, a manageable temperature, human-looking bipedal creatures, but opon gazing at the sun, I realized I needed to rethink that ideology.
It was a rhombus.
A square diamond, two stacked triangles, however one would describe such a shape, that's what it was. I had originally thought, that this world, no that this universe, had the same macroscopic physical laws as my previous, but again, I was wrong. Square suns can exist, and they might be common.
If celestial bodies such as stars don't conform to spherical shapes under the pressure of rotation and gravity, why should planets, Why should my planet. For all I know this planet might be a square, which means all my circumnavigation earlier was a bunch of bullshit. Though this planet being a square leads to a lot of problems, like day and night cycles, and the measurement of time.
For one, I know that time here is relatively the same here as was back on earth. One could consider that that statement redundant, but what I mean by time here is the measurement of time. All civilizations in recorded history have used day and night cycles as measurements of time, without exception.
Being said, with a square, if it rotated on one of its vertices, which is the only way the sun doesn't boil or freeze the planet, its time zones would be fucked up, and not only that, the south and north vertices would constantly get no sun, causing them to freeze badly and an observer watching the position of the sun will see it go straight across the sky. That means if I see the sun perform any horizontal change in it's position, I can verify that it is not a square.
I saw it go up, that confirms it, while the sun may or may not be a square the planet most definitely isn't. I started laughing at my discovery of the times, Lumie, startled, turned to me in her chair, wanting to say something to me, but seemingly feeling too scared to.