A History Lesson

The empire’s castle entrance. Rain and the empress stand in front of the goddess statue.

“You are going to have to speak with him soon”. - The empress declares, as if an order and a prediction at the same time. Her authority is unmistakable.

-”When I speak to him, it would be because I’m ready to, and because I decided to do so”.

The empress smiles.

“What??” - Rain asks angrily, blushing.

The empress just leaves without saying anything.

Rain doesn’t really understand her. She goes to their room. She opens the door, enters and goes beyond the curtain hiding their bedroom. She sees Nir is there, already sleeping. He is with his back towards the middle.

Rain gets on the bed quietly, facing him. She stares at his back. After a few minutes, Nir turns in his sleep and puts his hand on hers. Rain is surprised, but she sees he is completely asleep. She puts her fingers in between his and allows themselves to “hold hands” while he is sleeping. She holds tight, as tears start showing up again, but not tight enough to wake him up.

The next morning.

Nir wakes up on Rain’s side of the bed. She isn’t there.

He prepares for a new day, then leaves towards the barracks. As he gets there, he sees Rain holding some ingredients, standing there and talking with the guards. He walks closer to her, saying: “Rain…”

Her conversation with the guards stops. -”Follow me Nir”. - She tells him.

He follows her, walking to the kitchen. She puts the ingredients down, then leaves the kitchen.

-”Rain, where are we…” - “Hush”. - She shuts him up.

She goes outside the castle and walks towards the spot she met the empress at yesterday. As they get there, they climb the stairs and reach the top. Then Rain says: “I’m not talking to you, but the empress has tasked me with relaying the empire’s history to you - so you will listen while I talk”.

-”Rain, why are you always mad at me?”

-”Don’t interrupt me”.

The day before, at the very same spot. The empress tells Rain about the history of the empire.

-”We believe the two gods came to this land to start a colony”. - The empress explains.

-”Believe?” - Rain asks her.

-”Yes. That is our faith”. - She replies. “As they made their colony, they put seeds in the ground and created what you may know today as “the forest of the spirit”. They reproduced and created a flourishing tribe that lived in the forest. They shared their powers with the people, who in turn - used it to help one another, to build and to improve. However, the people of the tribe started evolving, learning, achieving new things. They stopped relying on the two gods. They no longer needed them. Eventually - the two gods disappeared, leaving their statues behind.

-”So that is how the statues were made…” - Says Rain.

-”Some even believe they are the statues, but there is no practical reason to believe that.

Back to the history - the people started conflicting about what to do. Some thought the gods left because the people didn’t need them anymore, while others thought they left because the people have angered them. Many theories started taking place until three main factions were created.

The first one believed that the gods felt they are no longer needed by the people and left, wishing for the people to keep growing, while living together in the forest. That faction was the foundation to the empire.

The second faction believed that the people have angered the two gods, as they overpopulated the forest that was meant to be a sacred place, while the gods meant for the people to build their own colony, as they taught them, without taking over the forest.

The third faction believed that the people have made the gods furious. That the people overadvanced themselves, abandoning the simple life they should have had as they originally learned from the gods, while at the same time - taking over their territory that was supposed to only be helpful to the people, who could use the resources to make their own colony, giving the gods their due respect.

There were other minor factions as well, such as those who believed living in the forest is fine but overadvancing isn’t. Factions like that didn’t survive long on their own”.

-”Why not?” - Rain asks.

-”The people who believed they all angered the gods for living in the forest, regardless of their view about advancement - have joined hands and started building villages outside of the forest. Different villages had different perspectives, but they all agreed the forest should be sacred and left alone. They decided to attack the rest and drive them out of the forest. However, by moving out they abandoned most of their advancements, along with their technological tools, regardless if they thought it’s okay to use those any longer or not.

What happened is… They lost. While the people who remained - built the empire on part of the forest, having access to resources, their advancements and even the statues. It’s true that some people who remained wanted to avoid overadvancing, but without building the empire they would have been vulnerable to further attacks from the villages. Also, if they wanted to leave the empire and live in what remained of the forest - they would have faced the same consequences. Other similar groups who prioritized not advancing as a radical top value ended up joining the villages.

Now, every remnant of the old factions - believes the forest is sacred, using the resources in it is allowed, and even if they believe they are allowed to live in it if they come from the empire - they avoid it in order to not be in danger, while still occupying part of the land it used to stretch to. It’s ironic, but most of the conflict is about not being in the forest, that if you go and explore right now you would see is actually vacant, technically speaking.

Some villages that allowed advancements did better than others, but their access to the forest is limited as it’s dangerous as a neutral territory. This holds them back, as they don’t get enough resources, making them closer to the villages that do not allow advancements.

All of the above, though, are willing to use our gear and tools if they get their hands on those, mostly blaming us for anything that could be wrong about it by their standards. They subscribe to a faith that there is a ‘spirit’ behind the will of the two gods, and that very spirit lives in the forest”.

-”I can’t believe things escalated so much”. - Rain tells her. “Is that why they made the military school in the village we came from? To liberate the forest?”

-”They don’t have a ‘military school’. They have just schools”.

-”But we attended there…” - Rain replies, slightly confused.

-”What you attended was a normal school like in any of the other villages. They don’t only teach combat. Have you experienced normal lessons there as well?” - The empress asks.

-”Yea… We did”.

-”The most radical of the villages teach their students from a very young age to liberate the forest. They carry the worth of their own lives at a very low value, yet they cherish the spirit of the will of the two gods who gave them those lives”.

-”Do you think things can ever be the same as before?”

-”Hardly. The gap has become too big. They even have farms where they raise children that were born out of marriage up to the age of 10, then harvest their hearts. The parents who committed the crime are killed on the spot”.

Rain is horrified by hearing this. She then remembers seeing a book about “harvest”. She starts feeling sick.

-”I know it’s a lot to take in. But sometimes I think to myself: “How do I know?”

-”Wait… What do you mean?”

-”How do I know it’s a lot to take in? What am I comparing this to? Is it because the gods made us and wanted us to advance to this state? Wanted us to have specific values? Specific common sense? I hope so…

At the same time, I’m thinking… We don’t know of any other countries in the world, but we do believe if there were any advanced countries - they would be on our side morally. We just have no information about other countries”.

-”What does that have to do with anything?” - Rain asks.

-”Knowing that our empire is not exactly a country… If we don’t know of any other countries - how do we know the word “country” to begin with?” - The empress asks. “Could the two gods have brought us a specific culture? From someplace else? Did they know everything would shape like that? Is it because they are gods, or is it because they have already witnessed other cultures’ advancements?”

The empress makes a weird face. To Rain, it looks like she’s scared.

Rain doesn’t know how to react to all of this. After a few seconds, she says: “Come to think of it, we saw some books in their school. We couldn’t understand their writing, but we could understand the titles… Isn’t that weird?”

The empress looks absolutely terrified.