Chapter2

The forest was really away from the City of Axiom. It was in a place that people did not often go to.

The trees in the forest were very tall and very old. They had moss over their trunks. It looked like the trees had been there before the City of Axiom was built.

Werren walked slowly on the ground. He had an axe with him. The axe was hanging at his side.

Werrens reason for being in the forest was simple. He wanted to get some firewood for his home. The firewood was, for the City of Axiom, where Werren lived. Werren needed the firewood to keep his home warm.

This season the energy, for rituals was really limited. We could not easily make fire for things. Wood was still something that would burn. Fire still worked the way it always had. Sometimes it would not light up and we did not know why.

When Werren stepped into the forest he got a feeling. Something just did not feel right to Werren. The forest was really quiet. Werren felt like something was off about the forest. Werren thought to himself that the forest was not, like this before.

The air was heavier.

It was not because of moisture. It felt like the space, around me was pushing down. The noise that insects usually make was almost gone. The leaves were really still. That was weird because the wind should have been blowing through this place and making them move. The sound of insects was there. Leaves just did not move, even when the wind came through.

Werren remembered the stories that people used to tell him. He would often think about the stories and what they meant to him. The stories were really important, to Werren.

People who live in the city talk about this forest in quiet voices. They say that sometimes you can see a white thing between the trees. This white thing does not move around like smoke. Get bigger, like mist. It moves slowly and it looks weird. The white thing can go through the bark of trees, rocks and even people as if they are not there.

The people who actually touched it…

The people just stopped moving. They were, like statues. The people froze.

Not burned.

Not wounded.

Frozen—instantly.

The bodies of the people who died were found stiff like time stopped at the exact moment they died. The bodies were really stiff as if time had just stopped for the people who died.

The old people said "Ghost".

People would whisper to each other a forest spirit they would say.

This curse was bad news for anyone who dared to cross the territory it controlled. The curse had a reputation for being very powerful. It would get anyone who entered its area. Anyone who crossed the territory of the curse was, in trouble. The curse was something that people feared. It was known for claiming anyone who crossed its territory.

Werren did not think that ghosts are real. He just did not believe in the idea of ghosts. To Werren ghosts were not something that actually existed. Werren was a person who did not believe in ghosts.

The man had faith, in these things called phenomena. He really believed that phenomena were real.

The man stopped walking. He just stopped walking in the middle of the road. The man stopped walking because he was tired of walking.

Ahead of him between the trees something showed up. It was not, like fog or smoke. This white stuff was thicker and more even. The big white mass moved together really calm and steady.

The temperature really dropped a lot all of a sudden. It was like the temperature just fell quickly.

Werrens breath was visible now. Tiny ice crystals started to form on the edges of his eyelashes. The ground, under Werrens feet turned hard fast.

This was not ordinary cold.

Werren did something that felt right, to him. He went into the Observer State. This is a state that Werren entered instinctively. The Observer State is where Werren is now.

The world just slowed down all of a sudden. Everything seemed to be moving in motion it was really weird. The world slowed.

The particles in the air started to move. You could see it happening. The vibrations from the heat got really weak fast like the heat was being sucked out of the space. It was not being. Burned away. The heat was just disappearing from the space. Not in a way that it was being destroyed or burned. The movement of particles, in the air became very noticeable as the thermal vibrations weakened rapidly.

Stopped.

This is what people call a ghost he said to himself quietly.

The mans thoughts were, over the place. This thing that was happening was not being mean to him. The phenomenon was not trying to hurt him. It was not chasing him. It was not attacking him. The phenomenon was there.. The fact that the phenomenon existed was enough to cause harm to people. The phenomenon was very dangerous even though it was not doing anything to him.

“…Bose–Einstein Condensate.”

The term had not been said for centuries. It was from the world before everything fell apart. A world that knew something. When it gets really really cold particles start to behave and become one. This happens when the temperature gets close to zero and the particles lose what makes them unique and become one single quantum state, which is what happens to particles in this state. The term was from the world, before the collapse, a world that understood this thing about particles and temperature and absolute zero.

The fifth state of matter.

The coldest possible point. Zero Kelvin.

In the days something, like this would have needed a lot of special equipment and a very controlled environment.. This thing was just here happening all on its own in a forest.

That meant one thing and I knew exactly what that thing was it meant that something big was going to happen and that thing was going to change everything the thing that I was thinking about was the only possible explanation.

The laws of nature in this world were no longer stable.

Werren took one step forward. She did this slowly and carefully making sure not to make any sudden moves. Werren was being extremely cautious taking her time with each movement. Now Werren had taken one careful step forward.

Ice crawled instantly up his boots. This was really bad. Pain shot through his legs. It hurt a lot. His muscles. Would not move. The blood, in his body felt heavy like the ice was affecting his blood too the ice that was crawling up his boots.

The man stopped. He just stopped there. The man stopped moving.

The man did not panic when things got really bad. He just stayed calm. Thought about what to do next. The situation was very serious. The man did not panic.

He slowed down his breathing. He did not move much. He tried not to rub against anything. The Yoga Master said that people should minimize the energy that their body gives off. When the Yoga Master was in the Observer State the Yoga Master was not doing anything. The Yoga Master was just watching. The Observer State is a state where the Yoga Master is just like a person who is watching something happen but the Yoga Master is not taking part in it. In the Observer State the Yoga Master is a witness, to what's going on and that is all.

The white mass just stopped moving for a moment. It was like the white mass was not sure what to do. The white mass hesitated.

The thing just did not move forward all. The situation, with the thing did not advance.

The thing did not back down. It just stayed right where it was the thing did not retreat.

The reality was checking out the man. What he was doing. Reality was basically looking at him and his presence.

Werren whispered that you do not bring death.

“Only… absolute stillness.”

This is the step that will finish him. His body cells will completely stop moving. Life will be over for him. Not because something bad happened to him. Because life needs movement to keep going. Life is about movement and when his cells stop moving his life will stop too and that is the end of life, for him.

Things like fire coming out of your hand flying through the air and running on air. These things are not magic. They are things that can happen. Only if you can control tiny particles. This thing that is happening now is similar. It is much more powerful. Fire from the hand and flight, through the sky are rare. They are possible if you can manipulate particles. This phenomenon is the same it is much more extreme.

There is a chance that was never supposed to happen in life. This probability was never meant to be, in the open for everyone to see. The probability that I am talking about is something that should have stayed hidden.

This world had actually allowed this to happen. The world we live in had given permission for this thing to occur. This world is the place where this was able to take place.

Werren slowly stepped back. The ice. It fell away. The cold temperature came back bit, by bit. The big white mass of ice kept moving into the forest. It did not care that Werren was there.

He stood there for a long time. His heart was still racing. The heart was beating fast.

This world was dangerous.

Not because of magic.

But because of possibility.

If a Bose-Einstein Condensate could really exist in a forest then what else could show up? What other rules of physics could break down? How many things that people think are ghosts are actually Bose-Einstein Condensates or other physics things that we do not understand?

Werren tightened his grip on the axe. He held the axe tight. The axe felt heavy in Werrens hands. Werren had a grip, on the axe.

The Reborn World must have known this fact. I mean The Reborn World had to be aware of this situation. It is pretty clear that The Reborn World was in the know. The Reborn World must have figured it out. The Reborn World had to have some idea, about this.

People must have understood that things were not stable, with the instability of the situation and the instability that was happening.

Someone, a time ago made the decision to hide the truth. They chose to keep the truth buried. That is what happened to the truth. The truth was buried by someone.

The wind finally started moving. It was like the whole world was breathing again.

Werren turned back toward the city carrying the firewood he had nearly forgotten. His mind was else it was not on the city or the firewood his mind was on other things Werren thought about the city but his thoughts were really, on something else Werren was thinking about things that had nothing to do with the firewood he was carrying or the city he was walking towards.

The man knew one thing now. He was certain about this one thing now. This one thing was very clear, to him now.

If this world could become too cold for life it would be a bad place to live. The world would be so cold that people and animals would have a time surviving. Life on earth would be very difficult. The world becoming too cold for life is a thought. What would happen to the world and to life if it got too cold? The world and life as we know it would change a lot if it became too cold, for life.

Then the situation could also become too unstable to handle lies.

And his curiosity had only just begun.

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