The Record of Unusual Creatures

Panda Novel

The ancient parchments had faded somewhat. After eight centuries, the weathering process had left mottled marks on them despite the magic protection to prevent decay. As Hao Ren had imagined, the witch left behind this record when she knew she had no hope of returning home. The blackened papers told the story of an ordinary witch from Earth. It was about her short life and experience of being stranded in this strange world.

“Anyone who reads these letters, if you can understand what they mean, I give you my most sincere blessings. May the light of knowledge and mystery bless you not to be stranded as I did. My name is Beatrice. I am from another world, and I believe you too.

“I came to this place in search of knowledge and mystery. A hellish misadventure landed me into the abyss and eventually stuck here. In a sense, I have gotten what I wanted. What I learned and encountered were miracles that I could have never imagined in the past thousands of years. I believe that even the gods of ancient times do not know about the mysteries of this world. It renders all my ideas and knowledge systems obsolete. No words could describe the surprises I saw in this underground world, but I hope to share the joy of this discovery with you. Unfortunately, I can’t go back. I can only write it down in the parchment.”

Hao Ren skipped the less important paragraphs, only took a cursory glance at Beatrice’s early record of her time in this world. The witch had received help from the locals. The fire tribe was hospitable and not hostile towards foreigners. Because Beatrice was skilled in a kind of magic flame, the tribe people saw it as evidence of her closeness to natural elements. In this world, the intimacy with the natural elements was proof of one’s ‘good quality.’ So, Beatrice could easily befriend with the locals.

She became a friend with the Witch of Fire, who was the tribal saintess. The friendship had been beautiful. The people practiced superficial elemental magic, but the more in-depth knowledge of it had disappeared. Saintesses and tribal warriors could only attain advanced magic by relying on the help of blood or celestial objects. The warriors learned the magic just for battle use; it was the saintesses and their apprentices who delve into advanced magic skills. The arrival of Beatrice had brought new knowledge that this world lacked. At the same time, the saintess of the Fire tribe had found a like-minded partner in Beatrice. They studied ancient expertise together ever since.

They were into the ancient symbols and memory inscribed in the blood. In just a few years, the two became good friends. They even restored many old magic creations. Beatrice was the one who made the phlogistic lamp and cracked the methods of producing ancient artifacts from the totem of the Fire tribe.

The curing of the black-spot plague was another achievement. The incident had exalted the position of Beatrice in the hearts of the locals. They no longer treated Beatrice as a foreigner but people of the goddess just like them. But Beatrice was also unusual in that she was the only people of the goddess that fell from the Pillar of Eternity.

“…I have spent many years here. It was a bit difficult at first. I have to learn strange words, language, customs and even eating habits. There was once a plant favorite among the locals eating as food almost killed me. That was the first time I truly learned about the alien world. Since then, things have been getting better. It is a place where I can settle down and begin like it. I was an outcast in my homeworld where magic practitioners were in decline. When the racial war was coming to an end, a witch like me became the ultimate loser. I don’t miss my homeworld, as living in fugitive was not something to be cherished. Maybe staying here is not too bad. At least, I have this thought sometimes in my life.

“…I observe the lives of the local people during my free time. I am very interested in their religion and way of life. And more importantly, this world fascinates me. What kind of power could create another layer of earth on top of the original layer? It is out of this world. But it has happened here. According to the legend of the local people, it seemed that this world was unlike what it is today. Something has changed it.

“…the locals believe that the pillars that support the heaven and the earth are the giants’ arms. In their religious beliefs, except for the goddess, shadows of the ‘great creature’ are everywhere. The giant supports the sky, and the clouds are the air that the giant exhales. The wind on the grassland is the yawning of a giant beast called Haku; and the world is built on the back of a stooped old man named Toka, who was the gardener of the goddess. There are many such legends, full of unusual colors, which remind me of the strange deities of my homeworld during ancient times. But I could not shrug these legends off. They have clear and surprising logic though appear grotesque. They seem to be real, but history has obscured them.

“Yes, it is a heritage. The historical legacy of the locals is a more exciting topic. I found out that these people once were a brilliant civilization, one that was even more advanced than those in my homeworld. But the closure of heaven had interrupted the development of this civilization. I could see the relics of this ancient civilization on murals and slates: a vehicle that drives by itself, flying craft, magic-driven rock guards and iron giants, and even Moro Tosh, the magical city that floated in the air. But these things have disappeared, buried deep in earth’s fissures.

“…there is another fascinating phenomenon. The closure of heaven reduced the population by more than half. The remaining population also gradually declined. But disaster was not the sole cause of the reduction; it was a deliberate act. I found many records on ancient slates that contained detailed plans of population control. The tribes scattered around the world were following a strict timetable to control their population in the period when communication was cut off. About 3,000 years ago, in Inferno-term, they had managed to reduce the population down to the current level. And, this number has never changed since then.

“…The birth rate is strictly controlled. They use a kind of drug to dictate when one would produce offspring. The newborns would go through a ritual-like training to ensure the children could fully assume work in the tribe and would not die prematurely. There are indications that these natives are aware of the fragility and scarce resources of this world, and consciously limiting the population to conserve resources. This concept has been handed down from ancient times. No one knows why they have to do this, but they still follow the teaching strictly. So who taught them the resource conservation? Maybe it was the goddess.

“I even suspect that they have a way to control the intelligence and thinking of the newborns. I have found substances that could affect the brain in their every-day spices. These spices only slightly inhibit brain activity and are not very harmful. But it is this just-right inhibition that has stalled their civilization. It has been thousands of years since the closure of heaven, the length of time is enough for them to rebuild their civilization. So it should be the result of an intentional or unintentional intervention. It is a pity that I don’t have much time. I can’t verify my conjectures. And even if I could, I could not reverse their religious traditions. Religion is vital to them. Thousands of years of drug prescription and traditional teaching are flowing in their blood veins. As an outsider, I had better not to interfere…”

Hao Ren suddenly looked up at Beatrice who was in a daze. “Show me the spices that you have used to baptize the newborns.”

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