Treachery : book 2 of Codex Elysium

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Kvasir toyed with the scroll in his hands, he looked intently at Jason. "Forget everything you learnt in Midgard, everything about the universe, the solar system, space and the ludicrous idea that you live on a planet floating in it"

"What do you mean forget about it?" snapped Eva "those are all scientific facts, those are all proven" Jason placed a restraining hand on her arm "Let him speak his piece, we can argue the toss about it afterwards" Kvasir bowed his head deeply to Jason he was really starting to like this man. As for Eva, well the jury was still out on her. He toyed with the scroll again. "Are they proven facts? Proved by who? Forget the idea of infinite space that just goes on and on. That is just a deception. A prime example of a limited mortal mind trying to understand things it cannot, a deep lack of imagination and well sheer laziness"

"Why laziness?" demanded Eva. Kvasir arched an eyebrow at that "Well its easy isn't it. If it just goes on and on, there is no end, there is no need to answer further questions. What is at the end? What is on the other side of the end? If it had an end it would have to be contained within something"

Jason nodded, he had once tried to teach this concept to his druid group but they couldn't grasp it.

"The truth is" mused Kvasir "No one knows what is outside this universe, no one knows what secrets the heavens and stars hold. In truth we haven't even explored all of the lands nearest to us yet"

"Your lying!" snapped Eva "Earth is a round globe that floats in space with all the other planets, we have explored every inch of it. It is fact! It is proven!"

Kvasir sighed deeply, he looked pleadingly at Jason who was still holding onto Eva. He briefly wondered what Jason saw in that girl? Why would he chose a girl with such a simple and limited mind? He shrugged off the thought and spoke to Eva "That is the problem with you mortals. No one thinks for themselves anymore. You are spoon-fed lies from the cradle to the grave and you happily swallow them!"

Eva's temper flared, she jumped to her feet, the flecks of green in her eyes becoming much more prominent" This is madness" she pointed an accusing finger at Kvasir "you are mad!"

The old god continued sitting calmly he looked up and met Eva's fiery gaze.

"So tell me, when did you last go into space?"

"What? Never obviously"

"have you seen the earth from space?"

"Of course not!"

"So how do you know for yourself that the earth is round? How do you know it is in space?"

Eva gave the god a murderous look. The answer was obvious, she knew this because people had been into space and told of these things. She didn't reply because that was what Kvasir wanted her to say. Jason looked up at Eva then turned back to the god.

"I once wrote a book on this. It was all about how can you believe in something if you have seen it or felt it or experienced it in any way?"

Kvasir smiled. "I know, Odin told me about it, there is a copy in Asgard's library. I look forward to reading it"

Jason's jaw hit the floor. A book he had written was in a library of the gods? It was unbelievable. Every single copy of the book in Midgard had been destroyed. It had been branded as lies and heresy. Reflecting on it, that book was probably what drew the attention of the witch hunters in the first place. He must have struck way too close to the truth. The book had been a labour of love, it had taken years of work. He laid out a whole theory on how mindless the human race had become. How they were gullible enough to believe anything as long as it was "Fact" or proved by science or religion. All the work was done for them, why did they need to question it? Why did they need to think for themselves?