>>5981839Leshy continues. "<span class="mu-g"><span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">Ever since this world began to recover, and its people were to return to their roots... people have had their doubts that the laws of the world are the same as they were before. This sensation that you feel? That wholeness? Togetherness with your surroundings...? This was unrecorded. This was unprecedented. This.... this was</span> new. <span class="mu-i">But was it truly new? Or, did humanity lose it when they attained their enlightenment? So, over the years, there has been an earnest scientific effort to learn the world once again, for there are things that have changed. Things you and I may consider... supernatural.</span></span></span>"
"<span class="mu-g"><span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">I saw your mother off to the North on an expedition... was it two decades ago? Around then, a popular topic of discussion was the nature of the world. Clearly, is still round, but The ice caps had returned, and some had called out for an investigation into a particularly ancient myth. One that had died in the enlightenment of mankind, when all the mysteries of the world seemed to have been answered. An expedition to journey through a hole in a wall of ice.</span></span></span>"
... What?
Is he kidding you?
"<span class="mu-g"><span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">... or to find if such a thing existed, as of then. A path may yet be revealed as the ice cap grows.</span></span></span>"
"My mother was sent to die in the North Pole... over someone thinking there's some place further North than the North Pole!?"
The voice grew concerned. "<span class="mu-g"><span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">No, no, no. It was a trip around the Arctic. The nature of human myth is imprecise. They say Tuonela might be reached from the northernmost part of the world, but if we are to accept that such a place were to truly exist, we would have to account for the limited worldview of the Finnish people of those ancient times. Perhaps they meant the northern reaches of Scandinavia... or perhaps they spoke of the islands of Novaya Zemlya, or the isle of Svalbard. Perhaps they continued past further and arrived someplace in Nunavit. Maybe they truly did mean the North Pole.</span></span></span>"
"<span class="mu-g"><span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">And do not think I did not see you, earlier. Checking this tree, for a</span> mouth. You know trees do not have mouths, but you needed to confirm your... perception of reality with your own eyes. <span class="mu-i">And so it was settled. They would scout the regions, and talk to its peoples. They could find nothing, or they could find nothing, but they would after decades hush the whispers of Hyperborea.</span></span></span>"
... What stupid shit. Humanity had this world totally observed, totally controlled... How could it suddenly change? How could some fat cat lunatics in Rome decide to retread the North fucking Pole looking for... over a stupid myth!? You look down, shoulders tense but low. Water under the bridge, at this point. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
