The morning mist still clung to the air as Luma followed the traveler, now calling him Elder Ion. They walked in silence, the world around them still, save for the soft rustle of leaves underfoot. The only sound was the distant babble of a river, whispering secrets to the earth.
When they reached the riverbank, the quiet was almost sacred, the stones resting in peaceful repose beneath the morning haze.
"Today," Elder Ion said, his voice soft but carrying a weight Luma hadn't noticed before, "we'll learn why things move—or why they don't."
He knelt beside a smooth stone, picking it up with the ease of one who understood the world far better than she did.
Luma watched as he set it gently on a flat log, its surface cold and unyielding.
"Now watch," he said, stepping back, his gaze fixed on the stone as though it held the answers to questions he had long carried with him.
For a long moment, nothing happened.
Luma's brow furrowed. "It's just sitting there," she said, the words slipping out before she could stop them.
Elder Ion smiled, but there was something in his eyes—something ancient and knowing—that made her hold her tongue.
"Exactly," he said, as though the stillness itself was the answer. "Objects stay still unless something moves them. This is called inertia. It's part of the First Law."
He reached out and, with a casual but deliberate push, nudged the log. The stone tumbled off, rolling to a stop in the soft earth.
"See?" he asked, a hint of something in his voice—curiosity or challenge, she wasn't sure. "It moved because I applied a force. No push, no motion."
Luma watched the stone, her thoughts heavy with the realization. The world didn't just happen. It was shaped by unseen forces.
"And it works the other way, too," Elder Ion continued, his voice steady but somehow carrying the weight of knowledge passed down through generations. "The same stone, untouched by me, will stay still."
He picked the stone up again, holding it in his palm for a moment as if considering it. Then he tossed it down the slope. It rolled, slow at first, picking up speed as it descended, only to slow and finally stop in the grass below.
"Why did it stop?" he asked, his eyes now locked on hers.
Luma hesitated, her gaze moving from the stone to the earth beneath it. "The ground... and the grass slowed it down."
He nodded, a proud glint in his eye. "Friction. A force that resists motion. If there were no friction, if the stone were in a perfect vacuum…" His voice trailed off as if the thought itself was a lesson too vast to explain in a single breath. "It would keep going forever."
Her mind raced, trying to grasp the full depth of what he was saying. "So… things don't really want to move or stop? They're just following forces?"
Elder Ion smiled at the question, his eyes softening with a quiet understanding. "Exactly. Everything follows its course—until something changes it."
She stood still for a moment, the weight of his words settling over her like a cloak. Her hand, once idle, now felt like it was part of the greater dance of the universe. "So even me… I'm always being moved by something?"
Elder Ion's gaze turned distant, as though he saw something far beyond the river and the stones. "In the Realm of Physics, even your heartbeat follows the laws. And understanding those laws…" His voice softened, and for the first time, she noticed a shadow in his eyes, as though he too carried something heavy. "Understanding those laws is power."
Luma's heart beat faster, not from fear, but from something deeper—a sense of purpose stirring in her chest. Something bigger was at play here. Something she was only beginning to understand.