Luma ran.
Her bare feet slapped the sun-warmed stones of the ancient road leading out of the village of Quanta. The wind tugged at her scarf, and the trees lining the path blurred past her like streaks of green paint.
She wasn't running from danger—she was running because of it.
Earlier that morning, she'd caught sight of the mysterious traveler again. The one who wore a cloak stitched with strange symbols and carried a staff that hummed softly whenever he passed. And this time, he'd dropped something behind: a scroll, sealed in wax.
Breathless, Luma slowed as she reached a quiet clearing. She pulled the scroll from her satchel and broke the seal. Inside, the parchment read:
"To understand the world, watch how it moves."
Confused, she looked up—and found the traveler standing there.
"You move quickly," he said, voice calm like still water. "Tell me—how did you know you were running fast?"
"I… I guess because I got here quickly?" she said, unsure.
He nodded. "Speed is distance over time. If you know how far you've gone, and how long it took, you can know how fast you moved. That's the first secret of motion."
Luma blinked. "That's it? That's speed?"
He smiled. "Simple truths often shape the deepest forces."
He pointed at a falling leaf. "Watch."
The leaf drifted slowly, then caught a breeze and twirled downward faster.
"Motion changes when forces act on it," he said. "Gravity pulls it down. The wind resists. That change—the speeding up, slowing down, or turning—is called acceleration."
"Acceleration… so motion can change?"
"Yes," he said. "And tomorrow, we'll chase the wind itself to learn more."