The night sky is always so beautiful that people can't help but be captivated by it.
Adam, naturally, was in a good mood.
And with him sat the ruler of the human empire tens of thousands of years from now.
It was a long night. To do nothing would be a terrible waste of good time.
So Adam had an idea.
Tell a story.
"My friend, let me tell you a story."
Neos did not refuse.
"The story I want to tell is not about the earth beneath our feet, nor the raging sea, but about the seemingly unreachable starry sky."
"It is a story that will happen in the future."
"But before I begin, I want to ask you: have you ever thought that humans could fly like birds?"
Neos shook his head.
How could that be possible? How could a human fly like a bird?
Even if people could polish stones into weapons to imitate the claws of beasts, even if they could learn to swim like fish after years of practice—he had never heard of a human being able to learn to fly by gluing bird feathers to their body!
But Adam did not hesitate to speak words that shook the earth.
"Yes."
"Humans will not only learn to fly, but they will fly faster than any bird, fast enough to chase the sun."
"And to do that, one must dare to think!"
If even the soul does not dare to break free from the shackles of gravity, how can the body fly through the sky and travel among the stars?
In Adam's memory.
The story of humanity learning to fly is a magnificent epic of "myths predicting history, and history surpassing myths."
Thousands of years before humans actually took flight, mythology had already completed the first ascent of the spirit.
"In a city-state called Greece, Daedalus and Icarus made wings of wax and feathers; in a faraway eastern land, a girl named Chang'e swallowed divine medicine and ascended to the moon; in ancient Persia, a king named Kai Kavus bound meat to spears and drove eagles to pull his throne into the sky..."
"These are legends and myths."
"Those who tried to imitate such behavior paid a heavy price, even their lives."
"But that does not mean these were useless efforts. Their imagination of flight bypassed physical transformation and turned to a carrier—a platform that could leave the ground and carry people."
Adam extended his index finger.
Then flame appeared—this was the first time he had shown people the power to master fire, using the methods of [Prometheus] and [Sui Ren].
And the flame formed words, outlined pictures one after another, and weakly transformed from the virtual into the real—this was his main reason for creating writing.
In the picture outlined by the flame.
Neos felt a shock far greater than mere words.
He saw that from myth to reality, humanity had walked a staircase paved with courage, wisdom, and life.
[Attempt at Biomimicry]
Countless pioneers strapped on their homemade wings and leaped from heights. Most of these attempts ended in tragedy, but they acquired the most primitive aerodynamic understanding—that human muscle power could not overcome gravity like birds.
[Lighter-than-air Flight]
In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers developed the hot air balloon. This was the first time humans truly left the earth.
It did not "look like a bird," but used more basic physics (hot air is less dense than cold air). It was a victory of chemical energy (combustion) over gravity, and from then on, flight entered the scientific age.
[Heavier-than-air Flight]
In 1903, the Wright Brothers' "Flyer One" achieved sustained, controlled, powered flight.
Its core breakthrough lay in understanding that the essence of bird flight was not just flapping wings, but the lift and flight control system generated by the wings themselves.
In the end, humans used steel, wood, and fabric to create their own "wings."
"Neos."
Adam's black eyes looked at the stunned young man, and he saw that the young man's eyes also burned with ambition and the desire to create impossible miracles.
So he stood up and said passionately:
"Myth is merely a testing ground for our souls."
"In the future, when our hands finally leave the earth, myth will not disappear, but will be re-illuminated at new heights."
"We did not grow feathers, but we wove stronger wings from metal."
"We did not take the elixir, but we ignited an even more intense fire of ascension with liquid oxygen and kerosene."
"We could not summon kamikaze birds, but we used titanium bodies to cut through storms more savage than any legend."
The words that came from Adam's mouth included many words that had not yet been created.
Because at this moment, humanity was still struggling in this dark and obscure age. They had fantasies of escape, but were frustrated by the weight of reality and the daily chase for food.
Adam hoped that humans could soar into the sky on airplanes, and even build starships to travel among the stars.
But it would take a long time to water the seeds of civilization that had only just sprouted.
But precisely for this reason—he already knew what the future would be, yet he was locked in the present reality, able only to bury hope in the depths of his heart. He had already held too many emotions.
Adam longed for someone who could understand him.
But the tribe people did not care about this. They did not care whether humans could fly. They mainly focused on learning how to gather more food, hunt more prey, catch more fish...
He understood the Stone Age people, suffering from hunger.
Even modern people, if they didn't eat for two or three days, could instantly understand the value of food.
So,
Adam felt it would take at least another generation or two before people stopped looking at the ground, and someone would try to look at the stars and think about how to fly like a bird.
But then came Neos.
He was also a man of the earth, with a pair of eyes, two ears, and a mouth.
But he was special—not only because of his identity as an immortal or the future ruler of the human empire, but because of his way of thinking.
A lone person who could look at the starry sky while everyone else looked at the ground, and wonder what awaited among the stars.
Long life, shared interests—was this not a kindred spirit?
"Do you want to fly?"
Adam's heart was suddenly moved. The flame outlined the silhouette of an airplane.
Perhaps this was a tribute to the brave ones who would conquer the sky in the future—this airplane was the Wright Brothers' [Flyer One].
The flame scattered, turning emptiness into reality.
The authority of [Story] allowed Adam to briefly bring an airplane from the history of human civilization.
"Do you want to fly with me across the sky?"
"My friend."
"Neos..."