Yue

 9th October

19:31 GMT +3

"That's it?"

We look down from high above the mid-sized oasis town built in what looks like the middle of nowhere.

"Welcome to Enoch. Population… About twelve hundred. Primary industries: textiles, goat herding, moisture farming and smuggling."

"Wohs em regnad." Her eyes flare violet.

"I thought I was."

Her eyes dim. "Automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenades."

"And possibly a few theurgists."

"Wohs em cigam." Another flash. "A few low-level artifacts and practitioners. I don't think they're much of a threat."

"And if I told you the number of people who used to say that about John Constantine..."

She turns her head to look at me. "Have you heard from him? I've tried getting in touch a few times, but he isn't answering."

"No. He told me not to get in touch for a while and it's only been a few months. Is there a spell that could send him a message without requiring him to reply?"

"There's a spell that does just about everything."

"I'll write him a letter." The area next to the plateau matches John's description. Since Angela somehow wasn't detected going in or out, they haven't increased the guard at all. Detection appears limited to three men and a couple of wires stretched over the stone pillars marking the entrance. "Ready?"

"Do you really think it's not safe for me to go in?"

"Unless Jehovah has personally let you off original sin… Maybe. I don't know. After getting sucked into Hell I'm feeling a bit more cautious. You don't have my tattoos-."

"Dad won't let me get tattoos until I'm eighteen."

"I don't think they'd work unless you rewrote your soul at the same time. And don't do that."

"John didn't have the best magic education. I can't do it permanently, but I'm pretty sure I could make tattoos that work like Kaldur's. I'd just have to charge them every time I used them."

"Or you could put it on armour."

"No, it has to be something living."

"Okay, this… I'm having all kinds of ideas, but we should get this done first." I need more magic researchers… "I'm going to be phased, and I'm not going to risk communicating with you just in case the giant wheels with eyes can detect it."

"Oh no, that's the Ophanim. The Cherubim are the ones with the four faces: Human, Eagle, Ox and Lion."

"Fewer eyes." I take my armour out of subspace, and check my weapons. "Sounds good. Keep an eye out, and use your best judgement." She nods, and I phase out.

Dox briefly tried to explain how -despite not being able to interact with the world- I could still perceive it. I'm mildly pleased that I made it into his second sentence before he lost me, but I still don't really understand it. I remember the issue of Planetary where the Four's Invisible Woman expy couldn't see without a special visor. It made sense, but… I mean, the visor was invisible too, wasn't it? I thought maybe it was sensitive to light that was slightly forward or backwards in time or something, but when I said that Dox just groaned…

I make it to just above street level without any noticeable reaction from the locals. Huh. Guns and.. a couple of rugged off-road vehicles aside, this place is pretty much as I imagine it was when they built it. No good transportation links… So most things they can't make here don't get here. No electricity, outhouses for toilets… No refined sugar. Must be good for their dental health.

Zatanna didn't mention the gate area being enchanted, but I carefully float around the guards and wires just in case. Through… No warning from my spell eater, so I haven't been sent somewhere. It literally is a magic wormhole. That would be fascinating to study in its own right, but I don't think that the locals would be onboard.

Angela had to scrabble up the side of the plateau when she came this way, but my armour's flight system can manage it far more easily. Up and over…

Huh.

Okay, yes, to desert-dwelling nomads I can see how this would be paradise, but it doesn't really look… Special. The waterfalls are pretty enough, especially with the rainbows which the light creates as it refracts through them, but…

Waterfalls from two sides feeding into a lake. Cheat. Still, as Samuel Vimes remarked: two types laugh at the law, those who break it and those who make it.

Plenty of woodland for fuel, food and shelter. I rise a little further, getting above the canopy and looking out across the Garden. A long way in and on both my left and right I see two flecks of white/gold which I'm going to tentatively assume are Cherubim. Much as there are creatures who can hear it when you speak their name, there are some who can tell when they're under observation. So my interest will have to wait.

Now, how to find two trees in a forest? Working from Genesis, it should be one with precisely one fruit missing. Except that was thousands of years ago, and trees generally fruit every year. And we're currently out of season. Unless it's a mushroom after all… And a mushroom tree would certainly stand out…

Okay, where's the centre?

Map available. Please note that 'Garden of Eden' has irregular topology.

Show me.

An image appears in my mind. Hah! East indeed. The place is large, far larger than it could have been if the local terrain matched what I saw around Enoch, but it isn't as infinite as it looks. Things repeat. It loops back on itself. You can keep walking in one direction forever but you'll start seeing your own footprints after a while. Gravity is the same as on Earth proper, and light is behaving as if a straight line was a straight line… There's no horizon. I didn't spot it at once because-

I momentarily fight down a wave of nausea.

-the trees cover up where it should be. Ugh.

I lower myself until the panorama is a little less offensive to my stomach.

Okay, so there's dust or moisture or something in the air, so you can't see forever. I can see birds and insects… Which must be eating something. So… Look for a clearing where they aren't eating? Because if they were then there would be intelligent immortal animals around the place.

I pick a direction at random and start flying a search pattern. I may have underestimated how difficult this part would be. Though I suppose that if I'm being forced to spend time somewhere, an idyllic oasis isn't a bad place for it. Hm. There are dead twigs on the ground. Do I risk scooping one up? I'd have to dephase something… No, that can wait until I've got the fruit. I can come back for it or get it on my way out.

I wonder if there are any extinct species here?