Edith lived in a strange bubble. Not a literal bubble, but a bubble whose boundaries were nebulous. The only person in her life was a man named Michael. He had taught her a long time ago that she could not leave the ranch she lived on. This turned out to be true. No matter how straight of a line she walked in away from the ranch she called home, she always found herself marching right back to where she started. The moment she lost focus for even a second, the small wooden shack she lived in would magically appear in front of her, when it had been behind her just a second earlier. The ranch sat squarely in the middle of nowhere, and she had been stuck there for as long as she could remember. Michael had taught her that it was located in a territory of the United States called Utah, but to her, it might as well have been called anything.

To Edith, the land was the land. It was a very dry land, even though it had rained earlier that week. There were few trees. The area surrounding the ranch was dotted with patches of grass floating in a sea of dirt. However, the ranch itself was uncharacteristically lush. This fact attracted animals of all kinds which kept Edith company. Antelopes, deer, and elk were especially common recently. Sometimes she would see wolves, coyotes, and other predators pass through, but they never bothered her. In fact, they almost seemed to treat her with respect, like an old friend she never had. Her favorite animals were the smaller creatures. Hawks and eagles high above her head, badgers digging through the dirt, rabbits hopping about. Michael taught her to be careful around wild animals, but she couldn’t help but try to befriend them.

The only farm animal that lived with her on the ranch was a goat with black hair and yellow eyes. He would wander around the ranch and watch Edith from a distance, and he would sleep in a small barn near Edith's shack. Michael taught her that his name was Richard and that he could take care of himself. Indeed, he never complained or got into any trouble. The wild animals of the desert left him alone, too. Still, she brought him water to drink and apples to eat, which he always accepted apathetically. Besides that, her only other main chore was chopping wood for her fireplace when it got cold at night.

Edith paced back and forth, kicking rocks here and there. It was a warm, sunny Tuesday. She wasn't sure of the exact date. She didn't care enough to keep track. The calendar Michael had taught her was too complicated anyway. She knew the year was 1888, and it was late spring. She had just turned seventeen in April. Tuesdays were the days Michael would show up to train and teach her. He would arrive in the early afternoon and leave just before sunset. Every Tuesday, and only on Tuesday. She heard the sound of hooves in the distance and knew it was him. There was never anyone else.

Michael arrived on his red horse as he did every week and dismounted swiftly. He approached Edith calmly and gestured toward the shack. They walked inside together and sat down. There was a wooden table and two wooden chairs which the two had built together when Edith was younger. Against one wall there was a simple bookcase full of books which Michael had taught Edith to read and interpret. Her favorites were Frankenstein and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

"So, see anything interesting this week?" Michael asked. This was always the first question he asked. He pulled out a small notebook and pencil from his pocket and looked at her expectantly.

"Well, I saw an orange light in the sky again two nights ago. It stayed in one place for a few minutes and then started moving southwest and kept going until I couldn't see it anymore," Edith said.

"Mhm," Michael murmured, writing quickly in his notebook.

"And on Friday morning I saw footprints in the dirt a little ways away behind the barn. They were a lot bigger than mine. Looked like whoever they belonged to was barefoot. I followed the tracks towards the ridge but after about fifty paces they disappeared, like whoever it was just vanished into thin air. They weren’t there anymore the next day."

"How much larger were they than your feet?" Michael asked.

"Almost twice as big. Maybe half as much as twice as big. Or would that just mean they were the same size? Once and a half as big?"

"Fifty percent larger?"

"Fifty per scent?"

"Never mind. Math isn’t important for you yet. And the footprints had five toes?" He asked as he continued writing in his notebook.

"Well, yeah. I think so."

"You think so?"

"Yes. I mean, I just kind of assumed..."

"Listen, Edith. We're talking about something highly strange here. Don't forget that just because you see these kinds of things all the time it means you can go assuming things just because you expect them to be a certain way. These occurrences defy all logical explanations, so expect the unexpected. Details are important."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Anything else?"

"No." Edith wanted to ask questions. Why did these things only happen on this ranch? Why couldn't she leave even though Michael could? Where had she come from in the first place? Why was her body the way that it was? But she already had, and the answer to all of them was that nobody knew. Michael disliked repeating himself, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Alright, time for a test," Michael said, putting his notebook away.

"Okay," Edith said flatly. This was her second to least favorite part of Michael's visits, mostly because it was boring.

"What was the Enlightenment?"

"The Enlightenment represents a shift in society that has taken place over the last 200 years in which people became more rational and scientific. They stopped believing in strict hierarchies and started placing higher value on individual identity."

"Good enough. What was the Industrial Revolution?"

"The Industrial Revolution is the rapid development of technology over the last hundred or so years allowing for the mass production of goods and development of large cities across Europe and America."

"Alright. Who were the Forefathers?"

"The Forefathers founded the United States of America about a hundred years ago. They saw the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution as clear signs of a coming new world order. They realized that monarchies would eventually fail to maintain control of their people due to said people having greater access to information and resources. They realized that to properly control a large population in the coming age, they would need to foster a sense of individual liberty, as well as make people feel that they had a say in the decision making of their government. They also recognized the North American continent as having many strategic advantages in potential future global conflicts. Most importantly, they believed that the coming new world order would eventually lead to a single world government which would unite all of humanity. They founded the United States with the intention of it eventually becoming this world government, as they saw the rest of the world's nations as unfit to lead the rest."

"And therefore we must..?"

"We must carry out their will and ensure the continued existence of humanity."

"And who are we?"

"You are Michael Herman, the Secretary of War of the United States of America and founder of Perfectio Mundi, a covert military operation dedicated to the study of unexplainable phenomena. I am Edith, living proof of the existence and importance of such phenomena," Edith delivered her answers robotically, as she had countless times before.

"Exactly. If nothing else, always remember and be aware of who we are. It might sound silly to ask this every week, but it’s very important. Until the day comes when the entire world is united under our flag, the United States is effectively at war with the rest of the world, no matter how things appear on the surface. As the Secretary of War of the United States, it is my duty to understand this. As a future super-soldier of the United States, it is your duty to understand this as well. You are an arm of this nation. Its will must be yours. If the people of the world are not brought under our control, the human race won't be able to progress. If the people are not all united under one flag, they will eventually destroy each other. The United States is the only country in the world able to take up this noble cause. This country was built for everyone on this planet, for this purpose. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Edith nodded. She had heard this all countless times before, and Michael always had a quick retort to any question she had ever had on this subject. She no longer felt the need to say anything. It was out of her control and far beyond the scope of her perspective.

"In this day and age, the strangeness of this ranch appears as little more than magic tricks," Michael said. "But I think what we're looking at here is the tip of an iceberg the size of Virginia. It's something that could tip the balance of the world if we can just understand what it is."

Edith nodded again.

"Okay, enough talk. Time for training," Michael concluded.

Edith got up without saying anything. This was her least favorite part of Michael's visits. The two walked outside, and Michael retrieved an empty glass bottle from a satchel on his horse. They then walked to the middle of a large, flat area away from the shack and barn.

"First thing's first. Fill this," Michael said, handing Edith the bottle.

She pulled out a pocket knife which she always kept handy and calmly sliced open her palm. She had found that her palm wasn't too painful to cut and that she could control the flow of blood into the bottle with decent accuracy. She focused intently on keeping the wound open but after about twenty seconds it was completely healed while the bottle was only about an eighth of the way full. She cut open her palm again with the sole focus of keeping it that way. She managed twenty-five seconds this time. She repeated this process until the bottle was full, and she handed it back to Michael.

"You're getting better at controlling your regeneration," Michael said.

"Shouldn't I be focused on healing faster and not slower?" Edith asked.

"You can regenerate your entire body from your severed head in about twelve seconds without trying. It takes a normal person a couple days to heal from a paper cut. Imagine you're in a combat situation against someone more skilled than you. You might not want them to know about your regenerative ability until after they think they have you beat. Being able to play dead for a while could prove to be a great weapon for you."

"Oh, yeah. That makes sense," Edith said absently as the dizziness of losing blood wore off.

"Anyway, combat training time."

The two spent the rest of the afternoon instilling various physical skills into Edith's body. For example, holding her breath for several minutes at a time. They discovered early on that Edith’s body could apparently either function without oxygen or could produce its own, eliminating the need to breathe. Edith also had to practice sprinting while Michael shot her with his revolver. Michael was adamant about training her not to flinch in the face of gunfire. They also spent a lot of time boxing, which Edith actually enjoyed. Michael didn't hold back, he really beat the hell out of her. But it was one of the few times in her life when she felt like the obstacle in front of her was clear. It made sense, even when getting punched right in the face. More sense than anything else in her life. She never told this to Michael, but even though she knew many things, she never really felt like she understood it. And yet, Michael always seemed satisfied with her, just the way she was, at the end of every Tuesday. Maybe things didn't need to make sense, as long as she was doing the right thing.

As the sun began to set, the two wrapped up their training. "Well, see you next week," Michael said. He walked over to his horse and rubbed its face. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a carrot to feed it.

Edith watched from afar.

"Hello."

A chill ran up Edith's spine. She whipped her head around and saw a sight that she couldn't believe. It was a glowing beast of unimaginable horror and beauty. Its head was like a lion's head, but with two faces. The face that faced to the left was the face of a lioness. To the right, the lion. Its torso was that of a human which was muscular and had feminine breasts. Its hands were at its side in a position that conveyed a feeling of tranquility. It had two long green snakes which slithered where one might expect legs. Extending from its back were two large, white, feathery wings which it used to promptly conceal its body. Edith could now only see its head resting above its wings.

"Be not afraid."

Edith was terrified. She wanted to call out to Michael but she couldn't make a sound. She had seen strange things on the ranch before, but none like this.

"He can't hear us right now. Don't bother."

"You know what I'm thinking?" Edith finally asked.

"I know everything."

"How do I know what lions are?" Edith asked.

"I reminded you."

"Who are you?" Edith asked.

"Not your concern."

"Why are you answering my questions?" Edith asked.

"Because I need you to do something for me."

"Me?" Edith asked.

"Yes, but you won't remember until the time comes."

...

Edith watched from afar. She watched as Michael got back on his red horse, and rode off into the sunset. She walked over to her apple tree and sat beneath it, watching the sky turn all of its pretty colors. She placed her hand on the tree and felt an apple sprout from a branch above her, ripen, and fall. She caught it in one hand and took a bite.