Vril: The Power of the Coming Race

‘Vrill, The power of the Coming Race’ (1870) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton is an early science fiction novel.

The setting is a strange subterranean world inhabited by beautiful entities that resemble the angels described in scripture. The advanced beings known as Vril-ya live underground – using the mysterious ‘Vril’ as an energy source – but intend to reclaim the surface of the earth as their own. The narrator end deep inside the Earth via a natural chasm in a mine shaft. He is rescued by the Vril-ya, an advanced race that use telepathic powers, fly with artificial wings, are served by automata and possess formidable weapons. After a long stay, things go wrong and the protagonist escapes back to the surface with the help of Zee, one of the Vril-ya.