by A F Kay
“Suspicion? It’s not clear?”
Blapy laughed. “Gods are never clear when they can be obtuse. Even Pen. Worse, he found a type of poetry he adored and coded his secrets in them. They’re not even good poems, but he was proud of them. My time with him made the meaning in the first three secrets understandable. But the fourth has always been a mystery.”
Blapy stared at Ruwen and remained quiet. Rami’s voice had turned into a long scream to set her free, and Ruwen triggered Last Breath to give himself some freedom from his raging curiosity.
The silence between them stretched, and it took all his training to stay relaxed and not run around the small library screaming in eagerness.
“Would you like to see for yourself?” Blapy asked.
Ruwen thought he might die from relief, and even Rami quieted down. “Yes, please.”
Two pedestals replaced the chair in the middle of the room, a book on each. From the descriptions Ruwen had read earlier, he knew the Book of Secrets sat on the left, and Pen’s Journal on the right. He forced himself to stay still and not jump toward them.
Blapy walked over to the left pedestal and a stool appeared under her feet, raising her up to Ruwen’s chest. She opened the very thin Book of Secrets to the first page and waved him over.
Ruwen tried to act casual as he strode toward the pedestal, but it was impossible to hide his excitement. He looked down at the three-line poem, the only writing on the first page.
the first axiom
heralds darkness, ensuring,
the last axiom
The handwriting was fluid and beautiful, as if the author cared as much about the way the words looked as he did on how it sounded. It didn’t seem that exciting for a secret, though. Rami tried biting Ruwen’s hand again.
Promise not to do anything stupid and I’ll take my hand away so you can see, Ruwen told Rami.
I never do anything stupid.
Before we got here, I would’ve agreed.
Fine.
Ruwen dropped his hand and Rami looked down from behind his ear.
Blapy looked up at him. “You look disappointed.”
“Sorry, I just don’t understand it.”
“That’s the way of obfuscated secrets. The clues only make sense once you’ve figured it out yourself. Which makes the whole thing pointless. Although I have to admit his fourth secret borders on clever.”
“Can you tell me what this first secret means?”
Ruwen waited through the tense silence and forced himself to breathe when he realized he’d been holding his breath.
Blapy looked back at the book. “All Pen’s disciples would understand the first two secrets, as they lived through them. This first secret is actually quite profound as it forces you to expand your understanding of reality.”
“Over and over again, the last two months have done nothing but expand my understanding.”
“Yes, you are like a snail, slowly moving from your tidal pool toward the ocean,” Blapy said, not in a mean way, but a matter-of-fact tone. “But this first secret shook me, and at the time I had already explored the deepest parts of our metaphorical ocean. It is hard to comprehend.”
“I would like to try.”
Blapy looked up at him. “You’ve studied dimensional math, but how much star math did you learn?”
“Not a lot. I understand the concepts of star systems and the grouping of them into galaxies, which our universe holds. The scale of the universe, honestly, is difficult to grasp.”
“Exactly. The first Secret Pen discovered,” Blapy paused and took a deep breath. “Is that his birth triggered the destruction of our universe.”
Obviously, the universe still existed, so Ruwen waited for Blapy to continue. When she didn’t, Ruwen prodded her with a question. “But Pen stopped it?”
“The Universe’s size, as you say, is hard to grasp, so the destruction went unnoticed for a long time. The darkness moved across galaxies like a giant wave. When Pen discovered it, calculated when it had begun and connected it to his birth, the darkness had become too big to fight directly.”
“Something capable of destroying entire galaxies is frightening,” Ruwen said.
Blapy pulled her pigtails. “Yes, but you are missing something even more frightening.”
What sent the darkness, Rami whispered.
Blapy looked at Rami and smiled. “Yes. Something outside our Universe is monitoring us, monitoring all Universes with significant Spirit in them, for the existence of an Axiom. Once one is born, that Universe is destroyed.”
“Why?” Ruwen asked.
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about that, and while power is a component, I think it might be as simple as controlling chaos.”
“That seems a little harsh,” Ruwen said.
Blapy shrugged. “If there are uncountable Universes, and Axioms had the power and control to affect other Universes, you would eventually have uncountable Axioms creating chaos if you didn’t limit it somehow. It makes sense from an organizational and order standpoint.”
Ruwen tried to wrap his head around an entity outside their universe with the power to destroy it. It made his head hurt.
Ruwen re-read the poem.
the first axiom
heralds darkness, ensuring,
the last axiom
“It makes sense now,” Ruwen said.
Blapy nodded. “The second secret is related to the first. It was the mechanism we used to stall the darkness and save the Universe.”
Blapy turned the page and Ruwen read the second secret.
Fall’s harvest ablaze
bright flames scattering shadows
sowing our sunrise
“This makes as much sense as the first one,” Ruwen said.
Blapy nodded. “The quickest way to stop a fire is to remove its fuel. Rural areas, without access to Elemental Mages, do this with something called a backburn.”
“I’ve heard of that,” Ruwen said. “They make their own fire to burn away the fuel for the oncoming fire.”
“Exactly. Pen studied the darkness consuming our Universe and realized it used Spirit to propel itself forward. That’s why Pen thinks both Spirit concentration as well as an Axiom are required to flag a universe for destruction. There needs to be enough Spirit to fuel the progression of the darkness.”
“So the poem describes him destroying the Spirit near the darkness?”
Blapy shook her head. “Spirit, like any other energy, can’t be destroyed.”
“Then what did he do?”
“Pen did the unthinkable. Like a surgeon cutting off a limb to save the patient, he removed the Spirit from the vast majority of the Universe,” Blapy stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. “Sacrificing himself in the process. It destroyed countless civilizations, but without Spirit to sustain it, the darkness withered and died. And with the only Axiom in our Universe dead, there was nothing to trigger another attack.”
Ruwen touched his chest. “Did I just trigger it again?”
Blapy shook her head. “If there isn’t much Spirit in a universe, any Axiom born there will never grow strong enough to affect those outside the Universe, and no darkness is sent. We still look like a barren universe, and I’ve detected no incursions.”
“Did he Harvest everything?” Ruwen asked, thinking about the creatures he’d killed in Fractal when camping.
“Not directly. But he removed all the ambient Spirit. It was like transforming a jungle into a desert. Those that depended on the jungle died before their time. Pen knew this cost. Sometimes, the destination vindicates the path.”
“But what did Pen do with all the Spirit?” Ruwen asked.
Blapy flipped the page to the third secret. “This is my secret.”
soil swaddled seeds
despite the sower’s demise
survive the winter
“This one actually makes some sense, although I don’t know what it has to do with Spirit,” Ruwen said.<
br />
Blapy’s voice grew serious. “When Pen was young, his Master died, and he discovered a loop-hole in the rules that govern our Universe. Someday, I’ll explain this secret to you in detail. But not today.”
Ruwen nodded, knowing arguing would be useless.
Blapy flipped the page again, to what might have been the last page in the thin book. “Here is the secret that kept you alive, Ruwen Starfield.”
Ruwen leaned down, eager to see what Pen might have written about him.
one ruined scarecrow
protecting its field of stars
ensures our harvest
Oh my, Rami whispered.
Blapy looked up at Ruwen. “When you arrived at the Black Pyramid, this poem is the first thing I thought of. Do you see why?”
Ruwen swallowed hard. “All the pieces of my name are there.”
“Yes, but that wasn’t enough for me to be sure. Then you shocked us all by reaching your center and Harvesting the energy around you. But even that wasn’t enough. When I entered the Spirit Realm and noticed the missing Chaos Storm over Stone Harbor, I began to hope, as only Uru, Izac, or myself had a chance of surviving something like that. Still, I had my doubts. Then you appeared in the Scarecrow Aspect and, unbelievably, when Phoenix asked you near the end of the fight why you had come—” Blapy paused and shook her head. “Do you remember what you told him?”
“I come to protect the harvest,” Ruwen whispered.
Blapy’s eyes were wide. “Yes, just like the fourth secret. That is why I wanted to see your memories in the Spirit Realm. I had to be sure Uru hadn’t somehow seen these secrets and planned all this somehow.” Blapy turned back to the book and read the poem out loud.
one ruined scarecrow
protecting its field of stars
ensures our harvest
Blapy faced Ruwen again. “You will restore the Spirit Pen removed from the Universe. You are the fourth secret.”
Chapter 25
Ruwen felt like the entire pyramid sat on his chest. He tried to breathe, but his lungs wouldn’t expand. Even on Last Breath’s mental island, waves of panic threw him down and threatened to drown him. His heart thudded against his ribs, and he put an arm out to catch his balance.
Blapy slapped Ruwen. The strike barely turned his head, but it cleared his thoughts, and he focused on the small girl.
“Listen,” Blapy said. “You’re not doing this tomorrow, so stop panicking. There will be plenty of time for panic later,” she said with a straight face.
Ruwen took three deep breaths. “How could Pen…I mean, why am I in…” he waved his hand at the Book of Secrets.
“Simple,” Blapy said. “He used his Prophesize Role.”
Ruwen remembered that Architect Role. He had found it by navigating from Temporal to Foresight to Prophesize. That is also how Uru had seen so much of the possible future.
“Are there any more secrets?” Ruwen asked.
“Plenty, but none in this book. The reason for that is in Pen’s Journal.”
Blapy opened the second book and flipped to near the end. The right page remained empty, and the left had a single entry. The date didn’t make any sense to Ruwen, so he read the last journal entry. The handwriting, while not as perfect as the entries in the Book of Secrets, still retained the same beauty.
As the future’s Resonance Offset approaches zero my vision grows opaque. If the second restores the balance, many will find the transition catastrophic, causing destruction and creating Ash. A painful but necessary step, and one more dagger of guilt I’ll carry to my death.
If the second survives, so will the third. A harvest so bountiful it defies comprehension.
Lir had requested the Resonance Offset when Ruwen had first gained the Architect Role. The sentient temple had entered a type of shock when Ruwen had told him the offset was zero. Lir had told Ruwen many things wouldn’t be possible anymore with that value. And it looked like telling the future was one casualty.
“Do you know anyone named Ash?” Blapy asked.
“No, why?”
Blapy shrugged. “Pen rarely did things without purpose, and Ash is capitalized in the last journal entry. It makes me think he is the third.”
“Third what?”
Blapy looked up at Ruwen. “Axiom, of course. You’re the second.”
Ruwen reread the entry.
As the future’s Resonance Offset approaches zero my vision grows opaque. If the second restores the balance, many will find the transition catastrophic, causing destruction and creating Ash. A painful but necessary step, and one more dagger of guilt I’ll carry to my death.
If the second survives, the third will as well. A harvest so bountiful it defies comprehension.
“There’s another Axiom?” Ruwen asked.
“Maybe. It sounds like his future depends on you.”
A minimized notification appeared, but Ruwen ignored it. It staggered him that both of the One True God’s books referenced him. The issues were so large, so monumental in scope, it numbed him.
“You should open that notification,” Blapy said. “You really know how to throw money at a problem, don’t you.”
Ruwen opened the notification.
Ting!
You have completed the Quest – Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 3 – Special Request).
See Miranda for a Codex of Bookwyrm Evolution.
See Miranda for your choice of one Legendary Potion.
You have received the title of Ink Disciple.
You have received 10,000 (+2,000 Tutor Buff) experience.
Ruwen smiled. Qwyn had lost no time hiring people to shelve books, and word must have gotten out about the other changes. Another notification appeared and Ruwen read the next quest in his Ink Lord chain.
Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 4 – Branching Out)
The Black Pyramid has lost its Ink Lord, and its book collection has suffered. Find a book of Epic quality or higher that the collection does not already contain. Reshelve one hundred percent of the library’s collection (both levels). Create a branch location. Finally, raise the Patron Satisfaction above seventy-five percent (current satisfaction seventy-nine percent) [COMPLETE].
Reward: Codex of Bookwyrm Evolution.
Reward: Tattoo of Silence.
Reward: Title of Ink Master.
Reward: 50,000 experience
Ruwen would worry about this quest after getting his rewards from part three. He refocused on his surroundings and realized they were no longer in the library.
She moved us to a lower vault, Rami said.
Vials, jars, and tubes, each with their own stand, filled the shelves that lined the room. This vault was fifty feet to a side, and Ruwen figured there were thousands of potions here.
“Are all these legendary?” Ruwen asked.
Blapy’s stuffed centipede had reappeared, and she pointed around the room with it as she talked. “Ten levels of experience, permanent five hundred Armor Class, raise any skill to one hundred instantly, control an element, one hundred percent to every Resistance. Whatever you can think of it is in this room.”
Ruwen’s head swam with the possibilities. “Is there a catalog or index or something?”
A pedestal appeared in front of Ruwen with a thick book the size of his forearm. He didn’t bother opening it, instead he brought Rami down and briefly touched her to the surface.
Got it, Rami said. Give me a second to index it.
Let's start by thinking of my weaknesses.
Common sense, overthinking, focus, naiv—
Ruwen interrupted her. Okay, let’s not do that. Ouch.
Over-sensitive.
You’re killing me.
Rami laughed and hugged Ruwen. Okay, I’ll stop.
Ten levels of experience would give me a lot of spell and ability points. And there are like fifty skills I would love to have a hundred points in. What could I make if I had a master level in Alchemy? And as hard as Last Breat
h is to level, bumping that twenty-two levels to one hundred isn’t a bad option either.
Rami chimed in. With all your Fighter bonuses to Armor Class, an extra five hundred would make you unbelievably durable. There are potions in here that permanently add a hundred Regeneration to one of your Resources, too.
Ruwen’s thoughts swirled. A hundred extra Regen to his Health, Mana, or Energy would be incredibly powerful. The Health and Energy are super tempting.
Like any shortcut, they all sounded wonderful. But eventually he could attain everything in here. So really, what he needed to do was find the thing that would save him the most time.
And that reminded Ruwen of the purification potion Sift had accidentally drank. He’d told Ruwen it had taken a month to transition the Meridian in his heart from Gold to Jade. Without that potion, the transition would have taken years. Ruwen had twelve Meridians ready for the transition from Metal to Gem level, and he didn’t feel like he had years to wait for it to happen naturally.
Are there any Harvesting potions in there? Ruwen asked.
Yes, there is an elixir to add a million essence of your choice or ten million raw Spirit. This one advances a Meridian within a level. Here’s one for spiritual armor, and another that widens the pathways to a Meridian.
Ruwen’s Death, Dark, and Chaos Meridians could all benefit from the widening potion, but those weren’t his immediate bottleneck. What about transitioning between Metal and Gem levels.
Yes, it’s here, Jeweled Elixir of Transformation.
That would help Ruwen, but Sift would soon stall at the same spot.
Ruwen focused on Blapy. “Could I get the recipe for one of these instead of the actual potion?”