Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

The Power Beyond

It was not the meaning of his Soul. But a True Name, it gave him another piece of the puzzle. Knowledge and learning, those were his base pieces, now he had to figure out the rest. He didn’t dare touch his Class yet, nor did he wish to evolve more of his Skills, not until he had a clearer picture, until he knew what he had to do. He had to talk with Ryun again, there were things that he wanted to ask of him.

Still, he did glance at his Class level up options. Many of them were the same as they had been before. Dome related Classes, some tailored just to destroying them, others to seeking them out, and even to gaining knowledge about their strengths and weaknesses. Those Classes he dismissed, they weren’t who he was, though the fact that they existed in the first place told a story.

Ryun was right, everything in the Framework was a teaching tool, Class choices included. There had to be more to the Dome Classes than what was apparent at first glance. There were no bad Classes, only those that didn’t fit a person, there were no branches that had dead ends. Everything led to something. A Way was a proof of that, there was a purpose to their existence. They weren’t just dropped into this world to wander aimlessly and kill each other with no purpose.

His second set of Classes were Knowledge related, gained from his time in the Castle of Knowledge and his feats there. Death of a Grand Spirit, or rather him taking its place.

There was one Class that he was drawn to, one that he felt like it fit, but wasn’t quite sure yet. He didn’t want to risk it, not yet, not before figuring out his Soul’s true meaning. A Class that would have him step into the shoes of the Grand Spirit. He looked at it for a little while, and then pushed it away. It wasn’t time just yet. Soon, perhaps.

He glanced at the Shadows in the corner, and then turned away, going back into the ship, looking for Ryun. He found him in the main room, sitting in a corner, alone. The rest were in other parts of the ship. Zach paused and studied him for a moment. Something had changed about him, it was obvious. He had sensed changes with his Soul when he first arrived on the ship. He still didn’t quite understand what it was that he had sensed, but he wanted to know. Ryun had come with ideas and theories, and knowing where they come from was paramount to Zach gaining understanding himself.

“You noticed it too, didn’t you.”

Zach turned to find Eratemus standing next to him, his eyes locked on Ryun as well. His drake body was brimming with power, more than anything that Zach had felt before. Greater than the Grand Spirits, than any opponent that he had faced before. Even the yeti, though Ra’azel’s strength was not overwhelming power but the constructs he created and knowledge. Eratemus’ body held all the power that Zenker had in life, augmented by Eratemus’s Death and Soul formations.

“I have,” Zach answered.

“You think that he would be willing to give us some answers? Or a trade perhaps?” Eratemus asked.

Zach crossed his arms. Ryun had been vague during their conversation. That could’ve been just because he was unwilling to reveal things in front of everyone, though, if that was the case, Zacharia and Eratemus would probably be on the side of people who he wasn’t willing to share everything with. The others were his family, after all.

Still, Zach would like to try, and he did have things to trade, a Castle full of Knowledge for one.

“You could just ask,” Ryun spoke from across the room.

Of course, his perception made it so that he heard everything everywhere on it. He had forgotten for a moment. He grimaced, that was… embarrassing.

Zach and Eratemus exchanged looks, then walked over to him.

“So,” Eratemus started. “Are you willing to share more?”

Ryun turned and looked at them. His body had changed, there were no cracks in his skin anymore, and somehow it felt more real. He had a heartbeat, and Zach could sense blood moving through veins. He hadn’t felt like a human being for a long time. He still didn’t, Zach could barely feel his Soul, it felt smaller, compressed somehow, and obscured. As if there was something covering it. It hadn’t felt like this when he came on board, it was as if he had learned to manipulate his Soul in some way. Zach wanted to know how.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“It’s not that I am keeping things from you out of greed or mistrust,” Ryun spoke. “It is that I don’t want to cloud your judgment, your advancement and understanding. I believe that I am right, but I don’t know. I have never relied on understanding through knowledge and testing, I push forward based on what I feel is right. Sometimes I’ve made mistakes, choices that have limited me in ways that I had to overcome, but ultimately I’ve always succeeded. But my way is not everyone’s. I don’t know if the path that I’m walking now is the right for you.”

“I can understand that,” Zach said. “But something made you think that there is more ahead of us than just forming a Way. Something that has to do with your Soul.”

Ryun nodded, but didn’t speak immediately, instead his expression turned thoughtful. Finally, after almost a full minute, he met Zach’s eyes and spoke.

“What did it feel like when you made the Way of Time?” He asked instead of answering their question.

Zach blinked, he hadn’t expected the change of topic. He tilted his head, then answered. “It felt like I submerged myself in the entirety of the Plane of Time, and then molded it with my own hands. I had a need, and my willpower was… It was enough to change reality.”

“I’ve tried to make a Way,” Ryun said slowly. “I failed, my understanding of Oblivion… it is lacking still.”

Zach shook his head. “You misunderstand. You don’t need understanding of the Aspect. You are the one that shapes it, you need to mold your Aspect into whatever you want and understand it to be, not what it is now. All it takes is willpower, and the ability to drown out all the other voices touching the plane like you.”

Ryun’s eyes widened for a moment. “Ah,” he closed them and shook his head. “I see.”

He then turned to look at Eratemus. “Why haven’t you made a Way yourself?”

The necromancer tilted his drake vessel’s head. “I’ve tried, but there are too many voices in the Plane of Death. Necromancers are not that rare, and Death is not an Aspect exclusive only to my path. The Soul… it is worse, every living being touches the Plane of the Soul. I cannot do it.”

Zach was surprised at that. Eratemus was one of the most powerful beings in the world, his will was great, yet he too had failed.

Ryun turned back to look at Zach. “You were lucky,” he said. “Both that your Plane probably had few masters, and that your will was so much greater than all others.”

He had always known that he was different. He had used the elixir that had increased his power, and his time in the prison had sharpened his mind and will to a greater degree than most everyone in the world. But, he hadn’t expected it to be this much harder for others.

“Would you say that you have complete authority over the Aspect of Time?” Ryun asked before Zach could say anything.

Zach frowned, then answered. “I… no. It resists me when I try to do too much, or when I attempt something that is against the meaning that I had shaped for it.”

Ryun nodded. “You are not strong enough yet,” he shook his head. “I don’t think that we were meant to do this yet, to shape Ways. What you did was a fluke, and it opened the doors for the rest of us. Knowing that something was possible made it more likely for us to figure it out. The Planes are young, the people touching them deeply are too few to overcome someone who has far more willpower than they. I think that this was meant to be done at the end, when one reached the peak of all Focuses, when their willpower had the chance to grow over thousands of years of experience and understanding. We are doing it all out of order.”

“Why do you think that?” Eratemus asked.

“What is your Soul made out of?” Ryun asked.

Eratemus frowned. “Soul and Death Essence, what do you mean?”

“Exactly,” Ryun said. “Our power comes from the Soul, every perk, every ability, every skill we have, has a place in our Soul, a tiny piece of it. And it is flavored by whichever Essence that power uses. You must have skills that are not related to Death or Soul, yes?”

Eratemus nodded and then his eyes grew brighter. “Ah, I see what you mean. This has to do with what you were saying earlier, a conceptual manifestation of our Soul's meaning, that’s what you said?”

Ryun nodded, and Zach looked from one of them to the other, not quite understanding. Ryun noticed and faced him.

“Of course, a Soul has its own unique Essence, but that Essence is also imbued with all the Essences that you possess and utilize. It is the amalgamation of them all. The more you are connected to an Essence, the more it becomes part of your Soul,” Ryun answered his unasked question. “Cultivation had given me more insight into this through my perks. Some of them had actually made this change more prominent, but if all Focuses are just teaching tools, then it shouldn’t be any different for other focuses. A Classer can still achieve a mastery of an Aspect and get a Glimpse or Grasp, it is just harder for them. You have made a Way of Time, your Soul should be closely influenced by Time Essence, but also by all the other Essences that made up your being. You should think of that as your Soul’s intent, the way that you impact the world. And it is the core manifestation of your Soul’s meaning.”

Zach blinked, then nodded as what that meant dawned on him. It explained quite a lot. It was even obvious now that Ryun had said it. He could sense it in other Souls, how Ryun’s had always felt like Oblivion, Eratemus’ like Death. His own Soul had a different feel to it than other Souls. He had never really given it much thought, now though, the meaning of his Soul, he felt a step closer to figuring it all out.

His true name was He Who Seeks To Learn, and this was what he wanted to learn the most about, it was the key to him mastering himself and his power, to growing stronger. All in the service of accomplishing his goal, creating a place where all could come and learn, where knowledge was valued and from where a change could spread into the world through education and understanding.