The Search For Kathea, A Leap Into The Wisdom of The First Ones

  Meyrlyniq escorts Iriisii deeper into the 'Keep', it almost seems like they walk for hours, before coming upon a 'door' unlike any Iriisii has seen before. She directs her senses toward it and "it's alive?!"

     "Yes, it is one of the very few things we carried from home with us. This 'living' door is impenetrable to anything it does not wish to allow entrance to. Nothing can harm it, due to its nature that only a small part of it is in our Realm. We call it the 'Infinity Plant'. Reach out and let it know you, then we will see if it will allow you to pass on your own accord."

     Iriisii reaches out her hand to it, as a tendril from the 'plant' reaches out to touch her hand. She gently grasps it as it holds hers with the same applied force. She feels a single prick from a single thorn. A slight tremor and the tendril is withdrawn. The plant then moves apart allowing a corridor to form in front of her.

     "Amazing, I have not seen it allow entrance to anyone else since we came here. Come follow the corridor."

     As they pass through, the corridor closes behind them. They walk a good distance and then they enter an open chamber. The brightness is because the entire surface is mirrored and reflects the light from a simple object sitting on top of a pedestal in the center of the room.

     She starts to move toward it but stops after a few feet.

     "Why do you stop?"

     "I hear something from the object on the pedestal."

     "What do you hear?"

     "A song. A song I have heard before. The song that began 'Creation'."

     "The 'Holy Crown of First Bloom' has responded to the 'Song of Creation'. You have indeed been chosen to be the new 'Guardian of the Wisdom'. Take it into your hands, Guardian. Let it sing into your heart. Greet it with your soul. May its wisdom be infused into every part of you."

     Iriisii steps up to the pedestal, the light from the object she sees bathing her in its glow. The 'song' grows in complexity and intensity. As she listens, it makes its way into every part of her, her mind, the souls living within her, even the ancestral memories are drawn into the melody, all becoming a part of it and it of them. Then it does something no one else, even the 'Mother' herself anticipated. The 'Song of Creation' creates Iriisii anew.

     All the separate parts of her become fused into a new and wondrous whole. All are still there, still whole within themselves, having lost nothing in the process, but they are also all together whole as well. And so Iriisii is reborn, still Dragonchild, but now also 'Child of the Infinite', coexisting in the same body, the same moment of time, but in different dimensions, for the 'Creations', the 'Void', all that makes that continuum cannot hold the 'Child of the Infinite'. She stands apart, even from the 'Beyond'.

     She stands somewhere that words, thoughts, concepts, fail to describe where she is. The 'Child of the Infinite' knows she must grow, mature, learn, to what end, she will find out when she reaches it. It is enough for now that the next step has been taken, and so she goes to sleep, for how long even she has no way to determine, for time or whatever analog for it that exists here is not active. Perhaps when her duties within 'Creation' are done, she will be ready for her new adventure, her new destiny, her new life.

     Iriisii awakes, lying on the mirrored floor, Meyrlyniq kneeling at her side.

     "Are you all right? What happened?"

     "I think I should be the one asking that."

     "You became nothing but light, no physical body at all. Then suddenly the light shrank back and your physical body reformed and collapsed to the floor."

     "I really have no words to speak of what happened, all I can say right now is that I know why Sithis wanted this so badly. If he had gotten it...., there are not even concepts of how bad it would have been."

     Then Iriisii looks around and is stunned, even as Meyrlyniq notices that they are surrounded by Soul Hounds, all abasing themselves to Iriisii. Iriisii touches one and asks, "why are you doing this?"

     "The 'Child of the Infinite' has been birthed. Sithis has been denied his desire to become the 'Child'. The 'Dimensions of the Quanta' are safe at last."

     "What do you mean?"

     "Sithis came to realize, that he could never destroy the 'Creations' as he desired, that by his actions they would only continue to multiply. As you saw in your vision of the 'beginning'. He sought to find a way into the 'Realm of the Quantum Lords' and undo the 'Creations' from there. Yet the 'Quantum Lords' knew he would do far more damage than even he could imagine if he should have succeeded.

     "They could not stop him, because they did not possess the 'Song of Creation'. They by their nature could never possess it, for they are not now, nor ever have been a part of it."

     "And Sithis has?"

     "Only on its edge, as it was sung in the beginning and took a part of the void that was his. But it was and is enough that he could do with it as you have done. Now, he has only one road whereby he can attempt to claim it for his own and undo what you have set in motion."

     "He has to consume me and take it from my soul."

     "The Wisdom even now begins to speak through you. Yes, that is what he must do, what he will try to do. The stakes in this 'game' of sorts have risen to unheard-of levels. What you call the 'Aurbis' of which you are correct in surmising has been directing you thus far, is but a tiny fraction of the 'Wisdom of the First Ones', and that itself is a small part of what the 'Child of the Infinite' will become."

     "What will it become? What will 'I' become?"

     "Whatever you wish to become. There will no longer be limits to hold you back. Where you will go, what you will do, who you will become, only you will know the answer to those questions when you are ready to explore them."

     "And that will be when I decide it is right?"

     "As the 'Wisdom' speaks, so shall it be."

     "Those words, so like others I have heard before, where? Of course, she knew this might happen, she had to know, it is the only thing that explains why she tested me so, why she took such an interest in me, even to releasing me as her 'Champion' when I left Mundus."

     "Who, who are you talking about?"

     "Boethiah, somehow she got wind of what Sithis wanted. And so she found a way to deny him, and in so doing ensured her own survival."

     "Who is this Boethiah you speak of?"

     "One of the Daedric Lords of Mundus. Only now after all that has happened does it become clear of her involvement. But how did she know, no, how could she not know, she is a consummate plotter, schemer, manipulator. She manipulated Trinimac into placing himself in her mouth in order to let her use his voice to test his followers. Instead, she devoured him and defecated his remains into another even poorer excuse for a god, who took the name of Malacath. Trinimac's followers were all changed and became the race we call Orsimer.

     It was Malacath who in an attempt to restore himself and be reborn back as Trinimac, sought to sacrifice my Rigmor upon an Altar of Restoration. Who instigated the New World Order to go to war and invade Tamriel, then when Trinimac was restored to cleanse Tamriel of all not his worshippers. The blood bath would be total, all Nord, Orsimer, Argonian, Dunmer, Khajit, everyone not Altmer and worshipper of Trinimac would be killed.

     It was Boethiah who forced me to realize my true feelings for Rigmor, to rescue her from that sacrificial altar, face down Malacath in his own Realm, then take the war to the New World Order. And then after having to send her back to Bruma, alone, at the behest of the Aedra, I then spent four lonely years, fighting to protect Nirn from those trying to subjugate it, destroy it. I found a few that I thought I could find solace with but lost them all.

     Those who took them away from me suffered my wrath as only the damned could. The only true one that I stayed with, who survived with me through my trials, I could not bring myself to consummate my feelings. For better or worse, I kept seeing Rigmor in my mind. Serana knew I had given Rigmor my heart, and she accepted this, knowing I would never be hers, even as she kept hope alive within her own heart.

     And just as I had begun to waver, the Aedra thrust themselves back into my life in the form of a letter from Rimor's mother, asking for my help. That led me into a firestorm, the likes of which I could not imagine. Boethiah again came into my life, this time squaring off against Molag Bal, where I faced his daughter Morag Bal under 'Table Mountain'.

     I killed Morag, as a young archer, whom Rigmor and I had saved her life before, shot an arrow that pierced a 'soul gem' being used as a vehicle for Molag Bal to fight Alessia for the souls of many children killed and consumed by Morag's vampiric coven. The destruction of the 'soul gem' released the children's souls and separated the combatants within. A portal was created that allowed Molag Bal to traverse and enter the mortal realm in contradiction of the 'Compact'. 

     By this time, I was alone in that place, having sent all who came with me back outside to safety, I hoped to safety, anyway. Boethiah had given me a weapon to use against Molag Bal when the time was right, and a means to summon her directly to engage Molag Bal and set him up for me to forcibly return him into the deep void.

     So you see, she somehow knew what was going to happen, and used those events to draw me into her influence, so that I would go on from there and follow my path to here and now."

     "What does she gain from this? Have you not told me that they are of Mundus and so almost never leave it?"

     "Yes, but what happens out here can and does affect what happens in Mundus. So her primary concern above all others is her survival. She will do whatever she must, use whatever tool she must, to ensure that. She is not strong enough to go against Sithis on her own, and none of the others would join with her, afraid she would backstab them when done. And that fear is completely justified where she is concerned.

     But she also knew that if I managed to get to where I could face Sithis and even win against him, there would be no way she could face and take me on. So for her own survival, she would make an ally of me and maintain that relationship, if only with me and no others. Trusting that I will hold to my allies, whether 'light' or 'dark'. And I have to admit, she is right about that. She has not and will not give me any reason to consider her an enemy. And for past consideration, if she should ever ask for help, I would be honor-bound to help her."

     "I am sorry for putting you in this mess."

     "Do not be, it had to be done, and I was the one chosen. Whether fighting for Akatosh as his anointed Dragonborn or fighting for the 'Mother' as her anointed 'Daughter'. I am what I am, I chose this path and I will walk it to its end. No matter if one day it ends or if it but leads me to another path and another after that. We have the Eternal Champions out there, maybe I will become the Eternal Wanderer, wandering from one path, one destiny to another. As long as I have my mates, my children, my friends, and my allies, I am satisfied."

     "You had better be satisfied!"

     "Rigmor, my love! How did you get here?"

     "I was walking down one of the corridors in the Krang when I noticed all of these vines and twigs around me. I started to turn back but I heard your voice ahead of me, so I came on and found you here. And just why are you on your backside by that empty pedestal?"

     "Well, it was not empty just a few minutes ago."

     "And what have you gone and done now. Honestly, I cannot let you get away for more than a few days and you are into something that I have to pull you out of."

     Iriisii quickly stands and pulls Rigmor in a very heated embrace, and an even more heated kiss.

     "Now that is how I like to be greeted by you. Now is somebody going to explain just what I interrupted and who is she?"

     "This is Meyrlyniq, and this is the 'Keep of the First Ones'."

     "Wait a minute, you mean the place where we..."

     "Yes, although that area is outside the actual 'Keep'. Anyway, the 'Keep' belongs to Meyrlyniq, and her sister, who also just happens to be the 'Mother of the Cosmos'. More specifically, she holds the 'Mantle of the Mother', and has since almost the beginning of the 'Creations'."

     "Ok, that explains who she is, now just what are you doing here?"

     "That is a little more complicated."

     "I am waiting."

     "Ok, I received a 'call' for help and answered."

     "So far so good, see you can explain things just fine when you want to, so go on."

     "The 'call' came from Telasine."

     "Isn't she the Naiad that you persuaded to become a Witcher?"

     "Yes, she was."

     "Was?"

     "I will get to that in a moment."

     "It had better be good."

     "Oh it is, I promise, it is."

     Iriisii goes on to relate everything that happened to bring them into the 'Keep' and what happened afterward.

     "Ok, first off, you are not going anywhere else without me, you get into way too much trouble if I am not around, not that I don't get into trouble but we are not talking about that right now. So Telasine is an Ascendant now and of 'your' line?"

     "Yes."

     "That is fine, I understand why you did it and I agree it was the right thing to do to save her life. But what possessed you to go off and grab a group of vampire oracles from under the noses of, what, fifty-seven vampire centurions?"

     "Reaper was with me, as was Nodens and Dettlaff. and no, he had nothing to do with it, it was my decision when I learned that the leader of the group was Dettlaff's aunt, who he had previously thought was dead since she vanished when he was just a boy. If they were being hunted, I thought it right to find them and get them to safety. I was right and we got there just in time."

     "His 'Aunt'! as in mother's sister?"

     "Yes."

     "Ok, I can forgive you for that one, he is family, so that makes her family as well. So what else went on."

     "I met an Elder of the same race as the attendants at the Great Library. He was so impressed by what we did that he spoke for all his race and declared for the 'Balance'."

     "Don't forget about the 'Crown of the First Bloom'."

     "What is this about another 'Crown'?!"

     "I do not know a lot about it yet, he...made it from part of himself, and placed it on my head. When he did, I had a vision of the very beginning of the 'Creations' and the part Sithis played in it."

     "He had a part?"

     "He tried to stop it, struck the first one as it formed. This caused it to split into two. This kept happening until he figured out he could not stop it and went off to sulk."

     "Just how many times did it split?"

     "Enough that I lost count of the individual 'Creations'."

     "Ok, we still have a lot of detail to catch up on, so unless there is more."

     "Ciri is checking into whether Dandelion is going to ask Priscilla to marry him."

     "WHAT!!! And you have not said a word of that to me until now!!!"

     "Look I have not heard anything yet, so we will just have to wait and see what is going to happen."

     "You are not looking to..."

     "That is what Ciri asked, I did not mention it."

     "But if he does ask, you are going to, are you not?"

     "If asked, yes, I will."

     "Oh yes, you are most definitely going to. And we have to get Elihal back long enough to make her wedding dress. Oh and Geralt and Triss have to be here, and Yennefer too. Well come on, we have plans to make. You know as well as I that Ciri is not going to let Dandelion get away without marrying Priscilla. I wonder if Letho and Glorianna can get loose and show up?"

     "Let me speak to Reaper, we need to bring the 'Krang' as close to us as we can. It will make using it to move around easier and let me have greater control at keeping it and myself out of Sithis hands."

     "Why is he wanting you, did you actually figure that out?"

     "Now I have yes, the 'Mother' intended for me to take the 'Wisdom of The First Ones' to keep it out of Sithis hands. Now that I have done just that, he has to come and take it from me if he wants it."

     "All right, what are you not saying?"

     "He has to consume my soul to get it now. And now that I have infused it into myself, I realize why he must never get it. In his effort to destroy the 'Creations' and return it all to the void. He would more likely fracture everything, the 'Void' included."

     "What do you mean 'fracture' everything?"

     "He would pierce the dimensional barriers, the 'Quantum Realm', this dimension with all of the 'Creations', the 'Void', the 'Outside', the 'Beyond', and rip into the other dimensions as well. They are not at all compatible in that regard. They would not just mix and merge, all would exist in a fractured state, pieces of one edged up on pieces of another, and so on. You could step from the edge of a meadow and find yourself on the shore of a lake of boiling lead, turn and step and be on top of a glacier in the middle of an 'ice age'. And no way to see the edges of one where it touches another. Make no mistake, this is not what he would intend but likely what would happen, all the same."

     "But how, why, are there no limits, constraints, chains, that I have heard you speak of?"

     "For us, here, yes. But once he would take the 'Wisdom', he would change. This fabric of this reality would not allow him to remain and so he would go elsewhere, and rip everything apart in his effort to return to the 'Void'."

     "But you took it and you are still here."

     "Yes, but the part that was created when I took the 'Wisdom' within me, is not here, cannot be here. The 'Wisdom' fused everything within me into a complete single being, yet somehow we kept our individuality at the same time. That part is here, now, with you. The other, the 'Child of the Infinite' is sleeping, in another dimension, but still tied to me, in this one."

     "You do know how crazy all of this sounds don't you? But that is how I know you are telling me the truth. If you were going to make up something, it would be a whole lot simpler to believe than this."

     "I know, but it gets stranger."

     "I am not sure I want to know how it can get stranger but try me."

     "This explains the how and why Boethiah helped us against Malacath and Molag Bal. Why we always wondered the reason her actions toward us were so out of character for her. She somehow knew her survival was at stake, and if Sithis got to the 'Wisdom', it would all be over for her. But if someone else did, and she helped them along the way. Not setting them up, but actually working with them fairly, then they would not turn on her when they came into possession of the 'Wisdom'."

      "You know, that actually does make sense. I could understand her actions and doing what she did if it meant her survival and she knew it was the only way. Then staying on our 'good' side, she would no longer have to worry about the other Daedra. They would not cross her and risk angering her allies, namely us, or more specifically you, holding all of that power."

      "You see it now, just as I did a few minutes ago before you came up."

      "This is going to be a 'game changer' you know when word gets out."

      "That is why we cannot let it get out. I cannot envision the chaos that would ensue if this got out. Primarily because this was so not intended to happen this way. But it seems, the 'Wisdom' decided to change the plan on its own and do something different. What this is going to mean from here on out, well your guess is as good as mine."

     "But when you really think about everything, isn't that how it has been from the beginning? Us, guessing at what we needed to do when we needed to do it, and changing things in midstream if it did not work the way we thought it should."

     "You are so right about that, it has indeed been that way. So at least we know things haven't changed too far from the way it has been. We have handled things so far, we will handle these things as well. Come on, we need to see what Ciri has found out."