Island raiser

[Iron Dragoon]

Alyssa flicks her eyes back to Io.

"You said each was empowered for a reason; a task. A part of an equation, I assume. A whole. What's my part? What trait of mine was I chosen for?"

[Anastasia]

"You have potential to grow, potential to become," Io declares, "I know not if you will rise to your full potential, but you may well be magnificent."

Jarem almost smiles at that, "She can be a handful," he remarks. "Headstrong, too. So -" That's all Jarem gets out as you feel it. A connection to Jarem, resonating across the room.

"Zaphkiel empowers you," Io intones, "Grow stronger."

Node update.

[Iron Dragoon]

Got it.

"So I am to be... Potential? Fascinating. It... fits. My ability to learn, my growth. Interesting. Could you explain the focusing and exertion of will? It seems closer to... psionics in nature than magic."

[Anastasia]

"In relation to becoming One?" Io asks back.

[Iron Dragoon]

"Partially, yes. I'm more interested in developing it as an ability... Perhaps to force a change of properties on something... Say... Making a blade of fire into a blade of cold. Naturally, the logical end point of it is to assist on the path to becoming One, but the ability itself... To simply will magic into existence, without the use of the Weave... Fantastic."

[Anastasia]

"Working without the Weave is difficult, but not impossible. Seek Moore of Celestia, because he is studying the creation from nothing through the Words," Io says.

[Iron Dragoon]

"The Words? Hm. I'm good with languages, and hopefully will. Is it possible the missing Incarnations have made their own creations out there in the Beyond, as Ao has?"

[Anastasia]

"It is possible," Io remarks, "I cannot verify this. Travel in Beyond is somewhat similar to the Astral Plane, but at the same time different and meaningless. I have not yet mastered such a thing, and doubtless the Incarnations could hide anything else they created as well."

[Iron Dragoon]

"The riddle piques my interest. Could it be simplier than we think? I wonder... How much of Ao's origins do you know?"

[Anastasia]

"None, other than the Three Incarnations came to Creation and created all, tasking us to search for the Answer," Io replies, "They do not confide in us save when they see fit."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Three into two, and one into three... An interesting twist... Three into two; could the missing Incarnate have split their power into the other two Incarnates? And could one of those have split their power into three entities? If so, perhaps those are the three Incarnates we know..."

[Anastasia]

"Incarnations," Io speaks up here, "Incarnate is not correct." After that, "It is one theory that the Incarnation of Law has vanished because it split apart, but we do not know. Nor do we know of the origins or what produced the Incarnations, if anything, beyond mention of a One. A different One than to become One, or perhaps one impossibly advanced past where any of us are."

[Iron Dragoon]

"That... Sort of fits with my idea, though. If this One stands above the Incarnations, it's possible that it came to some... Riddle of existence, maybe. Maybe something like, which is stronger, Chaos or Order. If the One had achieved harmony between the three, but wanted an answer into something that was built into it's own nature like that, then would there be a way for it to learn the answer without separating those natures to see how it plays out? And if there was... One... the One..."

Alyssa twists her mouth. "The Scholar in me doesn't like that sentence... But if there was one, it's possible there's more, which is supported by the idea that there's multiple of us as candidates and we can achieve it separately. Perhaps a second was needed to split the natures? And act as an observer or judge, perhaps?"

[Anastasia]

AS the others chew on all that, "It may be so," Io admits, "The Arbiter may be the Incarnation of Balance, or merely be a fourth who interferes for hiw own reasons."

[Iron Dragoon]

"Well, we'll have to find a way to confirm anything we come up with... In the mean time, Shar's being empowered yes? Do you the method? Similar to ourselves?"