Advancement

[Anastasia]

'He was here. He hid his face,' The creature says. 'He knows this place.'

[Ebiris]

Oh, that must have been Moore and Cresiel's guide. 'Do you understand why I asked about the three names I did? What their significance is to you?' she asks to get back on track.

[Anastasia]

'They are and I was them, but I am not them,' Is the answer you get. 'Chaos. Light. Order.' A beat. 'Life. Stasis. Death.' A beat. 'Destruction, eternity, conquest.'

[Ebiris]

Alicia nods before replying still in the telepathic medium. 'Yes, you're something new made of all three. An impossibility of unseen potentials made manifest,' she confirms. 'How much do you remember of them? Do you hold all of their memories and thoughts?'

[Anastasia]

'No. Only small fragments.' Is the answer you get. 'More of Canderella. Gathgorian is. The light blinds me to Sylvie.'

[Ebiris]

'Sylvie was known for being a voracious reader, though I imagine anyone would be hungry for information in your situation,' Alicia observes. 'What books have you found most interesting here?'

[Anastasia]

A pause, a moment. 'All of them,' Is the answer. 'Knowledge is knowledge. All thirsted for it, Sylvie most of all. Ideas are the forged metal of Creation.'

[Ebiris]

'None of them were dullards in that sense,' Alicia agrees. 'Information, lore, wisdom... one must always be willing to learn if they are to prosper in Creation. The ideas and discoveries of others are the foundations for forming our own. Just as a child is influenced by the teachings of their parents and the books they read, you are in a similar situation influenced by the natures of those three and by what you read here. Even talking to me, hearing my perspectives, will go some way towards clarifying your own.'

[Anastasia]

'I must learn more,' The being concurs quietly, the depth of your mind hearing his words. 'I do not have time to learn all these thoughts on my own, to think them and develop them without reading.'

[Ebiris]

'You don't have time? What's the hurry?' Alicia asks. That should be educational as to the being's plans... or fears.

[Anastasia]

'...I don't know.' A stop there, the being looking to you. 'Yet I am fearful.'

[Ebiris]

'Something from Sylvie, perhaps? An instinct with a root you've been blinded to?' Alicia suspects. 'I won't say it's amiss. Sylvie was close to a great many secrets, she carried a tool of the Incarnations and with it came insights few others could know of.'

[Anastasia]

'It may be so.' A consideration, 'I must learn more.' It goes and takes another book, 'I must keep learning.'

[Ebiris]

'A hundred mortal lifetimes wouldn't be enough, not to read everything in this library,' Alicia cautions. 'More, you may find books becoming out of date, as new knowledge supplants old. Simply working your way through the Deep Stacks one tome at a time isn't enough, you need a plan, and a goal.'

[Anastasia]

A consideration at that, a nod. 'Can you help?'