21

[Nephrite]

Should be +2 higher with good hope, so 53.

[Anastasia]

Like this - will and words, combined together. A blue chain is forged from nothing and another comes forth, the vortex further chained down.

The enaction of will. Do you remember that, Kascha?

"Oh!" Kascha gasps, a hand to her mouth, "The Guardian of 21 said that he could do magic without magic, without the Veins of Mystra, through the enaction of will."

The Words of Creation. The Enaction of Will. Do you begin to understand now, when faced with the eternal white emptiness of Beyond? A creature that is complete could perhaps manage this.

One who is complete, One who is whole.

Those given the gift of divinity by the Incarnations lack this one aspect. They are bound to Creation's rules and to Creation's limitations, for they are a creature of Creation.

[Corwin]

"So master the One state, gain a fresh language?" Seira muses, trying to form a chain all on her own now that she'd experienced it properly alongside Moore.

20:47 <Seira> roll 1d20+12+2+3+15+17 greater improvisation
20:47 <Penuche> Seira invokes Penuche's magic: < 50 > [d20=1]

So happy can't fail on a 1

[Nephrite]

"Huh, does that mean Eblis should be able to do this...?" Moore says quietly.

[Anastasia]

It's done - harder without Moore, but you have enough.

One could do this. I believe any creature from Beyond is One, in their own unique, twisted way. But they are too alien to us to comprehend meaningfully. Our perceptions are that of Creation. They are a mistake to us, they are errors our minds try to assign words and meaning to.

One can create outside of Creation. One can survive outside of Creation. One is a creature of will, one who is sufficient by themselves.

Yet as it is seen, One can be lonely. Not even the Incarnations were alone.

[Corwin]

"So the goal is to avoid loneliness," Seira muses. "Achieve self-sustainability, but don't keep people out once you figure out what rests at your core."

[Nephrite]

"Yet the whole process is something you have to do ultimately alone." Moore says with a small frown. "Well, I suppose having the knowledge that friends are there to help can at least be reassuring, but they still can't aid in the ritual itself."

[Anastasia]

Ranbar hms, "So...anyone could theoretically become a divine reality warper if they try in Beyond, but most likely their own sense of will isn't strong enough to do it? What a fascinating theory! If Creation is artificially made from Beyond, then are we all like that, but forged into something by Creation and its bounds?"

The potential lies in any soul.

Yet the Incarnations curtailed this, chose to control it. Out of the bounds of what they wanted Creation to accomplish, I have no doubts.

We are made so not only is it possible, but it is almost suicidal to try. We are meant to stay within Creation, as Io found out. There is no meaningful Answer Beyond.

"A paradox," Xandra muses, "Surrounded and yet alone." Listening to Sylvie, she then adds, "At least not one we can understand. Not as we are now."

[Corwin]

"Unless you know of something like Two? Or Three, I suppose? I've been wondering whether something like the Triune effect can work for this."

[Anastasia]

I do not know of such a thing. Only one can become One.

To stand alone against everything and be sufficient is a task that can only be completed internally and externally at once.

21 is cold, but it does not lie. Once you have become One, a Triune could be for you and others who have ascended, but not until then.

"This answers so many questions," Kascha says, wings still protecting the party. "Why tell us now, Sylvie?"

You have to keep getting strong and learning more.

If Shar triumphs here, everything we did is meaningless.

It may yet still be meaningless even if we defeat her, but I never expected to survive this once I understood.

[Nephrite]

"But... 21 can't know about things that have never happened, can it?" Moore asks. "Mm, maybe that's a little complicated."

Moore flies over to the chains to just look at it for a moment. "So that would mean that the dragon we met in the Labyrinth is also One. I wonder where they got off to, or if they just returned there."

"I wonder..." He murmurs, and he tries see if he's at all capable of the same sort of thing, but perhaps in a slightly different way. He doesn't have divine will backing him, but he has his own will...

"Creation."

He's trying the same thing as Seira, basically. In his mind, he's trying to create chains that represent Creation and have that represented in one Word.

[14:29] <Nephrite> roll 1d20+46
[14:29] <Penuche> Nephrite invokes Penuche's magic: < 65 > [d20=19] This is a charisma check.

[Anastasia]

> roll 70d4 ow
<Penuche> Kotono invokes Penuche's magic: < 183 > [70d4=183]

A great flare of pain, but sure enough, another chain is made.

"Moore," Kascha chastises as she heals you, energy mending your wounds one moment after the next.

[Nephrite]

Does Moore feel like this process was the same as when he created the trees on Lifasa? Is it more or less the same 'process,' but focusing on the thing to be created?

"You don't get to talk." Moore says as he turns and wags his finger at her. "You never mentioned this 'Guardian of 21' to me! That could've helped a lot, you know!"

[Anastasia]

It's the same and different at once. The chain you think, which comes far too easily and yet drains you painfully.

Kascha blinks, "Didn't you read the excerpt in the library?" she says, "We met him before your time."

[Nephrite]

"You know how big that library is." Moore says with a huff. "Either way, we'll talk more about it some other time. Still..."

He turns back to the chains to lay a hand on one of them. "It's strange, for the power that these represent, it's almost... too easy for me to manifest them, but it seems to pull out my own strength to do so."