Io's Labyrinth

[Ebiris]

"My name is Alicia. These are Seira, Antenora, Amaryl, Oberuth, Jetina, and Moore," she introduces everyone. "What are you here for?"

She still sometimes wonders about the angel that oversaw Triel's Furnace for all those millenia without even knowing of Triel's fall, and what became of him after she and Syala remade it into Sylica...

[Anastasia]

Antenora nods to him, while Jetina smiles, "Hello there," she offers.

"Luminaries and those chosen by Io to come here," He laughs, a human sound, a tired sound. "Would you care to spend a little time listening to me? It's been so long, so long, so long since I've talked to another being. You feel a fool, a foolish man who got his exact wish, an exact wish that has left me doing my heart's content forever."

"You make it sound ominous," Amaryl speaks up, voice gentle.

[Corwin]

"But we'll listen, of course!"

[Nephrite]

Moore nods to Seira. "We'd be the absolute worst if we didn't." He concurs.

Just making a note that I'm switching auras back to the dexterity one.

[Anastasia]

The old man slowly sinks to the ground, sitting against the door. His staff rests besides him, head lulled down, eyes out of sight.

"Who wants to die? We all fear death, we fear what lies beyond and the stories about the hereafter. Will we find a paradise, or have we failed and shall be greeted by fire and eternal regrets?" The old man murmurs that, "Unless you're a rare champion, who can choose or even rise past death without dying. I was not. I was a fearful old philosopher who only wished to continue the study of philosophy. I feared death, I feared it with all my heart."

A pause, the old man looking up. "I was ancient, over 90 years old and yet blessed with hale health. I was alone, my wife and children all into the grave before I. All I wished to do is continue my splendid isolation, able to think as long as I wished. One morning, a traveling monk passed by my home and asked for hospitality. On breaking bread with him, I found him an unrivaled thinker and teacher of philosophy. We talked the entire day away and it was good. He confided in me that he sought the ultimate Answer to philosophy, thought and being - and offered to allow me to live forever, with the task to forever think towards this Answer."

A dry chuckle, "The avatar of Io did exactly that when I accepted. I was alone, a dragon in blood and thus beyond the touch of mortality. I have...done nothing but think for so long. Io gave me my heart's desires. I am free from death and free to think as long as I wish."

"You poor fool," Oberuth says, a grim expression. "Your paradise was really your damnation?"

"He warned me that I would regret this choice, but offered it to me regardless." The old man says. "Io will save you or damn you, if you only ask and he finds you worthy. He is a being of his word."

[Ebiris]

"I wonder what Alyssa Songsteel asked for in that case..." Alicia wonders. "What have your ruminations brought you then?" she then asks more clearly of the old (very old!) man.

[Nephrite]

Moore just frowns. "I'm sorry. I know that doesn't change what you've had to endure for so long." He says. He nods to Alicia. "Yes, I'm sure you have your own opinion on an Answer."

[Anastasia]

"That is such a truth exists, that is is beyond me." The old man looks up to Alicia, waggling one gnarled finger. "I can provide myself a truth I believe. We all can, an Answer that satisfies ourselves. But how do we make such a perfect truth that all can accept it? How can all the hearts in Creation be convinced by one truth? I am but a human, a mayfly kept alive by the whim of Io. As long as one is bound up human limits, I do not believe an Answer is possible. A person would need to become more than themselves, to overcome their nature, to have any hope of grasping an Answer."

After that the old man sighs, "I was told long ago by Io of the Incarnations and their goal for Creation. Yet if beings such as the Three cannot find the Answer, how can we? Are we not the fruit of the Incarnations and their will? Or can we grow to surpass them, as a child may one day surpass his father?"

[Corwin]

"You're a philosopher through and through, aren't you?" Seira asks of the ancient dragon-blooded. "You like it, and have made what you like into an eternal occupation. Isn't it still making your life just as fulfilling as it had when you first fell in love with the subject?"

[Ebiris]

"They could not find an answer, so they created that which they believed could," Alicia says. "Whether that makes us greater or capable of surpassing them I couldn't speculate. But the Answer is indeed something that can only be derived by a unified Creation. Io would know this as well - though perhaps like the Incarnations he was hoping that something lesser than he would be able to come at the problem from an angle he hadn't considered?"

[Anastasia]

Antenora is silent in the meantime.

"Well," Jetina says, "Then we'll have to convince Io to let you out, so you can go philosophy where you wish, with others."

The old man smiles tiredly at Seira, "So I am. So it is." Then to Alicia, "I believe Io to be desperate in his way. His charge is perfection, and surely a perfect creature could provide an Answer. Yet there is no Answer, so perfection has not been found. I wonder if he hopes I might perfect myself in the quest for the Answer and fulfill his purpose twice over. Io is...I do not believe him to be different in spirit from what I know of the Incarnations. He is a seeker of knowledge, he uses their own methods. He is distant as they."

[Nephrite]

"I think the problem is trying to find one Answer at all." Moore says. "Any solution is made up of various smaller pieces which can't exist without each other. So trying to find perfection before you really have the other pieces will just lead you in circles forever. But yes, Jetina is right -- do you have a desire to leave here? There's so much that's likely changed outside of here, I think it would give you, yourself a new perspective."

[Corwin]

"Did you actually get to talk to Alyssa before, Mister...?"

[Anastasia]

"...yes, please," The old man says. He grasps his staff and presents it, "Take this. It has become magical in its long ages as my only companion. It will aid you in the dangers ahead."

"No, I have not met her," The old man says, "This maze was not the same trial as she faced, I believe. I felt Io's will as you approached, drawing this forward and creating it for all of you."

[Corwin]

"Okay, that was also a very subtle request to introduce yourself, so I use a proper name when I address you," Seira tells him.