The warm golden sun shone on the window as his eyes woke up. Merlin slept while working on the intricacies of the machine; although he couldn't learn much, he did find out that it was activated through the use of inputting mana throughout the steel and keeping it away from the lead etches. The etches weren't etches though, but in fact, they were suppressors.

It suppresses the mana to about fifty percent output if it ever goes past the threshold that Elerian set as stated before which was fifty percent. 'It was supposed to take longer.'

The whispers came back, stronger than ever, right after he woke up. They forced him to figure out the machine more withstanding the task to a later day. He needed to listen to the whispers, his curiosity wanted to listen to them, and the whispers wanted both, him and his curiosity, to submit and listen. 'No, I'll complete this task and then gain ownership of the device to study it further.' He forced himself to convince the whispers and curiosity.

He went on to finally complete the task by making new etches to suppress it to ten percent even if it didn't meet the threshold, all of this was thanks to the instructions of the other devices Elerian gave him. The gnome was still out in the front of the shop waiting for anyone to come in. He's stood there since the sunrise which seemed akin to a white blaze across a fiery scene. The silent front caused the humming from the grey machinery mixed with the blueish crystals back here to appear louder.

After Elerian told him to continue to the second task, Merlin started working and grabbed the crystal goggles that the gnome gave him to help with the task. They were made out of Erllythium which was an uncommon see-through crystal known to highlight materials with traces of mana or electricity.

He tinkered with the mana-to-electricity generator trying to figure out its spells and its mechanisms; However, he wasn't the only one working on it. The 'whispers' came back and instructed him on how to handle the mana segments of the machine. The instructions were vague and he only got instructions on the 'how' not the 'why' of the movements.

It made him even more curious and made the 'whispers' louder than they'd ever been. He suspected that his emotions, especially his curiosity, affected the 'whispers' and vice versa. When Merlin looked up from the workbench it was about an hour or two past midnight, he looked back at what he had done to the generator and realized he pulled it apart, and all the parts were strewn across the floor as if they were trying to get away from him and the generator.

His curiosity was satiated, but he still was required to put it back together and try to turn it on. While pulling apart and testing each mechanism, he figured out how to turn it on.

Whenever the whispers used the word 'Switch' it usually meant that something else or himself was supposed to turn it on. After pulling everything apart he knew what led to which and how the mana moved into the switches by observing it.

'Finally, Now we can go and keep reading the grimoire with you.'

'You've been reading the grimoire with me? Is that why I could feel mana after reading the passage in the book?'

'We have been with you this entire time. Your existence is foreign to us. We are madness, curiosity, and enlightenment. We have had other names across millennia and planets, but those are the most apt ones. We have never seen your kind though.'

'Are you able to go to other universes?' Merlin asked in his mind. 'No, We have never tried. We know it is not possible for us. But for you, our chosen avatar, the one who will take on the brunt of the madness, curiosity, and enlightenment we have gained throughout our time. We do not wish you harm. We will give you our aspects one at a time.'

The whispers stopped after that. When he came too, the generator was up and running. he didn't remember doing anything to turn it on or even put the parts together and figured it must have been whatever was talking to him.

***

Merlin went to bed right after and woke up when Elerian called him. It was probably for the third and final task. It has been a week and a half since Merlin completed the second task, but Elerian still didn't prepare the final one and ordered him to work around the shop and help him with his tinkering.

Merlin went to work and helped Elerian for a few days until an inkling of suspicion, doubt, whatever Merlin called it. He was sure 'it' was doing it. It was a drastic change to what he'd been feeling just a moment ago.

He knew it was amplified emotions and all but it still bugged him the wrong way. It felt like a worm crawling in his brain wriggling inside his grey matter and it felt awful. He tried to ignore it for a day until it got worse. Much worse.

It was the evening, he was in the workshop while Elerian went out to buy 'things' which made the whole building quiet except for the hum and whistle of the machines.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He just got used to the wriggling worm of doubt in his brain until it felt like it grew claws and was tearing his brain apart. A minute later, it felt like the worm was biting and clawing its way through his mind.

"Please... Make... It... STOP!" He was on the ground in a fetal position holding his head with an iron grip. he tried to bang his head to make it stop but it was of no use.

'This is torture. Maybe worse. Please, stop. whatever your name was. Curiosity, Madness, Enlightenment.'

"You didn't follow the way. Our names aren't only a way to address us. They are what you need to have to talk to us. The easiest way is Madness. It's what you are experiencing. The degrading rationale and integrity of your mind. Overwhelming curiosity doesn't work well with everyone. Enlightenment is rare. This was the only way to talk."

"I... can't speak... with this...GOD! IT FUCKING HURTS!" Merlin tightened the grip on his head.

'What... do you... want.'

"Wasting your time on the continuation of this deal. We could help you more. Just allow us to show you the path."

'How am I wasting my time? Why would you care?’

"He's using you for free labor. As a slave. You were lucky to have met the merchant troupe, but we advise you to not be as naïve as before. As for your second question, we already told you that you were our chosen avatar. It takes too much effort to find a suitable avatar."

"We have taken enough of your time and sanity. We 'advise' you to leave and go to the Almurth temple ruins. It will satiate the curiosity we've given you for a while."

As soon as the sentence ended, Merlin noticed the pain was gone, but a pang of curiosity was starting to bubble up. He knew he didn't have much time before he'd study everything he glanced at so he got up and ran out of the shop. 'It' seemed to have given him the directions in his head.

Merlin ran through the city while the denizens were looking at him like he was an unusual creature. He wouldn't blame them. Merlin hadn't felt the need to eat, drink, or sleep. He only did so out of courtesy and because he didn't want Elerian to kick me out for thinking Merlin was some sort of undead which he learnt from one of Elerian's many bestiary books. It was focused more on the supernatural kind of entities than the natural kind.

He ran without stopping through the city, the gates, and then the forest. Merlin realized he must have subconsciously used mana to boost his stamina since he didn't even feel tired.

After looking around for a bit, taking the surroundings of the lush greenery mixed with the damp vines and the mass of leaves protecting the grass from the frequent rain in this area, Merlin saw the stone bricks that had overgrown vines and thought it looked like a golem broken down and overgrown with vines. It was only a statue with no mana etches or notches to power it. 'I could make it into a golem if I had the right materials and maybe two extra weeks of practice.' Merlin mused and then walked through the run-down and abandoned temple. 'It' sent the exact location of the hidden door.

"It's right past the altar but how do I open it?" Merlin tried pushing, pulling, and pressing the stone bricks to open the hidden door. It was of no use. As he was pushing and pressing he removed some felt an indent. It continued and Merlin realized it was some sort of sentence.

'The pious, the repented, and the marked. All of them are welcome in the temple's arms. Whoever brings a marked one, although welcome, is not encouraged. They have a maddening curiosity to the point they'll die from neglecting themselves; however, as everyone knows harming oneself is a sin, and killing oneself is an even graver one.' Merlin read in his mind.

'Whoever brings a marked one and makes them pious will have a passage to enlightenment opened to them.' The problem with the door still wasn't solved. With his curiosity surging and increasing, each minute detail started to become intoxicating to him and he needed to study them thoroughly. After his curiosity reached a certain point, a flash of light started appearing behind his eyelids whenever he blinked. Merlin closed his eyes and saw words made of light etched behind his eyelids. It read:

'You are marked. Tell the priest or scholar that brought you the phrase "Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost.” and after that, they will lead you to your training place.' Merlin saw behind his eyelids.

Merlin didn't have a priest or scholar with him so he tried saying the phrase to the hidden door. He heard gears shift and stones move. It moved with difficulty and struggled to fully open. The half-opened door was just big enough to fit a malnourished man. Luckily, Merlin looked malnourished after a week of running and not eating or drinking, but even without food or water he still felt fine. He decided to think about it after he searched the hidden passage.

Merlin squeezed through the passage and then down the stairs. He saw a hallway leading to dark rooms. He couldn't tell if it was abandoned or if someone was still there.

*drip* A drop of water was heard further down the hallway. Merlin walked slowly and looked at each of the locked doors leading to the rooms of previous residents.

They were all locked except one. The final door was wide open, and inside the room were footprints. The prints looked to be a day old. Merlin looked closer at the room. There were a lot of books on the shelves. The lamp was recently turned off. 'Someone was still here.' He thought.

'How? The temple looked abandoned for at least a few decades.' Merlin started to focus on his surroundings.

'The person is marked like me. The footprints lead deeper into the hallway. He doesn't know who's here and probably won't take his chances for some time. I can wait here until he comes out.'

And so Merlin waited for a day, then two days, after that was a week. During all of this, Merlin was reading the books in the room to satisfy his curiosity. At the end of the week, he heard a thud deeper into the hallway. It sounded more like a heavy footstep.

He peered his head out the door and cursed.

'Shit. I thought it was a person. I didn't think it was a fucking malnourished beast.'

The bipedal beast had human clothes on with it almost ripping apart and was frothing at the mouth that had razor-sharp blades as teeth. It saw Merlin and Merlin saw it.

It rushed to the room in the blink of an eye and then Merlin felt a mind-numbing pain shoot throughout his chest and neck.

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'FUCK!' I cursed until I realized I was back at the start of it all. Again. 'I can think clearly again?'