Raiz closed the book he has been reading, placing it on top of a pile beside him. Surrounding him are many such piles haphazardly organised. Months have passed since Raiz first entered here. The only time he left was to gather more energy as Raiz has learned that he can hold a certain amount of energy inside of himself. Yet it dwindles as he uses it to sustain himself. Like an addiction, if he withholds himself from absorbing it he will grow weak and sunken as a crippling need will onset onto him. Food and water is worthless. His body craves energy to survive, demands it, and he can only comply.

Aside from answering that need Raiz stuck himself inside this strange library and let himself wander through it. The first month was purely learning to understand the words. Afterward he mainly wished to know what the books contained. And the answer that was given back was a simple one. Everything. Each bookcase was a different topic, each topic filled to the brim with its intricacies. He knew of lava now, of the way magma cooled into a thick, blackened ground. Of the way toxins can eat away at something, and poisons can do so unknowingly. Of course there was still much he had not found. The skeleton, the big imp, he once stumbled upon. He knows now it’s no imp. But what is it? And more importantly for Raiz, the giant island that floats in the sky. He has yet to find it mentioned anywhere, which only incites his curiosity further.

Raiz turns himself back to Lorvane’s journal beside him. It was open on a specific page, one he had read many times. Picking it up, he reads it once again.

Aspects of nature. That is the way it is described to us. When you throw fire from your hand you wield the aspect of fire. The cleansing of impurities calls upon the aspect of water. But if you are not born with an aspect it is not so simple to acquire one. We call them ‘wells’, places where an aspect has condensed so thickly that it forms its own dominion. As long as you have something to anchor you one can enter such a place and find a shard, a physical manifestation of the aspect, to take back. If they survive the journey, they then must also survive the consumption of said shard. Have you swallowed fire before? What if you swallowed the embodiment of all fires, all raging together in one as it commands you to understand it, to appreciate it like a peacock preening to an audience. And only when it feels you’ve satisfied its ego will it release you, intact or not. It’s not so easy to acquire strength.

I proposed a theory with these wells. These aspects. It got rejected of course. Condemned is more accurate of a notion. I was laughed at whenever I mentioned it. ‘It’s called aspects of nature’ for a reason they’d say. But who called it that? What do we define as ‘nature’? It was the first time that I realised. No-one ever asks why. My theory was quite simple; aspects aren’t static. Have we ever seen the world around us stay still? The world is constantly changing, new things are forming all the time. Isn’t it hubris to believe aspects cannot do so as well. Could we not make an aspect ourselves?

This building, this place I have given you as my inheritor, is my magnum opus. As you can see it is filled to the brim with knowledge. Every piece of understanding that has been held, seen or witnessed by me throughout my existence lives in here. Go to the middle and take a look. If my theory isn’t worthless. If it isn’t the ravings of a madman.

Then you’ll see a well.

Raiz pauses on that final line for a moment before continuing further as he finishes reading the method to access the well and digest the shard. Closing the journal he places it to his side and looks forward. A large tear into the fabric of space lies in front of him, twisting and turning as golden light shines out of its gaps. Curiosity burns in his eyes as he stands up. In one of his hands is wrapped a chain made of energy. It curls around and sticks itself to a quartz post to his side, its shade clear and pure white. Focusing Raiz calls on the energy resting in him and draws it out as he coats his body in it like a thick armour. With his preparations done Raiz gives himself a small running start and jumps straight into the rift.

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The second he passes through he finds himself plunging inside a thick, viscous yellow-gold liquid. Immediately Raiz finds himself sinking as he clutches onto the chain in his hand, the only lifeline that can bring him back out. Raiz attempts to breathe but finds he is unable to. More disconcerting is the realisation that he doesn’t need to. Flailing his arms around he attempts to take some control of his descent as he focuses his eyes around searching for something, anything to change in what he can see but his vision is limited to a mere two inches. The thickness of the liquid that surrounds him blocks his sight, its sticky soup-like existence sticking to him and then sliding off as he swims downward one messy stroke at a time.

With each stroke Raiz feels the armour he encased himself in broil as the liquid eats at it, slow and consistent. With each passing second it reduces in size before drawing on his reserves to restore itself. Each second those reserves dwindle. He wades deeper as he ignores the slowly settling in panic that fills him. He can try again, he knows that. But he’s curious. What will he get? What is it like? Unable to shake that curiosity he dives deeper, ignoring his reserves growing smaller and smaller.

The energy is nearly dried up when Raiz feels himself hit something, bumping into a physical object. Joy fills his eyes as he reaches out his arms and grabs onto it, drawing it toward himself. In the same moment he clutches tight to the chain held in his hand and commands it to restrict. The chain starts moving upward at a rapid pace, dragging Raiz along with it as it obeys his command. Raiz feels his body emptying of its last reserves even as the liquid continues to eat at him, the armour eroding fast. Closing his eyes tight Raiz simply clutches the chain as he waits for the outcome.

Then he feels himself grow light again as he escapes the rift and slams into the ground. Raiz ignores the pain and scrambles up to stare down at the shard he’d acquired, his excitement incited. In his hand the sharp-edged shard glows a bright yellow, pulsating in a steady and calming rhythm. It is a small thing. He could fit at least three of them in the palm of his hand. But he knew he couldn’t underestimate it.

In this moment there should’ve been some hesitation. A pause in consideration of the risks when Raiz looked at the shard. At least some preparation. But for Raiz, there was none of that. His eyes glow with interest and without hesitation he crushes it in his hand and brings it to his mouth, swallowing it whole with a look of expectation. A moment passed as it travels through him and enters his body. And then a blinding, intense pain assails him, causing him to collapse in a fit.

Overwhelming knowledge. Incomprehensible information. A volume beyond consideration pours into Raiz. In his mind, his body, his existence. It speaks of what can and may be, of what has and will be. It tells him of secrets from existence to dusk. Of things beyond his comprehension. Raiz went insane in that moment. Then the next moment he was sane. This cycle continues on and on as he is shown what knowledge truly holds. It continues as the aspect demands him to listen, to pay attention to it, to what is possible. He should appreciate such an opportunity even in death. And then finally, satisfied, it lets him go.

Raiz collaps into a messy heap and lays there, shivering on the floor as his mind picks itself up from its shambles. It takes a long time for such a thing to happen. He ccan’t recall any of the information that passed through him. The aspect didn’t want him to understand. It only wanted him to appreciate. Appreciate? Raiz felt he could laugh in that moment, finally understanding what the journal was saying. But he felt if he did, perhaps he wouldn’t be sane by the time he finished. So he didn’t laugh. He lay there quietly. And tried not to think.