“As all things in Life, Communities have to have a Hierarchy.”

“Someone at the top and someone at the bottom.”

“As all things in Life, Communities have to be fluid.”

“Those that go Up and those that go Down.”

“As all things in Life, Communities have to be solid.”

“Those who live by the Rules and Laws of the Community.”

“As all things in Life, Communities have to be gaseous.”

“Those willing to break the Rules and Laws for the Community.”

#12 Quote - Book of Races and Species.

*

Dream Realm - Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams

Inside Nebulous Clouds of varying colors resided a Golden Framed Mirror.

It resided in the center of the Nebulous Clouds, and currently, it was drawing on all the Nebulus Clouds around it.

The purpose of all that consummation was transformation.

The transformation of what it had once been and embracing something new.

Something that never existed before. Something Unique.

However, as the Consciousness inside the Mirror found out, just receiving a Name and purpose was not enough to finish its transformation.

It needed more knowledge regarding What it was becoming, and it needed to know more of What its purpose was, to become something Unique in this World.

So with eagerness, Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams, or Goldy for short, projected its desires into the Dream Realm and its Creator, as it was the Being that enabled it this opportunity.

Goldy truly realized that now, as the transformation occurred.

The Creator of the Dream Realm, Mir, floated in his Honey Badger form not far from the mirror experiencing this remarkable event.

He stared, felt, and immersed himself in everything happening.

Despite everything he had undergone so far in his life, this became a special opportunity to understand some of the knowledge he received from his Origin.

So when he felt the desire of the mirror regarding its Name and Purpose, he consented to its need.

Prepping his mindset, Mir spoke.

His voice echoed into the Dream Realm, The Nebulous Clouds representing Potential Chaos and the Change enabling the transformation for Goldy.

At the same time, his words and layered Intent reached the Consciousness inside the mirror.

“Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams.” Mir called out as if reading the Title inside a Book.

A Title, specifically documenting a Mirror and what it was about to become.

“Many Spiritual Beings exist in the World, but few are as Unique as the Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams, or Goldy for short.” Mir’s narrated. “Before even becoming a Spiritual Being, it was a Unique Artifact with an Ancient History. That History nurtured it, shaped it, and that is what the Grand Observer stands for.”

“Grand Observer stands for its Past as an Entity observing the unfolding of a great many events.“ Mir narrated. ”The Grand describes the scale of its Ability to Observe. To see the Truth in the things it Observes. The Truth and nothing but the Truth, as no Lies or Illusion could hinder the reflections of The Truth observed.”

As the story unfolded, the mirror continued to tremble and draw upon the clouds around it.

With every word, its Ability to recall all it ever Observed strengthened.

With every word, its Past gained clarity.

It recalled How it was made.

It recalled Why it was made.

It recalled the Duty it had served for millennia upon millennia upon millennia.

It recalled how it was but a Tool, and it felt how it desired to be More than just a Tool.

It desired to be a living lifeform, just like its Masters were.

But it was not meant to be. All it ever was, was to be a Tool.

So as Time passed, it searched for a way to create its own Destiny, just like it had helped its Masters do before.

More Times passed, and the mirror siphoned off some of the Destiny from its Masters into itself. It used that Destiny to improve upon itself.

All for that one moment, where it would be free to choose its own Ascension, and now that Time has come.

It was undergoing the Ascension it desired, albeit a bit differently than it once preferred.

Still, it was doing it, and it would not stop at just this.

Once more, from it pulsed a desire.

Mir felt it and assented once more.

“If the Grand Observer described its Past, then the Librarian of Dreams was its future.” Mir declared. “Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams resides in the Nebulus Library of Dreams, where all Dreams are recorded and are to be recorded.”

“There Goldy did its Duty as the Curator of Dreams.”

Despite no such thing existing currently, somehow, the words influenced Goldy as it gained an awareness of its mirror body. At the same time, a moldable illusion-like feeling reached it. As if his physical body was no longer as solid as it once was.

“However, despite its mighty Powers of Observation as a Mirror, Goldy could not fulfill its new Duty just by observing.” Mir continued in his narration. “It had to be more than just a Mirror. Goldy had to become a Spirit, with a body deserving of its new Duty. As such, when it embraced its new Destiny, the golden framework that had framed its previous body gained a fluid quality as if it had just left the Furnace that had melted down the raw material.”

In the same instant, as Mir’s tale stopped, Goldy achieved a new awareness of the Gold that made up its body.

The Gold and the shiny mirror separated, and right after, the Gold began congregating into one big golden sphere.

“Moments later, the shiny Mirror that reflected the Truth of Reality attained the same quality. It returned to being moldable glass that just left the fiery Heat of a Furnace.”

Shiny glass returned to its melted state and infused itself into the golden sphere. Once it was inside, it began to swirl inside the golden sphere. Moments later, it swirled on its surface before returning inside, as if it knew not where its place of belonging was.

“Then the moment came for Goldy to decide on its new Spiritual form, or as some would say its ideal Dream Body.” A very small chuckle left Mir before returning to his narration.

“But what would it choose? Goldy knew not at that moment. It could become anything, and the number of choices it had before itself paralyzed it.” Mir described. ”It stayed like that for a few moments before a gentle nudge reached it. With the nudge, a connection formed between Goldy and the Being giving it this Ascension, and with the connection, Goldy began to search for its ideal Dream Body inside the memories of the Being.”

At the same time, a connection established itself between Mir and Goldy.

It browsed through the memories, but most of them got ignored, as they simply had little relevance to Goldy.

However, the other stuff was priceless.

Goldy browsed through all the fantastical stories and images it could find.

It searched for a form that connected to it the most. It breezed through everything at record speed.

A few options came to it. But then, memories of everything Mir had undergone here in this world began to play. Moments later, Goldy embraced the Journey through the Dream World. And later through the Dreamverse.

However, Mir was aware of Goldy’s search history.

So when he noticed where it was going, he tried his best to gently nudge Goldy into ignoring that part of the memory he possessed. He did it for the simple reason that, his gut feeling told him, he knew that Goldy would be inspired the most.

Yet, it was a useless effort as the memory dive continued without any of his input.

Of course, he could use force, but that would totally ruin this delicate experience.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Mir’s gut was right. Goldy’s awareness stopped and embraced the memory of Mobius, the Eldritch Eye Nightmare.

A surety enfolded inside Goldy as if it finally found what it wanted. Instantly the intimate connection between Mir and Goldy broke.

Goldy’s awareness returned to itself and the fluid sphere infused with gold and glass.

Yet, just as it wanted to imagine its ideal Dream Body, words echoed from Mir.

“With the broken connection, Goldy found what it sought. However, Goldy failed to realize that being a Spirit was more than just an ideal form.” Mirr continued his descriptions. ”A Spirit was a living creature, even one born of Dreams. Just as all Lifeforms desired, Spirits desired to Evolve further than their base form. And just as every Lifeform desired to propagate, so too did Spirits.”

Hell, NO. There is NO FUCKING WAY I am letting it attain those tentacles.

“Once more, Goldy was unsure when the Being that enabled It this opportunity gave it a Path forward.” Mir spoke with clarity. “The Being gave it a reminder of its Duty and those that It would help as part of that Duty. The Being reminded Goldy of the Honey Badger’s.”

The remainder did its wonders as Goldy hesitated slightly and considered its option.

When it did, Goldy realized that just straight out mimicking the Great Eye would not make it Unique.

So Goldy compromised on its ideal form.

In its mind, the form of a Great Eye, the Honey Badger’s, and its past Mirror like body began to mix.

At the same time, the draw it previously exhibited on the Nebulous Clouds around it increased in equal proportions.

Mir observed it all happening in quite the details.

Not long after the drawing effect became so great that the sphere mixed gold and glass vanished from sight.

In its place, something like an egg manifested.

When the Egg made out of the Nebulous Clouds manifested, it attained a glass-like quality. As if its surface was made out of tiny obsidian mosaics that imitated scales.

In between the scales, gold veins flowed and pulsed.

After the Egg formed into a size resembling a two-story house, the drawing effect stopped. Still, by that time, Mir realized that a third of the mass of the Nebulous Clouds disappeared.

Accumulation of one-third of a millennium? Vanishing, just like that?

Time passed as the glass-like Egg pulsed from time to time before one final pulse signified the end of the transformation.

In moments, the glass-like surface started to dissolve, and from the cracks left behind, golden glass-like tentacles emerged.

Mir frowned instantly. Unconsciously his throat growled.

He wasn't glad to see them at all. But what happened had already happened.

His head shook before focusing on the hatching.

As he observed the rest of the Ggg dissolve, he soon realized that those golden glass-like tentacles were closer to hair strands. Hair strands that behaved like golden-colored fur.

Moments later, from the bottom of the Egg emerged four legs. Paws and claws included.

All four legs looked to be made of obsidian-colored glass.

The same moment, Mir realized the theme going on and released a slight sigh of relief.

The legs had no hair strands. Instead, obsidian-like mosaics acted as skin. Similar to scales on a reptile. Only here, the obsidian mosaic-like skin was slightly transparent. And inside, Mir noticed a skeleton made out of gold.

After the legs, a small golden tail appeared before the head appeared.

A head made out of obsidian, perfectly characterizing a Honey Badger, except for one thing.

This Golden Obsidian Spiritual Honey Badger had eyes that looked like a perfectly polished mirrored silver surface instead of the beady counterpart regular Honey Badger possessed.

And as if that was not enough, Mir saw those silver mirror-like eye surfaces containing golden-slited irises.

Mir shook his Honey Badger head and ignored it.

A few more moments later, Goldy made its appearance in full as the Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams.

Its new body was at least two stories in height. Half that in width and double that in length.

No wonder so much was consumed. All of that Potential Chaos was a substitute for its physical body.

“Congratulations Goldy.” Mir announced, but Goldy stayed silent for a bit as it flexed its body here and there.

Despite appearing like a glass statue, there were no faults as Goldy flexed its new form, and Goldy enjoyed every moment of it. After all, this was the first time, ever, that Goldy had a body that could move.

At the same time, with its new form came new realizations.

Realizations that came not from its new form but from the outside of the body.

Realizations that came from the Dream Realm that Goldy became a part of.

Wherever its golden-slitted irises gazed at, and things reflected inside them. Its mind understood things that made absolute sense.

Even if Goldy knew nothing regarding their inner workings. It knew, without a doubt, that its eyes gazed at Truth and nothing but the Truth.

Yet, after gazing and recognizing the Truth of the Dream Realm it had become part of, it realized another simple thing when it saw the tiny Honey Badger that floated not far from its body.

Goldy realized that Mir simply made complete sense as a living, breathing being.

But when its eyes tried to gaze deeper, it saw nothing special. Well, except that somehow Mir’s body was generating a ginormous amount of something and infusing it into the Dream Realm.

At the same time, Goldy felt the relationship Mir possessed with everything in the Dream Realm.

Goldy saw and felt how everything would follow his Will, and he, The Grand Observer and Librarian of Dreams was not an exception.

Seeing that fact, Goldy wondered about everything that happened before opening its H. Badger jaw with its obsidian-like teeth.

For the first time, ever, Goldy replied in real and not just as a mental projection.

“Thank… you… Master.” How Goldy reproduced those sounds was less important than the word Master he used.

However, the Truth Goldy saw couldn't be denied. And neither could Goldy deny it even if it tried.

It was the price of seeing the Truth, Goldy realized.

“It's fine. Tell me, is that the only form you can take?” Mir asked.

“No” Goldy replied with surety.

Nodding, Mir asked to see them, and Goldy complied.

The next moment, it's obsidian glass-like body attained a fluidized quality, and Goldy compacted upon itself.

The same happened to its bones and the golden fur upon its back.

When Goldy’s transformation ended, what was left behind was a huge round Golden Framed Mirror. With black veins repeating a scale-like pattern on its framework and the three huge tentacles distanced proportionally from each other.

In Mir’s mind, it almost seemed as if two of them could be used as legs and the last one being the decoration.

Still, it was the silver mirror surface that made it special.

It made it special because one huge golden-slitted iris surrounded by tiny golden stars appeared in the middle of that silver surface.

For a single moment, Goldy saw annoyance inside its Master, but the next second he sighed, and the emotion vanished as if it never was there, to begin with.

“ Anything else?” Mir asked once more.

The Golden Framed mirror blinked once, surprising Mir for a moment before its form began to change again.

This time Goldy compacted itself even more and attained the smallest form it possessed. That of the humanized version of the Honey Badger, its Master helped it achieve.

However, in this form, Goldy lost all its transparency. Its body gained a darker appearance with obsidian mosaic-like skin and tiny golden-scaled vein-like patterns providing a unique look.

“Good, I like this one the most.” Mir said. “Am I right to assume that every form provides some benefits that the others do not?”

Pondering for the answers, Goldy examined himself and everything he saw and came to a simple conclusion.

“Yes, Master.” Goldy replied. “The Truth… when observed… gains distinct clarity in all forms. The greatest clarity comes in the mirror form. My current form has the least quality. However, as I am observing everything again, I realize that things make more sense when I try understanding the same Truth.”

Nodding, Mir commented on the side. “And the big form contains a hybrid effect of both. Makes sense. Anyway, I am sure there are more nuances. However, they can wait. Before we begin the construction of the Library of Dreams, I want to hear your opinion on something.”

“Yes, Master.” Goldy replied and agreed.

The next second they appeared before a sleeping female Honey Badger.

Goldy gazed at it with his golden-slitted silver mirror-like eyes and observed a simple Truth.

The female had little Time left, at least if it remained here in the Dream Realm.

Moments passed as his observation was interrupted, and all three of them transitioned to a new place.

Goldy’s eyes blitzed around before figuring out they found themselves in the accretion disk of the Galaxy Core.

Although Goldy knew not what it was called, it knew its purpose.

“There are two bubbles.” Goldy’s Master explained. “Both bubbles represent two males out there in Reality. My plan is to send Magi, this female Honey Badger, to one of them. The problem is, I am not sure which one is the better choice. I want to see what your Observations will tell you. Which of the two is the better choice?”

Posing the question/demand, a tiny flare of Intent displayed Goldy two bubbles.

Not wanting to disappoint its Master, right as it achieved its Ascension, Goldy shifted back into its Mirror form and focused on the two Individuals in question.

With no trouble at all, its gaze penetrated the two bubbles.

Following the links, it found the Individuals and examined them for their Truth.

In the same instant, Goldy recalled the most recent observations it had done under the guiding hand of its previous Masters.

Moments passed as Goldy saw them for what they were.

Simple physical beings, doing their best to strive and live for as long as possible.

The only difference between them and the other simple beings around them was they possessed a Special Ability earned by achieving the Second Stage of Ascension.

“Ooohhh. Interesting.” A sound echoed behind Goldy, making it blink in slight surprise.

Without its gaze leaving the two Individuals, Goldy realized it could add additional observations to the two it already observed, and it did so even when its Master was behind it.

“Master?” Goldy said as Mir gazed at the silver surface upon its backside.

“Goldy, it seems I just figured out another one of your functions in the Mirror Form.” Mir gleefully explained. “It seems you project the Truth you observe onto your backside. Almost like a magnifying glass back on Earth.”

For a moment, Goldy wondered upon that statement before another demand reached it.

“Mmm. Goldy, there is another bubble near us. Add it too to your observations.”

“Yes, Master.”Goldy replied.

Within moments, Goldy observed three male Honey Badgers and everything they represented.

“Hmm.Mmm.Hmm.” Murmured Mir as he saw/read and understood the Truths in Goldy’s one-sided see-through mirror-like body.

“Truly unexpected, but it will do.”

Right as Mir said that, Goldy felt its Master's paw land on the projection of the latest addition.

Instantly Goldy felt its gaze strengthen on that one instance, and right beside the smaller male, a shimmer occurred. In the next second, Magi, the female Honey Badger, vanished from the Dream Realm and appeared in Reality beside that smaller male.

After the deed was done, Mir took back his paw and chuckled slightly before focusing his gaze at the top of his Realm.

In his mind, a project instantly added itself to the list of already made plans.

“Goldy, take your humanoid form and come with me.” Mir announced. “It's time we did some remodeling.”