Mantle

“I can see why you are struggling, but the choice seems clear to me,” Naha said once Zach showed her the choices for his final perk. The two of them were sitting in a side room within the academy. It was empty, its purpose not yet decided, and they were on the floor with their legs crossed.

The perks he showed her were powerful, but she knew that there was only one that he should choose. “So why do you need to ask my advice?”

Zach didn’t answer her immediately, his eyes looked ahead at the window that he had made visible showing his three choices, and she took a glance again.

Summon Castle of Knowledge (Class Perk)

Once every six months, you may summon the Castle of Knowledge to the Real Realm through your connection to it, bringing with it a piece of the Ethereal. The castle and all the spirits within will return to the Ethereal in three days or if the perk is canceled early.

Akashic Embodiment (Class Perk)

Allow your mind to enter the deepest core of the Knowledge Plane and enter an Enlightened state during which you have access to the sum of all knowledge. You will know and understand everything, but only while within the plane, leaving the plane will remove the knowledge held, but not the conclusions drawn from it. You may absorb and retain a piece of complete Knowledge from the plane. To retain a new piece of knowledge the one currently stored has to be returned. The effects are reliant on your understanding and connection to the Plane of Knowledge.

Erase Knowledge (Class Perk)

You may designate and erase a piece of Knowledge from reality itself. This will remove all powers and memories of it, making it as if it had never existed in the first place. Only one piece of Knowledge may be erased. To erase another the previous one will be returned.

The choices that they picked for themselves were more than just power, their perks were part of the building blocks of their being. They were reflected what was within, influenced them in ways that even now they didn’t fully understand.

Zach was struggling, but Naha knew who he was.

“I am not considering the first perk,” Zach said slowly. “It is not something that I need.”

Naha nodded, she had already suspected as much.

“The other two though,” Zach started. “Akashic Embodiment and Erase Knowledge are both powerful.”

“What are you thinking?” Naha asked him, trying to understand his struggle.

“I… I know that there is more to these perks than what is written. I know that there are limitations as well as the uses of them beyond what is written. Every perk is the same, I had pushed many of my perks in ways that go beyond the scope of the written word. The descriptions are guides, they are not a true law containing the perks.”

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Naha knew that too; she had experienced it herself. “What limitations do you fear?”

Zach glanced in her direction before turning back to look at the window displayed before them, his brow furrowed. “I am almost certain that Erase Knowledge will only work on knowledge that I know. Perhaps I might not need to understand it fully, but I would need to have some familiarity with it in order to grasp it and erase it. The Framework has certain rules, and being able to erase something without knowing what it actually is would break those rules. That is not really an issue for me, I enjoy learning, and I am familiar with great many topics. But it is a limitation that I need to think about, this is my last choice, the pinnacle of my Class.”

“Yes,” Naha agreed. “The pinnacle of your journey, the reflection of your being, your meaning.”

Zach’s frown lessened, and he tilted his head. “The Akashic Embodiment is… vague, but it sounds powerful too. I just can’t know what exactly it will give me unless I take it and experiment, which is one of the things I hate most about choices like these.”

“The part about retaining knowledge could be powerful,” Naha added.

Zach nodded. “But what does that actually mean? Knowledge is not understanding, it is not even the truth, it is what people believe, what they have written down or what they remember. If I used this perk to retain the knowledge of Fire, what would I actually be getting? The scientific understanding of it? But whose? My suspicion is that I would get what everyone connected to the plane of Knowledge knows, everything that is written about it, in short, everything that is known about it. But that isn’t the actual understanding of it, the truth behind it.”

“You would still know as much as the greatest users of Fire knew, it would help you form and push forward your own understanding of it. With that you could advance your understanding of all of your Aspects. And that is not even counting the other part of the perk, having access to all knowledge available in the plane is more powerful than anything I have ever seen before,” Naha said.

Zach grimaced. “Not remembering that knowledge is the issue.”

“Is it?” Naha questioned. “If you need an answer to something, you can enter the plane and seek it, you will remember the conclusion you come to, just not how you came to it.”

Zach blinked. “That is… true.”

“Erase Knowledge is powerful, I won’t deny it, even if it does have the limitations you believe it does. But ultimately, it is a simple and direct power. It can erase a single piece of knowledge, which is insanely powerful, but Akashic Embodiment will let you learn more. It will let you gain power beyond what just Erase Knowledge could do, as it provides nothing for your future,” Naha walked closer than put a hand on his cheek and turned it so that he looked in her eyes.

“Why did you come to ask me about this choice?”

“Because it is important,” Zach said. “I wanted your opinion.”

“You already know,” Naha told him.

Zach’s eyes bored into hers and she sighed. He could be such a stubborn man sometimes, caught up on the most foolish of things.

“Who are you Zach?” She asked. “What is the purpose of your life, the meaning of your Soul?”

He blinked and then sighed. “I’m… the Pursuit of Knowledge.”

“And which of the two perks fits that mantle? We’ve learned so much about balance, about advancement and how to reach higher without becoming insane. You understand that we must embody mantles that we fashioned for ourselves. To take steps away from that path is to invite imbalance and madness into our Souls.”

Zach nodded and she pulled his head down and leaned her forehead against his.

“You remember the battle against Ra’azel? What we felt there at the end?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

“They didn’t speak of it, but we know, don’t we?”

“We do.”

“We are going to reach those heights as well, and to do so we must be true to who we are.”

“You’re right,” Zach sighed.

“And besides,” Naha smiled. “You are missing the point, you don’t need to discard anything.”

She saw the question in his eyes and answered before he could voice it.

“You will be making your Oath,” she started. “You want Erase Knowledge? You can have it, you just need to pay a price.”

His eyes widened. “I can change it, improve the perk, I can…”

She smiled as his eyes got that faraway look that they often got when he was thinking deeply about something. She stepped away, leaving him to it. She knew that he would be fine now. He had always been such a rock for her, but sometimes he did get stuck in his own head. Thankfully, he had her to snap him out of it.

Erase Knowledge was a powerful perk, but she knew that Zach could make it better, mold it to fit the mantle that he was attempting to embody. And Oath was a good way to do that. But Akashic Embodiment was more in tune with his path, it deserved to be the perk chosen as the pinnacle of his Class.

Naha turned her attention to her own Oath. She was tempted to ask him for advice, as he had asked her. But the conversation had given her an idea, he had already helped her.

She smiled and pulled up her own window, then began working on the perk she wanted.