The Truth #1

The old monk meditated, as always. The Order of the Silent were a bit more eclectic than most monks, they insisted that silence was essential to oneness with the self, and the only true path to transcendence. The old monk, Jirad, had to agree. He had spent the larger portion of his life in the order.

Like most in his village, he had worked for several years to level and increase his Vitality to extend his lifespan. Unlike the rest of the village, however. He chose the ascetic lifestyle of a monk. His close friends and family had been wiped out in a goblin attack. A dreadfully common fate, so he secluded himself. Far from the risks associated with daily life in Vacuos.

At first this was simply to deal with the grief and loss. Once he had read the order’s teachings, he began meditating and finding it suited him quite well. Now, nearly a century later. He felt close to oneness with himself and the world around him.

The thing that had finally convinced him of the order’s teachings was the result of weeks of silence and meditation. He discovered something like a new sense. The awareness of reality around him. The scripture called it the Weave of Magic. There was little to support that this was magic in nature, but it was certainly there. Small ripples drifted across it on rare occasions, which was how the order confirmed that they had sensed it.

Nearing the last decades of his life, Jirad was eager to become one with the weave. To connect to it and pull power to ascend out of his weak form and up into the weave. As the scripture read.

The scripture said that this could not be done while ripples flowed across the weave. So Jirad was quite annoyed when much larger ripples began. He had been so close; he could feel the weave with his spirit. The ripples practically splashed against him. In rash anger he reached into them, trying to quell the disturbance. A larger wave crested against him, the weave parted, and power flowed into him.

[You have acquired a new skill: The Truth of Everything]

[Through blessing or curse you have achieved oneness with this realm and have unlocked the knowledge of all things. This is an omniscience type skill.]

[additional information provided by skills: This is a Void based skill.]

Knowledge flooded Jirad’s mind. Blue boxes that once contained small summaries became book long thesis. Simple guesses or ideas became detailed white papers on every esoteric subject he had ever heard of.

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The most concerning thing was his knowledge of the Order of Silence’s scripture. It was horrifically flawed. It was nearly inconceivable how he had succeeded, how any member had ever succeeded. He quickly rushed to a scribe station with a nearby copy.

The scribe was understandably upset at his interruption, dramatically flailing in silence at Jirad. He struck the scribe once in the throat, just to the side of the esophagus. The palm of his hand disrupting blood flow to the man’s brain and causing him to pass out. A surprisingly effective use of his new knowledge, and one that was relatively safe when used with the precision of knowledge he now held. Considering the vast variety of Vitality, Endurance, Strength and other abilities among the normal populace, such a strike by an unknowing hand would have done nothing or caused death.

He sat at the scribe’s desk and quickly flipped through the order’s scripture. Quill at the ready he struck out many words, whole lines, and in some cases, changed single letters or tore out whole pages; to correct the misinformation within.

After an hour of furious editing. A crowd had gathered at the scene, uncertain about whether to interrupt him. Altering a single copy of the scripture was no great crime. They had scribes to create more. New recruits were often tasked with copying the text, it was one of the best ways to understand it.

Once complete, Jirad observed his audience. Among those gathered he spotted only one who would understand, who had the potential to truly use the information. He handed the book to the only young woman at the Order. She would need her youth to achieve transcendence. The young men would be too timid to make use of the changes, and many were already too jaded to accept them.

He looked around at the others, knowing they would not stop her, as he left the Order, he directed a few more towards the woman. A dark-skinned fellow with no tongue, an elf that had been betrayed by their tribe. Only the few that would be open to the new teachings, only those that had a chance to transcend, those that could truly leave everything behind.

As he left, he considered the woman again, and chuckled at how similar she looked to another, a figure he had never seen before, that arrived with the new skill from the Void, no from the Fractured Realm. From… ah… he stopped.

This was not the power he expected it to be, the source was not as pure and transcendent as he wished it to be. He considered his own future now and realized he would not be one of the few to achieve oneness with reality. He would be chained by this power.

Those chains had only a single path in mind, to revive The Voidgod. [The Truth of Everything] clashed with what he once knew. Doubt filled him.

No, he would not follow these chains, he would not be bound to eventually serve, nor would he allow another to take his place. This curse would not pass beyond him.

He traveled quickly. To the wastes, to the barren, lifeless wasteland where none bothered to go. There was nothing for anyone here, not even monsters.

In a low crevice, a crag in the earth, dry and without vegetation, he allowed exposure to take him. He cast his own soul out of his body to observe his final moments, to detach from and watch the Void tainted power be trapped here for eternity.

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