— Keira —

While Keir hadn’t exactly always been an enthusiastic student, she was reasonably well studied. She was also completely out of her depth in the current conversation.

Gradually the discussion had grown more technical and esoteric until at least half of the conversation was words Keir either didn’t know or only underwood in other contexts. It didn’t help that somewhere along the way she had largely switched her focus to reading.

It wasn’t exactly useful as Antheia could obtain and retain the information better than any non scholar class, but she didn’t feel like reentering her soulscape or working on claiming the beast core was a good idea under the circumstances.

She was also pretty sure the time when Marsaili would drop by to make sure she could actually find the bar they were planning on visiting, was fast approaching.

That was why she was halfway through a comparison between ritual based and natural bog mummies in a surprisingly detailed bestiary when some small snippet of the ongoing conversation caught her interest. Iida’s voice drifted into her conscious awareness mid-sentence as she said “...purely conjecture at this point but I suspect that the soul bindings must be written in one of the higher forms of language. I still need to determine which is most applicable and hope I am able to learn the advanced stages of it.”

Antheia spoke up, a tone in her voice that reminded Keir of warriors talking about especially unpleasant training drills, and said “That is indeed a difficult scale to shed. Even disregarding the near impossibility of learning one without the aid of a deity, even learning the base stage burns like acid etching your mind.”

Hearing that Keir was sorely tempted to smack herself upside the head. It hadn’t even occurred to her to ask either the vampiric scholar she was well on her way towards becoming friends with or the scholar who very clearly some degree specialist on the undead, about the language that seemed to be either a test or reward from Mortis.

Keir was too caught up in her own thoughts to catch much of Iida’s response. She did at least catch the slight lull in conversation that followed it and took the chance to interject “Sorry if this is sort of off topic but can I ask you a question about one of those languages?”

Iida nodded her consent in that oddly bouncy way only gnomes seemed to, and Antheia said “I’d certainly be happy to answer your question if I’m able to. I admit, I’m not universally well studied on all of them. Which one is it? Elemental? Arcane? It doesn’t seem likely that it would be Basic Devine, but it is certainly possible. Oh, is it possibly Tidal or one of the forms of Brine or Abyssal?”

Clearly the lung capacity of gorgon was as impressive as Keir had heard. Antheia had said all of that in an excited rush and more pertinently in a single breath. When Antheia finally paused for breath Keir said “That’s actually part of what I was hoping you could tell me. Learning it seems to be a step on my Path but it could just be a Mortis thing. The books in her shrine were all written in it, that’s part of why I didn’t learn much there.”

Iida perked up, clearly much more interested, but she let Antheia do the talking as the vampiric gorgon said “Well that does sound interesting and likely important. I acknowledge that one’s Path is a somewhat sensitive topic but it would help if you explain as much as you're comfortable with sharing. Also if you could describe the language, the process by which you have learned it, assuming you have begun to do so, and if possible describe how it feels when you read it.”

Keir felt a little awkward as she debated how much she wanted to share. It wasn’t always an issue but there were dangers in sharing too much about the Path one chose or was chosen to walk. Of less importance, but still notable, were the cultural aspects. A person’s Path touched on deep and intrinsic parts of their soul.

Despite their obvious interest neither of the scholars rushed Keir, but her own mind was not so gentle on her. She felt awkward and uncomfortable but after perhaps two minutes at most, even if they felt like closer to half an hour. She started by explaining in extremely general terms about the library and the plaques contained therein.

Keir wasn’t sure how much information could be gleaned from such vague details but from the way Antheia was nodding it seemed like she noticed something Keir didn’t.

Antheia nodded, seemingly to herself as she pulled out and activated the spatial storage tablet she kept her books in. As she began reaching into the rectangular void it formed and started pulling out books and sheaves of loose paper, she said “While I don’t have the majority of my reference material on hand, I had a minor focus on higher language, though it was primarily focused on those used in enchantment as that was my primary field. I can at least confirm from that, that the language in question isn’t Arcane. Though admittedly that wasn’t much of a stretch since you didn’t mention the formations covering this building. It’s also unlikely, though I suppose possible that it is a more esoteric form of Elemental. Neither soulscapes nor Paths entirely follow normal logic. Typically Elemental is written in or on the element in question but I suspect that need not always be the case in one’s soulscape.”

She looked up and saw Keir and Iida looking intently at her and blushed faintly before letting out a little throat clearing noise and said “Oh, my apologies. Please go on, if you would.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

As the details didn’t carry the same taboos or risks she described the structure of the language and the odd synesthesia like way it imparted information, to the best of her abilities.

As Keir spoke, it was clear that Antheia was tapping into at least one skill, and more likely several. She was flicking through and sorting the documents and books with unnatural speed.

By the time Keir finished there was only a small stack of paper and a pair of books sitting in front of Antheia. The rest had either been redeposited into the void or stacked off to the side.

As Antheia stared at the small amount of documents before, her expression was an odd mix of excitement and frustration. After a slightly uncomfortably long pause she looked up and said “Well, this is certainly a fascinating conundrum. Briefly I assumed I may have been mistaken and it was indeed a dialect of Divine linked to Mortis but the experience is nothing like accounts of reading Divine.” She looked over to Iida, apparently for confirmation.

Iida apparently hadn’t expected to be consulted as she gave a slight start before saying “Oh, uh, Syliantha’s dialect of Divine is apparently a bit different than the rest, but that is certainly nothing like I’ve experienced reading first stage Divine. Typically that feels a bit like an infinitesimally small fraction of her presence is reading over your shoulder and helping make sure you fully understand the meaning of what’s written there. That’s why one of the less common titles of Syliantha is the Divine Tutor.”

Anthia’s hair stirred faintly and a few let out little hisses before she shrugged and said “It is a bit different, but certainly not that different. The other dialects typically have a slight effect of preventing accidental misconstruing of the contents as its often religious texts that are written in it. What they all share is that feeling of attracting some tiny sliver of the deity in question's attention. Perhaps a high tier member of a clergy could compare your experience to reading an advanced stage of Divine but that doesn’t seem necessary. If you’d tried to learn an advanced stage of a higher language without learning the earlier stages first it would have literally burned out your mind and quite possibly shattered your soul.”

Keir winced reflexively and Anthia gave a sympathetic nod before continuing. Unless you want to discuss it later I won’t go into detail on the others but suffice to say none of them match. I have a theory about what it might be, even if it is almost preposterously far-fetched. In fact I suspect I may just be missing something and more research reveals my mistake. I’m not even sure it’s worth going into. It would certainly be..”

Rather than wait for Antheia to inevitably need to inhale to continue speaking out loud Keir cut in and said “I’d say to take a breath but I don’t know about you but it doesn’t seem to have the same calming effect on me since I stopped needing air. Regardless, please calm down. You don’t have to explain but I am curious what you're thinking.”

Iida nodded excitedly and spoke in a rapid fire saying “Oh, absolutely. We will definitely keep your disclaimer in mind, but I also want you to just say what you're thinking.”

Apparently Antheia decided to try taking a breath to calm down anyway as she took a few deep breaths, and her hair snaked gently brushed against and nudged at her face like concerned pets. After a few breaths she calmed down, a blush coloring her face as she reached up to gently stroke her hair and said “Well, that was more than a bit embarrassing. I’m not entirely sure why I spiraled like that.” She took another deep breath before continuing “The language I was thinking of is semi mythical. To the best of my knowledge there are no primary sources that describe it, In fact even secondary sources are rare. Both of these are actually tertiary sources. If its actual name was ever known to mortals it has long since been lost. Now it goes by a number of names but the most common are System Basic, True Devine, The Dead Language, or less commonly The Veil of Knowledge. I wish I could give you some concrete answers but it’s all but impossible to say what is baseless myth or rumor and what might have at least some grain of truth. Stories range from it being either carved into the great machine to it being the language of the oldest divine beings. Some instead say that it is the patterns of rust and patina overtaking the great machine or that the only texts or information written in it are those lost to the mortal world.”

Keir’s mind reeled from the information. Specifically the connection to the great machine she’d only read about in the system prompts tied to the Machine Born Litch and the name The Veil of Knowledge. She could almost feel the burning in mind she’d felt when she’d read that first plaque. Actually even just thinking about the full text almost forced itself into the front of her mind. “The first Step has been taken. The first Choice has been made. Your Path lies before you cloaked in knowledge.”

Before Keir could sink too deep into that whirlpool she was startled by the sudden arrival of an air elemental almost exactly like the one that had delivered Antheia’s message. In a moment She’d risen halfway from seat, which slammed into the wall behind her with an audible crunch of breaking wood, and was reaching for her sword.

Keir was sure if her heart was still capable of doing so it would be fluttering like the heart of a salt spray hummingbird and her hands were shaking as she forced herself to reach for the small scroll the equally startled elemental was holding.

Her voice held all of the embarrassment her inability to blush couldn’t show as she spoke gently to the faintly trembling harpy like elemental “I’m sorry little one. I mean you no harm. If anything I’m grateful that you pulled me back from a dangerous current of thought.”

Elementals were typically potent empaths and it seemed the little air elemental was no different. A moment after Keir finished speaking the elemental darted over and deposited the scroll in her hand and landed on her shoulder. As Keir read the scroll the little ten inch tall elemental patted her on the head.

The message was simply a note from the front desk area saying that Marsaili was waiting for Keir.

Keir turned to look at the elemental as best as she could without displacing it and said “I know this may be outside of your agreement, but would you be willing to guide me back to the person who sent you with this message?”

While the elemental tilted its head back and forth as it apparently debated with itself Keir turned to look at the others and said “First, Iida, I apologize for damaging temple property and would be happy to reimburse the cost of the chair.” When the gnomish scholar nodded her understanding Keir continued “That aside, I for one really could use a break. If either or both of you want to join me I’m going to go with Marsaili and probably at least a few others to get a drink.”

Neither of the scholars seemed interested so when the elemental gently tugged Keir’s ear and flittered over to the door, Keir followed it out into the labyrinthine halls of the temple.