![Novice [250]](https://i.imgur.com/lrYlde6.png)
Akeya, for a change of pace, took in a deep breath as she looked out over the area before her. She was standing on top of a mountain somewhere in the depths of the grand continent of Tolgalen. From here she had an excellent view of her surroundings, although since the place was dominated by overgrowth and there were a lot of other mountains present as well there was also a lot still hidden to her eyes. While she could see in both utter darkness and intense lighting she couldn't see straight through physical obstacles. Which this time around was proving to be something of a handicap.
The task set before her was to find evidence of dragons having inhabited this area in the past and find a temple dedicated to dragons. While it wasn't unusual for dragons to be revered as godlike beings by lesser mortals for their raw power and nearly infinite lifespans most of those places of worship had been destroyed throughout the ages as the smaller races grew in power and numbers until they could drive the dragons out of their lands and set up their own civilizations. If there was still a temple here it would most likely be one of the very few left, and only because it was difficult to find and out of the way. The latter wasn't an issue, but what kept those hostile towards dragons from finding it was also making it more difficult for Akeya, because while she was a dragon herself that didn't mean she had an intimate relationship with dragons from the other side of the world, in the same way that humans had little issue fighting amongst one another over the silliest of reasons.
Still, she figured she had better odds.
For now though she was surveying the land from up high while thinking this out before she acted. It could take ages to find anything if she just ran around like a headless chicken. First of all she had to decide what kind of dragon was most likely to live in this area. Given that the entire area was dominated by jungle it must have been a long time since any dragon lived here, since even if a dragon wasn't particularly destructive in personality their sheer size meant they usually got rid of excessive foliage around their lair. The exceptions were those with a strong connection to said plantlife, and they usually made the trees large enough to not be in the way (paradoxical as that sounded). The trees around here were big, but not big enough for that to be the case, so it was unlikely that this place had been inhabited by nature dragons. It was too far away from the sea or another large body of water for any type of dragon with a strong affinity to water, and not cold enough for the types that thrived in frosty regions. The mountains also weren't red, so she doubted that there had been many metal dragons... Although the ores could have been underground and hidden by years and years of plants growing, dying and turning into nutrients for future generations.
All things considered the most likely options were dragons with affinity for rock and earth, or maybe fire dragons if one of these mountains had been a volcano in the past. From up here Akeya could see that more than one of the mountains had an odd shape, so it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility. Or a venomous dragon, although in that case she'd have expected the wildlife around here to be more based around the usage and resisting of poison... from what she'd seen so far there wasn't an imbalance in that area, despite a poison dragon's blood having a major influence on the ecosystem once it died.
So for now she'd be best off taking a good look at all the mountains. A lair would be a good indicator of a dragon's presence in the past, and that was where earth- and fire-based dragons preferred to live, either embraced by the earth or close to molten blood of the world. Spreading her wings Akeya jumped up, then dived down while spiralling around the mountain she had been standing on. As she flew she breathed out darkness in the form of thick black smoke which crawled across the rocky formations and clung to it. This continued until the dragoness was at the base, where she looked up at the mountain which now had a long trail of dark slowly sliding down its slopes. Raising both scaled and clawed hands the twilight dragon focused, taking control of the energy sustaining the darkness and using it to control its movements. The black smoke began to spread out and slowly cover most of the mountain's surface, after which it began to move around to cover every nook and cranny. Akeya could feel everything the dark touched as if with her own fingertips, so this was the fastest way to search for anything like a lair, hidden or not, even if she would have to recover her energy afterwards.
After having searched the entire surface of the mountain (a progress which took about an hour) it turned out that this one didn't contain any secrets. Looking at the sun's passage Akeya shook her head and flew back up and once she was high up in the air she slowly turned around. This time she focused her gaze on the mountains. Rather than search every mountain, which once again would take a while, she'd directly head for the biggest mountain. Dragons, for all their good qualities, were prideful as a species. While that pride was definitely deserved due to their power and abilities that didn't take away the fact that their behaviour could be somewhat predictable, so unless the dragons who lived here were more cunning (and had felt like they needed to use that cunning) the biggest mountain would have signs of there having been dragons.
Locating the largest mountain she flew towards it and readied herself to once again cover it with what she would have called the Shadow Dragon's Crawling Darkness, absorbing power from the sunlight before she belched out large amounts of black smoke and letting it roll down the slopes of the mountain. This time it didn't take very long before she found something: some of the smoke was sliding down a crack in the mountain's side which, upon further exploration, was too big for it to be completely natural. Too big, and too regular. For the sake of thoroughness she didn't enter that hole until she had explored the rest of the mountain with the Crawling Darkness, although she had to admit she was getting excited at the thought of finding the temple and seeing what secret knowledge was still kept inside. From what Ruvel had told her Sol had explored this area in the past and already entered the temple, but from what she could remember that guy wasn't the type to steal all the knowledge. If only because he was too busy with his own things. And probably wouldn't care for anything which didn't directly translate into more power.
Sure enough, according to Akeya's expectations, she found more holes in the mountain's sides. They were all too big for it to be a coincidence, and it indicated that there had been a bunch of dragons that lived here even if she couldn't prove that they'd all lived here in the same time period. Dragons were almost always solitary so if there had been a group of them here this must have been a place of importance. The temple was almost certainly here.
Dismissing the dark smoke the twilight dragon flew towards the first hole. Now that she'd discovered it with the smoke it was easy to spot despite its camouflage: if you didn't know what to look for it would have looked like just another jagged piece of the mountain's sloped walls. A standard precaution against intruders, made a lot more effective by the fact that no magic was required to maintain it. If you didn't give people to search in the first place it was almost always a lot more effective than anything you did to hinder them finding anything after they began their search.
Flying inside it didn't take a genius to see that this was the entrance to a dragon's lair. After the entrance it widened considerably and turned into a large cave, large enough that even an ancient dragon could probably have made their home here comfortably. The only ones who would have had trouble were the truly colossal dragons, but those tended to not make their homes inside a mountain to begin with. Usually those colossal dragons were the mountain.
So she'd found an abandoned dragon's lair. Now the question was... where would she find the evidence that there had been an actual dragon, and where would she find the temple?
Feeling a draft even inside the lair Akeya followed the airflow, coming across another tunnel which led deeper into the mountain. This one was smaller, too small to easily fly through as a full-fledged dragon. Akeya was used to her humanoid form so she could go through it anyway but she figured that whatever dragon had lived here would have had to walk. Or claw. Or whatever one wanted to call it.
The tunnel quickly sloped downwards, deeper and deeper, forcing Akeya to go down as well. She went so far down that she wondered if she'd already passed ground level and was now going where only moles lived these days. Even a mountain of this size shouldn't have this long a downward passage. It was completely silent, although the temperature didn't change much. In fact she thought it was slowly getting warmer. There were several branches along the way, all of them heading back upwards. With there always only ever being one path down Akeya was pretty sure that even without her darkvision she would have been fine in here.
So far as the exploration of forgotten cave complexes went, this one was kind of dull. Nothing had moved in to live here after the original inhabitants had either died or moved away. The only real explanation for that (beyond it being difficult to find the cave complex) was that there was a power present here, very faint but ever present. Most likely any creature which found out about this forgotten place got unnerved by the sensation of that power always being there and decided to leave for somewhere else.
At last the tunnel opened up into another cave, this one much larger than the lair that Akeya had found before. And for good reason: in the middle there was the skeleton of a massive dragon. It was large enough that the tunnel she'd just entered from wouldn't have been big enough even if it tried to squeeze through. There were only two passages she could see which it could have used: the one it was facing, ornately decorated and most likely leading to the outside... and the one directly behind it, which actually had a giant stone gate keeping it shut. There were several more tunnels similar to the ones that the assassin had just moved through, but none of them were of any interest at this point.
The first point of interest was the skeletal dragon. It was most definitely dead with no sign of necromancy or anything else that would cause it to come back to life, so Akeya approached it with only a respectable amount of caution rather than treating it as directly hostile. From the looks of it this place had preserved the body for so long that by the time that all the flesh had rotten off the bones had already fossilized and fused. The entire corpse was one giant shape now, and that shape had also fused with the floor. It would be impossible to take away any pieces without using some force to break them off. Not that Akeya was planning to do that. While not necromantic in nature the skeleton still was acting as the source of the power that was warding creatures out of the mountain's insides. The reason why it didn't ward Akeya was because it was the power of a dragon. Even if it was much stronger now that she was so close it still didn't keep her out, although she was pretty sure that even if something had the willpower to move around in the rest of the cave complex it could never have been able to force its body to enter this cave.
She reached out with one scaled hand to touch the skull, but retracted it before she actually came into contact with it. Instead she spent several minutes studying it with her emerald eyes, slowly walking circles around it and even flying above it to get a good look from all sides. It truly had been one of the larger dragons Akeya had heard of. It wasn't a colossal dragon, one which could act as a landscape all by itself, but it had definitely been ancient when it died. Looking at the position of its remains it also hadn't been in pain when it died: it looked like it had simply curled up while guarding the massive stone gate behind it and waited for its life to expire, knowing that even after its life ended its powers would continue to ward off any unwanted intruders.
Once she felt like she'd learned enough from the corpse, including the exact power it was emanating (so she could try and copy it later) she bowed before it before she flew over to the massive gate, landing in front of it. It had been carved into with numerous symbols and figures. All of them related to dragons in some shape or form, at least from what Akeya could recognize. Some of it was foreign to her, although just like with the dragon and the cave system it had been preserved excellently. The ones who had built it (most likely slaves from lesser species) had made sure that it would stand the test of time. Not surprisingly, given that it was made for the dragons who would have made use of it for a long time even before they all left or died off in the area.
With care and precision she deciphered what was written in the stone as best as she could. Its story was that this was a place where dragons weren't necessarily worshipped themselves, but where the dragons of this place had worked to unlock their true potential by worshipping the concepts that mattered most to them. Dragons didn't care much for gods, but they could honour and respect concepts and traits.
Only dragons could pass these doors. Even if the entire mountain was levelled this place would persist. This place had been made to last for as long as dragons would exist in this world, so that any that found it could make use of it to improve beyond what they could do without a little bit of help. To enter the dragon would have to touch the gate with their blood and announce who they see themselves as. The blood would prove them to be dragon, their announcement would prove their desire to enter. Together this would form the key for them to pass through.
Akeya hesitated, considering the possibilities, then brought her thumb to her mouth and pierced it with one of her fangs. As tough as her scales were her fangs were still stronger, allowing for silver droplets to bead out of the puncture wound. Pressing her thumb against the wall she dragged it down to form a silver line on the stone while at the same time announcing herself.
"Si mi wer Darastrix di Thurkiitu svaust togikic wer Siksta vur wer Welun."
The reaction was immediate. From where Akeya's thumb touched the wall it felt like power surged throughout her whole body. It felt like a fire burning through her and ripping her open, but at the same time it didn't feel like pain. It felt like a surge so intense the body rippled from it. Akeya's form quickly changed, her humanoid features disappearing and her body becoming larger until she was in her true nature as a dragon. Her scales shimmered, an uncertain dance between dark and light which would make many think of the aurora if they were given the opportunity to see it. At the same time the gate opened, the stone disappearing into the ceiling far, far above and granting Akeya entrance to the temple.
The Nucleus
The dragoness entered the temple with some caution, looking around while large claws tapped against the stone to make soft clicking sounds. Once she passed through the gate closed itself behind her (although she wasn't worried about being shut in here: this was one of the few places where she was pretty sure nothing was going to treat her as hostile as long as she didn't start trouble herself). The inside was lit, or...illuminated? It was difficult to say what exactly it was. There were no shadows so there was no clear source of light and there didn't appear to be any colour to it either. However it was clear that this place wasn't clad in darkness. It was as if this place just didn't have either light or dark in it, just 'visible'. You could see because you were meant to see.
Before Akeya was a large circular room, carved with much more precision than the cave before or the cave complex above. This looked like a proper room, or an altar. The central area was surrounded by large plateaus on every side except on the far end, where instead two altars were visible. On the plateaus floated large orbs of ethereal substances, and it didn't take a genius to see that they represented the elements. Once Akeya stepped forward the black and the white orb lit up and lifted up, moving to the central area and slowly circling around it while the dragon moved to the middle. Now that these two orbs were lit there was a light source beyond mere visibility, a mingling of light and dark that most likely would have given anyone but Akeya a severe headache.
The altars depicted what she could only think of as gods, even if they were also shaped like dragons. As was typical in such situations they were the kind of dragon with a long serpentine body, although these also had wings and claws. Each held a scroll in its mouth which trailed all the way to the ground. The altars, the statues and the scrolls were all made of solid stone, and for some reason no matter how much Akeya glared she couldn't read what was carved into the petrified scrolls. After several attempts she mentally shrugged and sighed before taking her place in the middle of it all. It was then that she noticed that below the alters two names had been inscribed, which she could actually read. Given the circumstances there wasn't really much she could do other than read them out loud and hope it did something.
"Vis. Naam."
As she spoke these names the two spheres orbitting her began to shine more brightly, the light and the dark drawing sharp contours on the statues which... became more and more complex. Akeya watched with interest as she could make more and more detail on the two divine dragons until they began to move, stretching and uncurling themselves until they were flying above their platforms. Their shapes weren't fully physical, instead carrying the appearance of being shaped from the light and the dark that the two spheres were emanating. If she squinted the dragoness thought she could see the texture of stone somewhere in their bodies, but other than that there was no sign of their petrified forms.
"Another has come to learn. I am Vis, the keeper of Truth."
"Another has come to learn. I am Naam, the keeper of Wisdom."
Akeya tilted her head slightly, then decided that her best bet right now was to answer what sounded a lot like a ritual.
"I have come to learn. I am Akeya, seeker of Truth and Wisdom."
"Your desire for Truth shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is true and what is false."
"Your desire for Wisdom shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is right and what is wrong."
After this exchange had finished the deities shuddered, then became a lot more animated. It was as if before now they needed the ritual to be completed before they could really be considered alive and sentient. The one called Vis looked at Akeya while the one called Naam looked at the two spheres that were still orbiting the central area.
"That is unusual. How did a dragon come to us with both light and dark? Not just two quiddities, but the strongest opposites."
The Nucleus
The dragoness entered the temple with some caution, looking around while large claws tapped against the stone to make soft clicking sounds. Once she passed through the gate closed itself behind her (although she wasn't worried about being shut in here: this was one of the few places where she was pretty sure nothing was going to treat her as hostile as long as she didn't start trouble herself). The inside was lit, or...illuminated? It was difficult to say what exactly it was. There were no shadows so there was no clear source of light and there didn't appear to be any colour to it either. However it was clear that this place wasn't clad in darkness. It was as if this place just didn't have either light or dark in it, just 'visible'. You could see because you were meant to see.
Before Akeya was a large circular room, carved with much more precision than the cave before or the cave complex above. This looked like a proper room, or an altar. The central area was surrounded by large plateaus on every side except on the far end, where instead two altars were visible. On the plateaus floated large orbs of ethereal substances, and it didn't take a genius to see that they represented the elements. Once Akeya stepped forward the black and the white orb lit up and lifted up, moving to the central area and slowly circling around it while the dragon moved to the middle. Now that these two orbs were lit there was a light source beyond mere visibility, a mingling of light and dark that most likely would have given anyone but Akeya a severe headache.
The altars depicted what she could only think of as gods, even if they were also shaped like dragons. As was typical in such situations they were the kind of dragon with a long serpentine body, although these also had wings and claws. Each held a scroll in its mouth which trailed all the way to the ground. The altars, the statues and the scrolls were all made of solid stone, and for some reason no matter how much Akeya glared she couldn't read what was carved into the petrified scrolls. After several attempts she mentally shrugged and sighed before taking her place in the middle of it all. It was then that she noticed that below the alters two names had been inscribed, which she could actually read. Given the circumstances there wasn't really much she could do other than read them out loud and hope it did something.
"Vis. Naam."
As she spoke these names the two spheres orbitting her began to shine more brightly, the light and the dark drawing sharp contours on the statues which... became more and more complex. Akeya watched with interest as she could make more and more detail on the two divine dragons until they began to move, stretching and uncurling themselves until they were flying above their platforms. Their shapes weren't fully physical, instead carrying the appearance of being shaped from the light and the dark that the two spheres were emanating. If she squinted the dragoness thought she could see the texture of stone somewhere in their bodies, but other than that there was no sign of their petrified forms.
"Another has come to learn. I am Vis, the keeper of Truth."
"Another has come to learn. I am Naam, the keeper of Wisdom."
Akeya tilted her head slightly, then decided that her best bet right now was to answer what sounded a lot like a ritual.
"I have come to learn. I am Akeya, seeker of Truth and Wisdom."
"Your desire for Truth shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is true and what is false."
"Your desire for Wisdom shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is right and what is wrong."
After this exchange had finished the deities shuddered, then became a lot more animated. It was as if before now they needed the ritual to be completed before they could really be considered alive and sentient. The one called Vis looked at Akeya while the one called Naam looked at the two spheres that were still orbiting the central area.
"That is unusual. How did a dragon come to us with both light and dark? Not just two quiddities, but the strongest opposites."
"It has been a while since one has sought us out, but you are indeed a strange one. I can see that you have come far on your own, but you have also allowed yourself to fall into mental pitfalls that could have been avoided if you didn't push yourself too hard."
Akeya narrowed her eyes at that, her tail slapping the ground behind her even as she forced herself to incline her neck.
"I have come here because I was told that it was time for me to see how far I have come, and what I should be looking forward to in the future. I don't know of any pitfalls, but if you say that they exist I'll erase them."
"You certainly have the zeal, but that zeal itself may be an issue. However to teach you about that is not my task. Vis shall be the one to teach you where you have gone astray. They are Truth, and shall teach you where you stand. Once you have completed his test I shall teach you about the future, as I am Wisdom."
"Correct. Looking at you I can tell that you are nowhere near perfect, as is normal. However you must realize your imperfections, one of which is the biggest hurdle for you right now."
The one named Naam flew upwards, disappearing into a blackness which formed the ceiling and which Akeya didn't think was even dark. It just was... well, it looked a lot like a starry sky. Naam had disappeared, leaving Vis to look at Akeya with inquisitive eyes.
"The Test of Truth shall reveal to you who you are, and what is important to you. Truth cannot be given, only earned, so while I shall guide you I will not tell you the answer until you come up with it yourself."
Test of Truth
"This test will include no violence or other tests of physical might. Truth is about your soul, not about the strength of your blood."
The deity stated this with clear emphasis, leaving the dragoness with no other option than to nod. Not that she had much reason to refuse anyway: she could understand that there was little reason to show off your ability to behead someone in the pursuit of truth.
"You said I create pitfalls for myself, that my zeal to improve is in itself causing problems. Can you give any further hints?"
"I shall explain to you by giving you a puzzle, and your answer shall help tell you what you are doing wrong. Pay close attention to my words, for what I say is as important as what you say in response." The one named Vis ruminated for a moment, then spoke once more with that voice which seemed to be less sound and more intent and meaning filling the room.
"You have the challenge to kill a demon. This is a demon which could face the gods and be assured of a safe retreat even if it were to lose. It is not an enemy you can face on your own. As it stands the demon is gathering power inside its own lair, where there are many traps and defences. To gather power the demon sacrifices the souls of powerful warriors, destroying them forever to turn them into nothing but raw power. It aims to sacrifice the strongest, and has captured many for this task. While these warriors are powerful none of them can defeat this demon, and even if they all fought together they would not guarantee you victory. How would you proceed?"
Akeya thought about this, although it didn't take very long for her to figure out what was, to her mind, the obvious answer.
"I would locate the captured warriors and free them, then make them repay me by acting as a diversion to lure the demon out of its lair, after which I could use the distraction to kill it from a blind spot. I'd also trry to figure out if I could turn some of those traps and defences against the demon if possible."
"And why would you proceed like this?"
"If I can't face the demon on my own I need to have some way to keep it busy and get it in an unfavourable position. The best tools at hand are the captured warriors, who even if they can't defeat the demon can threaten to escape if it doesn't move to recapture them. It is the most logical use of the available pieces."
"Your answer is flawed. Think about it, and try again."
Akeya blinked at that, shocked at the blunt dismissal of the obvious solution. Pressing her claws against the stone floor she closed her eyes and thought about it some more. Using the captured warriors as pawns made the most sense. Since she freed them they'd be more willing to repay her, and they'd understand that if they didn't act the demon would eventually become too strong for anyone to stop. What else could she do? Were the captured warriors too unreliable a factor for her to make them the core of her plan?
"I would focus on the traps and defences, subverting or destroying them. The demon can't keep an eye on everything at the same time, so I'd hide and move about to turn its own lair into a death trap that would kill it when the time was right."
"And why would you proceed like this?"
"The captured warriors are too unreliable, since they have their own ideas and priorities. By focusing on the traps and defences I ensure that everything works exactly as I intend it to, while also striking fromthe demon's blind spot by using its stronghold against it. It's the most logical solution which eliminates all unreliable variables."
"Your answer is flawed. Think about it, and try again. And remember, this is the Test of Truth. Cunning is not what is sought here. Think about why your answer is flawed. Think about what I said."
Akeya didn't like being wrong twice in a row, especially when she couldn't see how. Grinding her teeth she nodded and closed her eyes again, breathing slowly to get rid of the pangs of annoyance as she considered it from the new angle. From what the one named Vis said the problem here wasn't that she had to find the right solution to the puzzle. She was doing something else wrong... The Test of Truth was about who you were and were you stood. So if the answer was wrong... then the answer didn't fit with who she really was.
She stated that she would fix the issue with the most logical option. Was that incorrect? She couldn't imagine it being incorrect. Rationality was the one thing in her life that she strived for the most. Most creatures were absorbed by emotions and contradictions and nonsense that hindered their ability to be sensible. She wasn't someone who'd let herself be swallowed up the chemistry of her brain.
Assuming that the rationality wasn't the problem... were her solutions not rational enough? She couldn't directly see how that would be the case... if this was the test of knowing yourself then somewhere what she was saying didn't fit... a contradiction? A lie? She wasn't consciously lying but her subconscious could be hiding something... Thinking about her other answers to the puzzle she frowned. Was there a reoccuring theme there? Her first answer was to free the captive warriors and use them as a distraction. The second was to turn the demon's lair into a deathtrap. The third would have been to free the warriors, then instruct them to destroy the lair while she lured the demon away. With the lair destroyed the demon would no longer have safe retreat and the gods could have taken it out. The fourth answer would have been to find ways to weaken the demon and then attempt a single perfect assassination.
Thinking about this some more Akeya began to get an idea. This idea became more likely to be the right answer the more she thought about it. Given that the deity hadn't given her a limited number of tries she decided she might as well see if this one worked better.
"I would free the captured warriors, then have some of them help me turn the stronghold into a deathtrap for the demon while the majority distracted the demon and lured it away. Whether it ended up in an unfavourable position outside or in the lair we would then strike to take it down, preferably destroying the stronghold in the process so the gods could help ensure its defeat."
"And why would you proceed like this?"
"Because I can't defeat the demon on my own, and the captured warriors can still be useful despite not being strong enough to defeat the demon directly. The gods would also be too willing to help destroy this thing which is strong enough to oppose even them. The demon also wouldn't be able to ignore the fact that all its sacrifices were gone, so it would have to chase the warriors down to drag them back and sacrifice them. It's the most logical use of all our resources, and it minimizes the casualty rate if everything goes well."
"How is this different from before?"
The dragoness swallowed, looking at the shimmering scales on her clawed hands.
"Because this time I'm admitting that aside from trying to kill the demon I'm also trying to avoid letting the captured warriors be killed for the sake of them not dying, not just because they're pawns."
"How is this important?"
"Because while I have little issue with doing what is needed when the situation calls for it I still prefer the solution where only those I have personally targeted are eliminated. On some level I still prefer to keep alive those who are not my enemies, even if I don't believe in the sanctity of life."
"This is the correct answer." The one named Vis stated with some measure of approval. "You started out as someone who sought to explore the world, who wanted to learn more about magic and what made everything work the way it did. You had little interest in other people but you also had no negative feelings towards them, and were quite willing to help out if it didn't impose excessive costs on you."
"And then I began to think that other people were nothing more than complex machines which I had to appease for the sake of them not bothering me. I thought that attachments would cloud my judgement."
"What you forgot was that designating personal value to others doesn't mean their value becomes absolute. You could still decide what the best course of action was, even if that course of action was unpleasant, if you allowed yourself to consciously care."
"But as a dragon I have little need for social interaction, and I still do not believe in the sanctity of life. And the threat that caring too much interferes with your ability to be rational is very real. Just look at the humans!"
"You pride yourself on being the most rational, the most controlled. All values you assign are always subjective on some level. Those that feel more personal can and will be balanced just like all the others, as long as you have the mind for it. And it is true that dragons don't need social interaction as much as most creatures, and that you do not believe that life holds a special value that should never be destroyed. However you do have a sense of fairness, where you prefer those who do not deserve death to stay alive. You can kill without remorse, without hatred or passion, but you see the solution where only your target dies as the ideal one."
Akeya looked up at the draconic deity, frowning and shaking her head before lowering it again.
"To care for others and to think that altruism is the highest good is still something that I believe belongs to the social creatures. However I can see now that I was afraid of the idea of compromising my rationality to the point that I forgot that I can assign personal value to others without it becoming an absolute value. I shall decide for myself what is important, be honest about it to myself, and ensure that it doesn't compromise my rationality."
"This is the Truth. You have passed the test, and you may very well find that in the future you have an easier time completing not only your primary objective, but your secondary objectives as well. Now, it is time for Naam to provide the Test of Wisdom."
Test of Wisdom
The deity circled around the room once before flying upwards, once it hit the black ceiling the one named Naam reappearing and retaking the original position on the alter.
"This test will include no violence or other tests of physical might. Wisdom is about your mind, not about the strength of your blood."
Ignoring the sensation of deja vu Akeya nodded, glancing at the orbiting spheres of dark and light. She did feel like acknowledging the contradiction in her mind had helped her become more clearheaded in a way, but now she was curious what this test would be about. The one called Naam had said something about how it had to do with the future, but would that just be a question of what she thought her future would be about?
"Given that the Test of Truth forced me to confront the contradiction in my thoughts, where I assigned values to things without admitting it to myself, what is the Test of Wisdom about?"
"The Test of Wisdom is about the why. The Test of Truth gave you the answer to what you are, did it not?"
"A dragon who prioritizes understanding and making the right decisions over bonds and emotions, while still allowing those bonds and emotions to exist as belonging to a sentient being."
"Now the question is why you are. What is your purpose? For what objective do you act? What makes you move away from death at every opportunity."
The twilight dragoness blinked at that. The question was rather confusing, since...
"I don't believe that we were created with a purpose. We just exist, do what we wish to do, and either die or prolong our lives for as long as we can manage."
"Do you think that just because you were not created with a specific purpose you cannot have one? Are you just a aimless soul which stumbles ever forward without even knowing what for?"
"I strive to become stronger and to learn everything there is to learn. That is what drives me forward."
"Those aren't goals. Those are means to an end. If that were your true purpose you would be little more than an animal, with no thought in you beyond how to survive. Is the dragon of twilight nothing more than a more cunning animal with the powers of light and dark?"
That part made Akeya bristle as she let out a hiss and once again slammed her tail against the floor.
"Of course not! But purposes and goals don't always have to be complicated. What's wrong with the goal of becoming stronger and more knowledge for the goal of surviving?"
"There's little growth. You take the path which ensures that you will not disappear, but you have nothing which drives you to the limits, which drives you to move heaven and earth. You just keep moving and becoming stronger. What is your purpose? Why do you act?"
"I enjoy being alive and work towards sustaining myself."
"Still nothing more than instinct. This is the Test of Wisdom. You need to find what matters to you, why you act. You are one of the dragons, the mightiest of creatures. If you were to exist for nothing but to fulfil your basic needs it would be a waste in all ways. Why do you act? What is your purpose? What do you strive for?"
Akeya was getting the feeling that the one called Naam was looking for something very complex and simple at the same time. Some kind of philosophical answer. She also didn't think her argument for the simple things was going to be accepted. While she didn't think it was wrong herself she guessed that the deity might have a point that doing what the lesser creatures did wasn't exactly a sign of great wisdom about what you should be focusing on.
However she also couldn't think of a single thing which was important enough for it to be her main focus, beyond ensuring she had the knowledge and power to survive and keep doing what she felt she should be doing. She wouldn't dedicate herself to a god, she wouldn't dedicate herself to protecting life, she wouldn't dedicate herself to revenge... All of these things didn't suit her because she didn't care for axioms and dogmas. Yet she was expecting to pull something out of thin air and proclaim it her grand purpose, something she had decided for herself. What was she supposed to say to that?
Was her purpose to accummulate all knowledge and then share it? No, she didn't really have that much interest in acting as a teacher. She mostly lived for herself and those few people who she actually liked. Actually she just lived for herself and made those she liked keep living because she preferred them being alive together with her. Was her purpose to become the most powerful entity in existence and rule everything else? Beyond the question of how realistic that goal would be there was the issue that she didn't want to rule. She just didn't want others to have an easy time getting in her way once she had established a short term objective (or just surviving).
The thoughts whirled through her head. What was her goal when she left home? To learn more about the world? Why did she want to learn more about the world? Because it fascinated her, especially magic. So was she nothing more than a scholar, someone who was led by curiosity and nothing more? Was that an answer that would be accepted as legitimate? It was better than just wanting to survive, but she felt like she would be lying if she said that. While she definitely liked learning and still had great curiosity and satisfied it in her spare time it wasn't the only thing she cared for. It didn't serve as an overarching purpose.
Narrowing her eyes the dragoness looked up at the deity. Now that she was thinking about it more carefully... unlike the other one this one had been explaining why her answers were worthless. But the other one didn't explain until Akeya herself had first explained the important point. But why would Wisdom originate from somewhere else if Truth also had to come from the self?
"My answer is that there is no single answer to what my purpose is, to what I must do and what must take priority above everything else. As I live I will decide what is important and what I will prioritize, both in the long and the short run. I will not be tied down by some arbitrary lifespanning goal. I will grow because the situation requires me to grow, because the short term goals require that growth. I don't need to have you rip everything apart and declare one singular purpose which dominates everything else. Like the Truth the Wisdom is mine to find, and my answer is that for me at least my biggest purpose can change at any time, and I will face the future constantly evaluating myself and the world around me. What my purpose is is not set in stone and nobody can change that."
"Correct. There is no divine plan for you, no grand purpose. You move according to your own will, and do not let yourself be dictated by what others find important. You are mercurial, adaptable. That is who you are, and that shall reveal to you what your purpose is, even as that purpose will change throughout the years."
"Right now my purpose is to fully stabilize my nature as the Dragon of Twilight. In the future my purpose might be to lay eggs, or to exterminate all those who threaten the balance of the world. My Wisdom is that I will always keep an open mind."
"You have passed the Test of Wisdom. You now understand where you come from, where you are, and where you are heading. With both Truth and Wisdom you can move with confidence and with purpose. You can act without hesitation or confusion, you can make the correct decisions without wondering what you should be doing."
Truth and Wisdom
With that Vis returned, the two draconic deities staring down at Akeya.
"You have passed both tests. You have proven that after a long journey you understand who you are, and where you are going."
"But don't forget that this is not the end, nor is it the beginning. This is just one moment in the journey that will span the entirety of your existence."
"The Truth can change, so don't get stuck with one belief. Always carefully look at yourself."
"The Wisdom of today may not be the Wisdom of tomorrow. Always keep an open mind, even to what Wisdom itself may mean."
"You are a dragon. Unlike the lesser creatures what is important for you is not cooperation and understanding of others, but control and understanding of self."
"Do not share what you have gained in here with outsiders. The lessons you learned are for yourself, and would not work for others."
"Now depart, and continue the journey that is your existence."
With all of that said the two deities began to flicker and fade, the light disappearing from their bodies. It was a fast process which ended with them sitting in the exact same position as before Akeya activated them, once again made of stone and once again waiting for the next dragon to arrive to receive their own Truth and Wisdom. Akeya stared them for a full minute, thinking about everything that she'd just learned, before turning around and heading for the gate. Once again giving her blood and announcing herself she move through the opening gate, turned back into her humanoid form, and quickly departed.
She had a lot to think about.
WC: 8033/3000
The task set before her was to find evidence of dragons having inhabited this area in the past and find a temple dedicated to dragons. While it wasn't unusual for dragons to be revered as godlike beings by lesser mortals for their raw power and nearly infinite lifespans most of those places of worship had been destroyed throughout the ages as the smaller races grew in power and numbers until they could drive the dragons out of their lands and set up their own civilizations. If there was still a temple here it would most likely be one of the very few left, and only because it was difficult to find and out of the way. The latter wasn't an issue, but what kept those hostile towards dragons from finding it was also making it more difficult for Akeya, because while she was a dragon herself that didn't mean she had an intimate relationship with dragons from the other side of the world, in the same way that humans had little issue fighting amongst one another over the silliest of reasons.
Still, she figured she had better odds.
For now though she was surveying the land from up high while thinking this out before she acted. It could take ages to find anything if she just ran around like a headless chicken. First of all she had to decide what kind of dragon was most likely to live in this area. Given that the entire area was dominated by jungle it must have been a long time since any dragon lived here, since even if a dragon wasn't particularly destructive in personality their sheer size meant they usually got rid of excessive foliage around their lair. The exceptions were those with a strong connection to said plantlife, and they usually made the trees large enough to not be in the way (paradoxical as that sounded). The trees around here were big, but not big enough for that to be the case, so it was unlikely that this place had been inhabited by nature dragons. It was too far away from the sea or another large body of water for any type of dragon with a strong affinity to water, and not cold enough for the types that thrived in frosty regions. The mountains also weren't red, so she doubted that there had been many metal dragons... Although the ores could have been underground and hidden by years and years of plants growing, dying and turning into nutrients for future generations.
All things considered the most likely options were dragons with affinity for rock and earth, or maybe fire dragons if one of these mountains had been a volcano in the past. From up here Akeya could see that more than one of the mountains had an odd shape, so it wasn't outside of the realm of possibility. Or a venomous dragon, although in that case she'd have expected the wildlife around here to be more based around the usage and resisting of poison... from what she'd seen so far there wasn't an imbalance in that area, despite a poison dragon's blood having a major influence on the ecosystem once it died.
So for now she'd be best off taking a good look at all the mountains. A lair would be a good indicator of a dragon's presence in the past, and that was where earth- and fire-based dragons preferred to live, either embraced by the earth or close to molten blood of the world. Spreading her wings Akeya jumped up, then dived down while spiralling around the mountain she had been standing on. As she flew she breathed out darkness in the form of thick black smoke which crawled across the rocky formations and clung to it. This continued until the dragoness was at the base, where she looked up at the mountain which now had a long trail of dark slowly sliding down its slopes. Raising both scaled and clawed hands the twilight dragon focused, taking control of the energy sustaining the darkness and using it to control its movements. The black smoke began to spread out and slowly cover most of the mountain's surface, after which it began to move around to cover every nook and cranny. Akeya could feel everything the dark touched as if with her own fingertips, so this was the fastest way to search for anything like a lair, hidden or not, even if she would have to recover her energy afterwards.
After having searched the entire surface of the mountain (a progress which took about an hour) it turned out that this one didn't contain any secrets. Looking at the sun's passage Akeya shook her head and flew back up and once she was high up in the air she slowly turned around. This time she focused her gaze on the mountains. Rather than search every mountain, which once again would take a while, she'd directly head for the biggest mountain. Dragons, for all their good qualities, were prideful as a species. While that pride was definitely deserved due to their power and abilities that didn't take away the fact that their behaviour could be somewhat predictable, so unless the dragons who lived here were more cunning (and had felt like they needed to use that cunning) the biggest mountain would have signs of there having been dragons.
Locating the largest mountain she flew towards it and readied herself to once again cover it with what she would have called the Shadow Dragon's Crawling Darkness, absorbing power from the sunlight before she belched out large amounts of black smoke and letting it roll down the slopes of the mountain. This time it didn't take very long before she found something: some of the smoke was sliding down a crack in the mountain's side which, upon further exploration, was too big for it to be completely natural. Too big, and too regular. For the sake of thoroughness she didn't enter that hole until she had explored the rest of the mountain with the Crawling Darkness, although she had to admit she was getting excited at the thought of finding the temple and seeing what secret knowledge was still kept inside. From what Ruvel had told her Sol had explored this area in the past and already entered the temple, but from what she could remember that guy wasn't the type to steal all the knowledge. If only because he was too busy with his own things. And probably wouldn't care for anything which didn't directly translate into more power.
Sure enough, according to Akeya's expectations, she found more holes in the mountain's sides. They were all too big for it to be a coincidence, and it indicated that there had been a bunch of dragons that lived here even if she couldn't prove that they'd all lived here in the same time period. Dragons were almost always solitary so if there had been a group of them here this must have been a place of importance. The temple was almost certainly here.
Dismissing the dark smoke the twilight dragon flew towards the first hole. Now that she'd discovered it with the smoke it was easy to spot despite its camouflage: if you didn't know what to look for it would have looked like just another jagged piece of the mountain's sloped walls. A standard precaution against intruders, made a lot more effective by the fact that no magic was required to maintain it. If you didn't give people to search in the first place it was almost always a lot more effective than anything you did to hinder them finding anything after they began their search.
Flying inside it didn't take a genius to see that this was the entrance to a dragon's lair. After the entrance it widened considerably and turned into a large cave, large enough that even an ancient dragon could probably have made their home here comfortably. The only ones who would have had trouble were the truly colossal dragons, but those tended to not make their homes inside a mountain to begin with. Usually those colossal dragons were the mountain.
So she'd found an abandoned dragon's lair. Now the question was... where would she find the evidence that there had been an actual dragon, and where would she find the temple?
Feeling a draft even inside the lair Akeya followed the airflow, coming across another tunnel which led deeper into the mountain. This one was smaller, too small to easily fly through as a full-fledged dragon. Akeya was used to her humanoid form so she could go through it anyway but she figured that whatever dragon had lived here would have had to walk. Or claw. Or whatever one wanted to call it.
The tunnel quickly sloped downwards, deeper and deeper, forcing Akeya to go down as well. She went so far down that she wondered if she'd already passed ground level and was now going where only moles lived these days. Even a mountain of this size shouldn't have this long a downward passage. It was completely silent, although the temperature didn't change much. In fact she thought it was slowly getting warmer. There were several branches along the way, all of them heading back upwards. With there always only ever being one path down Akeya was pretty sure that even without her darkvision she would have been fine in here.
So far as the exploration of forgotten cave complexes went, this one was kind of dull. Nothing had moved in to live here after the original inhabitants had either died or moved away. The only real explanation for that (beyond it being difficult to find the cave complex) was that there was a power present here, very faint but ever present. Most likely any creature which found out about this forgotten place got unnerved by the sensation of that power always being there and decided to leave for somewhere else.
At last the tunnel opened up into another cave, this one much larger than the lair that Akeya had found before. And for good reason: in the middle there was the skeleton of a massive dragon. It was large enough that the tunnel she'd just entered from wouldn't have been big enough even if it tried to squeeze through. There were only two passages she could see which it could have used: the one it was facing, ornately decorated and most likely leading to the outside... and the one directly behind it, which actually had a giant stone gate keeping it shut. There were several more tunnels similar to the ones that the assassin had just moved through, but none of them were of any interest at this point.
The first point of interest was the skeletal dragon. It was most definitely dead with no sign of necromancy or anything else that would cause it to come back to life, so Akeya approached it with only a respectable amount of caution rather than treating it as directly hostile. From the looks of it this place had preserved the body for so long that by the time that all the flesh had rotten off the bones had already fossilized and fused. The entire corpse was one giant shape now, and that shape had also fused with the floor. It would be impossible to take away any pieces without using some force to break them off. Not that Akeya was planning to do that. While not necromantic in nature the skeleton still was acting as the source of the power that was warding creatures out of the mountain's insides. The reason why it didn't ward Akeya was because it was the power of a dragon. Even if it was much stronger now that she was so close it still didn't keep her out, although she was pretty sure that even if something had the willpower to move around in the rest of the cave complex it could never have been able to force its body to enter this cave.
She reached out with one scaled hand to touch the skull, but retracted it before she actually came into contact with it. Instead she spent several minutes studying it with her emerald eyes, slowly walking circles around it and even flying above it to get a good look from all sides. It truly had been one of the larger dragons Akeya had heard of. It wasn't a colossal dragon, one which could act as a landscape all by itself, but it had definitely been ancient when it died. Looking at the position of its remains it also hadn't been in pain when it died: it looked like it had simply curled up while guarding the massive stone gate behind it and waited for its life to expire, knowing that even after its life ended its powers would continue to ward off any unwanted intruders.
Once she felt like she'd learned enough from the corpse, including the exact power it was emanating (so she could try and copy it later) she bowed before it before she flew over to the massive gate, landing in front of it. It had been carved into with numerous symbols and figures. All of them related to dragons in some shape or form, at least from what Akeya could recognize. Some of it was foreign to her, although just like with the dragon and the cave system it had been preserved excellently. The ones who had built it (most likely slaves from lesser species) had made sure that it would stand the test of time. Not surprisingly, given that it was made for the dragons who would have made use of it for a long time even before they all left or died off in the area.
With care and precision she deciphered what was written in the stone as best as she could. Its story was that this was a place where dragons weren't necessarily worshipped themselves, but where the dragons of this place had worked to unlock their true potential by worshipping the concepts that mattered most to them. Dragons didn't care much for gods, but they could honour and respect concepts and traits.
Only dragons could pass these doors. Even if the entire mountain was levelled this place would persist. This place had been made to last for as long as dragons would exist in this world, so that any that found it could make use of it to improve beyond what they could do without a little bit of help. To enter the dragon would have to touch the gate with their blood and announce who they see themselves as. The blood would prove them to be dragon, their announcement would prove their desire to enter. Together this would form the key for them to pass through.
Akeya hesitated, considering the possibilities, then brought her thumb to her mouth and pierced it with one of her fangs. As tough as her scales were her fangs were still stronger, allowing for silver droplets to bead out of the puncture wound. Pressing her thumb against the wall she dragged it down to form a silver line on the stone while at the same time announcing herself.
"Si mi wer Darastrix di Thurkiitu svaust togikic wer Siksta vur wer Welun."
The reaction was immediate. From where Akeya's thumb touched the wall it felt like power surged throughout her whole body. It felt like a fire burning through her and ripping her open, but at the same time it didn't feel like pain. It felt like a surge so intense the body rippled from it. Akeya's form quickly changed, her humanoid features disappearing and her body becoming larger until she was in her true nature as a dragon. Her scales shimmered, an uncertain dance between dark and light which would make many think of the aurora if they were given the opportunity to see it. At the same time the gate opened, the stone disappearing into the ceiling far, far above and granting Akeya entrance to the temple.
The Nucleus
The dragoness entered the temple with some caution, looking around while large claws tapped against the stone to make soft clicking sounds. Once she passed through the gate closed itself behind her (although she wasn't worried about being shut in here: this was one of the few places where she was pretty sure nothing was going to treat her as hostile as long as she didn't start trouble herself). The inside was lit, or...illuminated? It was difficult to say what exactly it was. There were no shadows so there was no clear source of light and there didn't appear to be any colour to it either. However it was clear that this place wasn't clad in darkness. It was as if this place just didn't have either light or dark in it, just 'visible'. You could see because you were meant to see.
Before Akeya was a large circular room, carved with much more precision than the cave before or the cave complex above. This looked like a proper room, or an altar. The central area was surrounded by large plateaus on every side except on the far end, where instead two altars were visible. On the plateaus floated large orbs of ethereal substances, and it didn't take a genius to see that they represented the elements. Once Akeya stepped forward the black and the white orb lit up and lifted up, moving to the central area and slowly circling around it while the dragon moved to the middle. Now that these two orbs were lit there was a light source beyond mere visibility, a mingling of light and dark that most likely would have given anyone but Akeya a severe headache.
The altars depicted what she could only think of as gods, even if they were also shaped like dragons. As was typical in such situations they were the kind of dragon with a long serpentine body, although these also had wings and claws. Each held a scroll in its mouth which trailed all the way to the ground. The altars, the statues and the scrolls were all made of solid stone, and for some reason no matter how much Akeya glared she couldn't read what was carved into the petrified scrolls. After several attempts she mentally shrugged and sighed before taking her place in the middle of it all. It was then that she noticed that below the alters two names had been inscribed, which she could actually read. Given the circumstances there wasn't really much she could do other than read them out loud and hope it did something.
"Vis. Naam."
As she spoke these names the two spheres orbitting her began to shine more brightly, the light and the dark drawing sharp contours on the statues which... became more and more complex. Akeya watched with interest as she could make more and more detail on the two divine dragons until they began to move, stretching and uncurling themselves until they were flying above their platforms. Their shapes weren't fully physical, instead carrying the appearance of being shaped from the light and the dark that the two spheres were emanating. If she squinted the dragoness thought she could see the texture of stone somewhere in their bodies, but other than that there was no sign of their petrified forms.
"Another has come to learn. I am Vis, the keeper of Truth."
"Another has come to learn. I am Naam, the keeper of Wisdom."
Akeya tilted her head slightly, then decided that her best bet right now was to answer what sounded a lot like a ritual.
"I have come to learn. I am Akeya, seeker of Truth and Wisdom."
"Your desire for Truth shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is true and what is false."
"Your desire for Wisdom shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is right and what is wrong."
After this exchange had finished the deities shuddered, then became a lot more animated. It was as if before now they needed the ritual to be completed before they could really be considered alive and sentient. The one called Vis looked at Akeya while the one called Naam looked at the two spheres that were still orbiting the central area.
"That is unusual. How did a dragon come to us with both light and dark? Not just two quiddities, but the strongest opposites."
The Nucleus
The dragoness entered the temple with some caution, looking around while large claws tapped against the stone to make soft clicking sounds. Once she passed through the gate closed itself behind her (although she wasn't worried about being shut in here: this was one of the few places where she was pretty sure nothing was going to treat her as hostile as long as she didn't start trouble herself). The inside was lit, or...illuminated? It was difficult to say what exactly it was. There were no shadows so there was no clear source of light and there didn't appear to be any colour to it either. However it was clear that this place wasn't clad in darkness. It was as if this place just didn't have either light or dark in it, just 'visible'. You could see because you were meant to see.
Before Akeya was a large circular room, carved with much more precision than the cave before or the cave complex above. This looked like a proper room, or an altar. The central area was surrounded by large plateaus on every side except on the far end, where instead two altars were visible. On the plateaus floated large orbs of ethereal substances, and it didn't take a genius to see that they represented the elements. Once Akeya stepped forward the black and the white orb lit up and lifted up, moving to the central area and slowly circling around it while the dragon moved to the middle. Now that these two orbs were lit there was a light source beyond mere visibility, a mingling of light and dark that most likely would have given anyone but Akeya a severe headache.
The altars depicted what she could only think of as gods, even if they were also shaped like dragons. As was typical in such situations they were the kind of dragon with a long serpentine body, although these also had wings and claws. Each held a scroll in its mouth which trailed all the way to the ground. The altars, the statues and the scrolls were all made of solid stone, and for some reason no matter how much Akeya glared she couldn't read what was carved into the petrified scrolls. After several attempts she mentally shrugged and sighed before taking her place in the middle of it all. It was then that she noticed that below the alters two names had been inscribed, which she could actually read. Given the circumstances there wasn't really much she could do other than read them out loud and hope it did something.
"Vis. Naam."
As she spoke these names the two spheres orbitting her began to shine more brightly, the light and the dark drawing sharp contours on the statues which... became more and more complex. Akeya watched with interest as she could make more and more detail on the two divine dragons until they began to move, stretching and uncurling themselves until they were flying above their platforms. Their shapes weren't fully physical, instead carrying the appearance of being shaped from the light and the dark that the two spheres were emanating. If she squinted the dragoness thought she could see the texture of stone somewhere in their bodies, but other than that there was no sign of their petrified forms.
"Another has come to learn. I am Vis, the keeper of Truth."
"Another has come to learn. I am Naam, the keeper of Wisdom."
Akeya tilted her head slightly, then decided that her best bet right now was to answer what sounded a lot like a ritual.
"I have come to learn. I am Akeya, seeker of Truth and Wisdom."
"Your desire for Truth shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is true and what is false."
"Your desire for Wisdom shall be answered. Beyond now you will know what is right and what is wrong."
After this exchange had finished the deities shuddered, then became a lot more animated. It was as if before now they needed the ritual to be completed before they could really be considered alive and sentient. The one called Vis looked at Akeya while the one called Naam looked at the two spheres that were still orbiting the central area.
"That is unusual. How did a dragon come to us with both light and dark? Not just two quiddities, but the strongest opposites."
"It has been a while since one has sought us out, but you are indeed a strange one. I can see that you have come far on your own, but you have also allowed yourself to fall into mental pitfalls that could have been avoided if you didn't push yourself too hard."
Akeya narrowed her eyes at that, her tail slapping the ground behind her even as she forced herself to incline her neck.
"I have come here because I was told that it was time for me to see how far I have come, and what I should be looking forward to in the future. I don't know of any pitfalls, but if you say that they exist I'll erase them."
"You certainly have the zeal, but that zeal itself may be an issue. However to teach you about that is not my task. Vis shall be the one to teach you where you have gone astray. They are Truth, and shall teach you where you stand. Once you have completed his test I shall teach you about the future, as I am Wisdom."
"Correct. Looking at you I can tell that you are nowhere near perfect, as is normal. However you must realize your imperfections, one of which is the biggest hurdle for you right now."
The one named Naam flew upwards, disappearing into a blackness which formed the ceiling and which Akeya didn't think was even dark. It just was... well, it looked a lot like a starry sky. Naam had disappeared, leaving Vis to look at Akeya with inquisitive eyes.
"The Test of Truth shall reveal to you who you are, and what is important to you. Truth cannot be given, only earned, so while I shall guide you I will not tell you the answer until you come up with it yourself."
Test of Truth
"This test will include no violence or other tests of physical might. Truth is about your soul, not about the strength of your blood."
The deity stated this with clear emphasis, leaving the dragoness with no other option than to nod. Not that she had much reason to refuse anyway: she could understand that there was little reason to show off your ability to behead someone in the pursuit of truth.
"You said I create pitfalls for myself, that my zeal to improve is in itself causing problems. Can you give any further hints?"
"I shall explain to you by giving you a puzzle, and your answer shall help tell you what you are doing wrong. Pay close attention to my words, for what I say is as important as what you say in response." The one named Vis ruminated for a moment, then spoke once more with that voice which seemed to be less sound and more intent and meaning filling the room.
"You have the challenge to kill a demon. This is a demon which could face the gods and be assured of a safe retreat even if it were to lose. It is not an enemy you can face on your own. As it stands the demon is gathering power inside its own lair, where there are many traps and defences. To gather power the demon sacrifices the souls of powerful warriors, destroying them forever to turn them into nothing but raw power. It aims to sacrifice the strongest, and has captured many for this task. While these warriors are powerful none of them can defeat this demon, and even if they all fought together they would not guarantee you victory. How would you proceed?"
Akeya thought about this, although it didn't take very long for her to figure out what was, to her mind, the obvious answer.
"I would locate the captured warriors and free them, then make them repay me by acting as a diversion to lure the demon out of its lair, after which I could use the distraction to kill it from a blind spot. I'd also trry to figure out if I could turn some of those traps and defences against the demon if possible."
"And why would you proceed like this?"
"If I can't face the demon on my own I need to have some way to keep it busy and get it in an unfavourable position. The best tools at hand are the captured warriors, who even if they can't defeat the demon can threaten to escape if it doesn't move to recapture them. It is the most logical use of the available pieces."
"Your answer is flawed. Think about it, and try again."
Akeya blinked at that, shocked at the blunt dismissal of the obvious solution. Pressing her claws against the stone floor she closed her eyes and thought about it some more. Using the captured warriors as pawns made the most sense. Since she freed them they'd be more willing to repay her, and they'd understand that if they didn't act the demon would eventually become too strong for anyone to stop. What else could she do? Were the captured warriors too unreliable a factor for her to make them the core of her plan?
"I would focus on the traps and defences, subverting or destroying them. The demon can't keep an eye on everything at the same time, so I'd hide and move about to turn its own lair into a death trap that would kill it when the time was right."
"And why would you proceed like this?"
"The captured warriors are too unreliable, since they have their own ideas and priorities. By focusing on the traps and defences I ensure that everything works exactly as I intend it to, while also striking fromthe demon's blind spot by using its stronghold against it. It's the most logical solution which eliminates all unreliable variables."
"Your answer is flawed. Think about it, and try again. And remember, this is the Test of Truth. Cunning is not what is sought here. Think about why your answer is flawed. Think about what I said."
Akeya didn't like being wrong twice in a row, especially when she couldn't see how. Grinding her teeth she nodded and closed her eyes again, breathing slowly to get rid of the pangs of annoyance as she considered it from the new angle. From what the one named Vis said the problem here wasn't that she had to find the right solution to the puzzle. She was doing something else wrong... The Test of Truth was about who you were and were you stood. So if the answer was wrong... then the answer didn't fit with who she really was.
She stated that she would fix the issue with the most logical option. Was that incorrect? She couldn't imagine it being incorrect. Rationality was the one thing in her life that she strived for the most. Most creatures were absorbed by emotions and contradictions and nonsense that hindered their ability to be sensible. She wasn't someone who'd let herself be swallowed up the chemistry of her brain.
Assuming that the rationality wasn't the problem... were her solutions not rational enough? She couldn't directly see how that would be the case... if this was the test of knowing yourself then somewhere what she was saying didn't fit... a contradiction? A lie? She wasn't consciously lying but her subconscious could be hiding something... Thinking about her other answers to the puzzle she frowned. Was there a reoccuring theme there? Her first answer was to free the captive warriors and use them as a distraction. The second was to turn the demon's lair into a deathtrap. The third would have been to free the warriors, then instruct them to destroy the lair while she lured the demon away. With the lair destroyed the demon would no longer have safe retreat and the gods could have taken it out. The fourth answer would have been to find ways to weaken the demon and then attempt a single perfect assassination.
Thinking about this some more Akeya began to get an idea. This idea became more likely to be the right answer the more she thought about it. Given that the deity hadn't given her a limited number of tries she decided she might as well see if this one worked better.
"I would free the captured warriors, then have some of them help me turn the stronghold into a deathtrap for the demon while the majority distracted the demon and lured it away. Whether it ended up in an unfavourable position outside or in the lair we would then strike to take it down, preferably destroying the stronghold in the process so the gods could help ensure its defeat."
"And why would you proceed like this?"
"Because I can't defeat the demon on my own, and the captured warriors can still be useful despite not being strong enough to defeat the demon directly. The gods would also be too willing to help destroy this thing which is strong enough to oppose even them. The demon also wouldn't be able to ignore the fact that all its sacrifices were gone, so it would have to chase the warriors down to drag them back and sacrifice them. It's the most logical use of all our resources, and it minimizes the casualty rate if everything goes well."
"How is this different from before?"
The dragoness swallowed, looking at the shimmering scales on her clawed hands.
"Because this time I'm admitting that aside from trying to kill the demon I'm also trying to avoid letting the captured warriors be killed for the sake of them not dying, not just because they're pawns."
"How is this important?"
"Because while I have little issue with doing what is needed when the situation calls for it I still prefer the solution where only those I have personally targeted are eliminated. On some level I still prefer to keep alive those who are not my enemies, even if I don't believe in the sanctity of life."
"This is the correct answer." The one named Vis stated with some measure of approval. "You started out as someone who sought to explore the world, who wanted to learn more about magic and what made everything work the way it did. You had little interest in other people but you also had no negative feelings towards them, and were quite willing to help out if it didn't impose excessive costs on you."
"And then I began to think that other people were nothing more than complex machines which I had to appease for the sake of them not bothering me. I thought that attachments would cloud my judgement."
"What you forgot was that designating personal value to others doesn't mean their value becomes absolute. You could still decide what the best course of action was, even if that course of action was unpleasant, if you allowed yourself to consciously care."
"But as a dragon I have little need for social interaction, and I still do not believe in the sanctity of life. And the threat that caring too much interferes with your ability to be rational is very real. Just look at the humans!"
"You pride yourself on being the most rational, the most controlled. All values you assign are always subjective on some level. Those that feel more personal can and will be balanced just like all the others, as long as you have the mind for it. And it is true that dragons don't need social interaction as much as most creatures, and that you do not believe that life holds a special value that should never be destroyed. However you do have a sense of fairness, where you prefer those who do not deserve death to stay alive. You can kill without remorse, without hatred or passion, but you see the solution where only your target dies as the ideal one."
Akeya looked up at the draconic deity, frowning and shaking her head before lowering it again.
"To care for others and to think that altruism is the highest good is still something that I believe belongs to the social creatures. However I can see now that I was afraid of the idea of compromising my rationality to the point that I forgot that I can assign personal value to others without it becoming an absolute value. I shall decide for myself what is important, be honest about it to myself, and ensure that it doesn't compromise my rationality."
"This is the Truth. You have passed the test, and you may very well find that in the future you have an easier time completing not only your primary objective, but your secondary objectives as well. Now, it is time for Naam to provide the Test of Wisdom."
Test of Wisdom
The deity circled around the room once before flying upwards, once it hit the black ceiling the one named Naam reappearing and retaking the original position on the alter.
"This test will include no violence or other tests of physical might. Wisdom is about your mind, not about the strength of your blood."
Ignoring the sensation of deja vu Akeya nodded, glancing at the orbiting spheres of dark and light. She did feel like acknowledging the contradiction in her mind had helped her become more clearheaded in a way, but now she was curious what this test would be about. The one called Naam had said something about how it had to do with the future, but would that just be a question of what she thought her future would be about?
"Given that the Test of Truth forced me to confront the contradiction in my thoughts, where I assigned values to things without admitting it to myself, what is the Test of Wisdom about?"
"The Test of Wisdom is about the why. The Test of Truth gave you the answer to what you are, did it not?"
"A dragon who prioritizes understanding and making the right decisions over bonds and emotions, while still allowing those bonds and emotions to exist as belonging to a sentient being."
"Now the question is why you are. What is your purpose? For what objective do you act? What makes you move away from death at every opportunity."
The twilight dragoness blinked at that. The question was rather confusing, since...
"I don't believe that we were created with a purpose. We just exist, do what we wish to do, and either die or prolong our lives for as long as we can manage."
"Do you think that just because you were not created with a specific purpose you cannot have one? Are you just a aimless soul which stumbles ever forward without even knowing what for?"
"I strive to become stronger and to learn everything there is to learn. That is what drives me forward."
"Those aren't goals. Those are means to an end. If that were your true purpose you would be little more than an animal, with no thought in you beyond how to survive. Is the dragon of twilight nothing more than a more cunning animal with the powers of light and dark?"
That part made Akeya bristle as she let out a hiss and once again slammed her tail against the floor.
"Of course not! But purposes and goals don't always have to be complicated. What's wrong with the goal of becoming stronger and more knowledge for the goal of surviving?"
"There's little growth. You take the path which ensures that you will not disappear, but you have nothing which drives you to the limits, which drives you to move heaven and earth. You just keep moving and becoming stronger. What is your purpose? Why do you act?"
"I enjoy being alive and work towards sustaining myself."
"Still nothing more than instinct. This is the Test of Wisdom. You need to find what matters to you, why you act. You are one of the dragons, the mightiest of creatures. If you were to exist for nothing but to fulfil your basic needs it would be a waste in all ways. Why do you act? What is your purpose? What do you strive for?"
Akeya was getting the feeling that the one called Naam was looking for something very complex and simple at the same time. Some kind of philosophical answer. She also didn't think her argument for the simple things was going to be accepted. While she didn't think it was wrong herself she guessed that the deity might have a point that doing what the lesser creatures did wasn't exactly a sign of great wisdom about what you should be focusing on.
However she also couldn't think of a single thing which was important enough for it to be her main focus, beyond ensuring she had the knowledge and power to survive and keep doing what she felt she should be doing. She wouldn't dedicate herself to a god, she wouldn't dedicate herself to protecting life, she wouldn't dedicate herself to revenge... All of these things didn't suit her because she didn't care for axioms and dogmas. Yet she was expecting to pull something out of thin air and proclaim it her grand purpose, something she had decided for herself. What was she supposed to say to that?
Was her purpose to accummulate all knowledge and then share it? No, she didn't really have that much interest in acting as a teacher. She mostly lived for herself and those few people who she actually liked. Actually she just lived for herself and made those she liked keep living because she preferred them being alive together with her. Was her purpose to become the most powerful entity in existence and rule everything else? Beyond the question of how realistic that goal would be there was the issue that she didn't want to rule. She just didn't want others to have an easy time getting in her way once she had established a short term objective (or just surviving).
The thoughts whirled through her head. What was her goal when she left home? To learn more about the world? Why did she want to learn more about the world? Because it fascinated her, especially magic. So was she nothing more than a scholar, someone who was led by curiosity and nothing more? Was that an answer that would be accepted as legitimate? It was better than just wanting to survive, but she felt like she would be lying if she said that. While she definitely liked learning and still had great curiosity and satisfied it in her spare time it wasn't the only thing she cared for. It didn't serve as an overarching purpose.
Narrowing her eyes the dragoness looked up at the deity. Now that she was thinking about it more carefully... unlike the other one this one had been explaining why her answers were worthless. But the other one didn't explain until Akeya herself had first explained the important point. But why would Wisdom originate from somewhere else if Truth also had to come from the self?
"My answer is that there is no single answer to what my purpose is, to what I must do and what must take priority above everything else. As I live I will decide what is important and what I will prioritize, both in the long and the short run. I will not be tied down by some arbitrary lifespanning goal. I will grow because the situation requires me to grow, because the short term goals require that growth. I don't need to have you rip everything apart and declare one singular purpose which dominates everything else. Like the Truth the Wisdom is mine to find, and my answer is that for me at least my biggest purpose can change at any time, and I will face the future constantly evaluating myself and the world around me. What my purpose is is not set in stone and nobody can change that."
"Correct. There is no divine plan for you, no grand purpose. You move according to your own will, and do not let yourself be dictated by what others find important. You are mercurial, adaptable. That is who you are, and that shall reveal to you what your purpose is, even as that purpose will change throughout the years."
"Right now my purpose is to fully stabilize my nature as the Dragon of Twilight. In the future my purpose might be to lay eggs, or to exterminate all those who threaten the balance of the world. My Wisdom is that I will always keep an open mind."
"You have passed the Test of Wisdom. You now understand where you come from, where you are, and where you are heading. With both Truth and Wisdom you can move with confidence and with purpose. You can act without hesitation or confusion, you can make the correct decisions without wondering what you should be doing."
Truth and Wisdom
With that Vis returned, the two draconic deities staring down at Akeya.
"You have passed both tests. You have proven that after a long journey you understand who you are, and where you are going."
"But don't forget that this is not the end, nor is it the beginning. This is just one moment in the journey that will span the entirety of your existence."
"The Truth can change, so don't get stuck with one belief. Always carefully look at yourself."
"The Wisdom of today may not be the Wisdom of tomorrow. Always keep an open mind, even to what Wisdom itself may mean."
"You are a dragon. Unlike the lesser creatures what is important for you is not cooperation and understanding of others, but control and understanding of self."
"Do not share what you have gained in here with outsiders. The lessons you learned are for yourself, and would not work for others."
"Now depart, and continue the journey that is your existence."
With all of that said the two deities began to flicker and fade, the light disappearing from their bodies. It was a fast process which ended with them sitting in the exact same position as before Akeya activated them, once again made of stone and once again waiting for the next dragon to arrive to receive their own Truth and Wisdom. Akeya stared them for a full minute, thinking about everything that she'd just learned, before turning around and heading for the gate. Once again giving her blood and announcing herself she move through the opening gate, turned back into her humanoid form, and quickly departed.
She had a lot to think about.
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