As it so happened, justice and judgnt went hand in hand.
That much was to be expected, considering that punishnt was usually ted out through judgnt, which was then seen as justice. As Kieran had learned, many of Eni's concepts were born from found axioms, which were then applied to knowledge-keeping as principles.
As Kieran delved into the aning of these Supre Letters, he rembered sothing the Compendium had once said to him. He was a Grand Truth.
Well, what did that an?
In essence, it ant sothing about his presence embodied or resonated with so inceptive and tiless understanding. A Grand Truth was sothing that could not be denied, was protean, and existed in every age, recorded and unrecorded.
Kieran had drawn that conclusion from learning the potential aning of each Supre Letter.
However, Kieran didn't know how it translated to being a Grand Truth. Sotis, he felt as if there was nothing special about him other than his rebirth. He hadn't heard of that happening to soone else.
Nevertheless, that was all beyond the current him. He didn't delve deeper into understanding what he couldn't extrapolate.
But he let it stew to stop it from leaving his mind. It lingered there, growing hotter until it beca a burning question that Kieran seared into his mind.
'I'll co across the answer one day. So far, these Supre Letterings are helping understand.'
From what Kieran understood through the seven Supre Letterings that he had now wholly comprehended, they all embodied a principle that not just knowledge operated upon.
Anatomy — structure, form, and containnt — was present in all things. Even the formless adopted the shape in which they were contained.
Born — birth or ergence — represented beginning and creation. Everything bore a creator, whether that was animate beings or inanimate things.
'Truth, mystery, connection, lies, and knowledge — Eni dipped his toes into many waters.' But, perhaps they're just reflections of each other.'
Like the principles he recorded, many of those terms overlapped.
And that's what Kieran had been doing recently — overlapping pieces of knowledge he knew to obtain answers.
Wordmancing hid heaps of condensed ant for the Runemaster to unravel and internalize. Kieran hadn't done much of that until now, and it opened his eyes. Almost literally. He could feel his mystic eyes on the precipice of activating.
With the help of all that he had suffered thus far, Kieran's curiosity and need to ask questions grew. At the center of those questions was understanding Eni's purpose. Fo
'Why words? Is Eni a pacifist then? What was his reason for becoming the Endless of Mysteries? Why does he truth seek?'
These questions burned in Kieran's mind like brilliant stars, blinding him to their answer. Perhaps they were far too significant for him to know right now. Still, he wanted to.
A gnawing curiosity ate at him, and it was thanks to this Trial.
Sotis, too much ti to think was a terrifying thing. The mind was infinite… and so the questions it could conjure with even the barest of hints were similarly innurable.
Finally, Kieran convinced himself to stop going on a tangent about mysteries, truths, and grand purpose.
'With ti. Now, we focus.'
Kieran exhaled deeply through flared nostrils.
His understanding of Judgnt had reached a suitable level, but there was always the issue of weaving mystical essence. It was very demanding in the departnt of focus.
Luckily, he had practice.
All this had beco akin to a daily routine where Kieran spent days at a ti in this place, studying and contemplating. So much so that his physical body had begun to show signs of growth he wasn't aware of.
That was mostly the Fla's doing, mixed with the natural effects of ti. Boys had to grow. Humans did…
'Every living thing, I suppose.'
Of course, the Fla was tempering him with sparse amounts of energy that it begrudgingly sent.
Kieran had succeeded in convincing with his similarly glib tongue.
'How could the fight be glorious and I remain stagnant, am I right?'
The Fla thought so, sending what scant amounts it could bear to part with. It suffered so heartbreak, knowing no bloodlust would be returned.
As if sensing Kieran's thoughts, the Fla flickered before him with its usual smile of wicked glee.
"You are a long-term investnt that I'm making to fund my wedding! So don't you dare lose value before then. Or… I'll go mad!"
Kieran spared the Fla a derisive look.
'You're already mad. I don't think anything can get madder than you. Now shoo, I'm trying to rember and focus.'
The Fla seed taken aback by Kieran's dismissal, but it revolved around Kieran in partial silence. The occasional impish chuckle would leak out from its grin, along with delightful remarks about the blissful future.
As the seconds passed, both his focus and mind grew razor-sharp like a pristinely and recently sharpened blade. The culmination of those months of ntal practice was brought to bear, revealing imdiate fruits.
Kieran's surroundings grew silent as the reasonably deep mystic pool seethed, and then a moderate stream flowed toward him.
That drew tentative looks and the Fla's ire.
"What wizardry are you trying to pull?! You dare deceive in an attempt to wield theurgy? Are you trying to trap once more?"
Kieran's focus dissipated, interrupted by the irascible Fla's howling. That dissipation infuriated Kieran and he scowled furiously, too.
Two fools suffering from similarly unbridled rage.
"Your earlier tantrum has left my mind ill! I can't rember things. If things stay like this, soon enough, I will forget all."
The Fla did sothing similar to cocking its head with impish cluelessness.
"Are you becoming dumb? Like the others? Oh no… I promised not to do that!"
Kieran scoffed indignantly.
The Fla seed just about as forgetful as he was. This place was an extension of his mind. Well… part of it was ant to be. However, the Fla had wreaked havoc upon everything here, or rather, its infernal and uncontrollable rage wrought this damage.
"Oops. Heal, heal. Don't beco dumb. But if you try to trap … I will inflict that pain all over again!"
Kieran sighed with deep, depressed resignation. He truly hated this Fla and wished it would vanish.
He reached out to the mystic pool again, this ti without reservations. His Nine Supre Ciphers erged around his arms, and the pool erupted and surged toward him in a torrent.
The Fla had already beco wary of his action, so the need to do things gingerly had vanished.
The mystic essence was solidified and shaped into two semicircles with the flat sides facing upward first, then two segnted lines extended up. He stopped there and repeated that step countless tis until it was dense, and nearly half of the accumulated poor disappeared.
The segnted lines beca intricate chains, and the semicircles were hollowed out and resembled bowls. Repeating this step was ntally taxing. Fortunately, he had spent months refining his understanding of this step.
The last step was then taken — a simple horizontal bar intersected the chains perpendicularly and in its highest link.
Then, Kieran gave it a push.
With its structure completed, Kieran moved Judgnt toward the dormant and essentially lifeless Equality Gate. There was a delayed reaction, like a groggy person waking up from bed and needing ti to process what was happening.
Then… the Equality Gate sprung to life. Its exuberance was renewed without drawing upon the half-drained mystic pool. It shared Judgnt's essence through an uncanny link. It was like they belonged together, like Kieran had assud.
But Kieran wasn't done. There was enough mystical essence for one more symbol the size of Judgnt and Equality.
'Nothing beats securing the mind. If what I gathered is true… these three should form a perpetual defense.'
Unless the Fla broke it… but it didn't have the ans to do so. Not yet.
It had exhausted a ton of energy in those few monts of anger. Those seconds had nearly foiled its plans.
Of course, Kieran wasn't scheming to kill the Fla. Not yet… at least. He was simply taking the precautions needed to protect himself.
'What's the word? Prudent. Yes. My mory is slowly returning.'
All the while, the Fla gave constant dubious looks. Malevolence flickered in its empty, ghastly eyes.
anwhile, while staring at the void in Equality's center, Kieran recalled a piece of forgotten knowledge and wielded it admirably.
'Further. To think I'd forget sothing as important as you…'
Further — also known as the Sixth Syllable — was the word of augntation.
Once Further was placed inside Equality, which was used to balance Judgnt, a sense of increased calmness and harmony washed over Kieran. For the first ti since the beginning of the Trial… he felt steady!
'Three As One… kind of reminds you of.'
Kieran blinked in thought while one thing ca to mind.
'Was this fated?'
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