“I agree to nothing. I still have no idea what your auger was talking about, let alone the answer to what you seek”.
“Yes, but if not you then would anyone be able to help me?”
“No,” Laurence replied. “You're right. Short of you finding Luke or Babel herself, likely no-one could help you”.
“Luke?” Peter asked hopefully. This was a name that he had never heard of before. In his mind anything that Laurence mentioned might be the clue that the auger spoke of, so he grabbed at all the straws Laurence was willing to give.
“I can tell you now, Luke Jeshua is not the answer to your question. He was not the answer to mine, I know that. Somehow I think neither Babel nor the Fallen Morning have the answer to the problem of true revival”.
“The Fallen Morning?” Peter shivered. There were some steps that he knew he should not make, and joining arms with the Fallen Morning was one of them. “Fine. I admit you probably don't have the answers right now, but I refuse to believe you won't soon. Is there a place for us to stay for a few days? If there is no result within a month I will leave you to your wallowing in self-pity and pain. I intend to be proactive with my problems, but I can’t let this chance go to waste. I will get Rose to return, no matter the cost”.
“Fine, there’s a room in the back. Fen can take you there. Just stay there for a few days and if I think of anything I’ll tell you first”. He turned back towards the crystal and stood in front of it, continuing to stare at it until Peter finally decided to leave. He followed the child, Fen, through the building, up two floors and into a small room to the south of the building. The rest of the building was oddly bare in comparison to the gallery and main hall. It was like no one else lived in the building, like the entire place was superfluous. He could not help but wonder why Laurence had built the rest of the building, because there was an insane amount of space for him to fill. Peter looked out at the mountain as he wondered how long Laurence was prepared to work until he came to an answer to his question.
As Rose absentmindedly followed Peter into the room, he sat her down on the bed before turning to Fen. Looking at him for a moment, Peter bent down until he was eye level with the boy and smiled. “Hi there, Fen. Is your name short for anything?”
“Yes it is sir, but master calls me Fen anyway so I don’t think it matters. Do you need help with something?”
“Yes, I’d like you to tell me more about your master. I knew him a long time ago, but he’s changed since then. Tell me about his work”.
“Umm, well master has been working on this one thing since he found me. He is trying to make something that lets people be reborn without entering the... river? He said the river was important for some reason”.
Peter gaped. He turned to look at Rose before looking back at the boy. “Was he talking about the river of memories?” The boy nodded meekly then scampered off before Peter could ask him more questions. He sat down heavily on the bed before ushering Rose over to him. “I knew this was the right call. He’s close to something... I can feel it in the air, Rose. If we stay here I think we might finally find a way to heal you. You might finally be able to come back to me...” Running his fingers against the woman’s face, Peter smiled wistfully before laying her down on the bed next to him. He sat back and began to stare at the ceiling in the room as he waited for sleep to come to him.
The river of memories... he thought as he followed the pattern of the slats on the ceiling. I can’t believe he’s trying to get a soul to skip washing in the river of memories... Is he trying to completely change reincarnation? Is it even possible? The Mephisto clan had studied death for generations with a recklessness that bordered on insanity. Often they would perform experiments upon willing and unwilling subjects to get a grasp upon the nature of Death and the events that followed, but they never tried to directly mess with the actual cycle itself. The clan mastery had reached a point where they could get any soul from the cycle at any point before they returned to life itself as a newborn soul, but they could still not break that chain. Even the concept of breaking the cycle was an aberration to the members of the Mephisto clan, but the fact that someone was willing to take the time to break the long standing traditions set down by one of the great clans excited Peter in ways he never thought he would experience.
There had been members of the Mephisto clan who had tried to break the sequence after death, but there were two major stopping points within their task. The first was the separation of the soul and body. For whatever reason, the moment that a soul was removed from its origin body there was no way to restore them to that body. A soul could be placed within another body with ease, but returning to their original body, no matter how good a shape it was in was an impossibility. The second great barrier was the washing within the river of memories. This was an important state for both the cycle of rebirth and the soul, but it was a barrier that many in Peter’s family longed to pass. If they could avoid the river of memories then while there would be negative ramifications for the world, the ancient monsters would be able to give their non-immortal families a new lease of life.
Feeling that sleep was a long time coming for him, Peter stood up and began to wander around the house. It was oddly empty, with nothing to fill the empty space. The bare corridors creaked with each of his steps, but apart from that the house was near silent. It was obvious that the place was prepared for many more people than Laurence and his student, but they were nowhere to be seen, and by the way that the building was set up Peter doubted that there had ever been anyone else living in the place. He continued to follow the hallways and eventually reached a part of the building that had more proof of life in it.
The room was simple, with a small palette and a little table with a pen and paper on it, On the paper was a childlike scrawl, going over the fundamentals of Creation and Destruction in unison. It was an oddity as it seemed like Fen was learning to cope with both paths at once, a task often frowned upon by families within the clan. It was frowned up, not because it was dangerous, but because it simply seemed to bring about a lower level of success in general. He sighed and assumed that Fen was simply another one of Laurence’s many experiments.
“The boy is more impressive than you think”. He turned round and saw Laurence standing in the doorway. He had tied his hair back, but he was still as filthy-looking as before, but now his worn out face was in view. Bags sat under his eyes and his skin was grey from lack of time in the light. “Unlike most people, Fen has the mind to deal with both paths at once. I’m not sure why, or how, but I have a feeling his path is similar to mine”.
“Your path?” Peter asked. He had heard very little in the time between Laurence leaving Spirit and holing up on the hill. It was a long time between the two, it had been generations since they were children, but the mountain alone had made a name for itself, and the mountain hermit who lived atop it was no different.
“The path of the False Immortal, the path of dual mastery. Fen was a child I found on one of my excursions from the mountain to gain supplies, and my Book screamed at me the moment I laid eyes on him”.
Peter gaped, “He’s that talented?” He looked back at the notes that the boy made in a new light. “How deep has his study gone? Did you let him look at your Book from an early age or are you teaching him through rote?”
“Fen, come into your room”. Peter looked at Laurence questioningly as he called the boy into the room. The young boy scuttled into the room, closing the door behind him. “Tell Peter the reason for my research. Why is avoiding the river of memories important?”
“Master wishes to avoid the river of memories because he wishes to allow true rebirth of a person into a manipulated body without loss of their memories”.
“Now, tell Peter why that could be dangerous”.
“According to Master’s study If the methodology became widespread the population of the tower would quickly fall into decline as the river of memories is the most pivotal part of the path of reincarnation. If a person does not have their memories washed away then the memories themselves cannot be transformed into new souls for fresh life. In doing so, the rate of stillborn children would increase thousandfold”.
As the young boy talked, Peter’s eyes only got wider. Finally the boy finished speaking and Peter turned to look at Laurence. “Are you kidding me?” he asked. “You split his mind?”
“Of course, it’s the only way to be assured that his mind can take the impact of learning two Books at once. Despite all his talents, he’s still only a seven year old boy. I’m not going to ruin that, even if my life does have a singular purpose”. Laurence smirked as he ruffled the small boy’s hair. “Look, it’s time for Fen to go to bed. I’d appreciate it if you went back to your room now. I’m sure Rose needs you”.
Peter nodded before he rushed back to his room and to Rose, who was still lying down on the bed, as if she had been asleep the whole time. He glanced down at her and pushed away her hair from her face, before bending down and kissing her softly. “I’ll bring you back to me,” he whispered before lying down beside her and once more trying to sleep.
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