Chapter 199 – Trial

Hearing the Keeper's words, Dream frowned a bit and pondered to himself.

'So I need to somehow fully understand this. There's something I'm missing. But... there's something I need to ask first.'

After thinking over things, Dream turned back to the Keeper.

"Keeper. How long can I stay here? Is there a time limit?"

Dream asked this question with seriousness. For one, if there was a time limit, then he would need to meet it. Two, he couldn't spend too long here. He needed to get back to the planet lest the demons continue their diabolical plans. Luckily, he at least set it up so that Luna and Iris could control the army that was constantly being produced. If they absolutely needed it, then they could use it. 

The Keeper spoke after a second.

{There is no time limit to this trial.}

"Oh, really?"

{Understanding cannot be rushed. If you require 1 year, 10, or even 1000 years, then so be it. However, you must satisfy my judgment, otherwise this will be for naught.}

"Right. But... I don't have more than two or three months. Is there a clock I can use? I have no sense of time and I'm kind of on a schedule."

{You need not worry about your earthly matters. In this place, time does not move.}

"...It doesn't move? Seriously? How?"

{That is beyond your comprehension. Just know that no matter how long you stay here, the place from which you came will not have changed.}

"...That's kind of hard to believe."

Dream spoke honestly. He knew that this place was extraordinary, but the lack of time seemed too extraordinary. 

{It is true. I do not lie. I cannot prove it to you, but that is how the Archons built this place. They built it outside of the realm of time that you know. There is no time dilation, and we are in a fixed point, therefore, we do not move through space nor time. That, is a simplified explanation.}

"...Interesting."

Dream nodded and thought to himself. He really didn't have any reason not to trust this guy. And if he really did have all the time he wanted, then it would be a waste not to use it. It was literally free time. When he went back, he would be on a clock again. A chance like this would probably never come again. At least, not until he came back here for the next steps. 

However, there was one more small problem. 

'I'm all alone here.'

Dream had kind of noticed before, but after looking inward, he really couldn't find Sophia anywhere. It was a weird feeling not being able to communicate with her. She had been in his mind for the past couple of years, and not having her there felt off. 

But it wasn't like he could do anything about that. For this trial, it would just be him and the Keeper. Whether or not the Keeper would keep him company was another matter entirely though. He was totally apathetic about everything, as if nothing mattered. It was kind of a downer.

"Sigh, welp. I got all the time in the world, so I'll use it. Guess it's just gonna be you and me, Keeper. By the way, do you just stand there or do you have somewhere to sit?"

{I do not require physical rest.}

"Well neither do I. Kind of. But standing there all stiff and whatnot must get tiring mentally."

{I do not require mental rest.}

"...Okay then. I guess I'll just focus on this."

With a weird sigh, Dream turned back to the short monolith that held the odd poem. He released all his influence and focused it entirely on the writings, going through every little bit of data that came from the scribblings. 

"From primordials past, to creations present... From Divine light spawns Logos, the pure potential of being... Logos. I remember learning about Logos in literature class. It means logic right? Like for an argument. I think Aristotle established that. But this says different. Pure potential... what could pure potential be? The infinite capacity to grow? If it's the ability to expand your intelligence forever, then that would mean you have lots of wisdom. Infinite wisdom. So it's definitely not talking about bodily potential, but the potential of your mind, or soul..."

As Dream pondered, he bounced from one idea to another, all while staring at the scribbles on the monolith. He quickly jumped down the rabbit hole, and his mind was soon totally focused on unraveling this riddle. He visualized everything in his mind. Divine light spawning Logos, primordials, expanding intelligence. In his mind, all the fragments of his memories and abstract thought fluttered around, and he constantly connected them all in different ways, giving rise to dozens of different ideas. 

Because there was no sense of time, or even movement through time for that matter, Dream wasn't able to keep track of it as he pondered. He could've spent minutes or hours or days, but there was no way for him to know, not that there was any consequence. Here, he convinced himself that he had all the time he needed. He let down his guard and focused on the trial. This was his advancement, and the harvest he could reap here was likely astronomical. To not pass because he rushed would be a regret he would never forget, if he even remembered. 

So he focused, letting go of all worries. It was him and his thoughts, that was it, and he let them loose to solve one of the most significant challenges in his life. 

.........

After who knows how long, Dream had gone through all the lines, and he was constantly connecting the fragments in his mind. His capacity for abstract thinking had gone up significantly since the gray mist integrated itself. 

However, this still didn't get him much closer to understanding the trial. While he did understand the riddle more, he got nothing along the lines of 'a transmission of pure knowledge and wisdom' as the Keeper said. 

'...Sigh, I'm doing something wrong.'

Sighing inwardly, Dream took a step back. By this point, his face was almost pressed against the monolith since he had been reading so intently. 

"A pure transmission of knowledge and wisdom. Feel it in my soul... Maybe I'm trying too hard. Let's just relax. It'll come to me."

Shaking out the tension, Dream went and laid down on his back. He could feel the strange surface of the ground that was neither hot nor cold as he looked up at the monolith from below.

"Feel it... Don't see it. Seeing it does nothing. Feel it with the soul..."

As he repeated those lines, Dream relaxed his focused influence and let it drift around the monolith. Odd thing was, he couldn't actually pierce through the monolith with his influence, only scanning the surface. But he didn't worry about that now. 

As his influence randomly floated around the golden scribbles, he picked up on the same data as before. However, as he let the data naturally flow into his mind, it gradually took form.

"...From primordials past, to creations present..."

When Dream mumbled those words, the first line of golden scribbles on the monolith took form in his mind space, as if engraving themselves. After that, he could feel a Will from the scribbles. Going with the flow, he reached out to the scribbles with his own Will and made contact, and when they touched, the scribbles suddenly erupted with knowledge. 

Within the dark mind space, images started flying out. They were of seven beings. Each one of them held incomprehensible power, and when they raised their arms, the previously endless void was instantly filled with nebulas and stars. After that, the seven beings collapsed on themselves, and their essence scattered throughout the cosmos, spreading the seeds that would later give brith to countless intelligent beings.

After that, the transmission of knowledge ended, and Dream felt he could thoroughly understand what the line was trying to say.

"...They are the primordials. They gave birth to the concept of creation. They created intelligence itself..."

Dream processed all the information. As he did, the first line of golden scribbles on the monolith went dim, leaving behind simple engravings. The scribbles themselves and their information had been absorbed and was now in Dream's mind, free for him to access anytime. 

Dream reached out to the floating scribbles a second time when he realized how this worked, and the same scenes flashed through his mind once more. After that, he felt many questions arising, but he pushed them down and moved onto the second line. 

"From Divine Light spawns Logos, the pure potential of being."

As he focused on the lines, the scribbles formed in his mind again and their underlying data was unlocked. He was once again infused with knowledge. 

This time, the scenes focused on one of the seven beings floating through the cosmos. The being was the pure conglomeration of wisdom and intelligence. Dream was infused with the understanding of the essence of the being, or at least conceptually what it was. 

He could see the Divine Light, which was the manifestation of the purest form of the soul. It was the soul, but at the same time, something above the soul. The soul was merely a lower form of the Divine Light, and only the Divine Light had had the pure potential it spoke of. It was the potential of seemingly infinite understanding. With this pure potential, there was no obstacle that couldn't be overcome, no problem that couldn't be solved, and nothing that couldn't be created or understood. It was a higher realm of thought, something mortals couldn't even begin to comprehend or touch upon.

This pure potential was Logos, the manifestation and origin of wisdom itself.

With that, the scenes stopped, and Dream laid there with wide eyes. His soul shivered at the knowledge being bestowed to him. It actually hurt, as if the knowledge was somehow forbidden to lower beings like him. His mind and soul had a hard time handling such knowledge.

"...It hurts."

When he said this, his body curled up on itself a bit. It wasn't a physical hurt, but a psychological hurt. His world views were being shattered and rebuilt, and if he didn't accept it, then his mind would begin to break down. That's how transcendent the knowledge was, and he felt scared, like a baby entering the world for the first time. 

{You've begun to understand. With merely two lines of knowledge, you're being reduced to such a state. Now you know how low you truly are. However, this is your opportunity to grow. Accept the knowledge and wisdom being imparted to you, and grow beyond your fleshly limits. Or, you can reject the reality being shown to you, and destroy yourself from within. The first option will bring you the pain of knowledge, the second will bring you the release of insanity. The first option is suffering, and the second is a fantasy. So, which will you choose?}

The Keeper spoke to Dream, who was on the verge of tears. His mind was having a hard time accepting what was being shown to him, and he instinctively rejected the reality being forced into him. His mind didn't want to bear the burden. 

However, instead of cowering away, Dream reached out to the scribbles within his mind again, and watched the scenes once more. He was once again swept away by the infusion of understanding, and his mind received more pressure to accept everything, to change, to evolve. 

Then, under the piling pressure, he looked toward the monolith, and the next line of scribbles formed in his mind.

"From the reduction of Divine Light spawns the Earthly Man, a loose lump of clay!"

Shouting through gritted teeth, the scenes contained within the writings appeared. 

This time, instead of seeing one of the grand seven beings, he saw a humanoid. It was one humanoid out of a tribe of 20, and they had created wooden huts next to a river. 

It was a primitive species that had only just begun to develop. These humanoids were unlike humans though, and were composed much differently. These humanoids had purple skin, a third eye on their forehead, and perfect, strong bodies. They were vastly superior to humans, who after looking at these humanoids, would seem more like stupid monkeys. 

Even with as primitive as they were, they were much more intelligent. They quickly and intuitively understood the workings of the world around them, and they even had the inherent power to manipulate higher energies like mana. This was something afforded to them through their third eye, which acted as a release for some kind of psionic power. 

They were primal, but built superior to anything Dream had ever seen. They were one of the first species that spawned from the essence dispersion of the seven beings, and they held more of their Divine Light because of this, resulting in said superiority.

However, the species was still an earthly one. They were created with the corruptible material of the world around them. Their wisdom was still of a lower being, and they could perish like mortals. They were a reduction of Divine Light, and it spawned people made of clay, ones capable of perishing. They were not of pure potential, something that doesn't perish.

The scenes fluttered by and displayed the rise and fall of the tribe as all this knowledge entered Dream's mind. He saw the tribe flourish shortly, but then quickly die out, returning to the earth from which they came and leaving nothing behind. It wasn't a good or bad thing, but merely a result of their mortality. 

With that, the scenes ended. Dream's mind received even more pressure than before, and more cracks spread through his mind space. However, he just looked at the monolith again, and the next line formed. 

"Rise from Mortal Dust, and attain immortal Light!"

Shouting, Dream once again started the infusion of knowledge. 

This time, it was of the same species as last time, except instead of a tribe, it was a nation. It was close to the development level of the world he was transported to, consisting of complex and widespread magical techniques and Empires founded upon them. 

The scenes focused on a battle. It was one between two nations, and the purple-bodied people cast magic and dashed around with their third eyes open, killing as many as they could while hoping they wouldn't die. 

Thousands fell every minute, and the battlefield was filled with carnage. However, whenever one person would die, a bit of light would rise from their bodies, and the person who killed them would guide the light to themselves and absorb it, becoming slightly more powerful. 

'Experience!'

When he saw this, Dream's eyes went wide. He knew this was the true form of experience. However, since there was no system in this world, the people had to actively collect the light. 

It was the Divine Light of others. It was their essence. You could expand your own Light by collecting or taking it from others. 

After watching wisps of Light speed between thousands of people for a while, the scenes changed. It was the end of the battle, and one person stood on a mountain of bodies. His power also stood above all others. He had collected the Divine Light of everyone on the battlefield, and his power underwent drastic changes. 

Fast forwarding through time, this supreme fighter went on to dominate his world. He attained power that could annihilate entire cities with the wave of a hand. His understanding of magic was also the deepest, and nobody could match his supreme techniques. Eventually, through many more wars, he destroyed all his enemies. Then, with nobody in the way, billions bowed to him, and an Empire that controlled the world was born. 

With that, the scenes ended. Dream's mind received even more cracks, and he felt as if he were going to break. But just like last time, he looked to the monolith. The last line formed in his mind. 

"Return to your most primal form, and create yourself in your most True image!"

Barely spitting out the words, yet again more scenes were infused into him. 

This time, it wasn't of the seven beings or of the purple humanoids. It was of Dream himself. 

His body was there within his mind space. Every detail could be seen, from the carbon muscles to the steel bones to the white blood. He could see everything about himself. 

Not long after his body appeared though, a light shined from inside it. It was his Divine Light, and the Light streaked through the body, creating a mess of lines. These lines were his soul strings, and after a short amount of time, the wisp of light had traced out his entire soul. 

Then, when his body and soul were out on display, his body suddenly crumpled around his soul, leaving it behind in a plume of dust. In its place appeared a silhouette, totally empty and void of detail. However, not long after, the strings of his soul expanded to fill the silhouette, unraveling into something like a heart and blood vessels. 

After that, nothing happened, but Dream intuitively understood now what to do. He needed to build himself. He needed to fill the silhouette with not only his own image, but compose it of his potential. His potential, his Divine Light, his Logos. This was his most primal form, but as he was still a lowly mortal, he would need to build something to help him grow. He would need a vessel that could accommodate the bodily necessity of a mortal while allowing him to attain more Light. It would be a balance between his limits and potential. 

This was the trial he needed to pass. Only now did he truly understand what he needed to do. 

And with that understanding, his mind finally reached its limit. The cracks came to a point, and moments later, everything came tumbling down. Along with that, his body went limp, and his eyes went dull. 

The Keeper watched this, and for once in an uncountable number of years, his lips slightly raised.

{Now, you have understood. Rise up, toss away your earthly, mortal body, and begin the trial with your new understanding.}

As if that were a command, Dream's body shook moments after he spoke, and a figure rose from the body. It was the empty silhouette and soul. It was Dream, and he had officially tossed away his mortal body of clay.