Returning to his estate, Eldrian smiled at the progress being made. The garden, well, it didn't look like much of a 'normal' garden. It was most certainly a herb garden, not some flower garden or training garden, or something else.
While not an ugly sight, it was certainly not a place meant for a casual stroll or afternoon tea. The herbs, most magical in nature, did have a certain appeal to them. But they weren't roses, that was for sure.
Naturally, most of the plants were focused toward the back of the estate. The front was a bit more subdued, with some grass patches left next to the path to the house. These grass patches were large enough for someone to practice, though perhaps not quite large enough to spar with someone else.
Eldrian entered his home, deep in the night. No one was awake at the moment. Well, it was well past midnight, so that was to be expected. 'Perhaps we need to hire some guards?' Eldrian pondered, but quickly gave up on the idea.
Sure, the herbs were precious, but not enough for someone to attack the estate. Someone might be stealing a few leaves or flowers here and there, but that was hardly something Eldrian cared enough about.
Due to his reputation in the city, those who did do such a thing were certain to be at their wit's end. After all, Eldrian was sung of as a hero. It was more likely that no one even thought to try and steal anything from his home.
Still, for some reason, Eldrian felt on guard today. He had come after opening the treasure chests. Hoping to go through a few books to sort his thoughts. Both on why the Divine Grace was in the center of a Mana Storm, and where he could find an aspect of chaos.
While Eldrian worried about GAIA's plans, he understood—or he wanted to believe, at least, that they weren't evil.
It was a confusing mess, but he understood the wish to be free. The fact that their own actions were preventing them from being such just made things more complicated, ironic even.
'No, that's enough of that.' Eldrian told himself, looking through all the books he had in his study. Finally, he found the one he wanted.
He had read it already, but it never hurt to revise things. It was a rather rare volume, a book not on magic spells or history or anything like that. It was a book on speculative concepts. Unproven, unsubstantiated.
It was basically just a bunch of hypotheses. Which was precisely why Eldrian had found it such a fascinating read.
The premise was simple; magic was divided into several categories (aspects) and those aspects were then divided into elements. The aspect of order had the elements as Eldrian knew them: fire, wind, earth, water, light, dark, and nature.
Their ultimate foundational manifestation was that of the Magic Crystal. A catalyst of all the elements within it.
So far, Eldrian had believed all the aspects would follow similar routes, though he had been unsure of this conclusion. He now knew this wasn't true.
He had found it strange that the aspect of chaos had a simple Death Crystal as one of its acceptable materials (element of the aspect). Death was but one element of Chaos, or so Eldrian believed—and the book speculated the same.
Eldrian had thus assumed that the elements he needed to find need not be a combination of all elements in the aspect. It could contain just one element but had to at least meet some criteria. Like being of Rank 4 or higher.
To prove this, he tested if a Mov Crystal would meet the requirements for any of the aspects. It did not. Which left him frustrated.
Still, the existence of Divine Grace had opened a new rank for Eldrian to explore. Legendary.
He could only assume that all aspects had to have their ultimate elemental manifestation. One which wasn't just a combination of their elements, but the evolution of said elements. What the elements would present if lifeforce joined the equation.
And, if that was the case, then a Magic Crystal wasn't the highest rank of the aspect of Order. Nor was a voidstone the highest element for Space. And whatever ranked above a Death Crystal had to have something above itself oo.
That left Eldrian with a question of the aspect of time. Whether his bloodline ranked as the lowest acceptable, middling, or the highest grade.
"Sir, I see you have returned." A voice pulled Eldrian from his thoughts. Turning towards it, he found that day had arrived. Noticing this, he finally canceled the multiple Fos spells he had lighting the room.
'Whoops. Ah, I'm in for a scolding again.' Eldrian had only meant to review the volume to see if he could find any clues. Instead, he had been leaving through it for the entire night. He hadn't even noticed the passage of time thanks to the light spells that he had cast. They had kept the room perfectly lit, almost too brightly so.
"Good morning, Rina." She was one of the four he had taken into his service. Normally, Maia was the only one who came to him directly. For some reason, the foxkin, Rina, was here today. 'Perhaps she's taken a day off?' Eldrian thought.
"Can I ask you to bring me something to eat?" Eldrian asked, noticing that his stomach was grumbling in protest. His real one was probably in the same state. Eldrian should probably care for it first, but he was still rummaging through his own thoughts. He wasn't ready to log out just yet.
"Certainly," Rina replied, a slight smile on her face. 'What's that about?' Eldrian asked himself, but quickly dropped the question.
While this was Eldrian's home, he rarely stayed here. Where did he stay? Nowhere, really. He often logged off in random locations. Which was perfectly fine. It did cause his avatar to get less rest (an effort from the devs to get players to role-play more). But the difference wasn't a bother. A few spells normally got Eldrian in tip-top shape in the mornings.
"I wonder what she will bring?" Eldrian murmured, returning his attention to the book in his lap. After a night of thinking, he had a few guesses, but nothing concrete. He would probably have to consult Ziraili. But he also didn't want to rely entirely on her.
While she was certainly like an encyclopedia with her fast stores of knowledge, she didn't know everything.
Eldrian had found it hard to believe at first, but the more his knowledge grew under her teachings, the more he realized it was true.
Her knowledge was vast, but not unlimited. Especially in regard to the other 'powers'. According to her own words, her power fell under the aspect of Order. Apparently, these five aspects he had been tasked to find were the fundamental breakdown of all things.
Eldrian could agree with that if not for divinity being one of the five. Order and Chaos were two naturally opposing sides of life (and everything, really). Everything started as chaos and worked its way to order. Entropy, in other words.
On the other hand, Space and Time were the fabric of everything. Order and Chaos worked within Space and Time. Eldrian didn't get where Divinity fit.
'No, I'm being too literal again. Divinity might be something as simple as life. Life is divine, that is a sound argument. Even if it is a bit dull.' Considering how magic worked, however, this seemed likely.
This made Eldrian wonder what bloodlines within the aspect of divinity would look like. Did they even exist?
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