She blinked, and tilted her head to the left curiously. "Eigou? What is this?"
"Ah, I forget sometimes what has not yet been uncovered within your time. See, there is a new science born within the last century called 'psychology;' the study of the mind. Men discovered that there are not one but many minds that make up your personality, and the ego is the seat of conscious thought."
She thought that it wouldn't be so bad to have her own thoughts surrounding herself at all time. Something akin to instant gratification, after all, couldn't have been too miserable—if perhaps a little overbearing.
"Seems ...survivable," she lied. In truth, she would very much like to know what such a place would feel like to experience. It might perhaps be nice to visit as long as she had a concrete way to escape afterwards.
"If you were to fall into this abyss you would experience an echo chamber beyond all imagination. All the thoughts you normally whisper soundlessly within your own head would explode like fireworks in every direction within your field of view. Every thing you feel, every fear you bury, and every desire you quickly forget would be made manifest before you.
"Of course, all of your unwanted, intrusive thoughts would appear as well. Thoughts of mutilation, and trauma, all former vices that you fear have not been completely overcome, and the ever-present sensation of death that we regularly suppress would be exacted upon you without restraint; more realistic than ever possible. You would soon be locked into a terrible cycle of thinking you want the noise to stop, so desperately that the noise only grows louder without end. It's not a fate that I would wish upon anyone."
The picture his words presented chilled her to her very core. It seemed like a truly torturous existence. She was suddenly all the more appreciative of his last-minute effort to rescue her. Her feathers ruffled, and she shivered, as tears gathered in her eyes. He risked joining her in that terrifying void, fully knowing that it would lead to such an unconscionable torment.
What's worse, is he didn't even think twice!—Despite the awful things she had said. She had accused him of so much, in fear and loathing. It almost made her sick.
What could they even do in the face of such abject hopeless despair? All the ground had shrunk so far from view into the great abyss that it had ceased to even resemble a speck within the great writhing mass of pink and magenta and mulberry and pitch.
"Sorrow not, my friend," Thrall encouraged. "There is one good thing about all this much gathered consciousness in one place, still. We are now as close to our true selves as possible; and thus our waking bodies. I may even be able to come into contact with the Word itself."
Over her shoulder, Thrall unsheathed his sword, and spoke a few new words into the air. "Be forewarned. These concepts were there with God, and as such can be nearly considered as equals with Him. The situation is dire, but they are capable of granting our salvation, if we can gain their favor. We have to escape, immediately."
...but to where? The destruction was complete, and unforgiving. He had no choice but to fall on their mercy. He widened his stance, and ignited the passion of his sword seven-fold, before speaking with a great and terrible voice. "Mechkar! Mudaut! Answer me, why is this happening?!"
A small giggle emanated from the shorter of the two runes. It seemed amused to arrive in the company of so many other words, in such a strange location. His older brother spoke first.
The source of all knowledge stands before you, and all you do is ask for an explanation? Surely you can do better than that.
"It would be a nice place to start, sir." Thrall lowered his head, and bowed before the word. Knowledge was older than all the angels, after all.
Rather, I should say, I am.
Wouldn't he rather know the point of the entire story? The end to his life, and a peek into what the powers that be have in store in his immediate future?
"But what would a mortal being benefit from his own destiny? Please, great one. I beg of you to give me just what I desire."
Not that it would do him any good. I am a record of all things present and future, fated and impossible, real and imaginary. What need have I for the pitiful pleas of a Seraph?
"Xantheaa, behind me." he uttered, raising his sword to be level with the glowing eye of Knowledge's brother, Discovery. Surely he couldn't be threatening his kind with the potent fire of God?! The sword burned with a surge of energy so fearsome that it seemed to set even space itself aflame.
He would dare to challenge my power with an attempt on the spirit of curiosity itself? This is not even his full aspect, but an imagined portion carved into the semblance of Thrall's mind. He could not harm him in any way that matters.
But Thrall knew one thing that Knowledge never could. "My own thoughts are opaque to you, great master of truth. Until I speak it, you cannot know what is within my own mind. You've proven this to me with your own assumption. I offer your brother not a warning, but a boon. Much knowledge of this great sword has been lost to time, and I am sure he would like to study it more closely, with the impression of a mind who witnessed it directly." Obviously, inquisition was the domain of another word.
A trade! How utterly fascinating, I thought, sardonically. He brought my brother along to satisfy his own curiosity, and as such trapped me into serving this end with my own desire to know all things. How very naive. He should know that I could just take this knowledge for my own, and give him nothing in return, of course.
"But you, too, believe in fairness. Unlike me, you have never been tempted by sin. You're just testing me, but for what ends I do not yet understand." Of course, this was a correct assumption to make. I was never the one to test, though. A key oversight that spoke to his own distrusting nature. My brother leapt at the sword without any hesitation.
I believe in truth. That is all. The truth is that this world was never meant to be. He, and his little harpy meeting here are simply a great cosmic mistake, and this swimming inkblot interspersed with the impossible hue was just the cosmos attempting to undo its error. It will spread to every corner of the dreamscape, and all other philosophies connected to it will be undone just as theirs already has.
"Haha! I see you've let some useful information slip after all! There are other paradigms attached to this one, out there?" he boasted, unaware that my brother had given him the understanding to puzzle out what was already obvious. All the worlds were connected, by design. If two theologies were connected, surely all of them would be.
He should be quiet when adults were talking. That sword had better offer some great knowledge of the nature of God to justify all this great tribulation that my junior had forced upon me. No time to talk about that, of course. The kingdom to the east beckoned them. The home of the Egyptians, and all their great volume of abandoned knowledge. Only there would Thrall find enough lore to tempt my brother—hopefully enough to allow Knowledge itself to explain what its own role in this story was.
Much knowledge had been gleaned from the sword indeed, I thought, sending Thrall the idea of a location into his imagination. "To the east, then, Karov." Thrall ordered... and off they went.