Words-
One thing all intelligent life takes for granted is words. They are the foundation of all sentience as they are the only thing that can clearly tell that they are different from non-sentient lifeforms in the myriad realms
Some races choose written words and some choose sounds to represent those words. Most use both.
However, it cannot be denied or disproven that all intelligence stems from the thoughts of living things brought to life by the existence of words.
However, at the very heart of all thoughts lies the soul of a being. If the soul of that being lacks the ability to develop its own words, the being cannot be called sentient. Drawing on this no matter if it is an animal or a man once words have merged into their soul they would gain the wisdom to shape the world.
Alex stood shocked in the middle of the chamber his eyes still shut tightly, as he roamed about in his Sea of Consciousness. In the inner core of the Fog of Thoughts within his sea of consciousness stood the mysterious glyph. On touching it the red display popped up again.
[Ding...]
[Soul Text discovered....]
[Name: Primordial Glyph (Word)]
[Grade: Level 9 (MAX)]
[Description: The first of the languages of power the primordial glyphs are the foundations for the existence of all higher grades of Soul texts and provide reference for their understanding and discovery.]
[Ability: The user would gain mastery of all languages derived from the Primordial Glyphs]
Stunned, Alex watched as the glyph continued to absorb the light of the glyphs he did not understand, breaking them down into a mist that merged into his thoughts and formed the clouds of his consciousness over and over again.
Alex felt that the more he memorised these glyphs the stronger the soul text would become.
He could clearly feel the glyph boosting the efficiency of his thought process.
He felt that as long as he was in this state and as long as he lived he would never be short of words to express himself ever again.
Enhanced by this feeling Alex returned his awareness back to the cave and began to memorise the glyphs as quickly as he could drawing more glyphs into his mind for the soul text to transform.
Quickly Alex had exhausted all the five hundred and forty glyphs he could memorise and waited for the next round of glyphs to appear as the soul text in his mind rapidly integrated the glyphs into his mind.
Thanks to Alex's speed in arriving at the final chamber there was no need to divide his strength in going down the different corridors one at a time to research their outcomes.
After a short while, the soul text had digested the essence of over four hundred glyphs and Alex heard a ding in his mind.
Suddenly, a cooling sensation spread out in his mind like cold rain falling down on the summer sun-baked pavements. Alex's mind was refreshed and his riotous thoughts calmed down instantly and let him know the right passageway that led to the fourth floor.
Knowing that although he had a non-intentional breakthrough he was still not in the clear yet the unknown danger was drawing closer to him by the minute.
Walking briskly into the Ascension tunnel Alex thought to himself.
"With this new ability I've gained, this phase of the trial would be a cakewalk"
Optimistic of his chances of success in the trial Alex ran straight ahead to the next floor of the Labyrinth.
This time the floor was clearly different. No longer was it a cave but it looked more like the interior of a massive corporate headquarters or five-star hotel
Immediately Alex knew that he had jinxed himself with that thought just now. The difficulty of the trial had just gone up by a huge amount.
How did he know that it was suddenly harder? The aura, the aura of the hall ahead of him was a lot more foreboding compared to that of the previous floors.
The space he had entered from was now blocked by a barrier, making it clear that there would be no retreat. So Alex began by examining the space thoroughly.
The room or rather hall was dark and empty leaving only emergency lights to light up the hall in a scary red hue. The hall looked like it was straight out of a horror movie.
The walls were painted in a monochrome grey, made out of solid concrete that clearly could not be tampered with and on the opposite wall, there were two doors, not doorways but doors blocking anyone from entering willy-nilly. A labyrinth with doors was much worse than those without.
Alex saw nothing else around him and with no way back approached these doors that were made of strangely dense wood and tried them. And that was when to his utter dismay, he noticed that the doors were locked.
Unable to find a key, he could not find any keyholes on the doors even if there were keys.
Taking inspiration from the previous test Alex began to examine the surroundings for any glyphs and to his dismay he found nothing of the sort except for a carving on the door handle, which on close inspection he saw was not a glyph but a hex.
Yes, it was a hex.
The very same writing form that is used by Force Alchemists- the most respected of all human Ability Masters- to control and interact with the Force of the natural world and perform feats that can only be described as the pinnacle of human discovery of power.
Alex had been brought face to face with this arcane writing from the physical realm in the middle of his soul trials.
"What the hell?!"
Alex was stumped because if the next test required Alex to crack hexes it was nothing but an impossible task.
In the Earth realm, the top powerhouses had been studying the use of hexes for over one hundred years already, and the least amount of time it took the youngest hex master to be born was forty years of bitter training.
With that, it was clear that someone like Alex who had graduated from high school with the highest honours but never entered college due to his lack of any valuable ability, would not be able to crack this hex any time soon.
Unlike glyphs which can be understood as a form of language in the primordial era, hexes were more similar to machine languages. It made no sense until one understood the core principles behind it. The intent could not be deduced otherwise.
Alex stumped by the difficulty sat down helpless at the foot of the door staring at the hex imprinted on the door handle. The darkness and the feeling of dread within him tore at his mind.
At this very moment, high up in the clouds above the Tower of Babel, the crimson mist-cloaked figure smirked in pleasure at Alex's despair despite the shock he had earlier.
Although he had never expected Alex to have made it past the Grade 9 glyphs in such a short time he was dead certain that the hexes would stop him in his tracks until the darkness he summoned caught up and ended this challenge once and for all.
After all the Trial of Intellect can not be looked down upon by anyone.
"On second thought. How is it possible that a weak soul such as this, could obtain the core of a Primordial soul-grade language so quickly?
And was able to easily manifest the benefits of such power? After all, controlling a Primordial text is one of the core methods of commanding the universe. Alongside using the Hexes of truth and the Sigils of Law.
Ordinary souls do not possess the fortitude required to retain them and even draw from their power at all much less in such a short span in the middle of the trial.
It seems the soul of the young one is indeed extraordinary. Amongst the various myths of intelligent life forms, there is only one candidate that could manifest this quality and that is the mythical Cosmic Pure Soul- a soul whose origin resembles the origin of the Myriad Realms.
Only such a being can have absolute control over the Axioms of Genesis and the concepts born at the origin of the Myriad Realms.
Such a being clearly cannot exist this far from the Primordial era where the Origin Force has dissipated so thoroughly. It is simply a myth from a bygone era and it most certainly cannot be this weak human challenger today."
While the creature muttered to himself within Alex's sea of consciousness, The Primordial Glyph had stilled.
Ceasing to pulse and gradually returning to its dormant state as no glyphs were available to integrate. It slowly grew weaker and like before vanished into the space within the Sea of Consciousness.
The Fog of Thoughts which was like a massive storm cloud, dispersed once more into a cool mist dissipating among the frozen pillars of soul essence in the sea returning everything to its previous calm.
Meanwhile, far in the membrane separating the interior of the mind from the outside world, on the very membrane that enclosed the sea realm, a faint shadow as tiny as an ink drop appeared on it silently without anyone noticing.
Upon a closer look, the shadow appeared to be a shape carved out of the barrier of the Sea of Consciousness slowly becoming clearer and clearer. On a closer look, it was a hex.