The cool, quiet solitude of Kojo's room was a stark contrast to the bustling energy of the library, yet it served as the perfect sanctuary for his current endeavor. The three borrowed books lay open before him, their pages whispering secrets of a world far older and more complex than he had initially perceived. He had opted for the thickest of the three first, a heavy volume titled, A Compendium of the Sentient Races of Ezkanur and Beyond.
He had just finished absorbing the details on Jotuns.
Kojo recalled the book's entry on the world's various giants, noting their uncommon presence. Unlike humans, elves, or demi-humans, these towering beings were found on only three continent being Ezkanur, Apollonia and The Savage Lands. The Frost Giants or Jotuns were beings, with glacial blue skin and intricate white markings. Like all other giants,they possessed the unique ability to alter their size.
Their origin, the text explained, traced back to the extinct Prometheans, a race of FirstOnes aside the Mercurians and Nytrians; as a means to avoid extinction,they reproduced with early human offshoots which birthed these giants. Their unique Biological Makeup granted them the ability of Semi-Apotheosis which was why they could grow in size.
Apotheosis.
Kojo had encountered this word a number of times in his reading. Even when he was learning about the elves he learned that Celestial Races could undergo that process although the information surrounding that was vague. He wanted to ask Sysia but then he'd just get sidetracked but made a mental note to look into it later.
Beyond Jotuns, the book also mentioned the steadfast Gargarians or Rock Giants with ashen skin found dwelling in the rugged mountains of Quava, and the tanned-skinned Silvani, who roamed the ancient forests of the Savage Lands.
He was about to delve deeper into the official history of Ezkanur when a thought flickered through his mind.
Lin.
"I heard she's having a sleepover with Yuki. I wish I could participate." He sighed, a faint smile touching his lips. He closed the first book and took out the second one was about to embark on a journey into the unknown, specifically the third book: Guardians of the Veil: An Examination of Entities Beyond the Gates.
He remembered the eerie, almost suffocating feeling he'd experienced when he was temporarily held in the Obelisk. What kind of seals, he wondered, could truly keep such entities at bay? What even where they?
He reached out, his fingers brushing the cover of the ominous tome.
Before his fingers could fully grasp the book, the world around him dissolved. The solid walls of his room rippled like water, the scent of aged parchment vanished, and the faint glow of the magical lights transformed into something softer, warmer. In the blink of an eye, Kojo found himself no longer on his bed, but comfortably seated on a plush, overstuffed sofa.
He was in a living room. A surprisingly cozy, lived-in space, bathed in the soft glow of what looked like a modern floor lamp. There was a low coffee table in front of him, scattered with what appeared to be magazines, Manga and a remote control. A large, flat screen on the wall displayed a serene, rotating image of a distant nebula. The air smelled faintly of vanilla and something vaguely like… popcorn?
Across from him, on another equally comfortable sofa, sat two women. One was Sysia, his constant companion and partner, but not in her usual ethereal form. Here, she was tangible, solid. Her dark skin glowed under the soft light, her white hair cascaded in thick, loose waves around her shoulders, and her striking red eyes, usually burning with intensity, held a calm, almost domestic warmth. She wore a loose, oversized grey t-shirt that hung casually over a pair of comfortable-looking black shorts, her bare feet tucked beneath her.
Beside her sat the second woman, instantly recognizable from the fragmented memories Kojo sometimes glimpsed: Estelle Leicester, the First Hero, the only living mortal remnant of the Dark Ages.
Living?
She too was dressed in comfort, a baggy, dark blue hoodie pulled over a simple white tank top, paired with soft, loose pink trousers. Her hair was tied back in a messy bun, and her eyes, glimmered behind a pair of circular , silver rimmed spectacles.
"Why are you wearing glasses ?" but received no response.
"Ladies and fashion I guess." He shrugged.
"Whats this?" He gestured around the room.
"You two have really done something with the place. This Mindscape is looking pretty decent. When did you get a sofa? And a flat screen?"
Sysia sighed, a long, exasperated sound, but Kojo noted with a faint, internal smile that she wasn't immediately teasing him.
" What's going on?" He asked.
"Kojo," Sysia said, her voice calm but firm, "This is important. Take it seriously."
"I am taking it seriously," Kojo retorted, his eyes still scanning the room. He spotted a bag of potato chips on the coffee table. With a casual flick of his wrist, the bag floated over to him. He tore it open and popped a chip into his mouth.
"Seriously, though,have you been going through my memories?"
"KOJO!" Estelle's voice boomed, sharp and resonant, making the very air vibrate. She slammed her palm flat on the coffee table, making the chips bag jump in Kojo's hand. Her eyes blazed with an intensity that could rival a supernova.
"This is serious! Do you not understand where you are?"
Kojo took another chip, munching thoughtfully.
"Yeah. I'm in my mind. Where else would I be? You two aren't exactly known for your interior decorating skills outside of my head."
Estelle looked ready to explode, but Sysia placed a calm hand on her arm.
"He has figured it out yet, Estelle. You have to explain."
Kojo raised an eyebrow.
Estelle took a deep, shaky breath, her gaze still piercing Kojo.
"Your 'Mindscape,' Kojo," she began, her voice dropping to a low, grave tone, "is more than just a place for your thoughts. It's a manifestation of the Corridor of Memories which has the fundamental purpose is to protect the minds of mortals from corruption. The Mindscape is tailor made for you."
" Protect from corruption?" Kojo repeated.
"It's a natural, inherent barrier against the overwhelming truths of this reality. For knowledge is power, and power corrupts. Absolute power, absolute knowledge, corrupts absolutely." Sysia said.
Kojo tilted his head, a chip halfway to his mouth.
"I don't follow. What's this corruption? Is it another name for Fiends? But I'm not using astral projection so I should be safe. And not gonna lie,that quote was hard." He chewed the chips causing a crunchy sound and reached for another one.
Sysia sighed leaned forward, her red eyes serious.
"Why is it, Kojo, that despite having the Babel Archives"—a shimmering, ethereal grimoire, the Babel Archives, manifested and floated gently in her palm—"and even having Estelle herself, the First Hero, present with us, we still have questions about this world? About its true history, its deeper workings?"
Kojo shrugged. "I just assumed you were gatekeeping. You do that a lot, Sysia."
" And you never wondered why?" She asked.
Kojo shook his head. Sysia calmly set the Babel Archives down on the coffee table beside the chips.
Estelle, her gaze unwavering, asked, "Are you familiar with the concept of 'PrimalReciprocity '?"
Kojo considered this.
"Sacrifice for Gain?"
Estelle nodded, a flicker of approval in her eyes. She leaned back against the sofa, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly. "Precisely. Now, when you use magic, Kojo, what do you lose? What is the cost?"
Kojo frowned, thinking.
"I don't particularly lose anything. But I do get drained of Arcana. The more powerful the phenomena I'm trying to accomplish, the more drained I get. It's like a car using fuel. But isn't that a normal occurrence?"
Sysia nodded.
"The 'Libra System', the cosmic order that the 'Supreme Being' put in place, is based entirely on balance. That's why that ancient deity split into two primordial forces: The Sovereign, representing order and creation, and the Demongod, representing chaos and destruction. For everything gained, something of equal importance must be lost and vice versa. Of course, there are rules to this, conditions that must be met, and even then, there is always a backlash. A ripple effect."
Kojo nodded slowly, the pieces beginning to click. Balance. Loss for gain. The fundamental rules of this reality. And the cost of knowledge, as a form of power.
"So," Sysia continued, her voice soft but impactful, "in order to gain power, you lose something else. And what is power, Kojo?"
"Knowledge," Kojo said, the word a sudden, stark realization.
"Power is knowledge."
A heavy silence descended upon the mindscape living room, filled only by the soft hum of the nebula on the screen and the distant, almost imperceptible crackle of the fireplace. Kojo's mind raced, connecting this profound principle to everything he had experienced. The suppressed history of the Dark Ages, the very existence of the Corridor of Memories. It all made a terrifying, elegant sense. The more he knew, the more he would be exposed, the more he would change.
Estelle manifested a cup of soda a straw protruding from it. She took a slow sip, her eyes never leaving Kojo's.
"I heard about your talk about fiends. I've encountered my fair share of those things. But that's not the point. To ensure balance, the Libra System makes both parties in any significant conflict, any exchange, fundamentally equal in terms of available resources, even if those resources are hidden. The one who can make better use of the resources equally allocated to both parties gets victory, while the other gets done away with. It's a sort of natural selection, ensuring that only certain beings, those most adept at wielding the available power, survive."
Kojo frowned, a deep crease forming between his brows.
Natural selection… applied to cosmic power struggles? That's a brutal system. And the knowledge gained from it, the power to survive, comes at a cost.
"Do you remember Faust?" Sysia prompted, her red eyes fixed on Kojo.
"How come Faust didn't really have a means of gathering information about us, and yet he knew as much about us as we knew about him? It is so.The more you know about something, the more you are exposed to said thing. The more you know about someone, in any way, shape, or form, the more that person knows about you. The other side of the exchange. And that exposure… that's the corruption."
Estelle snapped her fingers, a faint, almost inaudible sound in the mindscape.
"Exactly. That's why the Corridor of Memories exists. To limit exposure. To protect mortals from truths that would overwhelm them, or make them targets. Because absolute knowledge, absolute power, can shatter a mind as easily as it can shatter a world."
"Do you remember Mekna's father?" Syisia asked.
"The powerful mage who wore the Babel Archives around his neck? He sought knowledge, endless knowledge, believing it would grant him ultimate power. But what did it cost him? What did that insatiable hunger for truth do to his very being? He became a lich, Kojo. A desiccated husk, clinging to existence, his humanity stripped away, consumed by the very power he sought. Is that not corruption? Is that not the ultimate price of absolute knowledge, absolute power?"
The rhetorical questions hung in the air, heavy and cold, emphasizing the terrifying reality of the consequences.
"You are protected by the Mindscape," Estelle confirmed, her voice grave. " And even better, you have the two of us, Sysia and myself, to reinforce it. But that doesn't stop truly malevolent beings, entities that thrive on knowledge and exposure, from attempting to break in. They will sense your probing. They will come for you. The price for such knowledge, Kojo, is often insanity, or worse. It's the corruption of the soul, the shattering of the mind, the twisting of one's very being by truths too vast to comprehend."
Kojo thought about it for a moment, a long, thoughtful silence stretching between them. He considered the implications, the dangers, the unseen eyes that would now turn towards him. The true meaning of "corruption" began to sink in, not just as a concept, but as a tangible threat to his very essence.
Then, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk touched his lips, and his casual disposition returned, as if he were discussing the weather.
"So what?"
Estelle blinked, genuinely taken aback by his utter recklessness.
"So what? Kojo, you don't understand the dangers! The principalities and powers in high places, all ready to strike! The price for knowledge is insanity! It's the slow, insidious decay of everything you are!"
"And I don't care," Kojo stated simply, shrugging.
"Besides, I already have my own customized realm within the barrier that's supposed to keep people from knowing too much, and I have the both of you. So what's the problem? What's the worst that could happen? I go crazy? I literally have the two of you nagging in my head constantly. If that's not being crazy I don't know what is."
Estelle stared at him, speechless, her mouth slightly agape.
Sysia, a faint, resigned smile on her lips, put a hand on Estelle's shoulder.
"I told you so. He won't really care that much. He's too cocky and or stupid to care."
"There it is." Kojo muttered.
Sysia turned her attention back to Kojo, her red eyes glinting with amusement.
"Alright, 'Old Man K.' If you're going to go poking around in places you shouldn't, you'll have to compensate us for the extra work. Protecting your simple little mind from horrors isn't cheap, you know."
Kojo winked, a mischievous glint in his blue eyes.
"Deal."
Estelle finally found her voice, folding her arms under her breasts, a deep frown on her face.
"You better not regret this, Kojo. Some knowledge is best left buried. The path to absolute power often leads to absolute ruin."
The living room, the sofas, the nebula, and the two women shimmered, then dissolved.
Kojo gasped, his eyes snapping open. He was back in his room, the scent of aged pages filling his nostrils.
The three books lay open before him, exactly as he'd left them. He slapped his cheeks, a sharp, stinging sensation.
"Right,where was I....." He picked up the book on entities beyond the gates, his gaze locking onto the ominous text, a new, profound, and somewhat terrifying understanding coloring every word.
The price of knowledge was clear, and Kojo was ready to pay.