—Where Mysticism Meets Philosophy
It was 11 PM, and the lights in the dorm had long since gone out. Yet Shawn lay awake, unable to sleep.
Earlier that day, when he unfolded the piece of paper, it had been completely blank.
A prank? A test? Or some kind of message that could only be read in a certain way?
A sleepless night.
When the first cobalt hues of dawn seeped through the blinds, he finally gave in to curiosity. Beneath the pale glow of his phone screen, he unfolded the slip of paper once more. Through the shifting light and shadow, a faint line of characters began to emerge:
OMMETA
His irises constricted.
It was a Meta Invocation — meaning "Return inward, reunite with origin."
The same syllables Quinn had chanted.
Who had left it?
To protect him? Warn him? Or… guide him somewhere?
His first thought: Meta Origin Sect.
---
After breakfast, just as he was heading to class, a secure message came in from Kent:
"Shawn, that altar ruin in Southeast Asia is no longer detectable. That coastal area sank permanently back in the 1960s."
Instinctively, Shawn glanced at the time in the top right corner of his screen.The holographic chrono-glyphs pulsed in his retinal display:
2031.10.01 | T-30D | 00:00:27
Just 30 days left until Vision Ark launch.
And now, the only lead to the Meta Matrix had gone silent.
Meanwhile, campus life was buzzing with excitement. Like the rest of the country, the university was bustling with rehearsals, light installations, and flags—symbols of future and ideals fluttering in preparation for the grand event.
Hosted by CP-HUB, the Vision Ark Inauguration Ceremony was scheduled for October 1st, and everything was unfolding in perfect orchestration.
---
At 8 AM sharp, the philosophy department's large-scale lecture took place as planned in the Huize Grand Auditorium. Today's topic:
"Mysticism and Philosophy: At the Edge of Thought"
It was one of the department's monthly "All-Hands Seminars." Every philosophy student was present, and even students from other majors had shown up to audit.
The hall was packed. Even the virtual participation zone—projected via immersive holographic light—was full, displaying ghostly reflections of distant classrooms.
Today's speaker: the legendary Professor Les, known among students as the Thought Catcher. Celebrated for his sharp wit and captivating lectures, he was especially admired for his ability to transform abstract philosophical concepts into vivid experiences.
He was slightly plump, with tousled curls and a pair of silver-rimmed glasses that hung loosely on his nose, giving off the impression of a brilliant but disheveled scholar. But when he spoke, his deep voice resonated as if from ancient temples—slow, deliberate, yet cutting deep with piercing clarity.
The LED arc screen lit up, revealing the subtitle:
"When Reason Ends: How Does Thought Transcend Itself?"
A wave of hushed whispers and sharp intakes of breath rippled through the room. The students knew—this would not be just another intellectual exercise.
Professor Les glanced over the audience and smiled slightly:
"Welcome to the frontier of thought.
Here, philosophy is no longer a monologue from an ivory tower, but a dialogue between humanity and the cosmos."
He paused and tapped the podium lightly.
"And we'll begin from the most overlooked—and often misunderstood—territory of all:
Mysticism, and even shamanic traditions."
"Mysticism was born from humanity's collective anxiety toward death, fate, and order.
It was our earliest survival strategy."
The screen began displaying ancient visuals in slow sequence:
The scent of aged parchment suddenly permeated the air as holographic runes materialized.
– Oracle bones from the Shang Dynasty
– Feather masks of Siberian shamans
– Soul-journey murals from Tutankhamun's tomb
– Celestial charts from Mayan stone carvings
– The earliest trigrams of the I Ching
The students held their breath. It was as if their consciousness were being pulled into a corridor carved between time and space.
A major in the front row dropped his pen, the clatter echoing like a divination cast.
"You may assume shamans are all superstition. But did you know—
Not only are the roots of mysticism embedded in shamanic culture,
but even more crucially, before philosophy was born,
the first to ask questions like 'Where do we come from?',
'What does death mean?', or
'Does the universe have a will?'—
were not scientists.
Not even philosophers.
But shamans."
"They were the first true system thinkers of humanity."
Professor Les stepped down from the stage and walked into the center of the tiered lecture hall, his gaze sharp, voice calm but pulsing with an undeniable force:
"Shamans didn't just try to explain the world. They sought to rewrite it.
Through dreams, totems, chants, and ritual dance,
they transcended the boundaries of individual consciousness,
building bridges between humans and nature, between mortals and the divine."
He paused and looked out across the room:
"And it was Fuxi who first turned these elements into an ordered system.
He reconstructed a worldview using the Eight Trigrams,
creating the prototype of the I Ching,
and laying the spiritual foundation for what later became—
the Kunlun Sect."
The Kunlun Sect?
The moment the name was spoken, Shawn's heart skipped a beat.
He had heard of it once—from Quinn, back on Kepra.
A shamanic system so ancient it had nearly been erased from history.
"Recent archaeological findings suggest the Kunlun Sect was humanity's first structured attempt to bring 'consciousness into reality.' It proposed that through an inner-dimensional process called Meta Return Shift,one could transcend physical laws and synchronize with the universal meta-consciousness."
A flash crossed Shawn's mind—
the image of the paper unfolding once more,
those six letters dancing like musical notes:
OMMETA—the melody of returning to origin, inward and whole.
Professor Les continued:
"Does anyone know the other names for the Kunlun Sect?
What did it evolve into?"
The room fell silent.
He didn't seem to expect an answer. Just as he was about to continue—
A calm and steady female voice rang out from the back of the hall:
"The Kunlun Sect was also known as the Chan Sect,
later evolving into the Meta I Ching School.
It had a profound influence on East Asian mystical thought,
particularly the oracle systems that emerged after the Fifth Epoch."
Her voice rose gently from the corner of the room, like a frequency awakening in the air.
Heads turned.
Sunlight streamed through the high windows—
illuminating a serene face, standing quietly as if she had been waiting for this moment.
She had shoulder-length black hair, a poised and upright stance,
clear eyes like water, and a confident but restrained smile.
Shawn froze.
It was her—
The one he thought he would never see again.