Truth's Mind

With the beast finally killed, Gilgamesh ceased coating himself in his power, reducing the strain on his body.

He first went over to Ishtar's side to see if the effect of the Beast's power of truth would vanish, but after a few minutes, she remained motionless. "Tch!"

He went over to Verdant, finding the latter still breathing albeit faintly. With a bit of the Obscure Spark's power, Gilgamesh was able to wake him up.

"Can you help them?"

Verdant did not even have time to ponder how the beast had now become a corpse or why there was an army of mirelings standing motionless outside the crater. He woke up and instantly got to work trying to bring the others back to life.

Unfortunately, it seemed that his power of truth could not overwrite the beast's, despite the fact that it was dead.

"I'm sorry," Verdant apologized while eying Crimson's corpse, "I don't have enough power. I'm so sorry..."

Gilgamesh's fist tightened, and he glared at the ore that lay within the center of the crater.

"Then I'll have to acquire the power myself."

Even though his body was aching due to the stress it had been under, Gilgamesh coated himself and Samael in the three powers again, then walked over to the ore.

Whereas before he had gone all out, only to just barely pierce the transparent stone layer, he pierced the stone with ease this time. In a matter of seconds, the tip of his sword reached the glowing ore of truth, lodged within the earth.

Then, Samael stabbed into the ore, cracking the entire vein as it did so.

Looking on as he sat near his brother, Verdant gasped, "...he's actually done it."

Once Gilgamesh broke through to the ore, he felt himself come into a new kind of nature through Samael, due to their connection. He was instantly able to decipher what this nature was, as he had already become quite used to it.

It was the nature of Truth. However, Gilgamesh did not stop there. He did not want to acquire the same nature that the beast and Verdant had acquired, but he wanted to go even further.

Once he rejected the nature of Truth, the energy could no longer flow into him through the sword. Therefore, it exploded outward and destroyed the ore vein, reducing it to nothing.

Not a single piece of the ore remained; it faded away into non-existence. Now, when Gilgamesh looking into the hole that remained, he saw a tiny piece of a giant, glowing object, bathed in bright white light.

There seemed to be countless tiny ridges on this object, and it shape was most peculiar. Gilgamesh wanted a closer look, so he hopped into the hole and vanished from sight, alarming Verdant.

As Gilgamesh descended, he found that his rate of descent slowed the closer he got to the object. Looking at it now, he felt it resembled a giant brain, made of crystal or diamond, or some other precious element.

Soon, gravity itself was no more, and Gilgamesh hovered just above the brain. He intended to plunge Samael into it, but something told him he should use his hand instead.

Taking a moment, he once again coated himself in the nature of his three powers, and prepared himself for what would happen next.

"That won't be necessary," a voice that was not simply a voice spoke to Gilgamesh, seeming to come from somewhere both external and internal. With light effort, Gilgamesh instantly traced the source of those words back to the brain hovering before him.

He hesitated, but decided to relinquish the coating of power around his body before he put Samael away and proceeded to touch the brain with his bare hand.

The brain flashed even brighter than Gilgamesh thought was possible, and when his vision returned he was standing in a blank white world, as though he had entered the world within a sheet of paper.

"It took you long enough. I'm glad you didn't listen to your wife and choose to go exploring. That would have been a true waste of time, hehe!"

That voiceless voice spoke within the world of white, and Gilgamesh deduced that his consciousness had entered the brain. "You are Truth's Mind, are you not?"

"You could say that. Just as there are Hands of the Old Power, and an infinite number of varying Spirals, so too is Truth's Mind stretched out across all. I am one such extension, responsible for creating this world and preparing it for your final trial."

Gilgamesh frowned as his brows knit together. "Trial? So this is just a game to you, is it? You've been manipulating truth however you wanted ever since I came here, haven't you?"

"It is true that truth is mine to manipulate, but to think this is just a game? Ridiculous. This is far more serious than you can imagine."

Shaking his head, Gilgamesh stopped Truth's Mind before it could continue. "I will listen, but first you must save Ishtar and the rest of my companions."

"Ah yes. You could figure out how to coat yourself in three natures of true energy simultaneously, but couldn't figure out how to bring them back from the dead. Most amusing."

"I don't have time for you to teach me. Just restore them before any permanent damage is done to their souls."

"Rest assured," Truth's Mind chuckled, "no harm can come to them that I cannot undo. They will be restored, so now you can listen."

Gilgamesh nodded, and his ethereal form folded its legs and took a seat. "I believe you have much to tell me, and I have much to ask."

"I'm sure, but first I need to establish a few things."

"Number One: You are prohibited from inquiring about your future, or the futures of those closest to you."

"Number Two: You are prohibited from inquiring about your past."

"Number Three: You are prohibited from inquiring about your truth."

Gilgamesh took a moment to ponder the rules.

"Can you tell me why?"

There was a scoff, "Why? Because Truth's Mind cannot give you any answers regarding those things. That is why."

Gilgamesh nodded, although he made note of the slight annoyance in the voice, which seemed vaguely uncharacteristic of how Truth's Mind had been acting till now.

"Is it because I am without fate?"

This time, there was no answer.

"I see..." Gilgamesh fell silent.

"Now then, we will recount the tale from the beginning. These are the things Truth's Mind has observed. Nothing new can be observed and, as you know, you are prohibited from asking any questions regarding these matters."

Gilgamesh swallowed, "Got it."

"In the beginning, a young man belonging to a sect in the Ancient Forest Nation wound up being drawn into a scheme much larger than himself. He entered his sect's Mystic Realm, which led to a place that exists within another space-time."

"This place was fragile, kept afloat by the dwindling nature of a long-erased power. However, the mystic realm that the young man entered was not so simple as a training ground for the sect's inner court disciples. It was an ancient relic, from a time where many more powers existed than today."

"Being ambushed by his enemies from the sect, that young man was killed within the mystic realm. At the same time, an exile that was connected to the same nature of power that kept the realm alive was finally able to break through, entering the mystic realm from somewhere within the void."

"That person seized control of the mystic realm, and poured out every effort to reawaken the power that once thrived there. In doing so, the mystic realm was transformed into a minor universe, closely resembling what it once was. It reacquired its unique iteration of existence."

"That exile was able to reawaken the power that was supposed to be erased from memory, and attempted to acquire it for himself. The Divine Ones, meaning the Old Power, the Obscure Spark, the Endless Cycle and myself in addition to a few others, discovered what the exile had done."

"We altered this minor universe so that the exile would never be able to cultivate in that power as long as he remained trapped, and trapped he was."

"He would have been trapped here for all eternity, but I discovered that the young sect disciple's soul was now caught up in the minor universe's unique cycle of death and rebirth."

"When I discovered this, the others did as well. They chose to observe how someone who did not belong to that minor universe would go about living. Someone fated to live on in a time and space that was not their own."

"While his many lifetimes did amuse us, some of the Divine Ones began to take true interest in the young man's soul. They sought to test him in a variety of ways, and took a liking to him. I, Truth's Mind, was fascinated by him for a long time."

"I did not particularly like him, but I... could not see... the entirety of his truth."

Gilgamesh realized, due to the way that Truth's Mind spoke, that it was not happy about not being able to see everything.

"This was because he would eventually become severed from fate, something that had happened to numerous others across many dimensions and realities; something that we understood. This only made them more interested in the young man."

"Unfortunately, in one of the young man's more spectacularly lived lifetimes, he was reborn unto the ancient race that was reborn when the exile restored the minor universe. As such, he came to learn of the existence of one of the Divine Ones: the Obscure Spark."

At this point, Gilgamesh was certain that the 'young man' was himself. He had not had much doubt about it, but now he knew without a doubt. That meant that 'the exile' was likely Anu.

"When he acquired this information, it became clear that he was one favored by a number of the Divine Ones. His power as a demigod allowed him to come ever closer to the nature of the Obscure Spark. That gave his spirit access to a fraction of the total true energy he should have possessed."

"When the exile learned of this, he became uneasy. He poured out every effort in attempts to understand the young man, hoping that he could acquire knowledge of a new nature by studying him. Obviously, as he was not favored by any of the Divine Ones, he could not do so."

"Then what did he come to learn? Why go so far as to sacrifice the power he painstakingly acquired?"

Truth's Mind sucked its teeth-- if that was possible-- and dryly responded with, "No questions."

"While the exile did not acquire the knowledge of a new nature, he did acquire knowledge regarding the young man's origins. He did not belong to the minor universe, and was fated to exist somewhere else. The exile desired that fate, so he sacrificed the thing that was keeping him trapped within the minor dimension."

"By invoking a trade with a Divine One, the exile would allow the erased power to be erased once more, and would sever and steal the young man's fate. The Old Power carried out this trade personally, so as to prevent any mishaps."

"The young man's fate was stolen, and the Old Power did not erase the power it took from the exile. It allowed the young man to acquire it instead."