What Life Means to Science (Rayage)

[Eridanus]

Day 30, Summer of 500 AV
Mid-Morning
Garden of No Return

Though it was summer, the morning was cooling enough, and the vantha Eridanus found himself strolling through the streets of Alvadas. He was going to get more familiar with this city! There were many wonders and mysteries that Alvadas had to offer, and he was a sucker for them. People often say that his curiosity was going to get him killed one day, but yet he still followed his wishes. To gain something one had to risk something, that was the law of equivalent exchange, after all.

The city decided to throw him into one particular location, a seemingly innocuous-looking garden with hedges and benches. It looked like the perfect place to breathe in clean air and clear one's mind, to have a picnic or a date with one's beloved.

The Garden of No Return. Oh yes, he had heard of this place many times. Many adventurers he had met outside of Alvadas and who had visited the city before had bragged about returning alive from the Garden's maze, and a small few boasted about being able to get out with relatively minor injuries within three days. What was the big deal anyway?

A maze was just a maze.

Eridanus suspected that illusions might be at work, and so he cautiously took a peek inside the hedges. He was still in one place, that was fine. Deciding to just throw caution to the wind, he stepped into the maze, fully transferring his body into the series of grass hedges. The exit was still behind him, that was good.

He decided to just continue walking straight, every once in a while taking a look behind to make sure the exit was visible. It seemed like quite an ordinary maze to him, no illusions or no shifting of locations. Perhaps he was lucky? Or maybe the adventurers were actually wandering around the maze while high on dreamsmoke?

Shrugging, he turned a corner, finding himself in a clearing.

He was not quite alone.

[Rayage]

The study of life, what a broad subject. Why was here? The nuit looked around, the maze was nothing spectacular, but it was brimming with life, the very subject that he was studying. Other than that he had no reason to be in this maze. He wasn’t nearly as entertained by the prospect of the maze as others in the city seemed to be.

He hadn’t been in Alvadas for very long, no, just passing through, but that was no reason to stop studying life. Sometimes though, research demands sacrifice. Sacrifice demands understanding and understanding demands knowledge, and knowledge is what he sought. The nitty details of life that is the understanding which he needed to understand, not only that but the alchemical reactions and the flow of life within a circle and how it can be manipulated and changed though the process of alchemy. There was a lot to be done and little time. He was getting quite bored of his constant stream of failures.

He wasn’t here for the challenge of the maze but for reasons entirely of his own. Perhaps he also chose this place for privacy issues. People were said to get lost in this maze, that much he knew, but not much else. The threat of being lost didn’t faze him for long. He had years before his body would rot away and he would perish. That would be more than enough time to get out of this maze. This place though had a certain charm about it. Hands quickly picked at colored flowers as he randomly started collecting some resources for study. Of course he wouldn’t just pick the flowers at the stem, but he would dig and be sure to collect the roots as well. He was going to try to combine them together for his first little trick. Well pick and choose properties, isn’t that what nature does already? The strong survive, and that is what Ray was trying to do: make the world a stronger place. Sometimes change happens too slow…

Finding a clearing he quickly set his sets of flowers down. He had chosen them because of the colors they possessed. He had had four of each color flowerColor meaning the petals which he had found, four purple flowers , four red, four yellow, four orange, four blue, and four pink. He had been wandering for quite a while, no particular direction. This clearing was just perfect size for the nuit, and possibly one other. Going to work he started laying the circle. He needed to get to work.

Once the circle was constructed he looked at the variety of flowers which he had to choose from. ”Decisions, decisions…” he talked to himself. What was his goal with these experiments? Just to splice the flowers… No, he could come do something more drastic. He began to look around the area for something else to use, A bug-flower.” he mused.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus found himself looking at a man in the clearing. A fellow man lost in the mysteries of the maze? No, not quite. For he had a collection of flowers arranged neatly in front of him, with a suspicious-looking circle drawn in the ground. A random lost person would not do anything other than try to find his way out. No, this man clearly had a purpose in coming here.

Perhaps the use of some strange form of magic that Eridanus was not familiar with? That was quite possible, for the vantha had no idea just how much different forms of magic existed in the world.

It might not be magic, though. Perhaps a ritual to the gods? An eccentric artist trying out new forms of expressions for his art? Or maybe just a random madman?

The stranger was muttering to himself as he looked around, and Eridanus caught his eye when he looked up. That was when he realized that the man looked quite... unalive. To a normal person he would probably looked like he had not slept for weeks, but the vantha knew better. He had spent a couple of decades in the undead island of Sahova upon his fall into mortality, and was quite apt at recognizing Nuits. After all, all Sahova had were nuits and the stray pulser. Like himself.

A nuit usually meant magic was involved. After all, nuits themselves were a product of magic.

"Hail, stranger," Eridanus greeted the man, though not giving away any indication that he suspected the nature of the man nor what he was doing.

[Rayage]

Nothing is as it seems, especially in this place. If one would look close enough they could see subtle changes in the environment, a tree shift here and an opening close there. It was all part of the maze, the ever shifting maze. This place was constantly changing, but it still wasn’t good enough. No, this change was artificial, it was a product of the illusions, and it was not a real. Real change comes from within and starts with a thought. There was an order to change, a predictability to it all, but so far this city was nothing but random.

Looking again at the flowers he picked one up and looked at it, thorns carefully adorning the shaft of the stem. Placing it in the circle, the red petals adorned the fount side of things, ”Alchemy can bring true change.” he muttered to himself, ”Unlike the illusions this city.” he sounded almost disgusted as he talked about Alvadas. He was going to go on, but he heard a voice. Frowning, he looked up to see the man before him. He chose this place for the privacy.

”Creature...” he responded the thought of his experiment being more interesting with a human, err, humanish component. Living, moving things, always added an excellent spice to experiments. Nah, no. Things like this always got him into trouble. He would stick to his plan. Plants and insects could further his research. Though he was far more interested in the intellect of the sentient. He would place another red headed flower in the fount slot of the alchemy circle. ”Are you going to just stand there?” he asked lifting his eyes once again from the circle, ”Or are you going to try to find a way out of this maze before your mortal body fails you?”

All creatures valued life. All they want to do is live. Though when preforming alchemy, especially centered around life and creation of homunculi, one had to use logic. To advance there must be sacrifice. To advance one has to be willing to lose, to give it all, and that is what the mortal race did not understand. Life to science is just a stepping stone. To improve life it must be taken, sacrificed, but in return knowledge will come to those who survive and their lives will be bettered. The problem is everyone wants to benefit and nobody wants to sacrifice. The living are foolish in that regard, and it seems that it would take an undead, it will take Rayage, to open the eyes of those who are blind to the truth. With enough sacrifice anything can be accomplished, even the creation of life itself.

”You still standing there? The nuit watched the other, ”Fool.” he was ever so quick to judge, his voice was cracked and dry, it sounded worn and tired, ”You are wasting time.” as he said that he would go to a nearby apple tree which just sprouted and collect an armful of apples, ”And it should be used to advance ones place in the world. Should it not?” why not try to teach the young a lesson in life? He got back to his place and set the apples down by the flowers, ”If you are not constantly evolving, learning, changing, morphing, seeking then you are wasting time. Time without change is time wasted. I ask you, why are you wandering this maze?” taking out his knife he started to peel the skin off an apple, slowly he worked the knife around being ever so careful not to damage the fruit laying under it. It was a delicate procedure and one to be taken with the upmost seriousness.

[Eridanus]

The strange looking man finally realized the existence of the vantha and addressed him quite pompously. Eridanus chuckled inwardly, for unlike any of the other mortal races he could stay in the maze for centuries without any problems, the moonlight providing him sufficient sustenance, and him being untouched by the ravages of age.

As the man returned to his strange workings on the ground, Eridanus began to mentally search the djed streams within his astral body. Out of curiosity, he did not make a reply, instead relying on extended observations. His physical observations already told him that the man had a sluggish movement similar to that of extremely weary travelers, and the eye-bags and pale skin spoke of malnutrition and prolonged exhaustion.

Tapping into the astral energy within his body, he began by first imagining his current perspective as that from a man looking out of a window in his house. His mortal shell was the house, and his inquisitive soul the inhabitant. The window was his eyes, and his curent physical senses the wispy curtains that covered the window. In order to truly look beyond the curtains, to remove the obstacles that prevented him from truly seeing the world he had to muster the strength to remove it.

With that thought clear in his mind, he consumed a small bit of djed within his body to fuel the energy needed to push apart the metaphorical curtains, and as he did so he laid his eyes on the bustling stranger intent on his business on the ground.

The true form of the world was revealed to him, and the man's true form was revealed upon the vantha's singular attention. Almost instantly, a putrid smell wafted to Eri's nose, and though he cringed imperceptibly he knew that this smell was not a physical one and instead the result of his nose processing the man's aura. Auristics was not a purely physical art, it was one that made use of five senses.

The man's aura had a larger cloud than most, which signified his status as a practitioner of magic, as well as a being of magic. At least this observation confirmed the vantha's suspicions. He blinked his eyes a few times, releasing his conscious grip on the consumption of djed to maintain the metaphorical curtains of his sight, and the putrid smell along with the visualization of the nuit's aura faded away as his senses returned to that of the mortal plane.

The man spoke again, and the vantha found it intriguing for he had a similar thought. He was not as obsessive about that as the nuit, for unlike those undead creatures he still required sleep and nutrition sometimes, he was immortal yet not fully immortal, sharing characteristics from both celestial beings and mortal men.

"Indeed, stranger. One must never be complacent in evolving," Eridanus agreed. It was a philosophy he held, and this belief was complemented by his strong pursuance of Wysar's ideals of constant training, constant learning, constant progress and constant evolution.

"I come here to satisfy my curiosity. Despite that is it considered a waste of time? Nothing is ever a waste of time if it was done with a purpose, when the action is done with a goal, and when that goal has a reward. I see my reward quite tangibly, but I'm afraid I do not see yours, nuit," The vantha said the last word softly and casually, making it subtly clear to the undead that he knew of his true form, but not broadcasting it obviously to see if the man noticed.

[Rayage]

The nuit watched and listened and from time to time rearranged the flowers, looking at each of them intently. He picked up an orange one and examined it closely, shoving it close to his eyes, his hands running over the petals noting the texture. With that done he set it down and picked up the blue one and did the same thing. He seemed to be making mental notes of whatever he was looking for in the flowers. Nothing seemed to be odd about them and he nodded, either to himself or to the Eridanus it would remain unknown.

Rayage seemed to chuckle when the man got to end of his speech. If he thought the response was funny or there was something funny about the flowers one could speculate, ”Nuit.” he seemed taken back by the word as he spoke it as if he hadn’t realized or even acknowledged his condition, ”I like to think of myself as an immortal.” he said, ”Nuit has such a negative connotation.” he said waving a dismissing hand at the words as if it would dispel all the negativity around the phrase. He continued working, his mind musing the different possibilities…

”Nothing is ever a waste of time if it was done with a purpose, when the action is done with a goal, and when the goal has a reward.” he quoted the man, ”How short sighted and misguided.” he frowned placing a flower within the center of the circle, this one was blue. Picking up one of the orange flowers he carefully produced a knife and painstakingly cut off the head of the flower discarding the stem to the filter of the circle and placing the petal part in the fount slot. ”One shouldn’t act for just reward. No” he shook his head, ”Nor should one just act out of curiosity. Having a goal isn’t enough, seeing the reward in sight isn’t enough. No, its too shortsighted. Acting with purpose is good, but there is always something more.” he said going to a red flower and cutting its head off and placing it into the fount slot, again placing the stem in the filter slot.

”The sum of all actions taken, the sum of all rewards gained,” he paused observing the circle, ”Would you say that is the sum of the persons existence?” he asked. ”No.” he answered his own question, ”There is always something more.” he said taking the same blade and using it to draw a bit of ichor from a lone extended index finger, ”Wouldn’t you agree?” he smiled, he had set his trap. Now all he had to do is watch and see what the other would do, how he would react to what the nuit had said. Shortsightedness was something that he couldn’t stand. Even he was prone to it sometimes, not as much as the other ‘mortal’ races.

Letting the ichor drop onto the circle he started the initial reaction, concentrating on it, the circle, willing the Djed to move as he listened for the response…

[Eridanus]

"A word is a word," Eridanus rolled his eyes at the undead's comment, "any connotations are simply a social construct. Something assigned meaning to it by the current society and local community. You are a nuit, that is by definition. However, you are not immortal. You possess traits mortals do not have, yet you are fallable just as how mortals are fallable. Lacking certain requirements you will most certainly die."

A brow was raised, as he pondered the nuit's verbal assault. "Oh? What constitutes a 'waste of time', then? Whether something is a waste of time is highly dependent on context, just as each action in each context apply differently to each individual."

Watching the nuit arrange the flowers, his senses began tingling in a mild way, warning him through experience as to what may come.

"No, obviously not. Yet, that question is irrelevant to whether an action is a waste of time. The sum of a person's existence is the essence of the total, accumulated soul. We cannot hope to unlock what this essence of the soul mean, whether it is the culmination of knowledge and evolution and actions done, choices taken. No, with our current knowledge we cannot hope to see the pattern."

Glancing up from the magical conduit that the nuit was forming, he stared straight at the man, uncaring if he returned his intense gaze.

"What then, should one act for? A higher purpose? Monetary gain? Personal gain? To feel self-actualization?" Eridanus emphasized with a little sneer. "No, the meaning of the action yet again depends on context. Therefore a person invests into a particular action when that action has the maximum benefit to him."

Context, it is all context. Throughout his years of interaction with mortals he had came up with his own little theory on the decision making model that could be applied, and he realized everything could be summed up in terms of costs and benefits. All actions were simply subconsciously assigned a value depending on context and unique importance to the decision-maker.

The ethaefal's eyes widened when the nuit released a drop of its life essence into the symbolic array arranged on the ground, and his passive auristics senses tingled again as he felt a tiny itch directing him towards the array.

"What are you doing, nuit?" He questioned sharply, though making sure to maintain his calm. Never show weakness or one would be easily devoured.

[Rayage]

After the man disagreed with him, Ray zoned out and continued his work. The mans words fell on deaf ears, but the noise didn’t stop. It was annoying, disturbing even. He frowned; this is what he gets for being nice all the time. People don’t stop thinking that you care about what they have to say, and think you would like an educated argument. Ray chose this maze because it seemed to be one of the more secluded spots in Alvadas. It was not because he wanted an audience, and when the man asked him that question, what was he doing, the nuit got up from his work. ”What am I doing? What are you doing here pestering a nuit and his work?” he asked, ”Im doing research. I study life, you know. Now if you wont mind, I need to get some experiments done.”

With that he rearranged the flowers again, but he couldn’t help but notice that the man was still there. Annoyed he crushed a flower in his palm before throwing it across the opening. ”This will never work anyways. Youre just wandering and happen to stumble upon me.” he sounded suspicious as he started to take apart the alchemy circle in front of him, ”I don’t know if I can trust a person like you. So I will continue my studies when people like you are out of sight.” he said, picking up the wire of the alchemy circle, coiling it, and putting it within the folds of his robes. ”So, now all I have to do is get out of this maze.” he was thinking aloud now. ”It was nice meeting you, sir.” he said as he began off into the maze, only to appear in the opening which he just walked out of, and back into the clearing again. Turning around he tried again.

People so below him didnt deserve to see the art of Alchemy employed anyways, Rayage reassured himself as he walked.

[Eridanus]

"Ah? Research?" Eridanus remarked in a curious tone. He was always interested in magic and its derivatives, and it seemed that this nuit was in the midst of a discipline that he was not aware of. Before he could say anything else, though, the wizard walked off in a huffy tone, probably rather miffed at his verbal attack earlier.

Strangely, Ionu had a sense of humor, for the wizard was prevented from leaving the maze. Instead, there was a form of deja vu as the vantha watched the nuit leave the maze, only to enter from the opposite, and he watched the corpse walk by him several times in that manner.

"Not going to work, isn't it?" The child of the Aurora commented leisurely as he turned his head, watching the wizard walk in increasingly desperate strides.

"The city's like that sometimes you know, maybe you have to finish what you intended to start before it would let you leave."