As Kharon slowly went up to where the Obsidian slate had once between, he noticed that there was something on the ground; a book.
The book was thick due to the high amount of pages, the cover was surrounded by black tendrils which looked more like ribbons. Kharon felt wary of the dark grimiore but decided to try and pick it up; half expecting the dark tendrils to shoot up and attack him. But to his surprise he was able to carry the book without any issues.
He tried pulling the bindings off but they didn't budge. As he continued to test out different methods of opening the grimiore, he made a sudden realisation.
The grimiore seemed to possess the same eerie feeling as the items scattered around the room, and he had received a bit of knowledge of what that energy was...
It was Aether. A type of energy source which flowed in everything. It was the power which allowed him to use his mystical abilities and the same power which flowed out of the creature that he killed.
It wasn't meant to be necesarily eerie but that seemed to be unique to the path of mysteries... And maybe other paths. For all he knew every path that existed had a special type of Aether powering it. It wouldn't mean they are completely different power sources but they just had very different properties.
Kharon quickly thought of using his abilities, but dismissed the idea as he might damage the dark grimiore. So instead he concentrated on feeling his Essence core and extracting some energy from it.
He could feel the calm, serene energy flowing through his body and moving towards his hands. He then guided it to the grimiore and felt it leaving through his finger tips.
The tendrils on the grimiore slowly began to recede into seemingly nowhere until the grimiore was fullt free of it's constraints. Kharon then opened the eerie book and found that... Nothing was written on the first page.
He was perplexed but decided to turn to another page. Like the previous one, it was completely blank.
He proceded to quickly flick through the entire book, finding that every single page was devoid of words. Sighing in resignation, Kharon closed the book and began pondering on the implications of this.
The Obsidian slate had had an explanation of what Kharon had to do to get out of his predicament. So what if he just asked a question to the book?
Sighing at the obsurdity of what he was about to do, Kharon asked in a low voice, "How exactly do you work?".
A long, akward silence was followed by his words. Before he could ask another question, the grimiore suddenly opened and flicked through several pages before remaining on one. Then dark, inky words began appearing one after the other on the page.
They read, "Just ask a question and your inquiry will be answered."
Kharon's eyes widened at the sight of the book answering him. He was so startled in fact that he accidently let go of the book. As the grimiore was about to hit the floo, Kharon dived down and caught it.
He was unsure of why he had acted so irrationally, but thought that it was better if he didn't disrespect the book. What if it decided to not answer his questions on how to escape this mauseleum? Then he would be trapped here forever.
Kharon made sure that he didn't crease the pages of the book, before asking it another question.
"Are you living? Or sentient?", his voice reverberated through the large hall before the grimiore answered his question.
"I am not a living thing. And I am not quite sentient. I am just a mystic construct of the path of mysteries, which answers any questions asked to me by a weilder of the path of mysteries."
Kharon decided to another question after thinking about what the grimiore had said, or answered? He was still unsure of how exactly it functioned. "Then you can't answer the question of a weilder from another path? By the way just how many paths are there and what are the all called?"
The answer to his question was quickly answered after a few seconds. "I can still answer the questions of other weilders but they would need to expend a lot more Aether as theirs is not compatible with mine. To answer your other questions, there was fifteen Arcane Paths: Chronos, Cosmos, Fate, Radiance, Nature, Order, Reflection, Chaos, Depravity, Knowledge, Imagination, Enhancement, Darkness, Death and Mysteries."
Kharon was surprised to find out that there were only fifteen paths; he was expecting the grimiore to tell him that there were no limits to the Arcane Path, that each path represented an aspect of reality. But to discover that only fifteen paths existed, including his own was a bit shocking.
He asked yet another question, "Why are there so few? I thought that there would be one for every concept in the universe; therefore an infinite amount. If the amounts of paths are so limited then what about the other concepts of the universe which are not present in the other paths?"
"I am unsure of the reason, but I do know that every concept in the universe is contained in the Astral Realm. A place filled with boundless knowledge and power where the Gods resides. It is from the Astral Realm that Arcane weilder receive their Essences after their ritual."
Kharon was once again shocked to discover that the source of his powers and that of many others came from a single place. He couldn't quite fathom how a single place could encapsulate so many different things. Would it mean that all life was also contained in the Astral Realm as that is where the concept of Life resides?
It took Kharon a long time to process this information and compose himself before thinking about the next question. He had now found out the origin of his powers and how exactly he received them. So he decided to ask another question on the nature of his own powers.
"Why exactly have my mind, body and soul half assimilated with my tier 5 Essence core?"
The black ink slowly receded before appearing once more; this time at a comparatively slower rate than before. "It is because you are attuned to the path of mysteries. To assimilate with your Essence core, your values and understanding must align with the core message and concepts of your path. Once you completely align with your path's primary values, then your tier 5 Essence core will completely assimilate with your soul, and you will be able to ascend to a higher tier; tier 4"
Without wasting a single second, Kharon asked the next question. "What are the core messages and concepts of the path of mysteries?"
"I don't know the complete messages and concepts of the path of mysteries. What I do know are the core messages and concepts of tier 5, tier 4 and a bit of tier 3. Also your path's core message tends to be related to the ritual. For tier 5 of the path of mysteries, you must be detached from everyone you love, never letting them know your true thoughts and always remaining a bit of enigma. This also applies to people you aren't attacked to with but at a lesser degree."
Kharon wondered just what kind of person would be willing to go down such a path if they knew the sacrifice required for these powers. The ritual on it's own was very repelling so he was sure that no one would want to go down this path. He would have been reluctant to do the ritual if he had a family to go back to, but he didn't have anyone. That was what he thought atleast.
The black ink continued to appear out of thin air and continued, "At tier 4, you need to not only make yourself mysterious, but also the knowledge concerning you. The tier 4 ritual for the path of mysteries requires you to hide a once commonly known fact and make it a secret that very few or even no one except yourself knows. So to assimilate with a tier 4 Essence core, you would need to hide important facts from others, becoming a keeper of secrets."
The ink stopped for a second before writing out a final paragraph. "Finally at tier 3, to assimilate with a tier 3 Essence core, you uncover a secrets. I am unsure of the full core message and concepts. I also don't know the full ritual, however it involves making something known, it might be a lost piece of history, a secret concerning the gods or even just a word lost to time. That is all I know about the path of mysteries. I don't know much about the other paths either but I can give you a brief summary of what they can do."
Kharon was getting tired of having to ask questions and read long answers. Why couldn't the grimiore just shorten the explanations? Then again it would lead to him having a understanding of what has to be done.
He just wanted to escape the mauseleum and never comeback. But he knew that this would be his only way of gaining valuable for free. He doubted that people in the outside world; whoever they were, would readily share their knowledge. Especially if it was this vital for the comprehension of how the paths functioned.
In a subdued tone, Kharon asked "Why was I locked in this mauseleum? How long had it been and how do I escape? Also can you tell me anything about the other mystic constructs in this place?"
"I don't know why you were sealed in this mauseleum. I am also unsure how the exact amount of time it has been; though I would estimate that, it has been over a century..."