The signing ceremony took place in what was, without opposition, the most extravagant room I had ever seen inside the Nexus Order's headquarters.
If the rest of the structure had merely embraced ornamentation, this room celebrated it.
From the massive round pillars covered in intricate carvings stretching toward a domed ceiling depicting scenes of ancient expeditions and forgotten achievements.
To hundreds of actual relics recovered from across the Red Sand Realm occupying alcoves and display cases along the walls.
To the architecture enabling the afterglow of the Red Sand Realm Rift to pour in through tall openings overlooking the forty-fifth floor below...
It was excessive.
Purposefully excessive.
Clearly, this room was not only built to impress visitors and host important events, it was also built to represent the Nexus Order's [Purpose] through the lens of its achievements.
As such, it made no doubt in my mind that if they could, the station network map would already be hanging somewhere.
At the center of the room, there was a long table, upon which rested the finalized affiliation [Contract] I minorly contributed to making a reality.
Hundreds of pages.
Hundreds of revisions.
Six days of work.
All condensed into a single document.
Everyone who had been invited to join in this event was now watching in silence as Murad and Stavros, accompanied by their respective [Contract] binders, approached from opposite sides.
No speeches preceded the signing.
No final negotiations.
Everything that needed to be said had already been said.
Everything that needed to be argued had already been argued.
Now, only commitment remained.
Murad signed first.
His pen moved steadily across the final page.
Stavros followed.
Then the two [Contract] binders did their things, manifesting the contract within both Murad and Stavros' Essence.
A few minutes later, it was done.
The affiliation [Contract] between the Fairy House and the Nexus Order was now official.
"May this agreement stand as the foundation of endeavors neither of our organizations could have achieved alone," Murad declared.
"And may the opportunities we uncover together exceed even our most optimistic expectations," Stavros replied with what could only be called a political smile, prompting a similar one to spread across Murad's face.
After that came what could only be described as a... small celebration?
It was nothing like the "celebrations" described in entertainment books, though; Individuals from both sides simply began discussing what this new affiliation status would mean in practice.
When would the next expedition be organized?
When would the Order's reinforcements arrive?
How was the Order handling the establishment of its first outpost in the Red Sand Realm?
How, and where, did the Fairy House intend to invest its considerable wealth?
If it had been up to me, I would have already left.
From everything I was hearing, nothing of particular worth was being discussed.
It was all just pointless social mingling.
Still, this was as good an opportunity as any to shroud myself in [Secrecy] even as I was attempting to determine whether there existed some deeper purpose behind such a seemingly inefficient use of time.
Until someone decided to approach me, that was.
"Have you reconsidered joining the Order since we last parted?" Evija asked me directly without so much as a foreword.
That the question itself was loaded with dozens upon dozens of deeper and subtler insinuations made reaching the [Ideal] answer to it slightly difficult, but not so much that I felt challenged by it.
It was, arguably, even uncomplicated given my circumstances.
"My Path does not require me to seek an external [Purpose] to drive it. The day I join the Nexus Order will be the day my own [Purpose] overlaps with it. If the order doesn't reach out to me first, that is."
Evija nodded, seemingly unsurprised by my answer.
Then, having apparently obtained everything she sought from interacting with me, she excused herself and left me to my own thoughts once more.
An hour of what amounted to little more than social exchange, with no concrete meetings arranged and no promises made beyond vague indications of future intent, later, this meaningless celebration finally ended.
By the time the Fairy House's delegation made it outside, at long last, things returned to how they were supposed to be.
"Alright, let's go, we have a new prospective property to investigate on the thirty-ninth floor."
As in, Stavros and I parted from the rest of the Fairy House members so that I may resume my [Cultivation] in preparation for my journey towards the Everwell Sector.
◇ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◇
As it turned out, writing the fundamental texts of my [Faith] was a wickedly difficult endeavor.
Not difficult in the sense of being unable to find [Ideal] words and string sentences capable of inducing [Faith] and [Inspiration] in equal measure.
Difficult in that while I knew I wanted to be heavily involved in the shaping of my [Faith], I had yet to strategize anything about it beyond its grand design of serving my Path above all.
As such, writing an autobiography was a given, as it was one part of my Path that would never shift even centuries from now, considering it was my history.
Beyond that, though?
Beyond that, it was honestly an unholy mess due to how my Path revolved entirely around me and was solely about me.
Even my prospective [Faith]-handling Aspect line was planned from the ground up to be wholly about me.
And no amount of self-[Awareness] could convince me otherwise.
Hence, when it came to interrogations like whether those who dedicated their [Faith] to me should be authorized to have [Faith] in another Path, be it their own or someone that would unavoidably fail their expectations...
I didn't, or actually couldn't, know what the best answer was.
And that was without stepping into the quagmire that was how involved my [Faith] was to be.
How did I intend to interact with my [Faith]ful?
By being completely indifferent to their pleas?
By providing them with some sort of [Guided] commands?
How much Essence development would attending them cause?
How far should my Origin Aspect be reflected in my [Faith]?
Should it be such an integral part of it as to effectively even overshadow the "Solaena" part of my Path?
Could I somehow leverage it so that I achieved a pseudo-[Guided] Essence [Cultivation] by letting my [Faith] loan [Guided]'s abilities to others?
Did I want my [Faith] to include traditional divine elements?
From all I read about the [Divinity]-related Aspects, they were very much not that relevant to my [Paragon] quest, regardless of how [Transcendent]al they appeared to be, but that wouldn't stop me if I could find uses for them...
After days of passive [Insight]-seeking, I was still coming up with more questions than answers when it came to the practical, fine details of the foundation of my [Faith].
Reading over all the questions I came up with during my last few days of having seriously delved into the topic, I was even coming to question the necessity of creating any other records apart from an epic recounting of my Path from its nascence to its yearning for the Everwell Sector.
As for auxiliary documents like a detailed overview of my Aspects, my fundamental [Truth] of [Exertion]-turned-fundamental [Truth] of [Cultivation], my [Insight]s on what my Path was about, the importance of [Will] and [Ambition]s...
I may as well simply include them in my epic and make it a thousand-page-long epic.
At least that way, I would guarantee that anyone who read it would know exactly what they were getting into if they formed the [Faith] Aspect to dedicate it to my Path.
Of course, that my epic would lack a tangible segment dedicated to how I intended to handle their [Faith] would be a massive disservice, but what else could I do about that?
I couldn't lie, could I?
Even making vague promises I was quasi-certain to be capable of fulfilling one day served little purpose if I already knew I wouldn't write them with conviction.
I had yet to form the [Inspiration] Aspect, after all, and the day my first interaction with [Faith] occurred would be the day I successfully synthesized the Second Order [Ideal] Aspect.
Years away.
If I were still following my present planning, that was...
How far would my Path have come years from now, after all?
So... I decided the conclusive [Insight] I reached would suffice and stopped peering deeper into the bottomless well of questioning that was the grand future [Faith] of Solaena.
There ultimately came a point where additional reflection ceased to produce meaningful [Insight]s, at least that facet of [Comprehension], I already grasped.
Better to leave the matter dormant until I had accumulated the [Knowledge] necessary to advance it further.
Turning to a new page, I thus intended to start writing a rough draft of the epic nascence of my Path.
"Solaena."
That was, until Stavros manifested directly above my chosen hiding place, announcing his presence by speaking my name.
"A good hiding spot," he judged after a second of silence, "but one chosen with the mindset of someone trying not to be seen, rather than someone trying not to be found."
I quietly tucked away my notebook.
I did not grumble.
I did not attempt to prove him wrong.
I did not even bother arguing that his familiarity with the Fairy House's grounds undoubtedly gave him an unfair advantage.
Such excuses were fundamentally meaningless.
[Secrecy] was not a concept that tolerated excuses and ambiguity.
Granted, the boundaries inevitably blurred once one accounted for differences in [Perception], information, preparation, scrutiny...
And a hiding place sufficient against one observer could prove utterly inadequate against another...
But that merely changed the standard against which success was measured.
A pointless comparison.
It did not change the outcome itself.
Stavros had found me.
Therefore, by the only metric that presently mattered, I had failed, regardless of how I extended my hiding time from a couple of minutes initially to now sixteen or so minutes.
"Alright, let's stop this game of hide-and-seek. Prepare yourself for a long journey into the Red Sand Realm. Consider it a simulation of your future journey to the Everwell Sector, the first of however many expeditions it takes before you're deemed [Worthy] of traversing the Nexus Realm."
After saying that, he disappeared.
Despite my eyes having remained firmly fixed upon him, he vanished as though he had never occupied that patch of air to begin with.
One instant, he was there.
The next, he wasn't.
And my [Awareness], just like always, failed to perceive even the slightest hint of how such a feat had been accomplished.
No abnormal sound.
No unusual shift of air.
Nothing.
That was simply what two hundred and seventy years of Essence development allowed one to accomplish.
I presumed that was even accomplished without truly trying.
What an [Ideal] reminder of what powerlessness felt like...
My [Ambition] gave it at worst four years before I pierced through [Stealth] of this level like it was nothing, though.
Taking off, I dared to believe.
◇ ◈ ◈ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◈ ◈ ◇
"Right here and now, apart from the two of us, no one else can grasp our existence."
Stavros' voice was nearly drowned out by the relentless, deafening winds, yet, like everything else he did or told me to do, in the end, it somehow simply worked.
Infiltration.
Assassination.
Stalking.
He had even gone so far as to make lying just another tool that could be wielded to embody [Secrecy].
And now, seated atop one of the Order's slowly expanding Red Sand outposts supposedly located somewhere in the vague vicinity of where an atmospheric station once was, according to the station network map...
He was making me go through my [Secrecy] synthesis [Cultivation] within a sandstorm after effortlessly finding me hidden amidst the boundless sky radiance.
"All traces of your existence, enduring though they may be, are being drowned out by the storm. The heat you radiate, your scent, each of your heartbeats, your [Cultivation] [Cycle], every tiny fragment of yourself you leave behind with each passing second... all of it is being obscured."
Still, if there was one thing that had changed over the past four months since he began guiding my [Cultivation], it was that.
"Your entire existence smothered until nothing remains exposed, becoming just another grain of sand in an endless expanse of infinite sands. Unremarkable. Indiscernible."
His words.
The methods through which he mentored me.
"Such is the straightforward nature of [Secrecy], and the first step toward protecting yourself from some of the nastiest Aspects you will come to know as you strive to prove yourself [Worthy] against ever more dire odds."
Regardless of how wildly sand rained down without end, the [Clarity] with which he explained his ideas never faltered, always helping my [Insight]s and [Comprehension] along.
Perhaps it was only possible because of the immeasurable gap separating us in every conceivable regard, but I truly had no complaints about the results.
Because when it came to results...
I was there.
After placing my [Secrecy] synthesis [Cultivation] at the very top of my Essence development priority list.
After neglecting even normally indispensable parts of my [Cultivation] routine, such as my [Will] [Cultivation].
After dedicating four entire months of Essence development to a single objective...
I was there.
Not an enlightenment away.
Not an [Insight] away.
Not even an opportunity away.
Smothered beneath a sandstorm that concealed everything, [Guided] by Stavros' words and the accumulation of my own efforts...
It simply clicked.
Aspect Lost: [Darkness] (Tier 1)Aspect Formed: [Secrecy] (Tier 0)
Slipping into communion, I beheld the smoothest Aspect synthesis disorder I had experienced yet.
No violent ripples.
No surges.
No crashing flows.
No localized anomalies beyond those caused by my permanent overdevelopment disorder...
My [Darkness] Aspect was directly and quietly assimilated into something greater.
And unlike when I synthesized my [Cultivation] and [Awareness] Aspects, I did not feel the concept filling and overflowing with new [Insight]s waiting for me to fathom and apprehend.
It was [Secrecy] exactly as I understood it.
All of its shortcomings.
All of its strengths.
All of its potential.
Within a matter of hours, the synthesis both began and concluded, clearing one of the final milestones Stavros had imposed before deeming me fit to undertake my journey toward the Everwell Sector.
As for how something so seamless could happen...
I could only assume it was the natural culmination of devoting four uninterrupted months to the [Cultivation] of a single concept...
Or maybe something else was at play, and I missed something critical.
I would assuredly grant the question additional considerations once I had the time.
For now, though, I flowed through the motion of a complete communion, parsing the [Truth] of my existence and Path...
[Guided] (Origin)[Cultivation] (Tier 1)[Insight] (Tier 3)[Awareness] (Tier 1)[Secrecy] (Tier 0)[Will] (Tier 3)[Focus] (Tier 2)[Harmony] (Tier 0)[Ambition] (Tier 0)
...then resurfaced, ready to report my success and face whatever remaining trials Stavros had prepared for me.
The sandstorm had already passed during the hours I spent in communion.
Nonetheless, aside from having sat down to meditate next to me, my mentor seemingly had not moved an inch.
Evidently, however, he immediately opened his eyes when I emerged, looking at me as though he already knew everything.
Which, considering him, was not an entirely unreasonable assumption.
"[Secrecy] Aspect synthesized," I reported.
"Good."
He gave a slow nod, his gaze leaving me to linger over the endless expanse of red sand reshaped by the passing storm.
I suspected that with my successful [Secrecy] synthesis [Cultivation], a lot must now be going through his mind.
Because for all that my entire Essence development quota had been devoted to synthesizing [Secrecy], during the remainder of my time, I had also breezed through every preparatory trial he had thrown at me.
Accordingly, his teachings had gradually shifted away from practical techniques and toward increasingly spiritual and conceptual principles.
In short, I had already learned everything necessary to reach the Everwell Sector on my own if circumstances demanded it.
Hence, everything he could still teach me that remained immediately relevant was becoming increasingly abstract and disconnected.
I did not doubt for an instant that, if he truly wished, he could still introduce me to a hundred more concepts, each more or less pertinent to my Path...
But my circumstances and my [Ambition] were what they were.
And so were my priorities.
"Coordinate with the Order as an independent scout for another month," he eventually said.
"If you return without losing a limb or getting hopelessly lost, I'll begin arranging your journey to the Everwell Sector. If not, I'll prepare another three or four months of trials, during which we'll address whatever weaknesses remain."
"Understood."
I considered the matter for a moment, then added, "I'll just go fetch some writing supplies before I leave. If this is to be my last time wandering the Red Sand Realm, I should find some time to experience writing 'The Nascence of Solaena' while I'm free to fly in any direction I want."
Stavros nodded dismissively, not deigning to remind me that unnecessarily weighing myself down before a long journey was generally considered suboptimal.
"My last journey through an endless sky before I once again accept the shackles of the Nexus Realm's Stratas. It will make for an excellent final chapter of the first edition of 'The Nascence of Solaena'," I finished, comfortable with this level of verbosity.
After months of being [Guided] to speak at this level, I guessed it simply came naturally to me now, not even requiring a bit of [Guided]'s assistance to construct this sort of sentence.
"Don't forget to add a smile the next time you say something like that," he abruptly said before I could leave.
I immediately plastered a polite smile onto my face and nodded in respectful acknowledgment.
"And when being corrected, you should display an appropriate amount of embarrassment," he added, the faintest hint of a grin appearing on his face.
I rolled my eyes in the best way I and [Guided] determined served the purpose of showing an adequate fake amount of being annoyed, then beat my wings once without bothering to stand up.
"And if you want to roll your eyes at me, at least do it for real! Not that I believe you even understand what being annoyed means! Hahaha."
With Stavros' genuine and good-natured laughter ringing out behind me, I internalized the lessons of what would have been a failed social interaction had it been a trial, then dove into the outpost.
It was high time I wrapped up my stay both in the Red Sand Realm and in the Red Sand Sector.