AEHU/Plot/Esoterica Part VI
Part VI: The Dream Devourer and the New Threat to the Entity[edit]
I, Belthasar, have penned an additional addendum to Guru of Life Melchior's "Compendium Esoterica." While I have long shunned religion and am still not completely convinced that his unseen Entity truly exists, I have given much thought to the concept of "sin" since I caught a glimpse of IT resting in the Darkness Beyond Time. If complete control over the world around us is accessible to humanity, it should be possible to erase our sins, regardless of who or what defines them. I will erase this great sin if it be the last thing I do in life; but I cannot accomplish it alone. Nor is something this immense a matter for the Heroes of Time alone to address, although I will call upon their help as I must. Indeed, I need every ally I can find. That is why I must put these thoughts to writing, and determine whether - if there is an Entity - it and I share a common enemy.
One thing is indisputable fact: the Dream Devourer reported by Magus exists. Chronopolis' spacetime measurement instruments have had great difficulty peering into the DBT, but our limited observation has resulted in a hazy visual. It is definitely her. The current question is how to reopen the way into the DBT so that physical matter (and therefore people) can approach her. Now that the great adversary has been defeated, the way has been lost and must be relearned. The question that will later arise is how, once inside the DBT, we can free her.
Lavos posed a threat to Melchior's Entity by virtue of its ability to eliminate all life on the planet. The Dream Devourer, resting beyond space and time, poses no such threat. Or does it?
While interaction between the Dream Devourer and physical life forms has not yet been observed, interaction between what Melchior termed "ghost" phenomena and the Dream Devourer most certainly exists, although this is an inference more than a surefire fact. I've assigned the Dream Devourer its fanciful name due to its apparent effect on Auras -- it literally seems to devour them over time, the length of time needed to devour any particular Aura apparently varying with the intensity of that Aura. Once a "ghost's" Aura is completely devoured, it lacks an anchor in the physical world and presumably returns to the Entity. Not much of a problem for the Entity, but it presumably causes a stir among "ghosts."
Of more concern to the Entity should be the fact that spacetime around the DBT seems to become completely annihilative within a certain spherical radius of the Dream Devourer. This phenomenon has been confirmed in esoteric "ghost" experiments which I have had the opportunity to carry out since the Heroes of Time last visited Chronopolis. In other words, while the Dream Devourer's effect on Auras appears universal or nearly so, its effect on Souls - and possibly also physical matter - is confined within a limited area of spacetime. The radius of this physical area does not yet extend to our world (indeed, the DBT spatially coincides with the center of the universe and must be accessed via special wormhole), but subsequent attempts to transport "ghost" phenomena toward the DBT have shockingly proven that the annihilative radius is growing at an alarming rate as the Dream Devourer matures.
Assuming Melchior's Entity does exist, it currently lies dormant because it is not yet affected by the Dream Devourer. In fact, the Dream Devourer's effect on Auras may do the Entity an extreme service by limiting the lives of "ghost" phenomena; Auras attached to conscious thought within physical beings do not appear affected.
Why should I concern myself with the existence of this Entity? Precisely because I worry that destroying the Dream Devourer may depend on resetting "her" will somehow, based on my guesses as to why the Dream Devourer came into existence in the first place. If there happens to be a kernel of truth to Melchior's description of the "Song of Life" in Part IV, then the Song, by virtue of starting conscious thought, may also be capable of "rebooting" it, to use the lingo of this era. The problem, of course, is that the Entity seems to have a monopoly on the Song. I have calculated the eight resonant frequencies of the neuron, but these tones are esoteric indeed and no instrument ever produced in human history can successfully recreate them.
As I put my plan in motion, I must satisfy myself that the Entity exists and that it might be coaxed into assisting in this matter. The only being that has ever reported direct knowledge of the Entity, of course, is the AI Prometheus (odd enough that it should be an AI).
Should I happen to perish or disappear, good reader, please know that Prometheus has agreed to be preserved in Facility AHQ. Please ensure that his stay there is undamaged until you receive further instruction.
-Belthasar, Guru of Reason Emeritus and Director of Chronopolis (c) 2305AG.