IMPORTANT: The following content is partially a fan-fiction but based on my own speculations and a lot of Unlicenced Content written by former writers to the Elder Scrolls series. Some content is also completely made up from the bone but at least based on some thin lore.
Enjoy~♥
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"Whoa! Look at that…"
Showered by the beam of Aethereal Light, Jon's body withstood the suppression of the Mundus by its sheer willpower while his consciousness traveled to another place.
It was completely unexpected and unforeseen but it was a welcome change in events. Jon kept looking around and smiled wryly.
"So the Aethereal Tribulations are not just about suppressing the soul from gaining enough energy but also to test the mind. This is… this is brilliant. The Wisdom of Lorkhan sure is vast."
In mere four years, Jon hoarded enough magic and knowledge to rival many great names in the history of this world and now he reached a certain step that was really breathtaking.
Realizations arrived one after the other and many secrets of the world started to reveal itself to him.
He broke the Taboo and now ate the forbidden fruit, the knowledge and wisdom that formed the essence of the binds of the Mundus.
The creation started with the counterparts Anu and Padomay whose souls are Anui-El and Sithis and their offspring were Auri-El and Lorkhan and by the existence of Time, others came fourth.
Now that Elvish Creation Myth not far from the truth if one put away all the discriminations against Lorkhan and the Original Spirits that followed him but there were lost traces of the story that Jon could pick from where he stands.
The Original Spirits were all powerful, terrible and mighty. Born with such powers they shouldn't have deserved it from the beginning.
Lorkhan scheme was to put them in the prison of Mortality known as the Mundus and rather than being immortals, they can be mortals and have offspring of their own which may be better than their predecessors and gain the wisdom through growing from weakness. And thus, the Original Spirits were trapped.
The Mundus had many seals, some were to suppress the energy or to set the power limit while others were to set the mental limit all placed to make the perfect [Trials of the Royalty].
Why a Daedric Prince was called a 'Prince' after all?
The way of the Royalty is the way to ascend from the Mundus and an 'Immortal Spirit'. By CHIM, by Amaranth, by all the known Way Walking methods or even Meditating the Way; one can find a way to ascend the Tower.
One must understand many concepts and look through many angles at things. As such the scene in front of Jon right now.
He was standing among the stars, atop of him was nothing but the dark space illuminated by those small dots. Beneath his feet, there was a large globe of blue oceans, large continents and white clouds. On the near distance, there were two moons and on the far distance, there was a sun surrounded by nine globes including the one beneath his feet.
"Such a thing… it makes sense but it doesn't."
Beneath his feet was Nirn, a planet that took the same position of Earth in the Solar System with other planets known by the names of the Nine Imperial Divines going around the Sun.
This scene is not an illusion or some sort of dream, this is Jon's Astral Projection reaching a height never recorded or passed down showing the real truth of the world. Not what was always passed down as a Nirn in the center with every planet at the sun going around it, not the rumored hub of the wheel as it was passed down.
It was just another dull planet.
But was it really the case?
The world may look like this in the eyes of a physical onlooker but from a spiritual perspective, things looked completely different.
The [Eye of Magicka], a spell Jon learned in the depth of Divayth Fyr's dungeon that let him take a glimpse at what lies beyond nature, was the key spell to take a good look at the true shape of the world.
Jon closed his eyes and opened the third eye which appeared like the insignia of an eye on his forehead.
The scene was completely different.
It was now the Nirn in the center and all going around it.
"I see… Hahaha! How smart!"
The world wasn't just as it was told it was. Just like a mortal, there were two versions of reality. The [Physical World], and the [Metaphysical World].
The [Physical World] followed the rules of Physics and Astronomy being shaped as a complete world based on an ideal cosmological basis. The [Metaphysical World] was a different look to the world based on its spiritual structure, a knowledge that can be considered part of the secret of transcending.
Jon's understanding of the case was swift and simple, he thought of it as Radio Frequency. Reality formed by Time and Space also has frequencies and changing how the perception receives the signals of these frequencies is the secret of how to see the [Physical World] and the [Metaphysical World].
Why no one has never found out about this?
Who said no one knew, it is just not necessary to tell. Magic is what mattered and as far as magic was concerned, the [Metaphysical World] is what mattered.
Now, to break the rules of the Mundus, one must be strong enough to do so and resist the world's suppression but that's merely the first step. When Lorkhan created the Mundus, he put limits and trials to those who want to return back to the Immortal Plane and now was the Mind Trial.
Above Nirn and around it, the other plains of the [Metaphysical World] appeared clearly. A world of plains of flowers, a world of myriad rivers and mountains, a world of brass surface and so on.
Looking further, one could see more worlds out there. The [Metaphysical World] may have mainly the eight planes of the Divines going around Nirn but there was way more than that. Smaller planes here and there were also part of this large Mundus so of which are small and some are fairly large, some are near and some are far.
Jon looked directly at himself and realized how his manifestation looked like. It made him about to smile and cry at the same time so bad.
A small pebble!
This was it.
It looked weak, fragile and needed a lot of protection.
"Was this all I am? A small pebble in this vast Mundus?"
Realizing his existence, the current him that broke out of the suppression of the Mundus was just a pebble, it was too tough to accept even for Jon.
"Sigh! Compared to these large planes over there, I am very untimely and premature existence. I should have waited at least to break from the Mundus at a later stage… maybe after the 'Dragon Frame Realm' when I form my 'Spirit Spark'. Good grief!"
Jon Walks the Way through meditating and refining the Magicka between Aetherius and Nirn. He is not the only one who did so but his way is the most effective.
All Mages meditate in order to learn how to handle Magicka for the first time in their lives. Each magical tome carries a hint on how to meditate and cast a spell but Jon's unique method only revolves around Meditating. It gave him the edge over many other before him.
His pebble may grow larger one day from this premature state of his yet he has already performed something incredible. He broke the First Seal of the Mundus and is about to break the second.
The Second Test is to find the way up. Simply put it as finding the way to the Tower.
Understanding the difference between the [Physical World] and the [Metaphysical World] is crucial and very important.
Unlike Earth, Nirn is familiar with the [Metaphysical World] whose structure defies any cosmological sense while Earth was familiar with the [Physical World] totally oblivious if there is a [Metaphysical World] or not in terms of science if the faiths and beliefs were overlooked.
Accepting the fact that there are two worlds within one existence required a lot of mental burden to whoever takes the Second Test but Jon is not the kind who would be burdened by such a fact. He is a reincarnator from a different world and spent all his life trying to study the new world he was thrown into. Seeing how the cosmos defied sense, Jon always believed that there is a secret behind the weird structure of the Aurbis. Discovering the Shadow Realm and the Dragon Breaks made Jon understand that reality can be several and frequent like Radio Transmissions. Just finding that out is already too much for many of this world's inhabitants even though anyone who reaches this point of existence is simply a mighty entity.
Now to go further, one must find the way forward on his own. Jon wouldn't suffer by that one either.
He looked at Nirn understanding it is the center of the Mundus which is the hub of the Aurbis, he turned around his pebble body freely and realized that he can move to some extent. He compared the other planes' positions with Nirn and arrived at a certain angle to his vision.
It was to humungous to see such a thing this easily but he knew what he was looking for.
The Aurbis is a wheel-shaped like an 'O' with eight pillars as the Aedric Planes and Sixteen Spurs as the Daedric Planes.
Seeing them all at one place was mentally burdening and Jon felt exhausted but he can at least find the missing piece for his vision to be complete.
The Sun over there, the hole tearing between Mundus and Aetherius through Oblivion. The Magnus, it is called or the Eye of the Dragon.
As the sun aligned with the other planes in Jon's vision, a strong light overtook everything around him and he felt captured by it. The small pebble he is started to flow in a large stream of cosmological force until the scene turned stranger than before.
The [Physical World] is fixed and bound by the mundane laws but the [Metaphysical World] is not. It has two states or rather two shapes.
The Aurbis which is 'O' is the first shape and then comes the 'I'.
The being rather than a structure, the flow of power and existence and the power beyond all reach.
The Tower.
The planes flowed and so did the stars as if a stream of fluid or a state of rising out of space and time. The pebble that Jon is looked closely to the large 'I' seeing no end to its height for only those planes which are powerful rise up with the small pitiful ones keep it down.
Stars and Planes entwined some greater than others. Ones moved in the stream and a few found their own way around it in serpentine moves.
The base of the 'I' was most crowded with many trying to find the way up as if the large tower had a cone base made of large streams of planes.
A pebble can't even measure to that.
Jon only found the safest distance to feel the flow of the tower and to make a connection with its forces.
He can't start the Third Test just yet as the Tower may 'Zero-Sum' him. Him being a Dragonborn has no value in the Tower.
Being Zero-Summed is worse than death. It is the worst of all possibilities. It is being erased of existence and cast out of all memories.
The Third Test is a bit too much compared to the first and the second but reaching this point was enough.
"I am impressed." A voice reached out to Jon.
"Really?" Jon replied.
"Indeed, what you did was truly admirable."
"Thank you, Shadow."
A strange stream of light hovered around the pebble. Its identity was revealed to Jon right away.
"You are not trying the Third Gate?" Shadow asked.
"Being here is more than enough, there is no need for hassle. I've got to maintain my position this far from the Tower else things won't look good for me. I am far too weak."
"Then?"
"Then what? I am anticipating."
"Anticipating! Good choice, ten minutes is all I can give you."
"Ten minutes is all I need."