AA: Hey Maz
LA: Awesome, I was hoping you'd say hi. I've been researching the Dwellers in the Furthest Ring via Skaia's prophecies and I wanted to confirm some things with you if possible.
AA: OK but you know I don't remember most of it
LA: Yeah. Hopefully if I can get some more information I can do something about that. What do you remember?
AA: Um
AA: I don't "remember" some of these things as much as they just seem like they might be things that are true somehow so don't take this as definitive confirmation
AA: But they're here and they hardly seem to notice me at all
AA: I think their perspective is very different from ours
LA: Mariyam says they're some kind of demonic entity that occludes the light of creation, or something like that.
AA: I don't know about that, it sounds like Amdaian stuff I don't get
AA: But when I say their perspective is different I don't just mean because they're really big and live in a place where space and time don't work
AA: I mean
AA: What do I mean
AA: I'm outside the universe now, or I guess all the universes
AA: And that's where they live
AA: There's kind of by definition nothing to see here
LA: Earlier you told me that the head of the Derse Observatory said they talk about things from multiple realities. Do you think a reality is different from a universe?
AA: Ummm
AA: That's hard to say
AA: I would use those terms differently but I don't know if that person did
LA: Hmm.
LA: And do you have any idea about the nature of the map you followed to get where you are?
AA: Actually kinda
AA: I found a note in my sylladex that I think was written by whoever made the map
AA: "It's pointless to wait for you here since time doesn't work, but thanks for trusting me enough to follow me. Or maybe you were just as desperate to escape your session as I was. Everyone was dead, I had to try to leave behind something. So here it is: if you enter this sequence into your messenger program you'll be able to contact the First Guardian. They said they'll tell you what you need to know to save your friends. At least someone should be able to, right? Good luck --Ygrit"
LA: Who's Ygrit?
AA: I have no idea
LA: I wonder if they could be from one of the other versions of your game. Because you found the map inside your Medium, right?
AA: Either that or I drew it from listening to the Dwellers
LA: Hmm, right. But it seemed like you had the map before you actually translated anything.
AA: You'd know better than me
LA: ...
LA: You also said that your Aspect, whatever it is, would help you translate their language.
AA: Oh
AA: If my Aspect is connected to them or to this place
AA: I don't know, I can't move here, it's like I just merge into this awful nothingness
AA: I don't know if it's because of my Aspect or because of whatever happened when I translated that message
AA: Maz can I ask you
LA: So your Aspect is aligned with the Furthest Ring--or Kaos as the scholars among us call it, which is interesting because that's also the name of Zevvie's Denizen--and it allows you to enter, let's call it an ecstatic state for now, in which you can understand the Dwellers' language but can't communicate clearly with anyone else, given what you've found in your missive archives.
LA: And furthermore, upon leaving this ecstatic state you no longer remember what you did while in it, which sounds commensurate with some of the Aspect abilities you've mentioned that obscure or withhold information. So perhaps the loss of memories pertaining to the "ecstatic event" is a side effect of contact with the Furthest Ring.
AA: Well not exactly
LA: In fact, it could be a side effect of remaining in the Furthest Ring, so it's possible that once we find a way to get you out they'll come back!
AA: I'm really not sure about that
LA: Actually, looking at the most recent group missive, it seems like Zevvie's hatched a plan to get Yuwen and Kuviu out, so maybe you could find a way to join in on that.
LA: I'm not that familiar with Concordant stuff, so you might need to ask Zevvie directly.
AA: Wait what
AA: What does that mean
LA: Basically--very basically--the Concordant Aspect involves drawing similarities between disparate objects or situations. Zevvie is saying that if you set up similarities like that, you can manipulate, I don't know, the Concordant Caloric to make them turn out in similar ways. I think Zevvie's element is string? There's a "pulling the strings of fate" metaphor there, maybe. We're going to set it up so that Yuwen et al. depart from the Omphalos at the "same time" as we depart from Skaia, which will allow us to arrive at the same place and time as them, the edge of the Medium. Somehow.
AA: Uhh
LA: You should really ask Zevvie about this.
AA: Yeah OK
AA: Thanks Maz
LA: No problem! I have to go now, Zevvie's actually at my house now. But I hope I'll see you soon.