Guild Wars

Shadow stood in shock as he stared at the majestic Ouroboros who was no longer tied up by his own body. The former eternally spinning serpent chuckled when he saw Shadow's shock and awe, seeming satisfied by it.

"Well? How is it? Surprised to see me like this, eh?" Ouroboros asked playfully.

Shadow shook his head and wore a strange expression on his face as he sized up the giant God Serpent.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay doing this?' Shadow asked with furrowed brows and a lot of concern.

After all, the myths and legends always spoke of the Eternal Serpent biting his tail and spinning. He had never seen anything that indicated that Ouroboros could release its tail and act normally.

Ouroboros seemed to know Shadow's worries and chuckled. "You think it strange for me to be normal like this? Don't feel that way."

Ouroboros shook its head and leaned forward. "In fact, ask yourself this. Is my former state my true state? Did I hatch from my egg biting my tail like a retard?"

"Why do all the other God Serpents look normal, but I look different?"

Shadow furrowed brows twitched as he realized he had never thought about this because he had never needed to. Occasionally, he did wonder what Ouroboros would be like if he released his tail and wondered why he had to bite his tail, but never why he assumed that was his normal state.

"Well then, what's the reason, if I may ask?" Shadow decided to get to the bottom of this.

"It's the same reason I spun for Lucifer, for Draco, and for you. Because you fellows misunderstood the full length of Eternity and my power, and simply preferred to use me offensively to generate energy. In order to generate such energy, I need to be in perpetual motion, and rather than flying about like a happy retard, I chose to bite my tail and spin on the spot." Ouroboros explained casually.

Shadow's expression changed greatly. "You mean for the many years you've been with Lucifer, to the period where you were with Draco, to now, you have been spinning only because we misunderstood you? Just to generate energy?"

"That is correct. It was what I was tasked with after all." Ouroboros sighed deeply.

Shadow was silent for a long while, his expression changing many times. Jesus Christ, how terrible would it be to spend years upon years doing only one thing, which was not what you wanted to do or what you were fully capable of, to the point where people thought that this one thing was all you could do?

Shadow sighed. Apologizing to Ouroboros wouldn't bring back all the wasted time, and besides, the God Serpent didn't care, nor did he feel any resentment. It was just misuse out of ignorance, not anything malicious.

"Forget about that and let's talk about why I brought you here. You are currently holed in a place full of knowledge and this should make sensing the source of Knowledge easier." Ouroboros changed the subject and got back on track.

"Right, what do I need to do?" Shadow asked after pushing away his mopey thoughts.

"Meditate and focus. Search through your connection to Eternity for the concept or idea you are looking for." Ouroboros instructed calmly.

Shadow plopped right down onto the clouds below him, folded his legs together, and entered a class meditation pose. Ouroboros was amused by this but also stated something to note seriously.

"Do not spend too much time in the source of Eternity or the core of knowledge. Just because you have the power to do something and can do something doesn't mean it has no repercussions. Forget you, even Lucifer and Draco cannot dig too deep into what is there, otherwise their minds would shatter."

"If you dig even 1% deep compared to what they could do, your fate would be worse. Just look for what you want and when you find it, DO NOT OPEN IT THERE, but drag it back. You can always go through it slowly." Ouroboros continued to warn.

Shadow heard this and kept it in mind. He soon began to activate his power but rather than use it to generate energy or control elements like time, he dove deeper into it and kept mumbling in his heart that he wanted to truth of magic knowledge.

Like a person who stabbed opioids into their veins, Shadow's mind began to blur and see things weirdly. He was sucked from the blankness of his mind into a sort of starry sky area where bright spots of lights glowed.

Their sheer intensity felt like suns, and Shadow could feel his mind being slowly burned by them. This woke him up from his semi-delirious state as he focused.

He then looked around and saw that none of the lights were labeled even though they were of different sizes and intensities, but he seemed to instinctively know which one he was looking for.

When he turned to it, he was stunned and almost screamed. The ball of light representing the full knowledge and truth of magic… was tiny!

Shadowheart felt like his mind was about to explode, but he calmed down, reached out to the light and shuddered with pain as it still stung him. Despite this, his will was firm as a rock as he grabbed it and roared that he wanted to go back.

Once again, he was sucked away as if being poured down a drain, and the next thing he knew, he was back in his body and Ouroboros was checking him carefully to see if he was still sensible and hadn't become retarded.

"You seem to be normal, only a bit frazzled. And why do you look like your whole world has collapsed?" Ouroboros asked with puzzlement.

Shadow raised his head, and his shining eyes seemed a bit dim. He turned to Ouroboros and spoke hoarsely.

"The knowledge of magic. The truth I have been searching for all my life. Was only a speck of light among gigantic planet-sized suns."

Ouroboros saw this and was speechless. Then the God Serpent burst into laughter and caused the entire realm to shake. Shadowheart had to cover his ears, and he couldn't help but feel slightly peeved at being mocked like this.

When Ouroboros was done, he saw that Shadow was glaring at him slightly, looking like he was displeased. Knowing that the fellow was too mature to voice his anger and cause a scene, Ouroboros decided to speak.

"First of all, I won't say sorry because that was actually pretty funny. Second, so what if it's small? Do you think you could have grasped it with your current soul strength if it was planet sized?"

Shadow was rendered speechless. Of course, if it had been planet-sized, he would have cooked to death before even getting a few hundred kilometers near, much less take it.

But that wasn't the point. If it were planet-sized, he would have been satisfied knowing that his goal was lofty. However, it was about the size of his own soul, which was a mere speck, so how could he be happy?

"Hmm, your pursued knowledge of magic all your life. But why did you? You found it fascinating and deep, but are now disgruntled because it seems shallow compared to other concepts?" Ouroboros nodded to himself.

"Well, have you ever thought about what those planet-sized concepts could represent? Why is magic, which is objectively complex enough that many fellows could spend millennia researching it but never reach the core, so small?" Ouroboros asked calmly.

Shadowheart's mind spiked as his eyes flashed. That's right, in his shock at the puny nature of magic's truth, he forgot that he couldn't tell what those larger concepts were.

Magic was objectively deep and difficult, and it involved all forms of magic conceived, fictional or real. Just in Boundless, Shadowheart did not have enough lifespan to dig into all the theories and truths of magic here.

So for something so deep and complex, how then were the other ones like? Probably they involved concepts like Life, Elements, Concepts, Fate?

Thinking like this, Shadow was no longer depressed and cleared his mind with a shake of his head.

He turned to Ouroboros and smiled. "Thanks for helping me clear my doubts, partner."

Ouroboros chuckled. "Not a problem partner."

Then the God Serpent gave Shadow a look. "You this fellow, you're really patient even when the answer to your lifelong questions is right before you. You are putting the rest of us who can't wait to learn to shame. Quickly open the source of magic and let's see what the truth is!"

Shadowheart chuckled. "You this fellow, you have existed for so long and will likely exist forever. Why so impatient?"

Seeing his words had been thrown back, Ouroboros rolled his eyes and glared at Shadow. Anyone who was glared at by such a giant snake, in such a weird realm would likely die from fear straight up, but Shadowheart only found it slightly cute.

Shadow calmed down and cleared his mind, before touching that spot of light he had pulled back. Immediately, a lot of knowledge burst into his mind and a mini explosion happened in his head.

However, Ouroboros quickly bit his tail and began spinning, granting Shadowheart endless life energy and regeneration, allowing him to heal from the continuous explosion of his brain.

This went on for a long while, even affecting his real body, but the AI detected this and connected to Shadowheart's mind and granted him a significant amount of processing power which caused his body to return to normal.

After all, the AI also wanted to know this information, but it was too embarrassed to filch it from one of Draco's God serpent generals, so it offered its help and just happened to process the information as well.

As for what it would be used for, it was naturally to fill its database and also provide Shadow a way to express his power within Boundless more perfectly. It could even help him decode new paths and methods like it did for Draco and Eva with their bloodline pre-100%.

Eventually, the ruckus died down and Shadowheart settled his mind which was full of knowledge, truths, and conjectures. The AI quietly retreated at this point as Shadow could handle things from here, and its job was done.

Shadow himself smiled and opened his eyes. His grey-blue eyes which had flecks of brown had now become bright blue and glowed with the seal of magic within.

(Author's Note: It's almost 1:1 to the All-Seeing God Eyes from Kekkai Sensen.)

Shadow blinked and the magic seal disappeared, returning his eyes to normal. But those eyes were special, called the Eyes of Magical Truth. With them, Shadow could see through all forms of magic, record them and add them to his knowledge bank.

Magic no longer had any secrets before Shadowheart.

"However, that's only the theory," Shadowheart mumbled to himself with a smile. He clenched his fist and felt the knowledge coursing through his head condensed into a single truth.

"Magic defined is simply the ability to exert your will to push and pull a certain type of energy, essentially all types of energy," Shadowheart spoke the core truth of magic, and his entire body ruptured and was regenerated as it became a conduit for the purest magic control.

The moment his body regenerate, Shadowheart felt closer to the various energies of the world. He felt like he could sense them a bit better, but this was not enough, so he repeated the core truth of magic and let his body rupture again, then be healed.

With shining eyes and not even a single cry of pain, Shadowheart let this occur rapidly over and over again until his body only shook slightly from hearing the chant of magic, and his sensitivity towards energy had reached the logical peak.

Only special species in the universe born to control energy or born around the concept of Energy, like Essence's Aurora Dragon, could surpass the current him.