“Good morning, class, and welcome to Life Goddess Laws 101! I am Decay Lord Seimeni and I’ll be teaching you this course in the mystical universe-building arts!”
Arkay glanced over his shoulder, trying to work out who else the slender, white, ghostly being was talking to. It was just him and the single Decay Lord in this vast, empty space, a plain white room a few doors down from the Decayling study halls.
“Am I… like, the only student here?” Arkay asked, looking very confused.
Seimeni shrugged. “Kid, I actually haven’t taught this class since… well, I don’t actually remember. I just know I taught one lesson then she went off to the Life Goddesses to learn directly from them. Decaylings with genuine Life Goddess potential that don’t want to be Life Goddesses and learn via the Decay Lords are insanely rare.”
“Oh…”
“Anyway!” Seimeni clapped her hands. “We got a lot to cover today in a reasonably short amount of time, so let’s get started. The absolute first thing we need to cover are the basic laws of being a Life Goddess. Sooooo…” With a snap of Seimeni’s insanely long, pointed fingers, a large board appeared behind her. On it were three statements.
“I assume those aren’t all the laws?” Arkay asked as a stool appeared behind him for him to sit on.
“These are the most important laws. The ones that not only keep us safe but keep the omniverse safe as well.”
Arkay read the three statements, not really sure what to make of them. They seemed to be in a language he only partially understood. This bothered him because he genuinely hadn’t had problems understanding anyone up until now.
“Infinity Mhn Se Infinity. The Atelon are always unending. An Unend cannot contain an Unend. An Infinity cannot nest, cannot break, cannot be unmade. Build Ateleia with care.”
“Pan Mhn Infinite ein Brachivion What is not infinite must end. All else is temporary and temporal. The Infinite should not be forced on the Finite. Not all can be endless. Build the Brachivion with care.”
“Pan Xana Ktizontai Ektos Se. All can be made again. Many can be replaced. But the Thimiouya is not. A Panzoani is precious and cannot be replaced. Build all and keep yourself with care.”
Arkay reread the statements, still not sure what any of it meant. Something about not making infinities and not making them nest inside each other, something about how finite things can’t always be made infinite and something about protecting yourself.
“What are your thoughts on these phrases?” Seimeni asked “Let’s start with Infinity Mhn Se Infinity.”
“I’m… not allowed to build an infinity inside an infinity?” Arkay blinked.
“Yep.”
“And I can’t make or break an infinity either? So I have to be careful whenever I make something that could be infinite?”
Seimeni smiled. “Exactly! What do you think the second statement means?”
“Not… not everything is infinite, not everything can be made infinite and to build the non-infinite with care?”
“You got that right! And what about the third statement?”
Arkay shrugged. “That one seems simple enough. Most things can be remade when they die, but not a Life Goddess.”
Seimeni’s smile grew larger. “Well done! You actually understand it! This is great news!”
Arkay still felt really confused. While he was glad he had understood the basic laws, he wasn’t sure why Seimeni was being so happy and optimistic. Was this just… her teaching style?
“Why is it great news?”
“Because it means you can at least partially understand the Xa Thimiouyalagi. The language of the Life Goddesses. Which is going to save us a lot of time because it means I can give you this book!”
Seimeni snapped her fingers again. The board behind her disappeared and a stunning, gem-encrusted book appeared in her hands. She floated over to Arkay and delicately handed him the book. It was wrapped in a foil ribbon, with a leather cover, various rainbow-coloured gems sewn into it. On the front cover was an oval with three horizonal lines through it, a circle with a letter ‘a’ and a curvy letter ‘w’ on it and a single vertical line.
“What… what is this?” Arkay stuttered, amazed by the book’s beauty.
“That is the ΘΞαοωΙ“.”
“The what now?”
Seimeni continued to smile, but not as much. “It is basically the holy book of the Life Goddesses. Pretty much everything a Life Goddess needs to know, yet wholly invisible to all other beings. Anyone else seeing that book just sees a plain paper book, filled with nothingness. I want you to take it back to your room and read the first paragraph of the book. Up to the first page, if you can.”
“Can I… read more than that?”
“I wouldn’t. Once you’ve read the first page and… digested it, we’ll go through the rest of the book together. Okay?”
Arkay nodded.
Seimeni’s smile came back, greater than ever. “Alright! I want to keep today’s lesson short and sweet, so you take that book and begin reading, and I’ll see you in one hundred and fifty hours!”
“Wait… a hundred and fifty? That’s… a really long time!” Arkay blinked, as Seimeni packed away what little teaching equipment she had. “It’s just a page!“
“Trust me, Decayling…” Seimeni warned. “That book is… something else… You treat it with care, you study it carefully, and you’ll be fine. But you can get lost in that book… I’ll explain it all better in our next lesson, alright?”
With one last wave, Seimeni disappeared, leaving Arkay on his own, feeling more confused than ever.