((I've written to the point of the end of the second book in Inheritance Cycle, so I'm going to give an extra special treat for you guys since I never posted yesterday anyway! OH- by the way, the coming battle shall be LEGENDARY!))

"..extract a sphere of water from the stream, using only the energy you can glean from the forest around you." Oromis ordered Blue.
"Yes Master Oromis." Blue nodded before unsteadily spreading outward, taking in the thousands of minds throughout the wood nearby, only to hesitate.
"Master Oromis?" He asked.
"Yes, Eldgath?"
"Wouldn't taking energy from weaker forms of life for this spell kill them?"

A rare smile graced the elf's features. "An accurate assessment. Yes, unfortunately it would indeed drain their vitality to the point of no return."
Blue stared at the water for a moment before speaking again.
"Then why, Master Oromis, did you not tell me before I could have hurt them?"
Now his teacher's face fell. "Because for novices such as yourself, it would be necessary to understand the depth of the consequences of what I am trying to teach you. For when you dwell in another's mind as they die, you feel yourself fade to the darkness as well. As appalling as what I am suggesting may sound, it is required for young Riders to understand."
"But I already know this…." Blue whispered. "Even the dying part- that is how Horror hunted, he took his victims' energy until they died."

Oromis have him an intense stare for a moment. "Are you sure?"
Blue nodded. "It became a ritualistic habit after some time? I…." He shook his skull. "At first it was how he survived in his starving AU, it stemmed from him eating Souls due to how that somehow prevented the body from dusting. I don't have many details, it was a rather brief conversation each time the topic was brought up. And it only arose because it's been discovered that the Souls are still alive- just within him."
The elf Rider nodded quietly as he listened, slowly lacing his fingers together as he thought to himself.

"This does prove some theories. However, it is also a danger in it's own right, as it is multiple consciousnesses in one body."
"That's dangerous?"
"Indeed. How can one function with several minds with independent desires, thoughts, and opposing actions and views? What solution has he found to such a predicament?"
"They take spirit forms if they want to do anything, Master Oromis. I've seen them, though I understand not many can due to their lack of physical form. That, and if I understand correctly, they have some sort of home in his mind? A world created in his consciousness where they roam freely. I only heard of it from one of his spirits, too."

Oromis sat for several minutes, contemplating this information as Blue waited. Then he reanimated and spoke. "No matter. This discussion shall be continued later. Now, this lesson is still unfinished. Raise a sphere of water from the stream using the energy around you."
"I…. Yes, Master Oromis."
He did the same as he had done before the conversation began, except he selected only beings that had enough energy to withstand a drop such as this.

He tensely lifted the orb into the air, watching the light refract within it, bits of plants and whatnot drifting inside.
Then he flinched violently as a squirrel collapsed on its branch, sliding off as it fell to the ground.
"Fu- I- I thought- fuck." He dropped the sphere and clutched his shirt as he felt the squirrel die. "I thought it- thought it could- t-take i-it." He stuttered, staring with wide sockets at the riverbed.
"You understand now, how much weaker other lives are to us." Oromis spoke mournfully.
"You knew." Blue whispered. "You knew I would mess up."
"I did."

Skeleton sniffed as he wiped his tears, elf watching sadly.
"I was trying not to hurt them!"
"Yes. And you did a remarkable job for your very first attempt."
"I have to do it again?!"
"Yes. But with no cost of life. With discipline, you can select only plants and animals that can withstand the loss. Though impractical in battle, you may still join Eragon in drawing energy from your surroundings in your lessons." The elf waved him over to help him to the hut. Blue took his hand and walked his teacher to the hut.

"You see why this technique is not taught to younger spellweavers."
"Those with evil in their Souls can wreak havoc across Alagaësia."
"Correct. It would be difficult to stop those with such power." They arrived back at the hut, where Eragon stood waiting, grimacing as though aware of what had happened at the stream. Blue gave him a sympathetic look, knowing the human had not been allowed to warn him of the pain.

Blue sat across from their teacher and sighed, his skull clicking as it hit the table.

. • ° . • ° . • °

It had been three days since Blue had risen to the same level Eragon had achieved only four days before him that the human asked the elf the question.
"Master, it struck me last night that neither you nor the hundreds of elven scrolls I've read mentioned your religion. What do elves believe?"
Blue blinked owlishly at this as Oromis sighed.
"We believe that the world behaves according to certain inviolable rules that, by persistent effort, we can discover those rules and use them to predict events when circumstances repeat."

Now Eragon blinked. "But who, or what, do you worship?"
"Nothing."
"You worship the concept of nothing?"
"No, Eragon. We do not worship at all."
The human Rider stood in confusion for a few moments as he struggled to process this.
"Where do you think the world came from, then, if it wasn't created by the gods?"
"Which gods, Eragon?"
"Your gods, dwarf gods, our gods.. monsters gods… someone must have created it."

The teacher raised an eyebrow as Blue struggled to keep his silence.
"I would not necessarily agree with you. But be as it may, I cannot prove that gods do not exist here. Nor can I prove that the world and everything in it was not created by an entity or entities in the distant past. But I can tell you that in the millennia we elves have studied nature, we have never witnessed an instance where the rules that govern the world have been broken. That is, we have never seen a miracle. Many events have defied our ability to explain, but we are convinced that we failed because we are still woefully ignorant about the universe and not because a deity altered the workings of nature."

"A god wouldn't have to alter nature to accomplish his will." Eragon argued. "He could do it within the system that already exists. Look at Reaper, Life, the Twins. Any one of them can easily use magic to effect events."
With a smile, Oromis responded. "Very true. But ask yourself this, Eragon: if gods of our world exist, have they been very good custodians of Alagaësia? Constant death, sickness, poverty, tyranny, and countless other miseries stalk the land. Even the skeletons have taken to repairing the damages of Alagaësia however they can. If the current state is the work of divine beings, then they are to be rebelled against and overthrown, not given obeisance, obedience, and reverence."
"The dwarves believe-"
"Exactly. The dwarves believe. When it comes to certain matters, they rely upon faith rather than reason. They have even been known to ignore proven facts that contradict their dogma."

"Like what?" Eragon questioned.
"Dwarf priests use coral as proof that stone is alive and can grow, which also corroborates their story that Helzvog formed the race of dwarves out of granite. But we elves discovered that coral is actually an exoskeleton secreted by miniscule animals that live inside it. Any magician can sense the animals if he opens his mind. We explained this to the dwarves, but they refused to listen, saying that the life we felt resides in every kind of stone, although their priests are the only ones who are supposed to be able to detect the life in the landlocked stones."

Eragon stared through the window, beside himself with his convoluted emotions. Blue finally dared speak up, voice quiet in the silence.
"From what I understand, even gods have their own limits- as well as deities beyond them. They are separated mostly by power. The gods I know aren't so different from normal people, just friends with extra abilities. Gods don't need belief or worship, though worshippers still exist, that's the choice of the followers. Nightmare, Dream, Reaper, Life, and many others know their duties and responsibilities. The only issue back in the Multiverse really was just some gods not knowing everything they were supposed to understand of their duties, like Ink being the creator. Maybe if there are gods of Alagaësia, they don't even realize what they're doing and have just retreated somewhere where the gods belong- and something I've heard in passing from Dream is this world does have such a place, and another one of our own gods is busy working from there."

"Astute observation and conclusion, Eldgath." Oromis praised lightly, making the skeleton smile with a hint of pride.
"Even then, many AU's were never formed by the creator because they appeared naturally- I know I was lucky enough to be one of those. But in the end, I know that how Ink creates Universes and how they actually form, whether from him or naturally, are very different. He creates basic rules for people- monsters and humans alike- to function by and also creates the monsters, and with his copies time does technically start at random, it begins on the start of whatever story the AU was created upon. However, the history and past, those are more often than not generated at random and based off of true Universes as I like to call them, ones that Ink never created. And those worlds have real beginnings and are truly ancient."

He paused, gathering his thoughts as both other Riders watched him quietly.
"What I'm trying to say is even though most AU's were created rather simply, those that formed out of nowhere had actual time for those within to research and find out how worlds form in the first place. While none have ever been able to understand or discover how the Universes come to be, we do know how planets at least came. And let me tell you, planets aren't created by a divine hand- at least, not one that operated outside the laws of physics, as we call the inviolable rules."

"You have theories on the formation of worlds?" Oromis spoke quietly, hands folded in his lap. Blue nodded eagerly. "I had a friend who loved talking about these things, they were admittedly fascinating. I know Error knows much on the topic himself, he just preferred talking about stars. But yes, given how each world has such similar circumstances and identical forms of life- in the case of Alagaësia it's only almost identical, I still believe the origins are likely the same. And in that case, the formation of the world itself has everything to do with the sun."

He pointed upwards, past the ceiling in indication of the sun outside. "And since this world technically hasn't named the entirety of itself yet and just the continent, I'll call it the same. Back home the world's are called Earths. And they're actually just a speck of dust in the face of the true size of just a Universe. And if the Multiverse had never been involved, a single Universe would have been able to thrive for trillions of years before finally collapsing, though the world itself said Universe would have been based upon would have long since been gone."

"Your worlds must have existed far longer to have learned this without the use of spells." Oromis noted.
"Definitely. Most, if not nearly all, of these discoveries were made by humans without any spells at all but technology. It really is amazing what they can achieve." Blue grinned. "They found out almost everything about the beginning of Earth, any Earth really, and they all had extraordinarily similar findings. The planet, the Earth, is very, very young in comparison to the actual Universe it hails from…. Unless it's something of Ink's creation, but that's not important. What is though, is how the Earth forms due to the Sun being born like any other star, because it literally is, just a star. In fact it's theorized that in natural Universes there are other forms of life on other similar worlds in the same Universe…." He shook his skull. "I'm sounding like Error, I'm sorry."

Oromis merely gestured for him to continue. Blue stammered momentarily before shaking his skull again and resuming.
"...Stars form from gas floating in space. It comes out of gas clumping together in clouds and collapsing inward due to their own gravity that forms of these clouds, and like a water droplet condensing on a leaf it flares up in a star. Stars are basically gas that's held together by it's own gravity so tightly they start burning. It's a lot of heat and energy and light to us, but in space it's nothing." He chuckled, staring at the ceiling for a moment.

"Stars look so small because they're so far away. Even the sun is really far away by our standards. Um. Light isn't instantaneous, it takes time to travel from place to place. It may not look like it, but it's just that fast."
"What does this have to do with anything?" Eragon asked.
Blue nodded at him. "I'm trying to explain distance." He drummed his phalanges on the table as he thought, Beast slowly peeking into the hut from a window.

"I said that because as fast as light is, it still take the light from the sun eight minutes to reach the earth- I believe it's the same here. And the sun is the closest star there is. Other stars, it takes years- billions of years, they're so far away." He glanced upward again. "That means when you look up at the sky at night, you're staring backwards in time. Some stars are so far away the light shining from them started out towards you before the world even existed."
Eragon stared at Beast out the window, having heard some of this before from Error. The plantlike one grinned at the human.

Blue ignored the two in favor of continuing. "That aside, time and space are the same thing. You can't travel anywhere in space without traveling through time. And you're never not traveling through space, because the world spins and orbits the sun, which is also spinning and orbiting the galaxy called the Milky Way, and they orbit because gravity tugs things down to their surface, but if an object is moving fast enough it will be held in place. Think of it as something on a string, and you're twirling it around and around. Gravity is the string pulling the object on the end closer, but the spinning is forcing it away. That's kind of what the earth is doing with the sun. That's also what the Moon is doing with the earth."

Blue was doing a little demonstration with his hands until Beast appeared an offered a vine to spin around a bone attack Blue summoned.
"And how does this correlate to the world's formation?"
Here Blue blinked, realizing how off topic he was.

"The sun formed and as it did it flared to life and pushed the access debris around it away, only a few large things were held in orbit around it by gravity, and being so early they were all extremely hot and made of molten rock, and in this time was very chaotic. Rocks crashed into each other and formed into worlds, all spinning and orbiting the sun, which in turn was doing the same and orbiting the galaxy, which can be seen in the night sky, though I don't believe we live on the right part of the world to see it here… in outertale you could see it. Just a white band across the sky, every light a star.. and the clouds that floated across the bright spine of the night. It's beautiful."

He sighed. "Anyway, the earth formed because enough rocks crashed into each other to grow to an appropriate size for a rocky planet, and one of those rocks was big enough to crash and fly everywhere and become the Moon. And that's it. The world at it's most basic came from that. However, that's just the beginning."

He coughed to prepare himself. "It took a long time to cool off, but when it did, the water in the world- which was originally all clouds- finally cooled and became the oceans, and magic formed or arrived to the planet, lying dormant for a long time first. Here, life finally came. Living things like us showed up, though how is still not quite known. Chemicals turned into basic biology in the oceans and became the first microbes, the tiny microscopic life that you can only sense if you open up your mind- or see using a bunch of lenses- and it just evolved over literally billions of years and became life as we know it. I'm taking out a lot of details there, but all the known history of worlds in the AU's all have basically identical pasts, it's also extraordinarily long and I don't know very much on the topics. If you want more details on that history, I'd ask Nightmare and Dream, but on anything based on space or formation I believe Error would know best."

It was a minute of nearly uncomfortable silence before Oromis stood. "Thank you for this conversation, Uniter, but it is time we continue and not linger on facts you students are in full knowledge of; there are more pressing matters at hand than how worlds come to be, unfortunately." He went to boil water for tea. Blue dipped his skull, knowing the conversation concluded. Beast crawled into his lap and curled up in a ball, a mute demand for affection that made Blue grin slightly before petting the strange Flowey.

. • ° . • ° . • ° . • °

Blue woke up with a slight start to realize he was draped over a chair like a long cat- no, he was on someone's lap sitting on the chair. In surprise he tensed up and slipped off, landing on the floor and hitting his skull on the leg of a desk with a rude clack and huffing at the brief pain before squinting at the person in the chair. Eragon was blinking at him and glancing out the window.

"Hhawh eedh-" He cut off as he realized he was in his half-form, crawling away from the desk and sitting beside the human.
How did I get here? He queried mentally, rubbing one of the horn nubs protruding from the back of his skull.
"Do you not remember?" Eragon asked rather distractedly.
No, I woke up.. sitting on you.. like a cat. It was strange. He held a hand to his shirt in curiosity, sensing something strange from the dragonchild.

"You were acting like you were an animal ever since I woke. I thought I woke you."
Blue shook his skull, thinking.
... Maybe you woke him instead. He picked at a faint loose string in his shirt absentmindedly as he focused on himself.
Eragon, used to the mentions of the lost Souling, changed the topic.
"Regardless of that, I imagined something like that when you didn't seem to understand me. And besides, something has happened. Will you wait as I wake Saphira?"
Blue hesitated. Is it something I should be involved in?
"Do you want to be?" The human countered.

After a moment of consideration, he nodded.
I'll wake GB with you.
The Rider nodded and they both made their way down the stairs, skeleton's clawed feet clicking on the wood before both approached their relative friends.
By then both had already woken due to the other's reaching out mentally, GB rolling over to accept Blue's intrusion as he invited the other to curl up beside him, sighing as he absently pet one of his eggs.

Eragon proceeded to describe a vision that troubled him in the night to waking from the necklace coming to life and Blue's off behavior in getting up and crawling on all fours to nuzzle him and blinking with bright yellow eyelights. Here GB gave him a questioning look as he shrugged, Eragon continuing to explain how he rationalized the strange behavior and went upstairs, the possessed Blue following him and trilling before the human ended up seated at the desk and petting the other as he sat in his lap, reading an epic to calm his mind when the white raven, Blagden, flew in the window.

Here the raven apparently recited a strange poem.
By beak and bone,
Mine blackened stone
Sees rooks and crooks
And bloody brooks.

Unsurprisingly this made no sense, and in spite of Eragon's questions the bird only said "Son and father alike, both as blind as bats."
And despite the possibility that the bird knew his father Blagden was still nonforthcoming in it's words, sharing yet another riddle.
While two may share two,
And one of two is certainly one,
One might be two.

Even as Eragon demanded a name, the prophetic white raven merely cried out the ever fateful word and stole the glass stopper to the inkwell on the desk and flown off, fighting off the human's mental probes and disappearing.
This was apparently when Blue finally "woke up" and fell to the floor.

They sat down and contemplated these events, sensing fate heavy in the air, tense.
Then Eragon had enough. He leapt up and disappeared out the door, returning with his shaving mirror and sitting next to Saphira. Blue and GB, knowing what he had in mind was to scry, got up and sat next to the dragon around him as she craned her neck to peer in as well.
Arya won't appreciate it if we intruder on her privacy. She spoke.
"I have to know she's safe." Eragon explained to all of them.
No one argued this, instead, the dragon changed subjects.

You said that after her imprisonment, she erected wards that- like your necklace- prevent anyone from scrying her.
GB lifted his eggs with blue magic and carried them over to curl around them comfortably.
She's right. Blue agreed with Saphira, humming. How do you plan on circumventing that?
"If I can scry the people she's with, I might be able to figure out how Arya is." Said the human before he stated the words to scry whoever he was searching for. The mirror turned white, revealing several figures around an unseen table.

Among them were Nasuada, the Council of Elders, Error, and a strange black-robed girl behind the leader of the Varden. These details quickly faded as it was apparent that they were all dressed for a fight.
GB chirped in alarm as Blue leaned closer.
Let us hear their words. Saphira suggested. Eragon immediately recited the words, and Nasuada's words rose from the glass.
"...and confusion will destroy us. Our warriors can afford but one commander during this conflict. Decide who it will be, Orrin, and quickly too."
A sigh echoed from seemingly nowhere. "As you wish; the position is yours."

"But, sir, she is untried!" Another cried.
"Enough, Irwin. She has more experience in war than anyone in Surda. And the Varden are the only force to have defeated one of Galbatorix's armies. If Nasuada were a Surdan general- which would be peculiar indeed, I admit- you would not hesitate to nominate her for the post. I shall be happy to deal with questions of authority if they arise afterward, for they will mean I'm still on my feet and not lying in a grave. As it is, we are so outnumbered I fear we are doomed unless Hrothgar can reach us before the end of the week. Now, where is that blasted scroll on the supply train?... Ah, thank you, Arya. Three more days without-"

They all blinked as Error suddenly stared squarely at them as though he could see them through the reflection.
It shouldn't have been surprising, when the skeletons had discovered they could sense when they were being scried, and could even see where the viewer was watching from, but a surprise nonetheless it was.
The conversation was already about bowstring shortages, which was nothing useful, so Eragon ended the spell, Error smiling before the mirror returned to normal.

The human stared at his reflection as the others shared a look between themselves, GB pressing his eggs closer to his sides as Saphira hummed, Blue blinking at the two of them.
We are needed. The dragon stated.
"Aye." Eragon agreed softly. "Why hasn't Oromis told us about this? He must know of it."
What if he was worried we'd leave too soon if we knew? Blue suggested, parting his jaw slightly.
Eragon slowly nodded, brows furrowed in confusion before his eyes went wide. He spoke the words once more and revealed two figures surrounded in white, one pacing up and down as the other stood impassively.

Only the roar of waves came from the mirror, the voices drowned by the waters, faces revealing desperation. They were clearly standing on a ship's deck, but Blue had no idea who these humans were, just that they were terribly haggard and in need. The first, most haunting one started walking, revealing other desperate humans as they passed.
"Where are they, and why is Jeod with them?" Eragon demanded suddenly, not yet explaining who these people may be. Suddenly shifting the view to somewhere else, everyone a little shocked to see the wharf absolutely devastated, a random squat village, a lonely overgrown hill, then a horrible blighted area of soot stains and ash- Eragon let out a wail.

Blue leapt backwards in surprise as GB hissed at the noise.
"It's gone!" Eragon cried, the mirror slipping from his hand and nearly shattering on the floor if Blue hadn't quickly reacted with blue magic. Both Sanses had to watch helplessly as Eragon turned and sobbed against Saphira, who hummed and rubbed the side of her face on his arm softly.
That was Carvahall, Eragon's home village. She explained gently.

Blue choked on his breath before hugging the human. Eragon, I'm sorry.
GB sat and watched, sympathy in his sockets as he hummed.
Take comfort, little one. Saphira told her Rider. At least your friends are still alive.
The human nodded, his cheek brushing against the side of Blue's cheekbone as the other hugged him tightly.
It was a minute or so before he took a shuddering breath and spoke.
"We have remained sequestered from the world for far too long. It's high time we leave Ellesméra and confront our fate, whatever it may be. For now, Roran must fend for himself, but the Varden… the Varden we can help."

Here Blue sat back, staring at Eragon with wide eyesockets as GB sat up straight, sockets also just as wide.
Is it time to fight, Eragon? Saphira inquired formally.
Her meaning was clear, beyond the surface question and going deeper.
She asked if it was time to challenge the Empire head-on, to murder, slay, and make the blood of enemies rain with their newfound abilities, to break the dam and bring forth the tidal wave of fury as it comes crashing down on Galbatorix and all other evil standing in their way, to fight for freedom and a future in the land for monsterkind, to finally bring about the chance to rekindle the race of dragons, to throw themselves into the fray and stay until the war was over and won. Was it finally time to start the fires that would burn until Galbatorix fell? No matter how long it takes?

Here, the human finally replied with only a thought. A thought heard by all, spoken with upmost finality.
It is time.