The chamber’s pulse slows to a low, steady throb. Violet light gathers above the floor and becomes a warped image of the surface, pale sky, broken stone, and distant wind.
Walter
You left that world behind, Kynes. Yet you still measure yourself against it. Why?
Bren keeps still at Kynes’s side, one hand resting near the seal, her eyes flicking between him and the wavering vision.
Bren
It is asking the useful question. Answer carefully, or ignore it. I am listening either way.
Kynes
The surface image is unstable, but the sky is clear.
The Warden’s light softens, almost patient now, while the chamber falls quiet around the three of them.
Walter
Speak, then. Tell us what the surface still means to you.
Bren exhales once, slow and guarded, and waits with Kynes in the dim violet hush.
“"I do not measure myself against the surface. I measure myself against who I was when I walked it. Every step since has changed me. The surface is my origin, not my destination." look to bren ... "The surface taught me where I began. It does not define where I end."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Kynes
I do not measure myself against the surface. I measure myself against who I was when I first walked it. Every step since has changed me. The surface is my origin, not my destination.
Kynes turns his head toward Bren as he finishes, the violet glow sliding over his red eyes. The chamber stays hushed, listening.
Kynes
The surface taught me where I begin. It does not define where I end.
Bren
That is the first honest answer you have given here.
Walter
And the first that does not confuse origin with purpose.
The projected sky above them steadies, its broken stone and wind sharpening for a moment, as if the chamber recognizes the shape of his words.
Bren
Then tell me this, Kynes. If the surface is not your end, what is?
Quest Complete
Parley with the Warden
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Great→Superb
+ Story Quest Added
Descend into the tower's memory