Avere wanted to say something about beliefs, about churches, about gods and how they forced that fear upon people, he wanted to understand what she had understood, but instead, he felt a finger being laid upon his closed, cracked lips, violently shushing him as she now stood too close to him for his liking.
She smiled and began to tell him something he didn't want to hear either, the great desire of Cades driving him forwards, the greed, the gluttony, the envy, the longing for the greatest of all powers, understanding, knowledge, wisdom, something known under so many synonyms, and yet, something oh so simple and revered.
"Let's discuss that some other time, if we ever meet again." she took her finger off of his mouth and wiped the miniscule amount of his spit, slightly tainted silver for some unknown reason, on her lab coat, now clean, at least before the spit had entered the dark material, though that was one of the main purposes for such lab coats, aside from protection from chemicals.
"I can't tell you everything, your understanding has to come from yourself, that is part of the rules in this place, I can only tell you so much that you understand" she smiled wearily, tired but wise, like that very same owl after it had fulfilled many a interesting and knowledgeable trick.
"There are other things I should tell you, things you should understand about this place, don't you think?" she smiled kindly now, like an old woman giving candy to a child, be it still very tired and a bit annoyed as she looked somewhere he couldn't follow, though eh wasn't sure what was even allowing him to see she was looking away as she still had eyes that looked like puddles of milk.
She took a few steps towards the flames and threw the almanac, still charred and wrinkled from the heat of the endlessly raging tongues of light dancing around it, back into the heart of the chaotic maelstrom that pillared itself upwards into the height of the silver dome just a second later, with Avere feeling something changing, though he didn't immediately realize what it was.
A waste really, but not his point of saying, after all, she should be able to easily get it back out, long as the endlessly raging devil didn't finally rip the pages apart, didn't manage to paint the back of the book the deepest black, didn't manage to make the driest grey mould appear, to destroy the book, to char it black, to turn it to ashes.
After a moment where the flames retreated from the endlessly growing pillar, a pillar that had stretched out over the seemingly endless width of the dome-like cage they were trapped under, she turned around, her face calm and serene, the sorrowness and the sadness having long since dissipated, perhaps long before he had even arrived here, long before he had even been here, long before even Arges or Rondel had been, long before Ehetria having been destroyed, something that seemed rather recent, and yet, like it had been an eternity ago, longer than an entire empires history.
At that, though he didn't have a body, Cades looked down, knowing fully well that he was much more on the point than he could ever imagine right now, the world being hidden under many layers, perhaps not just the one Cades, the one that later became Leyk, had been under, perhaps so many that Ehetria had long since become history, if that had not already happened after he had beaten up Mangel and almost killed them.
And unbeknownst to all, there was a slight smirk in the dark.
However, none of this affected the woman who quickly continued talking.
"As you might already have guessed, this place is a challenge." she said calmly, tired, but full of expression, that being sheer unfiltered boredom, with Avere listening and inwardly agreeing that he had already suspected this, though eh wasn't entirely sure why he had.
"Who do you think this is a trial of?" she tilted her head once more.
Cades smiled, already knowing the answer, though he was fairly certain Avere would know it too, after all, he had the talent of the Cades who had inherited the original's talent for intent, though he had not inherited any kind of real strategic combat, aside from traps...
He had been really lucky with the frontal confrontations...
And, indeed, Avere answered hesitantly.
"Some kind of trial about... experiences?"
At that, the woman smiled and answered, now with much less boredom, "Indeed, after all, this is the trial of the great pillar of experiences, the pillar of the silver ocean, the leader of souls, the bringer of many a thing." she sighed slightly at the end, though it seemed more so ironic for something than anything else.
"There will be either six or seven trials, it depends on something I can't really tell you right now, but I'd ready yourself for seven in total." she took a break, a long one...
Just as Avere was about to ask she continued however.
"I can't really tell you more as this is still the first trial, so I'd be a bit more patient if I were you.."
She smiled innocently, turning around and gripping into the fire, this time at the height of her head, taking out a small piece of it, and quickly warping and twisting it to take the shape of a book, small and able to be held within one hand, thick but not too thick.
About half an inch thick and three inches high when stood on the back, the back being made of elegant black leather, the rest being relatively the same, but he already knew that that wouldn't be all there was to the book.
It was the almanac, that was certain, though it did seem to be smaller than normal.
And just as she turned around, it vanished into a silver cloud, no, just as he blinked once, the book was gone, and she smiled, quickly answering as he was about to ask once more.
"Just a small gift, something most would probably give you.", wielding a bright smile on her face, looking as if she was a child despite being over thirty and looking tortured and tired at the same time.
She raised her right hand, so that the inside pointed to him, the elbow as well, her upper body angled towards a slight bow, but more so just having been lowered.
Then, in a voice as if she was singing she said something and shook the hand.
"Bye-bye"