Kael came to a place where the world split into four. There was no sky above, nor earth below, only the vastness of the Dream stretched out like a blank parchment. Upon that blankness, four roads had been written:
-One descended into shadow, where voices murmured promises without faces.
-One blazed with fire, and every step upon it screamed of conquest and ruin.
-One flowed into a restless sea, where waves rose higher than mountains and fell lower than graves.
-One soared into the winds, invisible yet sharp, cutting all who dared to climb.
At the center, where all roads met, sat a Stranger in tattered garments, breaking bread that diminished not. His face was hidden, but His presence was familiar, like a forgotten song humming in Kael's blood.
The Stranger said:
"All roads end in me. Choose shadow, and I shall greet you. Choose fire, and I shall meet you. Choose sea, and I shall receive you. Choose wind, and I shall embrace you. Refuse to choose, and still I shall be there, for I am the end of every journey."
Kael knelt and asked: "If every path leads to You, what is the meaning of choice? Why bear the burden of decision when the end is the same?"
The Stranger broke His bread and offered a piece. Kael ate, and it tasted of both hunger and fullness. Then the Stranger laughed, and His laughter shook the four roads so that they trembled like reeds before a storm.
"Choice is the mirror the Dreamer holds to His children," He said. "By choosing, you do not shape the end, for the end is Myself. By choosing, you reveal what lies within you. The road is not chosen for its destination, but for the reflection it draws from your heart. To walk fire reveals your wrath; to walk shadow reveals your fear; to walk sea reveals your longing; to walk wind reveals your pride. Even refusal to choose is a choice, and reveals the marrow of the one who refuses."
Kael bowed low, and in the Stranger's eyes he saw the same Hand that had touched him beyond the gate. He realized then that every road was not a path outward, but a descent inward.
Thus Kael learned the Ninth Mystery: that choice is not to determine destiny, but to uncover the self already written in the heart of the Dreamer. Every road is the Dreamer's question, and every step is the child's answer.