A new pursuit… how invigorating! It'd been years since Aven last continued his research on the inner workings of magic, far too long a hiatus, by his count. The passion of those who seek knowledge, that unquenchable thirst to unravel the unknown, this is what'd driven him for most of his life. Subtract the time he spent trying to overthrow a corrupt government, and courting the love of his life, and you'd have good twenty-three years. In the way of human lifespan, he was nothing more than a child, and to the longer lived races, barely even that. Unfortunate it was, in that regard, that he was on his way to meet a being that'd apparently transcended the bounds of time. Aven sighed to himself, realizing how foolish he was going to appear, waltzing into the temple of the alleged God of Secrets to offer an exchange of information. Were he truly the God of Secrets, would that imply that he protected the sanctity of secrets and would thus not intrude into the minds of those holding them, or would he, being a deity of such, simply be automatically privy to any secret that is being held? It was a gamble he would need to take, should he desire to hold any leverage in a conversation with a God. 
Shaking such useless predication from his mind, Aven advanced through the shadow of the night, arriving at the door of the temple. It wasn't as much of a chore to find as he'd thought it would be; in fact, it'd been far more taxing just to get the information of where he could even find a decent library in this new world he was in. Granted, due to his shadow melding, Aven wasn't inhibited by terrain, or stamina for that matter. So long as it was dark, he was able to scour every last nook and cranny for the temple without rest: almost made him feel like he was cheating, resulting in a light chuckle as he emerged from the darkness on the ground as though rising from a liquid. He was greeted with five words on the human sized door: 'Only I know the secret.'
Strange. They weren't inscribed into material of the door, but instead, protruding out from it. In particular, the "I" seemed to be farther out that the others. Looking around, there didn't seem to be any other way to open the door, and it was sealed shut, not a single crack that Aven could slip through as a shadow. Not that he would be inclined to sneak into a God's domain. He may have been young, but he wasn't a fool: even in his limited experience with higher beings, he knew that when you confront a higher being, you enter through the door. They know your presence whether or not you identify yourself, it is a test of courtesy and respect, a test he would take seriously. The "I" protruding could mean that it was mean to be altered, a theory Aven tested by trying to pull it outward, on the basis that perhaps the idea was to remove the "I" to gain entrance, to symbolize the sharing of knowledge. It did not budge.
Fine, different tactic. He attempted to push it in, to align the "I" with the other words of the sentence, which he assumed would symbolize balance. That did the trick, and the door opened, allowing him into the temple. He allowed himself a satisfactory grin, though it hadn't exactly been of a sphinx's riddle difficulty. Sometimes, it was the small things that could bring a bit of joy to Aven, and he was alright with that, which could possibly explain why he was often in a good mood. He continued forward into the temple, admiring the interior. His senses told him the place was heavy with magic, and his body even more so. If it were possible, he could probably reach out and cut a chunk out of the air, it was so dense with enchantments and magical matrices. There was no doubt in Aven's mind that he was no longer in the normal world: if he had to guess by the concentration of magic, on top of the knowledge it was a God's temple, he'd say that there was a spacial distortion effect on the area which expanded the interior. If Gods held as much power as they did in his previous world, it would be hard to contain their presence in such a space without overwhelming the mortal occupants, so it was likely that either the god only appeared in astral form, or that a spacial distortion was put into place to mitigate the effect by increase the volume of the interior, thus decreasing the density of their magical presence. He quivered with excitement as he strode past the archway, his tattered black robes and ruffled silver hair rustling slightly as his pace increased, small black particles trailing off the edges of his clothes and hair. I missed this research so much! He passed the archway, and the name "Aven Alveron" was recorded on it.
As he enters the area, the presiding God would feel a presence they have not before, almost alien in nature.

Adraejen Porthyrius was in the Relic Room, quietly constructing a new pedestal for the newest item of his collection, one he wasn't entirely sure how long it would remain there. It was certainly one he wanted to keep incredibly safe. From the moment he had picked it up in that dark murky swamp, the sparkling gold, pearl, diamond and platinum egg had taken from his memory his most cherished moment. It was something that left him feeling vulnerable, so he wasn't sure he wanted it where it could be tampered with. Granted, it would take a lot of power to break his protection wards, and so far nothing else had ever been taken. That and the only person who had wanted him hurt was now dead and gone, he had felt her presence lift from the back of his mind the moment her children drove their blades into her body. Even then, she had already known how best to hurt him. But for her, it was impossible to get at those who he held the most dear. 

With a resigned sigh, determined to add it to his collection, but under the same level of protection he kept the Old Tree of Knowledge under, the Keeper produced the glittering Kichona Kioku and placed it on its stand in the center of the newest pedestal. As soon as it was in place, the golden egg was immediately haloed by the warding light. The pale light made the egg sparkle even more, that he decided that it was a good decision to keep it there. 

As he stepped back, the air crackled around him, Tar Eisalae's way of alerting him that someone new had come into the Temple Library. His own heightened senses reached out and picked up a very strange sort of magic deeply interwoven into the individual's very being, and got the distinct impression that it was shadow magic that had come into the Temple Library. 

Aven took note of the vast array of books, the hallways created by the shelves shimmering ever so slightly near their end. Aven stared of into the distance of the library, deep in thought. So, he'd been correct about his spacial distortion hypothesis: he couldn't be sure, however, whether the purpose was for storage or for density mitigation. Though far from a man with a one track mind, Aven still tended to tackle one mystery at a time; it tended to be more efficient that way, and allowed him to devote the entirety of his focus to that single subject. Unfortunately, he was ill-fit to conduct the experiments that would be necessary to draw any meaningful conclusions, seeing as the space was not his to tamper with. Furthermore, without the knowledge of exactly what enchantments and matrices were in place on the library, which would act as inhibiting variables in any experiment he conducted, he could not draw any conclusions in the first place, as any result could have been amplified or suppressed by the other magics already present in the space. If he could only speak to the God of Knowledge…

The approach of a powerful presence broke him from his trance, stopping him in his tracks as well. A tall man with long hair and similar eyes to his own, as well as similar garb, save the obvious grandeur of the other man's robe, greeted him, the being's voice carrying the weight of his influence. He appeared to be a keeper of sorts, by his clothing, but the slight tremor that ran down his spine told Aven otherwise. Come to think of it, what had he expected a God of Knowledge and Secrets to appear as? The more he pondered it, the more he realized that how he appeared made all the sense in the world: those who seek knowledge are typically not concerned about appearance, proven by his own slightly disheveled form. The dark particles that floated off Aven began to fall into a centralized orbit around him, as if reacting to the God's presence. Aven recalled his previous line of thought, and grinned with excitement. This was what he had come for.

"Tar Eisalae… quite a name, I must say. I am Aven Alveron, the Scion of Dark Matter," He transitions into a noble bow, his arms taking reciprocal positions on the front and back of his torso. After straightening, he makes eye contact with the God. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance, God of Knowledge." He paused a moment, debating whether he should simply state his intentions form the start. Surely, he did not wish to seem impertinent by starting off with an inquiry seconds after they'd met. "I've traveled to your abode to learn everything I can about this world of yours. You see, I hail from an alternate reality to this one, sent here through a small mishap of universal forces, and thus far, I've observed several variations in the laws of physics: changes I cannot ignore should I wish to, once again, delve into the workings of the universe." His smile was honest, and his eyes were bright with the naivety of youth. It could be easily inferred that despite the strange power emanating from him, he was no older than he looked. On the same token, however, the ease of his speech pointed to a store of knowledge that many beings would not approach within their entire lifetimes. He had obviously been through many trials and dealt with vastly powerful forces, an assumption that could be accentuated by his respectful, yet fearless tone when addressing the God. 

This newcomer was certainly a strange one. Despite looking barely older than Drae, the one who called himself the 'Scion of Dark Matter', a lofty, but somehow clearly deserved title had a otherworldly air about him that tickled Drae's curiosity. He spoke as a well-studied individual would, and his request for research into the world he was currently living in gave Drae a little insight into the responsible disposition of the man. He was also rather polite and seemed quite amicable as far as sincere researchers went.

"I could say quite the same for you name, Master Alveron. Your title is a lofty and impressive one at that, though judging by the strange power that emanates from you, I do believe it is not claimed in vain," Drae said with an interested smile as the strange newcomer bowed to him. He listened as the stranger explained his coming to Tar Eisalae, and he nodded in approval, while quirking his head to the side in interest about what it was he spoke of. 

"You have come to the right place for your study then. If it has ever been made known or discovered or documented, the record will be here in Tar Eisalae. It is nice to see that some are interested in learning what binds the realm together as far as magic is concerned, rather than just using it willy nilly without considering the possible consequences. Your manner of speaking suggests you have spent more than your fair share of study in your lifetime. I think that you will find that the Temple Library will suit your needs in that regard," he said evenly. He turned his long robes flaring out around him as he began walking. "Come on, I'll show you around," he said, dropping his originally more formal tone. It was boring and he didn't want to come off sounding high born. He knew better than that. 

"So, you've come from someplace other than Revaliir. Can't say its unheard of. Many people have journeyed across the void, especially during the Time Death with the Rifts that opened up," he commented as he walked towards the center of the Temple Library where the Tree of Clarity stood sparkling in the natural light that was let in from the Occulus high above. He stopped in front of the Codex. 

"This is the Codex. The heart and soul of Tar Eisalae. It catalogs every piece of information that has ever been. All you have to do is speak that which you search for, and it will lead you to it," he said as he leaned on the large heavy pedestal where the massive thick tome rested.  
Porthyrius, Keeper of the Keys and Secrets of Knowledge and the Arcane, though many simply call me The Keeper, Bear King, Silver Tongue, Warlock, Master of Secrets, or just plain Lord Drae. I will answer to all of them," he said with a charming smile. "You seem like a well-taught individual, and I find the powers that have clung to you quite intriguing. Allow me to show you around Tar Eisalae so that you can get around without getting too lost," he s

Aven chuckled at the God's use of "Master" in addressing a lower being. He assumed it was meant as a form of respect in return to that Aven had shown him, an extremely… mortal gesture. Out of all the scenarios he'd run through his head, meeting a God of Knowledge that chose to forgo pride in exchange for common decency was not a simulation he'd expected. Still, he welcomed the pleasant surprise, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. "After having born a similar array of titles, I imagine the variety becomes tiresome, does it not? Though only for a short while, I ruled over a small realm of existence, and I only lasted near a week before I was sick of, 'Your Darkness', or 'Shadowlord'." He rolled his eyes at the memory of what could be inferred as several other gaudy titles. "Wish it to be different, but those bent on following will always have a penchant for 'kissing the boot', as the saying goes. I hope you don't mind me sticking to Lord Drae: ah, and I appreciate the gesture, but my friends call me Aven. I would hate to hold you on ceremony in your own temple!" Another laugh escaped his lips, this one mirthful. Certainly, it must have been the vast bounty of knowledge that surrounded him, because Aven hadn't been so giddy in quite some time, even before he crossed the dimensional barrier.

On the topic of giddiness, Aven was stuggling not to reach out and touch the Codex Drae led him to, the dark particles around him doing the same, seeming to gravitate toward the powerful magic. The magic that emanated from the book spoke volumes in and of itself, without even a glance. Aven could feel the weight of the magic, comparable to the presence Drae himself emitted, though he surmised that was due to Drae spreading his influence throughout the temple. Indeed, he hadn't connected those dots before, but the powerful presence of Drae's magic was the same that had greeted him at the door. It didn't shock Aven to know that the God was omnipresent in his own space, a fact he could extend to mean Drae was also near omnipotent here. Aven wondered how his own powers would be affected by such a space. "By the way, you described by power as strange; I take that to mean that my initial thoughts on this realm are correct, and dark matter is not prevalent here? If your library is lacking information on the subject, I would be happy to share my research: consider it my contribution to your ceaseless endeavor, and a thanks for your hospitality."

"Lord Drae is perfectly fine, Aven," Drae chuckled as he conformed to the level of titles that his new visitor had requested to use. "You are a man after my own heart, titles do get in the way, between people trying to be polite and getting their words out in a way that they hope will not offend, they waste so much air doing it," he said in agreement. 

He watched Aven interested in how the dark man itched to touch the Codex and even how the tendrils of dark reached out to examine. It was quite fascinating really. He couldn't recall that he had ever seen an element so deeply woven into an individual's being before. 

"What you call 'dark matter' is something yet unknown to me," Drae admitted. "Though from what I observe simply of you, you are a Shadowmancer of some sort, a Shadow Weaver. If you have research and information you wish to add to Tar Eisalae and my Codex, I will not object. It is my endeavor here to make all knowledge accessible to the masses, for good or evil," he explained. "If you wish to contribute, I would be grateful and I am sure it will be useful to all manner of person in the future."

Aven nodded graciously. "It would be a pleasure to add my share of knowledge. Let me start out with the basics of the material: Dark matter is a fusion of Void energy and normal matter, the atoms of which differ from normal atoms in four ways." Aven held his hand up in front of him, and the particles around him, plus a stream of extra particles from his shadow, coagulated into a solid ball, with half-circular nodules covering the surface. "First, you would notice that there is no electron cloud surrounding it. Dark matter was created in my previous universe when a war broke out between the forces of Void and the Gods. The Gods were victorious in the battle, and in order to prevent any harm to the normal realm from this material, they used a reality bending ritual to permanently alter the substance of dark matter to lack electrons, thus lacking a negative charge, and be unable to naturally bond with other dark matter atoms." 

More particles flowed from his shadow, and created a second, identical model. "However, the second property of these atoms resulted from that ritual. Because the atoms are always positively charged, and pure magic energy has a naturally negative charge," A small amount magic emanated from Aven's hand, and the two dark matter spheres were drawn together, their nodules interlocking, "They are drawn to magic energy, and thus it can be used to artificially create a bond between them. The second property is, of course, is that when bonded by magic as such, there is no space between them, as normal matter would possess, since normal atoms are comprised mostly of empty space held together by an electromagnetic field. All the space that dark matter fills is it's protons and neutrons, making any dark matter material many times more durable than it's normal counterpart. Hand in hand with this property is the third, which is dark matter's interaction with light, and where it gets its name: because of it's greatly increased mass, light particles than strike dark matter atoms lose their energy, the atom converting that energy into further Void energy, and thus the material gives off no light. When bonded with magic, this property can be altered, as the presence of magic between the atoms allows light to escape."

Aven raised his other hand, and with a small gesture, conjured an apple with a spell, allowing the dark matter models in his other hand to dissipate back into particles and flow back to his shadow. "The fourth property is the reason why the Gods needed to take away it's natural bonding. Dark Matter in its natural, unbonded state has little to no effect on normal matter. However, in larger quantities, such as my body…" Aven squeezed the apple, and dark veins began to appear over its surface, until finally, it became pitch black, and burst into dark matter particles. "…it takes after its Void counterpart, corrupting normal matter with the Void energy inside it, transforming that matter into dark matter." The particles from the apple, too, flow behind Aven into his shadow. "This property makes dark matter dangerous, and if used recklessly or with malicious intent, it can cause havoc." 

Rolling his shoulders, Aven allows his muscles to loosen once more. "That is the basic knowledge on dark matter. As for it's interactions with different elements and energies, we could likely delve into that subject later."

Drae immediately became Aven's pupil right there in front of the Codex and he listened and watched intently the demonstration that the strange foreigner put on for him. His silver eyes took in his movements, and his ears the words while his hands mimicked Aven's movements though in small less exaggerated ways. After some time of trying to comprehend what exactly Aven was trying to explain to him, Drae had to give up and focused on the magic itself. After the explanation and watching the way the stranger used this mysterious magic, Drae straightened up.

"You come from a very advanced realm," he told Aven flatly. "I'm not proud to admit it, but I understood very little of what you explained to me. Here, to date, we know nothing of electrons, neutrons and those adoms. I understand what you mean by electromagnetism holding these things together, for we are familiar with compasses and galvanizing energy, but I am afraid the rest of it, I don't understand. That, for now, is as yet undiscovered," the God of magic explained. 

"However, I think I understand the basic concept," Drae said as he reach out and pulled some of this so-called dark matter to him and began to morph it around in his hands. 
"It has more substance to it than simple shadow weaving, but it feels that the idea remains the same," he said as he morphed the strange magic into different solid shapes before releasing it back to fly to Aven's shadow. 

"Fascinating though."

Aven nodded, but he was unable to stop his eyebrows from rising when Drae began to control the dark matter. Not only had Aven been previously exerting his will over that dark matter, thus his command was overrode, the God was unaffected by the dark matter's corrupting properties. Powerful indeed. His immediate hypothesis became that Gods, in this new realm, did not automatically embody the holy element, as the dark matter would otherwise have been destroyed when the God influenced it. A supporting factor for such a conjecture lie in the fact that Aven's abilities were not weakened in the presence of Drae, nor his temple, despite being surrounded by the God's energy. It was also possible, of course, that the form Aven was viewing was only a magically created avatar for Drae, and his true form would indeed have destroyed the dark matter. In both instances, it made logical sense that he was able to manipulate the matter: for one thing, a god of magic would be capable of influencing the magic bonds between the dark matter even without a dark matter manipulation form, effectively accomplishing the same goal that Aven did. In any of the cases, it was perfectly clear Aven was dealing with his intellectual equal at the very least, though more likely his greater.

Aven smiled once more. "In truth, the specifics do not matter too much: you understood the important details, those regarding it's interaction with other substances. Perhaps, another day, we could discuss the finer points of those 'atoms'." A stray thought popped into Aven's head, and he grasped the back of his neck a bit nervously, as though he were being forced to ask. "Speaking of the future, it appears we're cut from portions of the same cloth, Lord Drae. I don't suppose you ever leave Tar Eisalae? When I left to find you, my wife requested that I invite you over for dinner. Whether or not she was jesting, I'm unsure, but as you might know, one can never be too careful with women." 

His thoughts skipped a beat, clawing their way back onto their tracks. "Anyway, getting past that, I believe the most pressing matter would be this world's connection to the Void: is the Void a universal force here, or is it only known to be the matter-less space between dimensions?"

"You seem surprised," Drae chuckled as he manipulated the Dark Matter with apparent ease before he allowed the strange shadow substance to retreat back into its hosts form. "Perhaps I should quell your curiosity. You are right, this power should rebel at a radiant or holy aura, but while I am divine, divinity does not equate to holy or radiant. Not in me at least. If you want to see a violent reaction in your power, I would travel to the domain of Naota. He is all but the embodiement of holy and light," Drae chuckled. While he had not read Aven's mind directly, Tar Eisalae had relayed the shadowy man's thoughts to him and he was able to form his answer accordingly. 

"I look forward to that discussion, especially if it adds to the better understanding of Revaliir as a world," he smiled, offering Aven a hand to shake, much more like a business man than a deity. 

At the invitation to dinner, this made Drae chuckle heartily. "I am not so confined to this Temple that I might not be able to accept such an invitation. I too am married and have a family life outside this realm. And whether or not she jests, I would be delighted to meet your wife, and perhaps introduce the pair of you to my own," he smiled. 

"As for the Void," Drae said. "The only way I can explain it is this: the Void is the space in between points. The Void is where all magic in Revaliir stems from. When you teleport or open a gate, the space you pass through, albeit the span of an eyeblink, is the Void. The strange phenomena that sweeps across Parvpora when there is an influx of magical energies is known as a Void Storm, stemming from the pocket dimension that left a tear into the Void when the World Tree Verya fell," the Keeper explained. "People can exist inside the void, in a state of suspended animation, but in time if they are left there, the Void will consume them."

"There are some theories that there could be living entities within the Void, but it has never been confirmed."