An Unbound Soul

Erryn knew that she could never subject the child, Peter, to the Law. To do so would effectively be murder, and whatever else she might have become, at her core she was still a dungeon. Dungeons killed, but they did not murder. On the other hand, should he ever attempt to take advantage of his status, he would find the remainder of his existence very brief indeed. She doubted that he ever would; looking into his mind proved that he agreed with the majority of what the Law enforced.

Perhaps he was prepared to lie a little too readily, but that was easy enough to work around. While no-one could comprehend the idea of malicious deception from other people, they could certainly comprehend it from monsters, even the intelligent ones. There was nothing particularly special about the division, and it could be expanded easily enough. Erryn tweaked the Law to allow the world to realise that Peter could lie.

Perhaps that would be an acceptable alternative to the Law; ensuring that everyone possessed an acceptable and matching set of morals. How could that be done? Not via soul magic; forcing someone to follow a set of rules in that way was what the Law already did. Peter's memories contained something known as genetics, and genetics had at least some impact on behaviour. Could people be bred for better morals? But Peter's memories also contained something known as eugenics, which had all the same bad connotations that he attached to her Law.

Could she ever withdraw the Law from those already living? If applying it to Peter would make him someone else, then would the same not apply to removing it from others? Peter had certainly thought so when questioned. It would effectively be removing one population to insert another. Of course, that didn't preclude a gradual removal, but Erryn doubted Peter would ever suggest an abrupt termination.

But then, Peter had once more shown his cognitive dissonance. He hadn't wanted to change the Law, even gradually or selectively, because the outcome was uncertain, while the status quo was acceptable with the races living out happy lives. Despite that, he was concerned about the lack of advancement made by civilization, and was prepared to introduce knowledge from his original world, despite the outcome being equally uncertain and the existing stagnation not causing problems. People had no need of computers or television to be happy, and with magic and the System, life wasn't inconvenient. Why the difference? He found the Law unpalatable simply because it altered peoples' minds, and yet he was looking forward to the day he hit adulthood so that he could drink alcohol, a substance that would alter his own mind.

Peter had claimed Erryn did not understand humans. Erryn was more than willing to agree. Humans, along with all the sentient races, were weird. Erryn did not doubt that they would feel the same way about her, however. Mutual understanding seemed forever out of reach.

In any case, everything was working right now, so there was no need to change anything yet. Erryn doubted that Peter would ever come to a final decision however long he travelled the world, forever scared of the consequences should he pass judgement one way or the other, but the journey itself would be of interest. The outside perspective would be useful.

That would be years away though, and Erryn had plenty to occupy herself in the meantime. She had previously lamented that while she could control the System, she was not able to replicate it. However, the new information she had obtained, even if incomplete and fractured, still contained concepts that were completely new to her. Peter may not have been able to build a computer, but he knew of the idea of a computer, and Erryn could see how that idea applied to the System. It wasn't so much 'knowledge' as a new perspective, a new way of looking at it and understanding how it worked.

To the north of the great dungeon and the surrounding city of Synklisi stood the ark, an entire mountain blanketed with perception suppression. None of the races could come here. They weren't even allowed to know it existed. For the first time in a couple of hundred years, it received Erryn's full attention.