(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

eflection. It was in the reflection of the steel that Zerthimon first knew
himself. Its edge was sharp, its will the wearer's. It was the blade that would
come to be raised against Gith when Zerthimon made the Pronouncement
of Two Skies."
"Zerthimon kept the blade for many turnings, and many were the thoughts
he had about it. He used it in the fields to aid his work. In using it, he
thought about how it was not used."
"The illithids were powerful. Zerthimon had believed that there was nothing
that they did not know. Yet the illithids never carried tools of steel. They
only used flesh as tools. Everything was done through flesh, for the
tentacled ones were made of flesh and they knew flesh. Yet steel was
superior to flesh. When the blade had killed the husk, it was the flesh that
had been weaker than the steel."
"It was then that Zerthimon came to know that flesh yielded to steel. In
knowing that, he came to know that steel was stronger than the illithids."
"Steel became the scripture of the People. Know that steel is the scripture
by which the People came to know freedom."
I slid the plate closed, breathing a sigh and meditating over the lesson,
seeking out the deeper meaning behind the tale. With the Githzerai, history
and parable flowed as one, just as Dak'kon was one with his karach blade.
Dak'kon's gaze was serene, "What did you come to know?"
"I learned that not knowing something can be a tool, just like flesh and steel,
if upon encountering it, you attempt to know its nature and how it came to
be."
Again he nodded in satisfaction, a hint of contentment in his eyes that I was
progressing quickly. "You have seen the words and you have seen beyond
them. You have come to know the Second Circle of Zerthimon." He took the
Circle and with a deft motion, he twisted one of the links so one of the
plates slid forth - but strangely enough, the stone still appeared intact. He
handed the plate to me. "Meditate upon this teaching, and the knowing of it
shall give you strength. When you have absorbed it, you shall know more."
I read the slim plate, scribed with those circular runes of the Githzerai
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