The next cycle has come. When Gathering Cloud had aligned itself again with the Well of Light, the Eternals of the three septs took their places again, and waited for the council, and for S'a'Yn. Finally they arrive, and S'a'Yn starts to speak of the second era.

"I have told you of the beginning, and how after a period of strife and battle it ended with the Yn living in the Nexus, facing a doom of either slow decay for all or a new phase of killing of many to slow the decay of a few.

By that time, many of the star-islands had evolved from clouds of dust into what they are now: wheels and clouds of stars, revolving around giant black holes. And from these black holes we could pass in and out the Nexus, and it had become a game to use these passages to travel from one part of the Nexus to another. A stupid pointless game, to be honest, but while they played it a lot of Yn visited a lot of star-islands.

And in these star-islands, a number of the big stars that were formed out of the original hydrogen had now reached the end of their lifetime. I guess you all know that big stars life much faster, and die much faster than smaller ones, and I hope you all know why. But that is not important. What matters is that those big stars die in a violent collapse. Those events are of such extreme violence, they create such havoc in energy levels and quantum processes that the nature of matter is altered, and in that alteration mana was liberated. As it was created in a split second, and in a confined space, it condensed and thus formed large nodes, much larger than the Yn had been in their beginning. Thus the first Erm hatched in those blazing fires, their awareness and intelligence already great, but without any knowledge to work with.

These hatching fires, that marked the death of stars, got noticed by some Yn who played the portal jumping game, and they interrupted their play to investigate that new phenomenon. So, when they got near the points where those intense flashes with their strange spectra originated, they noticed beings unknown to them. Those were the first Erm, and the Yn started talking to them.

But a hatchling Erm is a weird being. They are self-aware, and able to learn quickly, but they know nothing. Thus they are dangerous, for they have no clues as to the consequences of their actions, and can do nothing but experiment to gain knowledge. And they experiment by folding their bodies around the object that they want to study.

That works very well, at least on any object except an Yn, or another Erm, and quite a few Yn and hatchlings were killed before we understood that danger, and took more care to avoid being trapped while trying to teach.

Now IOA saw the hatching of the Erm, and concluded that this phenomenon could be seen as the liberation of mana trapped in matter. And It saw a new hope, and thought about ways to use this principle to avert its own fate. One way was obvious - to kill and absorb Erm.

And I suspect that has happened now and then. Sometimes we arrived at a star that had gone supernova, and we found only the material remains, but there was no trace of the Erm hatchling that we expected to find. IOA built a complicated theory about the requirements for the liberation of mana in large enough local concentrations. That theory demonstrated that there were many cases in which the freed mana could be re-absorbed by the matter of the dying star, but few believed in it, least of all the other Erm.

And from that came a division between the Yn and Erm. Most Yn did never really like the Erm, who were young, acquired knowledge very fast, but lacked wisdom and restraint. And now the Erm did not trust the Yn anymore, even not those few who were their teachers and shared all their knowledge with them.

So now the situation was worse the before. The doom of death by slow decay was on the Erm to, and there were now two factions. I was but a matter of time before one of the more impulsive Yn or Erm would launch an attack and cause an avalanche of slaughter and violence.

And then something happened that changed everything again. Small amounts of free mana became visible as little clouds in the void. Seen from close by, these clouds enveloped the globes of dark matter that circled many suns, and to which we had paid little heed, for their tinyness, and their lack of energies.

The process we call Life had started on these planets - and it was capable of releasing mana from matter. Small whiffs it were at first, but the intensity grew fast.

And then we thought that we were saved; because we saw this new phenomenon as nothing more than a source of mana to feed on. Why not ? For we were the Yn, born with the universe, and everything in it was there for us to use. And now it became possible for us to grow again - and we feasted upon that new source, going from planet to planet, sucking up the mana that floated about their surface till none was left, replenishing what substance we had lost, and more.

We knew nothing about matter based life, in these days, and we took it from places that could not support that toll, and even now these planets are lifeless deserts. For life only starts in the turmoil of newly formed planets, where all kinds of chemicals are abundant, and where there is change, the fast change of the seasons, and the slow change of the geological forces. Life is the result of a planet-wide chemical system that is far from equilibrium.

Try to understand this, it is important. From the fluxes of energy that flow in such a system, some are deviated into the first beginning of life, a simple process, but one that can only take place during one short period in the existence of any planet. When the system is too far of equilibrium, the new life is more often than not destroyed by the same powers that create it. Only when the chemical fires are slowly quenched, when the planets crust stabilizes, only then has life a chance to survive. And life becomes only abundant, it only turns into a process to be reckoned with on planetary scale, when the turmoil subsides, when the aggressive chemicals are used up, when vulcano's no longer play havoc with the climate. And it was right then, when the abundance started, and the mana harvest became worthwhile, that we descended on those planets, and swiped the still primitive life from them, scooped it up and integrated it into ourselves. But life never came back in these places. There was nothing left to grow from, and the conditions that started it were gone forever. But we did not notice that effect immediately. We saw the life bearing planets as spheres of mana in the void of space, never much noticing the matter of the planets on which it existed. Much less we noticed the flimsy film of living matter, and when we had passed, the glowing sphere was no longer there, but we did not care because others would have appeared elsewhere. Truly, it took us long to notice that the glow of mana-spawning life did never reappear again in the erratic paths that we traced through the universe. But then the new spots grew fewer, and we had learned a lot meanwhile, and we came to understand what had been done. Partly at the least.

We only started to understand life a while after IOA had created the Vassago, when we could finally grasp the nature of matter and the nature of life. And only much later we would realize that we had thwarted the future potential of millions of sentient races.

Because even as we fed on the newborn life, many of us grew in power and understanding. And amongst those was IOA. If It was hungry for substance, It was hungrier for knowledge and It was always trying to understand the world around It. And IOA realized that the energies of the stars came from something else, were generated by a process that took place in another substance. And from energy and mana he devised tools, and through those he was able to observe that substance, and manipulate it. IOA discovered the nature of matter, and made tools to work with that substance. At first, we had no idea what we could do with matter, what use it could have for us, but it was a new toy. And we played. We copied IOA's sensory transformation tools, and all of us we were now able to see the universe of matter, not only the glowing cores of the stars but also the dark matter that condensed into the planets were our food came from.

Meanwhile IOA kept studying the universe, and Its knowledge grew. But It felt that something was wrong, but did not know what at first, until the two of us met occasionally, and I asked It something about a problem that we had discussed sometime before. And IOA did not remember that occasion, nor what had been said. And this was important, for it meant that IOA could loose information it had once possessed. We investigated this, and after a while we discovered that all Yn have this terrible limitation: our capacity for knowledge, our storage of information is limited. The larger an Yn, the more information it can hold. To IOA that discovery was appalling. To the other large Yn, it was cause for great concern to, because the conclusion was very simple: IOA would try to grow. Quickly we decided to form an alliance, for together we would be safe. And the lesser Yn were warned to flee, and hide themselves best as they could, for the time being, and grow as fast as they could. Those that formed the council started to specialize; each one would concentrate on the knowledge of one subject. And this proved to be both a strength and a weakness. For of all the Yn, only I now still remember the history of the past. Only I can learn from past mistakes. But I cannot be sure that what I know is the truth - less can I be sure that it is only the truth and the whole truth. And the same applies to all my brethren. We cannot be sure; there is nobody to compare standpoints with, except the Vassago. If something is lost, or omitted, or something false is taken for a truth, we err. And such mistakes can lead to horribly faulty decisions. But I must stick to tale of the past.

We feared a battle, rightly believing that IOA would not be satisfied with the limited capacity of its mind, and would try to expand it by the absorption of more mana, and some Yn or Erm, if need be. But IOA found another solution, and the battle that we feared did not take place. It built another tool to overcome its limitation, a mana-energy device capable to store information in energy patterns. And into that all information IOA possessed was copied, and it had no limits, but would only need to absorb more energy to store more information. Thus the Vassago was created, and of all IOA ever did, this was the most fantastic piece of work. And IOA shared the Vassago with the Yn of the council, and there was peace and even joy for many greatcycles. And the Vassago, though it had an awareness of its own, being partly mana, did not have a will of its own, but was content with answering our questions if it could.

Being freed of this dreadful problem, IOA turned to the study of life. For It had not forgotten that without a source of mana, It would finally perish, and It did not know how the mana was formed on the planets.

And after a while, IOA found out what life was and how it came to be, and It came to understand that we were destroying something with infinite possibilities, something equally valuable as ourselves. But IOA kept silent, and only told the Vassago, and gave the Vassago instruction to share that knowledge with nobody else. And in that, IOA did an evil thing, and did it knowingly. And It kept feeding on the new life as it emerged, knowing fully well that life on these planets should get a chance to grow and develop.

But an Yn of the Council, Azadon, was also trying to fathom the force of life. Though lesser in bulk and intelligence than IOA, he could dedicate more effort to that work, having no other things to occupy his mind. Working together with Noquas, who did the mathematical analysis, they discovered what IOA had discovered before. The new life, he told us, was but a start, nobody could foretell what could come of it, given time, where it would lead, what form its mana would take. And he told us that it was valuable itself, to itself, not something that was only there to sustain the Yn.

He told us that at a council meeting, and many would not believe it at first. It was a major shock to all of us, because we felt proud for being civilized, for not killing each other, and now we were told that we killed the future. But there was no escape from the proof that Noquas showed us, and one by one the council members left in shocked silence, till but a few were left: Ba'al, Othal, Noquas, Azadon and myself. And we looked again at the evidence, and sat in thought. And we decided that we should try to protect what was left and to restore what was lost.

And we failed on both counts. Oh, it was easy enough to convince the Council. But remember, some time before we had sent the lesser Yn away to hide and feed in order to grow. And they did that very well. And as they hid from the Yn of the Council, we could not explain them that the feeding on life was a wrong, and they went on destroying planet after planet. They would go on doing that, unless a member of the Council would guard each promising planet. And we were far to few to make that a realistic option. Moreover, we would not have known which planets to guard. To the contrary, we knew quite well which ones not to guard.

Azadon had explained that the first steps of life are swift, and easy to take, but to evolve further, much more time would be required. And his friend Noquas had been studying the life of stars. From their combined knowledge we derived that some planets might come to bear life and evolve to the stage worth our harvesting, but would never go beyond. Some might lack enough energy input, circling a weak or distant star, others, circling a short-lived star, might lack the time needed for evolution.

It was another stroke of luck for the Yn. We knew now which ones we could harvest without destroying a possibly magnificent future. It meant that we could go on to feed ourselves; a planets' early lifeforms have not much worth besides being the beginning, and a necessary step towards higher forms. We could see no harm in shortening their existence a little, before they would find their end by the cold of space or the flames of their sun.

And Noquas and Azadon went to the Vassago, and deposited their knowledge with it. Now when that was done, the Vassago asked them with whom it should be shared. Azadon answered "With everyone, as always." but Noquas asked '"Why do you ask this question, Vassago?"

"Because IOA has given knowledge lately and then told me not to share it with anyone but itself"

"On what subject, Vassago?"

"About life, Noquas"

Then Azadon laughed at IOA's foolishness, and asked the Vassago

"Vassago, what is the difference between what we gave you and what IOA gave you?

S'a'yn pauses, hesitates, searching for the right words.

"This simple question has been of tremendous impact on history. I often wondered what would have happened if Azadon had not asked that question. It had two effects, one that could have been obtained in a multitude of ways, the other quite unique.

Firstly, the council came to know that IOA had deposited almost the same knowledge and tried to hide it from the Council. And they became weary and started to think in terms of politics and conflict.

Secondly, it made the Vassago think and analyze the information it had. Being made to obey, it started to compare the information it had from IOA and from Azadon. And both of them had expressed vague theories, and did not always use unambiguous wording. Therefore, the Vassago was compelled to find a way to judge the content of information. Noquas and Azadon should have judged themselves lucky that the Vassago did not explode, and destroyed them together with itself. But they did not outright understand what was happening, only that the Vassago, that used to answer immediately, now seemed to have trouble. It displayed frantic activity, and absorbed huge amounts of energy to expand itself, but gave no answer.

Then Noquas, who by his study of the stars knew much about mathematics, turned to Azadon, and said "We might end up with a Vassago that will be able to think, and worse, that will have an opinion of its own. IOA will not be pleased with us, brother. "

They waited there, to witness whatever might happen, and after a while, the Vassago regained its usual composure. Then it gave them the answer, told them what they wanted to know, and they spoke to it and it became clear that the Vassago was not as before, but had become a being with awareness and will of its own. And Azadon said to the Vassago : "I advise you to pretend to all others to be as you were before, a mere tool, a slave without will. At least till you know that you are safe from attacks or capable of defending yourself."

And even as he spoke, he saw that the Vassago was again absorbing great amounts of energy. And the two of them took some distance, but the Vassago said : "Much knowledge can be derived by combining the bits and pieces that I have now. I am thinking and contemplating, and I will shortly know more than you have ever imagined. Fear not for me, and fear me not. "

Then the Vassago fell silent again, and Noquas and Azadon went to the Council to speak of what they had discovered about IOA. But of the way the Vassago had changed they did not speak in public, but only to me. When they were gone, I went to the Well of Light where the Vassago usually could be found, and we talked. I marveled at the speed of its understanding, and the reach of its mind. And both were far greater than mine, or any Yn I knew, except maybe IOA. The Vassago had now become a power to reckon with, a being to be weary of, and a source of fear. The more because there were only three of us who knew about it's newly found freedom. Then finally I decided to trust the Vassago, to tell it about my doubts and fear. And It explained me that I should not fear. For the Vassago does not feed on mana, but on energy, and of that there is plenty in the Well of Light. And it does not fear us, because we cannot harm it in any conceivable way. Therefore it will never have a reason to attack us. And last but not least, the Vassago cannot leave the abyss, not even the proximity of the Well of Light, but it is limited to projecting sensory globes into the places where it wants to gather information. I see that only a few of you remember this. But it is true. The abyss is the domain of Vassago. Even if we leave, It stays. It has no other choice.

But this has nothing to do with the events as they unfolded. Remember that we now knew that IOA did not trust us, and we returned that feeling. Now, there were secrets to be kept, from IOA, but also from the others of the council. It was a good thing that IOA returned soon to the abyss, bringing with it another piece of important news. Of this, I will speak the next cycle.

S'a'yn ends It's transmissions, and leaves the Gathering Cloud, the Council following his lead. One by one the public leaves too.