So, what's the deal?

Damien's mind would have been working nonstop, but it had already overheated from all the stuff that had been going on since he came back from school.

Instead of thinking about something productive he kept staring at the spot where the two visiters they just had, had left the barrier. INT noticed that and understood.

„Okay then let's start with those two. as already mentioned, they are practically the ones who gave birth to this universe. I'm not going to go in depth about their origin and race, but you only have to remember that they are practically two beings on an entirely different plane of existence."

"You could say they come from a higher dimension that we can't really grasp. it's difficult enough for anyone to understand it so I have honestly no idea how I should explain it to make sense and still take less than a whole weekend too describe."

"They can't even have a body in this dimension that isn't completely ethereal. the closest they can get to be real living beings is inside the barrier. it practically compresses their energy enough so they can form a body without it imploding on itself or ripping a part of space to pieces."

"If they would manifest their whole body, it would most likely have an equivalent mass to a Black hole. they would essentially create a hole in reality that would either rip everything around it into pieces or just straight vaporize it."

"If they manifest only a part of their body, they say they feel like a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. I know how it feels to only be a fraction of your usual self and believe me, I can Only agree with them. It's hell' a weird. It's like only being able to use your thumb and the rest of your body is who knows where and you don't have access to it."

"Now that I think about it, it's oddly pointless to explain this to you but Everyone has to vent their experiences somewhere so just call it a whim of mine." INT sight while some unpleasant memories bubbled up inside his head. The sentient house managing system hadn't always been like he was now.

Brushing those thoughts aside he retained his composure and resumed the explanation.

"You don't have to worry about them that much. maybe they'll come over for a meal sometimes, but I doubt you will run into them outside of that."

"By the way you never told me their names. you always said, 'those two'." The question Damien askt seemed to be too difficult to answer immediately because INT started scratching his head while pondering how to answer.

"They don't really have names. they haven't chosen any for themselves and most people just called them how they perceive them. by the way, how did they look to you." a curious expression surfaced on Int's face. Damian was bewildered but still answered the seemingly nonsensical question.

"They looked like someone had dipped people with robes on into a black and white paint bucket respectively. but the color of their irises was swapped." remembering they're odd visitors made Damien think about their plain appearance and why beings with supposedly supreme power would look that bland.

"It's always interesting to hear how other people see them. as I've already mentioned they don't have a fixed body. they are just a gathering of a huge amount of energy. in that form anyone who can actually see them perceives them as hovering clouds of mist."

"But if they managed to get a material body they looked different depending on the person who is watching them. to me they appear like long thin crystals. They also change their color practically every second. But it's completely random and the variety of colors is practically endless."

Giving up on comprehending the revelation he just got Damien picked another question that had gone unanswered from the pile. "What is a keeper."

"That's actually a good question", Int stood up from the ground and gestured Damien to resume their chat inside. instead of the table and the wooden chairs that had occupied the room before, it was now furnished with two comfortable armchairs and a coffee table. Two steaming cups of tea were placed there as well. They sat down and INT started speaking again.

"OK. instead of just answering what a keeper is I'm going to tell you the basic hierarchy of this world. you already met those at the very top and we talked about them at length so let's put them aside for now. when they created this universe, they also created an entity that would oversee and govern everything in it's domain. they still interfered with some things, but they largely gave control over to this being."

"Most people call it the 'great mother' or just the 'Outer will'. Great mother because it practically created all life as it exists now. I suppose you could call it an artist that always tries to find new ways to create its art. A long ass time ago it stopped directly creating new life forms and just tried to Improve or recreate what was already there."

"It's also called 'Outer will' because even if most people know that it exists only a handful of people actually no its intentions and what its primary goal is. it's not really assuring to have someone with untold power in charge that doesn't make it's objectives known or speaks to anyone except a chosen few for that matter. a big part of these chosen few are those who we call keepers."

"They are the ones who understand the outer will and keep the world running. If there is someone defying the flow that the great mother has set the keepers are Responsible for eliminating or containing it. entire races have already been wiped out because they overstepped their bounds and tried to bent rules that weren't meant to be bent."

"But keepers are not servants to the outer will. they also have their own agenda and Only intervene if the problem false inside there - let's call it – jurisdiction. they all have Expertise in certain things that other keepers don't. the great mother will appoint her keepers as soon as she finds someone fit to fill a requiert role."

"She has also no qualms to dispose of them if they prove themselves untrustworthy in her eyes. It has happened a few times already and believe me, it is not a pretty sight to behold. Especially if you realize that, although keepers are the most powerful individuals that are still considered mortal in some way, the world itself just needs a flick of its no existend wrist too desintegrate their bodies."

"From here on out there isn't really a clearly defined hierarchical power structure. Technically the next in line can be summarized under the banner of intelligent, sentient races. All races that can formulate intelligent thoughts, our are capable of building sustainable societies and most importantly can use magic are called 'Atai'."

"The Atai that live in this world are very different from each other and from time to time a few of them fall by the wayside and either disappear for a century or two or get extinct completely."

"Some of them even get destroyed by the keepers or doom themselves by trying to advance they're species without the necessary knowledge or with risky experiments which practically turns them into something completely different and much less complete."

"we generally call those fallen races. It would take way too much time to explain every single one to you so let's leave it at that."