Bonus Chapter: An obnoxiously long explanation on the translation of “Drakavar-Aryiir-Yiirvarla”
(A/N: If you want a quick translation on the black Rune that freaked the Death King out, just skip to the end. The rest of this bonus chapter just talks about how Soul Script is written – very boring, nerdy stuff only someone like me would probably enjoy.)
---------------------
The Soul Language isn't meant to be easy to understand… Rather, it's designed to be impossible to understand! After all, what's the point of a person's True Name being written in a tongue that can be instantly understood by another person?
Your Names wouldn't be very secret or safe then, since your Name Runes are written on your soul gate, and your soul gate is displayed whenever you get another Name, or when you speak your Name.
Remember when Haalfrin told Freyya his Yiir Name? He showed her the Rune written on his Gate, and she had no idea what it said. She only freaked out when Haalfrin started explaining it to her…
In other words, a Name is like a puzzle that can't be solved unless you already know the answer. Despite being vague, there are a few grammar rules.
---------------------
---------------------
Rule #1: There is no conjugation in Soul Script. (Conjugation is the how a language changes a word to fit its place in a sentence.) For example, in English, "running" is a verb, and "runner" is a noun". In the soul language, however, "run" would be the word for both these things.
To demonstrate how hilariously vague this language is, if you wanted to say, "The running runner runs," in the soul language, you'd end up saying, "Run run run."
(A real example in Soul script is "Dra". "Dra" could mean, "Power" (noun), "Powerful" (adjective), or "To empower" (verb). You'll never know which one it is in Soul script unless you already know…
---------------------
Rule #2: Hard definitions for words are more of a suggestion than a rule in Soul Script. For example, if you want to say, "Politician" in soul script, you could just write, "Deceiver" instead, since, in your mind, those 2 things are the same.
This rule can get obnoxious REALLY fast – especially since there are only a few hundred in this entire language! There aren't nearly enough words to describe everything that exists, so you have to get creative.
To demonstrate how stupidly difficult this tongue can be, most things don't have a proper word to them. For example, there is no word for "sky" here. If you want to say, "Sky" in Soul Script, you could say something like, "The earth's blanket," or "the thing we breathe." You could even call it the "World's ceiling". The only thing that matters is how you choose to think of the sky.
(A real example in Soul script is "Dra". Dra LITERALLY means power. However, since the spirit and mind can't be forced, but the body can, it's also often used to describe the physical world too. It can also mean "to affect" since that's what power lets you do… It lets you affect things. Anyway, the possibilities are endless, and what Dra actually means is up to your artistic discretion.)
---------------------
Rule #3: Each basic word only has one syllable. Any basic words can be combined into larger words. (There are less than 100 basic words in Soul script. All other words must be invented by whoever is writing it down.)
For example, there IS no word for "End" in Soul script. So… in order to write it, you have to make up a word for "End".
…In the case of the black Rune hidden in Haalfrin's Name, "End" is written as, "Yiirvarla". Yiir (destiny / place) and Var (verb, unstable, external) put together refers to an event. La (Not, never, none) means an end of Events.
Even if you know what "Yiir", "Var", and "La" mean individually, it's basically impossible to know what they all mean combined together. If "Yiirvar" is an event, and "La" is nothing, then is Yiirvarla something that never happens, or is it something that happens with nothing after it – an ending?
It's impossible to know the answer unless you already know the answer.
---------------------
Rule #4: The order of basic words in the compound words matter. ("Yiirvarla" is different than "Varlayiir" [etc.]) Each compound word has 3 different slots you can fill – a beginning, a middle, and an end.
… And everything beyond that is completely up to you! This rule is so vague that it's hard to even write about it!
For example, in English, you could describe medicine as "Chemical -> swallow -> Healthy". "Beginning -> Middle -> End."
If you want, you can go ahead and drop "the middle" section of a word. For example, if you want to talk about "murder", you COULD just say, "Evil -> Death". Murder is caused by evil, and leads to death, after all. "Beginning -> End."
You can also choose to just have a middle. For example, if you want to say "poop", you could say "Liv (trash) ing" (living trash) by inserting "trash" in the middle of the word living.
An example of this in soul script is "Drakavar". "Dravar" means "Force". "Ka" means "Supreme". By inserting "Ka" in the middle of "Dravar", you're calling this creature, "the supreme force."
---------------------
Rule #5 (Final Rule): Soul script is meant to be an artistic expression of an author, and it's meant to hide the meaning of whatever is said. Names are a private thing, after all, so what better language to write them in than in a language that has a million different meanings for the exact same word written?
Hence, rules 1-4 can be disregarded whenever you want.
---------------------
---------------------
Now that the rules for Soul Script grammar has been laid out, we can finally translate the black Rune on the Death King's divining scroll….
The Rune read: "Drakavar-Aryiir-Yiirvarla".
---------------------
The individual basic words found in this Rune:
Dra = Power, body, physical, force, effect… (etc.)
Ka = Absolute, eternal, infinite, unmatched, supreme, all… (etc.)
Var = Do, verb, unstable, external, changing… (etc.)
Ar = Soul, self, person… (etc.)
Yiir = Fate, place, significance… (etc.)
La = Nothing, not, zero… (etc.)
---------------------
The compound words found in the Rune:
"Drakavar" = The goddess of Power
"Aryiir" = My journey / destiny
"Yiirvarla" = End
---------------------
Final Translation:
"…And my journey comes to a close when I meet HER – the Goddess of Power. SHE IS MY END."