Report from Kandar

*26th dawn, Highharveste, 4843*

*Dr. Sutther Winslow, Esq.*

*Honorable Associate to the Millennium Society*

*Prospect to the Circle of Knowing*

I am presenting my findings regarding the Kandar mission to the Circle of Knowing in hopes that I have just brought us one step closer to realizing our goal. All this time, we’ve been searching for the miracle substance to transport us back to the point of deviation so as to stop the unknown catastrophe, to no avail. If Dr. Holliday’s hypothesis that time does indeed exist on a fixed loop is true, then we know that someone affiliated with the Society has to decipher the riddle eventually so they could start us on this course by traveling back to our meeting in 3999 where it all began in the first place. But increasingly, as we learn more and more about this mysterious quintessential energy, I’m inclined that the true nature of reality is precisely the opposite. We have observed the nature of quintessence under several conditions and it has continued to remain shapeless and formless. Given its ubiquity, I would not rule out the possibility of a scalar field. But while we have found certain quadrants with unusually low background levels of this dark energy, such as Olexia and purportedly certain regions within the unexplored Aphelian interior, never have we observed it in such great quantities that it undergoes a full crystallization to a tangible element. Until now.

Under charter by the Council, my team and I followed a paper trail of higher than normal quintessence levels which presented themselves as ley lines, invisible threads of energy warping and weaving across all Aquila in seemingly random directions. We initially thought it impossible with current technology, but we have discovered that a sufficiently excited redstone compass will always follow a path along the nearest ley line. Given that the dial seemed to rather deliberately and consistently change directions, we could only assume that it was, in essence, pointing us somewhere, which could only mean that the ley line we were following had some kind of end point or origin, some sort of horizontal intersect, if you will. And so we followed the path of the ley line, determined to see where it would lead us. We fair traipsed across nearly all Kilran, encountering all sorts of expected dangers such as raiders and feral beasts, but also a startling number of occult ritual sites which sat directly upon the invisible curvature. This was all the proof we needed that we weren’t just traveling in circles. It also suggests a slightly disconcerting, but very real connection between the Old Ways and the phenomenon that we call quintessence. This I feel is outside my purview, though I’m certain Dr. Holliday would be most intrigued by this new piece of the puzzle.

We came upon Ertdor and were forced to trek deep into the Kandar desert to continue following the line. It was a grueling venture, and I concede that we may very well have perished from exposure had we not crossed paths with a small cadre of the Sultan’s cavalry some way into the dunes. They initially admonished us upon our apparent recklessness, but upon explaining our plight they were made to see wisdom in helping us reach our fated destination. We journeyed on and on and on and were near considering turning back and regrouping to consider our options, but then… then, we saw it. Deep into the savage desert of Ertdor, in the most inhospitable portion of the Empire’s borderlands, we found no oasis, but just over a thousand square meters of hell. It was as if the Nether itself rose through the mantle of Aquila and spat out on to the surface, like an exploding tectonic vent giving birth to a new isle. There was no life there, and standing upon its grim red surface felt as if our very souls were slowly being dragged into the void. But finally we came upon what appeared to be the source: A tiny, irradiated stone practically pulsing with ethereal energies buried a few meters under the hellscape’s center. While the redstone compass ceased to function once we entered the stretch of Nether, in the immediate vicinity of this strange alien substance, it nearly broke itself from spinning in excitement.

Immediately, we knew that what we had found was pure, concentrated quintessence which had crystallized itself into some semi-stable solid matter. Our first guess was that in dangerously high quantities, quintessence deposits into physical form to avoid decay from exponentially decreasing pressure, and the ensuing phase shift corrupts the land around it. Simple enough. But then we considered how this might be possible. If an overly abundant pocket of quintessence crystallizes itself into solid matter to avoid radiating away, and we have not observed any evidence that quintessence is able to “adjust itself” in its scalar form to accommodate for this sudden disruption, then it seems quite clear that this hellish phenomenon of corruption occurs not directly from an overabundant quintessence pocket, but a total absence of quintessence, allowing some other strange matter to replace it. This matter would effectively be the ultimate contradiction to quintessence. If quintessence creates life, this deletes it. We have called it phantom energy.

I cannot even begin to speculate on the number of opportunities this would open for us. Since redstone currents have been proven to, if incredibly slowly, deplete background quintessence levels, it obviously must be replaced by something else sooner rather than later, as failing to do so would perhaps bring about the very cataclysm we are trying to avoid. This new substance… it is quintessence itself. Think of the applications! Clean, practically unlimited energy, enough to electrify a city for years with just a fraction of an ounce! And consider the implications this may spell for the Nether. Instantaneous quantum tunneling on a mass scale, effectively giving us a way to manipulate time dilation freely! And if we are able to use this substance to what I truly anticipate to be its full extent – if we can become the masters of time and space, then we can defy the fixed loop theory and search for parallel universes and find a way to prevent the cataclysm but… why stop there? We could find ways to break past the dimensional barriers which keep Aquila isolated in space, and walk freely through the Farlands and cross to other worlds as we please! We could effectively become… and I mean no hyperbole… we could become gods.

Now, this is all, of course, strictly theoretical… for now. We must acquire further samples of this miracle substance before any other parties if we are to keep the thread intact. That may turn out to be the easy part, the real trick will be converting it to a usable state to exploit its myriad potential energy. This could potentially take a larger power output than current redstone batteries are even capable of producing if my calculations are correct. Thus, paradoxically, we must use the redstone… to find a way to destroy the redstone. We need refineries producing droves of oil, a small country’s entire coal supply, a massive workforce to operate our new machines, even cooperation with the Valencians. Hmmm. I have the good faith of Jennings and the Council after the success of the flare gun prototype. If I could secure the open position of Master of Military Science and become Dreiton’s deviser, I could attain free reign to work on my new… Project, under the guise of good old patriotic Dreitonian arms manufacturing. I could even arrange for the Councilguard’s logistical needs to place a greater emphasis on redstone weaponry, thus forcing the Council to import all the dust we need to bring my grand design to fruition. I will, of course, need the full force of the Millennium Society. If the Circle of Knowing is to fulfill its purpose of reverting the disaster before the next millennium, then it will need my… guidance to ensure the success this next, most crucial stage of the grand design, which starts and ends with my project.

I’ve already begun preliminary work on studying the quintessence fragment. I advise the Circle begin studying my supplementary notes to catch up.

I remain, gentlemen, Your Obdt. Svt.

For the Unbroken Thread,

*Dr. Winslow*