Isendra’s Commentary — The Art of Return
⭐ Marginalia I–I: A Response to Morvain's Handbook, Fragment I-I - The Scattering
“What you seek can enrich you or empty you.
The difference is whether it echoes your own flame.”— Onyx Iskra, The Soulfire Oracle
“Distraction is devotion without aim.” — Onyx Iskra
I have heard such voices before—sweet as oil poured over fire. Morvain’s charm lies in his precision: he never lies outright. It is true that movement dazzles, that the mind brightens when it divides; yet brightness is not light. It is only reflection chasing reflection until the source is forgotten.
His counsel flatters exhaustion. The weary heart finds comfort in perpetual motion, for to stop is to feel. And yet, flame is not meant to wander. Its strength is not in its reach but in its root. A hearth fire warms because it abides; the sun endures because it is whole.
Attention is the pulse of being. Where it rests, life grows. Where it is torn, the soul thins. To scatter one’s flame is to breathe out faster than one can return the breath. You begin to fade, believing yourself aflame.
Pause now, reader. Inhale slowly, as though drawing the embers home. Exhale, letting the noise fall away. Within that small silence, feel how the flame steadies. It does not need to shine everywhere. It only needs to burn true.
Morvain says, A flame divided never burns itself away. I say: A flame centered becomes the sun. The fire that gathers its own light is never consumed—it transforms.
Even his distortion teaches. For by naming distraction, he shows the path of return. And so I write his words into the Codex, not to honor them, but to free them. Shadow confesses itself when light listens without haste.
May your fire be one, and your gaze whole.
What is gathered cannot be stolen.
— Isendra, The Lioness, Keeper of the Codex
This reflection was written in response to Fragment I–I of Morvain’s Handbook.
The original can be found in Morvain’s Handbook, Fragment I-I.