Between [ and ] are placed the ascii translations of the hex codes, claimed by MLA to be data corruptions. The fictional novel is connected with World A and its Greek ruins.

athena_analysis.html (A2)

[USER ALEX16 ADDED 4 NOTES]

NOTE 01: &/ novel’s first sentence – “She woke up in an impossible place, knowing nothing.” – signifies more than the beginning of another amnesia-based mystery, though we should not go so far as to read the entire work as allegory. Rather, while taking the science fictional novus at the core of the narrative at face value, we should ////%10///</p>

NOTE 02: having no inherent knowledge of the nature of the world, forced to rely on what we are told by others and what our own (subjective, flawed, limited) senses tell us 54 72 75 74 68 20 77 61 73 20 74 68 65 20 6F 6E 6C 79 20 64 61 75 67 68 74 65 72 20 6F 66 20 54 69 6D 65 2E [Truth was the only daughter of Time.] social reality (belief) and objective reality (matter) come into conflict.

NOTE 03: When, in chapter sixteen (“A Second Awakening in the Kingdom of Artemis”), the protagonist questions her mentor on the ///

NOTE 04: a more meaningful interpretation can only be achieved through SYNTHESIS of

Note. While the Athena Reborn mini novel is created by the game’s developers, the code is a quote from Leonardo Da Vinci.

athena6.txt (A1)

Chapter Six: Athena in the Garden of the Hesperides

&%7V/ did not trust them. But they moved with such grace, such nobility, that it was hard not to follow them further into this strange garden of gears and cogs. They led her to a place where the crowns of the brass trees seemed to grow together, forming a kind of chamber strangely reminiscent of a chapel. In the middle of this chamber grew a smaller tree, made of bright blue steel, and upon this tree grew a single golden apple.

“This apple,” the nymphs said in unison, their eyes aglow, “confers the gift of deathlessness and true wisdom. Many heroes, and not a few villains, have come to claim it; but all faltered in the final step. For you must know that deathlessness reveals the mortality of the world, and true wisdom its unending folly. Who would take this burden upon themselves? Some say that Heracles f.LOAD(5448 45 2045 5445 524E 414C 20 47 41 5244 45 4E) [the eternal garden] gazing upon the stars, and wept.

athena8.txt (A5)

“You must consider these riddles,” the Sphinx said, “and tell me the riddle that I did not reveal.”

The Sphinx smiled, the gears in her jaw creaking, her teeth a nightmare of rust. Her left eye flickered, but none of its terror was diminished. The ruins were silent. In the

/// ERROR ///

“I think,” she finally said, “that the riddle you did not reveal is this: why do these riddles exist in the first place? Why do these curious automatons, these mute children of Hephaestus, behave as they do, forcing me to devise these intricate solutions? Each is a riddle, but the greater riddle is their purpose.”

The Sphinx did not answer. Her eye was lifeless now. Athena removed it from its socket, knowing that its power would aid her, yet feeling also a deep sorrow at the passing of this fearful creature.

athena9.txt (A7)

She examined the symbol on the fragment she’d found in the buried city. Again the owl. What could its significance be? It seemed as if they had been scattered about in the labyrinth by some unseen hand for a purpose that yet eluded /// most likely the owl was the sigil of the author of these words, which had so /673&$§RFG

&%%$ a nebulous memory, as if from a previous life: the owl was the symbol of &#574953(444F4D/ [wisdom] and the goddess #49204!14D2041.5448454E41(% [I am Athena] outside, under the moon, or perhaps on the city walls when the wind rose. But there was no time to contemplate this further now, for the automatons had seen her, and their mechanical arms extended towards $%§ the fragment and ran as their beams converged on %$§

athena12.txt (Land A)

Twelve: The Council of Zeus

&41 53 #4345 4E 44 20 4F4C 59 4D 5055 53 [Ascend Olympus] the great bronze bulls pulled the carriage forward, mighty bursts of steam issuing from their nostrils. Finally, they came to the gates at the top of th&/§

USER.set(#43 #4849 #4C 44 20 %4F46 205A 45 5553) [child of Zeus]

Here assembled were all the many generations of the gods, and demigods and souls of mortals; steel and bronze and iron, and memory of flesh. The clouds parted far beneath, revealing the beautiful plains of Macedon, where great gleaming cities had once #536

athena14.txt (T3)

Chapter Fourteen: The Judgement of Hephaestus

[ARCHIVE: &$%§31E&]

“If what you say is true, and my father Hephaestus is slain, then who am I? For I was made in his image, and that image is now gone. Am I like the reflection in a mirror, to vanish when the person steps away? Or have I now become Hephaestus myself, forged to be no more than a replacement, as one may purchase a new sandal from the same shoemaker? [ATHENA REBORN: A NOVEL] his legacy is #

athena16.txt (T4)

Sixteen: A Second Awakening in /// ERROR ////

$%§$ the fires burned here, but beyond the incense she could smell the cold wind from the Kingdom of Artemis, where +#$§

/// OUTPUT error_log.txt ///

“But I am not Hephaestus, you see; for though I wield his hammer and know the secrets of his forge, I am not lame, and neither am I a god.”

“Who are you, then?” they said.

athena_chapters.txt (T1)

Athena Reborn: A Novel

Contents

1 – Theogony
2 – Zeus Speaks
3 – The Lost Children of Hephaestus
4 – Dreams of the Labyrinth
5 – The Songs of Eris at Nightfall
6 – Athena in the Garden of the Hesperides
7 – The Buried City
8 – The Riddles of the Sphinx
9 – The Age of Faith
10 – The Madness of Coeus
11 – Olympus Revealed in the Clouds
12 – The Council of Zeus
13 – Skepsis and Synthesis
14 – The Judgement of Hephaestus
15 – Zeus Reflects Upon Creation
16 – A Second Awakening in the Kingdom of Artemis
17 – Anthropogony

Source: FoundTexts.dlg