price for understanding everything

“The price of understanding isn’t knowledge—it’s yourself.”

Price for understanding everything

Maximilian Roderick was walking into the silent forest at night, carrying a small lantern--his mother's last gift. He didn't know why, but something inside him kept pulling him deeper, as if the trees whispered his name.
In a clearing, a pale figure appeared--glowing, calm, almost human.
"You're searching for truth," it said. "But truth demands a price."
Maximilian's lantern flickered. "What price?"
"The end of the self you cling to," the spirit replied. "Step forward, and you will understand everything. But you will not return."
Cold wind wrapped around him. He thought of all the nights he felt lost, all the questions that never stopped echoing in his heart.
He stepped forward.
The lantern's flame died instantly.
His breath stilled, but a strange peace spread through him--warm, quiet, infinite. As his body faded, he saw the world not with eyes, but with understanding:
all things end, yet nothing truly disappears.
At dawn, travellers found only a lantern in the clearing--burning again with a bright, steady flame.
No sign of Maximilian.
Only the light he became.