I talked to Esuin about the quest, bought several of the thing from the place, made my way to the dangerous place, studied the first thing, poured the thing from the store into the second thing, waited for stuff to happen, then studies the second thing. This is the message I got.

"You think you see some meaning within the flow of lava, but it somehow feels too vague to your eyes."

That's not the low skill message, I got that one the first time I tried to finish the quest, and I came back later with more ranks. It's not the wrong aspect message, I've seen that one too, when the lava the wrong color.

Any hints or suggestions on what to do?

The "thing" switches randomly through the 3 different aspects, one being to vague, one to bright. It means it not the alignment your currently set at. The "thing" accepts only one type at any certain time. It seems to randomly change when it moves so it may take a bit, or happen the first time you come back there. Just keep trying.