Chapter 4686: The Cursed And The Blessed I
Chapter 4686: The Cursed And The Blessed I
THE Existential Paradox Loop.
The sheer incredulity of this alone was unfathomable as Noah looked at it while THE Fallout continued to unfold in its second phase.
It was also a double-edged sword as it looked ridiculously overpowered at first glance. The capability of a do-over, basically. A reset if and when things went wrong.
But if it ever did come to it, while yes, he would keep all his memories of what happened and even retain his power, beings like THE Living Paradox, THE Creature, THE Primordial Chaos, and especially THE Living Temporal would sense that a reversal had occurred. And they would retain a portion of their memories.
It was basically a boon exclusive for him where he gained tremendous benefits, but truly powerful beings would number one, know that someone was doing something so crazy, and they would also benefit by knowing fractions of events of the future.
"..."
Overpowered, yes, but with its own heavy costs and results.
Either way...
"It is a start."
He sighed as he motioned to his people. Among them, he smiled toward the Bard of Quintessence in his radiant simian visage filled with white-gold hair.
It was the end of the world. The end of Existence. With them surviving it and at the cost they paid for it...
"Let us have music and a feast to commemorate the survival of the end that hung like a blade for so long over us," Noah declared with a voice that carried across the golden sands. "Let us have a festival. THE Festival of... The End."
HUUM!
His words were ridiculous, but what were they to do? Sit around sulking and sad? He controlled his own Weavings as he would rather do something else entirely.
And so the Bard of Quintessence smiled and floated over.
The markers of the cursed were visible on his simian form, faint cracks glowing with residual Fallout energy that traced along his golden fur like rivers of ash. His luminescence had dimmed ever so slightly, and there was an almost imperceptible tremor in his existence when he moved. But his smile remained brilliant and defiant as an illusory gold guitar appeared in his hands, and a melody began to resound across the Early Veiled Shore.
Behind Noah, the massive THE Cooking Stanchion of Infinity manifested in all its culinary glory, a pillar of gastronomic authority that pulsed with blue-gold light and the promise of impossible dishes.
He looked at it and said with determination, "Today, I shall cook the very residual authority of THE Fallout and Primus Mana into food for consumption. We shall not wallow, so let us enjoy. Give a middle finger to THE Living Paradox and his machinations."
...!
OOOH!
His people roared out with fervor even amidst a rotating and ongoing apocalypse swirling outside THE Infiniverse. A moment later, the flipper of an Emperor Penguin that held markers of the curse raised up in earnest confusion as he called out, "But Master, I don’t have a middle finger to give!"
"..."
Noah turned toward The Emperor Penguin with a sharp gaze, and this penguin put its flipper down fearfully as the melody of the Bard of Quintessence began to permeate outward.
As it did, as THE Festival of The End was kicked off, a symphony bloomed from within Noah himself. His Stanchions of Infinity pulsed as another melody began to spread across THE Infiniverse, weaving together with the Bard’s guitar into something hauntingly beautiful.
A voice emerged, feminine and aching, carried by the Phonemes of Narrative and Quintessence:
"We built our homes on borrowed time,
And called the wreckage yours and mine.
The cracks are showing, can’t you see?
But broken’s where we’re meant to be.
Hold on, hold on, don’t let me go,
Through the fire and the afterglow.
We’re all just strangers passing through,
But strangers, darling, can be true.
The ending came, we watched it fall,
And found we’re standing after all.
So raise a glass to what we’ve lost,
We paid the price, we know the cost.
Hold on, hold on, the night is long,
But we’ll keep singing our broken song.
When morning comes, if morning comes,
We’ll still be here, we’ll still be one.
They said the world would burn away,
And here we are at break of day.
With scars that glow and hearts that ache,
But still alive, for our own sake.
So hold on, hold on, through the pain,
We’ll find our way back home again.
The end has come and the end has gone,
And somehow, somehow... we live on."
The symphony echoed across THE Infiniverse as the somber melody touched every soul within its bounds. Those with the markers of the cursed felt their cracks pulse gently with the music, not with pain but with acknowledgment. With belonging.
As the symphony and words echoed out, Noah began cooking Mana and the residual energy of THE Fallout into physical foods. The blue-gold flames of his culinary authority danced as he worked, transmuting apocalyptic devastation into sustenance that would nourish both body and soul.
While his hands moved with practiced efficiency, he said silently through his connection with Ruination, ’Set up the first Anchor Point.’
|I’ve already begun preparing it, Master. The fuel for the Anchor has to be Infinities woven with Logos and Philologies of your 9 new Core Phonemes to function. Without sufficient infinities infused into the Loop, it fails entirely. So we have to form brand new Logos and Philologies as it may take some time.|
Ruination said such words to him as he nodded before he replied, ’Integrate Quintessence or Infinity into currently existing Philologies we have. Undifferentiated Mana and Cheating Architect would be easy, and their capabilities would also be enhanced. This will be faster for us to get an Anchor Point set up as soon as possible.’
...!
|Understood, Master.|
Ruination got started on a glorious process as while Noah oversaw the start of a feast, he kept his gaze on the unfolding second phase of THE Fallout as it was heavy.
Existence seemed like it was being ground down, spat up, and changed tremendously as the information he obtained through the establishment of the 9 new Core Phonemes of The First Tongue were beginning to unfold.
He couldn’t see past one mile outside THE Infiniverse.
And as the symphony and melody of his festival came out of THE Infiniverse and flowed outside toward the regions under the effects of THE Fallout...
BZZT!
His symphony and melody shockingly fizzled outside as if Existence told it, "Get that shit out of here!"
...!
"..."
Communication would not be possible.
Mental connections would not be possible.
Teleportation would not be possible.
He had hoped that he would be able to reunite with Lumivara and Ul’Moreth and others after THE Fallout to truly reap the rewards, but he wouldn’t even be able to sense them or try to send a message to them through their entanglement.
Man, Riya had been right when she said Mana would be undergoing lots of adversity.
The aftermath of THE Fallout would not make things easy!
As he thought about all this, he wondered.
How were Eckert and Alexander faring? How were THE Creature and beings like THE Primordial Chaos faring at a time like this?
And the fuckers inside THE Loom... what were they getting out of Existence being razed down?