Chapter 4872: Existence Is! I
Chapter 4872: Existence Is! I
Across eons of time.
Far from the weavings of THE Infinite Unfurling in a past that Noah was currently experiencing.
In the current era after THE Fallout.
In Alfheimr.
An unknown number of light years from the region where Noah had held an illusory consciousness meeting with THE Primordial Chaos, far from where THE Living Elemental and THE Living Emotive had met him and clashed with words that carried the weight of civilizations, there existed an abode that was sacred to the lifeforms of this Primordial Realm.
It sat atop a mountain peak that rose from clouds of luminescent mist, the summit reaching toward skies that burned with the twilight of Alfheimr. The mountain itself was ancient beyond measure, its slopes covered with forests of trees that had witnessed the differentiation of Observable Existence and continued to witness everything that came after.
At the peak stood a simple multicolored stone temple.
Not grand in the way that palaces were grand. Not imposing in the way that fortresses were imposing. It was simple in the way that truly sacred things were simple, its architecture speaking of purpose rather than ostentation. The stones that formed its walls held every color that light could produce, shifting and changing as the twilight touched them from different angles, and the air around it carried a weight that pressed against any existence that approached.
This was a place where THE Creature had once walked.
The figures of THE Living Origin and THE First Hunger appeared at the foot of the temple, their forms manifesting from spatial distortions.
Origin looked up at the temple with eyes that held memories stretching back to before The Earliest Folds, before her collapse, before everything had changed. Her milky white form seemed almost fragile in this moment despite the power she now held, her expression complex with emotions that she rarely allowed others to see.
She turned to Hunger.
"Can you wait for me down here?"
Her voice was soft, almost hesitant.
"I just... I need a moment. When I come down, I will have my answer."
She paused, her eyes meeting his.
"And you will have yours."
...!
Her expression was complex as Hunger heard this and stayed still, his eyes heavy with understanding. His dark hair flowed past his shoulders, stirred by winds that carried the weight of Alfheimr’s twilight, and his crimson eyes held a light of defiance that never truly faded regardless of the circumstances.
Lesser beings would not ever think about competing against THE Creature for anything, let alone for the affection of one who had given THE Creature her Everything.
But not Hunger.
The light of all Inevitabilities burned within him as he sat down on the stone steps leading up to the temple, his posture relaxed but his attention sharp. He would wait. He would be patient!
And when Origin came down from that mountain, whatever answer she carried would determine everything that came next.
Origin went up the temple.
Her steps were light and measured as she continued up the ancient stones, her gaze reflecting memories of times when she had climbed these same steps with hope. She remembered when THE Creature had been everything to her. She remembered when his presence had been enough to make existence feel meaningful.
She remembered when she had given him her Everything, and he had accepted it without telling her what that acceptance would truly cost.
She continued until she entered the temple fully, passing through the simple archway into an interior that held no decorations, no ornaments, no displays of power. Just empty space and the weight of presence that had accumulated across eons of beings coming here to seek audience with THE Creature.
She came to stand close to the temple’s center, and there she saw it.
A white mat.
Not a grand throne or anything unfathomable that would befit one of THE Four. Just an empty mat where visitors would kneel, simple and unassuming in a way that almost seemed like mockery given the power of the being who would appear before it.
But Origin did not kneel.
She calmly proceeded to sit opposite to this mat, her legs folded beneath her and her back straight with dignity that refused to bow. Her expression seemed made up, her decision already finalized before she had even begun climbing those temple steps.
"I demand an answer."
BOOM!
Four words, but they were so heavy that the air itself seemed to compress around them. Before she even finished saying them, the area around the mat in front of her fluctuated with distortions that bent light and space simultaneously, and the illusory visage of an entity shrouded in multicolored flames appeared.
THE Creature!
His face could barely be observed as it was surrounded by multicolored flames that burned with every color that existence could produce, fires that didn’t consume but simply were. But one could see eyes of immensity and calmness looking out from within those flames, eyes that held depths which even Absolutes couldn’t fully perceive.
Eyes that looked at Origin with something that might have been regret.
Origin’s body trembled lightly as she looked at THE Creature, biting her lips as she heard his voice for what seemed like forever.
"I am sorry."
BOOM!
She had come demanding an answer, and the first thing she was told was this.
Two words that she had never expected to hear from someone who embodied Existence itself. Two words that confirmed everything she had feared and suspected since regaining consciousness after her collapse.
Her face paled and turned ashen as anger flashed in her eyes, bright and hot and barely contained! She looked defiantly at THE Creature with an expression that held none of the reverence that had once defined her interactions with him.
"I gave you my Everything."
Her voice trembled with emotion that she couldn’t fully suppress.
"The least I expected from you was honesty. I do not even care that I was collapsed. I just..."
She paused, gathering herself.
"It would have been nice to have had a level of honesty. To be looked at as a peer and not as someone lesser. You never told me what was really going on. You never looked at me as anything worth sharing your grand plans with."
BOOM!
She was venting out all her frustrations at this time, years of suppressed anger finally finding release in the presence of the one who had caused them. Her milky white form flickered with agitation that made the temple’s multicolored stones pulse in sympathy.
THE Creature took everything in without interruption, his multicolored flames burning steadily as he listened to accusations.
"I am not a perfect being."
His voice was booming yet calm, carrying the weight of Existence itself even as it acknowledged failure.
"Far from it. I make mistakes, and I made many mistakes that I can blame on the nature of my Existence. Existence is. Existence was. I became...too attuned with it."
The flames around him shifted through colors that spoke of memory and regret.
"I let things flow as they should without intervening when I should. As much as I can blame my nature on this, it was still my choice."
He paused.
"This was unfair to you, so I apologize."
...!