Chapter 5018: Time Heist I
Chapter 5018: Time Heist I
In THE Interstices.
Amser Modred had witnessed many things across eons of existence dedicated to the study and stewardship of time.
He had observed beings who believed themselves eternal fade into forgotten memory while others emerged from nothing to reshape the very fabric of reality.
But what he witnessed now made him pause with genuine uncertainty.
A terrifying multicolored glow was blooming within Noah, radiating from his body with intensity that pressed against THE Interstices itself. It was not the blue-gold light of the Infinity that had saved him from THE Primordial Mycelia’s infection. This was something else entirely.
The glow began to fill THE Interstices with presence that made Amser’s temporal currents instinctively contract.
This was not the Infinity he had been granted by this being.
He had multiple different Infinities?
Amser found himself genuinely shocked by the implication. The blue-gold authority that had burned away his infection and bound his Civilization beneath THE First Tongue had been overwhelming enough on its own.
That Infinity alone had exceeded what most beings across Observable Existence could ever hope to touch. And yet here was another force entirely, multicolored and radiant and generating from within the Youngest’s form with density that seemed to have no upper limit.
How many authorities did this young existence possess?
The question unsettled him. He had bound himself to this being out of necessity, trading his freedom for survival when THE Primordial Mycelia had been moments away from claiming his consciousness entirely. He did not regret that choice. But he had made it without fully understanding THE Youngest.
Perhaps no one fully understood him.
As Amser processed these thoughts, Noah raised his head. Those eyes shone luminously with light that combined the multicolored internal force and the blue-gold conducted Infinity into something that pressed against perception itself.
"It is time."
The words emerged with glory that made THE Interstices tremble.
"Time to go back to Ginnungagap at that point where both THE Secretive Eon and THE Primordial Chaos were at the same moment in time."
...!
Amser’s initial shock gave way to seriousness as he rose from his position. His purple temporal currents blazed with increased intensity, responding to the invocation of his domain with eagerness that had not diminished despite his new binding.
Time itself recorded who beings were before infection began.
Every moment of existence prior to contact remained inscribed in time.
If they could reach those moments, if they could anchor infected beings to records of themselves before THE Primordial Mycelia touched them, they could restore what Unity had claimed.
Or so they believed.
Amser had proposed this methodology when Noah first questioned him about how he had kept the infection at bay. Using the past as template to overwrite corrupted present. Reaching backward to pull identity forward from moments when that identity was still intact. It was theoretically sound, and his own survival had proven its viability on individual scale.
But did they still plan to proceed this way?
The specifics mattered greatly when dealing with temporal manipulation. One wrong step could unravel causality chains that would take eons to repair, if they could be repaired at all. His cautious nature demanded clarity before proceeding with something this significant.
Before he could even voice his questions, Noah spoke again.
"We will make it quick. Since we cannot change the past, we would simply be doing something that has already occurred in the past."
His luminous eyes held certainty that pressed against Amser’s caution.
"When I think about how this could possibly be done, it means doing something which would not change how everything unfolded. So Eon and Chaos will still get infected. What I will seek to do is plant seeds of my Infinities within their existence without their knowledge."
Noah’s smile carried weight that made the multicolored glow around him intensify.
"This does not change any of the past, but I can activate those seeds with the identities they had when I placed them eons ago. I can activate them in the current time while they are already infected. We would basically be closing another loop."
He paused.
"And I will not appear there as THE Youngest. I could pull out the identity of THE Tongue Whisper."
...!
The words were heavy with implications that Amser’s temporal understanding immediately began processing. Another closed loop. Another instance of actions in the past that had always been part of the timeline, simply unknown until the moment of their execution.
The methodology was sound precisely because it did not seek to change what had already occurred.
It only sought to add what had always been added.
Amser sighed as he sensed the wonder and immensity of this being he had bound himself to. The Youngest thought in patterns that most beings could not follow, operating with confidence that bordered on recklessness while somehow always landing on solutions that worked within the constraints of existence.
He was ready to go.
But in the next moment, Noah spoke again with casualness.
"Oh, a Primordial Architect wants to tag along to see. Get your temporal weavings ready to go."
...?
What?
A Primordial Architect?
Those esteemed beings from THE Prima Indifferentia? Those ancient existences? Why would one of them be anywhere near the Youngest, and why would he speak of their presence so casually?
Amser did not even finish his thoughts.
In the next moment, a figure appeared nearby with transition so smooth that it seemed reality itself had simply decided she should be there. Her gaze was piercing and calculated, white eyes with orbiting blue singularities fixing upon Amser’s form with intensity that made his temporal currents freeze entirely.
Shock flooded through him.
Then horror.
This was a being at THE Second Scale.
Her aura was suffocating in ways that had nothing to do with hostile intent, simply the natural pressure of someone operating at heights so far above his own that comparison became meaningless. Her eyes felt like they were seeing through everything, through his temporal weavings, through his foundations, through every secret he had accumulated across eons of existence.
Someone at THE Second Scale!
THE Youngest had such a thing just waiting beside him?!
Amser’s cautious nature screamed warnings that he could not fully process!
What exactly had he become part of?!
He forced his shock down through discipline refined across eons of temporal stewardship. Panic would accomplish nothing. Questions would have to wait. Right now, he needed to present himself appropriately before a being who could collapse his existence with casual effort.
"I am Amser Modred. THE Living Temporal."
His voice emerged with steadiness that did not reflect his internal turmoil, his introduction carrying the weight of his ancient standing despite his awareness that it meant little before someone at her Scale.
"I...serve THE Youngest and will be facilitating our temporal traversal."
Naldine looked at him with an expression that revealed nothing of her thoughts.
She nodded once.
That was all.
Amser felt like he was on pins and needles in the silence that followed, the pressure of her presence pressing against his temporal currents with weight that made concentration difficult.
He turned away with deliberate slowness, refusing to let his discomfort show more than it already had.
Purple rivers of light bloomed around his form as he prepared to take all three of them to a time he had visited before.
A time after THE Youngest had seemingly escaped from the grasp of himself and THE Primordial Chaos. A time when THE Secretive Eon had been present without anyone except THE Creature knowing she was there.
A time that was about to receive visitors who... had always been there.