Ti and glory.
Many across existence had debated their relationship since consciousness first achieved capacity for abstract thought.
So argued glory required ti, that accumulated achievents across eons inevitably produced legendary status through sheer persistence and compound growth.
Others claid glory transcended ti, that single mont of unprecedented action could eclipse millennia of mundane existence.
But the truth was simpler.
If one possessed sufficient ti, unfathomable glory beca inevitable.
Given enough duration, even modest advantages compounded into overwhelming superiority.
Given enough opportunities, even improbable outcos manifested through statistical certainty. Given enough accumulation, even incrental growth achieved catastrophic totals.
The question was never whether ti produced glory.
The question was whether one survived long enough to benefit from ti's multiplicative effects.
Hours passed since the collapse of one of the Vessels of THE Living Paradox.
And in those hours, many, many things changed across the Folds.
Primus Inevitabilities spread across every crevice they could locate. They didn't force any existences to comply with demands or mandates.
But they appeared around and above regions where Living Existences concentrated across Transcendent Folds...distributing Sparks of the Way of Mana blatantly while remaining stationed as silent sentinels.
The implicit ssage was clear: Take the Spark or don't. But don't interfere with distribution.
Across the Folds, a sense of profound unease and escalating fear spread among Living Existences who considered themselves powerful.
Kleos Councils convened with ergency frequency. Dukes gathered to grasp and understand this unprecedented phenonon that had manifested without warning or explanation.
Who were these entities? What did they represent? Why were they distributing power freely rather than demanding tribute or
submission?
The questions multiplied faster than answers could be formulated. And while all of this unfolded across populated territories...
The Primus Inevitabilities truly spread across the vicissitudes of the Folds and deep into the Wandering Territories where civilizational authority had collapsed or never existed.
For them, there existed overabundance of fuel to devour.
The Tears in Existence were becoming more and more apparent as THE Creature's Veil continued failing.
The boundary he had erected to separate life from death deteriorated with accelerating velocity.
More and more Dead Existences began flowing into the lands of the living...shambling corpses and malevolent Creatures that had been contained for eons suddenly released into territories unprepared for their presence.
Even though Dead Existences were seemingly considered weak in raw power compared to current Primus Inevitabilities, these terrifying
weapons of Noah's Civilization proceeded to systematically collapse and devour every single Dead Existence they encountered.
No exceptions. No rcy. Complete eradication.
Such systematic purging continued unfolding with thodical efficiency as Sparks of Mana were directed to flow into as many Wheels of Existence and domains as possible, perating all known territories of Minor and Transcendent Folds.
The Way of Mana was being adopted with urgent frequency.
It didn't discriminate based on ability or lack thereof. It imposed no requirents for existing strength or weakness. It was accessible to anyone because Mana was so pervasive across everything that any single entity could grasp it if they chose.
And so, Noah's Civilization entered period of grandiose expansion.
Rapid. Systematic. Overwhelming.
At the sa ti...
Inside the Transcendent Paradoxical Folds.
A region existed filled with obsidian-gold rivers flowing through impossible geotries. Mirrors of concentrated Paradox floated throughout the space...each one reflecting reality that contradicted what other mirrors displayed.
In the very center of such a place rested massive corpse of an Early
Creature.
A Dead Early Creature!
This titanic deceased entity was currently observing the pacing, worried figure of none other than Diviticus.
Duke Diviticus.
She floated across this paradoxical region with expression carrying unfathomable worry and mounting tension...as if her very existence could perceive sothing fundantally wrong occurring but
couldn't identify the specific threat.
Her instincts scread warnings. Her frawork trembled with foreboding sensations she couldn't rationalize or dismiss.
There was no news of Schrodinger.
Everything seed to be systematically collapsing around them as
she received fragnted reports of terrifying monstrous entities whose power allegedly eclipsed any legends of Early Creatures that histories recorded.
And her existence could not settle. Could not find peace.
Sothing within her fundantal nature was shaking with
premonitions she didn't want to acknowledge.
At such mont as she continued pacing with increasing agitation...
CRACK!
The space nearby fractured violently as a terrifying aura swept across the domain, freezing the figure of the Dead Early Creature and Diviticus completely in temporal stasis!
A figure of a Primus Inevitability peeked through the spatial tear. Its eyes flashed with crimson light that seed capable of perceiving everything about her existence in single glance.
It fully stepped through the crack and gazed at both Diviticus and the Dead Early Creature with an expression mixing analytical assessnt
and predatory hunger.
Diviticus was frozen utterly, unable to move anything except her eyes. But she still felt the terror cascading through her existence at being forcefully rendered completely still by re presence of this entity. Her eyes darted frantically, taking in every detail of the terrifying being that had just arrived uninvited.
And a mont after this initial Primus Inevitability's arrival...
Space cracked again with more violent rupture.
Gloriously, the visage of Protos appeared!
His form was substantially more imposing than the first Inevitability. His appearance alone radiated power many tis greater than his
subordinate.
Multiple serrated maws visible across his body. Crimson tentacles
writhing with barely contained aggression. Eyes burning with accumulated authority that suggested he could collapse entire territories through sustained assault.
The mont Protos's gaze landed on Diviticus, she began trembling violently despite the temporal stasis constraining her movent. She felt like her existence was about to collapse just from this gaze
alone, as if his attention itself carried weight capable of unmaking her fundantal nature.
Protos stared at Diviticus with a calm, asured expression before he
spoke.
"I wish for you to understand clearly why the events that are about to occur to you will unfold as they do. Perhaps I can better communicate the underlying principles through a poetic expression..."
...!
The stark contrast between Protos's titanic, terrifying form and his casual ntion of poetry was jarring...almost absurd.
But he continued with sardonic amusent coloring his words.
"There once was a Living Paradox consud by greed, Who took a bite from soone far beyond her reach indeed,
She stole a single drop of blood through treacherous deed, And that tiny drop elevated her, or so she did believe. She thought herself beco soone grand in existence vast, Even daring to play with corpses of Early Creatures past,
She built relations and gathered power, thought her die was cast,
Never imagining that stolen blood would seal her fate at last.
And yet, in the end, she remains alone inside her domain small, While follower of the one she robbed now stands before her thrall, She doesn't deserve his presence, his attention, or his call, She only deserves to feel existence devoured, atom by atom, through
it all.
With her pain amplified to extres beyond what mind can bear,
The last things her existence will know are endless throes of despair, Before collapse and darkness beco the only comforts there, This is justice for those who steal from powers they cannot compare."
...!
After completing this terrifying poem delivered with casual cruelty, Protos gazed at Diviticus with an expression mixing sinister amusent and cold finality.
"Did you comprehend the ssage? Do you understand what your
actions have earned you?"
...!
The frozen figure of Diviticus trembled even more violently, waves of absolute fear cascading through her constrained existence. She couldn't fathom how things had deteriorated to this point so
rapidly. Days ago, she had been a glorious Living Paradox and a Duke of Paradox of substantial power!
Now she faced an entity whose re presence suggested her collapse was inevitable, and the cause of it...was that drop of blood!
Ozymandias! Osmont! Moiraine!
Oh!
She wasn't even capable of replying or defending herself as at this
mont...
From Protos's form, crimson tentacles covered with countless
miniature sharp jaws began flowing outward like rivers of concentrated Hunger. They surrounded both the figure of the Dead Early Creature and Diviticus herself...encircling them completely, cutting off any possibility of escape.
The glorious voice of Protos echoed throughout the paradoxical
domain with a tone mixing anticipation and thodical purpose. "Well then. Let us comnce, shall we? This will take considerable ti to execute properly. After all, devouring existence atom by atom requires patience and precision. And I have been instructed to ensure you experience every single mont of what follows."
"Because...Existence can be so unfair, can it not?"
HUUM!
The tentacles began moving with deliberate slowness, approaching
her frozen form with terrible inevitability.
Diviticus's eyes widened with absolute terror as she understood what
was coming.
And she could do nothing to prevent it.
The first tentacle touched her existence...
And the screaming began.
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