Si vis pacem, para bellum.
If you want peace, prepare for war.
The ancient words had echoed through countless civilizations across countless eras, spoken by generals and philosophers and common folk alike who understood a fundantal truth about Existence.
Peace was not a gift freely given.
Peace was not sothing that simply happened because one wished for it strongly enough.
Peace was a fortress that had to be built with blood and iron and the willingness to use both. It was a garden that could only flourish when surrounded by walls high enough to keep out those who would trample its flowers. It was a dream that required nightmares to be faced and conquered before it could beco reality!
The pacifist who refused to raise a blade would watch everything they loved burn while congratulating themselves on their moral purity.
The warrior who never knew when to sheathe their blade would drown in blood of their own making until nothing remained worth protecting.
But the one who understood the paradox? The one who loved peace so deeply that they would wage war against anything that threatened it?
That one could build sothing that lasted!
Noah...could be considered very similar to THE Peacemaker in this regard.
He also loved peace.
He loved farming and tending to crops and watching things grow under his careful attention. He loved the quiet satisfaction of creation rather than destruction. He loved seeing his people flourish, seeing his Civilization expand, seeing the seeds he planted bloom into sothing beautiful.
But for his own peace?
For the safety of his people?
He would go to war with Existence itself.
This ti, he was only going to war with a part of Existence.
The forces of THE Living Paradox!
His mind was filled with imnsity as he crossed The Wastes of THE Fallout atop Skoll. Everything was absolutely mapped out. He knew exactly where he needed to go. Every corrupted landmark, every distorted region, every twisted zone of reality that the simulation had burned into his mory.
The route was clear.
The destination was certain.
And how could he explain the sensation that ca as he got closer and closer to THE Weavers?
It was actually... serenity.
Strange, wasn’t it?
Heading toward three genuine Absolutes who could crush him with a thought, who controlled fates and potentialities, who had pinned his pillars down and prepared to collapse them.
And he felt serene.
Whatever was coming, let it co.
HUUM!
His Formless Depth and imnsity roiled within his existence!
His Seals vibrated with terrifying weight! Twenty-seven concentrated expressions of everything he had beco, everything he represented, everything he would continue to build.
There was no fear.
Even while going against an Absolute, there was no fear!
It wasn’t because he knew how things would turn out. The simulation had been terminated before he could see the full outco of this confrontation. He was flying partially blind into a situation that could result in his collapse.
But simply because this was his Way.
Simply because he felt his imnsity that denied anything that wished to go against him!
Tyranny did not bow.
Tyranny did not hesitate.
Tyranny stood in the open and dared Existence to challenge it.
So he patted Skoll’s fur calmly.
The transford Duke’s neon plasma flas raged around them both, blazing with colors that had no nas. The incandescent sun and moon in Skoll’s eyes burned with excitent. His mane of crystallized fire billowed backward as they moved at speeds that made reality itself struggle to keep up.
Everything seed to play out in slow motion.
The corrupted landscape stretching endlessly.
The ashen clouds parting before their passage.
The weight of Absolute authority growing heavier with each instant.
And then...
He felt it.
That oppressive aura of THE Absolute Depth!
It pressed down upon everything like the weight of mountains made from concepts rather than stone. It crushed lesser beings simply through proximity. It demanded acknowledgnt from reality itself.
And Noah passed through it!
BOOM!
The scene that unfolded was glorious!
Noah crossed into the standoff between THE Weavers and his pillars with speed that carried the signature of sothing only Absolutes should possess!
Ul’moreth stood valiantly, his obsidian-gold hair flowing with defiance despite the injuries that marked his massive form.
Lumivara flickered behind him, heavily damaged but alive, her brilliant existence still burning with the stubbornness of one who refused to fall.
The Legion of THE entities watched from a distance, Gilgash at their forefront with an expression of cold calculation.
And above everything, three shrouded figures floated with the overwhelming presence of Absolutes who had never once considered the possibility of being challenged.
Noah appeared directly before them.
He looked straight at THE Weavers!
Their decrepit faces beca visible beneath their hoods. Ancient. Withered. Papyrus-thin skin stretched over bones that seed too prominent. Deep wrinkles carving canyons across features that had existed since before differentiation.
And their eyes!
Those golden orbs swirled with light that spoke of fates being asured and cut.
But now, those ancient eyes pulsed with sothing new.
Surprise.
"THE Daughters of THE Night."
Noah’s voice erged with weight that compressed the surrounding reality.
"You have been seeking an Absolute of The First Tongue. One of those who laid the claim to the Oldest Paradox of Existence."
His gaze held theirs without flinching.
"If Paradox ca himself, I would understand. But he actually sent you to to die..."
His lips curved into a smile that held no warmth whatsoever.
"Are you ready?"
HUUM!
His words ca off filled with the vibrancy of The First Tongue!
Imnsity backed his Seals as they manifested externally around himself and Skoll!
The Absolute Seal of Quintessence blazed into existence, spinning with patterns that spoke of fundantal perfection!
The Absolute Seal of Infinity stretched outward, its endless designs conveying boundlessness made visible!
The Absolute Seal of Tyranny pressed down upon everything, demanding submission from reality itself!
The Absolute Seal of Fortune! The Absolute Seal of Advantage! The Absolute Seal of Narrative! The Absolute Seal of Harvest! The Absolute Seal of Hunger! The Absolute Seal of Potential!
Nine Seals that belonged only to him!
Nine letters of The First Tongue that he had forged himself!
They displayed externally around his form like a constellation spelling out his na in the oldest language!
Oh!
There were...many things that made what happened next possible!
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