Noah stood on such a thing as he looked at the glorious visage of THE Primordial Paradox.
The ancient Absolute still maintained a heavy sense of majesty despite everything. His eyes held no fear or worry. Not even a sense of urgency pressed against his bearing. He didn’t look like soone who knew that their Claim was under attack.
He looked like soone who had made peace with what was coming and was now focused entirely on what could still be done.
"I also did not expect you...as you are now anyways."
Noah’s voice ca asured, direct.
"I ca here seeking to understand a bit more about the thing currently attacking you. And to understand the one responsible for it."
He t those obsidian eyes without flinching.
"You do know who is responsible for this assault on you, right?"
At such words, THE Primordial Paradox sighed.
It was a sound that held the weight of betrayal processed and accepted. His profound gaze of imnse dignity and power never wavered, but sothing behind it shifted. Sothing that spoke of trust that had been violated in ways that cut deeper than any physical wound.
"Of course."
His voice remained precise, controlled.
"My dearest disciple Erwin initiated all of this. But even he may not understand what he has truly done."
...!
The na hung in the frozen air between them.
"And I have co to realise that it is unstoppable. I can only make preparations."
He turned slightly, gesturing toward the rushing waters of Gjöll that roared beside them.
"My Claim over Paradox inford that there would be soone who might potentially assist in these preparations if I sailed across my river. But truly, ti is not on our side."
His obsidian features settled into sothing that might have been wry acceptance.
"Even though I was waiting here for my own aims and goals, you appear to have similar ones based upon the enemy attacking ."
He faced Noah fully.
"So. Can we get started?"
He said such words gloriously and imperiously, the bearing of an Absolute who had chosen to spend his final preparations with efficiency rather than lant.
Noah looked at this being and asked the question that mattered most.
"What exactly needs to be done?"
THE Primordial Paradox smiled at such words.
It was the smile of soone who had been waiting for that precise question.
"I have already comnced my preparations. I have isolated and hidden parts of myself in different areas throughout Helheim."
He paused, and sothing darker crossed his features.
"I have co to realise that even these parts of myself, stretched out across my realm, will be claid in the end as well."
His hands clasped behind his back once more.
"In waiting here, I had thought I would co across THE Creature or THE Primordial Chaos and secure their aid in locking a part of myself away in Alfheimr or Jotunheim. Sowhere beyond imdiate reach. It has to stay and persist in this ti as it is a piece of Absolute. A Piece of the Claim of Paradox as it cannot be carried across ti, otherwise I would hand it to you and say our goodbyes. So it needs a place to remain until it can be safe to unveil."
He looked at Noah with eyes that held the weight of paradox itself.
"And it appears that, quite paradoxically, it was neither of the two I expected."
His smile returned.
"It is instead the one with the Claim to The First Tongue."
He gestured with one obsidian hand toward the frozen expanse beyond the ship.
"So you tell , Genesis Monarch."
"Where exactly are we heading? Ginnungagap? Muspelheim?"
BOOM!
The words landed with weight.
THE Primordial Paradox was asking him to choose.
To decide where a fragnt of an Absolute, a piece of one of THE Four themselves, would be hidden away!
THE Primordial Paradox asking him such a question was ridiculous in itself.
Where to hide a piece of an Absolute across ti? Where to place a fragnt of one of THE Four that would remain concealed from THE Living Paradox and even THE Entity across eons of searching?
But Noah was nothing if not adaptable.
He thought about the answers he had co to find here. As the first existence to be infected by whatever THE Entity used to be, THE Primordial Paradox would be among the few that would know more than everyone else. His knowledge of the infection’s origin, its thodology...
But first, he had to answer this question.
So after he thought about it for a mont, on exactly where a part of THE Primordial Paradox could be hidden that others would not be able to gain access to, his mind couldn’t help but wander to an area that had a complex set of rules.
An area that held four Absolutes, or really, would in the future.
An area that THE Entity was not capable or willing to go into!
The place where THE Secretive Eon had refused to enter even when her Disciple was inside. The place that had sohow cleansed or blocked the infection from Noah’s followers. The place that held protections that even THE Entity respected.
If a fragnt of THE Primordial Paradox was hidden there, within THE Vaults of Ginnungagap that connected to THE Agora...
His eyes shone with realization.
"Definitely Ginnungagap."
...!
HUUM!
The mont he said these words, the vast ship below them trembled with resonance of of ancient engines stirring to life.
THE Primordial Paradox smiled.
He tapped his feet lightly against the deck of Naglfar, and the massive ship shot out like a sliver of obsidian light. The acceleration was beyond anything Noah had experienced, multiple tis faster than Skoll at full sprint, crossing the heavy waves of the river Gjöll as if the crushing current was nothing more than a gentle stream.
The frozen banks of Helheim blurred past them.
The skeletal trees beca sars of darkness against the obsidian sky.
And the roar of the river faded behind them as Naglfar carved its path toward whatever destination would eventually lead to Ginnungagap.
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