There, the figure of THE Primordial Paradox floated up from the Pool of Lethe.
He stretched his obsidian body as if he had enjoyed a good rest, movents that seed almost casual despite the weight of authority that surrounded him. His obsidian crown spun with renewed vigor above his head.
He looked toward Noah with eyes that held satisfaction.
"Alrighty. With that done, we have to make our way to a fun place."
He turned toward Glossikos, who had followed Noah back from THE Mouseion with confusion still etched across her wooden features.
"Little Glossikos, thank you for the aid."
His tone was almost gentle.
"In the future, when you see Erwin, THE Living Paradox, pass through here..."
He paused, and sothing ancient moved behind his obsidian eyes.
"Tell him this: Existence is vast and unpredictable. Existence is vast... and full of terrors."
...!
With such incomprehensible words, THE Primordial Paradox waved his hands.
Obsidian-gold light wrapped around him and Noah. The Thermae of Cyclic Refinent blurred. THE Villa Dei Boscoreale faded.
The two of them disappeared.
They left behind a confused and frustrated Glossikos who seed to have many questions and no one remaining to answer them.
---
In THE Agora of Primordial Judgnt.
Past The Middle City, the so Polis, where Lochagoi and their households resided in structures that spoke of earned status and accumulated rit.
In The Acropolis.
The highest district, accessible only to Polemarchs and above.
Noah arrived in the corner of such a place as obsidian-gold light faded around his form. He saw glorious temples and structures in the distance, architecture that made the lower regions of THE Agora seem humble by comparison. This was where the true powers of this Nexus resided. Where decisions that shaped fate itself were made.
But the area THE Primordial Paradox had taken him was shrouded in shadows.
Massive stone pillars rose around them as if they were spears thrust into the ground to keep reality still. They ford a loose circle around a specific point, ancient monunts that radiated authority designed to contain rather than support.
Here, Noah actually sensed four auras.
Four Polemarchs standing before sothing.
A tiny crack in space.
It looked like barely a sliver. A hairline fracture in the fabric of reality that soone less observant might even miss. It was so small, so seemingly insignificant, that it could have been mistaken for a trick of the light.
And yet four Polemarchs surrounded it with expressions that spoke of dedicated guardianship.
Noah recognized three of them.
Paradoxos stood to one side, his form radiating the essence of contradiction that would eventually elevate him to Absolute status. Khaotikos stood opposite, his shifting presence barely contained within a humanoid shape. Ontikos stood between them, his bearing speaking of Existence itself given awareness.
These three, alongside Glossikos, would be the Four Strategoi in the future.
The four Absolutes who would oversee THE Agora of Primordial Judgnt in Noah’s era.
And now, three of them were protecting this place at the rank of Polemarch.
The fourth guardian was an entity Noah hadn’t seen before. A scholarly old man whose form seed composed of accumulated knowledge given flesh. His eyes held the weight of questions asked across eons, and his presence radiated an authority different from the others.
All four of them had frowning looks when they stared at the arrivals.
"..."
Beside Noah, THE Primordial Paradox was calm.
He began to walk forward, his obsidian form moving with the casual authority of soone who had every right to be here.
"THE Agora of Primordial Judgnt is a small Nexus Primordial Realm inside Ginnungagap."
His voice carried to Noah alone, pitched for private conversation despite the guardians watching their approach.
"Here, one of the Cracks of Observable Existence exists."
He gestured toward the tiny fracture in space.
"Through it lies the place where the enemy you ca here for may have originated. The place where THE First Cause may have, or should have, blood from."
His voice grew heavier.
"Where THE Spark that initiated differentiation blood. Where the question of the oldest paradox of Existence was first asked."
...!
BOOM!
The words crashed against Noah’s consciousness with weight!
THE First Cause.
THE Spark of Differentiation.
The Oldest Paradox of Existence.
He was standing before a crack that led to the origin of everything. To the mont before Observable Existence beca observable!
It was right there.
Behind a crack so small most beings would never notice it existed!
The words that THE Primordial Paradox had spoken were unfathomably grand, each one pressing against Noah’s understanding of reality itself. He had many questions, so many questions that they threatened to overflow!
He would have preferred if this was the ti when ancient beings like THE Primordial Paradox beca particularly talkative and went on minute-long tangents about what they ant regarding everything.
Take as long as you needed to explain what THE First Cause was, big guy.
Stand still and give as lengthy a monologue as you wanted about THE Spark and everything else.
But alas...
THE Primordial Paradox chose to shut up.
His obsidian form moved forward with asured grace, approaching the Crack and subsequently the ones protecting it. The four Polemarchs who stood guard shifted their attention from the tiny fracture in space to the beings approaching them.
Paradoxos looked shocked and reverent, the entity whose very existence radiated contradiction imdiately recognizing THE Primordial Paradox. His response was instinctive as he bowed toward THE Primordial Paradox with the deference of soone standing before the source of everything their Civilization represented.
But Ontikos and Khaotikos frowned with expressions that held sothing other than reverence, sothing that looked almost like disapproval.
Khaotikos was the one to speak.
"Sir Paradox."
His voice shifted with every syllable, never quite settling on a single tone.
"The agreent was made for us to never unnecessarily enter unless we absolutely need to. The dangers of that place and what could erge from it..."
He paused, his form rippling with barely contained turbulence.
"We decided that it was not worth the risk to all of Observable Existence."
Khaotikos had only just begun to speak when THE Primordial Paradox raised his hand calmly.
"I do not answer to you all. Move aside."
BOOM!
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