Chapter 3950: The Past and the Dead! II

Duke Elagabalus felt the weight of that silence pressing against him.

"You know already, Duke Schrodinger," he said.

"You are one of the true leaders of Paradox. If there really is a possible threat of an Early Creature for the Paradoxes, only those like you can handle it."

The beggar’s smile deepened, and suddenly the illusion of poverty seemed as thin as morning mist.

Though his clothes remained tattered and his position unchanged beside the muddy road, there was something in his bearing that spoke of terrifying Paradoxical Authority!

Schrodinger!

Oh, Schrodinger!

"Ah," Schrodinger said, "You see, Duke Elagabalus, you have stumbled upon the very heart of what it means to exist within Paradox itself."

He gestured with one hand toward the road where a merchant’s cart had just struck a particularly deep pothole, sending muddy water splashing in all directions while the driver cursed with creative eloquence.

"Consider the nature of uncertainty," Schrodinger continued, his eyes taking on that terrible brightness.

"In the realm of Paradox, we exist perpetually suspended between states of being and non-being, between possibility and impossibility. Sinners. Anchored. What is Paradox, if not the acknowledgment that reality itself refuses to conform to the simple categories that lesser minds demand?"

HUUM!

The air around them began to shimmer with barely visible energies as Schrodinger’s true nature began to bleed through his carefully constructed disguise.

"At this very moment, Ozymandias exists in a state of quantum uncertainty regarding his fundamental nature. He is simultaneously an Early Creature and not an Early Creature, a being of existential significance and a mere Fold Dweller of limited scope. His true nature remains hidden behind the veil of observation until the moment when certainty collapses possibility into a single, immutable, magisterial truth."

...!

Duke Elagabalus found himself leaning forward despite every instinct that warned him against showing such open interest.

"But surely," he said, "there must be some way to determine-...."

"Ah, but that is where you misunderstand the beauty of true Paradox," Schrodinger interrupted with a gentle correction.

"The moment we attempt to observe and categorize, we fundamentally alter the nature of what we observe. Our very act of seeking certainty changes the parameters of the equation. Until that moment of collapse occurs, Ozymandias remains beautifully, terrifyingly uncertain."

WAA!

When Schrodinger finished these words, Duke Elagabalus released a sigh that carried the weight of eons.

"That does not advance any solution here," he said, frustration bleeding through his carefully maintained composure.

At such words, Schrodinger’s smile took on a change that transformed it from gentle amusement into something far more dangerous.

"So what if he turns out to be an Early Creature?" he asked with casual indifference.

"Are you so fearful of an Early Creature?"

BOOM!

Duke Elagabalus’s response came without hesitation, driven by honesty!

"Yes," he said, and there was no shame in his admission. "I am very much afraid of an Early Creature. Anyone with sense of logic would be. Anyone who does not fear an Early Creature knows nothing of existence!"

...!

The admission rang across the muddy road with the clarity of absolute truth.

Schrodinger’s smile widened at these words, and he shook his head with patient amusement.

"Fear," he said, "is nothing more than the mind’s response to that which it cannot understand or control. We fear the darkness because we cannot see what moves within it. We fear death because we cannot comprehend what lies beyond the veil of existence. We fear Early Creatures because their power operates according to principles that transcend our ability to categorize or predict."

He paused to watch as another carriage rolled past, its wheels throwing muddy water in all directions while the occupants remained blissfully unaware of who was around them!

"But fear, you see, is born from ignorance. Once something is truly understood, once its nature is catalogued and its capabilities mapped, fear transforms into something else entirely. It becomes respect, perhaps, or caution, or even admiration. But fear itself dissolves like mist before the sun of comprehension."

Duke Elagabalus remained silent, his ancient mind working to process everything.𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

At this moment of contemplative quiet, Schrodinger’s expression shifted to something that carried absolute confidence!

"I do not fear any Early Creature," he said with calm certainty, "because I have means to protect myself and you all if an Early Creature does ever come to light."

...!

Oh!

"What?" he demanded, his composure cracking. "How?!"

Schrodinger smiled as he looked out across the muddy road.

At that precise moment, a particularly ornate carriage approached their position, its wheels striking a deep pothole with enough force to send a cascade of wet mud splashing across Schrodinger’s already tattered robes.

...!

He wiped away the filth with movements that spoke to infinite patience, his expression never changing even as the royal occupant of the carriage looked down at him with an expression of supreme arrogance before proceeding along the road without a backward glance.

Schrodinger did nothing about this casual insult, his attention already returning to the matters that truly demanded his focus.

"To understand this," he said, "you would have to recollect something from the Stories of the Earliest Folds. Do you remember what happened after Paradox was locked away the first time?"

Duke Elagabalus felt his expression shift to one of weary resignation.

"Duke Schrodinger," he said, "I have heard the Stories of the Earliest Folds countless times. I don’t want to-"

"And you will now listen to it again another time," Schrodinger interrupted, his voice taking on the stern authority of one who would accept no argument!

Duke Elagabalus fell silent, recognizing the futility of resistance when faced with such a being.

Schrodinger settled back against the muddy home, his eyes taking on the distant look of one who gazed across eons to witness events that had shaped existence itself!

When he began to speak, his voice carried the cadence someone telling...a version of a story!

"The Creature moved across the Earliest Folds with a sense of melancholy," he began, "as it found that uniquely, it missed The Living Paradox. Having been with it for so long, it found that it actually missed its company!"

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