Chapter 4003: The 10 Living Existences! III

Duke Valen’s blind eyes seemed to focus on something none of them could see. "And now they wish to use the very crisis they created as pretense to assert themselves among the Living Existences again. It’s brilliant in its simplicity...create a problem only you can solve, then demand recognition for solving it."

"The threat of Dead Existences is very real," Gwendolyn continued, her voice heavy with the weight of recent memory. "If we deny the Paradoxes their seat at the table, they’ll likely open more tears in existence, make the situation increasingly dire until we’re forced to call upon them. Since Paradoxes..." she paused, seeming to taste something bitter, "are mainly the ones effective against Dead Existences."

Duke Whisker’s whiskers twitched in what might have been amusement. "But then... another party has appeared that seems to also be effective against Dead Existences."

All four Dukes turned their attention to Noah with synchronized precision that spoke to planning or instinct honed over eons.

Duke Valen’s blind eyes seemed to pierce through him despite their lack of function. "You aren’t a Paradox, are you?"

Noah’s smile deepened as he turned toward Duke Whisker, recognizing the mouse’s apparent ability to discern truth from falsehood. "I am not truly a Paradox."

The words were carefully chosen.

He wasn’t truly a Paradox...he was many things beyond Paradox, and fundamentally, he was an Early Creature. The statement was true from a certain perspective, which was all that mattered.

Duke Gwendolyn leaned forward slightly, her ancient eyes searching his face for clues. "Are you someone stemming all the way back from the Earliest Folds? Someone who served... Early Creatures?"

Noah turned to her with that same enigmatic smile. "No."

Duke Pyralis’s flames flickered with increased intensity as she voiced her own theory. "Are you a Mutated Living Existence affected by a Lost Forgotten Principle?"𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He shifted his attention to her, finding her theory particularly interesting even as he denied it. "While that would be fascinating, no."

The silence that followed was dense with calculation as four of the most powerful beings in existence tried to categorize something that refused to fit their understanding.

Finally, Duke Whisker floated forward, his tiny hands still clasped behind his back, and asked the question that made the other Dukes visibly tense.

"Are you...an Early Creature?"

BOOM!

The question seemed to make reality itself pause, as if Existence was holding its breath waiting for the answer. Even the other Dukes showed alarm at such a direct inquiry...the implications of a positive answer would shatter every assumption about the current order of existence!

Noah laughed, the sound genuine and amused. "If I was a genuine, full-fledged Early Creature, would I be here playing along with all these games?"

The question carried its own weight of logic. An Early Creature wouldn’t need to trade in marketplaces or attend meetings. They would simply take what they wanted, reshape reality according to their whims.

So he said...he was not a genuine and full fledged early creature!

And well...it was true.

After all, he had not even finished forming his heart!

Duke Whisker’s eyes gleamed with that truth-detecting light. "This... is not false."

The visible relief that washed through the other Dukes was almost comical. Even beings of their power found the prospect of dealing with an Early Creature overwhelming.

Duke Gwendolyn recovered first, her practical nature reasserting itself. "Existence is vast and there are many types of beings out there. What matters is that you hold an alternative to the hungry Living Paradoxes. You have Moiraine, who can empower everyone to fight against Dead Existences, and yourself, of course, who can kill a Duke-level Dead Existence in an instant, right?"

Noah blinked at her words, then responded with casual air that suggested he’d almost forgotten. "Oh, yes, right!"

The confusion that flashed across the Dukes’ faces would have been amusing if the situation weren’t so serious. How did someone forget they had just eliminated a Duke-level threat?

Gwendolyn sighed with the weight of someone trying to herd weavings made of pure chaos. "We can hold Living Paradoxes at length and not give them much recognition with you in the picture. If you were aligned with us. If you let us know what it is you want."

Duke Whisker floated forward. "Everyone wants something. Some seek power, others knowledge, still others simple comfort. But there are those rare beings who are not driven by wants but by purpose, by destiny, by forces greater than personal desire. Some are driven by existence itself as they look over the masses and seek to simply help without anything in return. Which type are you?"

Noah’s smile carried genuine amusement as he looked at the profound little mouse. "I am very much one who wants and takes."

Duke Whisker blinked, his whiskers drooping slightly as his philosophical moment was thoroughly deflated. He shook his tiny head with what might have been exasperation. "Okay then. Straightforward. We can work with straightforward."

The mouse’s demeanor shifted to something more businesslike. "If a cooperation agreement can be reached between us...you providing your strength when needed, we can give you what you want. Because due to recent events, representatives from all ten types of Living Existences will now gather to discuss the threat of Dead Existences. Living Paradoxes will be included in these discussions for the first time since the Earliest Folds."

His tiny form seemed to swell with the importance of what he was about to say. "The Kleos Concordat will convene within a day. Every Duke who can be spared, select Royal Living Existences, and certain other parties of interest will gather to determine how existence itself will respond to these threats."

The name carried weight that pressed against consciousness itself!

The Kleos Concordat...a gathering that transcended normal meetings, where decisions would be made that could reshape the fundamental nature of how existence operated!

"It would be good," Duke Whisker continued, his stellar eyes boring into Noah’s with intensity that belied his small size, "to know who are enemies and who are friends when that time comes. The lines are being drawn as we speak. Where will you stand when the moment arrives?"

The question buzzed in the garden air between the impossible plants and their Wheel-fruits, waiting for an answer that would echo across existence itself!

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