Chapter 4101: The First Feast! II

Noah watched Ozymandias settle from his feeding, the overwhelming hunger diminishing to something merely ravenous rather than all-consuming.

Through their connection, he felt the temporary satisfaction of Everythings digested, converted to pure sustenance. It prompted a question that had been building since Khor’s return.

So he turned to her.

"What about... your hunger?" he asked, looking at the tiny form that had once made existence itself nervous. "What about the hunger of the one called The First Hunger?"

Khor smiled at the question with layers of meaning that contradicted themselves.

She floated upward slightly, bringing herself to a more conversational height, though her diminutive size made the gesture more endearing than imposing.

"When it comes to Inevitabilities, there are vast differences in scale," she began, her voice carrying the weight of ancient understanding. "We’re not all equal in our hunger, our methods, our capabilities. There are tiers...classifications."

She paused, seeming to consider how to explain concepts that transcended normal understanding.

"I could tell you complex theories about hierarchical consumption matrices, about the relationship between hunger and existence, about how appetite correlates with existential weight. But ultimately, none of that would make sense without context you lack."

Her expression grew more serious, though amusement still danced in those abyssal eyes.

"What you need to know is simple: my hunger is ravenous. Tremendous to an extent that I could open my mouth right now and devour everything and everyone here. This Shore, its inhabitants, you, your bundle of potential Order, even your newly made Inevitability...all of it could disappear in a single swallow."

HUUM!

Noah felt his existence tense at those words, though he maintained his calm exterior.

Through their bond, he sensed Ozymandias’s instinctive recognition of a superior predator...hunger acknowledging greater hunger.

"But I don’t," Khor continued, her smile growing devilish. "I could have chosen to devour you when you first found me, what seems like forever ago now. Just opened my mouth and made you part of my collection of consumed Everythings. But I chose not to."

She spun in the air, her tiny form radiating satisfaction.

"That’s what makes me different from most Inevitabilities. I have the option of choice. My Way of Existence grants me something most hungers lack...discretion. Choice. I hunger, and boy can I eat, but I choose when to feast."

Her expression darkened slightly, though her smile remained.

"The day I truly open my mouth to eat will be a day nobody wants to be near me. Because when I choose to feast, I don’t leave scraps."

Noah processed these terrifying admissions while feeling the Symbolic Heart of Hunger pulse within him. It should grant him absolute control over her, should allow him to rein in even The First Hunger if necessary. Yet hearing her speak so casually about consuming everything made him wonder if even absolute control had limits.

Ozymandias descended from the Aquarium, his tentacle-architecture form moving with newfound grace that came from being properly fed.

He landed near them, creating a triangle of conversation between himself, Noah, and Khor.

"You seem very calm about all this," Khor observed, studying Noah’s composed expression. "Perhaps you don’t understand the full extent of what my being here means. You’ve put yourself in tremendous peril by allowing me to exist again."

Noah maintained his steady gaze, waiting for her to elaborate.

"I’m not the positive development you might think," she said, her tone growing more serious. "My enemies are terrifying beyond comprehension. Though I don’t even consider them enemies...I’m far too peace-loving for such designations, they certainly wish for my permanent end. And they’ve achieved it before."

She paused, letting the weight of that settle.

"Once they learn of my return, and they will learn, you’ll have gained enemies you can’t imagine. I won’t list them all, the thought alone might break you...but consider just one: THE Living Paradox."

WAA!

Noah’s eyes flickered with the first sign of genuine concern. THE Living Paradox..that ancient, unfathomable force that had shaped the earliest histories. The entity that had caused Khor’s cessation in the first place.

"THE Living Paradox will be your enemy now," Khor said with certainty that made the Shore’s eternal light dim slightly. "Simply by association with me, you’ve painted a target on everything you are and everything you might become."

...!

Noah took these words seriously, feeling their weight settle onto his shoulders. Any being with sense would be terrified at the prospect of having THE Living Paradox as an enemy. It was like declaring war on causality itself, challenging forces that had existed before existence properly organized.

Yet even understanding this, even knowing the magnitude of danger he had invited, Noah found his resolve unchanged.

If he could go back, if he could choose again whether to plant that Seed of Inevitability, he would make the same choice. Khor was that critical to possibilities he was only beginning to glimpse.

"Don’t worry too much, Outsider," Khor said, apparently reading something in his expression. "I don’t like others being in peril because of me. I’ll help you...and myself in the process."

Noah’s tension eased slightly at this assurance. "THE Living Paradox... couldn’t they be dead or missing like the others? Nobody has seen THE Creature or THE Living Existences in this age. They’re myths, legends, cautionary tales."

Khor laughed with genuine mirth that made reality nervous.

"From what I know, THE Creature and THE Living Existences are very much here. It would be nearly impossible for them to truly die...they’re woven too deeply into existence’s fabric." She paused thoughtfully. "Perhaps something has changed during my absence, but based on my understanding... they are not amd should not be dead."

The certainty in those words spread across the Shore like ripples in still water.

Sigrid approached them, her entire existence vibrating with Order’s brilliant white radiance.

She moved with the controlled grace of someone approaching something dangerous but necessary.

"Where are they then?" she asked, her voice carrying the frustration of someone tired of mysteries. "What happened to all these unfathomably powerful beings? We hear stories but see nothing. No evidence of their continued existence."

...!

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