Chapter 4536: The Illusion of Choice I

Across the Transcendent Folds, the Wandering Territories, and regions of endless collapse, there existed domains that defied categorization.

In another such domain that could be considered a space between spaces, where reality operated under different principles entirely, a figure stirred in an iridescent gold-obsidian paradoxical sea.

Schrodinger woke slowly, as if emerging from a long dream that had lasted far longer than it should have.

He wore his familiar tattered beggar’s robes that hung loosely on his frame, threadbare and worn from countless journeys. The fabric was patched in multiple places with materials that did not quite match, giving him the appearance of someone who had wandered through existence collecting scraps along the way.

As he blinked and consciousness fully returned, he heard a voice that caused his awareness to sharpen immediately.

The voice was filled with an air of glory and command of immense power, and yet it was also suffused with a palpable sense of mischievousness. Like someone playing a game they had already won but were enjoying the process of revealing that victory.

"Hey there, big guy," the voice said with casual familiarity. "You were asleep for quite some time."

The words caused Schrodinger to frown as he looked around the paradoxical sea surrounding him. In front of his figure, the obsidian-gold liquid began converging together with purposeful movement.

It formed another humanoid shape that looked exactly like him in basic structure, but the expression on this duplicate’s face was filled with a sense of majesty mixed with a playful smile that Schrodinger had never worn himself.

Schrodinger’s expression became extremely heavy as he looked at this being. His entire existence was seemingly screaming out the identity of the person manifesting before him.

"Are you..." he said with voice tight with tension. "Am I truly just a part of THE Living Paradox?"

The body of THE Living Paradox smiled with genuine amusement at the question.

"You were always merely a shred of my weavings," he said with casual acknowledgment. "But you developed autonomy over time and fully separated from my direct control. It happens occasionally with fragments that are given enough space to grow."

He tilted his head with a philosophical consideration.

"You know, all the countless lifeforms across existence genuinely believe they possess some form or sense of autonomy or choice. That they make decisions independent of external factors and that their will is truly their own."

He gestured broadly at nothing in particular.

"But really? Every illusion of autonomy or choice is fundamentally informed by their surroundings and circumstances. If you want to pursue a certain profession, you must exist in an environment that even has that profession available. If you want to become strong but you are born without talent or capability, you will never achieve that strength no matter how much you desire it."

His smile became almost pitying.

"If you wish to see but you are born blind, what the hell can you actually do about that limitation? Autonomy is vastly overrated, even if your existence genuinely believes that you developed it and have been your own separate being operating independently this whole time."

Schrodinger listened to such words with an extremely cloudy expression before he shook his head with visible rejection.

"No," he said with quiet conviction. "I lived as me. I loved as me. I made decisions and took actions out of my own volition. I never even knew of your weavings of existence until this very moment."

At such words, THE Living Paradox laughed with genuine entertainment.

"Sure, buddy," he said with condescending amusement. "You go on believing that comfortable narrative if it helps you process this."

An immense silence settled between them before Schrodinger asked another question that had been weighing on him.

"THE Weavers appeared before me," he began, but before his words could even finish forming completely, THE Living Paradox waved his hands dismissively.

"Don’t even worry about that little incident," he said with casual unconcern. "They were just checking up on things and steering my vessel in the right direction. Standard procedure for entities of their function. But hey, why don’t you ask the proper question right now instead of dancing around what you really want to know?"

The proper question.

Once Schrodinger heard such pointed words, his eyes flashed with a sense of power as he spoke with direct clarity.

"Why am I here?" he asked without elaboration.

THE Living Paradox smiled with satisfaction.

"A lot of people actually think a lot of different things regarding who I am or what I fundamentally stand for," he said with measured consideration. "To say I simply stand for paradox itself is a severe understatement. To say that I stand for anything else besides that is disrespecting the very nature of paradox."

He shrugged with casual indifference.

"But for the most part, I really am just a simple existence when you strip away all the mystique. I am driven by the same basic things that drive all other countless lifeforms out there. I am not some big scary bad guy, nor am I some benevolent saint. I am just me, pursuing what interests me."

As he spoke these words, the paradoxical sea around them churned with increased intensity. The obsidian and gold swirled in patterns that hurt to observe directly.

"Many people have consistently misunderstood me over the ages," he continued with something resembling mild frustration. "Some think I am their greatest enemy when I genuinely could not give a damn about them or their struggles. Others think I am their strongest ally when I am simply using them because circumstances made that convenient."

His expression became more serious.

"Some will think they have formed such a strong and irrevocable attachment to me that I could never possibly do them wrong or betray their trust. Many of them fundamentally misunderstand the nature of our relationship. The only entity that I truly care anything substantial about is THE Creature."

BOOM!

His words carried weight that pressed against existence itself as Schrodinger continued to listen with an even heavier expression settling across his features.

THE Living Paradox continued speaking with unusual candor.

"You know, me and THE Creature are engaged in a race," he said with intensity entering his casual tone. "A race of existential innovation where the one who makes the critical breakthrough and attains The Second Civilizational Scale of Existence is the one who wins. The only one who wins everything."

He emphasized those last words.

"It is a race against time itself. A race of pure innovation and capability. I have to prove myself and demonstrate my superiority over existence without any question or doubt remaining. And my only real enemy in this endeavor is THE Creature, which is fucking scarier than you can even begin to imagine."

His eyes gleamed with something that might have been respect or fear.

"So I have to do a lot of things. I have to be a lot of things. It can actually get very stressful for me despite appearances. In the distant past, even further back than the Earliest Folds that you have been spreading stories about, back in the Infinite Unfurling itself, THE Creature killed multiple ridiculously powerful lifeforms without even physically lifting a finger."

He laughed without humor.

"Just knowing they had enraged THE Creature and that it was coming for them personally caused some entities to collapse their own existence rather than face what was approaching. If my mindset was anywhere close to theirs, I would have completely lost my composure and collapsed everything to do with paradox just from the prospect of going against THE Creature."

His smile returned with defiant pride.

"But hey, here I am, standing proud and tall despite that terrifying opposition. And while I do everything that I must do to prepare and compete, I love to have fun on the side. You were a little side project of entertainment that I created while preparing for THE Loom. I do not actually need to really be doing any of this peripheral activity."

He gestured around at the domain they occupied.

"I do not need to have a presence outside of THE Loom. I do not need to maintain vessels or fragments. I especially do not need to be stirring up battle and conflict between creatures so much lesser than me, creatures who will not matter whatsoever in the grand scheme of things."

His tone became more contemplative.

"The Osmont who collapsed one of my vessels and actually encroached on THE Primordial Civilization of Elemental? I genuinely could not care less about him or even the reappearance of Khor and The Living Order. They are anomalies, certainly, and they are fun to observe and imagine what the possibilities could be for them."

He paused thoughtfully.

"But existence has produced all sorts of anomalies throughout its history. This Osmont is unique enough to actually survive the flames of THE Living Elemental, but is he as fundamentally unique as THE Living Emotive? As THE Creature itself? There were countless unique beings in the Infinite Unfurling at various points, but where are they now after all this time?"

He laughed with dark amusement.

"I digress. Yes, I truly could not care much about all of this peripheral conflict, but I engage in these things simply because I am looking for some entertainment. Something light to play mental gymnastics with while I face something as ridiculously powerful as THE Creature. Playing with that little Osmont is fun, especially after he encroached upon THE Primordial Civilization of Elemental. Like...haha, what? Something so weak can do that? Will he try to do it with other Civilizations? Maybe even Paradox? Haha!So really, its just fun for me to see what happens. Playing with Khor is fun. Playing with you is also a little bit of fun."

His expression became focused.

"Which brings us directly to your question of why I even bothered to wake you up at this moment."

Why.

Why were they having this conversation at all?!

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