Chapter 5031: Proterozoic! I

Naldine stared at the visage of Osmont as he checked out an ashen Abaddon.

Noah had actually taken the chin of THE Primordial Chaos, the past claimer of one of THE Four Keys of Civilization, and was moving his head left and right as if examining livestock at market. Abaddon’s eyes remained hollow, his massive form slack under handling that would have been unthinkable hours ago.

And well, after losing their Claim, beings like Abaddon were nothing.

There was always a chance they could rise to be grander than ever, find new paths, forge new purposes from the ashes of what they had lost. But Naldine didn’t think he had it in him. She had seen too many fallen apex entities across her eons of existence, and the pattern was consistent. Failures in existence rarely got more chances, and those who did rarely possessed the conviction to seize them.

She looked toward Osmont with eyes holding impatience she no longer bothered concealing.

"What are you planning next? I need to finally get around to the important matters relating to you."

Osmont smiled at her question, that infuriating expression of someone who knew exactly how annoying they were being and chose to be annoying anyway.

"What matters could be important when pertaining to little old me?"

He motioned to Temporal as he spoke, gesturing for the ancient Absolute to come over and handle the acclimation of Eon and Abaddon. Then he turned his full attention toward Naldine, those multicolored eyes still blazing from whatever transformation he had undergone during his battle with THE Creature.

Naldine stared at him calmly before looking at the endless rainfall shining with multicolored brilliance all around them. The Pluvial Epoch continued falling across Jotunheim, washing away corruption and weakness in equal measure. She supposed this was as good a backdrop as any for the conversation that needed to happen.

"THE First Scale of Existence is known commonly as THE Civilizational Scale."

She began without preamble, because preamble was for beings who needed to ease others into understanding. Osmont would either keep up or he wouldn’t.

"THE Second Scale of Existence is known more commonly as THE Proterozoic Scale. It is what you make of it, what you build from it. A critical transition into what is possible and impossible."

Her voice carried the certainty of someone who had lived these truths rather than merely studied them.

"Those at this Scale begin to understand the Causes of their Observable Existence. They understand that before everything, there was boundless potential and a Primordial Source."

...!

She snapped her fingers as she spoke, and four singularities bloomed in the air between them. Each one pulsed with distinct authority, representing the aspects of the oldest paradox of existence. Chaos swirled with obsidian disorder. Paradox folded in on itself impossibly. Existence blazed with multicolored stability. THE First Tongue hummed with linguistic potential that predated language itself.

Then she drew lines of light connecting these four singularities toward two manifested pillars rising above them. One pillar she labeled Infinity, endless blue-gold authority radiating from its form. The other she labeled THE Primordial Source, its surface blank and undefined because nothing more could be said about it.

From these two pillars, she drew final connections flowing upward to a massive singularity marked with a question mark, the ultimate destination that no one had fully mapped.

"This is what most of us have believed and theorized so far from understanding Causes and weavings of Existence."

She gestured toward the construct she had created, her demonstration of glorious truth floating between them.

"Infinity is hard to understand, but it is more pervasive and available, so all of us focus on this. THE Primordial Source is just a theory for all of us. We know nothing of it or how to access it, so we can forget about that entirely."

She waved her hand and the pillar of THE Primordial Source dissolved, along with the four aspect singularities. Only the pillar of Infinity remained, leading up to that complex question mark above.

Noah looked at her with shining eyes of interest, and Naldine almost stopped to ask if he was actually paying attention. He seemed more focused on her than on the construct she had created to illustrate her points. He hadn’t gone completely mad just yet, right? THE Gamaidjan hadn’t claimed him while she wasn’t looking?

She studied him long enough that he nodded toward her as if telling her to continue.

"THE Proterozoic Scale. Vakochev made sure to truly live up to his theme of Adversity, as it is hundreds of times harder than THE Civilizational Scale."

Her voice held no sympathy for those who had failed this transition, because sympathy was useless to the dead.

"If you cannot sense boundless potential or the Source, you are done. But even if you sense Infinity, if you are stupid enough and rush into it, you will die under THE Encroaching Imperiosus. THE Gamaidjan."

She let those words settle before continuing.

"So one’s foundation truly matters. The first thing a Second Scale Being does, the first thing a Proterozoic Scale Being does, is finalize the Architecture of their Civilization. It is to build THE Civilizational Anchor. THE Existential Anchor."

Her singularity-dotted eyes fixed on Noah as she delivered the core truth.

"The Existential Anchor is not a technique or a meditation. It is a state of absolute self-knowledge so complete that no external influence can shift it. One must know exactly who they and their Civilization are. What they believe. What they would sacrifice everything for, and what they would sacrifice nothing for. Every compromise they would make and every line they would never cross must be mapped with precision that leaves no room for doubt."

She could see him listening now, actually listening rather than just watching her.

"This stage requires brutal honesty. Most beings discover they do not actually know themselves when they begin this work. They believe they hold certain values, then find those values crumble under examination. They assume certain loyalties, then realize those loyalties were convenience rather than conviction."

Her construct shifted to show a Civilization crystallizing into something unshakeable, foundations becoming bedrock.

"The Civilization is the anchor. Thus, THE Civilizational Anchor. Only when this is truly built does someone like me come along and begin playing with Infinity. Because as long as my Anchor is sufficient, I have resistance to THE Gamaidjan, and I can then proceed with the Transformation of my Existence and Civilization that all Proterozoic Scale Beings go toward."

She raised one finger.

"THE First Transformation of THE Second Scale. THE Proterozoic Vessel."

Her construct shifted again to show a being’s existence transforming, organs and bones crystallizing into something beyond mere flesh.

"Once the Anchor is established, the being must transform their physical existence and Civilization into something capable of holding Infinity without rupturing. This is one of the most arduous processes to go through."

"The Transformation of one’s existence and Civilization into a Proterozoic Vessel starts slow. We have to transform small parts of ourselves. We have to forge Proterozoic Organs or make Proterozoic Bones or other components of our Civilizations into vessels that can hold and utilize Infinity without falling to THE Gamaidjan. It is arduous, hard, and requires materials barely in existence."

She dismissed her construct entirely and fixed her full attention on Noah.

"And here is where you come in."

Her voice sharpened into something approaching accusation.

"You have not done any of this shit. You have been utilizing Infinity and filling your existence with Infinity without a set Anchor, without stepping into THE Second Scale, without forming THE Proterozoic Vessel, without doing fucking anything you are supposed to."

She stepped closer to him, her Second Scale presence pressing against the multicolored rainfall.

"You should have been dead so, so long ago. And yet you are not. And because you are not, you have made what is incomparably hard for everyone seem easy. You have become something that every Second Scale Existence wants to get their hands on."

Her singularity-dotted eyes burned with intensity that had nothing to do with hostility and everything to do with making him understand.

"They want the being who has seemingly achieved a state they all seek, and yet he does not have any of their Civilizational complexity. They want you."

She gestured toward herself.

"It is also why I said no to your Infinity. I could not risk becoming filled with any version of Infinity from you that could overwhelm me. I do not know how those you shared your Infinity with have not exploded or fallen to THE Gamaidjan, as you are this close to killing all those you consider important to you if you have been filling them with Infinity."

She paused, recognizing she had gone on a tangent, and pulled herself back to the main point.

"But I digress. I said all this to let you know that I alone will not be enough. You will need to have the support of other Proterozoic Scale Beings who align with your values, so that those who do not, like Beowulf and Horus and many others, do not come for you soon and collapse whatever you consider dear."

...!

BOOM!

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