Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4006: The 10 Living Existences! VI

The revelation hung in the mountain’s hollowed depths like a bell that had just been struck, its resonance making even these ancient beings pause in their contemplations!

Duke Valen’s words about THE Living Order’s return had transformed the atmosphere from one of casual gathering to something far more consequential.

The blind Duke moved with deliberate grace across the crystalline floor, each tap of his cane sending ripples through the silver-white seas of Conceptual Authority that flowed beneath their feet. When he stopped before the board game, his sightless eyes somehow managed to convey the weight of his concern as he addressed both players.

”The return of THE Living Order,” he said, his voice carrying the particular timbre of someone who had witnessed too many returns that ended in tragedy. ”What do you think about it?”

Schrodinger’s smile deepened, though something in his expression suggested memories being carefully examined and weighed. He moved a piece on the board...something that might have been Doubt transforming into Certainty, before responding.

”Order,” he began, savoring the word as if tasting something exotic and long-forbidden, ”was something I never had the chance of coming across. Not properly, at least. Not in its pure, original form.”

His fingers drummed against his tattered robes in a rhythm that seemed to echo through dimensions. ”THE Living Law was the only one of those original beings I had the pleasure, if we can call it that, to encounter directly. And even that thing terrified me.”

The admission sent subtle waves through the gathered entities. For Schrodinger to admit fear was not weakness but rather an acknowledgment of forces that transcended even their elevated understanding.

”Consider what THE Living Law represented,” Schrodinger continued. ”Not just rules or structure, but the fundamental assertion that existence should operate according to comprehensible patterns. That chaos should have boundaries. That actions should have predictable consequences. When I stood before her...I felt my very nature rebel against her presence. Every paradox within me screamed at the wrongness of such absolute certainty.”

He paused, letting his words settle into the consciousness of his audience before continuing with calculated precision.

”If that girl...the one whose entire lineage you Origins systematically eliminated to create the proper conditions for Order’s awakening...truly does become THE Living Order...” He trailed off, his expression growing contemplative. ”It will be a good thing. Existence needs its anchor, its foundation stone. Without Order, we’re all just... possibilities floating in an ocean of maybe.”

HUUM!

Duke Valen snorted, the sound carrying more meaning than entire speeches might have contained.

His blind gaze fixed on Schrodinger with the particular intensity of someone who could see through deceptions that eyes might miss.

”You speak as if you weren’t the one who advised me on how to possibly awaken the Order within her. Your cryptic hints, your careful nudges in specific directions.” The Duke’s cane tapped once against the floor, the sound sharp as accusation. ”Whatever. Her reentry is good for stability, but it does muddy the waters somewhat.”

Valen turned slightly, as if observing something beyond the mountain’s confines. ”Oh, and there’s another matter. The same being who moved across your Existential Trembling against Aion completely unaffected, the one who took your little Paradox Moiraine... he is somehow entangled with THE Living Order. I cannot fully gauge what his actual power is.”

The reaction was immediate and palpable.

Several of the terrifying beings who had been maintaining distance from the conversation suddenly drew closer. A Living Temporal materialized from what had been a shadow, while the Living Emotive’s crystalline arrangements chimed with sudden interest.

Schrodinger’s hand paused above the board, a piece that existed in multiple states simultaneously hovering in his grip. His smile grew wider, though his eyes remained calculating.

”That is certainly interesting,” he mused, finally placing the piece with deliberate care. ”Moiraine was traveling with someone that little Diviticus swallowed a bit. Someone who should have something relating to Early Creatures. Possibly blessed with a corpse of another Early Creature, or perhaps an Inheritor of a Sleeping Shore.” His gaze sharpened, cutting through the philosophical veneer to something more immediate. ”Could he be one and the same?”

The Living Quantum, who had been existing in seventeen different positions simultaneously, suddenly collapsed into a single location beside them. When it spoke, its voice carried the weight of calculated probabilities!

”What happened with the corpse of the Early Creature we decided to let the Paradoxes have for the first time? Did that Diviticus use whatever she obtained to...”

”Little Diviticus managed to innervate the corpse of the Early Creature,” Schrodinger interrupted, his tone carrying a mixture of pride and concern that suggested complicated feelings about his fellow Paradox. ”She’s a shooting star now, burning bright across the darkness of our current predicament. Who knows?” He looked over the others with an expression of gentle mockery. ”She might become more powerful than any of you.”

The harrumphs and dismissive gestures that followed would have been comical if not for the fact that each being present could reshape reality with their displeasure.𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Duke Valen’s eyes flashed with particular sharpness, his voice cutting through the protests.

”So through your actions, we are tearing the veil between the Living and the Dead early. Earlier than when the veil should have begun to come down naturally.”

Schrodinger waved his hands dismissively, the gesture somehow managing to convey both acknowledgment and indifference. ”Just a few years earlier. The veil was bound to be torn eventually...at least now, we can control where the tears appear, how wide they grow. Everything has a price, my friends. We have been preparing for the Dead Existences for eons, developing countermeasures, training forces. But even they...”

He paused, letting the weight of anticipation build before delivering his next words with careful precision.

”Even they are not our final enemies.”

HUUM!

The atmosphere in the mountain’s depths grew heavy with implications that pressed against consciousness itself.

The entities present exchanged glances...or whatever equivalent their forms allowed, each one processing this statement through their own vast understanding.

Schrodinger looked at each of them in turn, his beggar’s appearance doing nothing to diminish the ancient intelligence that blazed in his eyes. When he smiled this time, it carried the particular quality of someone about to share a secret they’d been holding for far too long.

”Do you want to hear a Story from the Earliest Folds that nobody else knows?”

...!