At her words, Noah’s pondering gaze shifted. He reached into the impossible space of his own existence, and he took out... a key.
It was a simple, gray rectangular object, almost mundane in its appearance. A Key. The Frequency of Existence that had once been Hell Terra Firma!
It needed an influx of paradoxical authority to activate, and now, in this Shore, it shone with a faint, expectant light.
"I have a Key to a Doorway to THE Loom," he said, his voice a quiet statement.
Khor’s eyes widened, a flicker of genuine surprise in her ancient gaze. "How did you get your hands on something like that?"
Noah’s gaze drifted to the frozen figures of Bob and the Mutated Inevitability. "In my home Wheel of Existence, this Key used to be in the form of a mere Frequency of Existence. Actually... Little Bobby and others were looking for it. He was doing everything he could to find a path to bring back his daughter. But after everything was over and done, I obtained this Key. And now..."
His eyes flashed with a sharp, almost cruel, light as he thought of the intricate, looping patterns of existence.
A cold smile touched his lips. "Isn’t it unique how cause and effect works? From all those events back then, and how they led to Thauron, who initially had this Inevitability, which in turn led to my first meetings with Living Existences... Now Bob comes back, holding a Mutated Inevitability he fears, which allows you to see the horror of it all. And now, the Key, from all the way back then, is in play again. Existence...seems to be intricately unique."
Khor nodded, her expression cold.
"Choices, Outsider," she said, her voice a low murmur. "They steer one’s weavings of existence. In the vast unfairness of it all, only the choices one makes truly matter, for they are the only rudder you have. Without choices, you would only be pulled into the Flow and Weavings of others."
She looked at him, at the impossible being he was, at the frozen court of powerful entities that now surrounded him.
"You... seem to have pulled Living Existences, me, and many others into your Weavings. Continue to make your choices, Outsider."
Her gaze fell upon the Key in his hand, her eyes burning with a new, focused intensity.
"For now, let’s see what we can find from the Doorway that Key leads into."
...!
The heavy, frozen silence of the Radiant Shore began to thaw.
One by one, the beings suspended in the grip of Khor’s Haki stirred, their consciousnesses slowly returning to their forms like a tide creeping back up a silent beach as Khor’s Haki began to recede.
Noah stood amidst them, his presence a calm, unshakable anchor in their sea of confusion.
He looked at Khor, who was now calmly observing the still-unconscious form of Bob and the writhing, contained Mutated Inevitability.
Her rage had subsided, replaced by a cold, analytical focus.
"Let’s see what we can find," she had repeated. It was time to open the door.


Verify captcha to read the content
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse