The Primordial Record novel Chapter 1777

Chapter 1777: Shifting Tides

Eva could feel herself growing more steady in the understanding of her nature. She was beginning to understand that the Circles Rowan used in shackling the power of Light to her form also gave her a measure of his potential.

This could be very dangerous in the wrong hands, because Eva was now understanding that at the time Rowan had recreated her, he did not adequately define any limitations to her system, and here she was, battling with a Primordial about Origin, and she was not losing ground.

The cold embrace of Old Light surrounded her, but she was no longer backing down; there was no fear of loss, only the desire to fight for what she believed was necessary.

Rowan might have seen her as a way to check the powers of Primordial Light, but she wanted to do more, to be more… for him.

The conflict escalated beyond words. Now, their very natures began to manifest their debate in the void. Around Old Light, constellations of pure, mathematical form began to appear: perfect spheres, flawless crystals, intricate grids of energy that hummed with relentless, impersonal order. It was beauty, but the beauty of a flawless equation, cold and awe-inspiring.

Around Eva, light burst into forms of organic, chaotic splendor: swirling nebulae in a riot of colors, galaxies shaped like blooming roses, lightning storms that danced to a silent symphony of fury and joy. It was the beauty of a sunset, a storm, a forest, a face. It was warm, terrifying, and alive.

She no longer cared if her manifestation may seem lesser in the eyes of a Primordial, as she knew that it held the weight that could not be denied.

The two fields of light around them began to interact at their edges. Where the perfect grids of Old Light touched the swirling nebulae of Eva, a violent reaction occurred. The grids tried to measure, define, and solidify the chaos. The nebulae tried to melt, warp, and animate the grids. Sparks of raw creation and destruction flew where they met, birthing and annihilating entire micro-realms in nanoseconds.

For an extremely brief moment, something shifted under the human-like facade of Primordial Light, revealing a creature of madness and hunger before it was covered by his light, but Eva had seen it, and a chill ran down her spine, but she did not stop fighting.

“Your chaos is inefficient,” Old Light stated after a while as he observed the carnage at their boundaries with detached interest. “It creates and destroys with no net gain. It is wasteful.”

“Your order is sterile!” Eva retorted, her form flexing as she poured more of her essence into the struggle. “It creates nothing new! It merely arranges what already exists into ever more perfect, and ever more dead, patterns. You create nothing!”

Primordial Light smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. Something was bubbling underneath his calm facade, but Eva refused to back down. She knew his pride had taken him down this road, and he would not crush her with his hands when he still had his words.

Still, the voice of Primordial Light was now colder and deeper, and he was placing much more emphasis on his intonation, as if he was forcing himself to stick to his rules. Something she had said had truly gotten under his skin.

“I am the foundation upon which all is built!” he spoke slowly, “I am the reason anything is worth building!”

What was expected was that he would soon need to break her not through force, but through understanding. The Primordial would have to make her see the inherent flaw in her own being so that he could create a seed of destruction within her. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Eva felt the cold of that logic seep into her. It was true. Her light was for something. It was relational. It was, by its very nature, turned outward. If there was nothing out there… what was she?

For a moment, a flicker of doubt crossed her fiery gaze. The light around her dimmed ever so slightly. The Old Light saw it—the first crack in her will.

He pressed his advantage, his voice dropping to a whisper that was colder than the void itself. “You need them, Eva. You need their love, their worship, their growth, to justify yourself. You are defined by your relationship to them. I define them. There is the difference. You are a slave to your creation. I am its master.”

The words were like spears of ice. Slave. She was passion, and passion needed an object. He was principle, and principle stood alone.

Eva looked down, as if at the countless realms teeming with life far below. She saw the mortals, the Celestials, all the beings who basked in her new light. She saw her purpose. And she saw the trap he had laid. If she accepted that purpose, she accepted her dependency. She accepted that she was less than him.

The silence stretched. The Old Light had won. He had defined her into a corner from which there was no escape.

Then, Eva began to laugh.