NOVGO.NET Chapter 4010: Loyalty! II
Chapter 4010: Loyalty! II
The simple declaration of loyalty carried more weight than any elaborate oath might have!
This was not calculated allegiance…it was the fundamental honesty of someone who understood debt and honor in their most basic forms!
Noah frowned at this response, though something in his expression suggested respect for the giant’s stance. He could push here, could probably find ways to manipulate or coerce, but there were other methods. Better methods.
He reached up…a considerable stretch given their height difference, and patted Titano’s massive frame with something approaching fondness. “Do not worry about it. I will talk to Duke Gwendolyn to release you from your debt to her. Would that be acceptable? If she agrees to release you?”
Titano’s face transformed with sudden hope, his eyes brightening like stars emerging from clouds. “If Duke Gwendolyn agrees, Titano would like to go with Brother! Brother makes Titano rich! Brother treats Titano good!”
Noah smiled, filing away this information for future use. “Good. Then that’s what we’ll do.” He looked ahead into the depths of the Doorway where reality continued its war with itself. “For now, let’s see if we can find a few more Inevitabilities, and then we’ll get out of here.”
“Yes!” Titano’s enthusiasm returned in full force, his massive form practically vibrating with excitement. “Titano will clear the way! Titano will find many Inevitabilities for Brother!”
The giant charged ahead with renewed vigor, his terrifying power creating a wake through the paradoxical space that actually made traversal easier for those following. Each step he took seemed to temporarily force reality to choose a single state, creating brief islands of stability in the chaos.
Noah and Sigrid followed at a more measured pace. Sigrid’s expression remained troubled, her mind clearly wrestling with the implications of Gwendolyn’s betrayal of trust.
Noah didn’t even spare a glance for Altheon and Thessaly as they moved forward, his dismissal of their presence more cutting than any direct confrontation could have been!
—
A tremendous distance away, in the Transcendent Origin Battlefront Folds, another group made their way through their own Doorway to the Loom.
These doorways were numerous throughout the Battlefront, most leading nowhere, and those that did lead somewhere invariably filled with boundless Inevitabilities or other hazards that prevented advancement toward the ultimate prize.
Alexander Asmodeus moved through this particular Doorway with his characteristic measured grace, each step calculated and precise!
The environment around them defied conventional description…a landscape of shattered white clocks and broken wheels that might have once measured something beyond time.
The fragments floated in air that had the consistency of liquid crystal, each piece reflecting moments that had never occurred, might be occurring, or had already occurred in futures that no longer existed.
The moment their party fully entered the Doorway, prompts materialized before each of them.
|You have entered the Doorway: Origin Graveyard of Forgotten Measurements|
|Special Conditions: Death in this Doorway may retroactively prevent birth. Memories formed here exist in quantum superposition until observed. Success and failure are not mutually exclusive states.|
|Warning: Your perception of entering this Doorway may itself be an echo of a future that won’t occur|
Alexander read through the information with his characteristic calm, his mind already calculating probabilities and possibilities!
Beside him, Seraphina Valorheart gripped her weapon tighter, while Royal Law Tristesse had finally stopped fuming about Noah’s earlier displays, her expression now carved from focused concern.
“This is worse than the report suggested,” Kaedric muttered, his usual confidence shaken by the sheer wrongness of their surroundings.
Tristesse voiced her thoughts as they moved deeper into the Doorway, her attention split between the environment and her companions. “That friend of yours is not ordinary.” She fixed Alexander with a gaze that demanded answers. “If he stems from the same Folds as you…”
Alexander’s frown deepened, clearly wanting to deflect or stop her line of inquiry. But before he could speak, before he could redirect the conversation, something unprecedented occurred!
HUUM!
His Enneagram…that dazzling stellar nine-pointed star that resided on his chest, suddenly blazed with purple-gold light so intense it made reality step back.
Simultaneously, Seraphina Valorheart gasped as her own hidden Enneagram erupted in white-blue brilliance, the light pouring from her form in waves that shouldn’t exist.
The two Enneagrams began to spin in perfect synchronization, their rotation creating weavings that made the shattered clocks and wheels around them resonate. The sound built from whisper to roar to something beyond sound…a fundamental frequency that existence itself recognized!
Then, with the distinctive sound of bronze being torn, space ruptured before them.
The tear that formed was unlike any spatial distortion they had encountered. It didn’t lead to another place…it led to another time, another state of being entirely.
The smell that poured from it defied description: archaic oldness mixed with wonder, the scent of possibilities that had been sealed away since before the current age began!
Prompts cascaded before Alexander’s vision, each one more impossible than the last!
|Desiccated Sleeping Shore of an Early Creature Located|
|The fragments of the Early Tool of THE Living Law have resonated in a domain that THE Living Law’s authority covered in the Earliest Folds|
|Following the paths taken since the Earliest Folds will allow for the recovery of the Early Tool of THE Living Law|
|Warning: This Shore has been dead and sleeping for an unknown number of years|
…!
Alexander stared at the prompts with an expression that cycled through shock, understanding, and grim determination.
Behind him, Royal Law Tristesse’s authority blazed to life, silver-white power creating defensive barriers as her voice cracked with barely controlled alarm.
“What is it?! What happened?” Her usual musical tones had given way to sharp demand, her attention fixed on the archaic tear that promised either unprecedented opportunity or complete annihilation.
Seraphina looked toward Alexander with shock that transformed into something deeper….a recognition that whatever came next would fundamentally change the nature of their journey. “Alexander, what…”
Without explanation, without hesitation, without even acknowledging the questions and concerns of his companions, Alexander Asmodeus stepped into the crack in space.
The bronze tear seemed to welcome him, reality parting like curtains to admit one who carried the keys to doors that had been locked since the Earliest Folds. His form disappeared into that archaic light, leaving his companions to make their own choices about whether to follow into the unknown.
Behind him, Tristesse cursed with the creative eloquence of someone who had lived long enough to know when situations had spiraled completely beyond control!
Yet even as profanity flowed from her lips, she was already moving forward, because some opportunities…and some dangers, were too significant to let pride or caution prevent action!
The Doorway to the Loom suddenly seemed mundane compared to what lay beyond that bronze tear. What slept in that Desiccated Shore? What remnants of THE Living Law’s authority might still linger there? And perhaps most importantly…what would wake when they entered if everything was dead?
The only way to know was to follow Alexander into the archaic unknown, into a Shore that had been sleeping since before the current configuration of existence had been established!
4/4 Keep the Magic Castles and Golden Tickets coming! Looks like we’ll finish top 10 this month!