Chapter 5583: Home! II
Chapter 5583: Home! II
As he came to his epiphany, Noah’s existence buzzed, and then he felt a tug.
It was not a vague feeling. Something closely connected to him had answered this exact moment, this potential emergence of the equivalent of his Causes, and the answer was coming from inside THE Infiniverse!
Of course, that made a certain sense. Since his grand change, he had cast out nearly everything he held into her, and he had not once entered. His Provenance Essence and his new standing seemed to be causing something there, in the place where all his old treasures slept!
So he turned to the seer first.
"See the limits of your power," Noah said. "Push at them. And prepare for me any further knowledge you can reach regarding the Descendants, THE Sealed One, and Those Who Remain. I will want all of it when I return."
Ulf bowed his head, and beside him Ryaenara straightened as if the instruction included her, which, in truth, it did.
Then Noah tugged back on the unbreakable connection to THE Infiniverse, and disappeared.
—
He appeared inside an endless sea of blue.
Strings and waves stretched away in every direction without a horizon, currents of deep cerulean light crossing and recrossing through one another, and the immensity of the place pressed in gently from all sides.
This was a core domain of THE Infiniverse, one of her innermost chambers, and only one person was currently in it.
THE Infiniverse herself, in her humanoid form, sat among bubbles.
There were many of them, drifting slowly around her in the blue, and each one held something he had cast out. The Primordial Source turned quietly in one, dense as a swallowed star. His Infinity coiled in another, blue and endless, pressing lightly against its skin. The eighteen Causes drifted in a loose constellation, his nine and Hvitrmarr’s nine, still keeping each other’s company. The Intent, the Pantheon, THE First and Second Infinite Scale, Mana itself. And nearest to her, small and red and beating slowly, THE Amaranthine Heart.
Noah sighed as he looked at it all. An ocean, bottled and shelved, and a caretaker sitting in the middle of it.
Then he turned his gaze to THE Infiniverse herself.
She seemed just as grand as before, if not grander, since his rise had always reflected on her. And yet even she seemed a bit desolate, sitting there in her own depths, staring at the things he had cast out.
She rose when she felt his eyes. She came over to him through the blue, unhurried, and when she reached him she did not bow or report. Instead, she traced one finger along the necklace of bones on his chest, following its curve.
"I inherently know that you would never cast me out, or leave me, or abandon me," she said. "I inherently know this. My thought process, my very existence, is a logical one, and this is cemented within my existence. And yet, when you were casting everything out, even your Infinite Mana... a sense of fear rose within me that does not need to be there, and should not even be possible." Her eyes came up to his.
"So even though I logically understand, and know... can you just reassure me?"
...!
Noah’s gaze softened.
Reassurance. Affirmation!
Every single human being needed this, even when they knew. Perhaps especially when they knew, since knowing a thing and feeling it were two different things.
He went to THE Infiniverse and put his hand on the side of her head. She leaned into it and closed her eyes, and the contentment that crossed her face was quiet and grand!
"Even you are displaying more and more human qualities," Noah said, and he was smiling as he said it.
"In relationships, and I have a few, even though they know they have my love, even though they each know the lengths I would go for them, I am constantly still asked. Just how much do you love me? How much do you care? After all this power and immensity you continue to gain, after all the change you go through over time, do you still care the same as before? Do you still look at us the same as before?"
...!
" I have received all these questions and more, and every single one of them is just looking for affirmation. It is a very human quality. And I am happy to see you displaying it. Because if something like you can also be this human, then it means my path is truly going to be a glorious one, and that boundless many things can, and will, be human."
His hand stayed where it was. "No. I would never cast you out. You are my home, and I am yours."
HUUM!
Their existences buzzed together as he said it, the blue sea around them brightening by a shade, and THE Infiniverse kept her eyes closed, simply feeling her Master’s hand.
After a while, Noah spoke again, quieter now.
"You are the only person so intricately connected to me that you feel every immensity of mine this closely. Can you feel the Provenance Essence?"
"It is not something so simple that it can just be generated because someone casts everything else out. I must have met certain conditions that made it a possibility. After all, I am human, and I was born human. I was not, and am not, among THE First Lifeforms. So I also want to know. Why was I able to generate Provenance Essence? What exact condition did I meet, in addition to casting out everything I held, to make this possible? And since it is something I generated, I cannot transfer it to another. I feel a distinct rejection of what Provenance Essence stands for if I try to extend it toward others. So the question naturally becomes... how can you generate it yourself?"
THE Infiniverse opened her eyes grandly at this.
"Your rise and immensity continue to reflect on THE Infiniverse," she said. "And while I may not be able to generate Provenance Essence... due to the change in your transformation, and your connection to THE Infiniverse..."
She waved her hand.
The endless blue sea of waves and strings parted all around them, currents drawing aside like curtains in a great hall, and what they revealed was a doorway!
Through it poured a scene of utter immensity, and Noah felt his own existence pulling him toward it, a pull that felt familiar and foreign at the same time!
It was a forming domain, surrounded by blue gold brilliance.
"Since I am considered your home," THE Infiniverse said, "your weavings and your Provenance Essence seem to be generating a domain exclusive to you. One that you can truly call home. Even I currently do not know much about it, as I have only felt it forming within me. But it should be something beneficial, and critical, that a First Lifeform should call... home."
...!