Chapter 4206: Way of Existence! II

She came to a stop, her abyssal eyes fixed on Noah.

"I am confident that it knew exactly what the other Living Existences that treated it so badly were doing. I am confident that it sensed their jealousy and hate due to the power that it could hold. But it played dumb and went along with it, because this would foster unfathomably strong emotions in the other Living Existences... and it would also cause the rise of even more terrifying emotions within itself. It would continue to get even more unfathomably powerful due to this. THE Living Emotive would only make gains from what was happening."

...!

She sighed, a sound that seemed to carry the weight of all the feelings in Existence.

"Don’t misunderstand me, it truly did feel dejected and angry and had immense hatred inside of it because of how others were treating it... but I fear that this was exactly what it wanted. To truly and thoroughly feel those emotions... because that was its Way of Existence."

Noah listened calmly, the pieces of a terrifying puzzle clicking into place.

Khor continued, her voice a low, melodic hum.

"One’s Way of Existence is unfathomably important. Only when you truly establish your own unique Way of Existence... with sufficient complexity or an unfathomably strong heart... would you be able to attain a distinction of... THE."

BOOM!

The word was a quiet detonation in his mind.

THE.

Like THE Creature, or THE Living Paradox!

His eyes, burning with a new, terrible light, turned towards her. "Were you ever THE First Hunger, or simply The First Hunger?"

At his question, Khor smiled, a mysterious, enigmatic expression.

"Who knows, Outsider. But you... you may actually stand a chance to achieve what you want. If you attain that stage of power. Well, maybe, anyways."

She clapped her hands, the sound a sharp, clear note that broke the heavy atmosphere.

"Come on, we cannot be left behind by the actions of your new servant. It seems like the Dead Early Creature is now being ganged up on. Regardless of how terrifying it is... it should fall soon enough."

Noah heard this, and a tyrannical light flashed in his eyes. "The moment that it does fall," he said, his voice a low, dangerous command, "can you steal its corpse for me?"

Khor laughed, a sound of pure, unadulterated delight. "From your vocabulary, is that what you call kill stealing?"

Noah nodded, a faint, predatory smile on his lips. "Something like that."

He turned his gaze across the Radiant Shore, at the other, less dramatic wonders of its elevation.

But his mind was already in the Origin Folds, watching, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, to claim another impossible prize.

For in the Transcendent Origin Folds, the weavings of The Living and The Dead were reaching a precipice.

The fat turtle and its nine heads, now supported by the collective, amplified might of the newly arrived Living Existences, sought to rip apart a Dead Early Creature whose power was a blight upon their very concept of existence!

The end was near!

—

One’s Way of Existence...that fundamental pattern through which a being expresses its nature in reality.

It is perhaps the most honest thing about any entity, for it cannot be falsified, cannot be pretended, can only be what it is.

Plants photosynthesize not from choice but from nature.

Their Way of Existence is transformation...light into life, simplicity into complexity, stillness into growth. They do not apologize for their immobility any more than wind apologizes for its movement.

Bacteria divide, viruses hijack, fungi decompose. Each follows its Way with a purity that consciousness often obscures.

They simply are what they are, doing what they do, without the burden of wondering if they should be otherwise.

In the Earliest Folds, a Fold Dweller stood before The First Farmer.

This Fold Dweller possessed power that would make common Early Creatures reconsider their proximity.

The First Farmer maintained intense focus on two Seeds of Principles approaching maturity.

His attention was absolute, the kind of concentration that suggested these seeds represented more than mere cultivation...they were attempts at crystallizing concepts into harvestable form.

"Do you know much about the different Ways of Existence of those living across the Folds?" the Fold Dweller asked, the question carrying genuine curiosity rather than test.

The First Farmer, without shifting his gaze from the seeds, replied with the measured tone of someone who had contemplated this deeply.

"Recently, I learned how Inevitabilities are perhaps the purest in their Way of Existence. They seek to devour...this is not evil or good, it simply is their nature. But their devouring of Everythings has intricacies that many miss."

He paused, allowing a moment for the complexity to settle.

"If you meet an Inevitability, simply give it a part of everything, and its Way of Existence would be satisfied. Not destroyed, not changed, but satisfied. You see..." and here his voice took on the quality of revealing something profound yet obvious, "that is what most do not understand. One’s Way of Existence does not necessarily mean it will be against others’ Ways of Existence."

The Fold Dweller stood in amazed silence, processing this wisdom that reframed conflict as misunderstanding rather than inevitability.

"The common tree produces oxygen while consuming carbon dioxide. The animal does the reverse. They are not in competition...they are in conversation. The Inevitability devours, yes, but devouring can be satisfied without destruction. A Way of Existence is not a declaration of war against all other Ways. It is simply... how one exists."

After a moment of contemplation, the Fold Dweller asked with reverence: "What is Sir’s Way of Existence?"

The First Farmer smiled with the simple pleasure of someone asked about their craft.

"When I have that fully outlined, you might know me as THE First Farmer. Capital T, capital H, capital E. The distinction matters at that level."

He returned his attention to his seeds with renewed focus. "But for now, my Way of Existence is that of... Farming."

Farming. Not conquest, not transcendence, not even growth for its own sake.

Simply farming...the act of creating conditions where things could become more than they were.

The profundity lay in its simplicity. While others sought to impose their Way upon existence, The First Farmer simply created spaces where multiple Ways could flourish.

A seed’s Way was to become. Soil’s Way was to nurture. Water’s Way was to flow and nourish. The Farmer’s Way was to understand these Ways and arrange them harmoniously.

This is perhaps the greatest tragedy of conscious existence...we can choose to act against our Way.

A tree cannot choose to stop photosynthesizing, but a being with awareness can decide to be what they are not, to force themselves into Ways that contradict their nature.

THE Living Paradox’s Way was to exist in contradiction.

THE Living Emotive’s Way was to feel and be felt. Neither was wrong, neither was superior.

The catastrophe came when they began believing their Ways were not just different but incompatible.

The First Farmer understood something fundamental: every Way of Existence was valid within its own context. The question was not which Way was correct, but how different Ways could coexist without mutual annihilation.

His Seeds of Principles were perhaps attempts to plant new Ways of Existence...patterns that could be cultivated, harvested, and shared.

Ways that complemented rather than competed.

In the end, one’s Way of Existence is both prison and freedom.

Prison because you cannot truly be other than what you are.

Freedom because once you accept what you are, you can perfect it rather than fight it.

The grass does not wish to be wind. The stone does not envy water. Only conscious beings torture themselves with the possibility of being otherwise.

Perhaps that, too, is simply our Way.

To suffer, and suffer endlessly.

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