Chapter 4569: Ginnungagap! V

The entity resembled an archaic hippopotamus expanded to absolutely monstrous proportions. Its body was covered in obsidian plates that gleamed with concentrated authority.

But this creature possessed radiant obsidian wings extending from its back, each one spanning what appeared to be several Gigaparsecs when fully extended. The wings shimmered with dark energy.

Its malformed distinctive feature was immediately apparent and deeply unsettling. The creature’s mouth extended far beyond where a normal jaw should end, stretching back along its entire body in a grotesque spiral that seemed to contain infinite depth.

Such a terrifying creature’s crimson eyes locked onto both THE entities with single-minded predatory focus.

It flapped its massive obsidian wings with tremendous force. In the next instant, its body had crossed the distance between them at impossible speed.

Its massive jaws were already wide open and attempting to snap shut directly on top of the bodies of THE First Hunger and THE Living Origin simultaneously. The mouth contained rows upon rows of crystallized void teeth!

HUUM!

THE First Hunger reacted with explosive speed and power. He raised both hands and caused them to enlarge dramatically as they shone with concentrated obsidian light of Hunger.

He grabbed both ends of the massive jaws that were trying to snap shut around them, his fingers digging into the creature’s flesh with devastating force.

His Way of Hunger fought directly against the terrifying Way of Dissolution that this creature possessed. The two Sovereignties clashed with reality-warping intensity as neither gave ground.

In such a terrifying pivotal moment with his arms straining against incomprehensible force, Tor turned his head toward the calm figure of THE Living Origin who merely stood beside him without apparent concern.

"So," he said with voice tight from slight exertion. "With multiple monstrous things like this creature actively running around throughout Ginnungagap, we have to operate under the assumption that even if my junior comes across them, he can either successfully outrun them or he will simply be eaten without trace."

THE Living Origin maintained her calm analytical gaze as she responded with measured reasoning.

"I remain calm specifically because I have not yet sensed his Origin ending or collapsing," she said with voice carrying certainty. "So somehow he is managing to survive in this domain. Either he has not been spotted by these creatures yet and remains concealed, or perhaps he did not show us the full extent of his capabilities."

She paused before continuing.

"He may possess the capability to successfully flee from THE level entities through methods we did not witness. Or again as I suggested, he has already departed and returned to his own time period."

There existed many distinct possibilities as to what exactly could have occurred or could currently be happening to the temporal anomaly.

Tor flexed his enlarged arms with explosive force and physically threw back the massive creature that had attacked them. The entity was launched across Gigaparsecs of distance before stabilizing.

His eyes remained cold as he nodded with acknowledgment and spoke with determination.

"Until we know definitively what occurred, we will continue searching" he said with voice carrying absolute conviction. "I do not like this oppressive place because of the severe suppression imposed on our Ways. A suppression that is not applicable to the native Ginnu Lifeforms that attack anything foreign on sight with extreme prejudice."

His expression darkened further.

"I really, truly do not like this primordial domain."

They both knew intimately the terrifying nature of the place they currently occupied.

Very few entities throughout the entire Infinite Unfurling possessed knowledge like them about this domain’s true significance. They were aware of the persistent rumor regarding this location.

The musings suggested that this was potentially the birthplace of THE Creature himself.

That this primordial domain was where all THE level entities could ultimately trace their ancestry toward if one went back far enough through time and evolution. Maybe this was absolute truth. Or maybe it was all complete fabrication and mythology. Who could know with certainty?

---

In an entirely different section of Ginnungagap separated by unfathomable distances, Noah gazed upward as he watched the disappearing flying creature that represented the second THE level Lifeform to have encountered him.

He prepared to cautiously begin moving and exploring this dangerous place more thoroughly while maintaining maximum vigilance.

Of course, one of the persistent questions that continued buzzing in his analytical mind was why these two overwhelmingly powerful THE entities had seemingly looked directly at him, analyzed him carefully, and then proceeded to completely ignore his presence.

What had they perceived or recognized that caused them to dismiss him as non-threatening or perhaps not even as food?

As he ran his own unique internal diagnostics on himself to try and understand this phenomenon, he blinked with sudden realization as he came across a particular finding that seemed obvious once noticed.

He felt clearly the terrifying suppression of The Light of Ginnungagap pressing constantly against The Way of Hunger burning inside his existence. The 90% reduction in capability was unmistakable and severely limiting.

He felt this suppression intensely in this aspect of his dual Sovereignty.

But remarkably, he did not feel any corresponding suppression whatsoever on The Way of Mana.

Mana flowed through him completely unimpeded and unrestricted.

Mana was not being suppressed by this primordial domain.

Mana was not suppressed!

Oh!

His mind raced with the implications of this discovery as understanding began to dawn!

—

Belonging.

It was one of the most fundamental drives that pushed entities across all of existence to seek connection and recognition.

Some beings spent entire lifetimes searching desperately for a place where they truly fit. Where their nature was understood and accepted rather than feared or rejected. They wandered from civilization to civilization, from fold to fold, constantly seeking but never finding that elusive sense of home.

They would try to adapt themselves, to suppress their true nature, to become what others expected them to be. And yet the feeling of being fundamentally out of place would persist like a constant ache in their core existence.

The cruel irony was that belonging could not be forced or manufactured through effort alone. One could not simply decide to fit in somewhere and make it so through determination.

And then sometimes, in the most unlikely and unexpected of circumstances, a sense of belonging would emerge from absolutely nowhere.

In the most hostile environment imaginable, where survival itself seemed impossible, an entity might suddenly discover they were exactly where they were meant to be all along.

Not because they had changed themselves to fit the place, but because the place recognized something fundamental within them that resonated with its own ancient nature.

Sometimes belonging came not from finding those exactly like oneself, but from being in a place that accepted what one truly was at the deepest level.

Belonging!

Perhaps that was the ultimate paradox of belonging...it could not be found by those who sought it desperately, but it would appear unexpectedly to those who had stopped looking and simply remained true to their fundamental nature!

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