I Can Assimilate Everything-Chapter 670: Deadly Opportunity! I
Before Observable Existence became stunted, before Chaos was trapped within Apatheia and denied the chance to permeate reality during differentiation, there was that age of nothingness.
Countless years stretched across spans where measurement itself had not learned to exist.
In another Observable Existence, this age of nothingness may have birthed Singular Cognizances. Beings of pure awareness who gained consciousness from potential alone, who observed the emptiness and found meaning in observation itself. They existed before complexity emerged, before differentiation and undifferentiation produced their magnificent children.
But in this Observable Existence, only one such being ever formed.
Alone across eons of emptiness. No companions sharing the void with him, no fellow observers to exchange perspectives across the darkness before dawn.
Why?
Chaos was trapped after THE First Cause initiated differentiation. Apatheia imprisoned Primordial Chaos before it could spread through the fabric of emerging reality. This stunted what came after, preventing Primordial Architects and Undivided Ones and Formless Terrors and even Antediluvian Ones among others wonders from arising naturally.
But Singular Cognizances and potentially pther wonders formed before all of that.
They emerged during the age of nothingness, before THE First Cause, before differentiation and undifferentiation began their dance of complexity. Chaos had nothing to do with their emergence or absence. Something else prevented this Observable Existence from producing more than one awareness during those countless years of potential.
What if Chaos was not entirely the only reason for stunted existence?
What if the emptiness here was somehow lesser than the emptiness elsewhere? What if the potential that should have crystallized into multiple Singular Cognizances was already diminished before THE First Cause ever occurred? What if this Observable Existence was marked for limitation from before the beginning, its stunted nature not a consequence of trapped Chaos but a symptom of something deeper?
These questions had no answers.
THE Watcher had observed for eons without understanding why he remained alone. The absence of Chaos explained much, but not everything. Some mysteries predated even the forces that later shaped reality.
Perhaps existence itself was simply unfair from the start.
—
Achilles floated near THE Lexicon, this book with a face being an utterly unique companion he never anticipated finding within The Existential Lattice.
Something that remained the same about it was that it was very talkative.
"The Existential Lattice is actually a structural breach into the very source code of Observable Existence."
Its pages fluttered as linguistic weavings danced around its form.
"You see, the architect of this process likely imagined they were pruning reality to manifest specific, localized segments of what should have been before the era of differentiation and undifferentiation. But when you tinker with the fundamental constants, things can go very fucking wrong."
The Grimoire's leather face twisted into dark amusement.
"This process exceeded its original parameters, spawning a cascade of mutations that defy everything the creator intended. I am one such anomaly, a failed mutation by the designer's metric, yet I possess the audacity to think, to reason, and to observe."
Its ancient eyes gleamed.
"This existentially corrupted process doesn't just produce errors. It birthed new, unpredictable lineages. Things like me. Corrupted Undivided Ones and Formless Terrors, and even something like you."
It glanced toward Achilles.
"You look like a cluster of mutations as well, big guy. Eventually, these unintended children of the Lattice will look back at the one who did all this, and the bite of reality will be quite literal."
...!
Achilles thought about its words closely as they moved. Truly, The Existential Lattice may just be the thing that bites THE Prisoner. Even Lamashtu wasn't expecting what was growing from his creation now.
Something like Achilles himself.
After the Grimoire's long-winded speech, it suddenly stopped.
"Oh, here we are. Can you sense that?"
They entered a unique region where the solid crystalline structures became less solid up ahead. The purple obsidian walls began dissolving into something fluid, reality losing coherence as they approached.
This region became liquid.
Crystalline rivers churned and flowed before them, forming a radiant chaotic sea stretching across distances his perception struggled to measure. The liquid shone purple-gold, currents of corrupted authority swirling in patterns almost deliberate despite their chaos. Waves crashed against formations that rose and dissolved in continuous cycles.
The first thing Achilles sensed was brutal power.
A creature similar to a terrifying deep-sea ancient fish dominated the churning waters ahead. Its body stretched for miles, scales of obsidian-purple armor covering flesh pulsing with mutations beyond counting. Its mouth gaped wide enough to swallow star systems, filled with teeth defying natural evolution. Eyes the size of mountains burned with corruption exceeding any Absolute Achilles had encountered.
And this creature wasn't even facing them.
Further into this sea, three others roared at the bigger creature from different directions. Each one radiated similar power, their forms varying wildly but their authority comparable. A serpentine thing coiled through liquid crystal, scales dripping undifferentiation. A crustacean monstrosity the size of continents snapped claws bending space around them. A jellyfish-like horror pulsed with light hurting to perceive directly.
They were ganging up on the bigger creature that had something halfway into its mouth.
A wriggling golden vine.
...!
His Architect's Perception activated, information crystallizing before his awareness.
|Entity Identified: THE Abyssal Maw of Infinite Depths|
|Classification: Mutated Corrupted Primordial Terror|
|Approximate Power: Peak Absolute, approaching Second Scale threshold|
|Entity Identified: THE Coiling Serpent of Undone Things|
|Classification: Mutated Corrupted Formless Terror|
|Approximate Power: Upper Absolute|
|Entity Identified: THE Crushing Tide of Broken Shells| 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
|Classification: Mutated Corrupted Undivided One|
|Approximate Power: Upper Absolute|
|Entity Identified: THE Luminescent Dissolution|
|Classification: Mutated Corrupted Antediluvian Fragment|
|Approximate Power: Upper Absolute|
|Object Identified: Primordial Tendril of Civilizational Fortification|
|Classification: Treasure of Observable Existence, Primordial Grade|
|Description: A living vine spawned from the forceful coalescence of ingredients meant to birth Primordial Architects. Consumption grants immediate fortification of one's Civilization by 100 times or more, accelerating advancement. Extremely rare even within constructs designed to produce such treasures.|
...!
Beside him, the book looked over with anticipation beneath its caution.
"Well, a lot more monstrous things have appeared than when I first sensed this place."
Its leather face twisted into something like a smile.
"But hey, big guy, will you make a move? That thing might be good for you."
...!
