Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse novel Chapter 5537

Chapter 5537: Ordinary! I

<THE True Human Emperor>

Noah turned his gaze to Ryaenara after THE Creature completely disappeared.

She had been quiet since he pulled her out of that poisoned sea, which was not like her at all, for the Mirthful Antiquity did not do quiet, she did loud, and profane, and right now she was standing on a disc of white light above a Steed’s scales with her arms folded, looking at him with something working behind her eyes!

She had many things on her mind.

And then she asked her question.

"It seems you were able to cure a Cursed Steed." Her voice came level.

"A curse passed down across its whole lineage, stemming from Those Who Remain themselves." Her vibrant eyes did not leave his face. "Can you do the same for my brother? Do you already have the capability to cure him too?"

"..."

The dark between Dimensions flowed past as the strings hummed their long notes, and Noah did not answer quickly.

He thought about it properly first.

"No," he said. "Not yet."

Ryaenara said nothing as she waited.

"Hvitrmarr’s curse was rooted in her Causes." Noah rested a hand flat on the ivory beneath him.

"Her First Causes were failing, one by one, on a schedule somebody else wrote for her, and everything else about her was just a thing standing on top of that failure. So I didn’t cure her, not the way a healer would. I went in and I replaced her Causes. I took what was terminal and I collapsed it, and I gave the space it left a new meaning, and I seated my own Causes into her Organs where the dying ones had been."

His eyes stayed on Ryaenara’s.

"That is what the cure was."

"..."

"Your brother is different." He said it plainly. "Ulf’s curse is sitting on top of his existence. It isn’t a failing organ I can cut out and replace with a better one. It’s woven into the same weavings that make him Ulf."

"Which means to cure him the way I cured her, I wouldn’t be replacing Causes. I would have to replace an entire existence. Collapse the one he currently has, all of it, and give it new meaning on the other side." He shook his head once.

"I do not have that capability, not with what I know now, not with anything I currently hold. If I tried it today I would not cure your brother. I would end him."

WAA!

Ryaenara looked at him for a long moment.

And then she nodded silently.

"Then I remain with you," she said, "and give what I can to ensure your growth as we head towards IT."

"..."

And she was not finished.

"There is something else." Ryaenara’s tone changed, going lighter in a way that meant the opposite of light. "After we left THE Krazhor-Nul, messages from THE Sealed One reached out across my existence. Asking for updates on you."

...!

The name moved through the little gathering on Hvitrmarr’s back!

Anaximander’s head came up slightly, and Noah felt a slow cold interest settle in his chest.

Ryaenara held his gaze without apology.

"What shall I tell him?"

Noah thought about it.

He thought about the shape of the answer, because say too little and the thing gets suspicious, and say too much and you have handed a monster a weapon.

Say something true, but small, and slightly boring.

"Tell him I’ve begun skipping across Dimensions," Noah said thoughtfully. "That I’m trying to establish myself. Nothing more specific than that."

He smiled slightly. "And tell him you’re getting close to me, but keeping your distance."

Ryaenara’s mouth curved as she nodded calmly.

Noah then turned his gaze to Anaximander.

The scholar had been standing there through all of it in his white robes with his tousled hair, saying nothing, and he was extremely thoughtful at this moment.

Then he looked up.

"Could you," Anaximander said, "actually come with me?"

Noah raised an eyebrow.

"To that Dimension I mentioned. The one I have to go back to." The scholar’s plain voice picked up a little warmth. "You have talked about Humans. About being a Human Emperor, about gathering everything Human wherever it stands. And these beings, these Superpowered Lifeforms, are some of the more human beings you are going to meet anywhere."

"..."

"They are like me, and also not like me, and I have never quite been able to explain the difference to myself, which is one of several reasons I have not stopped thinking about them." A small self-aware smile.

"I think you would benefit from meeting them. And from seeing what they have built."

"And when I left, an incursion was about to happen as they were defending against Infinite Lifeforms."

"What do you think?"

"Okay!"

"What is this place called?"

"THE Ymnaros," he said. "It is an old word, older than the beings living there now, and as far as I have been able to trace it, it means something close to Ordinary. They named it that themselves. I have never worked out whether it was a joke."

"Hvitrmarr."

"I have this Dimension within my internal map," she answered before he finished asking, her ancient voice warm through the bond and through the dark both. "I will take you there."

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify