Chapter 2012: The Last stop Eva whispered, "There is one more." After this, she did not know if she would change Eos’s mind again. Eva was comprehending that maybe she did not have the right tools to shift his mind, but she would not give up until she tried everything. The heart still beating under them filled her with pain and disgust as something that was supposed to be pure and beautiful had been twisted into a parody of horror. She had lived long enough to know the sick humor of the Ancient Primordials, and she was sure that if she was not careful, her willingness to die for Eos could be used against him in the future; however, wa she going to allow him to protect them all despite the risks to him? Before now, she thought she knew the answers, but now, it was almost as if everything she knew of Existence was turning on its head, and what she saw as the ultimate good was just a game left behind by the wicked for their sick delights. She was beginning to understand how someone as powerful as Eos could break, from the soundless avenues paved with the names of all the dead, to the secrets hidden behind the most noble sacrifices, Eos had seen enough Evil to break a Primordial a million times over, and still she was asking him for more... because it needed to be done. However, she had decided that if this final place did not change his viewpoint, she would follow him along in the battle he chose. Pointing towards the final location, Eos took her along, but due to its distance, they could only cross halfway using his shortcuts, and he had to fly the rest of the way there. It took two months for Eos and Eva to cross the distance, and this was already impossibly quick. Reaching their location, Eos stepped back so Eva could lead, and she nodded at him with a smile. "So, what do you think about this?" she gestured ahead, at the paradise before them. While it was true that Limbo was a place of death and devastation, it was still so massive that there were pockets of life sprinkled across it. One of the greatest of these places was before them, and it was a paradise. It was a vast planet, teeming with a thousand cultures and tens of billions of lives. The greatest immortal here was an Old One, and because this planet was an Eternal Realm, created by a Breaker who held a Singularity, this planet was truly massive, and the Old Ones could not travel all across it. What drew the eyes to this place was not this vast realm, but a golden barrier that surrounded this realm, keeping the inhabitants safe from the corruption of Limbo. There was something about this shield that did not just protect the realm below; it also exuded grace and healing, and even from a distance, they both could feel. It was a wonder that the Ancient Primordials still allowed this place to exist; it was truly a paradise in a world of rot. "What happened in this place?" Eos asked. Eva smiled. This might be the best proof she had: "This paradise was created by the sentient blade of the Breaker who created this Realm, and so this is a Singularity." she glanced at the blue book that was being held in the hand of Eos, "After the death of its owner, it did not allow itself to perish like all Singularities would usually do. What it did was allow itself to be shattered, and its essence dispersed to forge an unbreakable shield around its master’s people." Her voice breaking, "See, a sacrifice can be worth it. Even if this place may collapse in the future, our presence and the war we would fight give them a chance for survival. If we win, then this realm would have escaped the greatest ravages of the Primordial due to the sacrifice of this Singularity." Eos observed the cities in this realm of peace, the faces free of fear, the backs that were straight and unbroken. He nodded slowly. "Show me the forge, the place where this Singularity made its choice. Where the sword was broken." Eva pulsed her essence through the realm, and she easily found what Eos wanted. Leading him with a smile, she took him to the heart of the capital, a serene public plaza where the Singularity had been shattered, its shards humming a peaceful tune in a quiet pool of silver liquid. "It is here," Eva said, her eyes lighting up as she saw the pool of silver. "Its essence is the shield, and the blade is at peace." Eos said nothing. He walked to the pool. He did not touch it with his hand. He knelt and lowered his forehead until it nearly touched the shimmering surface. He closed his eyes, and he listened. He did not listen with his ears but with that part of himself that had been scarred by the countless griefs and sorrows he had seen in this life. The weight of the dead hung heavy on his shoulder, and it had scarred his heart, and it was through this pain that he listened to the pool. Eva saw his brow furrow as if he was listening to something that was unpleasant, and a cold feeling of loss passed through her heart. Then a tremor went through him. Then another. A low, wounded sound escaped his lips, a sound a being of his power should never make. He jerked back from the pool as if burned, his composure utterly shattered. He clutched his Singularity to his chest as if he were a mother protecting her child. This was the first time she had seen him so shaken. What did she do? "Eos?" Eva rushed forward. He looked up at her. His eyes were wide with a horror so personal, so intimate, it was more terrifying than any cosmic atrocity, and then, there was rage that burned so bright that Eva flinched and could not walk closer to him. "It’s... It’s aware," Eos choked out. "They didn’t disperse the Singularity; that would only make their shield last for a slightly shorter time. They dissolved the blade but kept its consciousness in every atom of the shield, in every brick, in every drop of water. It feels every joy, every laugh, every birth... and it is screaming. A silent, eternal scream of isolation. It wanted to save them, to be with them. Now it is the floor beneath their feet, the air in their lungs, and it is alone. Forever. It love... is its eternal, sensory-deprivation hell." Eos laughed with rage, "You think the Primordials were not here? No, they have visited this world countless times in the past, and they love to relax exactly by this side of the pool, because this place... reminds them of their father." He slowly rose to his feet, "Why should they destroy this utopia when it is one of the greatest fountains of misery in Existence. Eva stood frozen. Revelation, her very essence, finally showed her the truth she had been blind to. Not the fact of sacrifice, but the eternal, subjective reality of the sacrificed. She had seen only the balance sheet of lives saved. Eos, on the other hand, had heard the eternal whisper on the debit side. Her purpose broke. Her grand thesis crumbled to dust. She fell to her knees beside him. "I... I didn’t know. I only saw the peace." "No one sees," Eos sighed, his face buried against the blue cover of the Singularity. The book pulsed softly, a steady, warm light against his cheek. "That is the point. The arithmetic is a lie. It only counts the living. It never carries the forever-screaming column." They did not stay long in this realm, and it was a good thing, too. Eva had barely shattered this shield and freed the Singularity of its eternal torture, but she left with Eos, and they did not travel far in those last months that Eos had given her. They sat, mostly, on a quiet, barren asteroid at the edge of the golden paradise. Finally, on the last day, Eos spoke, his voice rough but calm. "You asked for three hundred thousand years to show me despair, so I would accept sacrificing my Singularity to gain more power in the final battle. You have shown me in one year that every time that arithmetic is used, it creates a hidden hell. You have not made your case, Eva. You have destroyed it." Eva could not look at him before looking away. "Then there is no hope. We are damned." Eos reached out, his fingers gentle under her chin, lifting her gaze to his. His eyes were still wounded, but deep within, that old, lovely light, the light from the field with his friends, flickered, stubborn as a heartbeat. "You looked for hope in the places where hope was spent," he said. "You looked at the grand gestures, the big sacrifices. Hope is not there. Not anymore." He stood, pulling her up with him. "I have one more place to show you. The last stop on our year."