Chapter 1999: You Need Me! The Primordial Record was warm, but that simply meant it was millions of times hotter than the hottest sun in Existence, but this temperature was just right for Eos. It would seem that the Primordial Record was putting out all stops to ensure that Eos never cancelled their partnership again, including making its cover stay the right temperature if he decided to hold it. Eos smiled, "Never again would you leave my side, you are mine!" Closing his hand over the book, it vanished into his body, and Eos could feel the Primordial Record travelling towards his heart. He turned towards the Primordials who had arrived behind him. He could see the questions in their eyes, and he would give them all the answers they needed. The time for secrets was over. Eos gestured behind him at the floating Realms of Origin created by Rowan; at this time, there were precisely 10,008 Origin Realms left. "This was not part of the plan that I envisioned, but Fate turns out to be on our side. Enter into the Origin Realms, prioritize those at the core, and pick one for yourselves. We are about to enter a new phase in existence, and the upcoming conflicts will depend on every single one of you. Please..." Eos gestured, "Go in. I have a lot to tell you, but this is not the right time." The New Primordials walked up to Eos, and in silence, they touched him either on his shoulder or brushed against his wings. It was almost as if they wanted to confirm if he was real. Telmus, Circe, Eva... one by one they walked past him, and looked at the Origin Realms spread ahead of them, and they all made their choice, transforming into light and flying towards the realm of their choice. Unlike the Ancient Primordials and the Abomination, when they touched the Origin Real, it did not collapse but opened up for them to enter. Noctis was the last Primordial, and he was about to move past Eos, but he stopped him by placing his hand on his shoulder. "Not yet," Eos said, "First we need to talk about where your true priorities lie." Noctis appeared confused, but he followed the instructions of Eos and moved to the side. The Primordials noticed that Noctis had been held back, but they assumed it was for personal reasons, and they pushed the issue away from their minds and began the exploration of the Origin Realm they had picked. Eos turned his prismatic eyes to Noctis and the Primordial of Screaming Void, and asked, "So, who bears your true loyalty, Death or the Architects of End?" Noctis sputtered, "My Lord Eos, I don’t know what you mean; my loyalties only lie with you." A blast of power emerged from Eos that flattened Noctis to the ground, his Origin cracked, and strings of red light shot out from his body like strings. These were his Origin Essence, and this blast from Eos had cut off half of the Essence in his body, meaning Noctis had been weakened to a great level. His eyes widened in shock and fear. Perhaps in his heart, Noctis still saw that Eos was still at the eighth dimension level and believed that there must be a slight possibility to resist his powers, but this mere brush from Eos’s aura had cleared whatever delusions were in his mind. Noctis screamed, but his voice could barely emerge as a whisper under the pressure of the aura on his body, "Stop... do not kill me, Eos, you need me more than you know." "Not if you feed me lies, Noctis. You believe I shall keep a double agent like you on my side? That is impossible. I do not need you, Noctis. I have those I can trust with my life and wellbeing beside me already. The Only reason you are not dead is that I have not yet decided where I shall place the Temple of End, as my enemies or allies." Noctis struggled to draw breath, "Take back your hand, Lord Eos, I shall answer your questions. Yes, I am an Architect of End, and Death was once of our number, but that is the price we had to pay in order to use the power of End. Do you think everything that we created can happen without the power of End in the mix?! But our gamble paid off, look at you! You are the testament that everything we did was for a great cause. You have reached the fifth level of Origin! You need my guidance and that of the Temple to fulfil your potential, Eos." Noctis, in the end, was screaming, despite being under pressure from Eos’s Aura. Origin Essence was blasting out of his body in increasing volumes, but it was as if he no longer cared for his life. Eos was quiet for a while, and then he removed the pressure surrounding Noctis, and the shaken Primordial of Screaming Void slowly came to his feet. "You made the right choice," Noctis sighed in relief, "For a moment there, I thought you were going to kill me. I still have much to tell you. I have been in a million Realities that fell to the hunger of Primordials, and in all of them, there was no one like you. The Architects had made all the preparations, and we know someone like you would arise given enough time, and I have waited for so long. All the sacrifices before now were worth it." Eos smiled and glanced to the side, and space behind him wavered to reveal the rest of his Primordials. Their eyes were filled with shock and fury, especially Telmus. He hated betrayers after living in a world where its gods betrayed everything they touched. Sheba, the Primordial of Unbroken Horizon, had a look of sadness in her eyes, "Noctis... brother... What are you saying?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺 Noctis peered at the Primordials who had appeared behind Eos with surprise, then anger, before realization entered his eyes, and he turned to Eos, "No, you can’t kill me, I am too important... You need me!" Eos stepped forward and grabbed Noctis by the face, his large hand covering his entire head. Eos may think he was the size of a normal man, but he could not become smaller than twenty feet tall, and so his hand covered the entirety of Noctis’s head. "You have forgotten who I am, Noctis. Everything you think you know would be mine."