Chapter 2079: A Hidden Hand? Eos tilted his head, eyes narrowing, as he recognized that this silence was not empty, instead it seemed to be listening. "I felt you when Hundun fell," he continued. "The memories of it were able to pass through time and reach me here in the present. That cold cold that was not cold. Still, you do not like to announce yourself, but they all whisper your name, from the Architects to Enoch himself, as if they all fear to speak it aloud, but I do not... End." Eos waited, but there was no reply, and yet he felt a subtle change in the presence above him, but it did not move closer; it simply became more present, as though the concept of distance had briefly ceased to apply. He was no longer a being that saw distance like mortals and lesser immortals, but the way End was moving was still a bit alien to his senses. Eos exhaled. There was a time when this obvious gap in life levels would have excited him, because he saw it as a challenge to grow stronger. Now, that fire had not died, but it had become tempered with the weight of responsibility. He could not afford to be careless because he was not just dealing with his own life, but the life of everyone else... even those of his enemies. "I know why you are here," he said. "I can feel them in the darkness, all your agents, gathering power like a miser hoarding coins. They have all tasted your power and now hunger for more. You have sensed the fulcrum tipping, and according to all measures, you are winning, and yet, I find you here with me, watching to see which way it all falls." A ripple passed through the formless presence as the stillness deepened. It almost felt as if this power was testing him, as though End had acknowledged the truth without needing to confirm it. Eos spread his arms, encompassing the Origin Realms below, "Then look," he said quietly. "Look at my defiance. Ten thousand fragile lights against the endless darkness that you represent, but we would not go out, no matter how much darkness you bring against us." Then from the silence, Eos thought he heard a chuckle, but he could be wrong; however, it did not matter. He lowered his arms and spoke with finality. "Bring whatever power you want against my domain. I will not beg," Eos continued. "I will not bargain. I will guard this place through betrayals, through purges, through the death of all Existence itself. If you have come to end it, do so. But know this: the realms below are not yours to claim. Not yet. Not while I draw breath." The silence stretched for a long time, as it grew impossibly deeper, and Eos felt a massive mouth hovering just inches away from his face. Then, impossibly, a sensation brushed against Eos’s mind. It was not words or images, just a sudden understanding that was neither threat nor promise. The closest that he could describe it as was an evaluation of his worth. This power did not seem to even regard him as an enemy or prey, but it seemed like a variable in an equation older than any Existence. In this moment, Eos glimpsed what it was like in the mind of an entity of this power, and he did not know if he liked it; however, the only thing he could conclude in that brief moment where he saw the mind of End was that this was not a power that could be bargained with in a real sense. It followed its own set of rules that could not be shaken. This also made Eos consider a certain point that left a chill in his heart. A power like this could not have been corrupted by a tortured god without something being put in place for that to happen. It was almost as if someone or something had understood the power of End, and they ensured that all the right components were in place for End to gain sentience. This thought felt so blasphemous that Eos wanted to scrub it from his mind, but he prevented his mind from doing so by the force of his Will. If End was a program that was supposed to activate at a certain point in the distant future, when the power of Origin was exhausted, and someone knew all the languages of End, and its intricacies, then it was possible that End could be corrupted... like a virus placed into its system. Or maybe, this was just a coincidence... There had been many Existences in the past, and perhaps that particular Existence had just been the right spark needed for this transformation. That brief moment where he had been inside the mind of End passed, and Eos found himself in doubt. Could End have become what it was due to coincidence, or was there another hidden hand in all of this? Who could have known all about the power of End, and knew all the right buttons to press to make it become what it had become? If there were to be any answer to this question, then it could only be found in the past, but except for Lumen, Eos knew of no one who could have survived those previous Existences. At the moment, the power of End brushed past him. It was as if End came here not to look for Eos, but for something more... something deeper. Its presence brushed through all of the Origin Realms, and Eos nearly buckled as he kept that presence from infecting his realm, not because it wanted to, but like the sun, its radiance and heat could not be hidden. This presence weighed, measured, and considered everything inside the Origin Realm, and then... without a single word, the presence withdrew. The presence of End lessened until the auroras surrounding Eos began to move again, and colors began bleeding back into motion, the void seemed to be remembering how to be empty rather than absolute. Eos remained standing on the platform, staring into the place where End had been. His hands trembled once, then steadied. Looking at the Origin Realms below, it felt as if they exhaled in relief, and Eos smiled. Eos looked down at his palms, then back into the dark. "You did not end us," he whispered to the retreating absence. "Not today." He turned and descended, returning to his throne of stone, and he sat deep in thought. He could not just ignore this speculation. Something was wrong... something was wrong with this whole damned Existence, and Eos felt he knew the answer, but he had been looking at the entire situation from one way when he should have not. "What am I missing... What the fuck am I missing?"