Duke Elagabalus spoke with such firmness that for a moment, the weight of doubt seemed to lift from their collective consciousness.
There was immense silence as his words settled into their minds, but Diviticus and others nodded with gazes full of desperate hope.
Duke Elagabalus continued with growing confidence, his voice taking on the tone of someone who had found solid ground in a landscape of shifting possibilities.
"It is likely that he obtained an inheritance or treasure relating to an Early Creature. Perhaps a drop of blood from some ancient source, and that is what Diviticus obtained half of. Which means we must find Ozymandias at all costs. If he possesses such a treasure, it belongs with us. There is no harm being...friendly. Inviting him to our ranks truly."
...!
Oh!
Their eyes blazed with collective acknowledgment as they seized upon this explanation like salvation itself.
All of them worked together to push down and deny the alternative possibility, burying it beneath layers of rational argument and desperate hope.
It was not possible that Ozymandias had been an Early Creature. It did not make sense given what they had observed. So they denied it, cast it aside, refused to give it space in their thoughts.
Denial became their shared truth, their collective protection against possibilities too vast to accept.
Duke Elagabalus looked toward the massive corpse that had started this entire chain of revelation, his expression brightening with newfound purpose.
"If from that inheritance, Diviticus truly holds half a drop of Early Creature blood, let us see if you can use your existence to reanimate and control this corpse that reacts to you. Perhaps you could act as its missing heart, become the vital force that gives it motion and purpose."
His voice grew stronger as the possibilities multiplied in his mind.
"If you achieve this, then the Living Paradoxes will have a genuine Early Creature fighting on our behalf. At that time, what worries would we have? What force in all of existence could stand against us?"
They looked at each other and nodded with expressions that mixed hope with determination.
Their collective gaze spoke volumes about their shared decision to embrace this path forward, to transform potential catastrophe into ultimate triumph.
Right.
It had to be this way.
It had to be possible!
It had to!
Oh!!!
—
Time passed, as it always did, being the single terrifying construct that no being could stand against.
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