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Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: The Apex Visitor

I stepped into the house.

The walls were scarred. The wood smelled of ash and age.

A candle burned. Unending. Its flame…alive, patient.

He sat. Small. Black cloth. Fragile. Human. 164 cm.

And yet…

All else bent quietly around him.

I, ancient, apex…eyes that had pierced law, time, chaos.

I, who had walked millennia…felt hesitation.

Even I…paused.

He did not move.

He did not speak at first.

Only soil, seedling, hand. Simple. Humble. Fragile.

I placed offerings.

Liquor. Bread. Respect. Silence answered.

Then he spoke.

"Nothing. I dwell. Nothing else."

Cold. Ice. Yet humble.

Minimal. But…weight of worlds.

"Dwell?" I asked. "Not walk?"

"Yes. I dwell. Time flows…around me. I do not move. I do not bend. All else drifts."

I felt it.

A pressure.

Not physical. Not law. Not aura.

Something older…older than stars.

"Why remain?" I whispered.

"Why tend soil…when all is dust?"

His hand moved. Seedling tilted. Clay soil shifted.

"Even in emptiness…life may speak. Truth blooms…where lies rot. I claim nothing. I hold nothing. I dwell. Humility measures eternity."

I breathed slower. Ancient. Apex.

Yet small human…commanded infinity with nothing.

"Fragile flesh…" I said. "Yet…power?"

Eyes met.

And I saw.

Rivers. Mountains. Cities that never were.

Lives, joys, sorrows…compressed. Pure. Perfect. Unclaimed.

Time folded. I…felt thousands of years, not passing—but dwelling.

"You dwell," I whispered.

"Yes. Small. Fragile. Claim nothing. Yet eternity bends."

I tried to rise. Move. Strike. Test.

The world…resisted. Candle flickered unnaturally. Shadows stretched toward him.

Scythe at side. Ordinary. But…not. Subtle. Waiting.

I trembled.

"Nothing I know…touches you."

He replied. Soft. Humble. Ice. Shadow:

"Watch. Learn nothing. Speak less. Leave only question. Humility…weight of all things. Silence…eternity's gift."

I felt…life itself reflected in his eyes.

The beauty of fleeting joy. Pain purified. Sorrow distilled. Millennia of humanity…in a glance.

Even apex…even me…could not bear it fully.

He returned to soil. Small hands. Fragile frame.

Yet…Lord of the Evening.

Dwelling. Humble. Absolute.

Unknowable. Eternal.

I…watched. Could do nothing. Could say nothing.

Even centuries…even mastery…were nothing here.

And the candle burned on.

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