Chapter 329. A Challenge of Might
In the flickering twilight of the desert, Ajak watched her companions with a heavy heart. In the end, she chose to keep the devastating truth of their existence locked away from Gilgamesh and Thena. She had resolved, with a firmness that brooked no internal argument, that the revelation must wait until every member of the Eternals stood together as one. Uncertainty gnawed at her like a persistent cold; after Ikaris's betrayal, who could truly say if another among them harbored the same fanatical devotion to the Emergence?
A thick, suffocating silence descended upon the group following her words, but it was a fleeting thing. Gilgamesh and Thena were warriors of a thousand lifetimes, and they regained their composure with practiced ease. While the shadow of Ikaris's actions loomed large, casting a chill over their thoughts, the miracle of Thena's recovery was a sun that could not be ignored. Today, at least, there was reason for joy.
Gilgamesh drew a breath that seemed to expand his barrel-like chest to its limit. "Ajak," he said, his voice a low rumble of shifting stone, "if you've decided that this truth is for all of us to hear at once, then we will honor that. I suspect your reasons are as deep as the roots of the world."
Beside him, Thena offered a sharp, singular nod. Her pale eyes flickered with a hunger for answers—a curiosity that bit at her soul—but she understood the necessity of unity. The coming storm required a phalanx, not a fractured line of doubters.
As the afternoon sun dipped lower, casting long, amber shadows across the dusty ground, the conversation turned. The Eternals spoke of their history, weaving a tapestry of ancient myths and forgotten eons for Noah. They spoke of the dawn of civilization and the silent watch they had kept over the blossoming human race. In return, Gilgamesh and Thena turned their gaze toward the young man who had achieved the impossible: the defeat of Ikaris.
They peppered him with questions, their voices tinged with a mix of awe and skepticism. They had walked the Earth for seven thousand years, observing the slow, agonizing crawl of human evolution. To them, it was an immutable fact: no mortal man should have been able to rise to a level where he could strike down the Prime Eternal.
Noah maintained a mask of calm, though his mind whirred. He could hardly explain the existence of a "System"—a celestial interface of numbers and rewards. Instead, he offered them a shadow of the truth, naming a place of legend as the source of his power.
"Kamar-Taj?" Gilgamesh repeated the name, his brow furrowing as he drifted into a deep, meditative state. The syllables felt familiar, like a half-remembered dream or a name whispered by a comrade during the long, lonely centuries of their separation.
Thena leaned forward, her movements as fluid and predatory as a hunting cat. "Kamar-Taj... it sounds like a secret buried beneath the snow. I have heard nothing of it in all my travels."
It was likely that when the Eternals first set foot upon the Mesopotamian sands, the halls of Kamar-Taj were yet unbuilt. Furthermore, their singular focus on the Deviant threat had left them blind to the burgeoning human occultism. The masters of the mystic arts had kept their secrets well, veiled in mists and mountain peaks.
Ajak, hearing Noah credit his strength to the hidden monastery, suppressed a knowing smile. She knew it was a convenient shield; in her estimation, even the Sorcerer Supreme's order lacked the sheer, raw potency required to stand against the might of a Celestial. Yet, seeing the genuine spark of interest in her friends' eyes, she decided to lend the lie the weight of history.
"Kamar-Taj is indeed a reality," Ajak explained, her voice carrying the weight of ancient authority. "An order of mages, ancient and reclusive. They are humans who have mastered the unseen threads of the multiverse, drawing power from entities beyond our dimension. Like us, they walk in the shadows, guarding the world from terrors that the common man cannot even begin to comprehend."
"An order of sorcerers right under our noses?" Gilgamesh gave a hearty, booming laugh that sent a flock of distant birds into the sky. "I should like to visit them. It would be a fine thing to see what these 'mages' can truly do."
Then, a sudden spark ignited in his eyes as he looked at Noah. "But why wait? I have a master of Kamar-Taj standing right before me!" He slammed a massive fist into his palm, the sound echoing like a hammer on an anvil. "Noah, once we've finished our meal, let us spar. I want to feel the strength of a mage with my own hands."
The recovery of Thena from the ravages of Mahd Wy'ry had breathed a new, restless energy into the giant. He was a man of action, and he needed to test the air.
"Gilgamesh..." Ajak began, her tone carrying a hint of a motherly reprimand for his forwardness, but Noah cut her off with a sharp, eager grin.
"A fine idea," Noah replied, his eyes dancing with anticipation. "I've been itching to see how I fare against the strongest warrior the Eternals have to offer."
Among the host of Arishem, Ikaris was often deemed the most formidable due to his flight and searing cosmic beams. But in terms of pure, unadulterated physical power—the kind that could crack a mountain—Gilgamesh stood alone. Beside the towering slab of muscle that was Gilgamesh, Ikaris seemed almost delicate.
"Hah! Spoken like a true warrior!" Gilgamesh roared, surging to his feet.
The spread of food on the table had been decimated, mostly by the voracious appetites of the two ancient warriors who seemed to be eating for the first time in a century. Gilgamesh marched out into the open air, the dust swirling around his heavy boots, and Noah followed close behind.
They walked a fair distance from the small, humble house, ensuring that the shockwaves of their clash wouldn't bring the roof down. This desert home had been their sanctuary for years, and though they might leave it soon, there was a lingering affection for its sun-baked walls.
Gilgamesh came to a halt in a wide clearing of cracked earth and scrub. He began to stretch, his joints popping like small explosions. "Stay sharp, Noah," he warned, a predatory grin spreading across his face. "When I hit, I hit like a falling moon."
"Don't hold back on my account," Noah countered. He exhaled, and as he did, the air around him began to shimmer. Magic surged through his veins, bolstered by the hidden power of his runes, reinforcing his bones and knitting his muscles into cords of iron. "I want to see the full measure of an Eternal."
Gilgamesh's smile widened. He thrust his hands forward, and the air hummed with the sudden arrival of cosmic energy. Glistening, golden light coalesced around his fists and forearms, hardening into ornate, glowing gauntlets that radiated heat.
In response, Noah traced complex, glowing sigils in the air, mimicking the geometry of Kamar-Taj. With a sharp flick of his wrist, a blade of pure, azure energy hissed into existence in his hand. If he was to play the part of a sorcerer, he would do it with style.
"A sword?" Gilgamesh blinked, his golden brow arching in surprise. "You mean to meet me in the thick of it? I thought Kamar-Taj was a place of spells and long-distance trickery."
"Oh, we are mages," Noah said, settling into a low, lethal combat stance, the blue blade humming a low, vibrato note. "But I'm a battle-mage. I find long-winded incantations a bore, so I put all my 'points' into strength and steel."
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