A few seconds of tense silence elapsed, reigning over the apex of the golden spire as if the pressure beneath at an ocean floor.

"Indeed." The Primordial's powerful voice rang through the spire, shattering the silence. "All ten Primordials, every possibility of them, reign in The Nexus of Faith."

Serpentine sighed, his wings flapping gently as he descended onto the ground, Deer's eyes locked onto him. Just as the Ascended Demon landed, Deer hastily spoke out, his voice a pitch higher than usual.

"How do you know all that?"

"Hm?" Serpentine hummed, turning his head to gaze at the Spirit of Joe.

"The Primordials, that strange prayer which basically said everything, and the constellations. How do you know all that?" Deer pressed on, his eyes shining.

"Uh, I picked up the prayer from an inter-spatio-temporal church who worshipped The Primordials." Serpentine scratched his head with a forced grin.

"They just happened to match up and led me to the constellations."

"Hmm..." Deer sat on the ground, his arms crossed as he puffed his cheeks, deep in thought. Serpentine just shrugged. He knew the abnormality of his knowledge, or rather, the abnormality of The Primal Church.

He didn't believe they were supposed to know about the Nexus of Faith.

Shaking his head, Serpentine focused back on the topic at hand, crossing his arms as his eyes locked onto the deific monstrosity's own gaze. "Can you elaborate on what your words mean?"

Pausing a bit, he hastily added, "And can I call you Pops? It's an acronym for Primordial of Probability. Your moniker is too long."

An empyrean laughter shook the spire, divinity pulsing in his very voice. "Of course, my child."

Serpentine raised a brow. "Pun intended?"

'Pops' smiled, but chose to reply to his prior query instead, "The Ten Primordials together embody the wheel in all of its creation, designing, and destruction."

"Every race, fate, choice, tool, reincarnation, law, and nullity spun by the wheel is embodied by the Primordials, their probability under my reign."

"And that makes you the de facto ruler of The Nexus, but the rest of the Primordials still have their influence." Serpentine muttered, before adding.

However, one thing still puzzled him.

"Then why did you act so grim at the mention of Zero? Is he any different from the rest of the Primordials?" The demon asked, his hooked tail whipping the air incessantly as he stepped forward.

"And..." He hesitated, before adding, "What did you mean that the shopkeeper was Zero?"

The Primordial simply sighed. "Chaos... isn't a Primordial. You know this."

Seeing the demon nod, he continued. "He's the antithesis of The Architect, the ruination of The Grand Design."

His burning eyes of gold had no distinction between pupil and sclera, yet Serpentine could feel them narrow.

"Chaos isn't here because he's part of the wheel, or His design."

His voice, only tinted with slight amusement so far, suddenly dove two octaves as his words rumbled, "Chaos is here because he has contaminated the wheel."

His words rang with force, not physically affecting the golden spire, but sheerly the power in them shook the very ontology of those in vicinity. Even Serpentine, who had been exposed to more cosmic horrors than he could name, stumbled a few steps, feeling his mind, soul, and nerves tremble, unsynchronized with his flesh and bones.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A strange feeling of nausea pervaded him, but it was bearable for someone who travelled between dimensions in his free time. Deer, on the other hand, was silently clutching his heart as he shook. Serpentine wasn't too worried about his friend dying from shock – he was just a spirit, after all – but he did cringe to see his body glitch start to glitch.

"Aaaanyyywayyyy," Serpentine drawled, shifting the Primordial's attention to a separate topic, "I assume that means his influence is a threat even to you. Now for the next question, what about The Shopkeeper?"

At the mention of the man whose refrigerator the demon had barged into, The Primordial smiled slightly. "Do you know the tale of Destiny, his clash with Fate, and his punishment?"

Hearing those words, Serpentine's ears immediately stood erect, but he reigned himself in, and responded, "Destiny was endowed with tremendous power by Chaos, and he rebelled, trying to fight Fate."

Mulling over the myth, he added, "But just as Destiny was empowered by Chaos, by this point in time, Fate had inherited The Architect's mantle and remnant of his powers, allowing him to utterly overpower Destiny and assimilate his being into the wheel."

Seeing the Primordial nod, the Ascended Demon continued, "This resulted in The Primordial of Destiny being stripped of everything and having been reduced to the creature called Darwizzy, a weak and pale existence that was genetically and ontologically outclassed in every form by most other species."

The corner of The Primordial's lips twitched, but he hid it well. Not well enough for Serpentine, though.

"Indeed," the deific monstrosity boomed in a deep monotone, "And as you have probably figured by now, I have ensured a similar fate befell our dear companion."

That was when it clicked.

"The Shopkeeper is to Chaos what Darwizzy is to Destiny?" Serpentine guessed, smiling wide.

It was a smile that the Primordial returned.

"The shopkeeper named Zero has no memories of his formal self, and lives in The Auxile District despite not having a wheel of his own. He is now but a humble shopkeeper." The Primordial's voice, confident and personable, spread out across the spire like a web.

'Is it just me or does he sound very proud about it?' Serpentine mused, before deciding his next words.

"That is terrific! How have you accomplished this, with Chaos out of all creatures, something even The Architect could not contain?" Serpentine exclaimed loudly, throwing his hands in the air.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," The Primordial stated, "It was a hard fought battle, one that took place when the wheel was first spun, in the absolute void with nothing but probably chaos before creation."

Serpentine hummed, before recalling his earlier realisations, "Speaking of which, how do the constellations play into this?"

"The constellations each draw a runic symbol of a Primordial in the sky." The deific figure elucidated, "As you have noticed, the constellations do not abide by the usual spatial dimensions at play."

That was indeed true. The constellations were impossibly far away, but it wasn't simply a matter of distance. It was as if even if you travelled towards one of them from the other for an eternity, you wouldn't be any closer to reaching them.

This was not an issue for Serpentine, however. With his Almighty Power of Dimensional Travel, his gaze simply tore through the fabric of reality to show him what he desired, ignoring all concepts of space and physics as he peered into the scripture of stars.

"The Constellations each signify a Primordial's Domain. Beneath each constellation lies one of the ten citadels that make up The Nexus of Faith, all of them corresponding to the star sign they were born under."

Ten Primordials. Ten constellations. Ten factions.

The deific figure spoke no more, watching Serpentine go silent as he absorbed the knowledge. Several minutes passed, with Serpentine deep in thought, and Deer busy tapping away at his gauntlet, giving out quests to those who ask for it even far away.

It was only when The Primordial coughed that the two mortals recalled that they were currently loitering around in his house, prompting them both to jump from a tiny shock.

'You are literally a cosmic force incarnate! What are you getting impatient for!?' Serpentine grumbled inwardly.

As if reading his thoughts – which he probably could – The Primordial scoffed. "I am a proud backer of The Kickstarter Campaign, and I was enjoying my precious time with the merchandise before you two barged in."

Serpentine blinked. "Wait, don't you have to wait till the end of December for them to actually be shipped to you?"

"Indeed, but I ramped up the possibility of me getting mine early to a hundred percent." The Primordial's lips curled slightly as he revealed his secret.

"Right... You can do that." Serpentine sighed, before scratching his head. "What cards did you even get this way? We haven't even met the stretch goals yet!"

"All of them. The possibility of them exists, and that's all I need."

Serpentine could feel the smugness radiating off the deific abomination.

'How is this a Primordial?'

"A Wheel of Faith trading card game would be nice." Deer mused from beside him, causing both the pair to nod in agreement.

"Well, we'll need more funds for that." Serpentine pointed out.

"It always returns to the Kickstarter Campaign, doesn't it?" The Primordial chuckled softly, a wave of energy permeating the spire.

"In any case, we are getting off-topic." Serpentine groaned, stretching his arms out and twisting them as his spines made several popping sounds. Deer side-eyed the demon, and his hands itched to do the same, but he knew very well he'd probably dislocate something instead.

Staring into the eyes of the Primordial, Serpentine gazed into his eyes as he voiced one last question.

"What can you tell me about the ten cities?"