I know someone else did a major lore analysis on this already but because I'm rereading this after my computer crashed, I have to reread the intro, and there are still some parts I don't think I ever understood, and yet some things became so clear to me in strange ways. Plus large blocks of text are hard to read so I'll be trying to keep these short.
First, what is Nerus even doing talking back to Pyr in the prologue?
- Theory 1: Nerus has meta-narrative powers. This doesn't necessarily fit in with the structure of the story, but both Pyr and Nerus have a connection to fire. Nerus's is in his shifting, whereas Pyr's is in the name being possibly a reference to Prometheus (as it is in Pyr, a publisher), being the Titan who delivered mortals fire, and allowed them to start technological growth. The idea of these being the same doesn't necessarily make sense seeing Nerus's distressed response to Pyr's verbal lashings.
- Theory 2: Nerus is the meta-narrative character. This has some very interesting implications, starting with Nerus's issue with his memory possibly having wiped away his physical form after that long time in a coma. The purpose of the story being shown to him was potentially to help him create another body. This also leads neatly into another theory I have about Nomino's true intentions.
- Theory 3 [brought up by E.Fanatic]: Pyr has time travel powers. Not improbable given how this story relies upon non-chronological storytelling in Chapter 2 (showing we can jump around the timeline), but it doesn't explain why Shax's responses didn't change in that exchange.
Speaking of Nomino's true intentions, let's talk about that for a little.
- Theory 1: Nomino's plans were as stated, and he only intended to kill an aeon in order to get them to stop harrassing the world, or know it's possible to kill them. Boring, and honestly for Nomino, kind of under-done.
- Theory 2: Nomino planned for Obli to open the gate the second time. This one has some interesting points to it, and makes one start to wonder how far in advance he plans.
- Theory 3: Nomino planned for Nerus to rocket into the portal, and for Obli's rescue attempt to fail in some way or another. In the event it goes wrong, then at least one being (with admittedly spotty memory) would have escaped the onslaught of the aeons upon the universe.
- Theory 4 [brought up by E.Fanatic]: Nomino only wants to protect Samael, and will do anything to protect (pronoun unknown -- them?) from harm; protecting the universe's creator, who is bound within the universe. It seems somewhat reasonable, but Nomino's lack of apparent action after Nerus is sent away towards Obli, again, clouds this entire debate.
The last theory here seems the most appealing, as it's in line with Pyr's apparent wish to turn bad endings into bright futures. Were Nerus to actually be able to find his way to the archive eventually, he'd end up in the archive. Shax's out-of-time reflection on the "vessel" Nomino mentioned when he first brought up the war makes me think that it's critical to the story, and seeing we only have one thing that could be seen as a vessel at the moment (the archive) I think that Nomino had the most absolutely wild idea to save a shapeshifter by banishing them. After floating through the void, slowly forgetting, they'd be able to remember the entire world at the archive, and in that way potentially save it from death.
All of this hinges on a question we have no hints on the answers for: how much does Nomino actually know? If he knew about the archive, the plan actually seems to sound somewhat reasonable, if risky. It'd also explain why the novel is named after Nerus and not another character, since Nerus would in some form have a large impact on the meta-character who we can't identify.
I'm still in the prologue at the moment, but I will update as I finish each chapter.
(Ended up being a little longer than I thought, but theorycrafting and lore discussion is fun)
======== Prologue Completed
Alright, so in reflection there are a few more things I didn't realize at first that I'm now starting to wonder about.
I did a little bit of datamining and found some interesting stuff in the files about the dialogue and went through and read it at the same time, hence how I had that information a little earlier than might be expected.
Fortunately for me, I picked up on about 5 points of interest, let's just run down them.
- Shax poses the question of "Would we be the same if our bodies were different?" implying a negative in response to it. This supports the theory that the meta-character is someone who we'll end up meeting in the story who ended up inside the archive, and who needs to remember themselves. Or maybe it's too late to remember themselves...
- Nerus's meta-narrative powers. The closest thing I can analogize this to is the Homestuck Epilogues, Meat route, with Terezi. They can comment on the state of the story and talk about the narration having been shouted in their ear.
- Pyr's sniping at Nerus. This definitely seems like someone that Nerus wronged in the past, and that Nerus has forgotten about... except where Nerus says "You weren't present for this story". This one line makes me doubt Nerus's claims that he entirely forgot Pyr.
- What was that commentary about Seed of Fate being unfinished relating to? This is the only hole I have so far, but it's one that bothers me. I'll be watching like a hawk for any other unfinished business coming up.