The Primordial Record

Rowan stared at the grand work of the Supreme Circle and ignored the words of Old Man Seed for the moment, he allowed the burning flames in his heart to cool and reasserted the cold rationality of his consciousness.

Whether by accident or design, the events of the last few moments had shaken him and even someone like Rowan had to take a moment to gather his thoughts. The unexpected changes in his mother, the truths about Spirit Emanations, the disappearance of the fragment of Caine's Soul, the truths about the end of the Primordial Era…

Blows after blows against his consciousness and Rowan had reeled back, but now he had reasserted himself and his mind was finally clear.

Rowan's heart grew cold. No matter how benign the intentions of Old Man Seed, this was an ancient being who was used to getting his way and manipulations were a part of his spirit just as easily as breathing. Anything that had lived to become this old had terrifying mental capabilities and other was no way he did not know that the revelations he was revealing to Rowan would not shock him to the core.

From the start he had carefully revealed his hand, pushing Rowan towards the conclusion he wanted and if he was not wrong, then Old Man Seed would deliver the Coup De grace—the final piece of the puzzle that was supposed to cement Rowan to his side. Rowan did not despise the old man for this tricky move, in fact, he expected it and would have never trusted his fate and his education to someone who was not capable of affecting his emotions and thought processes. The true test here was on his part, if he had failed to recognize the subtle manipulations of the old man, then it was his fault for falling under his spell, he would simply not be worthy of playing the games of the strong.

There was no denying it. Among the powerful, everything was a game, but the stakes could never be higher, and sometimes the best result for failure was death, for in this reality, there was a far worse fate than perishing.

After his experience in the universe under the Reflections, Rowan had learned to mask the monster inside his soulless self, and he had revealed a bit of it to the Reflections in their last battle, but no one had truly made him reveal his entire might and his true core, and the truth was that even Rowan had never seen his true limits.

Erohim had seen a portion of it, at the end of his life, Third had seen a small part, unknown to Rowan, Andar had also seen something of him, and Old Man Seed had made a mistake and taught Rowan how to mask his Spirit early enough, or in time he might have seen it too.

It was this cold, utterly alien part of Rowan's consciousness that analyzed the events of the last few moments and came to a conclusion on it.

The Supreme Circle was a marvelous entity, and no matter how awe-inspiring it was, and it was truly awe-inspiring, he had seen greater. Rowan might not understand the entire ramifications of his powers and the things he had witnessed but only a small part of it would make even a being like Old Man Seed go mad in horror.

Just the merger between his second-dimensional body and the Primordial Record had created a being with the power that could equal a Primordial, and that was not the end of his potential.

He had seen all of reality perish, and not just a war to end an Era.

He had seen a Primordial perish in his hands as a forbidden child of the merger between man and Singularity.

No one could say they had heard the death cry of a Primordial, but he had, severally.

He had seen the birth of Limbo and the birth of a new reality that was so repugnant, that just the memory of it could corrupt all of reality.

He saw the body of the Primordial of Time, and at this moment he was holding his eye.

In his veins was the blood of the Primordial Ouroboros, a creature with the power to rival Primordials… Rowan was beyond anything Old Man Seed could understand.

Rowan had seen madness… he was madness.

It had been easy to allow awe into his heart because he was experiencing the world with new eyes and after this was over, Rowan brought back his armor over his heart. The Supreme Circle must be a power chased after by every genius in creation, but for him, it was just one of the possible weapons he could wield.

'For my armies are endless and my weapons without numbers. I hold both the light of heaven and the flames of hell, and in time, who in creation would be worthy to stand before my gaze?'

He did not care about the power of this Supreme Circle, what he cared about was the knowledge that could be gained while walking on this path. The Reflections of the Primordial of Time had gone out of their way to deprive Rowan of wisdom, a monumental achievement, they played the game and they had lost.

It was now up to Rowan to bridge that gap of knowledge that had been denied him. After his mind was made up, he slowly locked up this part of his consciousness away, a new game had just begun, and in chess, it was the pawn that went first.

After a while, Rowan looked away from the vision of the Supreme Circle and slowly spoke with firm conviction, "What do I need to do to walk on this path?"

Old Man Seed smiled, "I have all the resources you will need to walk this path to the fifth Supreme Circle, and after this, it would be in your power to hunt for what you require to complete it, I am willing to grant you this great boon, but I only ask you for a single thing in return, and if you are not willing to follow it, I shall erase the memory of this place from your mind, and show you the path of our Prime."

Rowan's prismatic eyes dulled to green embers and seemed deep in thought before he replied, "What is this thing that you would ask of me?"

Old Man Seed suddenly seized him by the shoulders and peered down at him, his face was so close to Rowan's that their nose nearly touched, at their present height difference, Rowan resembled a child before Old Man Seed's nearly eleven-foot height, "I ask only this of you. You don't stop moving forward, there is a weight to power that few in creation can bear, and nothing is heavier than the powers of the Prime…. Nothing! You shall be tested beyond what you think possible, your mind and body taken to the limits and beyond that limit, only for you to discover that beyond your limits was just the starting point of this road."

"You shall break, again and again, painfully and in ways you cannot comprehend Romion, no number of words can show you just how much you shall hurt, and I expect you to pick up the pieces of yourself and rebuild it stronger than before while knowing that the torture would never end…"

Old Man Seed went silent and what came next was almost spoken in a whisper as if he was afraid of someone else hearing what he was about to say next, "...and when the pain gets too much when the weight becomes something that your mighty back cannot endure for a single moment more, I shall ask you to add more load to it. I have asked you this before and I will ask you once more. Can you do that Romion, can you take the load that no one else in creation can carry?"