The Primordial Record

Chapter 1683: The Nameless Horizon

Rowan had only taken a step forward before he was crushed to the ground. His eyes bulged in astonishment and terror, because the force being exerted on him should not—could not—exist.

His attempt to resist was futile, as the struggles he had withstood before were nothing compared to this. The pressure kept building, and his bones began to collapse into dust.

Rowan’s mind, will, and soul followed the collapse of his body, and soon, everything about him was crushed into dust. Still, the pressure did not let up, and the dust was crushed into less than dust, less than even the void.

He wanted to scream, wanted to cry out, but there was nothing for him to reach out towards. Rowan was dying, and he had not even seen what was killing him.

Then there was a snap.

Where Rowan once stood, there was only an imprint, a scar upon the fabric of existence. No afterlife awaits him, no memory, no lament—only the indifferent pressure of the impossible, eternal, and absolute.

There was silence as Eosah watched Rowan perish, and she remained in silence until the sound of harsh panting emerged beside her and Rowan appeared. He staggered for a moment before falling to his knees, dry heaving and shivering, heavy drops of sweat pouring out from his body in a torrent.

“You survived your first step. Remarkable. Still, if you were unable to recognize its name, then the risk you took did not equal the sacrifice that was made, and you should forget about this place, not until you are strong enough to stand before Primordials.”

Rowan took a while before he could settle himself once more. He had just endured the most terrifying tribulation in his life, and his survival had been a matter of luck and intense preparation. Although there was a high chance he would fail, he did not hesitate to take this step.

What he just did was extremely stupid; he could have returned a thousand years later, stronger and more capable of handling the challenges of this place, but Rowan knew that doing this would be going against the foundations of what it meant to be mortal.

No mortal could wait a thousand years for their problems to go away; they either stepped forward or were washed away by the relentless wave of time. This power he had taken upon himself was a double-edged sword, and as much as it had the potential to shake up existence, he could easily perish alongside it.

Rowan smiled before he began to laugh; whether it was due to his stubbornness or the sheer ridiculousness of what he had just done, he could not tell. There had been one out of ten chances of survival, and he had been lucky enough to fall under that one chance.

’This state of mind is powerful, but I don’t think I would ever use it again.’

There were few things that could make Rowan feel fear, and he had just come across one of them.

His heart had settled, and he turned towards Eosah. And he bowed towards her, and she regarded him as if he were a fascinating specimen before she shook her head,

“Have you learned anything from that place?”

Rowan shook his head in a downcast manner,

“Not much, I only saw its name, or maybe a part of its purpose. I cannot tell, everything is a blur.”

Eosah’s eyes widened in shock,

“What was the name that you learned?”

This question was a tricky one, because it was like the act of giving a structure to a formless force, or compressing the entire knowledge of existence into one word. It was impossible for such a thing to be done, but Rowan knew that if he did not grasp this opportunity to put a name to this place, the chance to do so would be lost to him forever.

This step should have been hard, but for him, it was easy; it was almost like surrendering and letting go of every burden in his heart. Rowan whispered, “This place is the Nameless Horizon.”

Eosah sighed,

“You have succeeded. Now I can fade away in peace.”

“Not yet, you won’t,” Rowan called out. I do not yet know your name—your real name.”

“Ah, as you are now, that knowledge would break you.”

“I know, so do not fade away just yet. I shall return, and on that day I will know you.”

Eosah smiled, “Good. Oh, and here is a gift. I thought you might need it for what is to come,” she tossed him a glowing orb. Rowan caught it, looking at the gray orb in surprise before his eyes widened in surprise and his heart, which had settled, began beating extremely fast.

He looked up at Eosah and bowed, this time it was much deeper, and then he turned around and left this place. Rowan was not strong enough to pierce the veil of these final mysteries, but it was only a matter of time, and this unexpected gift he had gained from Eosah was extremely powerful, so powerful it might dwarf all the gifts he had ever received.

Although this was not an assurance that he would win the war with the Primordials, it would give him an advantage that would push him farther on the path of victory.

There were many things that he did not achieve with the perfection he desired, questions that he did not ask, but Rowan knew that he would return, and when he did, he would be stronger and more prepared.

As time went by, there were fewer mysteries for him to decipher, and finally, glimpsing the end of the path, Rowan was assured of his future.

Returning to the fourth layer of the void, Rowan’s gaze easily pierced through the delirium of forgetfulness, and he saw his serpents, now alive and consuming the skeleton of the Ouroboros.

He restricted his breath so they would not know he had emerged. As much as he would like to be with them, he barely had seven years left before his duel, and there was still much to do.

Rowan closed his eyes and observed his dimensional flesh coming closer to perfection. When it was completed, he would automatically claim Space Origin, and if he reached the peak of the eighth-dimensional level, it would be an easy thing for him to step across the barrier to become a Primordial of Space.

He could accelerate this process, but Rowan had no plan of claiming Space Origin before he was ready. He still had more Origins to claim, and it would be reckless to reveal his hand this quickly.

According to his plans, he needed to pursue the Origin of Time next, and he had already been making preparations for that for a while now, and everything should be nearly ready.

However, with this gift that Eosah had given him, Rowan was beginning to rethink his plans on pursuing the Origin of Time.

Unlike the Origin of Space, which he could easily slip through the cracks and obtain, the Origin of Time had a Primordial.

Primordial Time had been banished, but his influence was still more prevalent than Primordial Chaos, especially when it came to the nature of Origin.

Rowan had been willing to risk the ire of Primordial Time since he wagered that dealing with him would be easier than dealing with Primordial Memory, but then the gift from Eosah had shown him a new path.

Rowan brought out the gray orb and looked at it, his eyes flashing with intense thoughts.

This gray orb may appear unremarkable, but it was anything but, because it showed him the path to the sleeping body of Primordial Soul.