The Primordial Record

Chapter 1857: The Power of End

Even after all the endless years that had passed as he struggled to survive in this strange realm, Rowan had not forgotten the face of the body that had been observing him at the start.

The manner by which the boy had appeared before him had been strange, and when Rowan failed to capture him, he had collected certain hints about what this boy might be.

Rowan had a perfect memory, and even though his present form was extremely limiting, he still had access to many trillions of years of experience and knowledge from his main body Eos. Over the many years that he had been battling to survive, a small part of him had been going through his memories in order to understand what this boy might be.

It was not easy to do so when he was under great strain, but Rowan slowly eliminated all the countless possibilities that existed, which he knew about, meaning there were very few possibilities that were left, and the most likely of those possibilities was that this boy was a fragment of the Final Form technique.

Unleashing such a technique on existence was Rowan as a mortal playing with the powers of a star, but at his present level, there were few things he dared not to do, and sometimes being too careful was far worse than pushing ahead with bravery, knowing that no matter what comes up in the future, there would always be a chance to fight for what you believed in.

He knew that he could not fully control this technique, but unleashing it had taught him one crucial fact: this energy was alive and sentient.

Rowan pulled the flaming chains towards him as the unknown entity inside them began to struggle to escape. These flames

were not true annihilating flames; buried in their center was Rowan’s unflinching Will.

Loud cracking sounds were emerging from the chains, as if it was on the verge of destruction, but Rowan had anticipated that these chains might not last; he just needed to pull this entity closer to him, and then he would have other methods to suppress it.

He could not properly see the form of what he had caught. They were changing shapes so rapidly and covered by a blurry veil resembling smoke that it appeared as if he had caught a living tornado.

At first, Rowan could not see any part of this being and had only caught it after his experience and intuition, but the longer they remained trapped inside his Will, the more of their form was revealed.

A few meters now separated Rowan from his struggling prey when they stopped holding back, and a strange scream erupted from it. The force they had been using to fight against Rowan’s pull unexpectedly multiplied, and the chains holding them snapped.

Rowan went pale and nearly collapsed because the snapping of the chains was equal to the destruction of his Will, something that should be impossible. The unknown entity laughed, and its chaotic form began to fade.

It was clear to Rowan that if this entity vanished, the chance he would ever be able to capture it again would be gone, and his Incarnation in this strange realm would perish under the weight of the falling bones, but he could not just recover from a Will that had been shattered, he was not his main body who could casuallly tank hits like this, and only regret remained in Rowan’s eyes.

The vanishing entity seemed to see into Rowan, and its laughter became more shrill, but then from their central mass, a flaming fist out of it, and their laughter transformed into a shrill howl of pain.

Yet the cry of pain soon devolved into laughter and a childish voice, speaking an unknown language that Rowan instinctively understood, rang out, “How are you doing this with the meager resources you have to work with?”

The blurry form of this entity rapidly solidified into a boy wearing a white robe, but his head was made of darkness, filled with spots of light, as if Rowan were looking at the core of a newly born universe.

Pulling himself away from the hand that had impaled him, the boy turned around to look at another Incarnation of Rowan behind him, and then, touching his nonexistent chin, the boy went, “Aha! That technique of yours not only refines the body with no resources, but can also create Incarnation from nothing. How utterly fascinating. oh, I am sure that Enoch would hate your guts, the things you are doing with Origin is so ridiculous, I wonder what you would do with the power of End.”

Rowan’s newest Incarnation cocked his head to the side, as he dismissed the previous Incarnation who had been fighting for countless years at this point and whose mind had been worn past their limits, “End? Is this the power beyond Origin?”

The boy cocked his head to the side also, mimicking Rowan’s movement, while also looking at the spot where the previous Incarnation had vanished. “Strange that you still think about the overall state of existence in such arbitrary terms, but I guess that it is normal when your background is placed into perspective, yet how can a rural bumpkin like you create inventions and techniques like this?”

Rowan chuckled coldly, “Please forgive my ignorance. The secrets of existence do not willingly open themselves for me to peruse.”

“Bah, don’t say that…” the boy pointed at Rowan with anger.

“Say… what? The truth?”

“No, don’t give all the excuses of a loser! Just because you were not able to do it does not mean that others won’t.”

“You have lost me,” Rowan shook his head in confusion, as the boy sighed and he gestured, “Follow me, we have a lot to talk about, and we have… Oh, we have infinite time in this place, or should I say infinite time as long as you are able to hold on.”

The boy descended, and Rowan noticed that the rain of bones had ended, and below him was a cave, similar to the one he had once exited from, and the boy was heading towards it.

Rowan hesitated for a moment before following the boy, a lot of thoughts flying through his head, but at least the possibility that he might get answers to the most profound secrets of existence was tantalizing.

The boy stopped at the opening of the cave and waited for Rowan to land before he gestured, “This is your cave of solitude. While in here, the rain of bones would cease, and you can rest, but there is a catch… This cave has only a limited amount of energy, and they cannot hold back the tribulation for long… You should probably have ten years of rest inside this cave before you will be forcefully expelled for another hundred Major Eras. I did not have much power left to work with when I created this cave; however, you…”

Walking close to Rowan and pocking him in the thigh because he was too small to reach anywhere else, “… you are completely insane, are you not? In three Cosmic Eras, you have not rested, not for one day! My precious cave that I made with a lot of care has been standing here disused all these while.”