The Primordial Record

Chapter 1723: The Sea of Emotions

In the timeless space of the Sanctum of Eternity, Rowan had completed devouring the entire castle. Presently, his soul was shining as bright as a star, filled with countless runic mysteries, and the faint cries of joy from Soul Whales filled the entire space.

Devouring the entirety of the Sanctum of Eternity granted Rowan the ability to nullify the presence of time all around him. In this manner, he maintained the time stop effect that was giving him an advantage in comprehension.

With the castle gone, it was impossible to hide the path to the lower levels of Soul Origin, and it also showed Rowan the corruption hidden underneath that had been gnawing through the foundations of this place.

With this space bereft of radiance, he saw its edges filled with cracks that oozed miasma, the rotten bodies of countless Soul Whales who had ventured too close to the edge.

The signs of vitality in the Sanctum of Eternity would never last, and this was the true face of what was to come. The Primordials were a plague, unable to create, unable to preserve the things they stole, and nigh impossible to kill by all standard metrics.

The Origin of Soul was an authority meant to last for all eternity until Death took all at the end, but the touch of a Primordial was slowly robbing it of all radiance.

Rowan looked at this corruption for a while, and a blast of his Will fried it into nothingness, and he swore to himself that every touch of a Primordial in this Reality or any other Reality still in Limbo would be cleansed. If this was to be his lifelong mission, then it was one that he fully accepted.

Glancing around to make sure he had not missed any spot of corruption, Rowan proceeded to the pool of quicksilver below him, and it recoiled away from his presence. Still, there was nowhere to go, so the pool helplessly held open its door for Rowan to descend, accessing the next layer of the soul.

“Let the descent begin.”

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This layer of the soul slammed into Rowan’s consciousness with the weight of a thousand falling dimensions, and he did not even blink.

“FWOOOSH”

His dimensional soul body cut through a dense atmosphere, and a heavy, attractive force pulled him downwards until he slammed like a meteor into an ocean made from emotions.

This ocean was as dense as molten obsidian and as cold as the space between stars, and Rowan’s body sank into it like a stone. He could hear, at the edge of his perception, the voice of Primordial Soul,

“In this ocean I shall drown your truth.”

The emotions that made up this sea were visceral, congealed guilt, petrified shame, fossilized fear—countless, and if there was any positive light within it, it had become buried under the weight of all the bad.

Rowan believed he could understand why this was the case. If this was the Origin of Soul, it was a reflection of the state of Reality. All of the negative emotions that had arisen over the Eras since the emergence of the Primordials had filled up this sea until it overflowed.

Everything good was being lost, and Rowan’s soul was experiencing twelve Eras of madness, bombarding his consciousness.

He thought he could see faint glimmers of gold in the distance, like the rays of ghostly needles through a fog, but they never lasted, and he was easily drowned by the endless waves of sadness and madness.

“You could have saved them…”

“They are weary…”

“They are stuck… and it was all your fault.”

“My fault?!” Rowan replied in anger, knowing he was being affected by this place, but he did not stop himself.

“You do not blame the wolf for feeding on the sheep. Your job as a shepherd was to keep your herd safe. Born to be a Reality that should have ushered in a new dawn of change and prosperity, instead, you allowed yourself to become prey. If the end of everything is not your fault, then whose is it?”

If Rowan could, he would roll his eyes at the mental gymnastics that the Peimordial was putting together to make him feel guilty for the result of their action, yet in a manner, he could tell that she was right.

A mortal does not curse the storm because it blew down his house; he either builds a better home or moves out of the area. However, a mortal does not have to face a sentient and malevolent storm that would go out of its way to hunt them down, ensuring nothing of their presence is left behind.

This was ultimately what Primordials were: living entities filled with nothing but malevolence, and believing they were anything other than that was sheer stupidity.

Still, the words from Primordial Soul did not worry him; in fact, they made him happy, because Rowan was a hunter who could be the poster child for the term you become what you eat.

He had killed Primordial Soul and consumed a lot of her essence, and among the many benefits this gave him, he was also more receptive to her emotions.

Submerged inside a sea of emotion, there was something that Rowan could taste with such frightening assurance that he could not help but grin… he could taste her fear.

Primordial Soul had fought to preserve her life, but something struck Rowan as odd; despite the difficulty of their battle, she was too honorable. The Primordial had been focused on him all through their clash, when she could have used underhanded methods such as threatening his children or even flipping the whole board and escaping into Reality, revealing herself and Rowan’s present powers to all.

Rowan had made many preparations to block Primordial Soul from leaving, but he did not get to use any of them, and that was not natural. Reason flew out the window in the face of death, and only a few could face their extinction with grace.

Rowan did not believe that any Primordial would be able to face the great darkness without fighting to the last. He did not think that it was a bad trait; he admired it, even when it came from something as despicable as a Primordial.

When Rowan had killed her and had detected that the weight he was supposed to carry from her death was not as potent as he had imagined, he knew that she had a backup plan.

This should worry him, but because he now held Soul Origin in his hand, Rowan no longer cared for her plans.

When he entered the first level of the soul, the condescending voice of Primordial Soul reached out to him, daring him to find her in the lower levels. Rowan did not reply to her; he simply focused on his comprehension.

Although the space for the Sanctum of Eternity was timeless, in the Origin Land, a single day had passed, but in that time, Rowan had conquered the Sanctum of Eternity and consumed it.

He was not supposed to be able to do that, at least, judging by the fear in the heart of Primordial Soul.

The Sanctum of Eternity was a trap for Rowan. If he had entered that timeless space in order to comprehend Soul Origin, he could remain there for an eternity and never make his way past the first level.

To conquer the first level of the soul in a single day was a feat that should be impossible, but what Primordial Soul did not know was that before now, Rowan had conquered the Origin of Space, and he had help from Eosah, whose teaching made this process faster and revealed all the intricacies of Origin.

For the first time in his life, Rowan had a good teacher who held nothing back from him, and he had learnt his lessons extremely well.

Primordial Soul knew everything about Rowan before he went to conquer the Origin of Space, and after his fusion, his power over Origin was hidden by this Apex Omniversal Titan’s physique.

The Primordial had expected Rowan to evolve before the battle; she knew he had the Primordial Record and its capabilities, but she had not imagined the scale or depths of that evolution.

The Sanctum of Eternity was made to trap Rowan for a long time so she could accomplish whatever she wanted in peace, but in a single day, Rowan had conquered one level, and he was in the next, and the remnant of Primordial Soul was growing terrified.