Chapter 1475 Embracing The Memory "Impossible," the fading voice of the Dark One echoed, "How did you..." "This world was never your own, you are just a guest who overstayed their welcome, now I am taking back your privileges," Rowan said as he stomped on the remnants of the collapsing skull, banishing this mental plague forever, the cries of anguish from the Dark One was far more enjoyable than he thought. Rowan felt a surge of power building up around him that for a mortal was impossible to describe, but he knew it as the power of Memory, it exploded out of the place where the Dark One perished and surged throughout this Fracture, and the world began to heal. Mountains regrew from the earth like grass and plains flowed like rivers, a spectacular world unfolded before his eyes and Rowan basked in its beauty in a manner that only a mortal could do. All around him, the red skulls began to rise, and as this force that was remaking the world rippled through their bodies, the curse that made them into this wretched existence was wiped away and the people, as they once were, began to reappear, free from the shackles of their memory. At first, they looked around in confusion, then understanding entered their heart as they gazed upon the form of Rowan, no longer wearing the body of Acturus, but his true form, and as one, men, women, and children, all bowed to him, the sound of their knees hitting the earth was like thunder. As mortals standing before the enormity of existence feel awe in their hearts, so also was the feeling in their hearts as great when they witnessed the true form of Rowan, and they bowed for they could not look upon his perfection for long. Rowan looked at the red blade in his hand, the lightning running through it was rapidly breaking it down, and in a while, it would collapse alongside its master, and this was as it should be, something like this was never meant to exist in the first place. In Rowan's hand, it had served its purpose and it was time for it to return. His mind flashed back to the last few moments and how easily everything could have changed. Impaled upon the hand of the Dark One, watching Tribulation Lightning about to fall, that was the moment that Rowan understood everything that this Fracture represented. He was here to cultivate his Memory Dimension, and he had already begun the process. Unlike the other dimensional levels where he could use soul energy to breeze through it, the dimension of Memory was different. In the higher realms of power, the path of every immortal begins to diverge, and the method used in cultivating their abilities also grew increasingly specialized. No one cultivates in the same exact pattern, and the best guidance any immortals would be able to get at this level was a rough outline of what they should be expecting at the higher levels of existence. Rowan had been able to grasp part of the truth when he was inside this Fracture, he knew that this Dark One was a reflection of the memories of these mortals inside his Memories, they saw him as a ruthless tyrant, and by fighting alongside them and acknowledging their lives in a way that most immortals would never be able to do, he had gained their loyalty and strength. At first, Rowan had been convinced that this was all he had to learn while inside this Fracture, he wanted to give his all to fight against the Dark One and if he succeeded or failed then he would still have learned a valuable lesson on his ascension to the sixth dimension. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 Fundamentally there was nothing wrong with his inference and he was about to give up and return to his immortal form when the final part of this whole experience clicked in his mind. This Fracture belonged to him, they were a part of his Memories, given life with the powers of his higher dimensional state, and if that were to be the case, how could he leave such a flaw as the Dark One behind him? Rowan knew that he was ruthless and bloodthirsty, and that part of him would never change, however, one thing that he was not, was petty, arrogant, and twisted. He would not willfully resurrect mortals over and over again just to torture them in the sickest way possible. This Dark One was never meant to exist, it was a collection of the fears of the mortals in his Memories, that were born when he unleashed a grand devastation on the first Major World inside his home universe, and they had never learned of his growth and all they had of him was this Dark One. In the instant that he watched the Tribulation Lightning descend and his cold immortal eyes watching everything from above, Rowan was struck with an epiphany. It had been a while since he had one of those, but without the presence of his immortal mind that was granting him near omniscience, he had to make do with what his mortal mind was capable of experiencing. Everything that was happening here was to help him cultivate his Memory! For mortals, their memories were abstract, but upon reaching the sixth-dimensional level, his Memories were real, and each of them carried fears, desires, thoughts, and emotions, if he left the Dark One behind, his growth of his Memory Dimension would be stalled. With all of this in mind, Rowan saw that he could not lose to the Dark One, doing so would solidify the presence of this being in his Memory, and the risk that would bring would be too great for him to bear. All of this enlightenment made defeating the Dark One a simple thing, after all, he might have a lot of traits that Rowan enjoyed, but the important thing was that this creature was not him, he was just an extremely flawed copy, and no matter how powerful, he could never defeat the original, even if Rowan was left with just a mortal's body. Also, he believed that he already had all the tools needed to triumph in this Memory. He just had to find the right trigger and create the best actions for the outcomes he needed, and although he suspected that he could still succeed if he did less, Rowan had never been satisfied with anything less than perfect. Rowan's final act had been all about deception and using his common sense to defeat this being. The flood of skulls that he unleashed at the end was not to stop the descent of the Tribulation lightning, it was to block the sight of the Dark One, and when that was achieved, Rowan simply took the red blade that was still left in his hand and shoved it upwards. When the Tribulation lightning had struck, the blade had simply been a foot higher than the skull of the Dark One, and instead of entering the body of the Earth god to make him a god, it had veered towards the blade. The blade of the Dark One was intrinsically tied to the Earth god, they had committed the same acts over millions of years, and they were alien to his real memory of who he was. The red blade in his hands collapsed to sparks and the first Fracture was settled, Rowan expected that when he finished healing all the fractures in his mind he would have completed his Memory dimension, but for now, it was time to ascend, Reality waits for his return.