Endirius was a mystery, even to those closest to him. He was proclaimed to be the first mage, the ruler of fire, but standing before him, there could not be found any demeanor of a great Magus, except for the fact that he resembled a mortal scholar, one who was slowly becoming old. His voice was soft yet majestic. However, a magnificent voice and personality were easy to acquire after living for a long time and not going mad. No matter how dumb a person was, extreme age naturally leads to refinement in character. Rowan’s essence, which had come to dwell inside Revah’s soul, observed the Supreme Magus. Of course, he did not do this directly; a being of Endirius’s power would instantly know when he was being observed. Instead, what Rowan did was read Revah Endirius’s memory and soul. This was a technique that he had come to perfect after monitoring the entire lives of billions of his children over the span of a million years. As powerful as this technique was, it had clear flaws. Every piece of information he received was second-hand, and so it was unconsciously influenced by the individual’s bias. For Rowan, whose perceptive ability was extremely potent, viewing Revah’s memory and soul was similar to staring through a blindfold. When Rowan looked at Endirius through Revah’s Memory, including her present and her past memories of him, the image he saw was similar to what Endirius was showing to all who looked at him: a normal forty-year-old man with his head in the clouds. When he looked at Endirius through Revah’s soul, it showed him something different. The soul reveals the true nature of a person. Although Revah did not understand the nature of Endirius’s soul, a part of her could see the truth of him. Unfortunately, nearly all immortals in existence did not understand the nature of their souls, and they could not see the true nature of things that it showed them, but Rowan could see it. The soul, and Endirius was… a monster. Rowan did not use that word lightly when he referred to a being; he was too old and had seen too much, and his experience had transformed, so the things he considered monstrous when he was a youth were now cute to him. Endirius, even in the limited perceptive abilities of Revah’s soul, was not a man; the closest Rowan saw him as was a revenant. His physical form did not change much in the soul’s sight of Revah; he still appeared to be the same man, except for the fact that he was not sitting on a throne made from white flames, but corpses. His hair was bone white, and his skin sallow like spoiled milk. His eyes, which burned with a black flame, were set deep into his sockets, and he resembled an emaciated skeleton barely hanging on to life. Nevertheless, Rowan had seen things that were much more grotesque than this, and this was not what made him refer to Endirius as a monster; that term emanated because of his eyes. Inside the deep sockets of Endirius’s face were tens of thousands of burning black pupils, clustered so tightly together that at first his eyes resembled those of a monstrous fly. These eyes looked upon all of Reality with a greed that would drive a lesser immortal insane. Every Mage sitting here had an eye trained on them, who looked upon them not as children or members of his assembly but as prey. There was no love, pity, or consideration in those eyes, only a cold and calculating look that saw everything as food, and Rowan knew something else that had these eyes previously, and they were his Primordial Ouroboros Serpents. His Will of Truth was triggered at this moment, and connections were made. With the addition of his enhanced state of being, a Truth came to Rowan—Endirius was a Primordial Beast! This was unexpected, and of the many paths that Rowan had laid down in response to whatever happened inside this Realm when he began his operation, Endirius, being a Primordial Beast, was not one of them. There were many reasons why this came as a shock to him when he had long concluded that every Primordial Beast had been killed and their remnants sealed away, they were far too dangerous to be let loose, but it would seem that the mysteries of the past were not so simple and the destruction of the Primordial Beasts had a deeper story behind it. Plans began to change. Rowan had made a mistake, and now it was no longer a simple thing that was under his control. Andar and all the preparations he had made were not enough because a Primordial Beast was, at the least, a ninth-dimensional being! Forget that Rowan was able to easily devour Divus with his serpents as a fourth-dimensional being, that the Primordial Beast had been sealed, and Rowan devoured only her Memory. Her soul and body had long been consumed; he only consumed a remnant. Endirius was not a remnant of a Primordial Beast; perhaps he had been diminished in some ways, but Rowan still did not believe he could face it, at least not with the preparations he had made. Yet the bullet had already left the gun, and despite some things that he could change, he could no longer easily stop the momentum he had let loose; his only option was to follow through to the best of his abilities. Rowan did not think this battle would be as dangerous as he had just discovered, but he had no choice but to pursue it. His plans with Revah had to be changed. There was no way that Endirius would not notice that she was an Old One. Even the manipulations he had done in the psyches of so many mages must be in their sights. Rowan was a patient hunter, but it seemed he had just fallen into the trap of someone more patient than he was. Endirius had allowed him to make his plans, sat back, and watched as Rowan placed his pieces. If not for the connection made by the Will of Truth at this pivotal moment, Rowan would never have known that he was facing a Primordial Entity, one that had far more freedom than the Primordials. The Primordial Beast was waiting for him. Endirius knew someone had stolen part of his flame, and if they wanted the full benefit of this fire, they would have to come for it. He did not need to search for Rowan; he simply needed to open his gate wide enough while showing his prey to enter. His trap was perfect; no one in existence would believe that the small world of Mages would hide a power at the level of a Primordial. How many enemies in the past had fallen into the trap of Endirius? How could the Primordials allow the existence of a Primordial Beast? They even allowed him to have access to the first flame! Rowan did not know how much of his plans had entered the sight of Endirius, but he was betting that a lot of it had already been exposed to this Primordial Beast, and he was waiting for Rowan to fully reveal his plans before he made his move. "Interesting, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the fucking beast behind him with its mouth wide open." There was a small part of him that nearly drew back at this moment. He almost pulled Andar and many of the preparations he had made from the realm, but he realized he could not afford not to fight this battle. He came for the flames because they were an important component against his plans for the Celestial Realm, and if he fled with his tail between his legs, the opportunity to collect this flame would be lost. As shocking as this discovery was, he still had an element of surprise, even though it might not seem like it any longer. Endirius was banking on the fact that the true state of his powers was unknown; he was arrogant, allowing Rowan to make his preparations in peace because he was safe in the comfort of his power. How could he not? To the Primordial Beast, Rowan was simply a foolish child playing god, and he did not care what preparation he had made when before the might of a Primordial Beast, all forms of plans were nothing. His only chance, no matter how slim, was to play along with the charade. Endirius believed in his might and would allow Rowan to use all his powers, expecting that the result would remain the same. Endirius had a great secret, but did it mean that Rowan also did not? He had not expected to be fighting a Primordial Beast today, and he had no choice but to follow through. Victory or defeat, Rowan decided to place all he had on the line. ® Andar followed his instincts when he called for the barrier in the sky to be opened. There were no instructions, but his heart felt calm and followed its direction. Something seemed to be guiding his hands, and although a part of him knew that it was most likely Rowan’s, he accepted that guidance. Andar had lived long enough to understand his limits, and he knew there were things he could not understand in his current state; trying to do something like that would be foolish. He had seen greatness, and he knew not many had the opportunity to witness it in their lives. If, in a small way, he could be a part of Rowan’s story, then he accepted it.