Chapter 1589: Manipulating Fate Caine lifted the blade and was about to plunge it into Rowan’s skull, whose skin was still smooth like glass despite his enormous size, but a voice made him pause. "This is familiar, you have stabbed me before." Caine’s awareness bloomed, spreading out to surround the entirety of Rowan’s body, and he saw that Rowan’s eyes were opened, and a wave of his perception had settled over Caine. Screaming in anger and panic, Caine drove the killing blade into Rowan’s skull and pushed himself back into the air; he was surprised that Rowan had allowed him to continue his actions, giving that the wave of power he had felt in Rowan’s perception was enough to cripple him instantly. Rowan’s eyes tracked Caine through the air; he seemed uncaring that the killing blade that drove into his skull was beginning to spread a wave of corruption across his head. Caine did not care to know the reason why Rowan was so calm when the weapon of a Primordial was stuck in his skull, and he decided to flee this place. He had pushed nearly all the power of Primordial Chaos into the weapon, leaving a sliver of it in his body, and it should be enough to leave this place. He hardly began to call on the power of Chaos inside of him when a foreign power washed over his consciousness, and he saw himself walking towards Rowan, who opened up his palm, and Caine landed on it. Rowan smiled, "Welcome, my dear Betrayer." Caine had no time to be stunned when a jet of information flooded his senses, and he realized that for a long time, he was not just a play thing of Primordial Chaos; Rowan had begun to influence him a long time ago. Holding his head, Caine shrieked and pushed his fingers into his eyes, trying to claw out his memories, but that force held him in place, "I still have uses for you, and you cannot die now." Caine did not know how he had failed to see the subtle manipulations of Rowan’s hands in his life, but the last time it happened, it was so evident that he wondered how he was not more aware of it at that moment. When Caine was captured by Primordial Chaos, the Primordial showed Caine visions of the past, and they were all about Rowan. He saw a black drop of blood that emerged from the body of Primordial Chaos that fused with Rowan, and from that point, Chaos had become a part of Rowan, and his influence over his life slowly grew. "He is beautiful, is he not? This bearer of truth." Primordial Chaos’ voice had whispered in the depths of Caine’s soul as he showed him the past and the future. He saw Rowan as a mortal killing an immortal, saw him create wonders and abominations, saw a reality-breaking willpower that left him in awe. And then he saw the moment he was left in awe, when Rowan broke the Intent of Primordial Chaos, and in order to regain back the control he had over Rowan, Primordial Chaos had gone into the past and began manipulating the life of Caine. Primordial Chaos made Caine aware of the Eye of Time. Working closely with this fragment of a Primordial, Caine protected the Eye of Time from the background, preventing anyone else from killing it. He thought that this Eye was a clue to becoming a Primordial. How foolish he had been. Over time, the Eye gave birth to Reflections, and Rowan was born with the aid of these Reflections. From another perspective, it could be seen that Rowan’s true father was Primordial Chaos—his subtle manipulation of events led to the birth of the greatest Abomination in existence. Perhaps only the twisted influence of a being like Primordial Chaos could make such a thing possible. Caine had seen his place in this web of deceit that began in the distant past, and every ambition he had to play in the same arena as the Primordials was placed to rest. Primordial Chaos had shown Caine the vision of the past, and he could still hear the smug tone in his voice and intent. Chaos had been proud of his achievement. However, Caine had observed something odd happening during the implementation of this revelation. It was very subtle, but it drew his attention, and being the old monster that he was, he did not show any signs that he had observed this change. Caine had been able to see a bit of the reasoning behind Primordial Chaos’s actions. It happened subtly, and he did not notice it at first, but slowly he began to see the cracks in the plans of Primordial Chaos. This Primordial had wanted to slowly maneuver Rowan to his side using subtle actions and grand gestures, but they all failed. Somehow, Rowan was able to find a way to walk a camel through the eye of a needle until Primordial Chaos became desperate and no longer hid his hand. Primordial Chaos could not accurately tell the reason, but he knew that if he did not stop Rowan here, he would never be able to control him anymore. He came to Caine out of desperation, and instigated him to be here at this moment so that he could stab Rowan in the head. Primordial Chaos was so powerful that, in many ways, he could accurately predict the future since much of it had been shaped by his Will. He knew that sometimes, in the future, Rowan would be indisposed, and Caine would be the tool used to make it happen. And yet, all of this had not been as hidden as the Primordial had thought. The moment Caine became aware of the hidden thoughts of Primordial Chaos, Rowan was also aware because he had begun to dwell in the soul of Caine. This knowledge almost drove Caine to the edge of madness and beyond. ’How.... How was it possible for Rowan to do all of this?!’ A portion of Rowan’s consciousness lightly touched Caine, and he said, "Because I alone hold my Fate." ® When Rowan had been frozen in place on the acceptance of Fate’s Origin, and reaching the peak of the higher dimensional levels, which began from the seventh dimension all the way to the ninth, his existence underwent a transformation that broke all boundaries of reason inside of Reality. Reaching the sixth dimension had given Rowan the ability to institute the effect of something before the cause. In simpler terms, he could make something happen even before there was any potential to cause that change. He could make a man appear in front of him even before his parents were born, or he could create the concept of heat even before there was friction. This was the reason he could make such sweeping changes across Reality at the moment he reached the sixth dimension; however, in the seventh dimension, this power only increased as he gained a new tool. Although Rowan’s dimensional flesh had kept him apart from Reality, there was something that still bound him firmly to it, and that was the thread of fate that linked him to everyone he knew in Reality. This thread of Fate bound him to his children, and his enemies, from Andar all the way to Caine and even Primordial Chaos; it was this thread that binds all things in Reality... Fate. When Rowan had freed himself from the influence of Chaos’s Intent and became a dimension unto himself, he thought he had achieved true freedom, and in many ways he had, but there was one thing left that tied him to the rest of Reality, and that was the threads of Fate. With these threads of Fate, Primordial Chaos had been able to interfere in his life for so long, but what would happen if Rowan was holding his own Fate in his hands? The answer was that he would finally gain his freedom. When he was incapacitated, his mind had been thrust into the past, from the moment of his conception, his true conception, all the way to the present. He had traced every mystery behind his life and had seen Primordial Chaos’ hands as he interfered with it, but Rowan was careful; he did not touch these threads, as he saw it as an opportunity to lay the ultimate trap. To do this, Rowan had to manipulate Seed and Elura, and for it to work, he had to allow for the sacrifice of one of the people who was closest to him. Rowan had to be subtle to manipulate the Old Ones. That meant he could not change their actions without them being aware of his interference; he could only mildly influence them. As much as he wanted to change the past and stop Seed from killing Maeve and billions of his people, such drastic changes in Fate would be detected by Seed and also by other Primordial powers who monitored the threads of Fate. What he could do was nudge Elura and Seed to make him mortal by stabbing him with the blade of Caine, because this was a window for him to understand the power of Primordial Chaos before their showdown.