Chapter 1618: The First Spark It began with a single note. Like a soundless vibration at the edge of existence, that could not be perceived, but the soul recognized it. This note spoke to something in the core of every life inside of creation, reminding them of the endless possibilities that the light could bring. In the ruins of a dead star, a speck of gold flared, and then vanished, but something was left behind, an echo that longed for that touch of light that had faded. This echo called out into the void, seeking the warmth that the Old Light was missing. The light that every star was used to was cold, but this new light was warmth. A blind child, born after the Light’s death, dreamed of the sun and woke with her arms burning. But this fire contained the vitality of light, and it healed rather than destroyed. The first sight she saw was the color of the flames, and she turned to the sun in the sky and bowed in worship, her heart reaching for the light. The Angels embroiled on battle paused as they felt more than any being in creation, the touch of the new light, and this was the last straw that broke the camel’s back, for they could sense the pure power that held warmth that had been denied to every Celestial from the moment of their conception. Only a few of them remained in heaven; the rest tore through time and space, heading for the growing warmth they could sense in the distance. The echoes of their hearts reached for this light as they unhesitatingly ripped away their attachment to Old Light. In the past, doing such a thing was nothing but suicide, but there was another source of strength waiting with open arms, and it was easy to leave the darkness of eternal night for the warmth of the sun. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮 All across creation, something in the hearts of all beings was pulling away from the Old Light and calling for the resurgence of something new. And this New Light was beginning to awaken. ® Rowan was the closest to Eva and had the most significant connection with the New Light because the Lost Flame that had merged with Light had been born from his Spirit and Soul. Despite him giving Lost all the autonomy that any sentient and sapient life should enjoy, it could not break the connection that had been created within them. So he could sense the beat of her heart even before the heartbeat occurred. To Rowan, this awakening was like the sound of a heartbeat, but he knew that it would reach everyone in Reality in a different manner. Ultimately, it would represent a longing in their hearts that could not be denied. Rowan felt that pull and he turned towards the figure in the distance now covered by a white and scarlet radiance, and was shining to brightly his eyes were burned out of his skull upon looking at her, and his perception collapsed to ash, but he had other eyes, his Origin Ouroboros, Divus was far more durable than he was presently and he could see through her eyes. Everything was primed for the resurgence of a new dominion over Reality, and Rowan knew that there was only one thing left, and that was to give his permission. Perhaps he was making a mistake with this move; it was too drastic and flamboyant, directly harming the interest of every Primordial, because if he were nothing but a nuisance before, his actions here would make him their ultimate enemy. But he had no choice. The game was rigged against him, and any move he might have made apart from this one was expected. The omniscience of the Primordials was no joke, and only shattering the ceiling above would anything worthwhile be produced. And everything worthwhile demanded sacrifice. Eva’s eyes opened. What peered out from within those eyes was new. This was a fusion between the Lady of Shadows and the Lost Flames. They were becoming the embodiment of light, and old things were wiped away for something new to take their place. That was the way it was supposed to be, but Rowan was greedy. He had lost too much, and if he could, he would bear the burden of creation so that his children would remain safe for as long as possible. The process of reawakening was not complete, out of the nine circles, Rowan had been able to only give out six, but time had ran out, and the dangers from Primordial Demon and what was most likely multiple other Primordials bearing down upon him had become too potent to be ignored. Rowan closed his eyes and delved into his soul. The Gilded Maw had shattered his soul into pieces, and its unraveling almost extinguished it in totality, but he had a backer with greater Authority over souls. Of the shattered pieces of his soul, a shard remained, tiny, stubborn, and unbroken, hardly bigger than a speck of dust. This shard resisted the destruction imposed upon it by the Gilded Maw, and its consciousness sank into that shard, finding itself somewhere familiar. His home, when he was a young lord of Trion. Rowan’s senses were enough to sweep through this place, and although what he was looking for was situated inside his manor, his senses continued to spread until they covered the entire continent and eventually the world, before reaching the heavens and blanketing every star in the sky. Inside this fragment of his soul was a universe larger than anything in existence but also quite durable, reaching the level of an eighth-dimensional realm. All of this was because a speck of a Primordial lived inside this shard. Rowan’s consciousness collapsed into light and streamed inside his manor, where he found a woman in his library, wearing his favourite robe as a mortal, and reading a rather large book. From the cover of the book, Rowan could see it was a storybook containing folktales about Trion’s dark past. He knew that the horror inside those pages, presented in an almost comical manner, did nothing to describe the depths of depravity that occurred on this planet when placed under the curse of near-immortal beings whose souls had become tainted by the weight of time. The woman, Primordial Soul, snapped the book shut and glanced at Rowan. Her face and body belonged to Elura, daughter of Primordial Life and the woman who was made to carry Rowan’s unique soul origin into existence. From what he understood from his past, even Primordial Soul could not fully understand who he was, because her main body was slumbering inside Oblivion, and even if she could understand Rowan’s root, that knowledge could not be retrieved from inside Oblivion. His true Origins could only be found inside Oblivion, but that mattered little to him at this point. What he knew of his soul’s origin was enough to shed light on the mysteries surrounding his character and abilities. From grabbing his own Fate Origin, Rowan knew that his soul origin was a mutant that could not merge into Reality since nothing could hold him. He was not the only soul origin with this defect; although rare, there were still plentiful mutant soul origins who could not be integrated into Reality. However, where these souls’ origins would fade in time, he was the only one that would not fade, and over time, he became the bastion for the souls that were about to disappear. They gave him their talents and their strengths, and he grew to become something unfathomable. A supreme genius that may arise once every Era would be a lucky soul who was able to absorb the remains of a mutant soul origin before they ventured into Reality, because the fusion of souls could not be regarded as simply adding one plus one or even multiplicative; instead, it was exponential. If a single strand of talent were present in the soul of an individual, merging with the remains of a mutant soul origin would increase this strand by a factor of a thousand! This was what happened to a once in an Era genius, but Rowan had been able to devour millions of mutant soul origin for the many Major Eras he spent floating outside Reality. It was unknown what would have happened if he continued existing in the void, but his soul’s strength had reached a ridiculous height. It drew upon a sliver of Primordial Soul’s sleeping consciousness and was able to awaken it. If Rowan soul origin had been aware of itself during the time, then it was possible that with the power it had, then it would have been able to consume the strand of Primordial Soul’s consciousness, but it had no concept of devouring or benefits, and it gave itself freely to Primordial Soul. Primordial Soul had feasted on his strength, and to repay him, she decided to make sure he could be integrated into Reality. However, despite feasting on his strength, his talents made merging him with Reality almost impossible. Nothing in Reality was enough to hold the talent that Rowan’s soul origin was capable of. The only option left for Primordial Soul was to shatter Rowan’s soul origin into 9,999 pieces, and from those pieces, she selected the three smallest shards and sent them into Reality. "Rowan, are you ready to integrate with the full nature of your soul?" "Not yet," Rowan replied, "I need a distraction to finish my work. Send the Throne of Primordial Chaos to my location to hold back the Primes." Primordial Soul frowned, "Would that not be too hasty?"