Chapter 1928: Breaking My Last Chains (Final) "Do you know what I admire and despise about people like us?" Enoch spoke slowly as Rowan watched in fascination at the ongoing activity of his main body and his Incarnation inside Reality. "It is the fact that we don’t know when to stop." Rowan drew in a deep breath, a potent feeling that threatened to overwhelm him almost made him close his eyes, reminding him that although Enoch did not attack him, he was still bearing an impossible burden on his shoulders, and with every new revelation that was being rapidly thrown at him, if he was not careful, he would be overwhelmed. With Enoch pointing out the discrepancies in the action of his main body, he could now see the connection, and being essentially the same person as Eos, he could see how he would have taken this action. Although Eos might have been deceived by his lack of information, he would not remain in that same position forever. He had failed to anticipate what the Final Form was capable of, but he had a wealth of experience to pull from, and that meant that Eos was working out the secrets of End, even though he did not understand this power. End was the highest level application of power that was possible, and Eos had begun to chip away at the rules and application of this power, even though he was doing it rather unconsciously. Rowan knew that his main body must have seen the connection between him and the missing Incarnation used as the sacrifice, and how it had impacted the entire spell. From this, Eos must have began to experiment on ways to take apart the higher rules of End, even though he did not know what kind of forces he was playing with, he must have recognized that this was the level that exceeded the bounds of Primordial power, and inside this space, finally free from the gaze of the Priomordials, Eos was making great progress. He could see how Enoch was panicking at this change. His greatest weapon was the power of End, because he alone knew enough of its capabilities to shift it in the direction he wanted. However, despite his great powers, Enoch was stuck inside this place, and after knowing what had happened to him when he created all of existence in his desire to fulfill his lust for change and chaos, Enoch had lost his body, and being able to recreate it once more, even though he was imprisoned in this place meant that Enoch was extremely dangerous and he was slowly geting back all that he had lost. This was an open secret at this point, as Rowan could easily tell the direction of where Enoch’s story would lead, his final reason for telling him the truth, but Rowan had expected this, and would not be shocked if he heard all of Enoch’s tale, what almost threw him off were the fact that another of his Incarnation was reaching the Primordial level to become the Primordial of Space. Such a change was not shocking; in fact, he thought it was long overdue. Why his main body had waited this long was unknown; however, the shocking sight came from the colors of Space that he could now trace to the Lumina burning inside of him. He knew that all of his Incarnations alongside his main body were connected, and even time could not separate them, but it was shocking how much power the ninth dimensional level had over the past. No wonder the Primordials did not want him to become a ninth dimensional entity, and he could see that if his Incarnation reached the ninth dimensional level, then more of the mysteries of the past would be opened, and End would not be a power that was outside his reach. "I can see the gears in your mind spinning, Rowan," the cold eyes of Enoch landed on his own like laser beams, "You think that being able to touch more of End would lead to your victory, but it will not." Rowan cocked his head to the side, "I don’t see any reason why this would not lead to more of my advantage. The more of End I understand, the greater my ability to control my situation against someone like you. Besides, the actions of my main body is separate from my own, and I am sure by now you know I have no connection with him, so I have no way to influence his actions, but if I did, I would tell him not to stop exploring the mysteries behind End. If he succeeds, he would break the last of my chains." Enoch grinned, but there was no laughter in his eyes, like a shark smelling blood in the water, "Then you should hear the rest of my tale before you take this plunge in your belief, because the result is not what you would want. This I sincerely promise you." ’Here it comes,’ Rowan thought, ’The final straw that would break the camel’s back, but I wonder, between us, who would break first.’ ® As if eighteen cosmic eras had not passed, Enoch continued from where he left off, and this time his voice held a note of what Rowan could only describe as challenge, it was almost as if Enoch was not telling this tale not to Rowan, but to himself or perhaps something else, maybe he was even talking directly to End, this power seemed sentient enough. By now, he had so much Lumina in his soul that when Enoch began to speak, Rowan was drawn into the vision of the past, and he began to relive it, as if they were his own memories. "This new existence created by my body and soul spun on, drunk on its own chaos, unaware that its creator was not gone, only diminished to a state that was worse than Death. There were few in existence that knew my name, but there were many temples where my name and likeness were worshipped. But time passed, and even these massive temples, bigger than realities, were broken and all their treasures looted. I gave them all life, and yet in the blink of an eye, I was forgotten." Rowan sighed. He noticed that the period that had passed was greater than two hundred million cosmic eras... Enoch’s name had lasted far beyond what he had anticipated, because this force for change never truly laid down any roots, and he found it amazing that his name could have lasted for so long. Enoch should have been at peace; he had ushered in a new phase of existence, and it was enough to rest and allow himself to fade, but Rowan knew that this would never be the case. So, he remained silent and continued following the streams of memory that Enoch was taking him across. "Enoch was no longer a name. It had been forgotten, and traces of it could barely be found once it was known that existence had a creator; now that knowledge was gone. Yet I remained, and I refuse to die!" Enoch spat, his voice raising an octave before settling down into its normal pitch. "I became the pause between heartbeats, and the cold spot in every flame. I was the silence that follows a scream when the screamer has forgotten why they screamed. In these cracks between existence, I lived." Rowan could see Enoch, and he shuddered. Formless, bodiless, thinner than thought, he drifted through the cracks of his own creations like smoke through a graveyard. Where he passed, colors dulled for an instant. Lovers felt a sudden, inexplicable grief mid-kiss. Gods and Realities woke from dreams of falling and could not remember why their hands were empty, and their souls were silent. Enoch spoke softly, "I had learned the final rule of End: Anything that can begin can be made to finish. And so I intended to finish everything. Again." He looked at Rowan and smiled, "This time, the end would not be in a single cataclysmic forge, but slowly. Patiently. Like rot in fruit. Like frost creeping across a windowpane. I would coax existence into eating itself, and when the last living thing swallowed the last poisoned bite, the walls between Real and Not-Real would collapse. And in that final, perfect stillness, perhaps the scattered pieces of me would remember how to cohere." "I would be whole again."