The Primordial Record

Rowan did not reply; he only looked at Death, letting the Beast see the conviction in his eyes that went beyond any words that could be spoken.

"Ah, I should not have asked that question. You are a special being, Rowan, but I fear your stubbornness may lead to results you cannot yet anticipate."

Rowan grimaced, "Anything that comes… I will take full responsibility. This war over the destiny of all existence started before I was born, but I intend to end it, one way or another."

The Beast thumped its hoof on the non-ground twice, as if in affirmation of Rowan's words, "Well, your track record is pointing towards the right direction. I have absorbed every backlash of Destiny from the deaths of those Primordial Fragments, but you should know something… I believe one of the Primes inside your Reality still holds a faint bond with their main body."

Rowan went still, but there was no shock in his eyes; he had long expected that there would inevitably be a problem that he would never be able to solve.

"Does this bond show the happenings inside of Reality?" he asked slowly.

The Beast smiled, "You know that is impossible. The weight of a Primordial existence is so great that anything connected with them is dragged into their core."

Rowan knew this to be true. That would be like having a black hole with a satellite around it. Death continued speaking without pause,

"I can sense a thread of transformation linking one of the Primes inside Reality to somewhere in Limbo, which is a rather smart way of getting around the restriction that a Primordial would have with their split self."

Rowan frowned, "Can you cut that thread?"

"I could, but that would be the same thing as ringing the alarm bell that something is wrong. The Primes inside of Reality suspect my intervention; they know I am one of the few entities who might be able to swallow the karma of their deaths and prevent it from reaching their main bodies."

Rowan shook his head in irritation, "So, you are telling me that of the three Primordials left inside Reality, one of them cannot be touched."

"Yes, can you handle that problem?" Death asked.

Rowan lowered his head in thought for a while before he nodded, "I can take care of the problem. I believe I already know who holds that thread of karma." Looking up at Death, Rowan cocked his head to the side, "I don't believe that is all the reason you summoned me for."

"Ah, yes, of course, there is more for you to see," Death turned its massive head, and one of the Crows of Death hanging on its massive antlers dove down with the soul of a shrieking wraith wrapped around its claws.

The crow flew towards Rowan, blinking long lashes, and Rowan realized that this Death Crow was female and was probably a powerful higher-dimensional immortal from an unknown Reality.

However, Rowan was not too focused on this Death Crow, but the shrieking wraith she was bringing to him.

Rowan could feel a wave of temporal anomaly surrounding this broken soul, and he reached forward to collect it from the crow, while looking at Death with curiosity.

Death did not reply to his quiet inquiry, and Rowan pushed forward, squeezing the soul; he disassembled it to collect all the information it had.

This was the soul of a fifth-dimensional immortal, and in an instant, Rowan thoroughly read the entire life of this immortal, and he zoomed onto two important facts.

The first was that this immortal came from his Reality, and from what he could discover, this immortal was not yet dead; he would be dying fifty-three years in the future inside Reality, but Death had been able to collect his soul even before he perished.

One of the benefits that Death had gained from eating the karma that arose from the deaths of Primordials was that he was able to exert a level of influence over Reality that had long been forbidden to a power like the Beast of Final Rest.

Rowan was not even aware of the sort of power that Death was gaining from their transaction, and he worried that he was giving a potential enemy the type of power that could destroy him in the future, but Rowan had no choice in this matter.

It might appear as if he was easily killing Primordials, but without the help of Death, he would have perished the instant he killed Primordial Soul.

Death was giving him a chance to destroy the Primordials, and even if his bargain with this entity might lead to problems in the future. He was already a drowning man, and he would clutch any sign of salvation in front of him… Rowan had no problem with this; what he had a problem with was that Death also knew this and knew that Rowan had no choice but to accept its bargain.

The second important observation from this soul was that it had been tainted. Rowan looked at Death and growled,

"Are you telling me that in roughly fifty years in the future of my Reality, this would be the sort of souls that would emerge from it?"

"Oh yes," Death chuckled, "Memory alters the path, and Light alters the perception of the path. Their destination, however, remains unchanged; their souls still come to me in the end."

Rowan blinked, "If you still get the souls, then why did you bother showing me the manipulations of the Primordials? You are exceeding the terms of our Agreement."

The massive Beast shrugged, "You have given me a lot of benefits in a short period, Rowan. Is it strange that I want to help you?"

"Yes, it is strange," Rowan smiled without any mirth in his face, "especially when you are aware that souls like this cannot be a good addition to your kingdom."

"My kingdom accepts all, Rowan, even something as heretical as you and the Primordials." Death countered.

"I don't think that is the case, Death," Rowan replied, "For so long I have been looking for the final piece of the puzzle… the reason you agreed to help me for so long. I know I brought you benefits, but is that really enough?"

Death brought its massive head down to the level of Rowan, "Choose your next words wisely, Rowan… you do not want to make a mistake you cannot back out from, not at this stage of your battle."

Rowan continued as if he had not heard the words of Death, "Limbo, the Primordials, their unchecked slaughter across all of existence, you claim it feeds you, but you did not tell me everything… it is also poisoning you… It is killing you."

The Beast of Final Rest roared in rage, a sound that extinguished all the life force inside Rowan's Incarnation, but such a blow could no longer kill Rowan, and he remained still until the roar ended.

"I have grown, Death, grown in ways that beings like you or the Primordials would not understand. The mysteries that could cloud my eyes in the past cannot keep me in the dark for long. Now, let us talk about what is killing you."