It was a brief glimpse but it did not stop Andar from seeing too much and his understanding of these existences before him grew alongside this knowledge.
Nothing he did would ever truly matter to them, because he was nothing but a passing breeze, they could close their eyes, and billions of years would go by.
They had experienced every joy to be had, every horror, every disaster, every revelry, they had killed uncountable trillions and saved even more. They had been venerated and worshiped for many Eras…
Yet Andar knew in the greater scheme of things, that they were not the most powerful being in the many universes. They still had a master—The Supreme Magus. What sort of monster would someone like that be like? Was it even possible to ever become that strong? Could his creator match the Supreme Magus?
He was aware that he would go mad if he allowed his mind to think about that brief glimpse he had seen of those eyes, it was showing him a window to a reality that would tear his sanity to shred.
It took another application of Gray Will to settle his mind. He should not have come in contact with such power at this time, why was this happening?
“I told you, Silas, that this child is special.” the older woman laughed aloud, her voice filled his body with energy and life, banishing the fog of madness that had nearly come over him when he had looked at the eyes of the Tower Master. It also eliminated the strain of using Gray Will.
This was most likely deliberately done to ensure he could preserve his sanity while he was in their presence.
The effect of the words did not end with him as the brain of the girl the Tower Master was holding abruptly grew a body and she gasped aloud as she woke up.
For an instant, her eyes looked across to Andar before she was frozen in place as she was excluded from this zone where time seemingly no longer existed. There were many emotions in her eyes but the most prevalent was resignation.
?
“Special? There is nothing special about him,” Aeris sneered, “Something like him should not naturally exist, he is most likely a creation of an Old One, or perhaps even a shell of one. He is dangerous!”
“Your words lack any meaning, Aeris. Perhaps he just might be a shell for an Old One,” Andar eyes lit up for the one that defended him turned out to be Silas, his Tower Master, “but you could as well call him an Infernal or a Celestial, why not call him a child of a Primordial since you now make up names as you go without any proof.”
Aeris appeared shocked at Silas’s words, something told Andar it was not what he said that shocked her, instead it was because he was willing to speak out so passionately. Andar did not know much about his Tower Master, but he felt it was something out of his character to be so vocal.
Silas turned towards the Watcher, “Since you are here now, you should have the honor of explaining the situation to him, I can see the gears of his mind turning so quickly that parts would soon start to fly off.”
“If you insist,” the Watcher replied before asking the stunned Andar, “What I am about to tell you will break your perception of reality in many ways, but it is essential you listen to every word and know them as truth. You might never get the opportunity again unless you become an Arch mage.”
Andar nodded like a chick pecking rice, he felt the pores on his body opening up as if they wanted to swallow every word from the mouth of the Watcher.
The older woman smiled and waved her hand revealing a three-foot figurine that resembled white marble, it was a single piece and carved in a spiraling pattern that reminded him of a DNA.
The top half of this figurine was white, while the bottom half was red like fresh blood.
“This is a Nemesis Stone.” the Watcher said, “It serves two important functions, the first one is that it documents the life and death of a universe. It is created alongside a universe and pieces of it can be cut off to be used in creating Nemesis Plates. Although such an action is not advisable, because it is possible for the Nemesis Stone to be destroyed mistakenly… it is quite fragile.”
As she spoke, the Nemesis Stone slowly began to rotate.
“Every Universe is dissimilar, and at their birth, a certain amount of Nemesis Stones are created alongside them, the known record for the highest number of Nemesis Stones created by a universe is fifty. We don’t know how many Nemesis Stones were created by this universe, but it must be a very small amount, perhaps less than five.
“The reason why we think this is the case leads me to the second purpose of a Nemesis Stone, which is to serve as a key to gain access to the universe.”
“Have you ever wondered how it is possible for a Supreme World that is not of the universe are able to gain access to it?”
This question was directed towards Andar, and he shrugged, “I had only become aware quite recently that there were many universes besides this one, and I don’t understand the mechanics of outer universal travel.”
The Watcher grinned at his answer, “True, knowledge like this is useless if one is not an Arch mage because understanding the true scale of the universe and its workings is only possible with the passage of time, something that is impossible for anyone who is not an Immortal to comprehend.”
“I cannot tell you the entire history of the Magus Supreme World, that would take too long and you will not be able to understand anyway. What you should know is that our Civilization was not born in this universe but far in the past, extending as deep as the ending of the Primordial Era.”
“Is there any reason you are revealing this sort of information to him?” Aeris snapped.
The Watcher turned her gaze towards the other Tower Master, and although she was far shorter than her counterpart, their eyes connected without her lifting her head,
“Aeris, if you would rather not participate in this exchange, then you can leave, you have already played your part and your chip has lost… she is mine now.”
Not waiting for any reply she turned back to Andar and smiled. He instantly felt a chill pass down his spine, he suddenly understood that this woman could butcher an entire universe and this smile would not leave her face, and her kind brown eyes would not shake.
“Andar, our roots are deep and over the many Eras, we have been able to spread our reach to hundreds of universes. You can thank your Tower Master for the chance of standing here today because the Nemesis Stone that the Magus Civilization used to enter this universe was procured by him.”
Andar suddenly felt a rush of memory that was not his own, if not for the fact that he was under the effect of Gray Will, he would have screamed in surprise.
He recognized that this memory was not his own, but it came from Rowan. Apparently, he must have left them inside him and if he came across certain events, it would trigger these memories he left behind.
This remembrance took place when he was laboring to reach the hand of the Chained God where he was to receive the Supreme Meditation Art.
While he has been struggling to push his way through the clouds, Rowan has been witnessing something else.
For a very brief moment, he entered the mind of Rowan, and this mind turned out to be stranger than anything he had ever experienced. He overclocked his Gray Will talent until it felt as if his mind would explode before he came to terms with what he caught a glimpse of.
Andar understood that even while he was under the effect of Gray Will and acting like a machine, he was still human and alive.
Rowan did not feel human, he did not even feel alive, his mind was so alien that Andar felt like pushing blades through his eyes and destroying his brain.
Andar was surprised to note that he felt more kinship with the Tower Master than with Rowan at this moment.
This understanding scared him.