It was a brief look inside the mind of his creator, and Andar knew he would never be the same again, there were some doors that should never be opened.
He had never felt so vulnerable, he should not have seen this memory, his nerves felt raw as if they had been irreparably damaged… Perhaps Rowan had expected that Andar would be much stronger before he was able to access these memories, but this event did nothing but push it forward.
How could he have expected that Andar would meet Mages as powerful as Tower Masters when he was nothing but a Rank 1 Mage? Of all the emotions that Andar had towards him, from adoration, love, and many others, a new one was added to the list, and it was terror.
Rowan’s mind seemed to be filled with nothing but endless ice and… nothingness. It was like being inside the mind of the void. It seemed to be nothing but an infinite nothingness, yet it was also aware.
What Andar did not understand was that he was sensing the lack of a Soul inside Rowan, for unlike anyone he had ever known, including the Tower Masters here, they all had a Soul, but Rowan did not.
What Andar had just experienced was the mind of a Nascent Primordial. Since the beginning of Time, it was unknown if anyone in creation had ever had the chance to experience something like this, and whether this would be of benefit to Andar or lead to his doom.
?
For the brief moment he had become Rowan, this was what he had witnessed.
In that vision, he had seen a new sky. New in the sense that the universe had just been born and its cries of birth were still ringing throughout the cosmos.
He heard a sigh and saw a world of the distant past.
There was a god on his knees, and his blood washed all the stars around him until an entire galaxy was red. His skin had been peeled away and it was used to make a foundation for a world that was as massive as Trion.
A man with white and black hair walked up to the kneeling god, and as he did his size began to grow until an entire star could fit on one of his fingernails.
He stopped before the god, stretched forth his hand, and placed it on the head of the god, he muttered an old phrase that Rowan was able to understand,
“SUNDER!”
The god’s body was torn into six pieces, his four limbs and torso were pinned to five bright stars, and his head was taken away by the man with white and black hair.
As the gigantic man walked away, the eyes of the god slowly closed, but a message was left behind,
“Cleave my bones… Eat my heart… My Will shall ever remain. The stain that shall stay.”
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This is where the memory had ended, but Rowan did not understand everything he had seen in that vision, now Andar did.
The Tower Master Silas Black had killed the Chained God, which should be one of the first gods born in the universe who holds a Nemesis Stone.
All of these memories being played in Andar’s mind happened for the barest moment and he did not miss the words of the Watcher who continued speaking without understanding the grand transformation that had occurred inside him.
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“There are six Great Towers present in many universes, but there is only a single Black Tower in this universe, which you should know is nothing but a projection of the true Black Tower that is situated in the Magus Supreme World. Your Tower Master was lucky when he found the Chained God roaming outside the universe and he killed him, acquiring the Nemesis Stone.”
“Since we are all in the mood for sharing Watcher, why don’t you tell the boy why there are only six Great Towers,” Aeris interrupted the Watcher, her eyes glinting with Malice.
The Watched pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance before replying, her smile never leaving her face,
“Andar, there should be seven Great Towers, but I refused to create one. You see, every Great Tower is created by a Rank 9 Arch mage, all of whom have reached the limits of a Magus Discipline. Silas Black, your Tower Master is at this level with Talisman Creation, and I am at the limit as an Alchemist, but instead of creating a Great Tower, I created the Alchemist Union.”
She glanced at Aeris, “Of course, this is not the reason we are here. Now back to the matter at hand.”
Andar knew there was a bigger story behind the creation of a Great Tower, but he agreed with the Watcher, he did not need to know about that matter, which was purely a distraction, what he needed to know was the reason why he had been selected as the leader of the Mages in this universe when there were Tower Masters here.
“With this key, Silas Black was able to enter the universe and create a new branch of the Magus Civilization, and for the last six billion years, this universe has given birth to 4,570 Arch mages, a truly stupendous amount for such a short time that has exceeded all known records.
“Is it that impressive?” Andar asked, although 4,570 Arch mages were a lot, greater than anything he had ever expected, and made him reassess the power of the Magus Supreme World, for if they could obtain this number of Mages from just one universe, then he could not imagine how many Arch mages there could be in all the universes occupied by the World of Mages.
Yet, there were only seven Tower Masters in existence. Yet in front of him were three of them!
With Gray Will Andar maintained an expression of calm curiosity, but he knew the stakes here were higher than ever.
“Impressive? Yes. Usually, a Universe would produce an average of three thousand Arch mages…. In its entire lifetime, which is typically a billion trillion years, or an Era. Yet, a fraction of that time, this universe has created this number of Arch mages, and has also created someone like you.”
Andar could hardly comprehend Time at this scale, but he was not surprised that this universe could produce this number of Arch mage, because it gave birth to someone like Rowan.
“This universe has always been mysterious and we have been searching for the mysteries behind it, if we can find its center, where the Will of the Universe resides, we would be able to find answers. Usually, this search would take trillions of years, and we could have slowly explored the secrets of this universe, but we are out of time.”
She gestured and the Nemesis Stone floated closer to Andar and he noticed that the stone was not equally divided between red and white, but the red was beginning to climb higher, crowding out the white.
“Seven hours ago, the Nemesis Stone was balanced, a relative amount of life and death was maintained inside the universe, creating balance. The white color is life, while the red is death. This has now begun to change, we don’t know how it’s happening, but a stupendous amount of death energies are flooding into the universe.”
She paused for a while as if tasting the words she was about to speak next, “This universe, as surprising as it sounds, is beginning to die, this process is rapid and irreversible, and we estimate in two decades or less, it would end.”
“This is a tragedy, but as with all things in life, there are two sides to everything. The death of a universe brings certain unique opportunities that can never be obtained anywhere. Usually, when a universe is about to die, it would be filled with various powerful factions, over its entire lifespan it would have birthed countless powerful beings who would vie for this treasure, but now this young universe that is about to die hardly contains any great powers.
“The Infernal presence in this universe is nearly non-existent, there are no Celestials or Titans, or the thousands of other powerful species that would slowly take root inside a material universe. We have an opportunity like never before.
The Watcher walked up to Andar and placed her hand gently on his shoulders, “This is why we need you Andar, to fight this battle that we can no longer fight and to win over the Will of the universe.”