The Primordial Record

Chapter 1701: Enochian Crucible

When Rowan’s flesh and soul had been totally consumed by the strange presence inside the Primordial Record, his body began to break down. His body, which should be at the peak of existence, was now shattered, leaving a ruin of divine flesh and cosmic bones behind.

What remained of him resembled a gigantic tumor, warped by the thing that had burrowed into him from his eyes. However, one thing remained constant, and that was a massive stump that had once been a hand, holding down a vibrating black book.

From all indications, Rowan was dead, but his will was eternal. What remained of him stopped the Primordial Record from fully opening.

Years went by, and a dark liquid like tar began to bubble out between the pages of the Primordial Record before it reshaped itself into a series of tentacles, which began to slowly lift the cover of the Primordial Record.

Although the tendrils were tiny, the strength they possessed must have been astonishing because they were pushing against the stump of Rowan’s hand, an Apex Omniversal Titan, and they were slowly making headway.

Years continued rolling by, and the movement from the black tendrils halted, no matter how much they pushed, there seemed to be a final barrier that could not be broken, and the tendrils seemed to be aware of this as they no longer tried to push the cover of the black book open, instead they surged towards the mass of tumor that was now the body of Rowan.

With the foundation of corruption already in his flesh, the tendrils were able to easily melt through his body, and they delved into the darkness, looking for the last remnants of Rowan’s Will.

The darkness inside of Rowan was infinite, but the tendrils came from a place that defied the notion of infinity, and they found the last remnants of Rowan’s Will, who resembled a mortal man staring at the stars.

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This might be the last of Rowan’s Will, but it still possessed the power to create a universe around the last part of him.

He could have chosen to become anything inside this universe, but he still found himself returning to his mortal body.

Rowan looked at the stars and questioned himself, “What is the core of my being?”

Was it the relentless search to exceed perfection?

Reaching the eighth-dimensional level was nothing for a being like him. He could have easily attained one of the many countless destinies that he was more than qualified to acquire, but Rowan had always held himself back, always looking for the option that exceeded them all.

He had finally found a path where he would attain Origin for all of his dimensions, and fuse his bloodline abilities into something devastatingly powerful, but his choices had led him to stay weak while engaging in a greater amount of risks. Was it worth it?

“Is the core of my being to become perfection?”

Rowan had chosen to become selfless, to become an idea and not a person. He had let go of his fear of death or failure, of love or fear. He had taken the weight of all of existence and placed it on his shoulders.

He had taken on impossible tasks and assured everyone who believed in him that he was more than a god or any divinity, that he would never falter or fail, that there would never be a time when he would not win.

His mind and will had become unbreakable, even his flesh had followed, but it never seemed to be enough.

“Is the core of my being the journey itself, the relentless search on a road that might have no end?”

As he asked himself these questions, his gaze, which was fixed on the stars, turned towards a corner of the heavens that had begun to fade and shatter into dust as an unholy presence surged into this final portion of his consciousness.

“Why fight the inevitable, Eos? This path was always your… destiny.”

Rowan’s eyes, which were filled with confusion, suddenly cleared up. The presence of the voice, the very clear presence of death, was like a cool spring water clearing away the fog in his mind.

He did not need to ask himself these questions; he never did. His destiny was always his own to forge as he saw fit, ever changing, malleable, and unstoppable.

He had evolved from a mortal to a Reality, and if there was one constant in Rowan’s life, that was transformation… His destiny could not be simplified in a simple set of words, that was too small to hold him… everything was too small!

Shedding the last shackles of restraint in his heart, Rowan turned towards the incoming darkness, and he no longer ran away from it.

He took a step forward, and the earth below his feet shattered into dust. His next steps brought him to the heavens, and as he felt that darkness that was deeper than any darkness ought to be fall upon him with greedy hands, Rowan let go.

Not of his Will, not of his essence—but of his form. Of his limits.

“You do not know my destiny!”

With a scream that shattered the universe, Rowan tore himself apart, and at the same time, his body, holding down the cover of the Primordial Record, exploded.

His flesh dissolved into golden must, and his consciousness expanded like a newly born universe. The presence that had infected his body and soul recoiled—they had expected resistance, this was the natural response of all life and unlife, but they could never have anticipated this… total annihilation.

Rowan had given up on himself to the extent that he was no longer a being; he refused to be bound by that limitation. Now, he was a concept, and his Will was so strong that it thoroughly crushed the boundary between the eighth-dimensional level and the ninth.

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Existence peeled away from Rowan like layers of rotten skin, and Rowan’s eyes were open.

There were so many secrets left to explore in Reality, but his imposed limitation had held him back from seeing all of it.

Reality, all of Existence itself could not be defined into a single road; it was an infinite path, and woven across it were endless dimensions. He saw his past, future, and the many branching paths of might-have-beens.

He saw the destinies of everyone his eyes had ever touched, and the Primordials… he laughed when he saw they had no future.

Rowan finally saw him. Enoch. And this being was in everything and everyone.

He was inside Rowan, in every shadow, in every forgotten corner of existence—a cancer threading through all of existence.

Rowan should be scared stiff by this level of violation, but he was no longer just flesh and blood, but change itself.

He reached into his body and did not pull out Enoch; instead, it was the opposite. Rowan created a vortex inside of him… and he began to eat.

Transformation did not have to be clean or perfect, but what it could be was all-embracing. Enoch had told him that Rowan was a part of him, but he should not have done that, because that single statement alone was all he needed to discover his Destiny.

Rowan’s eyes opened, and he found himself with his hands buried deep inside the pages of the Primordial Record up to his elbows, and with a sudden heave, he pulled out an entity that resembled a cancerous octopus, and without any hesitation, he threw it into his mouth and began to chew.

The tentacles of this creature fought against him, several of them struggling to escape from his mouth. They pried open his lips and tried to push his jaw open, but Rowan kept chewing relentlessly.

His eyes were glazed as if he were still asleep, but Rowan’s physical actions were largely instinctive; the real battle was occurring inside of him as he consumed all that Enoch had been and made it all a stepping stone to his subsequent transformation.

This sight was terrifying because of the silence. The words in Rowan’s heart were silent, and when Rowan finished consuming everything in his mouth, transforming it into a smooth, unknown substance, a final thought entered his heart,

“Impressive, I will be waiting for you at the end of Limbo.”

Rowan’s eyes cleared, and he felt a cool liquid pour down his throat and rest around his heart. He had no time to understand what had just happened when the Primordial Record vibrated, and a thought entered his mind.

Fusion Completed:

Enochian Crucible — The Forge of Shattered Realms.