If not for the overwhelming sinister nature of this world, this place would be a great place to relax, there were no howling Abominations and wailing mothers, no weeping children and sounds of weapons tearing through flesh…

Only the bloody waves breaking over the shore, and his soul points increasing at every turn.

He felt a wave of tiredness over his soul. It has been a tough couple of days, hasn’t it?

At this time, he had spent only ten minutes in this world, and he had gathered a thousand points of souls, seeing that his path to Legendary and even beyond opening up for him, his mind went still, and his three hearts became calm.

He allowed himself to fall into a state of near slumber, and he awoke every ten minutes to check his soul point growth.

When he gathered 3000 points, he finally breathes easier, and went into a state of semi slumber once more, when he gathered 7000 soul points, his excitement was even not that much, it seemed like it was a normal state of affair.

When he gathered 10,000 soul points, he was nearly asleep, until he had an intense pain inside his hearts. His consciousness seized, and like an electric jolt through his system he pushed his sight inward, and he came to a painful realization that he was dying.

Rowan had made a fundamental mistake. When he saw his lifespan, he had judged he may still have a little time left, Surely he must have had a few weeks or months left to gather powers and take care of his affairs, but he was very wrong, he had been at the final moments of his life.

When a mortal was at the edge of death, they could burn their vitality and push through the obstacles in their way. Seemingly achieving great feats of strength and living far past their due time… If only for a moment.

Rowan was wrong… The Primordial Keepers did not make a mistake when they attempted to kill him and failed… No, they succeeded, for he was already dead, and he had no lifespan left.

His Record did not show him an exact number of days or weeks left because there was none, at that moment when Maeve had found him with a knife sticking through his eyes and into his brain, he had exhausted all his lifespan.

What kept him on his last breath for so long was two things, his stubborn spirit and his inexhaustible vitality, his soul had only the barest wisp left, yet as he evolved the Ouroboros bloodline his vitality increased to a ridiculous amount, and that was what fanned the flames of that last dying wisp.

He had so many problems on his mind, he had been torn in different directions, trying to understand, to fight his way out of this hell he woke up into, he had never relaxed for a single moment.

But everything had an end, his growing soul point finally made him relax his spirit, and that last tenuous grasp on his soul slipped from his aching grasp.

Like all selfless individuals, the soul of the prince had influenced Rowan far more than he knew, for instead of pursuing his survival at any cost, he placed the needs of the many over his own.

The pain in his hearts increased as the snakes were going crazy inside him, they were a part of him, that in his mortal state he could not yet grasp.

His hands seized his chest, and with his last, will he attempted to push his soul point into Ouroboros, but he was so exhausted… He screamed and fought for his mind to move, as heavy darkness began to encroach over his sight…

Move, damn*it… MOVE!!! I have everything I need to live, and I can’t fail at the edge of winning, please… Not like this.

Not… Like… This…

His hands collapsed by his side, and his breath ended, his soul slipped away from his body, and it began to ascend.

Overhead, the skies of this world that had never seen the light of the sun changed.

For the Soul of an Empyrean was dying. The surrounding bones began to tremble and overhead the skies parted and a Great Eye, that seemed to contain all the darkness of the void, opened.

. . . . .

. , , , , .

. . , . – .

, , .

. , . .

!

, . , .

, .

. . , .

, . .

.

!

, . .

. . . ’ , , , man ?

.

, !

The bracelet that encircled Rowans wrist, rose and expanded, and the Jaws of Dagon opened forth. Rowan’s soul was already halfway through the opening in the sky, where that Great Black Eye watches, when the Jaw seized his soul and dragged it down.

The Great Eye above trembled and slowly began to dissipate, the reason it could stay in the material plane for so long, was due to the nature of this place. The prize had not escaped its grasp, for it was a dying flame, that could only shelter itself from the storm for a little while before it expired.

The Great Eye reduced itself to a pin prick, and became a spot darker than night, and it waited for the shelter to crack open.

Although it was patient as the endless void, it still fashioned a Soul Storm around the body of Rowan.

*******************

Rowan found himself in darkness, his thoughts were slow, as if his mind was filled with syrup, he felt so cold, if he had a body, he would have been shivering.

There was one spot of light ahead of him, it was golden and felt like the sun, and he wanted to enter that light, but he was so tired… But he mentally pushed himself to move…

Rowan’s form was pitiful, if a soul was a burning flame, he was less than the smoke that escapes the fire… Yet the will inside that smoke was powerful.

A lifetime of pain and loss had crafted that life force from coal into a diamond, and if all that was left of him was just a wisp of himself, he would never stop.

Yet, his resolve was powerful, but he was wasted, and his grasp were losing their hold on his awareness. Even inside his Jaws of Dagon, he could only last for a while, he was too weak and slow to enter that golden light.

His body was before him, but at the speed he was moving towards it, he would inevitably fail.

But that did not make him to stop his advancement, the wisp of his soul made that golden light It’s everything… His focus was total, and if he were to slip into death, his eyes would remain permanently fixed ahead of him, nothing would hold him back… Not death, least of all despair.

If I am to die. It would be on my feet, striving for life. Let it not be said I failed my promise, while on my knees.

He remembered crawling through the darkness in the mines, bones broken and his mind on the verge of shattering. He remembered it like it was yesterday, at that time his soul was far weaker than it was now.

Yet he did not break.

He remembered the madness of the Spatial corridor, where he held himself on the verge of madness for what seem like an eternity. His stubbornness to never give in to despair has always been his one character trait he had never let go off.

After all, no one else, would ever walk in his shoes, he was the master of his fate. He alone understood what he went through, for empathy only goes so far.

His soul was getting weaker, the enhancement of his Jaws of Dagon was weakening, for even as it held it soul over his body, a horrifying suction force was trying to pull that wisp away.

At the last of his strength, he felt a growing warmth flowing inside his soul, it began as a trickle, and it slowly grew to become a flood that covered the wisp of his soul.

It was like music that would make you cry.

It was like being wrapped in a hot blanket after braving a storm, it was a lover’s laughter, it was a mother’s warm embrace, a father’s smile that shows his pride in you, it was everything a mortal could experience, both good and bad. It was everything a person was and could be, and it was given freely to him.

It was the soul of his people he had kept inside the Jaws of Dagon, they came around him, and they poured their strength into his dying wisp.

Rowan’s soul was like a gray smoke, while their souls were like a shining lamp, and as they gave him their everything, they began to vanish. For even in his weakened state, his soul quality surpassed them all.

Rowan tried to stop them… Tried to say that it was not worth it… He was the Empyrean, he was the one who was supposed to save them.

But a harsh slap resounded inside his soul, and he paused… Stunned.

” . , , . .”