The Primordial Record

The being that attacked Boreas resembled an octopus, but instead of tentacles, it had arms. The hand had eyes in their palms that accurately resembled the demonic entity that Rowan had seen Tenma summon on the battlefield, it even had the aura of a Demon.

Although Boreas had called Rowan by his name, Rowan was not fooled, he had not revealed anything of himself to the god, and he would be foolish to reveal himself even if Boreas was correct.

He expected that Boreas would begin to fish for information next, which was good. While he would be busy trying to crack Rowan's disguise, he would be doing something else.

Rowan had already covered the entire vault using his Aether, creating a shield of unnatural black ice that was resisting the influence of Destruction and blocking Boreas from escaping this place for a short time.

This weird body was the form Rowan took, as he was no longer restricted to a humanoid form when he lost his flesh Rowan used his Aether as a tool to impose his will on reality while hiding his Aura until he finished his objectives.

The head of Boreas in one of his hands gasped in pain before he began to chuckle, and that soon exploded into a full-blown laugh,

"You disappoint me, Rowan. Like your trickster father, ultimately the only thing you truly understand is violence. The snake only sheds its skin to grow into a bigger snake. I came to you with my arms placed away and yet you attacked me with no hesitation. Your bloodlust makes you similar to Tiberius, that fucking animal."

The shattered body of Boreas exploded into lightning and he reappeared on his throne. He dusted non-existent dust from his sleeves and relaxed on his throne, a smile playing along the edge of his lips.

"You cannot kill me, little brother. Tell me, what do you hope to achieve here? I had thought you would be fleeing to the farthest corner of the universe. Yet like the rabid dog that you are turning out to be, you jump at the first chance to bite the hand that reaches out to you. How predictable and disappointing. Yet I don't believe it is entirely your fault, you have been left alone for too long, you need guidance and a firm hand."

The weird demonic figure of Rowan silently vanished and Boreas' eyes blazed with regret and annoyance, and he turned to Circe,

"I will take care of you first, you have no right to be here with my family." He spread open his right hand as if he was cupping the air, and out of nowhere, a lightning bolt that was so condensed it resembled a star that was shaped as a lightning bolt slammed into Circe, she did not even have any time to scream before she was turned to dust.

Boreas clapped his hands together and smiled brightly,

"Now that this little distraction is out of the way, why don't you come out and play little brother? I have seen your signs and the potents you leave all over reality. Like a petulant child, you crawl on everything that had been raised up slowly over the eons and you seek to trample them with your overgrown feet. If our father would not discipline you, then so be it. I will be the one to bring you to heel. I do this out of love."

Boreas looked around, his senses running through every layer of his vault. Like all the other vaults held by his siblings, it was stark with no decorations or symbols, the only things here were his Spirit Guises, which he had been able to cultivate with the help of the unique environment of this vault.

"What is your goal here little brother? Do you seek to imprison me because now you realize that I'm invincible and cannot be killed? Is this the way you want to win this ill-conceived battle? Let me give you information for free, yes my Divine Spark is here, along with my consciousness, but you should know by now that this is not all of me."

Boreas vanished and reappeared by the little bit of black ash left behind by Circe's vapourised body, "My siblings will soon seek me out when they discover that I'm not responding to them, just one of them that becomes a bit curious would draw the attention of the rest. How long do you think this will take? A year? A week?... The next minute?"

He bent down and reached for the ash and dragged his fingers through it before bringing the digit to his lips and licking it. His eyes were closed as if he was savoring the taste of the ash.

"I will admit, I don't know what method you use to seal the vault. Yet I'm not surprised, you always had this way about you… the miracles you could effortlessly accomplish. I do not envy your gift, Rowan, I know the curse that it carries. I heard your cries of pain for a million years little brother, and as punishment for my silence, my darkness, this fucking prison now holds your voice… screaming inside my skull like a pack of starving mice. How quaint that your seal is the one to hold them back after all this time. I almost thought this to be impossible and I will endure this curse forever."

Rowan remained quiet. No matter what Boreas says, he did not truly know it was Rowan manipulating Circe, and he was already so close to finishing what he set out to do. Boreas had swallowed his Aether after all. Let the god keep talking, the true battle was taking place beneath all the bluster.

'I will make a pact with you,"Boreas stood up from his crouch, "You have seen my powers, and you have witnessed that I can not be killed. My body is my Divine Spark, and no matter how many times you rip me apart, I will not die. Give me your strength and together we shall rise above the gods and we shall take back our throne from the Trickster, Golgoth has promised your safety if you bound yourself to our will."

Boreas did not seem to be bothered that Rowan was silent as he chuckled,

"Don't you see, we have the same enemy. That damned trickster was not just your father. The act of ripping us from our bodies and placing this… this blasted consciousness in all of us also makes him our father too. If he had stopped there that would be too much of an affront to us, but he didn't, in his madness he also went after his own kin!"

Suddenly the vault went silent as if an invisible weight had settled over it,

"That's right, I have your attention now. My foolish brother, do you think our father is alone? Why do you think he is called the Third Prince? He is a mad tyrant and a betrayer and his delirium goes beyond what you can conceive!"