The Great Desert rippled as the tattered remnants of the Third Prince escaped its hold. The scream from the Great Desert resounded throughout time and space, rare was it for the desert to lose any of its prey.
The Great Desert not only functioned as the gate of her Universe Will, but it was also the place where creatures that technically could no longer be killed because death was now meaningless for them could be found.
Every creature here was at the least a 5th Dimensional Entity, able to control aspects of the past, present, and future. It was quite impossible to truly kill beings like that, and so in the event that their bodies both corporeal and immaterial were irretrievably destroyed, they would be resurrected inside the Great Desert.
This acted as a great filter for the many universes, or else there would never be peace but an endless war throughout all of creation for the true immortals, which were beings that were at the 5th Dimension and above could not be truly killed and their battles would inevitably bring all of creation to destruction.
This was what made the Great Desert truly important and was the primary reason why any escape from it was noteworthy. The Third Prince although a Reflection of a being with the power of a Primordial still had extremely special properties that made him able to perform this incredible feat, but still it would have been impossible without the presence of Elura.
Elura was the key to accessing the Universe Will of this particular universe, without her presence even if the Third Prince could escape the Desert he would be unable to locate the Universe Will.
The Shadowy form of the Third Prince still encasing Elura fell into a deep coma for three weeks for the damages he sustained from burning his essence was overwhelming.
Although this gave him enough power to escape the great desert, it had damaged him perhaps beyond what he could ever recover from.
Anyone else would be dead, but the stubbornness and madness of the Third Prince was boundless, beyond what even the gods could understand, it kept the last flicker of life inside his heart alive.
The eyes of the Third Prince slowly opened, in the time he was in a coma, his body had been rebuilt, this was a minor application of his powers that was easier than breathing for him, but the shape he now wore was horrifying.
Without him consciously manipulating the body he was wearing his appearance was a warped thing, it was apparent that he was just imitating life and was not truly alive as most in the universe would judge life to be.
He appeared like an old man with needle-sharp teeth that were tearing through his thin lips leaving them full of bleeding wounds. He bled black smoke.
This body was ridiculously tall at fifteen feet. His face was warped with age and he had less than fifty strands of stringy white hair on his head that was long and in disarray.
The Third Prince was nothing but skin and bones, and only a tiny wrap around his waist covered his modesty. What made his appearance especially disquieting was the size of his stomach.
It was massive, as he had swallowed an elephant, the skin on his stomach was very thin, so it was possible to see the sleeping form of Elura who appeared withered as well. The Third Prince had been feeding on her without holding back, which was one of the reasons he could still preserve the tiny portion of the spark that kept him alive.
He stood up and looked around, gritting his teeth as every joint in his body screamed in pain at every single motion he made, and he had many joints, numbering in the millions.
Finally, he was outside the Great Desert. The destination he was heading towards was impossible to miss for it was a temple made from bones and it was so massive it filled the entire horizon, and it was impossible to see where it started and where it ended.
The Third Prince took a step forward, his massive stomach undulating with a wet sound that would make anyone retch in revulsion if they were to hear it and suddenly he squeezed his head and screamed.
"Impossible….Impossible….AARRRHHHH!!!!... Rowan, how can you shatter my Will!"
Inside the great desert, the Third Prince had felt an intense sense of disquietness, it was the reason he had sacrificed his essence and pushed for his quick escape from that terrible place, although he did not know the reason for this feeling, he knew that it must be important, and yet never in his wildest imagination would he have thought that Rowan would have the ability to crush the Will he had placed inside his body.
"no no no no no no…. Something is very wrong here, everything he does should be impossible, even the Singularity should not have the power to shift the direction of his fate like this…. Aaarhhhh!!! It is still your fault… you never wanted me to win… good… this is very good, it will make my revenge even sweeter!"
Roaring like a beast out of the foulest depths of the universe, the Third Prince went on all fours and began to gallop towards the temple, his pace could not be measured with any mortal understanding, as he crossed light years in a single bound, and yet the temple in the distance did not appear any closer.
But still, it was only a matter of time before he reached it—the true center of the Universe.
A place that even the most powerful gods or Archmages could never reach. A sacred place where true power was to be found.
He had made preparations for his end game, but that was supposed to occur trillions of years from now.
Like Rowan, he was a perfectionist, and he would have made sure that every single grain of sand was in precisely the place he wanted it.
It was this quest for perfection that had driven him to this state, and with his time running short, the Third Prince was determined to bring it all to an end.
"You have had your fun child, but now it's time to end it all."
The temple in the distance drew ever nearer.
