The members of the Justice Council were always covered in darkness, and when they returned from their hunt they carried great chains of darkness that resembled dried branches, with which they dragged screaming Dominators, sometimes by their tens of thousands into the dungeon.
It was said that 350,000 years ago, a rebellious Emperor chose to commit an unpardonable offense, and it was the Justice Council who entered the palace and in a single stroke, seized the entire adult members of that family along with the Emperor into the dungeons.
It was hard to estimate the figure but the numbers were in the tens of millions. What made that story scary was that the perpetrator was only a single individual. He had entered the royal palace and behind him were the millions of screaming people, bound by wood and darkness.
No Dominator had ever entered this place of darkness and returned. In the fictitious tale Spurn to the previous prince Rowan Kuranes, his mother had been taken into the dungeon of the Justice Council, and in order to free her, his body would have to be taken through a series of grueling experiments.
He had believed her and threw his whole soul into helping his mother to become 'free' of a life of eternal torture in the darkness.
Recognizing the lies there and the interference of the Sigils that at that time was bounding his Soul and Singularity, Rowan knew that it was just another method for his father to twist the truth and authorize Rowan to unknowingly give him access to his body and therefore the Primordial Record.
That old bastard had been so close to succeeding. So deep was the spell that Prince Rowan was placed under, he would have never fought against the lie, and slowly but surely, his father would have harvested every single page of the Primordial Record from his body until there was none left, and knowing the sick delights of this man, he would have kept Rowan alive for as long as possible to watch him suffer, only revealing the truth at the end.
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Circe watched the great city getting closer, her eyes flirting among the massive number of people in their millions entering the city, she suddenly staggered as she saw a vision of fire, the beautiful city shattered in pieces and the bodies of billions piled up in a mound that reached the clouds, as a rain of blood turned the Crystal Lake red.
She squeezed her eyes shut, dismissing that vision, Rowan had promised her that his war was not with the mortals, and if any mortal would be dying, it would not be by his hands. Her actions he told her were similar to going for the head of the snake, killing the corruption from its roots, and sparing the life of the branches and leaves.
'The only thing that dies is the corruption, not the corrupted, if they can be saved, I will do it.'
Much more quickly than she would have expected, they had arrived at the receiving port for all Sand Lines, and with a quick negotiation with her neighbor, she sold off her carriage to the delight of the merchant, who had undoubtedly made a nice pile of change from this single transaction than he would have otherwise made for decades.
She entered Aroth and began to walk towards the closest temple of Boreas, there were countless temples where you could worship the gods and it was not hard to find the temple of your choice, except for the temple of Minerva, her people did not worship in temples but under the moonlight of the night skies.
It was easy to identify the Minerva family with their white hair, white eyes, and brown skin. They refused to live in houses, pitching large tents out in the plains, but Aroth was so large it had several open ain't measuring hundreds of miles and they could easily settle themselves.
The first temple of Boreas she saw was filled with worshippers, and she left, no matter how mild her ascension to a goddess was to become for Rowan had promised to hide the entirety of her Tribulation, there would still be fluctuations that would kill even an Earth god.
The search for a suitable temple continued for hours, Circe having traveled hundreds of miles and witnessing countless wonders.
Finally, she stopped and looked at the horizon at the massive statues… no not statues, the Anima of the gods, and their temple in its shadows, and she knew that was the place she wanted to ascend.
"I guess this is fate." the voice of Rowan said, "Your enemy lies inside that temple, and the woman you seek is also there."
Circe gasped, "Rico… Nana, both of them?!..."
"Yes, there is also the presence of your Ancestor. Use the Rune of Concealment I taught you and proceed towards the temple, but be careful to put your emotions under control. Your Ancestor is particularly sensitive to a mind clouded by emotions, I think it is one of his innate talents, fascinating stuff."
Circe found herself walking faster, barely listening to Rowan as she covered herself with the Rune of Concealment, her heart was steady, but her mind was filled with countless thoughts, but slowly the calm best of her heart served go steady her nerves and the power she felt rushing through her veins was an anchor to hold down her spirit.
The enemy that she had chased for a million miles and the family she had sought for answers and to protect was right in front of her.
Suddenly everything was coming to its conclusion faster than she had ever thought possible, and she knew it was only because of the presence of Rowan, this enigmatic being whose very presence seemed to warp reality to his will.
She felt fear, anger, sorrow, awe and so many emotions in a single breath it was hard to wrap her mind around it all, but that calm power soothe her shaken spirit and she walked steadily towards the Central Temple of Boreas.
The massive shadow of the Anima of Boreas covered her and she shivered as her Incarnation turned itself to its male form without her prompting and the full weight of what she was about to do hit her.
Was she about to assassinate a freaking god?
