Deep inside the universe, a red light was shooting through the darkness of the void. The speed of the movement was exaggerated as it zoomed past many different galaxies in a few short weeks. Inside that red light was the figure of the Third Prince, Rowan's father.
Something was different about his appearance however, he was visibly losing weight, and his true appearance was emerging underneath all the layer of fat on him, although for the moment the red light emerging from his body was so thick that his form could not be seen.
If Rowan was here he would have understood a frightening aspect about his father's power. The red light that he was using to shoot through the universe was none other than Intent!
Rowan had been frozen in shock for the amount of Intent his father was pushing out every single second was thousands of times greater than all the Intent in his body. It was unknown what grade this Intent could be, but it was vast.
With the restrictions placed upon him inside the material universe, the Third Prince could not quickly move through space using the Shadow-verse, it was the reason he needed the aid of Teleportation portals to quickly navigate his way inside the universe, but where he was going there was no known roads that led to that place.
He could no longer ask for help from the pawns he had set up over the years. Recent events have shown that he was wrong in solely focusing on this path.
It was the reason why he had been traveling through the void of space for the last three years now approaching the fourth, as he journeyed to where it all began. Ultimately in this universe, he had to seize his destiny with his own hands if he wanted the results he wanted.
He was not just going to play a new hand, he was going to break the fucking board.
He was heading to a place he had forbidden himself from ever reaching, for the risk he would face would be very great, and it was most likely he might perish.
The location he was headed was where he first pierced through into this material universe twelve billion years ago.
With the event on Jarkarr fresh on his mind, the Third Prince understood that he had underestimated the power of the Singularity, and most importantly he had underestimated the cunning of his son, who in a single day transformed into a creature he no longer recognized.
He had made sure the memory of Rowan was thoroughly wiped out, he also used Sigils to dull the sharp edges of this child as much as possible without making him an idiot, but his latest gambit had failed. Through the wiles of Fate and Luck, Rowan was slipping through his fingers.
He suspected that he knew the bastard that was causing these problems for him.
'This is your doing, isn't it?' the Third Prince gnashed his teeth, 'you will not let me win this game after all that I have sacrificed in your name, and still do. You still fear me, still despise my light. You will see me fail, even if it means the end of our glory…"
The Third Prince suddenly shouted, "I hate you. Since the dawn of creation, there has never been a hate greater than mine. With the dying tears of all the stars in creation, I shall rob you of your light. This I swear!"
The red light began to move faster through the universe, in four more years it would reach its destination, a place so distant it was at the edge of the universe itself, a place that even gods would not be able to reach in their lifetime.
It was only at that place, that the Third Prince would break his oath, and draw the attention of all those he had been trying to ignore all this while, realizing that if he could not win his prize, then he would destroy it.
While in the material universe, in order for him not to call too much attention to his presence he had restricted himself to use a single grain of the weakest Aether he could find. This had reduced his overall abilities and his combat potential to a fraction of what it might have been.
It had been incredibly frustrating, he was like a battleship that could be powered by a million stars, and suddenly he found himself using the flames from a single matchstick as his source of fuel. Through careful administration of his powers, he had been able to thrive for a short while, but those times were now behind him.
Rowan was a problem that needed to be solved immediately before it got out of hand. If a single grain of Aether would not solve the problem, the Third Prince was determined to bring a thousand. If a thousand would not do, then he would give a million.
He would bury whatever resistance was left inside that child, even if he had to crush this entire universe in order to do it.
A carriage drawn by two large Runethors moved through a dusty street of an arid village. The streets were wide and the houses around the place were sparse and misshapen as if they were on the verge of destruction.
The Runethors were panting harshly with their tongue hanging outside their mouths. For such majestic creatures to appear this wretched must mean that the journey to this place must have been both long and difficult.
Yet as it was with their species, they all had a proud heart and they would bear any hardship until they couldn't. Luckily for these noble creatures, their journey was at an end, as whispered words by an occupant inside the carriage made them stop before a two-story ram-shackled building.
A hooded figure emerged from the carriage, on the shoulder of the figure was a sleeping black cat, the figure looked around before focusing on the building ahead, a stray breeze blew past the figure and a stand of blue hair escaped from the hood.