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n“Then it’s a good thing that the Sigil you seek lies along our path, I have no intentions of controlling you, and if you gain your freedom and I gain the other benefits hidden in this place, we both win!”

n“I would follow your lead for now, Augustus, show me what I need to see.”

n“Great, you would not regret this decision.” The General laughed and began walking across the room.

nNo, I would definitely regret my decision if I choose to believe you. Rowan thought. He did not forget someone ordered the last Vestibulary he checked to be destroyed, even though that attempt failed, the General had been sprouting nonsense to distract him from that event, and that was just one minor flaw in his plans. 𝙫.𝙜

n“Oh, and that ‘poor’ bastard.” The General pointed at Boris, “it Was my gift to you. He may have sprouted some gibberish about what I’m doing here, but your worth is a thousand times his, and you were never a pawn in this game.”

n“Your gift comes with thorn, nevertheless I would accept it, although it is expected of me to give thanks for such great gifts.”

n“Perish the thought, as you don’t have to thank me at all, for you to collaborate with me, I understand I must bring forth incentives. If you acquiesce with me on this venture, I should be the one to thank you.”

nRowan paused for a while and decided to follow him. He recalled the red flames back to his hand, and suppressed the flames until there was nothing but embers left. He kept one Ouroboros Serpent behind, and he observed that the General looked at this development with curiosity, but he made no comments.

nTheir speed of their movements was fast, and Rowan noticed that the General might be trying to gauge his speed, so Rowan did not go beyond the level he had displayed until this point, they crossed the room and before them were three passages, the General did not pause and went towards the left, into another more expansive room.

nThe direction that the Sigil followed was towards the right door, but Rowan pretended he was not aware of that fact.

nIn the middle of this room was an industrial-size elevator, that led further down into the earth. Before the General stepped on the elevator, he went to an office space by the side, where he rummaged around for something. He pulled out a box and opened it, saying, “Haa, here it is.”

nWalking back to the elevator, he threw the box at Rowan, who caught it, “We are going further down into the true Hub of the Nexus, it is thirty kilometers into the ground.”

nHe pressed a series of buttons and dragged a lever down, and the elevator began to descend as if it were in a free fall.

nRowan opened the box and saw a sleek set of armor that resembled the tactical gear of the Guardsmen, but these were clearly of much higher quality, for parts of them resembled fabrics, yet when Rowan touched the materials, its tenacity was stronger than steel.

n“Put some clothes on Rowan. I understand that we’ve been a terrible hosts, and this should barely count. I can see that your bloodline is disposed towards strength, and you have not learned to control your abilities. The normal clothes or armor would be easily destroyed by your movements.”

nRowan looked at the General, it was easy to see the experience he had gained by leading soldiers, and the sense of closeness he was trying to foster by giving him clothes.

nThere were various options he could take, he could pretend as if he were affected by the gesture or ignore the armor altogether, he ultimately chose to follow the direct route, and he pulled out the armor and began sizing it up, it was a little small.

n“Don’t expect me to thank you for these, Augustus.” Rowan growled, playing the part of the disgruntled counterpart. Even as he increased the wariness of this man to be second place only after his father. He did not expect for any obvious traps to be in the clothes, the General played a much deeper game.

n“I never expected any thanks, Rowan. Oh, and they adjust to your size, just begin wearing them, and it would enlarge or decrease to fit you. You can consider it another gift” The General smiled and looked away.

nIn a short while, Rowan was done, the armor hugged his body, and it resembled a fusion between the tactical gear of his previous life and medieval armor. Rowan tested his range of movements and saw that he was unencumbered.

nThey had been descending for more than five minutes now, and judging by their rate of descent, it would be four more minutes before reaching the bottom. He was not against going deeper into the facility because that was where the true controls lied.

nFor a Nexus of this size, the Warding Room must be massive and as far as they were descending, he was okay with that.

nThe most important point was that he could see that the Sigils still penetrated deeper into the earth, he would cut the chains bounding the Primordial Record, and he would proceed towards finding ways to escape.

nRowan turned to the General, who was eying the two Ouroboros Serpents that were revolving around Rowan, he could barely hide the look of fascination in his eyes, Rowan Spatial Sight and his senses were beginning to ease up, and he could slowly read more of the General’s emotion, and they were horrible.

n“You are going all around the house, just to eat the food laid in front of your eyes, Augustus. I do not believe your talk of morality for a single moment, and even if those were true, why would you leave a profitable venture on your part, just because of some measly concern about their working practices.”

nThe General was quiet, before he began to laugh softly, “You are right about all your assumptions, but you are forgetting a part of the narrative here. I will enjoy no benefit from this venture if I’m dead.”

n“Troublesome bedfellows? This Order of Broken Eye?” Rowan said.

n“The absolute worst.” The General whispered. “What they are doing to you is just part of their operation, when I became aware of the truth, I choose to pick another direction, if the truth comes to light about what is really buried beneath this place, everyone involved would be hunted and killed, I am doing this for my survival and without your assistance, we would not survive what is coming.”

n“Now, why does that sound familiar?” Rowan rubbed his chin.

n“Do not lump me with that Abomination, Rowan, you have no idea the monster that thing really is. If you knew, you would have never accepted its fire. That thing is not just a sealed Abomination Core, it’s among the firstborns. You may not understand what that truly means, but if that thing leaves this place, even the gods themselves would fall.”

n“It doesn’t matter what you say.” Rowan turned away from him just as the elevator reached its stop with a muffled rumble, “You are all monsters.”

n“Bah, you wound me with your words Rowan, nevertheless I’m sure you are aware that with your rate of development and your strange bloodline. That there would be no reason for the Order of the Broken Eye to keep you alive and watch you grow to this extent.”

n“They are not interested in using the Singularity to create a force they cannot control, and judging by your actions and your rate of growth, I can assure you they know you won’t be under their control for long. As for what they want to do with you… ” He paused, clearly expecting Rowan to ask the follow-up questions.

nRowan decided to change the game a little, the plans he laid down had to begin to bear fruit, and he had played along with him for long enough.

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