?The skies darkened until there was no light except from the eighty Million gods standing around the planet, beings of power made from lightning, ice, and the wind, yet amidst all their glory that shone brighter than a star, everything and everyone on the planet, even the trees and the stones turned to face a single direction.

They could not help it, the being that stood there had a majesty that nothing could ignore. It transcended their consciousness, engraving itself into their souls, and they all knew that their existence depended on the whims of this mighty one.

One blink of his eye and all would be exalted, another blink and everything would perish.

The consciousness of Rowan that inhabited one of the Spirit Guise transformed it into a being of white smoke with a single golden eye hanging inside of it.

The golden eye was massive, at least a thousand miles in diameter. The white smoke that surrounded it was like multiple tentacles that seemed to extend deep into infinity.

As the eye descended the planet began to come undone. Trees collapsed into ashes and massive earthquakes rippled through the planet as a million volcanoes poured out the life essence of the world.

A Minor World could not handle the consciousness of Rowan who was truly in this place in all his glory. The eye stopped and the destruction of the world ended and as if time was reversing, everything returned the way it was supposed to be, with the only difference being that everything was now pressed to the ground, unable to look at the sky or even move a single inch.

This was Rowan’s mercy, mortal creatures should not look at him, or his nature would corrupt them, and the least of their worries would be death. The destruction previously was to rid the world of the awareness of his presence. Now they only knew that something powerful was in the sky, but they did not know who he was any longer.

A burst of bright green light erupted from the surface of the planet, pushing past his restrictions and flying past row after row of gods that lined the path up to the golden eye. Space appeared to be unnaturally extended and the light had to travel for a seemingly long time before nearing the eye.

The green light dissipated revealing the figure of Maeve, who now had green wings, and two short green horns, and her hair was also green. She stopped a few miles away from the golden eye and bowed deeply, her eyes were filled with expectation and a hint of doubt.

She could sense the power and presence of her lord inside this great eye, yet it seemed impossible that he should already be this powerful, even without collecting his memories and true inheritance from his mother.

Rowan did not remind her of a being who should be walking inside the material universe but instead, an Old One, whose presence was met with horror and adoration.

The last time she met Rowan he was still a man, albeit a powerful one, but he had to run away from death and danger, even though his Incarnation inside her Territory should have given her a glimpse of the horrifying powers he now controlled, this came as a profound shock to her.

‘As expected of my lord.’ Maeve fiercely jubilated in her heart. The heavy pall of doom that had surrounded her since hearing the truth about Trion from Lamia lifted. They had a fighting chance.

The golden eyes suddenly vanished, the tentacles of mist retracting into a single golden point that shone so bright that Maeve had to cover her eyes, when the glow subsided what remained in its place was Rowan.

This form of Rowan was not like he previously appeared, he came not as a fully grown man, but as a child of eight, with bright green eyes and green hair. This was his appearance in the days before his father took him. This should be his true appearance and the one he wore before was something given to him by his father.

The general shape of his face was now a bit softened, not the harsh tones of perfection like before, but molded into something of beauty by the features drawn from his mother. His eyes no longer gave off the harsh reptilian look of a serpent, but one filled with curiosity, as if everything in creation was an open book he wanted to read.

Maeve on seeing this form of Rowan burst into tears and vanished from her position only to reappear below the feet of Rowan where she began to weep, her tears touched his foot and she hastily used her hair to wipe it.

“My Lord, Romion… it is good that you have returned.”

A gentle hand rested on her head before traveling down her chin bringing them up so Rowan could look into her weeping eyes,

“What did you call me?” Rowan’s tone was like a child, but there was an undeniable authority in his words.

Maeve smiled sadly, “That is the name your mother gave you my lord, Romion, it meant the one I have been waiting for.”

“My mother…” Rowan whispered his eyes went cloudy with the fog of recollection.

“My Lord, you don’t need to hear your story from my lips, following the instructions from your Esteemed Mother, I have built the Eld Tree below, which is the receptacle of knowledge and power granted to me by your mother to pass unto you.”

Maeve gestured downwards to a section of the planet that resembled a green desert, which was a vast forest, with trees that were so lush with vitality, that each of them held millions of leaves with no space for even air to pass through.

Rowan nodded, “Let me see what she left behind.”

Maeve nodded with satisfaction and flew down followed by Rowan, he looked at her bright green wings that reminded him of his Angels and smiled at the little Nymph that hid between the feathers and peered at him with curiosity.

He recalled a memory and suddenly burst into laughter, Maeve was startled and looked back at him with questions in her gaze.

Rowan looked at Maeve with new eyes, “You are that little Nymph in my memories… Oh, how could I have forgotten? You are Anihuruhdda, Guardian of The Green. The Nymph who decided to become my friend. So you have followed me through the ages.”

She smiled brightly with equal parts joy and stupefaction, “How is it possible for you to remember me? Your memories of the past were collected by your mother to keep them safe from the corruption of the Great Deceiver.”

Rowan cocked his head to this side in contemplation. So his missing memories were a result of tampering from his mother and not his father; he had been able to recall small portions of his past with the help of the Primordial Record bringing back his lost bloodline— Tree of Desire.

His mother had been able to give him a bit of an edge against his father by taking those memories, depriving him of all the tools he could have used to totally manipulate Rowan. Every small measure taken by him and his mother over the years had borne fruit until they had been able to rid Rowan of the manipulations of his father.

The voice of Maeve pulled him from his introspection,

“But I’m not surprised, even the weight of death could not hold you down, and I believe in due time, you will recover your memories even without the aid of your mother.”

“Perhaps,” Rowan said, “but this would be faster, and time grows short.”

Maeve looked at the stars in worry and nodded her agreement, “Yes, your mother predicted that such a thing would happen, the Great Deceiver is a scorpion trying to cross the river on the back of a frog.”

“What’s that?” Rowan asked, not familiar with the phrase she just used.

“Oh, I am referring to the story about the Scorpion and the Frog. Your mother used to tell you this anecdote as a warning against the darkness in the minds of some people when you were young. I was privileged to listen to her once when she was with you. Would you like to hear it?”

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