?Rowan was silent as he observed the Steele, aware that he was standing before one of the most powerful entities in existence, in their own right a Singularity should be equal and also lesser than a Primordial.

He had no way to compare their powers at this time, but he knew that combining with the Primordial Record had given birth to an entity with the power to surpass the Primordials, what powers would this Steele hold, and did it have an owner?

Apart from the Primordial Record and this Steele, were there other Singularities, or were they the only two in existence?

So many questions he wanted to ask, but he felt an overbearing Will urging him to touch the Steele and engrave his name, without it, his World Core would still become complete, but he would lose out on something so incredibly precious that in all of creation, barely a hundred plus individuals had succeeded.

The odds of this occurring and receiving the title of a World Bearer were almost equal to receiving the Primordial Record when placed against the entirety of time and the number of beings who dwelled in creation.

He did not know this would happen when he completed the World Core, but it had already shattered the domain of Erohim and the man who was left was barely a threat. The power of the Steele was undeniable, appearing in this broken universe that was nothing but a memory of Erohim and seizing control of it with no issues.

The decision had been made already, and Rowan would not deny himself the privilege to become a World Bearer, although he knew that with benefits, also came a hidden cost; new and unknown enemies, and an unknown path ahead.

Rowan walked towards the Steele, observing its shape, it was the size of a small hill, and etched onto it was the types of Scripts that Rowan saw inside the Primordial Record, except there were subtle differences that made it appear alien.

Whatever language this was it carried power and it was still unknown to him, the only thing he had that was a bit similar was the Words of Enoch, now transformed into the Breath of Enoch in his dimension.

This power was the only one that was closest in shape to this mysterious Scripts and Rowan had studied it for a long time, discovering new mysteries inside of it, and he had held back against using this power until he was sure he understood its full potential.

Rowan understood that whatever he used this power for must be multi-universe breaking. Anything less would be a waste.

There was a subtle force erupting from the Steele that pushed him backward as he stepped closer, but he knew that this was not a sign of rejection, it was only the innate power inside this Steele that was so massive, that anything not worthy would not be able to reach it.

He was worthy, but it was also difficult to complete the ritual. Difficult, not impossible.

Pushing through the barrier of repulsion that created a shining corona of force around his consciousness, Rowan stretched forth his fist, he was a few inches away from touching it, but he opened his hand, and his index finger touched the Steele.

A bright purple light shone in the spot where his finger made contact and it spread until it covered the Steele. A slow hum began to arise from it, and suddenly as if time was reversed, the purple light flowed back from the Steele and smashed into Rowan’s consciousness.

He stepped back and squeezed his head, his mouth opened in a silent scream as he froze in position, on the surface, nothing had changed, but beneath, was something different.

Rowan felt a cold Will, powerful beyond measure, take hold of his consciousness and his memories were riffled through, his defenses crumbled like paper, as the Will bore deeper into him. Rowan could not fight it, and he could only delay it by pushing all his important memories deep into the Core of his being. The Will reached his core and before Rowan could abandon hope, it was rebounded by an equal force—The Primordial Record.

He had been growing distant from the Primordial Record when he saw that the Singularity did not truly believe he would prevail over the odds of ascension to a Primordial and when he knew that the origins of the Primordial Record could be troublesome. His trust in this treasure had began to decrease over time. The Singularity demanded too much of him, and Rowan would not lose itself to its vision, no matter how grand it was.

Rowan had begun using it less and less, depending more on his knowledge and Will to push himself forward, after all, he had made a bet with this treasure that he would not only become a Primordial in his own terms, he was also going to exceed that level.

Yet Rowan found himself glad that he had the Primordial Record here with him at the end, despite its alien nature, this treasure had chosen him, and when push came to shove, his Singularity was by his side.

He had secrets that would follow him to his grave and no one would take it away from him, not even a Singularity. His helplessness against this Steele was unexpected and unpleasant, and he was glad at this time he had the Primordial Record by his side when he had failed to stop it incursion.

The Will of the Steele paused at this unexpected barrier in his thought, yet Rowan sensed no anger or ill intent from it, having being denied, it simply took a different approach and spoke to him,

“The First Boon cannot be granted for there is a failure to assess your true nature. You shall not be named by the Steele. This event had occurred only eleven times in history; therefore you shall be the one to make your True Name. I should warn you, this act would make it impossible for your true rewards to be calculated in its entirety and only an estimate would be given, is this acceptable to you? Without your True Name, your World Bearer Title cannot be granted!”

Rowan did not wonder for long why he chose to protect his memory so fiercely, even from something that might be beneficial to him, he figured out that his memory was all he truly had, and except for his enemies and in rare cases, Rowan did not try to read the mind of those around him, he had an uncommon respect for this.

Everyone had the privilege of keeping something of themselves away from the world, and he had plenty he did not want the world to know.

Rowan felt his heart seized, although in this body he did not have a heart, he could feel a surge across all his consciousnesses in acknowledgment. Finally he was going to take a step that he had planned for so long, but he never wanted to use for various reasons.

His True Name might seem to be a small issue, but since the moment he defeated Caine and took control of his bloodlines, he knew he was not complete, not without his name. It may not look like it, but this was something that Rowan had dedicated a majority of his consciousness power in trying to solve.