Legacy of the Dark Sage

'The Heart of the Cosmos,' Kyran repeated in his mind and closed his eyes.

He has not found any information about the Shaiha in the Tower of Tribulations, but he had read and heard of the Heart of the Cosmos.

In every branch of magic from Kyran's third training in the Tower of Tribulation, there would be at least one knowledge tablet that talked about it. There were differences in how they portrayed it, but two things they all had in common were that one it was a god-level item, and two, it had been lost after the great war of gods that happened a few millions of years ago.

For example, in Alchemy, the Heart of the Cosmos was known as a god-level material that could enhance a potion or pill grade to god-grade even when the materials used were all low-level.

Similarly, in Array, the Heart of the Cosmos could act as a catalyst that could easily encrypt any god-tier formulas into an array, even if the array level was only a saint-tier.

There were many others that basically resulted in something heaven-defying.

Another thing Kyran remembered that made him doubt its authenticity at first, was the information written on the Dark Arts knowledge tablet.

It said that anyone who possessed the Heart of the Cosmos would no longer be bound by the magic law present in any plane, universe, and even realm.

If others heard all this from someone else, they would definitely doubt its authenticity. But everything was written inside the Knowledge Room in one of the planes the Tower of Tribulation had access to. Kyran had no reason to doubt it.

Apart from this, he discovered that one of the reasons most Sovereigns were fighting over who could rule over unoccupied planes, was because they were searching for the Heart of the Cosmos.

Kyran took a slow deep breath after recalling what he knew of the Heart of the Cosmos. Though, his facial expression appeared calm. His emotions were actually in turmoil.

He was already wanted by a few Sovereigns after visiting a number of planes during his training at the tower. If those Sovereigns learned he had the Heart of the Cosmos in his body, wouldn't every Sovereign be after him now?

He had yet to free his clan, and now this... would his bad luck ever turn for the better?

As he cursed his bad luck, he started to ponder the rest of the information he had about what happened a thousand years ago in the Human plane.

From there he pieced them together and formulated a theory of what transpired after the First War.

'The Soul Emperor was the one who let the demons and the others entered the Human plane. I still don't know her reasons, but I can't rule out the fact that she knew about the Heart of the Cosmos and used that to convince the demons to come.

'She was also aware of what was happening in the other planes... As for how she knew....'

Kyran thought of how the Dragon King bestowed the Draconic core to his Regis ancestor.

The Dragon King was from the Dragon plane. There was a possibility that the former taught Kyran's ancestor about other planes and many other things. Even if the Dragon King did not, once they were bonded, then they would each receive some of their memories.

Such was how bonding with a dragon worked.

'If my ancestor did not originally possess Draconic magic, then the Soul Emperor was probably the same. She might have met an 'entity,' someone similar to the Dragon King who bestowed the Soul core to her. It is also likely that someone taught her many things, including the Heart of the Cosmos and about other planes.

'If the Soul Emperor coveted the Heart of the Cosmos, why would she deliberately invite the demons?'

Kyran shook his head inwardly, 'No, that's not exactly right.

'She might know about it and told the demons it was in the Human plane without knowing it really was here.'

He sighed inwardly and furrowed his brows, 'But that still did not answer the question of why she would deliberately invite the demons.'

Since Kyran had too little information about the Soul Emperor, he put it aside and continued to piece together the rest.

'When my ancestor found it was the Soul Emperor who let the demons and the outsiders in the Human plane, he executed her.

'Zephyr said it happened after the humans and the others won over the demons, but why do I get the feeling that it happened before the First War really concluded?'

This part had been bothering Kyran. He did not think his ancestor was stupid enough to execute one of the Hero families right after the war. If he did, many who were under the Soul Emperor would retaliate and internal conflict would arise.

But that was also the case if Kyran's ancestor executed her during the critical moment of the war.

'Unless he found solid evidence of her evil deed... if shown at the right moment, every human would go against her and agree to her execution. Aside from this, with her death, any inside intel provided to the demons would stop, leading to the humans and the others' alliance victory.

'Still, Zephyr said that the 'demons' did not leave the Human plane...

'And according to Nolan, a piece of an ancient record they found mentioned that the Dark Sage ruled over those 'demons.'

'However, Zephyr disagreed with him.

'Why is there a disparity in this part? The ancient record was found in the Regis Ancestral Land. It was close to impossible to be written by an outsider...'

An idea flashed in his mind as he thought of the Magic Scholar in the First War.

Kyran had a feeling that the genius Magic Scholar was his predecessor. Because True Void had slipped once that before his predecessor found he had Void magic, he was a Magic Scholar.

If Kyran was correct, then the piece of ancient record found in the Regis Ancestral Land might have been written by his predecessor.

In this case, as a Magic Scholar, he might have used terms that befit a mage knowledgeable in ancient texts.

'The ancient word for demons, others, and spirits were the same. It is also the reason why there had been no differentiation between the demons in the First War.

'Because the demons and the others refer to themselves using the same word, the humans assumed they were of the same kind!'

As if a cogwheel had successfully connected to another cogwheel, one after another, Kyran's theory started to take form.

'The spirits saw my predecessor as their savior. Maybe, the 'demons' that were spoken in the ancient record that the 'Dark Sage' ruled, were the Spirits not the demons from the Demon plane!'

Then he recalled a story of how human families who could summon spirits came to be. It was said that a noble Fae married a human.

Kyran's expression turned grim as an absurd idea crossed his mind.

'My predecessor did not marry a Fae noble did he?' He thought, recalling how the Ada, which was his predecessor's family had fae blood which enabled them to see Spirits without the latter showing themselves deliberately.

Though Kyran wanted to reject this idea, he recalled Stella's reluctance of letting him meet the Queen of the Faes.

'Don't tell me...' He suddenly had a bad feeling.

And that bad feeling was that if his predecessor did marry a Fae... that Fae did not happen to the Queen of the Faes, right?

Kyran felt an incoming headache. He initially wanted to meet the Queen of the Faes, but after thinking of this possibility, he was reluctant to do so.

But then Kyran stopped his train of thought as he recalled how True Void seemed to imply his predecessor and the Soul Emperor had something... special. Although, she appeared to have used or betrayed him or something.

How come his predecessor's life was so complicated?

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, Kyran focused on piecing the rest of the information to finalize his theory.

'After the First War, the 'others' occupied a third of the Human plane as agreed. My predecessor as the Magic Scholar likely became an emissary of the humans to negotiate with the others. He also ruled over the Spirits... But then something happened...'

Kyran frowned at this. He could not ignore the fact that his predecessor and ancestor also fought in the past.

If he recalled what the Remnant Souls in the Misty Forest had said, his ancestor had tried time and again to infiltrate the Chaos Palace and probably kill his predecessor.

'Why?' Kyran wondered.

After learning more about his predecessor, Kyran believed he deliberately made himself the bad guy.

As to why, initially Kyran thought it was because of the Soul Emperor. But if his predecessor became the 'Dark Sage' after the Soul Emperor had been executed...

No.

Wait.

'Has the Soul Emperor really been executed then?' Kyran pondered.

Then he pinched the bridge of his nose as he reprimandingly reminded himself, 'What about the Shaiha? Where does it fit in all of this?'

Sighing inwardly, Kyran shook his head and muttered, "I still lack information."

Zephyr, who had been silently waiting for Kyran to ask questions about the Heart of the Cosmos frowned after hearing his response.

"Master?" He asked cautiously.

Snapping out of his reverie, Kyran looked at him.

His face was devoid of any indication of what he had been pondering.

"Ah, right. The Heart of the Cosmos. Okay. I guess... I'm doomed."

Zephyr gave him a blank expression as he expressed his sentiment, "You... Don't look worried at all!"