The Primordial Record

The green light was, however, running out but it would burn long enough for whatever he wanted to achieve.

The Third Prince looked at the massive worm above him, whose mouth was only a few thousand feet away from devouring him. He could hardly see the edges of the mouth which were so large it could swallow multiple solar systems.

The Third Prince chuckled, "How nice for you to bring yourself closer to me. If you were a bit father, then I would have lost, but the many Eras of polishing your arrogance have finally borne fruit."

He crouched and leaped upwards, and as he entered into the mouths of the worm, two heads of the worms in his neck exploded, his time was running out as Fourth was beginning to fight back more aggressively.

The Third Prince appeared in what resembled a universe that was filled with countless stars and planets, but they were all made from flesh. There were countless monstrosities dwelling inside the worm, all of which would have torn the Third Prince apart in the blink of an eye, but they were all frozen in place.

Some of the leviathans inside the body of the worm had auras of celestials, demons, and Mages, there were also other exotic creatures that were nameless and their numbers were uncountable. Inside the body of the worm were armies that could crush multiple universes, but they could not move.

The Third Prince sighed in pleasure as his sight zoomed to an inconspicuous part of the fleshy universe and he vanished only to reappear beside a small ball of flesh that was spinning in mid-air.

This ball of flesh was situated on a small planet, and it had no distinguishing properties from the trillions of balls of flesh all around it, but this was the singular weakness of the worm—it was his soul.

Over the many Eras, the Third Prince had been studying the mysteries of the soul for this singular moment, it was to kill Fourth.

Another two heads exploded leaving him with one, but it was already too late as he grabbed the spinning ball of flesh and consumed it. He might not understand much about the soul, but he knew how to kill it, even one as powerful as Fourth.

It was at this time that the last head exploded and the Great Worm cried out in rage, shock, and despair, but it would be its last cry.

The section of the worm where its heart should be exploded outwards and the gigantic worm started to slide down the tree and collapse around it. Its coils fell down the tree for hours as if it had no end, every section that hit the ground shaking all of creation.

For a while, silence was all there was. The worm was dead, but its vitality was so profound that it was still breathing.

From the massive hole in its chest that was the size of a galaxy, the Third Prince began to walk out, and he was now a little more different.

Gone was the weak figure of an old man or a fat man, his back was straight like a spear and his eyes shone with yellow fire. He was back in full health and had exceeded his prime.

With every step he took, a vast amount of flesh and blood from the worm flooded into his body and he grew taller. When he finally emerged from the worm what was left behind was a gigantic skeleton that encircled the Universe Will. He now stood millions of miles tall, before he shrank down to eight feet.

He cracked his neck and spread his arms wide as if he were admiring his perfect body, "It's good to be back."

A gust of wind blew towards him that made his long black hair rise like the hood of a cobra and he raised one massive muscled hand and caught a form that was attempting to strike him in the back.

It was a broken body of Fourth that appeared to be collapsing into dust. In the few seconds, the Third Prince was holding him his limbs had already degraded and were blown away,

"How could you…how can…kill my soul… impossible… Why are you… wicked… father will not…" broken words emerged from the shattered body of Fourth and the Third Prince laughed aloud.

"This is the part where I'm supposed to tell you the plans I've been making for all these long Eras. You want me to gloat while you try to sneak a small portion of your consciousness out of here is it not? You are truly a worm."

The degrading body of Fourth suddenly halted, his eyes transforming into something that was truly malevolent,

"This is not over Third, if you think you can kill me so easily. I existed before I had a soul, and I will exist even if I don't have one, you cannot steal my authority over our father's Aether and I shall return to prove to you, how foolish the decision you have made this day."

"Give me some credit Fourth," The Third Prince began to reach into empty space as if looking for something, and before long a massive Great Blade appeared in his hands, "not for a single instant did I consider killing you to be easy. That's why I'm going scorched earth."

The Great Sword he has summoned made Fourth nearly scream in horror, "This… this…"

The Third Prince sighed in regret, "As much as I would like to say it is… no this is not a weapon of a Primordial, like us, it is just a Reflection. You should recognize it, it was the one that struck the killing blow against our main body."

Fourth looked at the Third Prince in deep horror, finally understanding that he had never known the depths of his brothers' powers.

"You always thought you were the most powerful, and in the past, it had served me well for you to believe it is so, but no longer. I don't need you anymore."

He turned and swung the blade, making a clean slice in the air that parted reality in two revealing the outside universes. With a despairing scream, the Universal Will was sliced in two alongside it.

The Third Prince closed his eyes in pleasure, "Aaahhhh… Unmaker, you are as beautiful as ever. How I had longed for your touch."

The eyes of Fourth went hollow, "Brother you are ending everything… the works of our hand, the pledge we made, Why?"

The Third Prince casually threw the body of his brother aside, "Because I want something better, and this should kill all the little worms hiding out in the universe. Win-win."

Fourth eyes were wide in shock and astonishment even as he died and collapsed into dust.

The Third Prince took to the air and arrived at the Universe Will that had been cut in two. The stump of the tree was glowing but even that light had begun to fade. There was a mournful song fading alongside that light, but the Third Prince had heard this song hundreds of times before, he no longer cared for it.

Cracking his neck, he gestured with his hands, and the nine Empreans created by the universe appeared beside the tree stump, they were still asleep, but golden tears were running down their eyes.

The Third Prince seized one of them by the neck, "With all your powers you are still useless, look at your mother, dead by my hands and all you can do is weep."

He threw the Empyrean against the tree stump, making sure it landed properly and he brought up his Great Sword in an executioner pose,

"You all would achieve more in death than you would ever do in life. For this, you should be thanking me with your last breath. You die by Unmaker, a weapon of a Primordial."

He let down his blade and sliced off the head of the Empyrean, golden blood shot out like a fountain, staining the stump and enriching the dying glow keeping the Universe Will alive for a while longer.

The Third Prince casually fashioned a throne from the bones of the worm and sat down in wait. Every two years he would be killing an Empyrean, and by the death of the ninth, his preparation would be complete.

He closed his eyes and waited, a faint smile on the side of his lips.