The minuscule opening swallowed the gargantuan concentration of power and along with it, a willing passenger behind its path.

The flow of time restarted and the area of impact was once again restored to stillness.

​​

Unbeknownst to all, that marked the advent of a tyrant.

To what end, only time can tell.

* * *

The passage may have taken eras, epochs or eons, it mattered not. For in the eternities that followed, the dao heart of one soul remained firm.

Time threatened to break the foundation of his cultivation until his body returned to nihility. But even that did not diminish the indomitable will forged in countless wars and tribulations.

After an indeterminable span of banishing, only a little spark was left of the man's soul.

"Hmmm. Interesting." the man muttered in the silent void.

He had chosen this reality because it was left ownerless. But that would change with his advent.

What amused him merely was that he felt that the essence of the multitudes of realms in this facade of truth was many times greater than his dominion.

He had spent infinite years in searching for this specific detail and so it was also one of the reasons he had chosen to pick this film in creation.

But to be gifted with more than what he had asked for was indeed a pleasant surprise.

"I'll take my time devouring you." the man whispered when he felt the constriction of reality, forcing him out of its domain.

It was repelling him as it must, for he was an outsider. One who was not meant to exist in this time and space.

"SO KE JA MA TE RA LA MA..." the man began to invoke his spell. The laws in existence here differed vastly from whence he came.

Thus, he could only count on his source to fulfill a speck of change in this new realm. His soul.

The realities may vary but the soul of a being remained immortal. This was the truth he got from innumerable exploring of the deep unknowns.

Five breaths passed and the faint light in the dark of the cosmos shone in brilliance for a moment. There were no loud detonations and the heavens has not shattered.

Only a silent passing greeted the day of birth of a conqueror.

* * *

"I'm sorry, my Lord! We did everything we could!" an aged woman knelt before an imposing man. He was tall and heroic.

And waves of power came off him in droves which was visibly displaying his current state of mind. That of pure rage and immeasurable anguish.

"MY FIRSTBORN SHALL NOT DIE!"

"BANG!" the skies trembled and the ground shook at the unchecked emotions of the Lord. His bellow alone changed the very scene in the area he stood upon.

"Do not impulse, Orion." a melodic voice soothed the man.

"Go and check the condition of the child." the Lady motioned to the kowtowing woman.

"But..." the woman tried to speak. She had checked the baby for three days already.

And her years in the arts of healing told her that the child of the Lord of Avalon was truly gone, during that same amount of time.

"Do it." the Lady commanded in a whisper but the woman felt her ears bled from the two words alone.

"As you wish, Countess!" the woman left in haste. Else, a meager wound would be the least of her worries.

"Help me, mother." the Lord uttered and his tone denoted not of hope but more of a forced plea.

He hated this woman with all of his being. But for his son's life, it seemed like he will have to beg again.

"I'll do what I can Orion. I'm your mother after all." The lady smiled and caressed the chiseled face of her son.

"Tell me now mother. Please!" Orion held the lone hand that touched his skin and tried to crush it with his own.

"You are impatient, my child. Nothing good ever comes out of that." The lady replied and easily freed her imprisoned palm from her son's trifling grasp.

"What do you want?" Orion knew that he had to pay a price to achieve something from his mother.

"You never change." He added silently.

"I want you to leave the bitch behind. She is not worthy of your noble blood, Orion. We are here because of her weakness, is it not? You deserve someone better." The lady answered.

"And who might that be mother?" Orion swallowed the bile that rose from his throat.

"Evelyn of the phoenix clan would be a woman that could perfectly match your status Orion." The lady finished.

"I promise you! Save my son's life and I will marry any woman you choose." Orion relented in the end. His jaws threatened to grind each other to force the following words from coming out.

"Damn you!" he cursed inside.

"You seem to be forgetting someone Orion. I want you to cast that bitch away! Or… you can keep her.

Whatever you decide is none of my concern already." The lady shrugged and took a step back from her son.

"Wait!" Orions voice would have shattered a mortal's body into shreds. But the lady stood there with an amused expression on her face.

The room shook and immediately collapsed into itself. The implosion gave way to a domino effect that would have eaten the rest of the abode.

"Where is that anger coming from Orion?" The lady asked and flicked a finger. The scene distorted once more before it regained to the order it recently relished.

"You are a monster!" Orion had wanted to say but gulped the words down. Antagonizing his only hope for his son's life was folly he could not afford.

It would be a mistake he neither could undo nor pay for its consequences.

"What is it, Orion? Have you decided?" The lady pushed after three breaths of silence reigned amidst them.

She could see that her son was conflicted and smelt that fortune that would come her way, soon enough.