Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Kolis couldn’t understand why she was so morose, and nothing he did made her love him. No one knows how long she lived the second time, but she eventually died again. Some say she purposefully starved herself. Others think she might have started living again and fought her captor, despite his power.
Callum says Eythos killed her that second time.
I have yet to see more that confirms one way or another.
During the time of that second death, Eythos did something to ensure his brother could never reach her—something only the Primal of Death could do. With the aid of Keella, the Primal Goddess of Rebirth, he marked Sotoria’s soul, which meant she was destined to be reborn and would never pass the Pillars. Her soul would continually come back, over and over, though her memories of her previous lives wouldn’t be anything of substance—if she retained any at all.
Because of what Eythos and Keella did by marking her soul, Sotoria would be reborn in a shroud (as you know both Poppy and Sera were, the most Chosen of the Chosen). Kolis knew this and continued looking for her in the mortal realm. Even entombed, he searched, using his power to extend his will. What Eythos and Keella did wasn’t perfect, and some might argue it was worse than what Kolis did, but it was the only thing they could think to do to keep her safe.
Both Eythos and Keella paid dearly for what they did. Kolis grew to despise his twin and vowed to make him pay, eventually killing Mycella—Eythos’s Consort—while she was pregnant. He did it because he believed it was only fair that his brother should lose his love just as he had. He also destroyed Mycella’s soul, bringing about her final death.
Losing her destroyed a piece of Eythos.
Kolis also annihilated all records of the truth—both in the mortal realm and in Iliseeum. That was the start of the Primal God of Death no longer being depicted in any artwork or literature. Kolis went to great extremes to hide that he wasn’t supposed to be the Primal of Life, even when it became apparent that something was wrong with the balance of power. He started to lose the ability to create life and maintain it. The destiny was never meant to be his, just as the powers of the Primal God of Death were never meant to be Eythos’s.
It took centuries for the powers to wane, and by that time, Eythos was dead—killed and captured in the Star diamond by his twin—and Kolis had mastered other powers, creating the Ascended and Revenants as a way to prove he could still create life.
The fallout of what was done was far-reaching. Despite Ash being born into the role of the Primal of Death, what his uncle did reshaped his destiny and caused the balance to shift even more toward death—the end of everything in both realms. And while it should have taken several mortal lifetimes for the destruction to be absolute, it had already started. Two Primals of Death were not meant to rule, and that was exactly what happened because, at his core, Kolis was the Primal of Death, not the Primal of Life.
Before his death, Eythos took it upon himself to give Nyktos and the others a chance for salvation. He placed an ember of life in the mortal Mierel bloodline, as well as the flicker of power that had been passed on to Nyktos at the time of his birth. Once done, he just hoped for the best. Still, the unbalance of power progressed in its destruction and caused the Rot, continuing and intensifying when Sera was born because it put the embers in a vulnerable vessel with an expiration date for efficacy.
The bits between Sera realizing that she was the true Primal of Life, Sotoria’s soul being placed in the Star diamond, and Penellaphe Balfour being born are a bit hazy, but I gain additional information all the time and will continue updating my files as I am able. What we do know is that Poppy is finally aware that she is descended from Sera and Nyktos and is thus the Primal of both Life and Death. And we can suppose that Sotoria’s soul will come back into play as Isbeth has awakened Kolis—I mean, have you seen pictures of Poppy and Sotoria? There is definitely an uncanny resemblance there. Regardless, things are about to get very interesting for us all.
Forgive me for jumping back there and then surging forward again. I’ll try to get the story’s timeline a bit more on track linearly.
Where were we? Ah, maybe we should tackle the Ascension. Ascension in the time of the gods meant something entirely different than it does in our time.
Ascension:
Originally, the act of Ascension required the blood of a mortal to be drained from their body and then replaced with a god’s or Primal’s blood. The mortal completing the Ascension was not always guaranteed, however (more on that later). Those Chosen in the time of the gods were born in a caul and always carried some Primal essence within them, which allowed them to Ascend.