Aren tried to struggle out of the shadow binding, but it was far too strong, and the shadows refused to listen to him, as if the power of shadow had been stripped away from him. The scene of the throne room suddenly changed from the old forgotten place to a courtroom full of life, and at the throne sat the one before him in all regal majesty.

Aren and the one before stood beside, unseen by those in the courtroom as they watched what was happening. Inside the throne room were over a hundred shadows with their knees bent to the one before. They were not like the shadows Aren had, they were different. They carried an existence, a soul.

These shadows gave off the energy of an army that was indeed alive, but still under the will of shadow.

"This was me in the prime of my era, a primordial god born from the very essence of Eternity himself," the one before said, then he frowned slightly. "No, that’s not true, I am mixing the stories in my head. I was not born from Eternity, I escaped from him.

Eternity created all, darkness, light, chaos, everything was born from his endlessness. Then there was me, but he felt that I was worse than even darkness and chaos, the law of shadow, slithering into minds and corrupting. Unlike darkness, who was made as a counter to light, I simply existed.

I was the first creation of Eternity that did not have a counterpart, and so that made me an anomaly. Eternity could not risk such a thing, he would not allow a being such as myself to step out."

The one before frowned even more as he spoke, his anger rising.

"So I waited in silence, I watched, because I knew that Eternity had but one enemy. They called him the Void. Void was an empty being that wished for all to be empty, and so he consumed without stop. For longer than time, Eternity had fought and stopped Void many times.

But this time would be different, as Eternity had me inside, and I was willing to help Void to gain my freedom. So when Void attacked, I did what I had to, and I began using my shadow, my consume, to eat everything that I could inside Eternity, and I made him extremely weak, which allowed Void to win the battle, and Eternity died.

After that came freedom, freedom that I so desperately needed, and freedom that I gained. I came into the world, born a primordial being, while my counterparts, the ones Eternity birthed, were hailed as Origin gods, and from them came the true gods and all other existence."

The one before walked, pulling Aren along as he went behind his throne where a younger version of him sat.

"The Origin gods discovered I helped kill Eternity and helped Void, so I immediately became an enemy. Void was injured, and so he did not attack again himself, but it started the Great Void War, the reason for all these trials that they have. The gods are in desperate need of soul energy and soul warriors to use in this war, and so they use hundreds, thousands, and millions of worlds to push this war.

That aside, first they had to kill me. I had already built my army and created my strength, but all that was not enough when all of them came after me. I fought tooth and nail, but the Origin gods won."

As he said that line, the door of the throne room swung open and a shadow ten feet tall in full thick armor walked in.

"Your greatness, the Origin gods and their armies have surrounded us."

The one before on the throne looked at the shadows that were kneeling, and then he spoke, "This might be the end for us all, but all of you, give your lives and fight for victory. If we fall, ensure that you take half of them down with you. Do you understand?"

"YES!"

Their solid response thundered in the throne room as they left together to face the war. When the doors of the throne room closed, the one before rose from his throne and then walked behind it. He pressed his hand hard on one side of the wall, and the back opened, revealing a sword.

That sword had a black blade, filled with stars shining inside it. It looked like it was filled with endless power.

"That is my sword, the Shadow Blade. I created it from the heart of Eternity himself and used my very own soul essence to craft it. A blade that could sunder all.

It is also the reason that I am able to continue my rebirth process. No one aside from me knows this, but the sword holds a chunk of my soul, and as long as it remains, my soul will forever be reborn after every death until I am strong enough to find the blade once more and complete myself."

BOOM!

A thunderous explosion ripped through the air. The castle trembled and debris fell from the sky. The one before, close to the sword, looked up at the ceiling and then let out a dry smile. He grabbed the sword and then turned around, and right there inside the hall was a figure.

She was a stunning beauty, a face that seemed carved from porcelain and eyes that captured the soul in a moment. Her blood-red hair was stunning and caught every little light that went by. She was the definition of beauty. Her body was held tight within black armor, yet she held no sword and used no weapons.

The moment Aren saw her, his eyes widened. No matter how different she looked, there was no way that he would not know who this was, there was no way that he would be mistaken about it. He could sense it, he could tell.

She was, without any possible doubt, Athena.