Cindar did not understand what this higher being meant for a few moments, but suddenly images appeared in front of him.
His mother.
His father.
His brother.
His lover.
"I want them back." His hands became fists, and this time his voice was lower.
The pressure in the space changed.
"Death is a small law," Father said calmly.
For a moment, Cindar even forgot to breathe, and the sentence continued.
"Small laws can be broken with enough power."
"Can you bring them back?"
"You can, if you are willing to pay the price for that power." The answer from that being was not what he expected.
"What do you want?" Cindar did not even ask if there was a price he would not be willing to pay.
The colorless space changed for a moment, and an image of the world appeared beneath him.
Oceans.
Forests.
Cities.
The Primordial Root and billions of living beings.
"The world you hate, offer it to me."
Even Lian, who was only watching the memory, expected Cindar to hesitate for longer, this was sacrificing an entire world! It was insane!
But he did not, and only asked.
"How?"
Five presences appeared around Father.
"One of my five children will enter your world."
One of the shadows moved forward ... Black Silence.
"You will open the door, you will be the anchor."
"And in return?" Cindar did not take his eyes away from the black presence.
"Every death it causes will make you stronger." An image of living beings appeared, one after another going silent.
"Every life that is devoured." Cities went dark.
"Every soul." An entire world became dark.
"Every world that falls apart." Then the image of Cindar’s family appeared again.
"Until the day your power is enough to break the law of death."
"I accept." Cindar stared for a long time and then only said that, he did not know if he was dreaming or not, but even if it was a dream, he did not want to lose such an opportunity.
"Good. Now show me how you became the anchor." Lian immediately focused all his attention on the memory.
He was a little surprised that everything had started from hatred, revenge, and power to bring his family back, but perhaps it made sense.
And now there was something more important to see, how did this man become the anchor!
Cindar reached his hand forward, and Father also sent something toward him, but right at the moment when the main event was about to happen—
The image broke.
The voices mixed together, the memory jumped forward several hours or maybe several days, and suddenly Cindar was in a bedroom in an inn.
What needed to be done had been done.
"Damn it, did you skip the important part?" Lian almost shouted into the darkness, but no one answered.
However, the scene changed and returned to the Primordial Root, under the tree, a black and evil-looking line that gave off the smell of destruction suddenly took root, thin and almost impossible to see.
Then a second line.
A third, and then more and more...deep inside the tree, something hungry opened its eyes ....Black Silence had entered the world!
At first, no one understood anything, there was nothing to see or understand.
A small animal drank water that one of the infected roots passed under.
A few days later, the animal attacked another of its kind.
Without a reason, with unusual violence, its eyes had turned black, its teeth had become larger, its muscles had changed.
Then the hunters became infected, then the herds, then the creatures that could use Mana, and finally ... intelligent beings.
But the infection in them was different, Black Silence was not creating something new.
It took what already existed and twisted it in the worst possible way.
In an animal, hunger became a desire to kill, fear became constant terror, and the instinct to survive became blind violence.
In intelligent beings, doubt, hatred, jealousy, anger, fear, everything became stronger.
A city that had traded with its neighboring city for centuries suddenly became convinced that its neighbors were planning to attack.
A commander killed his own soldier for a betrayal he had never committed.
A mother, in her madness, saw her own child as an enemy.
Mages used their spells on civilians.
Allied rulers accused each other.
Small wars started burning ... then they became bigger, and then the world started eating itself.
Plants were not safe either, trees twisted, roots hunted living creatures.
Mana beasts turned into monsters that later generations did not even know had once been normal animals.
Lian now understood, Black Silence was not a disease, it was not a curse, at least not in the normal sense, it was something that found the inner decay of every living being and grew it until it consumed their entire existence.
And while the world became weaker, Cindar became stronger.
Lian could feel it in the memory, every time a creature affected by Black Silence died, something was added to the Calamity.
And a very small part of that power returned to Cindar through the Anchor Link.
First, his body changed, becoming faster, stronger, and more resistant, then his Mana capacity grew, after that his lifespan, and then he gained abilities that he could not even imagine before.
A man who was once only a defeated warrior slowly became one of the most powerful beings in the world.
But the more disgusting part was something else, people loved him.
Cindar appeared to be fighting against the infection, he killed infected monsters, saved cities, and rescued caravans from being surrounded.
The more the infection spread, the stronger he became, and as a result, he performed even greater feats.
People shouted his name.
"Cindar saved us!"
Statues of him were built, children wished to become like him.
A man who had lost everything and, despite his painful past, had become one of the greatest heroes in the world.
He became a symbol and an example of hope for the world, and none of them knew that the same man had opened the door for the Calamity.
"Bastard..." Lian thought with disgust.
But not everyone had been fooled.
Aurelia stood in front of a huge map.
Lian recognized her immediately, the same woman he had seen in the memory crystal, but this Aurelia was younger and the world had not completely fallen yet.
Several black points were marked on the map, and the woman followed their paths with her finger.
This was a meeting between the most powerful beings in the world to find a way to save the world.
"These are not random."
"The infection has appeared everywhere." Another leader said.
"No, every infected area is close to one of the veins connected to the Primordial Root." Aurelia showed the Mana vein paths on the map.
There was silence.
Cindar was also standing in the same room, calm, respected, one of the most trusted heroes there.
"We need to go to the Primordial Root, maybe we can find the answer we are looking for there." The woman added at the end.
Lian could almost feel Cindar’s tension, but no one suspected him.
Even Aurelia, why would she? Cindar was one of the most loved heroes in the world, a man who had fought against the infection more than most people.
A man whose painful past had caused millions of people to see him as a sign of will and hope.
Even that woman trusted him, and that trust was what later killed almost all of them.
The investigation continued.
Until the main truth was discovered, the Primordial Root had been infected.
The decision the leaders of the world made was not simple, destroying that tree might damage the world forever.
The water cycle, the flow of Mana, the weather, part of life, everything was connected to it, but if the tree remained, Black Silence would continue to grow.
So they made their choice, the Primordial Root had to be destroyed.
The battle that happened for this was something Lian had never seen before.
Seven powerful leaders of the world stood around the Primordial Root, Aurelia in the center.
And behind the tree was its Guardian, Titan, who had not been infected at that time, a huge being that had been created to protect the Primordial Root and the flow of life in the world.
Even it took part in destroying the thing it had been created to protect, because it understood that if the Root remained, there would be no world left to protect.
Light covered the entire sky, the branches of the Primordial Root fell one after another.
The roots were cut, the Mana flows shook, and finally the heart of the tree was broken.
At that moment, Black Silence lost its Vessel, for a moment the Calamity was left in the world without a Vessel.
The leaders of the world recognized the Calamity without hesitation and, without giving it a chance, trapped it inside Titan’s body, this was a plan they had prepared beforehand.
Lian saw black material come out from thousands of broken roots, and something happened that they had not expected, Titan’s huge eyes slowly turned black.
The Guardian of the Primordial Root became the Calamity’s new prison, and then the prison started to go mad.
At first, Titan was still himself, he worked with the leaders and told them to move back.
He asked them to stop him if he lost control, but Black Silence ate away at his mind from the inside.
It changed his memories, twisted his instincts, increased his anger, and turned his pain into madness.
Until nothing remained of the old Guardian, the Infected Titan was born, and the final battle began.
The leaders of the world were actually winning, with great difficulty, with serious wounds, with losses ... but Aurelia had prepared a plan to seal the Calamity.
However, something happened that none of them expected .... Betrayal!