Chapter 772: Primordial Mark
"Arantius," Fate said, "You know better than any that demons are driven by their lust for power and evolution beyond everything. We, I included, made only one mistake: assuming that they wished to bind themselves to Xiviyah so that they could manipulate her toward whatever end they desired. But that is where we were wrong."
"You? Wrong?" I gasped, twisting to gape at her. "But you’re Fate."
Suddenly, I realized the context of what they were discussing. My surprise dropped with my stomach, becoming heavy, bitter apprehension.
"Are you saying Fyren is like Rash’alon?"
Arantius’s eyes narrowed. "No, you’re saying that isn’t his aim."
The remnant stiffened. His eyes darted to the painting of the Realm War, focusing on the depiction of the first demons.
"No, that’s not possible. You think getting her to mark them was the end, not the means?" He shook his head. "Even I would have long forgotten primordial marks were it not for living ever in your presence. Besides, the Lord of Ash met her before she inherited your Divinity. He couldn’t have known she would develop an attributed soul!"
"Not by himself, he couldn’t," she said.
"That’s even less likely. Even you couldn’t speak with him directly," Arantius argued.
"Yet look at her soul. Can you deny it? That’s no infernal mark."
I stumbled back a step, staring at my chest, as if I could see right through it to my soul. The infernal mark pulsed gently, filled with Fyren, Borealis, and the two demon lords’ presences. It was definitely a mark...wasn’t it? Fyren had said so, and even Fate and the remnants had–"