Eos's words were not simple; they carried the weight of mories. It showed the Beast their first eting and all the discussion they had, including the battle a hundred million years ago when it stood with the Primordials to battle his Incarnation.
The Beast's "voice" erged as a wet rasp, "How are you able to find in this place?"
Eos smiled. This was his secret, and he would never reveal it to the Beast, but he gestured to the path through Existence that the Beast had torn through, "I have been cleaning up behind you, Beast; you have been leaving pieces of yourself behind, and even a mortal dog would be able to follow your tracks."
The Beast did not take Eos's news with any happiness. Sure, he had erased its tracks, but that ant both its enemies and allies would have a hard ti locating it inside this place. It did not even want to imagine how Eos was able to create this closed-off realm inside this dinsion.
"I am at a disadvantage, Eos, but do not take lightly," the Beast growled weakly, but the fact that it was still leaking death did not lend more gravity to its words, "I am warning you that I cannot be killed, not now… not yet. The Ancient Primordials have created a new enemy on this day, and I shall be their deaths! Let leave, and I will never trouble you again."
Eos gave a short, cold laugh. "You are warning ?" He stepped forward, coming closer to the Beast and bringing along a weight that made the Beast flinch, "You strutted alongside my enemies and bound yourself to the pact that gave you the power to shatter my Origin Realms, did you not? Now, bloated on the scraps of madness you let them feed you, you thought yourself the apex predator. And now look at you, leaking like a gutted fish, running from the very things you helped create. Why would you not think that this day would co?"
The Beast's form shuddered. A tendril lifted weakly, as though to strike, then fell.
"They nearly ended ," it admitted, the confession tasting like ash. "By now, you should have realized that I have an arrangent with the Temple of End, and that Golem is their warning. Would you go against , knowing that the Temple seeks to protect ?"
Eos's eyes narrowed. "I stand alone in a sea of woe and misery, what else is new? Do you believe calling the na of the Temple would save you from my hands?"
The Beast's cracked eye flared with defiance, or perhaps it was desperation. Its position was weak, and it knew this truth more than anything. Growling softly, it tried to placate Eos,
"I warn you, Eos, the Temple is not a power that you play with. You think I fall because of my carelessness? No, I fell because of my defiance. You have been given a lot of honor to do as you wish because of your potential, but if you strike down, they shall no longer look upon you with favor."
"I warn you, Eos, the Temple is not a power that you play with. You think I fall because of my carelessness? No, I fell because of my defiance. You have been given a lot of honor to do as you wish because of your potential, but if you strike down, they shall no longer look upon you with favor."
Eos regarded the dying thing before him. For a long mont, silence stretched between guardian and reaper.
Then Eos spoke again, softer, almost thoughtful.
"Are you asking if I'm going to kill you now, Beast? While you're weak? While you're bleeding?"
The Beast's form rippled, and it laughed, although the sound held no light inside of it.
"Would you? It rasped. "End here, in the shadow of this unknown place? Take the satisfaction of finishing what the Ancient Primordials began?
Eos stepped even closer. Close enough that the Beast could feel the faint heat of his power,
"No," Eos said. "I would not kill you."
The Beast stilled.
"I would accept you as a slave," Eos continued, "Kneel. Bind your Origin to the foot of my throne. Beco the final guardian of my Origin Realms, and I shall give you the honor to beco the thing that ensures no soul ever escapes into the maw of End ever again. Serve. And perhaps, in ti, I will allow you the rcy of true rest."
The silence that followed was absolute, then the Beast laughed.
"A slave?" it echoed. "To you?"
Eos cocked his head to the side when he noticed sothing new in the eye of the Beast, and its next words confird his suspicion.
"I have already received a better offer."
Eos stiffened.
"End itself has spoken to ," the Beast continued, voice gaining strength from the mory. "It showed the road to a dream that you cannot imagine. Ultimate power. Transcendence beyond even the Temple's Golems that you saw humbled the Primordials. Beyond the Architects. Beyond you."
It drew itself up, tattered tendrils coiling like serpents ready to strike.
"I will walk that road. And when I return, it will not be as your slave, or the Temple, you shall all know to fear my na, and I shall crush you all under my feet!"
The Beast's form began to thin again, dissolving into smoke, preparing to flee once more, and surprisingly, Eos did not make a move to stop it. The Beast snorted,
"Consider this your final warning, guardian," it whispered in disdain, "You have no friends in the dark, the Ancient Primordials and their abomination of a father, hungers. The Temple and End beckon. And you... You are running out of light. I can be your only salvation, and when I return, you shall be the one to offer yourself to as a slave."
Eos watched the Beast dissolving away, and he smiled and spoke loudly to himself, but the Beast heard him,
"A fool that leaps from the frying pan into the fire. Do you not wonder how the Ancient Primordials could sneak into your lair at the right mont when you were at your weakest? What power drives you to its arms, knowing that you no longer have any choice but to co to it? You fool, you would throw away my gift and accept a curse. You would smile at your butcher and hand them the blade."
With those words, Eos turned away as he murmured, "Run, Death… run to your better offer, and when you return, I shall be waiting for you."
The vanishing form of the Beast froze, and chills ran down its spine. It remained in this position for a while before it vanished. A long ti passed, and Eos returned, and he walked to the spot where the Beast had vanished.
Closing his eyes, he touched the spot, and then he sensed the precise direction of the Beast, and he smiled. He had stepped closer to the Beast during their conversation, not because he wanted to intimidate an already weakened prey, but he needed to be closer to bind his hidden Will to the broken flesh of the Beast.
The Beast was much too wounded to know what Eos was doing, but he was not afraid of Death discovering what he had done, but of the prey that Eos was hunting.
"To catch a bigger fish, you need the right bait."
Beside him, his Destroyer humd.
"Its been a while since I killed sothing, I am almost forgetting what it feels like."
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