To Rowan Mercer, this body was never more than an avatar.
Losing it would be inconvenient, but not catastrophic.
If sacrificing this incarnation meant learning how to complete his inner universe, the trade was more than acceptable. Once the method existed, every version of him across every world could follow the same path.
Even if Ilúvatar harbored hidden intentions.
Even if, afterward, Ilúvatar chose to claim Rowan's body or even consume the inner world itself.
Rowan would still walk away with the knowledge.
And knowledge was permanent.
That was why, even after Ilúvatar casually exposed his unusual nature, Rowan did not panic.
He merely chose his words carefully.
"I'm surprised you noticed," Rowan said, bowing slightly. "I don't know how I came to this world. One moment I existed elsewhere. The next, my soul was inside this body."
It wasn't a lie.
Rowan truly didn't understand how the process began.
What he did not say was that this body was only one of many.
He also didn't mention that he existed simultaneously in multiple universes.
This was a probe.
Rowan wanted to know whether a creator-god like Ilúvatar understood that realities existed beyond his own creation.
Whether such beings were aware of each other.
And whether travel between those realities was possible.
Because if it was…
Then perhaps every fragment of Rowan scattered across existence could one day return to him.
Ilúvatar gestured toward a seat across from him.
"Not knowing is normal," Ilúvatar said calmly. "Many powerful creators grow bored. They cast the souls of their creations into other realities for amusement or experimentation."
Rowan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"There are creators stronger than you?"
Ilúvatar smiled faintly.
"I wouldn't call myself exceptional. Relax. I know you carry questions. I intend to answer them."
With a casual motion, a crystal decanter and two cups appeared between them, filled with luminous wine.
"Consider this compensation," Ilúvatar added, "for sparing Melkor's soul."
Rowan understood immediately.
Elves and humans were external creations.
But the Valar and Maiar were different.
They were extensions of Ilúvatar's own consciousness.
Manwë, Varda, and the others embodied harmonious aspects.
Melkor embodied destructive ones.
A flaw, yes.
But still part of Ilúvatar.
Allowing Melkor's soul to be devoured would have meant losing a piece of himself.
Maiar such as Sauron or Gothmog were negligible losses.
A Vala was not.
Yet Ilúvatar had also chosen not to forcibly stop Rowan.
That restraint spoke volumes.
Rowan's growth rate was abnormal.
In only a few years, he had reached a threshold comparable to a fledgling creator.
That implied something terrifying.
Someone, somewhere, had placed Rowan into this world without Ilúvatar noticing.
Any being capable of that was far beyond Ilúvatar's reach.
Making an enemy of Rowan meant risking attention from whatever stood behind him.
But more importantly…
Rowan wasn't cruel.
He wasn't genocidal.
He didn't destroy for pleasure.
From Ilúvatar's observations, Rowan acted with purpose, but not malice.
Better to build goodwill.
Better to guide him while he was still willing to listen.
Which was why Ilúvatar had personally appeared.
Rowan raised his cup slightly.
"Then I'm grateful."
He set it down untouched.
"There's one thing I want to know first."
Ilúvatar inclined his head.
"If I wanted to return to my original world… how would I do that?"
For a soul displaced into another universe, it was a reasonable question.
Ilúvatar did not hesitate.
"Let me explain myself first. The answer will make more sense afterward."
He paused, gaze drifting toward nothing.
"I awakened in chaos."
"There was no light. No matter. No time."
"Only endless, formless existence."
"Instinct drove me to absorb energy. To grow. To become aware."
As Ilúvatar spoke, Rowan felt as though a veil was being lifted.
"I eventually realized I was not alone. Others like me wandered the chaos."
"Some weaker."
"Some vastly stronger."
"Some friendly."
"Some who tried to devour me to expand themselves."
Ilúvatar's voice remained calm.
"I traveled. I learned. And when I reached a certain stage, I did what many of them had done before me."
"I created a world."
Middle-earth.
"Afterward, I nurtured it. Expanded it. Structured it."
"I divided parts of myself into the Valar and Maiar to manage its growth."
"Then I created elves and humans."
Everything Rowan had read about Middle-earth's mythology suddenly felt… incomplete.
Those stories were not metaphors.
They were records.
"There is one truth most never realize," Ilúvatar continued.
"Destiny in my world is composed."
"Like music."
"Every age. Every rise and fall. Every great triumph and tragedy."
"All written into the structure from the beginning."
Rowan immediately thought of Marvel's Sacred Timeline.
Captain America.
The Avengers.
Thanos' snap.
Tony Stark's death.
Fixed pillars in a prewritten continuum.
Middle-earth was no different.
The Age of the Lamps.
The Years of the Trees.
The Ages of the Sun.
First Age.
Second.
Third.
Fourth.
All of it arranged.
Not immutable forever.
But stable.
Ilúvatar had even begun crafting additional parallel worlds branching from his original creation.
Early steps toward something larger.
But then Rowan appeared.
A foreign variable.
A note not in the score.
"One path has deviated," Ilúvatar said. "Because of you."
"It is not catastrophic. If you cease interference, the world will gradually settle into a familiar trajectory."
"Elves will still fade."
"Humanity will still inherit the world."
Rowan sat silently for a long time.
Then he asked,
"So… in the chaos outside, are all beings like you? Born that way?"
Ilúvatar shook his head.
"No."
"In the beginning, perhaps."
"But once worlds exist long enough, they can give rise to powerful beings of their own."
"Some of those beings create worlds themselves."
"They sever their dependence on their birthplace."
"And they step into the chaos as independent creators."
Ilúvatar looked directly at Rowan.
"You are approaching that threshold."
"If you complete your inner universe, and I do not stop you, you will be free to leave my reality."
"Free to wander the chaos."
"Free to build your own domain."
Rowan felt his pulse slow.
Not from fear.
But from clarity.
The path existed.
He simply had to walk it.