Adranial stood at the top of an astoundingly tall tower, so tall it pierced through the clouds. She leant against the side wall, looking down. Today, nothing of the city was visible with the clouds obscuring her view.
She always preferred being up here on cloudy days like this one. It gave her a sense that the rest of the world—the rest of the Greater Universe—didn’t matter, and all she needed to worry about was the task at hand.
She took a deep breath of the clear, thin air.
“Adranial. I am glad you could meet with me,” a deep voice said from behind her. The Patriarch of her family, and her oldest living ancestor.
Technically, there were billions of people out there who were related to the Patriarch, both on this world, and on other worlds out in the sector—chances were his lineage had spread to countless different sectors within the Greater Universe.
The Patriarch was a part of the first wave of peoples who’d been integrated into the Greater Universe near the beginning of time, and this world was at the centre of things—close to where the very System had been born.
It was hard not to be related to someone who’d basically founded everything around here.
But there were particular family lines that he considered to be core lines—lines that showed more potential than others, lines he’d kept close with over the years.
And in the grand scheme, Adranial wasn’t all that far removed from the man, not when her more immediate ancestors hadn’t had children until they were countless millennia old.
Though Adranial had grown up with all this knowledge surrounding her, it still baffled her mind sometimes. She was only seventeen years old, after all—though she would soon pass her eighteenth year, along with the other members of her party, whom she’d been bonded with since before she could walk.
“This is my favourite place in the entire Greater Universe. Of course I would meet you here,” Adranial said. She tilted her head to the side, then turned to face the most powerful Denizen to have ever lived. “And you speak as though I had a choice in coming here, old man.” She smirked.
“Old man,” the Patriarch muttered. “There aren’t a great many I would let get away with referring to me as such.”
Adranial raised an eyebrow. “Is that because ancient would be more appropriate? Or perhaps… primordial?”
“Hush, Daughter.”
Daughter. Adranial hid her smile at being called that by the old man. He only reserved such titles for the descendants he truly cared for and saw promise in.
“Report,” the old man commanded.
“Xavier Collins is readying to send through coordinates to his home world. I have secured transport for myself as well as every member of my party.”
The Patriarch smiled proudly at her. The sight of that smile warmed her heart more than she could say.
“You have done well, Adranial.” He interlocked his fingers behind his back and came to stand beside her, looking at the cloud-filled sky laid out beneath them. “I am glad you spent as long as you did on the first ten floors of the tower.”
Adranial inclined her head. That had been the definition of a grind. Repeating every floor, countless times, until their performance as a party was as perfect as they could make it, for almost two years.
She could have gone for the lead, first-clear titles for each of the floors and finished everything considerably faster, but then she wouldn’t have been able to go after the top 100 titles.
It was always a toss-up. Unless you were a Progenitor—True or otherwise—from a brand-new baby world, being able to gain more than one of the three possible titles—solo, first-clear, or top 100—just wasn’t feasible.
No matter how much of a prodigy one might be.
Adranial’s head was down, her forehead creased, her lips forming a thin line.
The old man put a hand on her shoulder, gripping firmly. She wondered if it was an effort not to grip too tightly—he should have crushed her bones as easily as she crumpled paper.
“I see your concern, Daughter. I see how you beat yourself up when you think you have not done enough.”
“I haven’t done enough,” she whispered. “Delving into that man’s memories—Howard,” she said the strange name as though tasting it, “seeing how far this Xavier Collins had come, all he’d accomplished—what he did on the fifth floor!”
“Has never been done before,” the old man said. “And perhaps never will be again.” The Patriarch turned her to face him. “You cannot compare yourself to every single person in the Greater Universe and expect to come out on top, then beat yourself up when you don’t.”
Adranial frowned, staring at the most powerful Denizen in the Greater Universe. “Are you kidding me?” She gestured toward the Patriarch. “Coming from you? Since when has anyone been better than you?”
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The old man chuckled, then let out a sigh. “No one since the dawn of time.” He paused. “Though I have a feeling that will change.”
“Xavier Collins,” Adranial said. “Do you think he’s who the System has been looking for?” She swallowed. “For… the Cause?”
The Patriarch turned away, gripped the side wall, staring off at the expanse of white and blue that stretched out before them. “I always thought I would be the one,” he said in a soft voice.
“The end of time,” Adranial muttered. “It sounds like an impossible thing to fight.”
“That’s why we need an impossible person.”
~
Xavier stood inside the tower at the centre of his base, his fingers interlocked behind his back, looking out at his domain. He puffed out his cheeks, wondering what he should have for dinner. They didn’t really have many food options here, and he’d long ago run out of the coffee supplies he’d brought with him from the cafeteria.
I should have scavenged somethings from the city. Surely there would be plenty of coffee beans available, not to mention some decent canned food options. If Famarial and his people could help me get technology working again, maybe I could have a cafe opened somewhere in the base, and maybe get a microwave up and running…
This was where his thoughts had drifted to after returning to his base using his Portal Stone.
He’d left another, corresponding portal open in the city of Fronton, somewhere he hoped no one else would discover.
Xavier tapped his boot on the wooden floor. He hadn’t spent much time in the base since it had been established. Which he supposed was fair, considering he hadn’t actually established it all that long ago. Guardian had tried to get his attention when he’d returned, but Xavier hadn’t felt like talking.
He’d wanted to hide himself away, just for a little while, to refresh his energy. He’d been dealing with others a lot lately—whether his party members, the citizens of his base, or battling invaders.
Not to mention during all the floors before that back in the tower.
He needed a moment alone, something he hadn’t really had an opportunity to get since the System came down—not unless he counted fighting as “time alone.” And, well, he didn’t.
This room was to be his. Somehow, the Sanctuary Seed, when it had grown, had grown a bed for him to sleep in, something for which he was grateful—even if he didn’t know how much sleep he’d be getting over the next few… well, over the rest of his life.
The saying, “I can sleep when I’m dead,” is beginning to feel a little too literal.
The room had some other nice features. Grown into the very walls were shelves, currently empty, that he could see filling up with books. There was a dining table in the middle of the room that could fit at least eight people. A large, oak writing desk with a comfortable looking chair sat in one corner of the room, in front of an expansive window that overlooked the base and the forest beyond it, though there were no writing supplies of any kind on the desk.
When thinking about all he’d done since they’d made it back to Earth—clearing out that invader camp, saving those they’d captured, clearing three different dungeons, growing this base, taking out even more invaders, letting that bastard Alistair Reed get away—then, finally, making a contract with Famarial…
And now, awaiting the arrival of Adranial, and the arrival of whoever else was on their way to challenge him for this base—for he knew he wouldn’t go unchallenged…
It’s been a long-ass twenty-four hours.
Not to mention the fact that because of the dungeons and quests he’d cleared and completed, he’d already gained two levels.
Xavier was well and truly due a break, even if it was a short one.
He took out his laptop from his Storage Ring and opened it up, then placed it atop the writing desk which he then sat at.
He ran a hand along the screen, which had been smashed at some point while he was fighting. It had spiderwebbed from the point of impact, and he doubted that even if he could turn the thing on, he’d be able to actually see anything on it.
Xavier put his hands over the keys and closed his eyes, thinking of the stories he’d written in the past, and wondering what type of stories he would write now.
Surely writing stories is a popular art in the Greater Universe. Perhaps it’s something I can dip back into doing, if the time ever presents itself.
He snapped his eyes back open and closed the laptop. A part of him wondered if the hard drive was still intact. If it was, then he might just be able to salvage what was on there.
Pre-integration fantasy fiction… I wonder what fantasy fiction looks like in a universe where there’s already magic.
With a touch and a thought, he deposited the laptop back into his Storage Ring, then he ran a hand along the top of the writing desk, feeling the grains in the wood.
[Are you ready for me, Xavier Collins?] Adranial’s voice sounded in his mind, bringing him out of his reverie.
[I’m ready. The portal will be opening up in my quarters. I trust you’ll close it soon after it opens. I don’t want any unexpected guests arriving.]
[Your quarters? How scandalous. And, oh, Xavier, you can trust me. Or at least, you can trust the terms of our contract.]
Xavier didn’t actually think the woman would go back on her word—her word being the binding contract they’d both signed with the System itself. Doing such a thing would have dire consequences, considering it had been a Death-Binding Contract, meaning if either of them were to break the terms… well, it was rather self-explanatory, there.
I doubt Adranial has any sort of death wish.
It didn’t take long for the portal to open. It looked different to any portal he’d seen in the past—it was… green, and the light it produced seemed a little bit faded. He wondered if that was because of the distance it broached. He was sure that this woman wasn’t anywhere in his sector, or even close to it, which meant she was many galaxies away—perhaps millions, maybe even billions of light years.
A portal connecting those distances must have cost a lot to produce, both in actual energy output and Spirit Coins. It would be interesting to learn how she’d managed to do it.
Xavier stood in front of the wide, expansive window in his quarters and interlocked his fingers behind his back again. He didn’t yet know how to feel about Adranial. He was glad that the woman had let Howard out of his contract, but he was also mad that she’d forced him to sign it in the first place.
But he’d concluded that… he wasn’t sure he could blame her for what she’d done.
I just contracted Famarial, putting him and everyone who serves him under my control, all because I thought it would gain me something.
Is that any better or worse than what she did? How many people have I killed that I could have potentially spared? How many people had been at heart innocent, and had merely been forced into the position they found themselves in—one that found their end at my hand?
He also wondered if he was being too lenient. She could be a cold, heartless monster that wasn’t worthy of his time, like Alistair Reed, for all he knew. She was certainly working for a powerful Denizen somewhere out there in the Greater Universe who had their eyes on him.
Perhaps it’s best to keep my friends close, and my enemies closer…
He found he liked the old cliché.
Adranial and her party stepped through the portal.