“Is this a roundabout way of getting rid of me?”

“We think your skillset’s the best suited for the mission.”

“About that…”

Elias tapped his fingers against the wooden table as Kanon waited for his decision. Being brought into Kanon’s office for this was just…

The mission was rather simple in nature – travel to timelines on the verge of reaching their conclusion and collect the essence within. The devil was in the details though. They didn’t care for small amounts. Rather, they needed enough to fill multiple jars.

For that to occur, he had to survive in each timeline for weeks or months at a time if he wanted to collect the required amount. Even the most deluded person would find it difficult to believe there was any real chance of that happening.

A timeline waiting to conclude was near-certain death for anyone native to it, much less to intruders from beyond.

“I’m vetoing this.”

“You can’t veto it.” Kanon gave a deep sigh. “I know what you’re feeling but every mission comes with risk. At the very least, the reward here is proportional to it.”

For a success, they were willing to offer what was essentially a tangible wish. Anything within the realm of possibility. Still, all that indicated was that the danger was even worse than he thought. It really was just suicide in a way.

Elias clicked his tongue. “I’m quitting then.”

“You’ll be hunted down if you leave.”

“And who will kill me? I was chosen for this mission for a reason, you know?” Elias tapped his head before laughing to himself, as if he’d heard the funniest joke in the world. “Honestly though, I still think they’re just trying to get rid of me.”

All the signs pointed to it.

“It’s not like that this time. They’re not willing to get rid of you that easily.” Kanon paused for a moment as he deliberated over his next words. “They’re trying to use the essence to fuel the star of origination.”

“Oh?”

“They’re on the verge of completing their artificial timeline, and all they need is to activate the star to birth it all.”

“So that’s why they’re so desperate…”

Still, the final step was…

Who would be able to complete it?

Maybe he should feel proud that they had that much faith in him.

“We’re not asking you to take on a hopeless mission. We’ll give you anything you need. The grey fog, essence seas, whatever you want.”

“They’re really grasping at straws here. It’s tough.”

The reason why it was so dangerous to go to other timelines was that the fundamental laws of reality differed from one to another. In one timeline, it might be the case that you could only find the cold methodical progress of technology. In another, magic might rule the world. Some strange timelines even relied on pathways to progress.

It was no guarantee that skills from different timelines would transfer from one to the next. A person’s control over the elements could be absolute, but in another timeline, he might find that only control over wind was acceptable under the laws of the world. The manner in which they had to channel that control would also almost always be different.

Whatever the case, it was easy for some trump card to fail on them the moment that they needed it, and beyond a few assumptions that could be made, there was no way to test it out except just taking the risk. It was an utter mess.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’m going to regret this.” Elias shook his head with a wry smile. “Anything I want, I can have, right?”

For the first time, Kanon’s expression turned a bit looser. “Anything.”

“I want Dantalion as my shadow.”

The mission was essentially impossible, but if he was able to have Dantalion acting as his shadow, then there was at least a glimmer of hope. It allowed him to pull into an endless bag of tricks, rather than just relying on thin prayers.

If he failed, it would just be a matter of his own skill at least, rather than being unfortunate with luck.

“That’s…”

“You said anything, right?”

“Mmm…” Kanon nodded his head. “I’ll have to ask them, but I think they’ll allow it. I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”

Elias gave Kanon a list of what he wanted – a few days to prepare, the grey fog, an essence sea, a stabilising core, and a few tethers to escape if everything went wrong.

Not much, but it would be dangerous to take more. The more abnormalities that were introduced to a timeline, the harder the timeline would try to resolve those abnormalities. He had to remain inconspicuous at the very least.

As the negotiations died down, Kanon handed over a pendent to Elias. One engraved with a three legged cauldron. It was something he’d always seen Kanon kept on him.

“This is?”

“It’s a good luck charm. Sorry for pushing you so much. If you didn’t accept, I would’ve had to run away myself.”

“No, you didn’t press me that hard.” Elias stood up and stretched his arms, yawning a bit. “Why the hell are we even working for this organisation? I’ve haven’t heard a single good story about the management in years.”

Rather than engaging in the complaints, Kanon just nodded.

It was a little gesture, but he was able to confirm a few suspicions.

Namely that the organisation was listening to their conversation. The talk they had was a bit off. Kanon was being honest, but not like he normally was.

There was something that could be done with that information, but he wasn’t sure yet. After all, he was still split on whether to carry out the mission fully, or whether he should betray them halfway.

The organisation was certainly assessing that risk before they allowed Dantalion to be his shadow, but they had to give him up. If they really wanted a chance, this was the best they would ever get.

Elias rubbed his hands together. “Anyways, find me a good body to possess. I just need autonomy that won’t be punished. Don’t worry about anything else. It’d all just be luxuries beyond that.”

“We’ve already prepared some people. Take a look.”

Kanon opened the drawer and pulled out a few files before handing them over to Elias.

Were they that certain he’d accept? Elias casually flipped through them before nodding.

“I’ll pick this one.”

He pointed toward a man with an unkempt appearance – a criminal on the run for murder. An erratic and paranoid madman who rambled about demons and creeping shadows, and held sacrificial rituals for a god beyond the veil.

It was the obvious choice. Being allowed to kill would make his life easier, and the actions he’d want to take could just be explained away as this madness. He didn’t need to spend up too much ‘probability’ if he wanted to act.

Besides, it wasn’t like what he believed in was wrong per se. Rather, the only thing that was wrong was how he arrived at those conclusions. Since it was a falsehood turned into truth, it was easier to play the role.

“You aren’t going to consider the others?” Kanon asked.

“What? Is there anything better? I can’t imagine one there is.”

It was possible to grasp the essence of these people within a few lines, so he only gave it a quick glance. The rest of the file just contained auxiliary information, in case perfect acting was needed. The others had the same essence from what he could see.

“I don’t know how you’ve survived for so long when you aren’t willing to eke out those slight percentage improvements.”

Elias shrugged his shoulders. “Honestly, we’re all really bad at judging this. On average, it works out the same from my experiences.”

Meaning to say that if he knew the organisation well, they always skipped a few steps here and there. They somehow manage to write a lot, but say little of value, and it was the case if people believed in what they provided too deeply, they might find themselves dead without even knowing what happened.

It was really a waste of time to think about their reports too deeply.

“I see. Yes, that might be the case.” Kanon took the files from Elias. “Is there anything else you need?”

“I think that’s it. I’ll tell you if I need anything more.”

As their negotiations reached their end, Elias shook Kanon’s hand. As a shock coursed through his body, Kanon’s eyes widened a bit before he quickly controlled his expression. It seemed that he realised what Elias was doing so he didn’t make a scene, just quietly sending Elias off.

Success. Hopefully Kanon transferred him something useful. He’d have to get back to his room to analyse it.

Honestly, what was the organisation doing? It felt like they were sloppy in their execution of risk management. It was to the point that it almost felt like a trap. They gave up too much information, and allowed too many avenues to talk. It wasn’t like them.

It probably meant that betraying them wouldn’t be that much of a risk.

Maybe there was something there…

He’d see how the first timeline went before making any hasty decisions.