“One of the Ants managed to meet the requirements of a Forbidden Path.” A sonorous voice resounded through a massive marbled hall.

A tall young man stood before a massive table that towered high above him. It made him look like he was a tiny creature of little significance. He had to creak his neck to stare high up where several gigantic figures were seated.

The gigantic figures didn’t seem to note the young man. If they heard him, they did a fantastic job at ignoring him until he continued speaking.

“That didn’t happen in the last cycle.”

Everyone looked up simultaneously. One of the gigantic figures waved his arm, releasing a wave of bright mots that revolved around the young man. He expanded and grew taller until he could stand comfortably before the massive table.

“A Forbidden Path has been integrated? Which Path are we talking about?” One of the gigantic fissures asked, scrunching his nose in annoyance. They were already busy enough infusing Divine Energy into the Tear of Time to replenish it before it would breka. The Tear of Time was their strongest weapon against unexpected events.

“The Soul Lord Class Path has been discovered by a young Player, Your Excellency,” The young man voiced out quietly.

He looked down at his feet and didn’t dare to say anything else. Standing before the Major Gods was a reward for most Minor Gods and Deities, but that only applied if they had something good to report to the Major Gods. The young man was unlucky. It was his turn to serve the Major Gods when the bad news arrived.

The Major Gods fell silent. They glanced at each others, until one of them asked.

“How? No one should have the power to change this timeline at this point. Not even Minor Gods can pass through the border. There is still some time before the connection will return.”

“Earth’s timeline cannot be changed from the outside,” Another Major God added silently as if trying to say something.

However, no words followed. He merely frowned.

“Every timeline is different. Fate never changes, but the ants don’t behave the same. We knew that the strongest of their kind might be drawn more to Forgotten Lands than others. They might have forgotten about everything that happened in the last cycle, but their subconscious might recollect the importance of Forgotten Lands.”

Another Major God snorted, “We know that already. The changes are only subtly usually. A Forbidden Path is far from subtle. Something like that never happened!”

Various memories flashed through the minds of the Major Gods. They recalled a long forgotten era, a time where they’d been ordinary Gods. It was a time full of death and destruction. Wild Chaos wreaking havoc wherever it passed by.

It was the reign of the Forgotten Ancients, a period nobody old enough to be alive wanted to remember.

A flicker of fear passed through the minds of the Major Gods. They didn’t show it on the outside, but their minds were filled with the chaos and suffering they had to go through to survive.

“The Soul Lord ressurected,” One of them mumbled quietly, while another added,

“...again…”

“The timing is bad. A coincidence? Probably not.”

“The Tear of Time will need more time before we can use it again. Even if the Tear of Time was ready, there is no guarantee that rewinding time again will change anything.”

“We shouldn’t waste our time with the Tear of Time. If the ressurected Soul Lord is even one-tenth as bad as the first Soul Lord, we will have to get rid of him before it is too late,” One of the Major Gods glanced at the young man, “How long has it been since they discovered that the Soul Lord’s Path disappeared?”

The young Minor God didn’t expect one of the Major Gods to talk to him directly. He swallowed heavily as the Major God’s presence crashed down on him.

“I-It hasn’t been long since…the Player integrated the Class Path. A few hours at most.”

One of the Major Gods, a being with four arms and three eyes, nodded slowly.

“He is still weak. We should have enough time to execute a pre-emptive strike against him,” He murmured, “Did you bring us his records?”

The young Minor God swallowed hard again but nodded slowly.

He released a little bit of his Divine Energy into the air before him, revealing several bubbles that showed pictures, memory recordings, and various useful pieces of information. Most pieces of information were rather useful, but the pictures and memory recordings showed everything Zayn had been doing inside Forgotten Lands, and outside.

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The Major Gods noticed a change in the youth’s behavior shortly before Forgotten Lands launched. That wasn’t unusual since some survivors tended to be drawn to things that changed their lives in previous cycles. However, the changes in Zayn Dexter’s behavior were too severe to be within the norm.

“Why are there so many information about him?”

The Minor God’s smile disappeared. He continued looking to the ground and swallowed hard once again.

“This Player has been a problem in every cycle. In the last cycle, he managed to kill Zylphyn.”

“He is the one who killed that traitor bastard?” The pressure in the marble hall intensified, forcing the Minor God to the ground. The Minor God couldn’t breathe anymore all while the gravitational force pulled him closer to the ground. The marbled floor cracked underneath him until it gave in.

“Let’s not think about that bastard. We don’t want to give him any chances to resurrect, “ The three-eyed Major God grumbled. He glared at the Minor God, who took the hint. He shouldn’t call out Zylphyn anymore, otherwise, people would remember him. That was not what anyone wanted.

“Back to the topic. This ant is an anomaly. Let alone kill, it has been a while since a mortal managed to harm one of us. Something is changing.”

“What if he is like the Heir o–...” The Minor God was about to propose something when a wave of pressure smashed his head into the marbled floor, dying the polished white ground in silverish-red blood.

“Shut up. We checked for external influences several times in the last cycle. There is nobody like him left on earth. He is no more, and he never will return. His Paths have been shattered thoroughly!”

The Major Gods groaned.

“But what if he is involved?”

“He is not there anymore. The Origin Devoured him,” Three-eye thundered, one of his arms twitching oddly.

The third Major God, the quietest of the trio, stared silently at the recordings until he found a few memories that showed scenes of Zayn Dexter and the last cycle. Zayn Dexter’s fight with the Lesser Deity attracted his attention, but there were other scenes that were more important for the Silent Major God.

“What if he is like us?” He murmured, only to be frowned upon by the other Major Gods.

“He is not a god!” The three-eyed God thundered.

“That is not what I’m talking about. Think about it,” Silent said calmingly. He ignored Three-Eye’s rage and looked at him nonchalantly, “What if he remembers the last cycle?”

“That can’t be. He is no–...” Three-Eye said, only to stop mid-sentence. The Major Gods didn’t pay much attention to the last cycle. The only events of their interest were when they had been forced to use the Tear of Time. The Lesser Deities’ betrayal had been annoying, but merely his death was of interest. A mortal managed to slay the Lesser Deity, after all.

The Lesser Deity had been a weak existence even among the Minor Gods but the scene of Zayn Dexter holding the Minor God’s heart was still interesting enough to be stored in the Major Gods’ minds. The Major Gods suddenly recalled how the Minor God’s silver blood merged with Zayn.

“Maybe…he does remember…”

The three Major Gods stared at each other. They unanimously agreed that this cycle was different than the last.

Zayn Dexter was the man who caused most changes.

Even if they did not like the thought, they silently acknowledged that the mortal might remember the last cycle.

“Rewinding time again is even worse if it’s true. If we go back even further, he’ll have enough time to prepare a pre-emptive strike in Forgotten Lands. It’s good that the Tear of Time didn’t have more energy to turn back a few years before Forgotten Lands’ launch.”

Silent sighed deeply, “But he is acting fast and precise. He’s already managed to kill a God once. Even if it was merely a Minor God, he managed to do it without any memories of the last cycles. Now that he remembers everything that happened in the last cycle, every day counts.”

The second Major God frowned deeply.

“You think that he’ll grow strong enough to harm the Primordial Pantheon. He is merely a Mortal!”

“Some of us were once mortals too…” Silent pointed out decisively, “Who said that someone capable of slaying a God as a mortal won’t be able to attain the strength needed to slay more than one of us?”

The sounds in the marble hall disappeared. Everyone was deep in though. No one uttered a noise, until the Minor God raised his head slowly to seek for permission to say something. Silent gestured the Minor God to proceed.

“If we cannot use the Tear of Time to rewind time…how about we us our power to accelerate time instead?”

Three-Eye was about to crush the Minor God the moment the words escaped his lips, but Silent raised his hand to stop Three-eye.

“You think that it would be better to use our power to nourish the connection instead of repairing the Tear of Time?”

The Minor God nodded slowly, his eyes flicking to the Major Gods in vigilance.

“Forgotten Lands gives this Player time to grow stronger and to get used to his newfound powers as Soul Lord. Meanwhile, we are forced to watch everything form afar. It won’t be possible for Gods to descend upon Earth for a long time, but it will be easier to influence the turn of events.”

“It won’t be possible to establish the connection rightaway, but accelerating the process will take the Soul Lord by surprise. We will alter the timeline only a little bit more than that pesky human has already done. The divine punishment shouldn’t be an issue,” Silent murmured.

“If the entire Primordial Pantheon focuses on the connection, how long is it doing to take to complete the process?” The second Major God asked the Minor God, who turned a shade paler.

“Your Excellency, I’m sorry. I don’t know the exact numbers. Maybe eight weeks? Probably something between eight to ten weeks, Your Excellency!”

Silent nodded slowly, “Earth is not prepared to establish the connection earlier than two months. Even that is already a stretch. But that’s better than waiting any longer.”

Even Three-Eye nodded slowly.

The Major Gods of the Primordial Pantheon came to a conclusion.

They were ready to hunt a puny mortal before he could transform into the Pantheon’s worst nightmare.