Alex pushed the shopping cart through another snow bank. He doesn't regret not grabbing a bag to carry, but the cart is a pain to get through the snow, especially when he is trying to keep up with a mage with enhanced bodily functions, and no extra burdens. Lanetli had paused his story, expecting an outburst from Alex, but Alex was more focused on keeping up than with the story, even though he was paying attention.

"You're just going to-" Alex grunts out as he tries to force the cart through more snow, the plows never coming by often enough to alleviate the snow enough for such activities. "-Stop there?" At least Alex isn't cold, with the supplies he stole he could go for a long time in such weather.

"I just figured you would have something to say," says Lanetli.

"The kid found his place in the universe,-" *grh* "- and you accidentally called down a meteor that caused all the resources in the world to die." *grh* "It's not that complicated." Alex forces out as he pushes through more snow. The docks would be coming up soon, but Alex wasn't sure how long it would take to get there at this rate. Alex had never tried walking to the docks, though he had ridden his bike on occasion during the summer to admire the ocean. He loved how unpredictable the water was, you never knew how high a wave would reach, or how long the undulations of the ocean would last. It just felt. . . right.

"You won't have any problem with a connection when you learn magic. Something you thought about resonated with madness. I couldn't see it before, but now that I'm looking. . ." says Lanetli. "It's weak at times, but I think that's just the nature of the icon. Madness is strong in you."

"Okay, are you going to finish your story? It sounds like you're almost done." Alex says, letting go of the cart and shaking his arms of the soreness of pushing the cart for such distances through that much resistance.

"Alright, listen here,

----------------------------------------

I fucked up again. All I seemed to do was fuck up at this point, but this was the worst fuck up I had made yet. I couldn't save everyone, I couldn't save anyone. I could retreat into the tower, but that wouldn't achieve anything. I would save myself and leave everyone else to die.

"Can anyone do anything to stop the meteor!" I yelled out, less a question and more a panicked exclamation.

"I can't stop the meteor, but I can blunt the blow, for us. I can make a small vortex with my power to make simulated black holes and absorb most of the shock wave, but people will still die. I will save who I can. Everyone behind me!" shouted Adam, the new Cosmic mage. I nod and repeat the instructions, fitting as many people as possible in the space behind him. I started feeding the magic in the area to the new mage, helping him make the biggest black hole he could.

Reality started bending toward a specific point, and then a dark hole appeared in front of the mage. The black hole didn't have the power that a naturally occurring one did, as it was a weak imprint on this world from a higher layer of reality, a difficult power to understand, but simple to use. He could absorb attacks and consume people with the power in that black hole, but he could not eat universes, at least not yet.

The meteor slowly crawled toward the ground, and the black hole grew in power and size. I pushed more into Adam and Adam shaped it, forcing it to grow.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The meteor hit with a crash herd from the other side of the planet, my ears dripping blood. I could see the shockwave moving just slower than the speed of sound. It hit and was pulled in by the black hole, but much of the burning dust and explosion sent many flying, most people in the group dying, a select few able to survive the first shockwave. The crash of the earth moving was more fatal, so I picked up who I could and jumped over the waving earth, Adam jumping along with me and rotating his black hole downwards to absorb the impact of what he couldn't clear. I managed to clear the wave of dirt, even with the people I was carrying due to how far I had gone in my mage transformation, and Eve had gone underground in a dome of plants. I wasn't sure if she survived, but I hope she did, she was the only way humanity made it back to where it was prior to my intervention.

The short-term destruction was over shortly, and Adam dropped his black hole, exhaustion plain on his face as it was on mine after causing the meteor. The gasses and dirt thrown into the sky would finish off the world though, the ice sun being blocked out by such a cloud, as well as the greenhouse gasses keeping heat out, we would freeze to death quickly. We needed plants, and fast.

Eve dug her way to the surface, her plants softening the earth as she grew them so she could break through to daylight, even as it faded behind the growing cloud of pollution. As soon as she got her head above the dirt she looked around. Her young eyes had never seen such destruction, and a very small area still had plants to grow at all thanks to Adam. None were of great use, though one of the trees might produce fruit.

She grew plants over the many years of her life, I protected them but couldn't stop the starvation as the plants died before they could bare fruit, frozen to death quickly. We used the demons to make clothes, their bulk making simple clothes easy to make. Over Time more and more died of starvation, Adam and Eve the only ones left after only ten years. They refused to have children, not being able to feed them with the frozen waste around them.

Eventually, after many centuries, Adam and Eve had grown as magi, earning an eternal life that could only be taken unnaturally. They gained more powers and between the two, were able to start dissipating the cloud. They got just far enough to grow plants, which Eve could make seeds for now, and they grew a wonderful garden, where all their wants were cared for by the plants, and nature wouldn't be complete without animals to balance the garden which I had started calling Eden. Adam created a life form by bringing bacteria from another world which he could now visit in this solar system and having Eve forcibly grow it into its evolved state. It split and adapted, and eventually, many species were born from these few bacteria. The original planet was inhospitable, with no atmosphere whatsoever, making these bacteria truly miracles.

After they had established their paradise they left their clothing behind, having forgotten about me years prior, except that I had made this mess, even as the best option. They thought I had died, though I stayed in the garden, prepared to help whenever necessary, waiting for the opportunity. They soon had a son and named him Cain, an odd name, but he had a strong sense of the world around him, even at a young age. When he was still young Eve birthed another son, by the name of Able. At this point, I had decided that they didn't need me any longer, so I left for a faraway place, training and trying to incarnate, to become Time itself. I didn't get far, after many years I only got a few powers, one to summon things from other points in Time, and to present myself at whatever age I wish. Nothing that would get me closer to my Elysia.

One day, while I was training alone, my mind raced through ways to view my icon and how to grow in my power, someone saw me. One of Eve's children must have left to explore the world, carrying seeds around the planet however unknowingly. The child had achieved mage hood in my Time away, gaining a powerful icon that would be necessary for the success of this world.

Cain, so it seemed, was a Balance mage.