<~(American Continent, Earth 2018)~>
After dispatching both Kenny and Jack to a ring of Hell through physically opening a Gateway beneath their pitiful bodies, I left for the region of Texas. I had not yet decided which area I should arrive in after flying towards the Dungeon when I suddenly received a message through the System from Xaradel.
“Got your message,” the message began as I started reading mid-flight. “I cannot say I am surprised since I have felt five different alterations pressing upon the planet and my entourage have also felt similar sensations. These altered timelines are merely brute forced as if whoever-which I have my own suspicions about-did this only have the level of an Adept Chronomancer and are unaware of the temporal damage. Luckily, the two ladies who were with you when the spell occurred are still alive and kicking in thanks to being informed about the System prior to the Integration. I have them practicing off-world and can be summoned back without hassle if needed though we have other problems than just the issues you told me about with Altaron.”
I wondered a bit about what he meant about other problems, but I continued reading. He went on to explain that a loose federation of humans recreated the old southern Confederation and reinstated the use of slavery within the territory I was flying towards, but they were a relatively minor problem to address in the future-not requiring immediate attention. Slavery-while a horrible thing to practice openly-had its uses within most worlds and often led to the formation of low-tiered deities representing it. What drew my ire was the next problem Xaradel brought up in the latter half of his message to me. Something relevant to his earlier half of his message.
Apparently, someone on Earth had been summoning a Herald of Time-aptly called a “Chronos Herald”-to send the entire world backwards in Time about ten to twenty years. Neither Xaradel or his entourage could figure out why someone wanted to forcibly push an entire world back in time five times, but I was absolutely enraged by this revelation. For each integrated world within the System, there is a scalable interface which can be upgraded through rare quests or the Bazaar. With newly-integrated worlds, there is a veil placed over the world that protects them from threats outside of the solar system for the first century.
Earth has one though now the stakes became painfully clear to me.
Whoever did this wanted humanity powerless against more powerful and dangerous threats-effectively wiping out all of Earth’s inhabitants before they got too powerful.
“System command: Initiate contact with nearest Aberrant Inhabitant,” I commanded.
There was no prompt of confirmation or acknowledgement though that happened often since I had that kind of notification disabled as I felt a telepathic connection being formed. This inhabitant seemed to be quite confused as to why a connection formed, but before too long, I spoke up with my voice laced with anger.
They cleared their throats-or at least imagined it so I could understand it-and then replied back quickly.
Whoever I contacted with-which after they started explaining about the Herald was called “Clarkson Andrews” and the leader of Reality Interactive-held nothing back as if he had been ecstatic about getting one over on the one causing trouble for Earth. He told me that an alien race that looked like anthropomorphic rats-which were unironically called “Ratkin” in the Codex-had been summoning a Herald to turn back the clock on humanity and somehow leaving a small minority of human beings with their memories of the Integration intact. Andrews even added that since the previous iteration sent him and his entire company back to the late twentieth century-which led them to creating their company-they had been working on an Ark Matrix utilizing magitech generators they managed to reclaim from before being sent backward. This reminded me about the event summary I received before arriving planetside, but I did not let onto Clarkson that I was an Elder God. After his explanation, Clarkson managed to let slip a small suggestion that may become of use for the future.
Armed with a bit more knowledge about the situation, I decided to switch directions from where the Dungeon was and head towards the epicenter of the time loops. Very few of Earth’s inhabitants who’ve retained their memories would acknowledge their shifting fate and not make moves to alter their future without causing major temporal ripples, but to those scant few who can understand the movement of Time, this sixth iteration won’t end with another restart.
Not if I have anything to say about it.
I shifted forms from my draconic form back to the Nyxian form I chose as “Zac Ghost” and made my way across the American Midwest without the comfort of flight. It was not easy to traverse scorched plains where the impact caused a firestorm to vaporize anything within the immediate vicinity and all one saw was ash still falling from the burned sky. Those who did not initially die due to the meteor’s impact or the ensuing firestorm were horrendously burned from the inside out-most likely wounds suffered just before Integration occurred and could not be healed yet while the anomalies are left unresolved. I even saw the burned corpses simply just collapse into the toxic ash that covered the plains-marking this area as some kind of border too toxic to cross unless you were of a sufficient level or cultivation tier-and simply made me silently weep for their lost lives.
There was something that stopped me from crossing the threshold and walking past the easternmost border of the toxic plains once I finally arrived. I wanted to pass it off as something odd and ignore it at first, but that occurrence had made me think twice-convincing me it had to be something notable. Deciding to take notice of its origin point, what caused me to stop in my tracks was the sound of a trumpet being blown. That sound immediately reminded me of a specific kind of tone which its effects reverberated across the planet five times before.
“No, it isn’t time yet!” I thought to myself as I had no choice but to enforce a System teleport to that origin point-which took a few minutes to activate. “That trumpet isn’t supposed to be blown this early in the timestream! Someone came back in Time with the Aberrants and changed the future!”
Just after I realized that endearing revelation, three things happened in the span of an instant before my physical vessel had a chance to react in time. First came the stinging pain of billions of souls crying out in unending pain all over the planet-all simultaneously dying at the same time. What came second was the temporal bleedover washed over the surface of the planet and let all that damage cause a catastrophic event to occur that effectively ended Earth. The notifications about Earth’s destruction came last as I had been forcibly ejected from my physical vessel upon its disintegration through the cataclysmic event which had its own consequences.
That was when I realized one more thing about this scenario as my god form manifested far above the ruined world of Earth-looking down at the pieces of floating rock that was once home to billions of lifeforms and steeped in rich history. I looked to see specks floating within the debris field-which I realized were bodies that only died after the planet ripped itself apart and held no vitality within their glossy eyes-which galvanized the only emotion left burning within me. There had been no mercy or justifiable reason to destroy the planet and with the world of Earth now a debris field floating in space around a yellow sun, blood will be shed.
“System,” I spoke aloud in my god form-my words reaching far beyond the material realm and straight to the very heart of my construct as if they were not spoken by a simple Administrator but a powerful Monarch of the Elders. “Initiate a temporal lockdown within the sector and send an alert. There will be an investigation of all activities conducted for Sol Three.”
I knew it acknowledged my command and sent out the alert without needing to check my notifications as the changes took place fairly quickly. All of the objects in front of me halted in place as if placed into suspension through the Eternal System, but I did not care to notice much else than that since another presence manifested across from me.
Xaradel manifested in his god form-which appeared to take on a large jet black arachnid with six pairs of dark magenta eyes and twelve legs-across from me and I didn’t need to look into his eyes to know he was worried about me while enraged over this insult.
“Five times the world ended,” I began to speak-my voice echoing as if within a cavern with a light English accent and steadily growing angry. “Five different iterations of the same old story where Earth faces cataclysmic events that change the very foundations of society and heroes rise from the ashes. Those same heroes try to cultivate their armies to lead charges for territorial gains or to rise up entire nations for some noble goal, but to only be cut down by more powerful forces. This iteration was meant to be the final time for the time loops to continue, but as it stands Xaradel, there will be no mercy.”
Those final five words I spoke aloud carried a dark unyielding tone that shook the entire sector and enforced a strict dire truth. Earth’s destruction came from those who had everything to gain from a newly integrated world, but held no idea about who had claimed the planet for themselves and would protect its inhabitants with a unyielding fervor that could burn across the Multiverse itself. Xaradel himself did not wince from that truth and I knew he’d support me as I exacted vengeance for those who plundered the planet that had been my refuge for over two millennia. All that was left to do was reforge the world.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
<~-(+)-~>
{World Profile: Earth - Sol 3}
Health: 0/10,000
Energy: 0/10b
Dominant Species: [Human]
Timezone: [21st Century]
Reforge this World? Yes/No
<~-(+)-~>
<~(+)~>
Earth had been destroyed. Altaron would not provide a safe refuge for the newly integrated people who lost their homeworld to sinister designs hidden in the shadows of history. I did not need to request some mortals to go on some major quest that had very little chance of succeeding when there was another way. One that I knew from countless Cycles of experimentation and intimate understanding had a guaranteed chance of working to not only fully restore the planet, but strengthen the World Timelines. The very act of Reforging a world once was considered a last resort by mortal arcanists who had pleaded with their divine pantheons to reshape the very foundations of which entire worlds are built upon that could save their dwindling kingdoms from an ancient curse woven into the bedrock of their world, but did not live long enough for the magic to take hold.
Now as I had looked upon that sight of bodies dying from lack of breathable atmosphere within the field of debris where billions of lives once called home and those lives were extinguished all because of an external threat which remained undetected until events conspired against their desires, one emotion surged through me. There was no verbal command or physical gesture that I needed to display as I simply did and forbade any interruption to the progress. Pieces of the planet were being carefully woven back together as magical and mundane forces recreated a planetary core that started getting reinforced by the Eternal System-recreating and upgrading the planetary Interface into Tier 3-while bodies slowly regained their lost lifeforce. Souls who were planning to enter the cycle of Reincarnation suddenly found themselves returning to their old vessels-being drawn back by powers unknown to them-and once more living people reinforced by the System with their old progress returned to them as if they had not died at all.
Those who I had chosen to return first to the Reforging world of Earth received a complimentary gift from me by way of a new Title, some currency, and a new time-sensitive quest with the expressed goal of summoning the troublesome party back planetside to face judgement. My quest assignment to them through the Eternal System depended on their ability to force the Chronos Herald back planetside and subdue them for a full sanction to take effect.
A single moment in time spread out over five different iterations started to converge as the reforging process continued shaping the planet. The splintered and fractured moments of Earth started to burn like dark blue wildfire as temporal energy began correcting the paradoxical timelines which reinforced the main timeline itself. It is similar to taking a red pen and revising the mistakes in grammar within the sentence structure of a decent translated story. As the timelines converged and reinforced a singular strand that spooled around the planet, I let the reforging process continue while my focus shifted slightly to updating the Eternal System itself.
That update was finished and went out quickly.
<~-(+)-~>
System Announcement
Due to multiple instances of a similar World Timeline being used to exploit System functions, the Administrators have launched a patch update which has been automatically applied.
This update will now make it difficult for exploitation of multiple timelines of the same world to decrease Cloak time for all newly integrated worlds and prevent temporal bleedover while under System protection for the first 100 local years-even at Tier 1.
In addition to this patch update, all System-approved Governments have been notified of [Earth - Sol 3]’s spatial location and warned of recent planetary events concerning the Chronos Herald and associates in regards to their crimes against an integrated world placed under protection. There is-in addition to the notification-now a “Report Incident” function that shall only become available under certain situations where Administrator interference may be required. This new function can only be used once per galactic millennium within the relevant spatial sector and by the planetary natives.
<~-(+)-~>
Once the announcement had gone live throughout all of System-controlled space, I intimately understood the sheer gravity of what this meant for so many worlds. Every galactic sector in the Multiverse will be lit up with beacons to attract the other Elder Gods into investigating what was going on and decide on monumental choices that affect entire solar systems, but that did not apply to me. While the Chronos Herald and whoever else were treading dangerous ground, there was further work to be done in setting up safeguards against future incursions. As the planet neared full completion of reforging, a memory of that Administrative Report stuck out to me.
“Cruxborne Legends, huh?” I pondered to myself-letting the memory recall itself in full force. The reference made me chuckle lightly considering that Clarkson had made a game that also acted like a digital Noah’s Ark for those who would have been killed by the first meteor impact. From what I had been told about the game by the game’s creator, those who were integrated into the game matrix could live forever at the cost of being unable to return to the physical world after dying for the first time. Luckily, he also informed me at the time that this matrix has System port capability through its hardcorded design. That also meant I could enter and depart the gameworld without any issue.
Just before initializing a teleport into Cruxborne Legends, I received a System prompt.
<~-(+)-~>
* [Sarah Blue has died.]
* [Cindy Roberts has died.]
* [Henry Madikson has died.]
* [Viktor Sage has died.]
* [Violet Jennings has died.]
* [Timothy Wardson has perished.]
<~-(+)-~>
“No,” I muttered to myself as I looked through those six names and felt my emotions boil over. “They can’t be…”
With the teleportation into the gameworld forgotten for the moment, I re-read the prompt multiple times in a depressive shock. I had planned on letting the planet recover while I went to check up on another possible safeguard through the game matrix, but after receiving this prompt, I started to weep in sorrow. Sarah and Cindy were my best friends and now their souls headed into the Reincarnation Cycle. Two of the last connections to my mortal life were cut down and the System did not inform me on how they died.
As their souls made headway to the Abyssal Sea-where they would enter the cycle of reincarnation-and my attempt to enter the gameworld of Cruxborne Legends temporarily forgotten amidst an emotional storm brewing in my mind, all of existence collectively understood something was slowly happening. A primal instinct intrinsically tied to their very souls-the very core of their beings-started striking off metaphorical alarms as if trying to warn any and all beings that whatever was happening would be fundamentally devastating. My mournful sorrow at their loss slowly turned volatile as I began thinking of no other being in all of existence who would dare slay friends of the Primal Powers and how their arrogance will serve to end their worthless existence. The Chronos Herald-even without knowing their true name yet-earned my destructive ire through this dangerous and provocative act.
“No matter,” I spoke aloud as my voice dripped with poisonous fury into the very aether itself. I started chuckling in a cold and callous tone while thinking about how I’d slowly dispatch the foolish Herald to exact vengeance for these deliberate actions against those under my protection. “These actions today and across the other five iterations shall not go unpunished after all. There are limits to what a Herald can do after all without being caught by able-bodied adventurers with a quest granted to them by the Eternal System itself involving them and I can be patient to exact payment for the damages done to Earth. All I have to do at this point is simply deal with other problems while I wait to catch the fucker.”
Energy rippled off of my god form in waves like radioactive particles-filled with malevolent intentions-as my festering fury towards the Chronos Herald began leaking out into the fabric of existence itself, but I quickly retracted my presence from it before too much damage was done. This allowed everything to quickly return to normal before the fragility of reality shattered like glass under my divine aura though it would still take time to fully recover. While the entire Multiverse started the slow path of recovering from a heavy handed indirect attack of a primal presence, I left Earth’s spatial region and went into the Far Outer Realms.
At the very edge of the Multiverse-and out of reach of the other Elder Courts where remnants of the God War I walked away from were still fresh even after two thousand years-I reached my intended destination. There was no hassle on the way here, but in this specific spatial region, not many habitable planets remained with the rest either still burning to ashes or nothing more than asteroid fields floating dead star systems. I did not desire to descend onto any planet’s surface and manifest my physical form quite yet because there wasn’t one planet to choose from for a suitable meeting place and reconnect with my Court. There were at least fifty habitable planets within the region that were suitable as meeting places which meant I was spoiled for choice. Instead of choosing myself, I decided to send a System message to one of my military generals that I trusted and have them choose the place to meet.
After waiting for a minute or two, I received a reply.
“Velluria, huh?” I asked myself after reading the one word response. “The home of the [Vampyre] race will do.”
I responded with the spatial coordinates of the desired location on Velluria’s surface to meet at along with temporal coordinates to make sure they arrived on time. From what I managed to recall about Velluria, it had fractured during the first century of the War and became irrevocably altered by the chaos. Entire continents were turned into verifiable wastelands filled with corpses and seas turned crimson with blood due to the drastic actions of the planets’ former divine pantheon in a vain attempt to cause significant damage to Ignis’ armies. While the Fire Court’s losses were very few-almost negligible due to restorative racial abilities-most of the planet itself burned after their gods were slain in battle. Even today, the remains of those casualties from an ancient bygone War are awaiting a chance to rise out of their final resting places and some of them still have a strong link to their souls-preventing them from entering the cycle of reincarnation.
As I floated over to the orbital path of Velluria and pulled up a side panel with a view of the Abyssal Sea, I started thinking about preparing for the inevitable time the Herald and I will meet in battle. Even though my Court could easily handle the Herald without breaking a sweat, I’d have to start organizing potential allies that aren’t tied down to any singular Court.
“Be warned, Chronos Herald,” I muttered with a snide smirk. “Your actions have consequences and this time, there will be no way out. I’ll answer your Call in time.”