Avior had been regressing and reliving his life starting from the day of the apocalypse for so long he no longer knew how many attempts he’d made. All he knew was that no matter what method he took humanity ended up annihilated. Extinct to the last.
This time was no different. Looking over the barren remains of Earth as it began to crumble in on itself, a supernova beginning to envelop him and everything else nearby, he couldn’t help but frown in frustration. He had done everything right this time. He had brought back future knowledge, founded a school to teach others, and united humanity into one powerful collective. He had all the knowledge of endless lifetimes but no matter what he gave the best and brightest of humanity they couldn’t step up, some even ended up less powerful than timelines when everything had gone horribly.
Hmmm, maybe he had been thinking of it all wrong. That’s it! Humanity can’t be gifted with every opportunity. UGH! How stupid he had been. Striving after this result for so long only to find his very thinking was flawed from the start. He was spoiling humanity. Like a rotten rich kid, the only result will be wasted talent and potential. People need to find their own motivations, their own reason for caring. It doesn’t matter how many times someone else says the world’s going to end, hearing it and striving against it are very different things. This humanity he had sheltered in an attempt to help them gather strength was nothing more than a helpless toddler he had kept locked in their room with only a bookshelf for company.
With a determined smile, something no one in this time had seen from their sovereign jaded by endless lifetimes, Avior welcomed the searing light as it vaporized him. After all, he now knew what he needed to do. His next plan would work. It had to. This would be his last attempt at saving humanity.
---------------------------------------Rebirth ------------------------
As Avior’s consciousness returned he found himself being held by a familiar nursemaid who quickly turned him to face his waiting mother and father. In truth, Avior was the son of a noble although a bastard, as his now smiling mother was never able to marry his father, who left a week from today never to return. His mother had never given up hope he'd return one day. Even giving Avior his father's last name, Malim, despite his absence.
Avior had once held great resentment for his father, but eventually, he learned his father was pressured by his family’s head to cut contact or they would do it for him by having Avior and his mother killed. Although Avior had already lived a few lifetimes by the time he figured it out he still lowered himself for some petty revenge, making sure to destroy his grandfather’s Malim household whenever he ultimately had the power to. That was until around the hundredth attempt when he started failing to see the point in most things other than achieving his goal of surviving armageddon. It had only gotten worse afterward. Avior found himself slowly growing more and more cold towards others. After all, he knew that any experience he had with them would disappear when the next attempt started, after going through that for dozens of lifetimes anyone would find themselves detached.
Knowing that Avior tried to smile in his most baby-like way at his parents, even his father. Unfortunately, seeing a baby smile after being born was an odd sight for anyone. Seeing his parents puzzled looks Avior couldn’t help himself but let out a series of giggles, it seemed he was managing to show at least a little emotion this time around.
Avior was hoping his latest realization had woken him up. He had committed to making this his last attempt after all he could feel his soul, which had started to wear down long ago, was about to be shattered apart after being rewoven back into time constantly. Even if he did manage to reattempt, he would likely be missing parts of his memory or even part of his personality. Looking true death in the eye Avior didn’t know why but he felt a feeling of joy well up in him for the first time in a while. It seemed the thrill of his last life combined with the desperation of failing his multi-life’s work was starting to drive him onward.
------------------------------------------Two Years Old ----------------------------------------------------
The next couple years passed by quickly. Avior’s father left a week after his birth just like always while his mother clung onto hope for him to return and whisk them off to his estate. Avior took advantage of his youth working to aggressively develop his body like he always did, although there's a limit to what one can do physically, magically it's a different story. Since Avior already knew what it felt like to awaken he was able to start growing his mana since birth. The pure amount of mana he had once he became an adult was easily enough for him to take control of humanity. No one else could compare and that became doubly so when his dozens of lifetimes of experience were taken into account. But this time Avior had a different plan.
He would save humanity by becoming the Ultimate Villian!
The current him couldn’t help but let out another evil giggle as he imagined the final plan he had been ironing down while training his body and mana for the last two years. He was going to debut as a calamity! A secret evil trying to destroy the world that the forces of humanity would unite against. It was perfect. His only fear was discouraging them by being too powerful, so he had planned it in stages, and soon it would be time for the first phase to begin. The Corruption Phase!
The sound of a door opening broke off his concentration as he saw his mother enter.
“Avy time for num nums!” My mother enthusiastically said. Although a little annoyed for being disturbed from his daydreaming Avior was indeed ready for “num nums.”
---------------------------------- Corruption Begins -------------------------------------------------
The next day Avior found himself alone in his room and began to initiate Stage One Corruption! Moving his tiny little arms he began to channel his mana out of his two-year-old body, forming a long shadow. As Avior continued to channel his mana the shadow grew out of the ground until it was in the shape of a kneeling figure. Avior continued and the shadowy kneeling figure slowly changed into an old but fierce-looking tanned man with a thick head of grey hair. His shadowy body changed into a black-bodied suit with silver accents topped with a collar and epaulets. With the shell complete Avoir finally began work on the hardest part. The brain.
Replicating human synapses was of course, incredibly difficult, and even he, with his dozens of lifetimes, hadn't been able to discover the method. He had actually been taught how to do it by one of Earth’s strongest mages, Eliona Mustafor. She was a true genius who had only managed to come up with the method during one of his lives when her brother was put in a blunt force induce coma. Wanting to prevent him from being a potato forever Eliona shifted her focus from combat magic to neural networks in order to rebuild her brother's lost connections. After that she went on to create a method that can be used to recreate a human brain, although it was still in the early stages it dealt with all the hard parts of the process. Leapfrogging off her work Avior was easily able to modify it to work in his creations over the course of one of his lives.
Avior methodically created and connected a brain from the ground up while manipulating thousands of streams of mana concurrently. Immersed in his work, even the toddler version of himself was giving off a terrifying aura. Avior let out a breath of relief as the grey-haired man opened his piercingly blue eyes.
A voice resounded inside Avior's head “Master what are your orders.” The kneeling man who had just been given life showed no sign of alarm at his new autonomy or sudden existence only his undying loyalty for the two-year-old child in front of him.
Avior responded using the same mental pathway his underling had initiated.
“Go to the Spire Mountains within the Veskell woodland. In a lake stemming from the Dri River you’ll find a condensed mana core. I’ll imprint the exact location directly into your mind.” Avior continued looking at the creation in front of him who remained kneeling in perfect form as Avoir flooded his newly created brain with a torrent of information regarding the Veskell Woodlands and his mission.
“Leave now and return with your quarry.”
“Yes, master.” The grey-haired man replied before turning into a shadow and disappearing. Avior had imprinted him with a great deal of magic techniques and as they had been written directly into his brain his creation was naturally rather competent with them.
Seven days later, while Avoir was pretending to be taught by his mother to read, he received a message from his creation.
“Master I’ve returned with the core.”
Looking at his mother Avior let out a pitiful “Bathwoom” before dashing off to the water closet.
“You can come out now” Avoir sent once he was seated on his porcelain throne.
The shadows from the corner expanded outward and took the form of the familiar kneeling man who held a blue orb in his hands no bigger than an adult's fist. Taking the core Avior dolled out some praise to his only minion.
“Well done. Would you like anything as a reward?”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“No my Lord I only wish to continue to be able to be useful to you.”
“Oh, you don’t even wish for a name.” Avior sent with a playful glint in his childlike eyes. Enjoying as his creation seemed to shiver with excitement at the mention of a name.
“A name would be a great honor for me Lord.”
“Very well I’ll name you Bastian. You’ll be known as my first follower in the future so you must carry yourself as such.”
“Yes, my lord. Thank you for this wonderful gift.” The stoic Bastian was showing visible signs of excitement despite his best efforts to remain proper.
“Of course, that’s not your only reward. This mana core is also for you.” Bastian swayed as he listened to Avior continue. “The core I made for you that you're currently using was created in under an hour and although plenty powerful, it contains far less mana than the mana core you retrieved which has been absorbing mana for millions of years. It’ll allow you to truly become worthy of being my first follower.” Finishing his explanation Avior used his mana to push the core inside Bastion's chest enveloping it in the core he had made.
“Thank you again, Master. Your kindness is unfathomably vast and endless.”
Waving his tiny arms Avior responded with fake humility. “Enough, enough. Go now. Your next task is to begin establishing my organization. Convert key people through whatever means available while prioritizing stealth as the highest priority. We cannot allow anyone to figure out what’s going on too early.” Avior’s developing voice spoke with a constant childlike tone.
“Yes my lord. Your will be done.” Bastian answered as he vanished once more into the shadows.
After Bastian disappeared Avior allowed a smile to grow on his face. Hopefully by the time I turn sixteen Bastian will have converted a city or two which will make the Second Phase: Chaos much more effective.
“Honey, do you need help?” A soft voice called from outside the door.
“No Mamma. Be out soon!” Avior called back like the poster child he was.
-----------------------------------Four Years Old--------------------------------------
Two years later Avior found himself reminiscing about old times. His mother attempting to interest him in stories about herbal remedies noticed he seemed uncharacteristically absent-minded.
“Avy are you hungry?” She asked her motherly concerns at the forefront.
Avior shook his head half-heartedly. Finding it difficult to muster the energy to humor his mother this once, he gave a default excuse.
“Tired” letting out a long yawning motion, “Bedtime.”
His mother seemingly relieved exhaled before picking him up while responding.
“Ok, that’s enough learning for today then. I’ll go tuck you in.”
After getting Avior ready for bed she left him alone in his room with Avior now seemingly passed out. Once she left Avior’s eyes shot wide open having made his decision of how he would ensure the one person he truly cared for's safety. Using the mana he’d stored up throughout the day he began weaving threads of wind mana together. Carefully forming them into an intricate pattern until the mass of air mana had formed into a deep blue egg the size of a human head. As a finishing touch, Avior imprinted an image of someone he would never forget, no matter how many lifetimes he lived, onto the mind of the creature sleeping within. With a satisfied glint in his eye, Avior coalesced himself outside of his room before using air mana to launch his tiny body toward the continent's largest mountain range. Soon a meteor streaked across the central continent’s sky, clearly visible from anywhere on the continent until finally, it disappeared over the horizon, headed straight for the northern continent.
By the time Avior returned and slipped himself back into his bed just before dawn struck, his tiny body was even more exhausted than usual, but his baby face was fixed into a smile full of pride in what he had managed to accomplish during the night.
------------------------------------- Six Years Old ------------------------------------------
Two years later a much older six-year-old Avior was grinding a poultice for his mother, who happened to grow from her role as one of the wise women of the village into a full-blown medical expert. Of course, Avior might have played a small role, but he would never admit it.
“Avior go out back and grab more mistleweed, try to get the two biggest boughs you see.”
“Yes Mamma.” Avior responded as he went out to their little cottage’s back garden.
“Master!” A mental message sounded in Avior's head. The shadows condensed into a kneeling Bastian. Hidden out of sight to everyone except Avior. Avior who had been refraining from using his mana for situational awareness in favor of building his mana capacity was a little shocked by his creation's sudden appearance, although he didn’t show it.
“Bastian, you’re a little early on finishing the organization's establishment, or have you encountered an issue?’ Avior responded, curious as to why his servant was showing up unplanned.
“I regret I’ve shamefully encountered an issue I need guidance on,” Bastian spoke, his frustration at his failure clearly evident.
“Oh? Do tell?”
“In the nearby Hervalle territory, a key figurehead I had converted was discovered and captured. Although he didn’t know much I moved to eliminate him to mitigate any possible risk. Unfortunately, in doing so I ended up falling into a trap and had to reveal some of my ability. This mistake of mine ended up driving up more interest and I’m afraid I’ve attracted unwanted attention to your organization.”
“What level of ability did you reveal?”
“I demonstrated the speed and reaction time of a 3rd level wind ma-”
“Wind?” Avoir cut him off not wanting to deal with more of his self indulgent moping. “Looks like you were trying to be careful. Since it’s just 3rd level you’ll be fine to continue as is. If need be just use an already established shadow organization to take the blow. And remember although caution is important you shouldn’t be timid in the face of opportunity “
“I hadn’t thought of that my Lord you truly are the future leader of all humanity.”
“What?! Who said I wanted to be the leader of humanity?"
Avior couldn’t help but let his face sour at Bastian's remark. Leader of humanity? He had already tried that. It was a worthless path he had wasted countless lifetimes on.
Bastian seeing his master showing his first visible emotion and that emotion being anger pushed his head to the floor in a panic.
“I apologize Master, for I have overstepped myself in presuming your intentions and deserve nothing less than death.” He said sounding as if he was trembling.
“It’s fine.” Avior sent and returned his expression to normal. “Just continue as necessary. Notify me once you’ve taken control of a region.”
“It will be done.” Bastian quickly took his leave back into the shadows like a puppy with its tail between its legs.
Hmph, freaking out over having to reveal 3rd level wind skills. Bastian should have 8th-level abilities in Shadow and 7th in wind I think I might have made a mistake when creating his temperament, I must have made him too cautious. Avior thought to himself. Besides 3rd level in some small outskirt of the Hervalle Empire might be strong enough to scare some city lord, but it's not enough to get any of the truly powerful branches of Hervalle involved. I’m sure he’ll be able to manage whatever trouble he stirred up, even if he is a little too cautious about doing so.
Maybe I should create another servant? It would make sense. If I ended up leaving this village at sixteen only to find Bastian was still tiptoeing around a baron while scared of his own shadow it would be a true shame.
That settles it. I’ll make some more servants tonight.
“Avior? Have you got the mistleweed yet?” Avior heard his mother's voice calling from the other room.
Avior quickly used mana to cut two stems and fly them back into his hand. “Yes, I’m coming mamma.” The six-year-old Avior walked back into his small cottage to continue helping his mother.
That night after being tucked in and left alone in his room Avior channeled another servant. This one was solidified from light and took the form of a beautiful middle-aged blond woman wearing silver armor. For her body, Avior made her mana conduits more focused on absorbing mana than Bastian as she wouldn’t be a core based servant and would instead have a mana system similar to that of a human. It had some disadvantages, but if she was going to be more visible it was better to help her more easily hide the fact she was a creation. While forming her neural network Avior made sure to make her less prone to caution than Bastian, although of course still prioritizing secrecy.
Once he was done he was met with clear green eyes which held an intelligent glint.
A feminine voice resounded in his head soon after. “Master, what are your orders?”
“Go south to a Vernicus territory and establish an organization. Hide in plain sight and be open about creating an organization but find a purpose that won’t cause people to question your motives. Once established use your influence to turn key figures and increase the power of the organization. Prioritize disguising your true motives from being exposed, but don't be overly cautious. I have great expectations.”
“Yes my lord.” As she began to disperse into particles of light Avior sent one last message.
“Oh and you’re my second servant you’ll be called Luxia.”
As Avior began to fall back asleep under his sheets his thoughts drifted back to his own experiences learning how to use the light element. Manipulating light mana could be a very challenging thing. Avior himself hadn't really gotten the hang of it until he was tutored by Arthur Heartsweep, a prodigy light mage, and one of the few people Avior had befriended multiple times throughout his lives. Some of Arthur's teachings were actually placed verbatim into Luxia's mind without Avior needing to alter them. He was truly the most naturally gifted light mage Avior had ever met. Yet Luxia being a product of his teachings as well as the works of every other great light mage to ever live during Avior's lives should be well beyond even Arthur's ability.
Avior just hoped he'd implanted the information into Luxia's mind well enough. After being built sentient creations weren't prone to "corrections" being done.
Either way, Avior was content with his choice to begin working on another front in the completely opposite direction from Bastian. Being in a different field should make sure they avoid stepping on one another toes. \
As he began to doze off, his last thought was wondering whether or not he should tell Bastian about his new sister. In the end, he decided it was so unlikely they'd meet there was no point in a warning and that telling him might just give the already timid Bastian even more pressure making him fully useless.