Chapter 101
Temporary Resets
Poof.
I appear in a hospital room, next to a nearly translucent General Tigran.
Whir-shur.
The sound of an automatic breather is attached to the otherwise perfect porcelain features of the space elf. As I enter, I must have set off some sort of automatic light. As the lights go brighter, causing General Tigran to turn my direction.
“So, you have come to save the day after all.” The General begins, as if I had a choice.
I did, and still do. But I couldn’t live with myself if I chose to let this whole universe suffer. Nor could I live with myself if I let this universe do what it apparently intends to do to Jess.
I remember the glowing text written on her mind, in her own flowing script.
When the last Herald falls, you will gladly sacrifice yourself as the conduit for power against the Behemoth. You will not tell Kyle Goldman about this, nor will you show any signs of what your combined powers are doing to you. This will be your final sacrifice and showing of love to Kyle Goldman.
The words are of course written in angelic energy.
“Shut it!” I snap back, I am too tired and frustrated to even deal with this at the moment. Then on a whim, I take a moment to investigate my own mind.
Mind Heal.
There are a lot of scars, after dealing with the Celestial Chet Goldman’s work, the work of my brother is rather crude in comparison. Looking at the differences, Celestial Chet wanted everything to be erased, or at least left it so any damage caused would be easily repaired.
To contrast with that, my own mind had scratching and markings that looked like a feral animal wandered in and started clawing at things just so they could.
I see the images my parents, their soft kind faces. Then I see how I was almost encouraged to avoid them all this time. I feel somewhat sick at the revelation. I knew they were good people, but why didn’t I go to them? Why didn’t I ever try to improve my relationship with them.
Then I see what I have been looking for, or at least what I felt had been there the whole time. There, right in the middle of my mind is a dense twelve layered wedge of knowledge, created from golden energy. I too have been mind corrupted, worse I think mine was actually done as a means to help me. Though having that many memories and experiences thrust upon me was too much.
Still, I awaken from my own personal reflection and realize there is almost no difference between these Celestials and Heralds. They both try to fuck with our lives, Heralds physically, while Celestials mentally manipulate us. Honestly, I don’t know which is worse, both are deceptively devious.
Still, I open my eyes, and stare at the General before me.
“You have come back to us. Does that mean you are ready to do what must come next?” General Tigran asks, as my eyes lock onto hers.
Rage.
Rage and anger.
I try to fight against such basic emotions. Generally feeling that they are unproductive emotions, then nothing good ever comes from acting upon rage. But right now, I can’t help but feel my own blood boiling at the look of contempt coming from the General.
“Let me guess, this is some game to you? Some form of entertainment? Some sick perversion you and your kind have created to pass the time. Set up infinite universes, set pawns up for failure and then laugh as universe after universe burns down around you?” I ask, chest heaving as I try to contain my rage I am feeling.
General Tigran just shakes her head, and with that one gesture her face seems to age ten years. Well ten human years, I am not quite certain how ten years would look to an Endarian, probably nothing more than a slight shading of the skin, normally.
“No.” Her word is hollow and defeated. “We fight a never-ending war. One where we are constantly thrown in with less resources, less training, while the forces mounted against us always gain more. They always extend further. Then the pieces we must work with, most don’t even realize the importance of their actions until it is too late. Then there are those who realize their importance and either choose to fight against, or help. Those that fight against us, well, we have learned to take drastic actions with them. Then those that try to fight with us, well they are the ones who are killed by either the enemies, or their own forces for being crazy. Either way, it is a never-ending battle where we constantly lose. Then if we do win, the resources that we gain, are minor. It’s not like we can take you to an alternate universe to fight our battles for us. We must take our victories where we can, in the generations that we can. Or make hard decisions to reveal everything, knowing that should we fail, another universe will fall.”
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She pauses as she stares off into the distance. I see the look on her face that tells me she has said too much or has come dangerously close to saying too much. I can almost see the moment she chooses to change the subject.
“You know, this used to be easier. In generations past, the victories would come, and we would move on with our days. Only a few universes like the one you are currently from had any major setbacks, with the world trees being destroyed. Still, we are forced to fight these battles over and over again, until finally the universe you are in dies, and is then used to spawn more monsters that can be fed from any universe. It is a sad truth, that we are all destined to lose eventually. The only true difference is that this time we have you, and you can stop it all. At least for one universe, you have the cheat with you.” She states, a look of determination filling her eyes.
“You mean Jess. I refuse to let her die like that!” I nearly snarl. This isn’t even my Jess, but I refuse to let such a fate befall her. Again, I might mess it up in my own universe, but here and now I can do this one thing right.
She shakes her head, weakly.
“No, the supreme Artifact. The one you were told that you would know what to do with, when the time came. You do still have it, right?” She asks, then stares at my chest. Well not my chest, but just above my chest. Then a slight look of panic takes her. “You do have the artifact you were gifted, right?”
I instinctively reach up to my neck, to the spot where the three stone necklace once sat. The same necklace that I gave to my Jess, so she could be separated from the time loops with me.
“Wait, that bauble, that’s what it does?”
“Behemoth Slayer.” She says with a nod. As she speaks the word, I feel an instant sense of recognition in the word. “It is a onetime use artifact but will instantly kill any behemoth that has been exposed.”
“Any Behemoth?” I ask.
Cough. Cough.
She nods, then coughs wildly. I recognize that cough, it is the same one all Celestials get when they say too much. She wasn’t supposed to tell me that. Or at least she was not supposed to tell me as much as she did.
I look at her, then realize even now she is still trying to tell me how to win.
“That’s it, there is no other way? Only one way to kill the Behemoth, well two with the artifact?” I ask.
With that General Tigran nods, not saying a word. Though I can tell even this conversation has had its effect on her. As she has seemed to age drastically before my eyes.
As if we were both having the same thought, she speaks. “The other heralds have all been killed. If you are going to do something to be a hero to this universe, then I suggest you do something quickly.”
Hearing her words, I see a glint of steely resolve in her eyes. She is ready for this.
“You are ready to die?”
Scoffs.
“I will die here, only to be reborn into a new role. Where I will attempt to save yet another universe from this same fate.” She says, looking away. A sense of cold longing filling her gaze. That was the look of a warrior who had been put into too many battles and war zones time and time again.
“So be it.” I say, then channel energy into my Revelation Sight changing it from just a passive ability into its active form.
The golden light that surrounds general Tigran is faint, I get the feeling that if I had waited any longer, then she would have been wisped away without offering any benefit.
The second she is exposed; time begins to travel backwards. Instantly I feel the minds of slimy monsters off in the distance and all around. In this moment I am both everywhere and nowhere at once. Here I can sense every slimy herald mind that has died in this time loop. The sad part is, I don’t know when, nor where this time loop will take me, so I must move quickly. I feel the binding of my soul begin to fade, as an empty hole fills within my chest. Simultaneously, I feel eleven slimy minds appear for a fraction of a second. But that is long enough. I crush all eleven.
Eleven?
I wonder, why there are so many. But then I realize a few are from my own universe. I know there should have been at least two from my universe, but there are more.
As soon as the last herald pops out of existence, the general who is still lying in the bed lets out a long sigh. “Thank you. With the heralds gone, the Behemoth that appears will be a minor apocalypse and not a fully fueled form.”
“What?” Is all I manage to ask.
“Suffice it to say, that should a fully formed Behemoth get summoned, your universe would not have been safe. But we managed to prevent that fate in both universes.” General Tigran said, as her eyes closed, and the last vestiges of golden Celestial energy faded from her body.
The mutterings of the dead and dying. I think to myself. Then I stop to look at the world around me. This time reset was short, but somehow eventful. I even see the two minds of the Celestials, Tigran and the one that puppeted my brother, both of which are now free floating. For a second I think about destroying them too, but then think better of it. I still don’t know what to think of this whole war thing and my place in it as a simple pawn, but I can’t let them die. Not here, not when they are all that will likely stand in the way of the next invasion, and it is clear there will be another one.
So many thoughts happened, that I almost failed to notice when my body and the events around me started to change. Then, I felt my body stretch and expand back out to its original form, the form with wings. At first, I was concerned that my uniform would rip and tear, but fortunately that too was switched out for my Guardian flight suit. I awoke to find myself behind the wheel of my disabled ship.
“We did it! We won!” Jess shouts happily in my ear.
Hearing her voice, I let out a sigh of relief.
“Kyle, are you there?” She asks, a note of panic in her voice.
“Yeah, I am here. Though my ship is disabled.” I admit.
“I don’t know how you did it, but you killed him.”
“What?” I ask.
“You killed him. Admiral Lemitov is dead, better still he changed to his full form before you killed him.” Jess admitted.
Hearing that, I realized there were a lot of herald minds from my own universe that had appeared. A lot of minds that I had never felt before, yet their vile form was readily apparent to me, even from a great distance away.
I almost wondered if it was all a dream.
But then I realize there was still a system message letting me know I had done something truly amazing.
Title Gained: Herald Slayer X16. Herald Slayer X5: You have killed sixteen legendary Heralds of the apocalypse. You have managed to kill them in such a way that they will never respawn in any time restart. For this you gain a blessing. All attributes increased by 5% (X16 for a total of 80%). You are now 160% more resistant to all Herald events.
Looking at the title, I realize it is basically a waste, I am now effectively immune to the works of the Heralds, but if I have my guess right, the heralds are all dead.
Now we are moving to the end game.
“Father is correct. While the last of the Heralds have been killed. We are now forced to battle the last hurdle for this apocalypse.” Prime states.
Somehow hearing my tree, well the one I think of as mostly mine; I feel a slight sense of relief.
“Don’t worry father. I always knew I was your favorite.” Prime says to me.
With that, I let out a long sigh.
The best turd floating in a pond is still just a turd. I think to myself.
“What is Prime talking about?” Jess asks.
“The ancient nemesis has awoken.” General Tigra…no wait General Fellina states, stupid multiple universes, and their stupid redundant names for the same people.
“What?”
“The Behemoth, will soon be summoned.”
There is still so much to do. I have my own universe to fix, but I also realize that with the reset everything I just undid with Jess has been undone. Worse, that whole thing with having to re-neuter my brother in the alternate universe is still a thing.
I might have gained some breathing room, but it will mean nothing if I must sacrifice Jess to do so. Or if any universe must sacrifice Jess.
While I owe nothing to Wizard me and his universe, I can’t help but feel that I should do something. Even the Jess from the fifteenth universe deserves her own chance at happiness.
There is so much to do, but so little time to do everything. Or maybe too much? I really don’t know how one would describe the feeling of constant give and take that comes with constant time loop restarts. I also wonder how the General managed to get all of the heralds to be revealed in her universe?
Or better still, what happened to the final three heralds from this universe? Was it finally an act of the Gods being benevolent? Or is there something more?
Regardless, I am not going to be any help to anyone in this piece of junk.
Total Recall.
Poof.