"My father finally got back to me," Kacy approached Ryan. "Regarding the three issues you wanted information on."

"That's good," Ryan said. "Considering today's the deadline for when I needed that information."

"It is?" She gave him a stunned look. "You haven't mentioned anything about a deadline."

"Of course there's a deadline," he scoffed. "As if I'd let it go forever. No, I'm doing something tonight, and that's when what I'm here for is over."

After dealing with the rebellion, all that was left was for Ryan to deal with the situation he traveled to Volnal for. The elementals had been unable to find the new location for the reality marble's gate, but that didn't bother Ryan. He wasn't going to let them be captured again.

So he was grateful that Kacy managed to obtain that information before he reset again, as it would be his last night there.

"What did your father say?" Ryan asked.

"Regarding Nadia," Kacy responded, sitting across from him. "She was employed by one of the executives, who believes that the prophecy from the Silver Oracle can be diverted, and that you can be killed.

"Regarding Amy," Kacy paused for a moment. "Actually, their goal is getting you to ally with Raxvar Corporation. It's an executive who believes that if we can convert you to Raxvar's side, you'll act in favor of Raxvar Corporation rather than the Novar Family when you conquer the world."

"Not going to happen," Ryan said. "But why go after Tyler, then?"

"Because," she said. "He's an easier target than you, and it's known that he is one of the only two people in the world you trust. If they could convince him to join us, then he could convince you to join us. His word holds a lot of sway in you."

"So the attempt on him is actually for me," Ryan said, and she nodded. "And the issue with the Novarax?"

"Not an executive this time," she told him. "But rather, someone who found out because of the second executive that Raxvar Corporation may be joining with the Novars. The director of one of our locations, who's decided to prevent the merger by having the Novarax stage a rebellion before summer."

"Useless failures," Ryan muttered. "It wouldn't have succeeded, even if they did try and we didn't become aware of it ahead of time."

"What makes you so sure of that?" She asked. "Their weapons-"

"The valley isn't easy to enter or exit," Ryan explained. "And we have contact with agents in the area and tunnels at all times. The moment we lose contact with one of them, we contact all of them. Collapsing the tunnels is only a matter of minutes from there. If our guards in the hidden facilities became aware through their monitoring that the Novarax were escaping, they would collapse the tunnels.

"Let's say someone did get out," Ryan said. "Even a group of them, what then? There are less than two hundred Novarax, most of whom were from branch families without actual Novar blood or with weakened Novar blood. They're weak. They'd be going up against the most powerful Family in the world, which numbers thousands after factoring in the branches and employees.

"Truthfully," Ryan said. "The goal was probably to get rid of the Novarax. With them out of the way, it wouldn't be difficult for someone to fight their way through the storms and claim the Volnal Heisar before we could bring forces back in to secure it, especially if our tunnels were collapsed and they were prepared ahead of time."

Ryan felt his eyes widen as he realized what was going on with the elementals. He knew the attack was intended to occur at the end of the year, even if Kacy said by summer. It was something everyone in charge had agreed on during their interrogations.

The elementals were the cause of the storms. By forcibly removing them, that would weaken the natural barrier protecting the valley, making it easier to enter.

The initial thought had been the elementals were being used as a power source. That might be true, but if so, it was a side-effect of weakening the barrier protecting Volnal. Whether it was Raxvar Corporation's rebel sect doing it or a group who found out about the attempt and wanted to help – or make a claim for it themselves – wasn't clear, but he was confident that was what was happening.

"Thank you," Ryan stood. "You've given me all of the information I need to make a decision."

"Which is?" She asked.

"That Raxvar Corporation is no different than a Family," he answered. "And needs to get its ducks in a row before the Novars will merge with it. If you don't mind, I was actually preparing to head out, which is why Tyler isn't here. He was having the car brought around."

Ryan walked past her and out of the room, then down to the front of the house. Outside, he approached the car and entered. Mary was at the wheel, with another guard already in the back seat. Tyler entered the front seat as the third guard entered and sat on Ryan's other side, then Mary began driving.

"Where are we going?" Mary asked.

"To the spot the elementals showed us last week," Ryan answered. "They said that they're always captured, even when split apart, so they'll be together this time to make it easier for me."

"Understood," she said.

"Is your father not coming?" Tyler asked.

"No," Ryan answered. "I convinced him to stay behind, though you can bet he's probably watching from afar."

"Okay," Tyler said.

They fell silent, and thirty minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Ryan ordered the guards to stay behind as he and Tyler exited, then he wrapped the pair of them in an illusion to hide their presences. He wove together an illusion of light and heat, on the off-chance the enemies were using a heat-reading technology to scan the area as well.

The pair of them walked a mile, then waited. The seven lightning elementals had already gathered, and Ryan chatted with them through nodes of light from fifty feet away.

At the time the elementals had given Ryan, the young god felt a fluctuation in space, followed by several cages of metal and lightning forming around the elementals, with no more than two elementals captured per cage. As soon as the cages appeared, the elementals began to move much more slowly and Ryan sensed the speed of their lightning and electricity drop sharply.

"That explains why they're always captured," he muttered under his breath, then noticed his servant giving him a confused look. "Spatial magic was used to put the cage there. Let's wait."

They waited only five minutes before four trucks with trailers attached to them arrived sped into their location along with several vans. People poured out of the vehicles, mages moving toward the cages as if to move them.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Ryan spoke as he undid his cloaking spells. "You don't know what will happen if you capture them."

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"Who are you?" One of the men asked, and Ryan realized that the lighting probably wasn't the best for them to see from that distance and he couldn't sense goggles of any form, despite the expenses put into the attack.

"Me?" Ryan asked. "Just your local god, infuriated by mere humans coming after beings such as elementals. You're going to answer a few questions, such as who you are, who you work for, and why you're doing this. Then, I am going to kill you."

"A god?" The man laughed as a few people chuckled. "I recognize your voice now, Novar. You'll be a nice prize for us, too. We can move the elementals in a minute, subdue him and his servant."

Ryan crushed the hearts of the six agents who began to move towards them, and the six mages fell to the ground. He manipulated the air to suffocate four more, then burned another four from the inside.

"Oh?" Ryan asked as he began to casually walk forward. "Subdue me? Are you sure that's even possible? You pathetic mortals."

He could feel his servant's unease at his tone, but dismissed it. Things wouldn't matter anymore after that night, and he was mostly posturing out of boredom.

"Kneel," Ryan commanded, putting authority and silkspeech into his voice, then watched as everyone except for Tyler knelt. "Stay as you are."

Ryan approached each of the remaining agents and placed a hand on them, slipping into their minds and pulling out the information he needed. After checking each one, he killed them. When he finished, he began undoing the cages, the elementals floating out and towards him, moving lethargically.

"Ryan," Tyler said with a shaky voice, having crossed much of the distance to him during the mental interrogation. "What did you just do?"

"I wasn't lying when I said I'm a god," Ryan told his servant. "If I want to, I can bend mortals to my will. It's the same reason my mind is untouchable even for my father – my mind is far too different for his to comprehend or access. Far too superior. That is why I am unkillable.

"In fact," Ryan turned so that he was facing his servant. "That is why I am destined to rule the world. By rights, this world is mine. I am the god who will rule it as the king of all the gods who ever come to it. The Silver Oracle likely knew this and wished to warn my enemies ahead of time not to do anything foolish."

The young god found himself surprised at the reaction in Tyler's mind. No fear, no awe, no envy, no worry, or any other such emotions filled the man's mind. Instead, only acceptance and realization, in addition to understanding. His servant had no issues with Ryan being a god, and realized that his master's godhood explained much of the man's mindset and attitude.

"Let me talk with the elementals for a minute," Ryan said. "Then I'm going to reset back to when Mother was killed."

"Ryan," Tyler said, and Ryan noticed the hesitation in his mind. "I've been wondering something."

"Yeah?" Ryan asked.

"Wouldn't you resetting back to her death mean they could prepare for this?" Tyler asked, and Ryan froze up.

He hadn't considered that. It would give the elementals ten years to prepare for it, and they had told him that they had a way to deal with it once they recovered. As the elementals would reset, their forms moving to the location where they were when the reset occurred rather than their minds moving to their forms, they would be able to put that preparation in place long before the event ever happened.

"Yes," Ryan sighed, and felt his servant's amusement at his lack of thought on the matter. "That's… okay, that's a good point. And I'm willing to bet the elementals knew this, considering I've told them my plans."

Tyler laughed and approached Ryan, who just shook his head as the seven elementals finished forming a ring around him.

"So," Tyler said. "You feel you're ready to save her life?"

"No," Ryan answered. "But I realized that I'm going to keep delaying it. It's time to just do it. A good point was brought up – information I've gathered here and now might not be relevant anymore. I know the important bits, such as the Mieria Heisar and the possibility of a rebellion by the Novarax, and that the Volnal Heisar starts producing more rare reagents, and when. That's enough. I can play around with time in the future."

He didn't have his true elemental sense yet, but could work on that growing up. Something told him it would be easier for him to develop it as he went through puberty than once he was fully-grown.

"Other than that," Ryan gestured to the forms all around him. "What else is there left for me to do? I'm pretty powerful. I can fight an elemental as an equal, and that's with not much training at all. I can kill someone with a thought, bend them to my will with a command. If someone kills me, I simply return to my most recent reset point, which just means I can prevent my death while knowing what I need to do."

"Alright," Tyler sighed, and Ryan smiled a little.

"Tyler," Ryan said. "You're worried that you won't get to be my servant again, even though you know that it won't matter, because this 'you' gets erased."

"It's irrational," Tyler shrugged. "But I know that's how it's going to be. Your mother will likely take control of your care and who serves you, so the chances of us meeting again will be slim. It bothers me, even if there won't be anything to bother me once you do the reset. After all, I won't have known our friendship."

"Yeah," Ryan said. "Before I do the reset, Tyler, I have to ask something."

"What?" Tyler asked, curiosity filling his mind, and Ryan felt almost guilty at that because of what he'd say next.

"Are you gay?" Ryan asked, and felt his servant's mind fill with terror, noticed his servant's eyes shift towards as his head turned down as well.

"What gave it away?" Tyler asked.

"Hrm," Ryan thought for a moment. "Honestly? It was a bunch of things, which could be explained as other things. I figured it out towards the end of my last reset. You were spending a lot of private time with Michael Srentas. Then I put it together with knowing you got hard with toweling me off, and that when we were in the island runs, you'd sleep with Bethany, but only if I was having sex with her at the same time."

"That's why you use the spell to dry off," Tyler said. "Because-"

"Because it's faster and easier," Ryan said. "And guarantees being dry. I figured out the spell before I realized about you, Tyler. And I know that it might be difficult for you as a normal servant. You've never actually hinted to me about yourself, and you never made any sort of inappropriate action against me, Tyler. Were it not for my elemental senses and empathy, I would have lacked the necessary clues. You've put your servitude to me above your feelings. That's actually rather admirable."

He felt his servant's confusion rise again.

"Before I reset," Ryan said. "I just wanted to make something clear: you are my friend, Tyler. You have served me beyond what your station required. Even if you won't know that, I will. I'm going to remember your service to me, how much of a friend you've been. You can bet that you'll be my servant again, because I'll ensure it. And once we're older… well, I hear there's a certain Srentas Heir who likes guys, who takes quite the liking to a certain guy from a Novar branch family."

Tyler snorted, and Ryan smiled.

"You're my friend," Ryan told him. "And you're like a brother to me. I'd hate to lose that. I know that me saying all of this doesn't really matter, but it feels better to me to do so than to just reset without it."

"Okay," Tyler said. "Well, I guess I'll see you again… in a couple of years."

"Yeah!" Ryan grinned, then switched to talking through orbs of water, so that the elementals could receive a message. "You bastards neglected to inform me that resetting back to my mother's death would give you plenty of time to prepare for this."

"It is not our place to correct a god," the elementals said in unison, and Ryan sighed.

"I will see you all again," he told them.

As he prepared the reset spell, he focused on returning to the night of his mother's death. His goal to become the next Gray Mage could wait until after he saved her and matured to adulthood again. After all, for him, time was abundant.

He'd get to meet two of the Gray Mages eventually anyway, and he counted that as a win even if he didn't get to meet the first Gray Mage.

The spell activated, and Ryan knew immediately he had screwed up. He could sense the spell acting differently from normal, before he felt the shifting of space and time around him. A pain shot through his head, and he dropped to his knees, finding himself kneeling in grass.

The air lacked the moisture of Volnal, and his clothes had vanished. He could feel the a lack of something in the air. To him, the air felt eerie, empty, as if something important was missing.

"Gah!" Ryan groaned as he heard someone moving towards him after several minutes of the pain piercing through his mind and body.

Whatever he was suffering, it wasn't PAOMA, he could tell that much by the way it affected him. He was still an adult as well, his body the same as before. Something had gone wrong with his time spell.

Someone spoke to him, their voice that of a young woman, and Ryan realized that he couldn't understand them. The words seemed similar, yet still foreign to him. Almost as if it were an older version of English.

The pain passed, and Ryan finally recovered enough to activate his senses of fire, air, water, and earth, stretching them out as far as he could. He seemed to be right in front of a house, a woman watching him warily. His empathy confirmed her wariness, but also her concern. He supposed a naked person seemingly in pain would be cause for concern to some people.

As the pain faded, Ryan began to wonder what happened, only for knowledge to fill him. When performing the reset, his change in thought to the Gray Mage had caused him to change spells, to one far more complex, one which used up far more mana than any spell he'd ever cast before.

He had accidentally time-traveled back to the start of the Great Collapse.