Chapter 91 - An Unexpected Visitor

  “I’ll be right back!” He called as he moved away, summoned his trunk and stepped inside his

  One of the things that made the Pana Elixir so special was the fact that it was capable of regenerating itself over time, but for this feature to work, it couldn’t be kept in his time-locked inventory. For whatever reason, he discovered that he didn’t encounter that problem if he stored it in his trunk and then stored his trunk in his inventory.

  The tiny amount of leakage wasn’t a problem yet, as it would only affect them negatively if they were exposed to it long-term.

  The lid slammed shut behind him, and he turned to walk down the stairs. A sudden tingle running down his spine made him stop; something was wrong. He struggled to put his finger on what exactly it was, but he had learned to trust his gut. He turned to leave, but as he pushed on the lid of the trunk, he found it wouldn’t budge.

  “Agh! What now?” He really didn’t have time for this. Frustrated, he walked down the stairs. The feeling got stronger as he looked around; nothing seemed to be out of place. He likened the feeling to how it felt when you came home after a long trip away; everything was familiar but also… not.

  A lot was going on outside of the trunk, so he pushed the feeling away and went over to where he had stored the Elixir. Mayry was counting on him; he needed to get it and get out. If he had to, he would force his way out and deal with whatever this was later.

  He opened the drawer and saw it empty. He was certain this was where he had left it, but to be sure, he tried a different drawer, empty.

  “My apologies,” An unfamiliar female voice said. Startled, he spun around and raised his hands in the direction the voice had come from. Energy flickered from his fingertips. For a moment, he couldn’t see anyone, but as the voice spoke again, he noticed a half-formed figure sitting on the sofa. Looking at the man was like looking in a mirror after a shower. He saw a vague outline, but the colours and details were blurred so profusely that trying to describe the figure was pointless.

  “Recreating the finer details of your space is beyond my power at the moment.” The voice was powerful yet calm and confident. It reminded him of how a politician spoke to people when trying to be reassuring.

  The vague figure gestured, “There’s no need for any of that.” The energy that had been crackling at Mason’s fingertips fizzled out. The ease with which the figure overrode his ability was terrifying and enough to instil in him a spark of suspicion as to what this apparition truly was.

  His heart raced as he stared at the figure before him, and his mind raced to try to make sense of what was happening. His instincts screamed at him to be cautious, but something else inside him pushed him to be angry at the intrusion.

  “Who are you?” Mason demanded, fighting with himself to keep his voice as polite as he could.

  The figure let out a high-pitched laugh that seemed to linger long after it ended. “I see he has more of a presence in you than I thought.” The voice paused and, as an afterthought, added, “No matter. For now, just think of me as a friend.”

  The annoyed part of him raged and pushed harder at him. “Okay, Friend, why are you here?” he asked, unable to keep the hostility out of his voice.

  “I’m here to tell you that neither your interesting little potion nor your healing ability will be able to fix the… Mayor. I’m also here to tell you that if you try to use your ability, the results will not be pleasant.”

  “And why do you care if the Mayor is healed or not?” He asked suspiciously.

  The voice let out an audible sigh. “I see you aren’t going to make this easy for me. Fine.”

  The curse that put the gods to sleep is wearing off. It will take some time, but it is failing. The curse was designed around the idea that it would be able to last endlessly while drawing on the gods themselves to fuel it. The fact that 15 gods exist makes the number special; if you knew anything about runes or rituals, you would know that the numbers 5, 10 and 15 are the most powerfully magical numbers. 5 minor gods, 10 greater and 15 in total. The curse, only able to draw upon 14 gods, was weak from the start, allowing echoes and bits of will to leak out from the trapped gods.

  I still don’t understand. What does letting the Mayor die have to do with any of that?

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Chaos no longer exists as a singular entity but as a collective; his power remains. If all iterations of chaos were to die, there would be 14 gods, making 14 the most powerful number, cementing the god’s prison.

  Her explanation made sense, but there was one thing he couldn’t understand, “You’re a god, aren’t you?” He had had the sneaking suspicion ever since he first saw the blurred figure. “That’s the only way you’d be able to appear here and know all of this in the first place. What I don’t get is why would you want to remain trapped?”

  The figure sighed audibly once again, “It is in my nature. I am Order. I am the opposite of chaos. The world as it is today is not as ordered as I may desire, but the world before, when all of us did nothing but fight, destroy and kill? There was so little order in the world that it wounded me to my very essence and almost killed me. With all of us asleep, it is… peaceful. But my ability to project even this small wisp of myself while asleep is proof the curse is failing.”

  “So you’d have me do what? Let the Mayor die, then hunt down the other iterations?”

  “I have told you. Nothing you could do would save this iteration. The elixir will not work. Your ability will not work, and to try would cripple you until you were of no use to anyone.” The voice calmed. “I wish for you to do as planned. Find your way to Ganehfrel and bring back the iteration incarcerated there. For as long as he remains in their hands, they will never let him die. He is the opposite of everything I embody, and still, I do not wish to see their treatment of him continue. Not even he deserves to suffer as much as he does.”

  The apparition flickered but, after a few seconds, stabilised. “The space I created for us to have this conversation will last a few more minutes, and then you will appear in your space. Think about what I’ve said.”

  The voice trailed off, and the figure flickered again before disappearing.

  The magnitude of what had just happened froze him on the spot; either that or his temporary paralysis was just a lingering effect of being in the presence of a god.

  So it was true; the gods really were waking up. He had to admit that even after hearing it from the Kethul, having his system confirm it, and getting it confirmed by the Mayor, he had been harbouring a tiny spark of hope that it was all just a misunderstanding and he wasn’t actually fated to fight and kill gods and save multiple worlds…. The visit from an actual god, projection or not, had thoroughly extinguished that spark. Order, despite being only a wisp of her former self, was still able to create a whole extra-dimensional space, transport him there without him knowing and casually prevent him from using his powers. How was he supposed to get powerful enough to fight something like that?!

  Putting that thought aside for the moment, he knew he had more pressing problems to deal with. Sure, meeting a god that could have killed him with thought was scary, but he’d take that any day over having look Mayry in the eye and tell her that he couldn’t heal her father. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do but whatever it was, he wasn’t looking forward to it.

  There was a change around him; it was subtle, but with his high perception stat, he was certain he hadn’t imagined it; the space around him almost seemed to darken slightly, like when the sun suddenly disappeared behind clouds on a summer’s day. The uneasy feeling left him, and he was able to move again. With no plan in mind, he grabbed the Pana Elixir and headed up the stairs back to the Mayor’s office; he was surprised that Mayry hadn’t come looking for him as he’d been gone far longer than he should have been.

  He peeked his head out and saw that everyone was pretty much exactly where they had been. “I’m so sorry that took so long,” he said, “I had a bit of trouble finding the elixir.”

  Mayry, who was sitting by her dad’s side, glanced at him. “What do you mean? You were barely gone a minute.”

  Missing a step, Mason tripped, almost dropping the small glass bottle containing the elixir; he luckily managed to grab it before it hit the floor. “Crap! Sorry! Yeah, it just felt like longer.”

  So even at her weakest, Order was able to create a convincing duplicate of a pocket dimension and suppress his abilities, all while manipulating time? Even with everything happening around him, he couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter what he did, he would never be strong enough to fight a god-like Order.

  Mayry frowned and asked, “Is everything okay? You’re acting weird…”

  Before Mason could come up with something to say, the Mayor let out a wheezing cough, which then turned into a fit of coughs that went on long enough that Mayry grabbed her dad’s arm with tears in her eyes and whispered something in his ear. She then looked back up at him with urgency in her eyes. “Mason, please do something!” she asked him, her voice cracking.

  He rushed over and poured some of the elixir into the Mayor’s mouth. He wasn’t sure what the proper dosage was, so he started by just giving him a sip, but as nothing happened, he fed him more of the elixir until it was empty.

  He and Mayry watched the Mayor intently, searching for any sign that it was working.

  Lying on the couch, he closed his eyes and sighed deeply, letting out a relaxed moan. Colour returned to his gaunt face, and some of the bruises that had covered his face faded. Mayry gasped, “It’s working!” She turned round to look at him and saw the smile on his face start to change into fear. Her eyes widened, and he whipped her head back to where her father lay. Something seemed to be fighting against the elixir’s effects. His skin was becoming pale again, and the bruises returned worse than before. The Mayor suddenly sat upright, falling into a coughing fit.

  “Mason! Please! Mayry shouted.

  Just like Order had said, the elixir had not worked. He loved Mayry and would do anything for her, but he couldn’t risk crippling himself. The fate of countless lives depended on him. He was going to hate himself for this, and if Mayry ever found out, he knew she would hate him, too.

  For the briefest of moments, he met the Mayor’s eyes. He smiled sadly and then almost imperceptibly nodded. He knew what Mason was about to do and was going to let him; he got the feeling that it would have been virtually impossible if the Mayor had struggled.

  He walked over, put his hands on the Mayor, and began to absorb all of his remaining Essence.