Despite Melody''s teasing, semi-serious complaints, she ran off to

    equip the new set immediately. Peace on the other hand, had no idea what

    to do with the orb.

    "What… is this?"

    "This-" Felix pointed at the orb in Peace''s hand, "Is… I don''t really

    have a name for it. What is does though, is provide you with a

    nearly limitless source of any element you can imagine, to draw

    from. I say nearly because there''s hundreds of billions of

    points of Mana in that thing and it regenerates Mana faster than you

    should reasonably be able to use it."

    He looked excited as Felix was explaining but then confused as he

    frowned down at the orb, "How do I draw something from it? How do I

    change the element?"

    "Simple, you embed it in your Soul."

    "And I…"

    "Bond with it, the same way Melody and I did. It''s a little weird to

    bond your and my Soul due to you being a Spirit and my not,

    but… I think this solves that."

    He looked at it curiously then shrugged, "Alright…"

    Taking the orb in one hand Peace pulled open his robes with the other

    then pressed the orb against his chest. Despite his body being physical,

    the orb slipped right through, as if it wasn''t there at all. That wasn''t

    to say there was no resistance as he had to push through his Soul but,

    it was far less than if Felix had tried the same thing,

    considering he was a Spirit.

    Once it was in place in Peace''s Soul, he bound himself to it and the

    orb began to dissolve into him, as Felix had intended.

    The orb itself was just a vehicle to transport its contents anyways.

    Inside of the orb, was not quite a computer but a Spell that took

    Peace''s requests as input and produced an elemental output, along with a

    massive Fractal Mana Core. In order to keep the Mana levels within high,

    there was also a stable Spatial Anomaly connected deep into the Aether,

    based on the SBAG and the Oblivion Sphere.

    "So now I just… what?"

    "Try to summon Fire in your hand and make sure you communicate your

    intent to it. You should be able to control and move the element, being

    a Spirit. It''s really just a generator."

    Peace nodded slightly then reached his hand out and on his palm, a

    small flame appeared.

    His head snapped to the side to look at Felix with wide, excited eyes

    and a contagious, childlike smile, "So, can we head in now

    or…"

    "Yeah, let''s go."

    Felix followed as the two of them excitedly flew through the arena

    and into The Abyss, arriving about where Felix had left before heading

    into the The Realms, on the 436th floor.

    The 435th had supposedly been the breaking point where enemies

    suddenly hit the B grade and became much more difficult to deal

    with. Watching Melody and Peace though, it was hard to tell that was the

    case.

    Melody was only rarely killing anything but she was flying directly

    to the switches that needed to be pressed. She knew exactly

    which creature needed to be killed to drop a specific key and killed

    them quickly and efficiently, without worrying about anything else.

    It was like she was following a guide or something which, should have

    been impossible.

    Peace on the other hand, looked like a combination of Elementals all

    blended together, performing martial arts.

    He punched Fire, kicked Water, flipped with a burst of Air, trailed

    Lightning and broke the Earth beneath his feet. Everywhere he went, a

    maelstrom of Elements tore through the enemies and the landscape.

    With just the two of them, instead of taking hundreds of hours like

    they expected, it took them a couple hours at most to clear a floor

    which, was mostly due to them needing to fly around.

    Felix wasn''t completely idle though. He had also created an item for

    himself which, didn''t actually do anything except produce some flashy

    lights and sounds.

    Holding the box in his hand, Felix began tapping at the side of it

    causing the box to produce flashy lights and sounds, almost as if he

    were programming it. Then, he placed the box on the ground and the top

    opened, tiny filtering birds made of Fire pouring out in every

    direction.

    Everywhere they flew, the tiny little birds killed creatures, flipped

    switches and picked up keys. Whenever Peace or Melody needed to get

    somewhere, one of them would explode into a fiery vortex that turned

    into a portal.

    With the little fiery birds, instead of a couple of hours, it took

    them less than an hour per floor and, they weren''t even the fastest

    party.

    Once they killed the boss, easily, Felix popped out of The Abyss to

    update himself and check on things before heading right back in. Doing

    so, he knew that many of the teams that had once slowed down or

    struggled against the floor group starting at 410, were suddenly

    cruising through almost effortlessly.

    Most impressive, was Il Doras'' team who was all of a sudden moving

    from floor to floor beyond Thakrogran on the 435th, like they were

    children''s playgrounds.

    Felix hadn''t even given them an item either, instead The Holy Mother

    had responded to The Shadow Dealer''s move by giving Il Doras and his

    team even more items, beyond what she had already provided.

    Just a few hours later, Felix found the very same thing had happened

    with Romar and Zeraxes.

    Zeraxes, on top of his Primordial Echo robes and Divine Bolt, now had

    jewelry adorning his neck and fingers along with with bracers, boots and

    a seemingly endless supply of consumable items.

    Romar on the other hand, was relying less on consumables and more on

    a new weapon which looked like a multiple meter long hammer. It was less

    like a hammer though and more like a portable nuclear reactor. When he

    swung it, and inevitably pancaked whatever he was targeting, the weapon

    would swallow the remains and burn even brighter.

    In both cases though, it didn''t seem like Romar or Zeraxes were fully

    in control and practiced with the items they had been given.

    Even Transcendent River and Mirror Cell, their respective Primordial

    Echos, were still new to them so even more items on top of those, were

    completely throwing them off.

    In the end, the items they had were more powerful than the ones Felix

    had handed out but, Felix''s were completely self sufficient and required

    no training or skill to use whatsoever.

    So, Romar and Zeraxes were moving faster than they had been but, they

    hadn''t accelerated nearly as much as all the other teams in The

    Abyss. Then, on top of them being slower than everyone else, the other

    teams were stomping Thakrogan and clearing the floor group

    multiple times faster than they had causing the crowd to doubt the once

    favorites.

    The Holy Mother had seemingly foreseen this though as everything she

    had given Il Doras and his team, they had either already trained with or

    they were much easier to use.

    Felix, Peace and Melody only managed to get through one boss on the

    450th by the time a somewhat frazzled and exhausted looking Adaline

    rushed in to join them.

    Melody snorted when she saw her, "You don''t have to join us right now

    you know. You can sleep for more than an hour at a time?"

    Adaline grunted in response then completely changed topics, "What

    happened?"

    "Shadow Dealer dumped a bunch of items into the mix." Peace

    shrugged.

    "I heard he took out The Ravens recently too so…" Melody nodded

    along.

    She grunted again, "Isn''t that Ayred?"

    "Yeah," Melody responded, "But, he''s clearly working with someone or

    some organization."

    "Have you talked to him?"

    "No idea where he is." Melody threw her hands up in the air, "Also,

    why would we waste this time. We all just got out of

    The Realms. It''s the perfect time to make a great

    impression."

    She grunted again, "What Realm did you get to?" Seeming more like she

    was asking out of social obligation than out of genuine interest.

    "Ah, not that far." Melody humbly lied.

    Peace just nodded and Felix didn''t even answer her.

    She accepted that answer as she didn''t seem to really care then

    looked to the floor around them before pulling out an item of her

    own.

    "What''s that?" Melody leaned in.

    She held up the nearly foot long, slightly tapered stick in her hand,

    "A wand." Then, under her breath she added, "I think."

    The three of them watched in anticipation as Adaline inspected the

    wand, unsure of what to do with it. Eventually she got the idea and

    pointed it up into the air and, cast a spell through it.

    After coming out of The Realms of Annihilation, Adaline had cast

    impressive spells that stretched out across the sky in a grid pattern to

    locate the keys and switches where she could.

    The Spell she cast through the wand was similar, in fact she had

    tried to cast the very same Spell. The wand wasn''t really listening to

    her at all though and instead, an angular line shot out of the wand like

    a laser, into the sky before splitting up and shooting out in every

    direction. Those lines then split, branched and bent to locate the

    switches and when they did, portals opened all around them so all they

    had to do was reach through and flip the switch, kill the enemy, solve

    the puzzle or activate the mechanism.

    It was much faster and far more efficient than what Adaline

    had been casting on her own, requiring just a fraction of the Mana.

    Peace clapped her on the back in praise and Melody put on the show of

    a giddy and excited little girl as Adaline, looked down at the wand in

    complete disbelief.

    From then on, Felix''s team was by far the fastest. They were

    originally behind Il Doras by a couple floor groupings but that gap

    closed in a matter of hours.

    While everyone was excitedly pushing through the floors, both Felix''s

    team and the others, Felix began to notice something was off. He didn''t

    sense anything with his Anima Senses or his Matter Senses or his Mana

    Senses instead, he noticed Melody would occasionally shiver or twitch.

    It was minor and the fact that he noticed at all meant she either wanted

    him to notice, or she really couldn''t control it.

    Melody. Felix reached out through the Mark node still

    implanted in her ear, What''s wrong?

    What do you mean? She responded innocently.

    Something is wrong and whatever it is, It''s getting

    worse.

    She hesitated for a moment then smiled to the rest of them, "I''m

    going to take a break for now, since you don''t really seem to need me

    anyways. Felix, I''ve got a few sponsors who want to meet you."

    He nodded tersely then followed her out of The Abyss, letting Peace

    and Adaline go on by themselves.

    Outside, Melody led him back through the arena with no real

    destination in mind. Once they were far enough from everything else,

    You know I said I learned some things in The Ladder?

    Yes.

    I uh… Most of the time I spent in there I spent… With a specific

    person.

    Okay.

    She said she had been waiting for me.

    She knew about The Ladder? Felix asked curiously.

    She knew about The Ladder, where she was and that I was coming.

    She said she had been waiting for me for a very long

    time.

    That''s not really possible though, unless she means time dilated

    time.

    That''s what I thought too. If she was just crazy though, I

    wouldn''t have spent so much time there.

    So she wasn''t crazy? She somehow knew you were coming?

    Kind of… You remember Estrea and The Prophecy at the start of the

    tournament?

    Of course.

    Right well… Kind of like that.

    Felix looked over at her with a cocked brow, You spent time with

    a prophet? A seer?

    Yeah… So… I used to be a skeptic.

    Now you are a seer? You can see the future?

    No. Not see… exactly. Uh… It''s more like I can sense-

    The future? Felix asked incredulously.

    No. Not really. It''s more like… She mentally sighed through

    their connection, I can sense what might happen?

    Uh… You''re going to need to give me more than that.

    You know how… If I throw a ball at you, you could catch

    it?

    Yeah…

    Right but, you aren''t tracking the wind or calculating trajectory

    or anything.

    Yeah but I don''t need to because I can visually follow the

    trajectory and extend it.

    Yeah uh… bad example. What I''m trying to say is when you get

    really good at something that you don''t really need to think about. When

    something complex becomes second nature, what causes that?

    Experience I guess?

    Right, exactly. Anima is or… kind of is

    experiences. So, if Anima has all the experiences ever, it would be the

    best at predicting what might happen… Does that make sense?

    So you tap into Anima to predict the future?

    Eh… It''s more like deja vu. The Ambient Anima takes the current

    situation around us and that triggers previous experiences in it. If you

    listen, they''re the most prominent experiences.

    So you just listen to that? How accurate is it?

    That''s a great question. Normally, very

    accurate. The further ahead you look, the less predictable things are

    except they are way more predictable

    the bigger the event is because those leave big impressions on the

    Anima.

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    Uh… okay… so you can tell what people around you are going to do

    in the next few seconds or you can predict when the universe will

    collapse but everything in between is hard to predict?

    Bingo. Mostly. The thing is… there are some… exceptions?

    Like what?

    You.

    Me?

    Yeah. Some people and some things are so… not unpredictable but…

    have a big enough impact to change things. It''s like… I''m reading

    ripples on the surface of a lake. I can predict how bugs floating on the

    top will be moved. I can see big waves on the horizon and predict their

    effect. You''re like an invisible meteorite. Not invisible in that I

    can''t see you but… more like you react differently from the vast

    majority of… everything and you have a big impact. Like a meteor

    teleporting at random. Does that make sense?

    Yes. That was a better analogy. What are you sensing in there

    that''s worrying you?

    Uh… I don''t really know. Before The Ladder, there was this… sense

    of dread or something. Now… it''s more clear and more… confusing. It''s

    kind of like you where I can''t really tell because the Ambient Anima

    doesn''t even really know. I know it''s my Soul filling in the dread part…

    what I''m actually feeling is… something is… going to

    happen and… it''s happened before and whatever it is… I can''t really see

    past it. Everything around it is… emptiness.

    That''s confusing.

    Yeah… for me too.

    So you have no idea what it is but the emptiness is scary,

    basically?

    Something like that.

    Okay well, ke-

    "Melody." A voice that was intentionally sing-song to the point of

    being irritating, echoed down the hall causing Melody to groan.

    She corrected her expression in an instant, "Mom."

    Melody''s mother was on them in a moment, "We haven''t seen you since

    you returned."

    "Been busy." She shrugged with a faked smile, "And maybe I got a

    little too excited."

    Her mother smiled wide, not noticing her daughter was acting, "I can

    see why. You''ve made wonderful progress. Your father is very

    excited. Speaking of, we would very much like it if you could join

    us."

    "Of course mom. I was planning on seeing you both soon but, don''t you

    think I should maximize my time in the The Abyss right now? Especially

    with everything going on?"

    "Yes of course, you''re right. With everything going on though, it is

    even more important we talk. Soon."

    "I promise."

    Melody''s mother nodded then looked at Felix for a moment, then turned

    and floated off into the distance.

    Can we go back in so I don''t have to deal with that again?

    Melody asked without looking.

    Yeah. Felix responded, his mind having completely synced

    with the Mark nodes on the outside. Most importantly though, he wanted

    to be in the same universe just in case something went wrong with his

    Resident''s latest project. Now that they had fired up their version of

    the Mana Accelerator though and nothing had gone wrong, he was ready to

    head back in.

    Over the course of a day, the entire Abyss had been completely

    trivialized for almost everyone.

    For the spectators, there was no more tension or suspense from

    whether or not a team would complete a floor or how far they would get.

    Instead, that was completely replaced with the tension of who would be

    the fastest and what would be on the next floor.

    Melody had previously told Felix that floor 450 was about the point

    where people slowed down but in just a couple days, after anonymously

    gifting even more items to the other parties at the arena, the vast

    majority of the teams using that entrance were past the 450th.

    Felix and his team made it to the 500th by that point which, was just

    25 floors shy of the record.

    Romar and Zeraxes didn''t fall too far behind though because their

    sponsors quickly realized, no matter how powerful their items made them,

    they were limited by the size of the map. Felix handing out portal items

    like candy made it so that no matter how quickly they killed enemies,

    they were slower than almost every other team.

    So, they bought items from other teams.

    Felix expected that would happen and realistically, he could disable

    the items they bought. That would ruin the facade though and make it

    seem like The Shadow Dealer had control over the items instead of just

    having found and stolen them. He also, didn''t care if Zeraxes and Romar

    caught up.

    All he cared about, was seeing what was on the lowest levels and

    learning about the past.

    The further Zeraxes and Romar got, the less he stood out as being

    ahead of them.

    Il Doras and his team obscured Felix the most though as they were

    comfortably ahead of his team by a few floors, by design, leading him to

    seem like the most interesting candidate. Then, for the contrarians in

    the audience, there was Adaline who, was incredibly impressive with her

    extraordinarily complicated abilities and raw skill. Finally, anyone

    looking at Felix, saw him doing everything through some sort of

    box he seemed to be configuring which meant, it was just an item and not

    him.

    Everything was going exactly as Felix hoped it would right up until

    the 560th floor.

    Il Doras was still ahead by a single floor group and had already

    killed the boss Felix and his team were fighting. It was the first A

    grade enemy anyone had ever seen in The Realms, a Molten Elemental that

    was about the size of a mountain.

    Felix made sure they didn''t kill it too quickly because

    realistically, it was strong but not even close to the level of The

    Dragon. It was much closer to the level of the A grades in Azura and

    Felix figured even a small hunting party from Mortalbane could have

    beaten it. It did look impressive though.

    Drawing on the orb within his Spirit, Peace summoned a massive tidal Sear?h the n??el Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    wave worth of frosty wind to cool and harden one of its legs while it

    slapped down at Melody who was floating in the air near it.

    It''s hand passed right through her, creating a hole in it as a ripple

    in the air around her shielded her from any damage whatsoever.

    Then, Adaline used her revolvers to open a dozen portals all around

    it and through each one, she fired a spell with her new wand.

    Each portal transported a small ball through that looked relatively

    harmless as they sunk into the molten body of the elemental before

    exploding outwards, then imploding, taking massive chunks with them.

    The Elemental readjusted its body and shrank, getting faster but also

    less hot. They repeated the process a few times while Felix just sat

    back and made pretty Lightning Butterflies to make it seem like he was

    doing something.

    In reality, all he was doing was wasting Mana, coordinating Adaline''s

    Wand and containing Nova who kept trying to Blink out of The Ladder so

    she could help. The only issue with that, was that it would be

    way too obvious how strong she was when she swallowed the

    Elemental whole.

    Killing a massive A grade Elemental was already mind boggling for the

    crowd and seemed to be even more impressive than the Giant had been, not

    that many of them even knew about that.

    With the Elemental dead, Adaline collected the loot while Felix

    didn''t even bother paying attention to it.

    They were getting closer and he could feel it with the Auras and

    Souls of every enemy they killed. On top of that, each floor was

    becoming more complex. It was like they were just shy of breaking

    through or were right on the edge of a specific point in history where

    things were shifting.

    Instead of massive open floors with nothing of note, there were

    suddenly ruins that were too far decayed to get anything from.

    So, as Felix flew through the portal to the next floor, following the

    rest of his team, he had high expectations for what they would find.

    As soon as he made it through though, he saw Melody curled up on the

    ground as if in pain. He didn''t sense anything himself with his Aura or

    otherwise but he used his own Aura to shield the area anyways.

    Once he had, she clearly relaxed a little and Peace managed to help

    her up to a sitting position.

    "What''s wrong?" Felix squatted down as he asked.

    Melody, with wide eyes, met his gaze, "She''s coming. The Empress will

    return."

    "The w-"

    Before Felix could finish his question, the floor they were on began

    to collapse. Not physically but the literal space around them began to

    split and tear at the seams.

    In the instant before everything collapsed, Felix created a bubble

    around his team and moved them directly into The Aether, beyond the

    collapsing space around them. There, he navigated back to the

    Systemverse causing them to reappear just inside the arena, off to the

    side from the entrance to The Abyss.

    Next to them as they appeared, were Il Doras and a couple members of

    his team along with Romar who, were all completely stunned, staring up

    into the sky.

    Felix still didn''t have eyes but he had Seeing Eye Constructs

    embedded into his Mana Body so he could at least somewhat see if he

    needed to.

    Still, he wasn''t sure he believed what he was seeing through them as

    above him, was a Dragon. Another Dragon.

    This one was black and slimmer but had the same general structure of

    four legs, a tail and two wings. It was also multiple times as big as

    The Dragon Felix had killed in The Realms and completely black, almost

    impossibly so. As if its scales were swallowing light as it hit

    them.

    Ding You have received a message fr-

    Not now. Felix dismissed the notification without paying any

    attention to it as he summoned his Staff into his hand and created a

    shield above him, his team, Romar, Il Doras and his team. The shield

    completely blocked out the Fire Breath which, wasn''t nearly as

    destructive as Felix had expected.

    It wasn''t anything like The Dragon he had killed which could

    literally tear and burn Space. Instead it was hot enough to melt the

    arena around him and melt a small ditch into the ground but that was

    about it.

    As the breath tore through the arena around them, melting people, the

    building and the landscape alike, a large man with glowing and smoking

    runic tattoos leapt from the top floor of the arena towards the Dragon

    flying overhead.

    Impossibly, given the difference in their size, he latched on to The

    Black Dragon and pulled it down to the ground just outside of the

    arena.

    A moment later, another stream of Fire swung across the horizon and

    cut off a large chunk of the arena from above which, began to slide down

    due to the molten lubricant of the melting arena beneath it.

    More Gods jumped out after Rhonan to see if they could help in some

    way but not all of them. A good number of them fled, which was the smart

    move. The Holy Mother was one of the only ones that began helping those

    in the audience flee, mass healing everyone that still lived and

    bringing many of them back from the brink of death.

    Finally, there was someone who was not a God at all who, leapt from

    their balcony and landed just in front of Felix.

    "Should I help him?" Kerix asked, gesturing towards Rhonan''s

    fight.

    Felix sighed quickly, "Ye-"

    "NO!" Melody cut him off, "Just trust me, don''t."

    "Uh…" Felix looked at her with confusion, along with everyone else

    there with them though, for slightly different reasons.

    "Who are you?" Romar asked, taking a brave step forwards

    then looked over at Felix, "And why are you asking him for

    permission?"

    Then Romar looked at Melody but she ignored and cut him off, "Felix,

    let''s get out of here."

    "Sure. Where to?"

    Is there anywhere Tekragoraxius told you to go if you needed

    something?

    No.

    She grumbled in his head, Anywhere you can go where she might

    be?

    I don''t think so. What''s going on?

    Don''t you recognize that Dragon?

    No? Why would I recognize it?

    I know you''ve seen that memory.

    Felix frowned in confusion, That Dragon''s dead. Rhonan killed

    it.

    She shook her head, I thought so too but not anymore. A

    lot of things are starting to make sense all of a

    sudden.

    Why?

    That Black Dragon. It''s Rathelius.

    Felix didn''t question her further and instantly reacted. He opened an

    Aether Tunnel to a random point in Space then conjured a wall of solid

    Mana and opened his Pocket Home against it.

    Peace, Melody and Kerix stepped through instantly followed shortly

    after by Adaline and finally Felix. Just before closing the Tunnel, he

    looked back, "Go find your Dad, Romar. Il Doras, you going to be okay by

    yourself?"

    Il Doras nodded quickly, "I can get my team out of here safely."

    Romar stepped forwards, "Wait. What about Zeraxes and everyone else

    who was i-"

    Felix closed the Tunnel behind him. His Pocket Home though, he kept

    open and simply sealed the entrance with a Spell so it wouldn''t leak the

    air, Aether or Anima within, out into Space.

    Then, he opened a portal into Tekgragoraxius'' personal library which,

    looked exactly as it had the last time he had been there. There were a

    few Resident''s puppets, who were usually inactive, creepily laying on

    one of the tables but otherwise, it was nearly identical.

    Felix didn''t immediately sense anyone else inside but, he did sense a

    single thing that seemed out of place. A sheet of paper on one of the

    tables. It wasn''t actually there though. Looking at the table with his

    Seeing Eye Constructs, there was nothing there.

    His Matter Senses though knew it was there, slightly outside of Space

    so, he reached out and grabbed it.

    As he suspected, it was a note.

    I managed to convince Tekragoraxius to leave this library behind.

    An oddly difficult argument, considering it was originally mine. I

    apologize for not explaining anything to you or preparing you though I

    have faith that you will survive the show. As for why we have left,

    although we may have been able to protect our children from being

    hunted, I cannot protect us from my mother.

    You have the tools and the knowledge to escape as we did, should

    you choose to do so. She will return. Now that I have left, she will

    return even sooner. This may be in an epoch, it may be a few. She will

    return. I recommend leaving before she does.

    Should you decide to stay, I have marked a shelf that will be of

    particular interest to you. On it, you will find my personal research as

    well as my journals. You are not prepared to deal with her. These

    journals will hopefully sway you to realize this and leave. You will not

    be prepared. You will never be prepared. Use what is here to

    leave.

    Even if you decide to leave, hopefully before it is too late, we

    will never see each-other again. This is not by design, it is simply

    statistically unlikely. So unlikely, it is impossible. You will know why

    once you peruse my journals.

    Do not kill yourself.

    -R

    Felix stowed the note in his Soul Space as Peace, Melody, Kerix and

    Adaline stepped into the library. Kerix looked around with minimal

    curiosity at his surroundings but Melody walked over, "What''s that?"

    "A note from Rathelius."

    "Did he explain why he just murdered millions of people in the

    audience?"

    "No but, I think I can guess why."

    She winced a little, "Yeah… me too. I don''t think it was entirely

    necessary but… I know what''s happened in the past so… I get it. Also,

    now that I know about her… children-"

    "What. The. Fuck. is going on?" Adaline interrupted

    them.

    Both of them spun to look at her and Melody spoke first, "Rathelius

    is Tekragoraxius'' partner. Hid himself as a Drakene for a long time but…

    seems he was a Primordial. They had kids and now they left."

    Felix wasn''t sure about trusting her but Melody was a much

    better judge of character than he was so, he added, "Along with nearly

    all the Drakene it seems."

    She shook her head, "How do you know that?"

    Felix shrugged, "I kind of helped them, as Arthur."

    Her jaw hung open, not in surprise but just unsure what to say, "How

    did you just… You opened a portal, I thought you were banned from those?

    Where is this? How did you just shield us from The Dragon Fire so

    easily? You moved faster than I could follow? I thought Arthur destroyed

    The Realms, that was you?"

    Melody shrugged innocently then leaned in as if she were sharing a

    secret, "He really hates attention."

    Adaline shook her head, "So this whole time… Have you always

    been this strong? You''ve just been hiding it?"

    "Not this strong." Peace added, "He''s almost always keeping

    some kind of secret though."

    She frowned suddenly and looked down at her hands, "The Wizards… one

    of them mentioned… I overheard them… I was their second choice." She

    looked up at him, "You were their first choice."

    Felix nodded, "Yeah."

    She seemed a lot angrier than Felix expected, "Why did you say

    no?"

    "Didn''t want to have to listen abide by their commands. Not that I''d

    be forced to jus-"

    Adaline grew even angrier at that, "What do you mean? The

    resources they would have provided… I… You''re an

    idiot."

    Melody snorted and Felix just shrugged, "Maybe."

    Adaline''s anger boiled and she began yelling, "So all this time, we

    could have gotten so much further through The Abyss, we could have… you

    could have…"

    Felix avoided outwardly reacting but asked Melody through Mark,

    What''s wrong with her?

    Not my place. Give her a bit. She''ll be fine.

    Uh. Okay then.

    To give her space, Felix blinked a few shelves over then turned his

    attention to the System notification he had gotten at possibly the worst

    time.

    Ding You have received a message from Alan.

    I… didn''t even know you could send messages

    through The System.

    You can''t. Melody responded, apparently tuned into his

    thoughts, Not that I''ve ever heard of.

    Huh.

    Felix,

    Trenus is finally being integrated. Added to the multiverse.

    Right now it''s invite only to get in but that''s only for a few

    days.

    Help. Please. Soon.

    Alan.

    Attached to the message was another message, of a sort.

    Ding You have been invited to Trenus. Would you like to

    travel there now?

    Before Felix could even answer though, he felt a pulse of some kind

    rippling through space around them. A moment later, there was another.

    Then another. Then there was a pause. Then there were three more

    pulses.

    It was a pattern of so-

    Is someone knocking? Melody asked.

    That''s… somehow… less ridiculous than I was thinking.

    Felix Blinked towards the exit then opened it and stepped back into

    his Pocket Home where the entrance was still open and just on the other

    side, floated a large man with glowing and smoking runic tattoos.

    They stared at each-other for a moment before Rhonan floated in

    through the barrier and into Felix''s Pocket Home, "There was man."

    "A man?" Felix cocked his head.

    "There was a man with you. He jumped out of Edras'' booth and landed

    next to you. You spoke."

    "Oh. That man."

    Rhonan looked at Felix seriously, "Who was that?"

    Felix opened the entrance to Tekragoraxius'' library then stepped in,

    Rhonan in tow.

    On the other side, Adaline''s jaw dropped then she literally fell to

    the floor. Melody snorted, for some reason and Peace just waved, to

    which Rhonan nodded in response.

    "Rhonan, this is Kerix. Kerix Ryko."

    Kerix stepped forwards and offered his hand, "Nice to meet you."

    Rhonan looked at his hand for a moment then slowly took it, "Who are

    you?"

    "Kerix. Ryko… Kerix Ryko."

    Rhonan frowned, "You''re not from this universe."

    "Actually… I am."

    Rhonan looked like he was about to say something but Kerix continued

    first, "I''m from a long time ago. Was… in The La- The Realms

    for a while."

    The God frowned slightly, "Why are you here?"

    "I uh… got bored, I guess?"

    Rhonan was about to say something but Kerix continued again, before

    he could, "That''s not… I was stalling and hiding."

    "You''re from the past?"

    "Yeah."

    "How far back?"

    Kerix shrugged, "Sometime before The System."

    "And you''re here… because…"

    "I didn''t want to be in there anymore so… I left."

    "What are your intentions now?"

    "I don''t know, go back to the city I came from. See if anything''s

    left. Probably just explore other universes."

    He nodded slowly then his serious and dire expression shifted

    slightly, "What city would that be?"

    "New Cirrus."

    His expression softened slightly more, "Any idea how you plan on

    getting there?"

    Kerix shrugged and looked over at Felix, "Was hoping my guide could

    open portals for me."

    Rhonan finally let go of Kerix''s hand and turned to look at Felix,

    "You have the coordinates?"

    Felix shrugged, "Unless he does, no."

    Kerix shook his head in response.

    "Excellent. I will join you."

    "Sure." Felix nodded, "Sounds good to me. You have a way of getting

    there then?"

    "I do." Rhonan nodded. Then, he looked at Melody and Peace, "I take

    it you are both joining?"

    Peace nodded immediately and Melody nodded, after a moment of shocked

    hesitation.

    Then, Rhonan looked at Adaline, "Will you join us."

    She only managed to nod a little.

    "Excellent. We have a few stops to make along the way though. Child

    of the Reaper, The Reaper asked me to tell you the time is now."

    Peace''s expression went from jovial and teasing to very

    serious in an instant and he just nodded.

    "I also got a message from my integration world. They asked for my

    help sometime soon so I''ll have to go do that as well."

    Rhonan nodded, "Of course. Anything else?"

    The rest of them shook their heads then Rhonan nodded and led them

    back out of the library and Pocket Home into the middle of space. Felix

    created a bubble for those that couldn''t breathe and, after a moment, a

    massive ship materialized in front of them.

    It was long and sleek but significantly smaller than the ships Felix

    had seen dropping students off when he first arrived on Eramith.

    A door opened on the side and Rhonan led them inside, the door

    closing behind them.

    "Is this… your… ship?" Melody asked in amazement.

    "This is Galestar."

    "This is… the… it''s your personal ship."

    He grunted in response.

    "This ship is in so many books I''ve read." Melody fawned

    over everything as they walked through.

    After walking through a completely empty ship, they finally arrived

    in the control room and Rhonan turned to Felix, "Where to first?"