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  Max skids to a halt and places his hand on his war-hammer.

  "What's going on?" Kala asks.

  Max twirls around and his eyes go wide.

  A shadow, like liquid darkness reaches out and places a shadowy hand across Kala's mouth.

  "No!" Max yells, reaching out to grab Kala.

  Kala doesn't have a chance to struggle as she is pulled into darkness. Dark chains of smoke surround her and bind her. The world around her is dark, like the sun is blocked. Max is still in front of her but is yelling and looking around franticly, and then he steps right through where Kala is. Dark hands drag Kala away. She yells out, her voice sounds distorted in this shadow place.

  "Shhh. Quiet child. We have been looking for you, Deceiver." A woman’s voice whispers against her ear.

  Chapter Thirteen: Ameliorater

  ~

  The black in my veins is still there as I look at my hands and arms. Pulling up the 3D image of myself my mind reels. I look ghastly, I look similar to the Corrupted Progenitor we fought in the ruins under the village. I flick the image away, it is of no concern. I am out of the training dome and I received a massive amount of experience and leveled up twice. It is time I leave these ruins and complete my revenge quest. What about Kala and Jill? A voice in the back of mind whispers to me. "Get out of my head." I say through my clenched teeth. I have to make The Caste will pay, every single one of them. I will save Adam for last, he doesn't deserve a quick death, I will make his demise slow and painful.

  I have 20 stat points to allocate. I dump everything into intelligence, wisdom, and constitution. Then I pull up my User Sheet.

  Name: Jax Stone

  Age: 28

  Gender: Male

  Level: 12

  Experience: 27%

  Synthesis: 100%

  Race: Corrupted Progenitor

  Focus: Ameliorater

  Fame: 2000

  Health: 280 (320)

  Mental Energy: 610 (660)

  Stamina: 130 (180)

  Health Regen/sec: .84%

  Mental Regen/sec: 4.1%

  Stamina Regen/sec: .62%

  Strength: 30 (35)

  Constitution: 28 (32)

  Endurance: 13 (18)

  Dexterity: 13

  Agility: 14

  Intelligence: 61 (66)

  Wisdom: 46 (51)

  Luck: 30

  Base Melee Damage: 19-28 (Unarmed)

  Weapon Damage: 32-43 (42-54)

  Base Ranged Damage: 0

  Weapon Damage: 15

  Base Mind Power: 61 (66)

  Base Armor: 4 (7.05)

  Afflictions Resist Chance: Physical (50%)

  Mental (52%)

  Critical Hit Chance: 8.45% (13.45%)

  Critical Hit Damage: 150%

  Evasion Chance: 6% (14%)

  Traits:

  Progenitor Thrall Conditioning: ????

  Corruption: ????

  Radical Race Bonus (Progenitor): Immortality

  Mark of Synthesis: Once per day you may use Soul Touch to gain an intrinsic understanding of an inanimate object. May allow access to varying rewards. You must be in physical contact with object.

  Mental Cost: 100

  Effects 1: Learning new skills is 25% easier.

  Effects 2: Permanent increase of 10 to Luck Stat.

  Effects 3: Allows user to open Progenitor Lock Boxes.

  Mark of the Watcher: You have been awarded an Unbonded Unique Companion. Mark of the Watcher grants the player a one-time use of Petition of the Watcher, the Watcher will hear and grant one request. (Uses 0/1)

  Perks:

  Iron Mind

  Aura of Luck

  Indomitable Will

  Skills:

  Analyze: Level 5

  Unarmed Combat: Level 2

  Stealth: Level 4

  Sneak Attack: Level 3

  Staffs: Level 3

  Meditation: Level 8

  Teleportation: Level 4

  Dark Shield: Level 3

  Perception: Level 4

  Shockwave: Level 2

  Medium Armor: Level 4

  Cooking: Level 2

  Leadership: Level 3

  Laser Beam: Level 4

  Heavy Armor: Level 2

  Earth Slam: Level 1

  Optical Illusion: Level 1

  Nothingness: Level 2 (Upgrade or Boost Pending)

  Elemental Shards: Level 2 (Upgrade or Boost Pending)

  Next, I pull up the one of my new skills.

  Congratulations! You can Upgrade or Empower the Skill:

  Nothingness (Novice, Lvl 2)

  Upgrade: Active Death

  Empowered: Nothingness

  When used this skill will stop all bodily functions and block all external and internal stimuli. Only mental skills will be usable. Mental power is boosted by 2X while in this state. Any healing to your body while in this state will cause damage. Movement is halted while in this state.

  User enters a state where nothing exists but pure thought. The boosted version of this skill will allow the user to infect others within line of sight. When you infect someone with Nothingness they will care about nothing for 6 seconds.

  User may infect up to 3 people simultaneously.

  After a moment of pondering I choose Active Death, having the ability to double the power of my mental skills is too good to pass up. Next, I pull up the other skill that can be upgraded.

  Congratulations! You can Upgrade or Boost the Skill:

  Elemental Shards (Novice, Lvl 2)

  Upgrade: Chaos Shard

  Empowered: Elemental Shards

  Chaos energy ignores armor and mental barriers. Chaos energy causes damage over time at a rate of 10 over 5 seconds. Chaos damage is stackable up to 5 times.

  Your Elemental Shards will now explode upon impact causing 50% damage to an area with a radius of 6 feet. Area of the blast will also leave an Elemental Surface on the ground for 10 seconds.

  Again, it only takes me a moment to choose Chaos Shard. The ability to ignore an enemy’s defenses is huge. Now, it is time for a freebie. It's been awhile since I have used my Soul Touch ability, the ridiculously overpowered skill that allows me to learn everything there is to know about something I am touching. I am a bit disgusted with myself for not using Soul Touch more often. No more. I will use it every day. Looking at the contents of my bag there are a few items that may yield very promising results. First is the Royal Short Sword of the House Ala-Vis, I am hoping to learn the Temporal Field effect the sword has. My next option is the Fast Travel Portal Orb, which is an epic class item. As far as I can tell it is devoid of energy and I'm not quite sure what I would learn from it, so it would be a gamble. But it is an epic Progenitor item, so I'm sure I would get something useful from it. There is also a wealth of items in these ruins I could learn from, but I must make a choice.

  I decide on the short sword. Sitting down cross-legged I hold the sword in the palm of my hands. Wanting to try out one of my new skills I activate Active Death, all the breath in my lungs is forcefully expelled and my skin takes on an even paler color. Everything recedes to the background, the world fades away. I still know where everything is around me, but I am disconnected. It is hard to explain what I am feeling, but I suppose this is what it is like to be living inside a dead body. Active Death is an active skill, which means it reserves 25% of my mental energy until I release the skill. My thoughts are unbridled from distraction, everything is clear. My mind is lightning fast. Focusing on the sword I activate Soul Touch.

  Unlike the other times I have used Soul Touch, the skill activates immediately. This time there is no pain, I assume because my body is dead and can feel no pain? The world around me warps and bends, like a giant soap bubble. My mind travels through a tunnel. I am Xorite Ore, living under the earth for millions of years. I am extracted and processed, then forged into a weapon. I am surrounded by ten Progenitors, I am on a pedestal, the strange being’s hands raise and begin to glow. Power fills me
, time stops. Then my mind is split, I am the sword and Jax at once. I scream with pain, even though I should not be able to feel pain. The sword in my hands flickers, now I am on the pedestal, but not as the sword, as Jax. The Progenitors look up at me startled by my appearance.

  "...Terran?" One of the cloaked Progenitors speaks.

  My eyes catch movement behind the Progenitors. Is that…The room flashes and I am back in the ruins, the sword in my hands flickers and then splinters into shards. A wealth of knowledge floods my brain and then the ruins rumble and flicker, ghost figures walk by me and then fade away.

  "Did I just travel to the past?" I try to speak, but my dead body does not respond. I deactivate Active Death. My organs restart to tremendous pain and I fall over into to a ball, clutching my sides in agony. After a few moments the pain fades and I am able to sit up. That is a huge drawback about the Active Death skill I wished I had known about before I had picked it. I will need to be extremely careful as to when I use it, now that I know I will be out of commission for a little bit afterwards.

  I look at my shattered sword, my Soul Touch ability never destroyed an item before. What went wrong? Did I actually travel to the past, or was I just remembering what the sword went through? But the Progenitor spoke to me. What had I seen behind them? The answer is on the tip of my mind, but it won't come to me. I know it is important. What I just did had far greater consequences, I just don't know how yet. I notice a new notification wanting my attention. Ignoring it, I want to dive into the new knowledge I have gained. But... why do I not know how to manipulate time? I know how and where to find Xorite and craft a sword, an extremely well-crafted sword. I know how powerful and rare Xorite is. But the knowledge of how to create a Temporal Field alludes me.

  Rage builds in my stomach. "Dammit." I hit myself in the head, an insane attempt to dislodge the info I want from my brain. "Where is the knowledge?" My amazing sword is destroyed and I didn't even get its power. I pick up one of the sword shards to throw across the room in a tantrum. The shard cuts me and then I flicker. The sword piece falls and then stops in midair and travels back up to my hand and my body moves on its own. My hand moves in an odd fashion as I put the shard back on the ground. Then my body flickers again and everything is normal. I don't understand what just happened, is there a glitch in the matrix? I notice a timer in the lower righthand corner, it kind of looks like a cool-down timer for skills. I focus on it and it expands; Temporal Preservation 9:31...9:30...9:29. I begin to reach down again to pick up the sword shard, but then I hesitate. I wait for timer to expire. Maybe I better open the notification, it might hold some answers.

  Congratulations! You have gained the Trait: Temporal Preservation

  Your body has been infused with tachyons...ERROR CAUSALITY DETECTED. You gained this Trait over 3.2 million years ago...ERROR...PARADOX DETECTED... Administrator intervention assessment required...

  I get to my feet, you would think that I might be fearful of the Administrator paying me a visit. I'm not.

  "Greetings, Progenitor Jax, iteration 167."

  Calmly, I turn around. "Not really sure why you are here. Didn't I tell you to leave me alone?"

  The buzzing mass of gray flashes and a stream of its body smashes through me, leaving a gaping hole in my chest. Then the world turns into a distorted bubble and time reverses. My chest is made whole and the Administrator disperses. The world snaps back into place and I watch the Administrator form in front of me again.

  "Greetings, Progenitor Jax, iteration 167." Its body shimmers and buzzes loudly. "Temporal disturbance detected. Multiple timelines branching. Assessing." The Administrator moves forward and its body envelopes mine. I flinch, thinking it is attacking me again. My vision is obstructed, like a heavy fog. It sounds like a million bees are swarming and trying to enter my ears. There is a flash and the Administrator is back in front of me. "Progenitor Jax, iteration 167, this is your one and only warning. You have created a new timeline. This is forbidden. Reconciliation impossible, consequences unknown."

  "Every single one of our actions creates a new timeline. What if I turn right instead of going left? And don't tell me I was predetermined to go left, because that is bullshit. It seems I have a new Trait that I have no control over. It activates whenever I sustain damage. But, you know all of this, don't you?" I ask this glorified security system.

  The swirling mass in front of me buzzes at a higher frequency and then images appear in my mind. It is a cold, dark place, devoid of life. It's a prison. A shiver runs down my spine.

  "Message received." I tell it.

  The Administrator disperses into the air.

  I wonder how strong I would need to become to take on the Administrator. I put a pin in that thought, The Caste first, then Adam. Others will have to wait. I gather up my stuff and leave the training room. I pause outside of the room and look back. I could take the next rank up in Legion training. No. I was in that room for two months. I can't waste any more time. My lips form into a humorless grin at the thought of time. I turn to go left down the hallway and then stop. Turning around again, I go right instead, mentally giving the Administrator the finger.

  Curiosity consumes me as I pass door after door. I still can't believe how large this place is, and this isn't even Facility Zero. But, I can't stop and explore. I need to find an exit. After an hour of walking I begin to fear that I should have gone left. Then I notice a door that looks different. Opening the door, I step into a hanger. Even with my emotions muted I am shocked at what I am seeing. There is a spaceship. The design is alien, strange, and amazing. It does not look like Progenitor design, not that I would know what a Progenitor ship would look like. But, it doesn't resemble any of their technology nor does it have their clean and simple aesthetic. If I had to compare it to something I would say a Borg Cube from Star Trek. I must look like an ant compared to this massive ship. A part of me wonders how I know this is a ship, but I just do. As I get closer I notice that I begin to feel nauseous and I have a serious case of vertigo. Backing away the feeling abates. Damn. With this thing I could lay waste to my enemies from the sky, like Zeus on Olympus. Plus I would love to study it. Making a wide berth of the ship I walk over to a door. Opening it I am assaulted with frigid blast of air in my face. I've made it. An endless blue sky greats me as well as snow. I am in the mountains, luckily it looks like there is a path down. I can see a green valley far down at the base of the mountain. There are thousands of trees with red bark and branches all over these mountains. Looking up I scowl at the rings surrounding this planet, trillions of Xoria that make up the Administrator. It could stop all violence on this planet, but it does nothing, why? I really wish I had the last thousand years of memories, there are probably answers to that question in my deleted past.

  Sighing, I look back inside of the Progenitor Facility, I will have to come back here someday, there is a wealth of knowledge and technology locked within. It does give me comfort that I am immortal and the only one able to access these ruins. No, there is Jill and the child, they are both Progenitors. For a moment I am angry. I want to be the only one with access. I don't have to tell them about the ruins. Stop it, Jill is your sister, why would you hide this place from her? "I said, get out of my head!" I scream. A part of me is concerned. Why am I yelling at my own thoughts? I push all these thoughts away and let the door close behind me, its lock clicks with finality.

  Alternating between sprinting and using my Shockwave skill I make good time traveling down the mountain path. Shockwave propels me ten feet and I land with a rippling force. It's not a skill made to travel, but it works. The skill only goes up 5% in progress to the next level, my focus is both a curse and a blessing. I keep waiting to be given a new quest that might shed some light on where exactly I am. But no such luck.

  A few hours later I make it to the bottom. My desire for revenge drove me through the bitter cold of the snow and wind. The mountain seemed to be void of any hostile creatures to my disappointment, I wanted to witness t
he effects of my Chaos Shard attack. There is a small clearing that I stop at, finding a log to sit down and take a deep pull of water. I had refilled my bottles with snow and waited until it melted to drink.

  "I have found you..." A woman’s voice speaks in front of me.

  I jump to me feet, ready to attack. It is Sarvina Uils, the Corrupted Progenitor we killed in the ruins under the village. She looks different, she now has short pixie cut blueish-black hair and instead of the dark voids for eyes she had when I first met her she has semi-normal eyes. They are sky blue, unlike her hair, her eyes are larger than a human’s and more round, like she is an anime character. She is dressed, instead of naked like she was in the ruins. She is wearing a crude burlap-like skirt and shirt made of the material I wore when I first came to this planet. I raise my hand and form a Chaos Shard in front of me.

  "Wait!" She yells and falls to her knees. "Please. I had a quest to find the last of my kind, I was led to you..." Her eyes glaze over, then close, she falls to the ground and doesn't move.

  I stand there for a few minutes, holding the Chaos Shard. She doesn't move, so I fire the shard at a tree. Green-purple energy strikes the tree and then eats away at the wood for ten seconds. Interesting. I step up to her body and poke her with my foot. She doesn't move. After analyzing her I find out she is level 11, with a focus of Reanimator. She has a few debuffs of Dehydration, Fatigue, and Naga Poisoning. I stand over her body for a few more minutes, trying to decide what to do with her. Why was she looking for me? What has she been doing for these last few months? I don't have time for this. Turning around I walk away and then stop and look back. Maybe I can use her? She is an original Progenitor, she may have answers. She seems to be in control of her mind, unlike when I fought her. Plus, I am a higher level than she is, but that could also be really bad. She was only level one when we fought and we barely brought her down. Glancing down the male part of my brain reacts to her form. She is actually really attractive, for a blue goth girl that may be crazy and tried to kill everyone. For an alien her body seems to be fairly similar to a human female. My eyes wander up her toned blue legs and partially exposed ass.