A Gamer Adventure - Epilogue Final

“You’re late,” a trembling, ethereal voice greeted me the moment I stepped into the grand room that had been functioning as a prison and the core of the System for a long time, surrounded by a ridiculous amount of wards that were mostly put by the Eternals. However, those wards had some changes since they changed ownership. It was still functioning as a prison, but I had done my best to make it more comfortable.

I might not trust the goddess imprisoned in here, but that didn’t mean I had to needlessly antagonize her.

“Sorry, I had things to do, planes to conquer,” I said with a deliberately casual shrug as I looked at the empty room, then conjured myself a crystal chair, and a larger, more ornate chair for her, enough to classify as a throne. With the very limited interaction I had, I could feel that she was a dangerous, prideful being, and playing with that didn’t bother me.

It wouldn’t be the first time I played the servant for some advantage.

“You have my offer,” she replied, still a disembodied voice. “Free me, and I will reveal the secrets you’re seeking.”

“Unfortunately, my goddess, that’s not really possible under the circumstances. You’re too dangerous as a variable to be let go under those circumstances,” I said, which was mostly true, and the slight exaggeration was another move to feed her ego some more. “Would you like to have our negotiations face to face, or insist on staying like this.”

“Fine,” the voice answered, and then an energy started to gather from all around the room. It wasn’t just the Divine Spark, but also a soul, spread with it. A spark that was similar to my Tantric spark. Similar, but not the same.

She appeared in the form of a woman in her thirties, wearing a crown of flowers … and nothing else. She radiated a motherly aura and an incredible aura of sexiness at the same time, an aura that she brought to bear against me.

I could have resisted, but I chose not to. Dealing with such a proud being with a bruised ego was a tricky thing. When her smirk widened slightly, I prepared myself for a magical blow. Insisted, she just spoke.

“I should have known that picking a mortal woman to carry my powers would have backfired, and created an abomination,” she commented. “Who would have thought that the madwoman would give her life trying to imbue you with the power of creation.”

I let my smile slip away, and it wasn’t entirely a role. Her words implied that my mother died when I was born, meaning my mother — and possibly my father — wasn’t the real one. That part, I didn’t care much, as being treated as a burden for most of my life didn’t trigger a lot of loving feelings. I appreciated their effort to find me a decent career, and made sure to send a lot of benefits to their side now that I was in power, but that was it.

The idea of a woman I had never known sacrificing her life for me, no doubt granting me with the abilities of Tantric.

“I’m guessing that’s why my System started to have problems once I got stronger,” I said. “It’s because your power of creation is not supposed to be wielded by a man,” I commented. Observing her for months, I had determined that to be the case.

Her powers and mine functioned very differently, which was also why I kept her as a ‘guest’. She had enough potential to scare the gods when they were the height of their powers, before Eternals were even a concern. I wasn’t ready to take such a risk.

“Of course,” she said with a scoff, her disdain clear. “Power of creation is a primal power, even more ancient than the elemental powers. It’s inherently linked to fertility, and never meant to be wielded by a male. You’re an abomination.”

“I would prefer a nicer word. Exceptional, maybe,” I replied, though my frustration was mostly manufactured. One of the benefits of being confident in my power.

She chuckled. “Too bad that others would disagree. The Power of Creation is already treated as a dangerous power. And, with those upstarts defeated and escaped, it’s only a matter of time before others discover the pathways to your tiny universe,” she said, her smirk wide. “And, once they did, they will treat you as an abomination.”

I sighed. “I’m guessing that it’s not just about mocking me. You have something in mind.”

“Let me free, and help me regain my power,” she replied. “As long as your little band of incompetent goddesses supports me fully, I can get strong enough to defend this dimension against the attackers, be it the endless armies of the undead, the soulless machine legions, elemental creatures, and even the other pantheons. And, they will come, in a few months, maybe at most in a few years, but they will come.”

It took all of my considerable acting abilities to look interested in her offer. “Are they really that strong?” I asked, letting my tone radiate fear.

“Far stronger than you can imagine,” she said. “It’s easy to get strong in a newly formed universe fragment like this, because the laws are yet to be solidified. However, it also means that your power has limits. Only when someone understands and controls the laws of a universe, one could be classified as transcendent. It was the reason we abandoned everything and came here.”

“Where it went wrong?” I asked.

“Those bastards. All they needed to do was to protect me against the elementals while I hastened the maturation of the universe by implanting the law fragments we had brought along, and we would have had enough power to defend ourselves against any incursion. But they chose to betray and imprison me, thinking that they could force me.”

“Then, what happened?”

“They had underestimated the mortals, and were overthrown. Not really important at this point,” she replied with a dismissive shrug.

“Despite the power of the other universes?” I asked.

“Of course,” she replied. “It’s not easy for the transcended beings to invade another universe directly. The whole structure of existence will reject them, forcing them away.”

“And, what about those enemies you mentioned. The undead armies, machine legions, mages, pantheons? Can they access our dimension?”

Her smile was vicious. “Why do you think I took such a risk to solidify the laws of this fragmented universe quickly. Without the laws, sooner or later, a transcendent being would come here, taking over with ease. All they need is a reliable path.”

“One that the retreating Eternals would sell,” I completed. She nodded smugly, obviously thinking that my decision was inevitable. Of course, I doubted that it was as straightforward as she was implying for a transcendental power to move between universes. She was exaggerating to make me accept her alliance offer.

Unfortunately, I knew that her words weren’t far from the truth either. Falsehood, I could detect. And, the truth made her words even scarier.

“Why don’t you tell me more about the threats of the future,” I asked.

More than happy to give me even more things to be scared of, she started telling me horror stories about the other universes.

Some burning in eternal fires as angels and demons battled for supremacy….

Some lost their spark of magic, ruled in the merciless grip of technology, and developed strongly enough to replace magic…

Some were captured by the human immortals, reshaped to fit their will…

Some fall under the unfeeling hordes of undead…

And, many universes, shattered completely as the transcendentals stole their fundamental laws and drained all their energy…

A merciless picture.

I needed to find a way to defend my little corner.

And, sometimes, the best defense was a good offense…