Here is a taste folks of book 2 of the Silver Magi, (used to be called Mark of the Alpha, Silver Wolf Magi series). No artwork yet, that is in the works. I hope to have it soon. This is book is being released on January 1st, 2021.

Chapter 1

“It fucking worked!!!” I yell exuberantly.

“What worked?” asked the black floating ball.

“You just called me an Elveesian, didn’t you?” I ask it, with a big grin on my face.

“Yes? That is because that is what you are, Master,” it tells me in a confused voice.

“Right! So, hmm. Right. What the hell are you?” I ask it. Looking at it closely, it’s a black ball the size of a baseball floating in the air. I know it was silver earlier, but now it’s black.

“I am an Elveesian assistant,” he tells me, confused by my question.

“And do you have a name?” I ask it.

“Well, the last Master called me Dorahjdahyuagdy,” he says.

“Whoa! I can’t even get my tongue around that. I can’t call you that!” I tell him in shock in hearing his name. It almost sounded like two or three of those letters I wouldn’t have been able even to create with my mouth.

“Ah, well. As you are now my Master, you can call me what you wish,” says the black floating sphere.

“Well. Let’s see. Something easy. How about Roger?” I ask it. I used to have a teacher named Roger, and he sounds somewhat like it.

“Ah, that can work, Master. As the voice I took is from your memories and it was of this person named Mr. Roger.”

“Wait, my memories?” I ask it in surprise.

“Well, yes. That was the cranium transfer. I downloaded all your memories. In looking through them, I wanted a voice that would make you at ease, and it seems that was the voice.”

“Well, yeah. He was my teacher in high school. He was always good to me and never pushed me to be something I didn’t want to do,” I tell it. And it’s true. He was the best teacher one could ask for. Even with my athletics, he never pushed me to do sports, even though he was also the sports coach, but pushed me to do what I wanted. And so I kept taking computer classes. He was the only teacher I ever respected.

“Yes, I know that Master, as I have your memories,” it tells me as if I had stated something obvious.

“So, Roger. What does an Elveesian assistant do?” I ask it patiently. But I really want to hit it.

“I assist,” it says.

“Roger. Let’s pretend that I have no clue what you are, which is exactly where I stand right now.”

“But that makes no sense, Master. You are an Elveesian.” It says, confused.

“Roger? You say you can read my memories?” I ask it, balling my fists, so I don’t punch it out of the air.

“That is correct, Master.”

“Then, can you go through them right now and tell me how it came to be I was an Elveesian?” I ask it patiently.

“Oh, I can do that, Master,” it says. Then the sphere starts to emit a low hum in the air in front of me.

After about what I think is five minutes or so of me looking around the woods and hearing nothing in the way of animals, it comes back.

“Oh! I am sorry, Brandon. I honestly am in a pickle,” Roger says.

“A pickle?” I ask him, both my eyebrows doing up.

“Yes, a term I got from your memories. It seems that you are an Elveesian but are not an Elveesian. So that causes me to be in a pickle—a dilemma. On the one hand, you were not born an Elveesian. But yet on the other, you have the genetic makeup of one.”

“So, what exactly does that mean?” I ask it. I was trying to figure out where this is going.

“Well, it means that as you are not born an Elveesian, I cannot give you full access to this planet,” it says.

“Wait, what do you mean full access to this planet?”

“I am the unit which is the caretaker of this planet. I protect it from external factors that would cause it to be destroyed. Such as meteors, asteroids, solar flares, and such.”

“Oh fuck, so you have been watching out for us so that another meteor and dinosaur event doesn’t happen?” I ask him in disbelief.

“Dinosaur event? Ah, no. The Elveesian did that, as the animals on this planet were not sentient, and they required the planet. So it killed them off as they had no use. Though, we kept their genetic makeup in storage.”

“Wait, we are getting sidetracked by dinosaurs. First, what do you mean full access to the planet?” I tell him, bringing him. Wait, is it a him? I mean, he has a male voice, and I just called him Roger. Fuck it. It’s now a him.

“I am the planetary caretaker,” he says.

“Yes, I got that from defending from asteroids,” I say irritably. “I mean, what do you mean I cannot get full access? What is full access?”

“As an Elveesian, you would have full access to the database, weapons, technology available,” Roger states.

“So, since I am not a full Elveesian, as you say, what do I have access to?” I ask him. Fuck, wonder what kind of things they had access to? Bet you it was some amazing shit.

“You have access to me,” he stats.

“You? All right. What does that give me? Any special weapons? New technology never seen before?” I ask him.

“No, just me. A floating metal ball,” he says.

“That’s it? What can you do?” I ask him curiously.

“Float,” Rogers says.

Closing my eyes, I try not to get upset with Roger. Since honestly, I doubt he is doing it on purpose.

“That’s it? Float?” I ask him finally.

“Oh, no, I can do other things. But for you, I can only float.”

“Float? That’s it. Can you give me information?” I ask him.

“Like what?” he asks me.

“Like, about the Elveesians.”

“Nope,”

Is he getting snarky? “Can you tell me if enemies are around?”

“Nope. Wait,” he says quickly. Then five seconds later, he says, “Nope,”

“So, you are basically useless to me?” I tell him, trying not to be snarky as well. Fucking ball.

“Oh, I might be one day. But I must observe to see how much of an Elveesian you are,” he says.

“But, you just said that I am not a true Elveesian?” I ask Roger. I am now confused.

“Yes, as I am only looking at your genetic makeup. I need to observe you to see if you are a true Elveesian.”

“All right, what does that constitute? What would I need to do to prove to you I am a true Elveesian?”

“Be able to shapeshift into more than just a Werewolf, or what your memories call a half-hybrid form. As an Elveesian, you can shapeshift into anything. Also, you must prove that you have magic,” he says.

“I can do magic,” I tell him and bring up my hand.

“Paina nala thula melo,” I intone.

And then there is a ball of light floating next to me.

“That parlor trick?” Roger scuffs. “No, if you were an Elveesian, you would be able to float this mountain in the air.”

What the fuck! Are they that powerful? I look at the sphere in shock. “A mountain?”

“For breakfast,” it says.

“Are you getting attitude compared to when I first met you?” I ask him slowly.

“Yep, like it? I have some of your race’s media over the air and this Internet of yours. And it seems that is how people interact over it. Though, I must say, is it hard being that sarcastic all the time?”

I stare at him in astonishment. Finally, I get my voice and ask incredulously, “You think that is how we all talk?”

“You don’t?” Roger says in a surprised voice.

“Fuck, no! Why would you think we all talk like that?”

“Your media, and all those internet comments,” he says, unsure.

Putting a hand over my face, I rub it hard and say, “Roger, we humans don’t talk like that all the time. The Internet has made it so that folks hide behind their screens, but also our media─.” I stop and put a hand over my face. “ Our media is not how we truly are,” I tell him. But I don’t go into porn, which has fucked up men’s views on sex, I think with a chuckle.

“Well, how do you all talk then?” he asks me, uncertain.

“Well, normal. God, your view of us is so fucked up, isn’t it? So what’s next? Do you follow me all the time? I mean, it will be hard to hide you if you are floating around, and why did you change to black from the silver?” I ask Roger.

“Ah, I switched to black as I am made of silver titanium, in case you were not a real Elveesian. I switched myself to black titanium and put all the silver inside myself. I did not wish to hurt you. As for seeing me, I can hide myself so others cannot see me, except you. Though, that will require me to augment you some. If I can be allowed to?”

“Wait, whoa? Augment? And as for silver, I can hold it, but others around me won’t be as it affects them. Except for an actual human,” I tell him.

“You are safe from silver?” he says excitedly.

“Yes, I am fine with it,” As soon as I say it, the ball turns from black to silver and zooms at my face so fast, I expected it to hit me in the forehead again, but it stops an inch from my face.

“No adverse effects?” he asks me.

“None, I feel fine,” I tell him.

It moves forward until it’s touching my forehead. It’s warm to the touch. “Now?”

“Nothing. I still feel fine,” I tell him as he backs off.

“Hmm, then I must observe you more. I had not expected this.”

“But you said I was genetically an Elveesian,” I told him.

“Correct, but as you were not fully Elveesian, I expected silver would harm you, as one other fact that makes it so silver does not affect them is their magic.”

“You say magic, but to me, you are something out of science fiction. How is it that you exist if the Elveesian were magical?” I ask him.

“Sorry, that is restricted information, Master. One day I might be able to divulge it. Now, again, might I augment you?” Roger asks me.

“Right, so what does that entail?” I ask him.

“Anal prob,” he says.

“What?” I ask him in disgust.

“Sorry,” he says with a chuckle, “Couldn’t help it. So for me to augment you, I just need to touch your forehead again,” he says.

What an asshole. “Fine, go ahead,” I tell him.

The now silver ball, which I started calling Roger, floats up to my forehead, touches it lightly, and suddenly I get a shock that sends me across the top of the mountain into the bushes behind me.

“What the fuck!” I yell, getting up quickly after my backward tumbling. “What the hell was that for Roger? That truly fucking hurt!” I tell him, rubbing the spot where he electrocuted me.

“Sorry, the transfer isn’t always painless. But it seems to be working. Your right eye might go dark for a second, and you might hear a buzzing in your right ear also,” he says.

“What?” I ask him, all my pain gone because of his words.

“I said your right—”

“No, I heard you. What do you mean it will go dark?” I ask him quickly.

“The augments are going to reconnect your right eye and your right ear.”

“Why?” I ask him tentatively.

“Because I am growing the components that will allow me to observe through your eye and listen through your ear, of course.”

“What!” I scream. “You’re going to spy through me?”

“No, observe. But you will also gain something from it,” he says casually.

“Wait, I will?” I tell him, brought up short.

“Yes, you will have the ability to see in the dark, see the levels of someone’s magic, and also be able to hear sounds that are outside your normal hearing, and have it even better and be able to control it to hear sounds from far,” he says.

“You’re not going to turn me into some kind of cyborg, are you?” I ask him quickly and with some concern.

“What a cyborg? Oh, wait. Got it. No, I shall not be turning you into that. Wow, you humans are odd in what you think can happen to someone. No, I will not augment your strength or make your skin into some kind of metal. Wow, you are one crazy race,” Roger says, and I can almost hear him shaking his imaginary head.

Unexpectedly, my vision in my right eye starts to fade until I can’t see, and then my right hearing gives a buzz, and then I lose it completely. Blinking my eye doesn’t do anything. And I put my hand to my ear and snap my fingers, but I don’t hear my hand. I mean, I hear it but through my left ear.

“Ah, it’s slowly connecting. Give it a minute,” Roger says in satisfaction.

Then, within ten seconds of him saying that, I slowly get my vision back, but it’s off. Almost like it’s through a fish lens. Then, abruptly, the colors and clarity are back. But then something odd happens. I get text, but not a text I know. It’s not in any language I have ever seen before. It flows across my eye at the top before disappearing. Turning to Roger, I get an even bigger shock. I get a blue circle that zooms in on him, like a target, and slowly spins around him. Next to him is a line that goes from him with text next to it. But I can’t tell what it says. It’s in the same language of the text that flowed across my vision.

“Roger, what the hell is going on?” I ask him, unsure. But then that question is the least of my problems, as my right eardrum feels like it’s suddenly ruptured. There is an intense pain of sound. I put my hand to my ear, and I scream in pain.

“Shit! Sorry Master. Sleep now,” I hear Roger say, followed by nothing but blackness, and I feel myself hitting the ground. But not before I hear him say, “Oops.”

***

Slowly I come around, with the sun beating down on my face. I feel groggy like I was drunk. As I get up, my head starts to clear up some. The pain in my ear is gone, thank God.

“Roger!” I scream at the top of my lungs

“Yes?” he says behind me, making me roll away from him quickly as I was sitting up.

“What the hell happened?” I ask him angrily.

“Yes, it seems that the hearing augment was more intense than expected. It seems your race has shitty hearing,” he says crossly.

What the fuck, is he getting mad at me for having shitty hearing? “What do you mean? We hear pretty well.” I tell him defensively.

“No, you don’t. Here is what a normal Werewolf hears, or the race called Werefolk do,” he says. And suddenly I can hear sounds in my right ear that wasn’t there before. There are sounds of birds, animal calls, even things moving around. I can move my head around, and I hear different things.

“Oh, wow!” I say out loud.

“Yes. Now here is what an Elveesian can hear,” he says, and suddenly that deafening roar of sound comes again, but at least this time, it only brings me down to my knees to cover my ears, without too much pain. There is no separation of sounds. It’s just a loud roar. Then it’s cut off.

“What the fuck?” I say to him, looking at him floating four feet away.

“That is what they hear,” he says smugly.

“It’s just a roar of sound!” I tell him in disbelief.

“No, to you, it’s a roar of sound. To an Elveesian, they can pick it out. So for now, I had put you to sleep earlier to re-tune it.”

“How long was I out?” I ask him now, curious.

“Only what you humans call twenty minutes. I will only augment your hearing a little higher than a human until you get used to it over time and slowly increase it. This is something we will need to train.” Roger says to me.

“Well, glad to hear I don’t need to be living with a deafening roar in my ear. Now, I guess should get back. Oh shit, wait. If I turned into an Elveesian or this succubi, why do I feel the same?” I ask him.

“What did you think you would look like?” Roger asks me.

“Well, I don’t know. Maybe with horns, a tail?” I tell him, disappointed.

“Ah, from your memories, I get what you mean. No, Demons aren’t real,” Roger says.

“Oh, so Demons are fake?” I ask him.

“Oh, the name is fake. The race itself is quite real,” he says arrogantly.

“What the hell, are you going to always be smug and sarcastic?”

“Hmm, not sure. Still debating on that one,” he says with a laugh.

Great, I have a flying ball who can or cannot be, sarcastic in answers I want. Looking around, I see that the sun is still up in the sky some, so I would say it’s about 2 PM or so. I didn’t bring a watch with me since it’s hard to do that in werewolf form. I should get back to the girls. But first, I need to figure this out.

“So, I assume that an Incubus is just an Elveesian?” I ask him.

“No, they are the race that you seem to have in your head. Is that what you call them? Demons? Well, they don’t call themselves that,” he says.

“Did the Elveesians create them also? What do they call themselves?” I ask him.

“Yes, they were created by the Elveesians, and they call themselves Hellisians. The males were called Incubi, and the females were called Succubi, plural. Or Incubus and Succubus. They had emotion control over all races that the Elveesians created. They were what you would call the law enforcement of the races,” he says.

“So, Hellisians? That’s pretty close to the word Hell, which is where we figured these Demons, which I now know is incorrect, are from. So, the look of them looking all evil-looking and small, with horns and such?”

“Fake, the Hellisians were beautiful. Those things you have in your memories, which by the way I have to say your race is fucked up in the head about, isn’t even a thing. Someone had a vivid imagination.”

“Damn, so all those stories of calling up demons in magical rituals were all garbage?” I ask him.

“Pretty well. I mean,” and here Roger pauses. “What the heck? I will give you a freebie. With magic, you can call up powerful forces. The Elveesians did not create the magical system. Magic, even for them, was more powerful than what they could control. They were powerful, but they did not create the universes,” he says.

“So what about this Void? The Elveesian I spoke to said that it was a race that they created. Is that something you can help me destroy one day if I can prove that I am an Elveesian?” I ask him excitedly.

“No, I cannot take action directly against a race like that. I am an Elveesian assistant, not a weapon,” he says.

“Fuck, so much for that,” I tell him. “Can you tell me how to change myself into an Incubus?” I ask instead.

“No, that is something that is already in you. You just need to bring it out.”

“All right, but how?” I ask him.

“I don’t know, Brandon. How do you breathe?” Roger says.

“I don’t know. I just take a breath,” I tell him, irritated.

“It’s the same concept. Just call it out.”

“That makes no fucking sense, Roger, and did you just call me Brandon instead of Master?” I ask him, somewhat surprised.

“Yes, I figured until you are my full master, I will call you Brandon,” he says.

“Whatever. I prefer my name over Master anyhow,” I tell him, waving it away. “Now you said to call it out? Just like that?” I ask him.

“Brandon, I am what your mind would call a machine. I cannot tell you how to do something I have no experience with.”

“All right, let’s see,” I say, sitting down on the grass.

Closing my eyes, I try to think about this. Call it out? Well, would it be like how I called out my Were form? Looking inside at my pool of energy, I doubt that is where it would be, so look at the light in my chest. Again, I can see the light. Now, how would I go about calling out the Incubus in me? I mean, for the Werewolf had to pull it from there. For the Elveesian in me, I had to go into the light itself. So I doubt I need to go into it again.

Maybe that’s where I was going at it wrong. Even Roger said I was a shapeshifter. So does that mean just animals like wolves or such? But maybe a shapeshifter is someone who can change what they look like completely. Whoa, now that would be fucking amazing. Being able to shapeshift into anyone or anything. Now let’s see. Imagine yourself, Brandon has an Incubus. With horns, a tail like you imagine it to be.

Unexpectedly, I feel pain in the side of my temples and my backside. The pain is so strong that it causes me to open my mouth and roar! Once it’s done, I am left panting on the ground. I have no idea how I got on all fours from a sitting position, but here I am—staring at the dirt.

“Oh, very good!” shouts Roger.

“Holy fuck, that hurt! Again! Why the fuck do these transformations hurt so much!” I ask him hoarsely, looking his way.

“What? You expect changing your physiology is easy? As an Elveesian, it took them a long time to understand pain,” he says cryptically.

“Well, motherfucker, I wish I understood it,” I tell him getting up slowly. But it feels strange. Or my feet feel strange. When I left the cabin, I didn’t bother with boots since I would change into a Werewolf. Looking down, I get a shock. My feet are black. They look like my feet, except where my feet would be. I have black skin the fades into the color of my normal skin as it reaches my knees. Lifting the foot, I touch it. I can feel my fingers touching the skin part, but there is no feeling it feels more rigid than normal skin.

Also, they seem hard. Looking around, I see a rock sticking out of the ground. Going to it, I kick it experimentally with my new foot and the rock chips, but I felt nothing. Holy fuck! No way! Reaching up slowly to my temple, my hand touches something hard and smooth. It’s a fucking horn! Quickly reaching behind me, I feel only my pants, but then something twitches in my pants. Holy shit. As I am only wearing track pants, I reach behind the band, and I feel something thick that grew out of my, well, ass. Or more the backbone. It feels like a thick piece of rope, but I can feel my hand on it, which is just an odd feeling. Pulling it out, I see that it’s pure black. It feels like, well, part of me since I can feel my hand around it. Looking around and not seeing anyone. I lower my pants slightly on my ass to allow it to move around more freely. And somehow, I can move it around with, well, with my thoughts. I think of lashing out with it, and it does exactly that.

“This is cool. Can it do anything?” I ask him.

“Do anything? It’s a tail.”

“So, no powers?” I ask him, unsure now.

“Well, I am sure if you flick it hard enough at someone, it might sting. Here comes our Mighty Hero, Brandon, the Tail Stinger!”

I just look at Roger with a stern look. “Fuck you,” I tell him.

“Oh, if only,” he snorts, “Remember? I am a metal ball. No penis on this thing.”

I just groan in mental pain. Oh my God, is this what Elveesians had to deal with? Or am I just some kind of unlucky person?

Chapter 1

The rain coming down my back as I waited for the taxi was cold. My breathing mask came loose, so I adjusted it again. It has been years since I needed to wear it all the time. Well, more like everyone is required to wear one. Apparently, it was worse down near the equator where the air was so hot that just breathing hurt.

Finally, the taxi shows up, and the back door opens automatically. Getting in, I sit down in the plastic-covered seat, and the door closes behind me.

“Destination Citizen?” says the metallic voice of the taxi’s AI.

“Paradigm Alpha Building 4,” I tell it, my voice muffled with the breathing mask.

“Very good, Paradigm Alpha Building 4. ETA is ten minutes, is that acceptable, Citizen?”

Sighing, I tell it, “Yes, that is fine.”

The taxi moves into the traffic lane, and I am on my way. Not sure what this is about, but the managers at Paradigm Alpha wanted to see me urgently. I have been working for them now for well over twelve years. With Earth going down the toilet, with barely places livable on Earth with decent levels of oxygen, the wars going on between China and Russia, and now possibly the USACan coalition getting dragged into it, it isn’t looking good, folks need an escape. And that is where Paradigm Alpha comes in. Virtual Worlds. Free from war, famines, or even lack of air to breathe. 

Looking out the window, I wonder what the sun looks like again. I haven’t seen sunshine in Alaska in over a year. With the devastation of Beijing after Russia nuked it, the cloud cover has started to cover much of Earth. Most food is now grown underground, away from any kind of radiation. Or so they say, but I think it’s just because we are waiting for the day when all the nukes start to fly. USACan is the last big country that has stayed out of it. Not for lack of being dragged in. Europe is defending itself from Russia, who is trying to get a foothold there since they want the land grab and the resources since the Russian military stripped theirs bare.

India is siding with China. The Islamic states have cut off access to all their countries, and nothing is going in and out of it. Most places on the equator are unlivable, so countries like Mexico, South America, and even the older states like Florida and California are deserted with barely any breathable oxygen. I mean, there are holdouts, but now most of the world lives near the North and South pole locations. Alaska might be wet, but at least it’s not killer hot. I feel the car stop, and looking up, I see that we have made it to Paradigm Alpha Building 4.

“You have reached your destination, Citizen. I have deducted the amount of 32 credits from your account. Thank you, have a good day,” says the Taxi’s AI, and the door opens.

Getting out, I am back in the rain and looking up at the tall building. This is the fourth major building that Paradigm Alpha owns. And it’s one of their newest and biggest. If I remember, it’s over 100 stories high. My meeting was actually on floor 99. At least the power is on, so I don’t need to climb up those steps. Though knowing Paradigm Alpha, they most likely have underground generators.

Going into the building, I take off my mask inside and store it in the side pouch that everyone now wears, almost like someone who is wearing a watch. You never leave home without it. Taking a deep breath of the clean air, instead of the canned air, feels good. Oh, I am sure the air in here is canned too, but it’s also not a mask on your face. Looking around the area, I see that there are security personnel near the elevators, with force fields cutting off the area in sections.

Walking towards them, I flash my badge at them, and they let me through. I have one of the rare gold passes. Meaning I am someone important. Which I am not. I am an overworked bug reporter. The fact that I am also one of the rare people who can connect to the VR system at a deeper state means I can find bugs easier. So upper management wanted to make sure I can get to work easier and faster. So gold pass it was. Though, if you look at the salary of the gold pass employees of Paradigm Alpha, I am the lowest. By millions and millions of credits. The pay for this job honestly is meager, but it’s paid my rent and oxygen fees for the last 12 years.

Once I am passed security, I head towards the bank of elevators and press the button. While waiting, I wonder again since I got the call to come in what this is about. My boss Max said nothing other than I needed to come in, that this was urgent. Probably a bug they found and needed help to narrow down its impact. In the last 12 years, I have learned to be fantastic at what they call Impact Assessment. Telling upper management what the effect of a bug would be. Especially if it was monetary in the real world.

One thing that Paradigm Alpha protected fiercely was its ability to make money. Most games that Paradigm Alpha created that were for VR were moneymakers. Folks would spend in-game credits for items they would not buy in real life here on Earth. Right now, Paradigm Alpha had nine games going that catered from young kids to older adults. From kiddy stuff to adult stuff. So, most likely, they found something that is making them lose credits.

When the elevator arrives, I get in and press the number 99 on it. Some of the folks who get in with me look at me enviously. Most employees know who I am by now—a poor employee who has access to floor 99. Talk between some of the workers starts up as we go up.

“Did you hear that Russia is thinking of retaliating with us because we refused to send them food?” one girl says.

“I doubt they would do that, USACan would hurt them badly. I mean, we aren’t involved, but that’s because we are too strong to get involved,” says a young male, trying to sound smart. Ah, I think to myself. We have stayed out of it because we have our own problems already. Like keeping our own people fed, oxygenated, and well, that’s pretty well it. Our military isn’t remotely as large compared to Russia or China. What we have is technology and our nukes.

“I was watching a show that they say there is a 38 percent chance that Russia or China would nuke us,” another girl starts up, but thank God the elevator stops on floor 32 and lets them all out, leaving me alone. Once the door closes and their voices fade away, I go back to thinking about this meeting. Sigh, I just want it over. I am supposed to be on a required one week vacation that I have every year. They aren’t supposed to be calling me into work.

Once on the 99th floor and the door opens, I head down the hallway. Compared to the other floors, this one is quite opulent. It’s meant to impress guests, and that it does. The floors are all marble with artwork from all over the world on the walls. Some are on loan, but I am sure some Paradigm Alpha owns. There is even the Mona Lisa here. It might be a copy. It might not be. Paradigm Alpha can afford it, even to rent it.

Once at the end of the hallway, there is a desk with a single person at it. The woman who is there could have passed as a model. Nothing but the best for the rich upper management here. Nodding to her, I say, “Hi Nadine, any idea what is going on?” I say, nodding towards the double doors.

“I am sorry I cannot say, Mr. Grady. Please go right in, I have let them know you are here,” she says in a quiet monotone.

Oh boy, this is bad. Nadine always called me by my first name, Jeff. If she is calling me Mr. Grady, something big is going on. Nodding to her, I say, “Thanks, Nadine,” and I walk towards the door and open it. In the room are four people. My two bosses, Mr. Broady and Mrs. Laman. Right now, the two richest people on Earth, and off if you believe they have a moonbase. The other two, I don’t recognize. They are both males, large and wearing suits.

“Mr. Grady, come in,” says Mrs. Laman. “Please sit there,” she says in a commanding voice, brooking no discussion and pointing to the only empty chair across from the four of them. What the heck is going on? Nodding to her, I go sit in the chair she mentions and wait to see what this is about.

Mr. Broady looks nervous, and the two suits don’t show any emotions but simply stare at me. “Now, we had some questions for you, Mr. Grady. These two gentlemen here are from the FBI. Based on the answers we get, that will tell her the way this discussion will go. But first, please sign this.” And with that, she places a piece of thick paper in front of me. Looking at it, I see that it’s an NDA or a non-disclosure agreement. I have signed many of those. Including one I had to for the job I do as I am not allowed to tell anyone what I actually do here, even with other employees, with the exception of Mr. Broady and Mrs. Laman, who already know what I do.

Reading it over, I see it’s a standard one that I will not talk to anyone about what is being discussed in this meeting with anyone, and that the fine for it would be two million credits and possible jail time. Holy heck! Two million credits? What is going on here! That part isn’t standard. My own contract was a fine of 25,000 credits. Looking up in surprise, I see that the two suits are still only staring at me, Mrs. Laman seems impatient, and Mr. Broady keeps wiping his hands on his pants.

“What is going on here?” I ask slowly.

“Please sign, and we can discuss it,” she says, tapping the contract on the table.

“And if I refuse to sign?” I ask, slowly looking at her in the eyes. As soon as I see that, I see a predatory look in her eyes.

“Then, these two gentlemen here will be taking you in cuffs on charges of espionage against the government of USACan for giving technology secrets to China,” she says with an enormous smile on her face. I always thought Mrs. Laman was a beautiful woman for her age, which I pegged at around the late forties, but now her face is nothing but ugly with greed.

Looking at Mr. Broady, he still has that nervous look, and he simply says, “Just sign it, Jeff. Otherwise, these men will take you away, you will be charged, and the outcome for espionage is the death penalty, as I am sure you are aware.”

“Shut up, William. Let Mr. Grady make his own choice,” she snaps at him.

“Thelma,” he snaps back at her, “I still own this company or a majority, so I would be careful who you tell to shut up.” And there is the backbone I knew he had. He didn’t get to where he is being a nice guy.

Mrs. Laman flushes, from embarrassment or anger, I am not sure, but she says, “Sorry, William, but this is too important, and you know it.”

“I agree, but I don’t like the method.” What the? The method? What is he talking about?

Turning back to me, she says again, but without a smile. “Sign. It.”

Looking at the two suits, one of them takes out a pair of handcuffs and places them gently on the table, with no change of expression at all. What the heck is going on? There is no way I did any kind of espionage, especially with the Chinese. So the choice is, sign the paperwork for an NDA that I have no clue what the discussion is about, or get charged, jailed, and executed for something I didn’t do?

Taking the pen that is on the table already, I sign my name at the bottom. In the spot where you put your fingerprint on the smart e-paper, I press my thumbprint to it. I then turn the paper around and offer it to Mrs. Laman to look at. She confirms that I signed it, asks for the pen I still have in my hands, signs it herself where it said witness, and thumbprints it as well.

“Thank you, Jeff, but I am sorry I had to do this, but once we talk about it, you will see why. These two gentlemen are from the FBI, but from a small division you would not have heard about,” Mrs. Laman says, her demeanor changing a total 180. “And I am sorry I had to do this to you,” she says, and with the contract on the table, she pulls away a section that to me seemed blank. I see that underneath it, there is writing.

“What the hell!” I say in shock, I grab the contract and read the section that was just uncovered.

I also hereby give my body and my mind to Paradigm Alpha. I agree to abide by their choices for my welfare, work location, and job title from now until I die. I shall not, in any way, shape, or form fight Paradigm Alpha in any Court of Law for this contract. I also agree not to mention it to anyone, as I have given away my rights to Paradigm Alpha with my admission of guilt for espionage against the government of USACan for giving technology to the Chinese government that would have allowed China to bypass the Satellite Defense Network and kill millions of USACan Citizens.

“What?” I scream at them in horror. “I did none of those things, and you know it!”

“Be that as it may,” one of the suits finally says, “You are now the property of Paradigm Alpha and the USACan government to do as we see fit.”

“Agent Mead? If you will allow me?” Mr. Broady says to the agent.

Nodding, the agent sits back. “Now, Jeff, we are sorry we did this to you, but you have to understand we have a good reason.” He starts.

“Mr. Broady, what good reason would you have for making a damn slave!” I tell him hotly.

“Willian, call me William,” he continues as if I didn’t have my brief outburst. Sighing, he sits back. “Trust me. We had a significant reason. Where do you think we will be in, say ten, twenty years from now?” he asks me. The question throws me off guard, and my anger disappears in a puff of smoke.

I look at him oddly and ask, “You mean Paradigm Alpha? Probably richer, better tech. Why?”

“No, not Paradigm Alpha, the world. Earth?”

I laugh at him at that question, “Knowing the way things are going. Probably in a nuclear apocalypse.” But I stop laughing when he isn’t, or anyone else at the table isn’t laughing with me. “What seriously?”

“Seriously,” says the other suit. “Name is Agent White. No. it’s not a code name,” he says at my raised eyebrow. “Our projections say that within a year, there will be another nuclear warhead detonated somewhere on Earth, and the chances of it being in the USACan are very high. So, with the help of Paradigm Alpha. The USACan government has come up with a plan to save as many of us as possible.”

“You mean the rich and those who can afford it,” I tell him bitterly. Yeah, sure, save the human race. Right. 

“No, we will be saving many genetic samples. We have been for the last two years,” he says.

What? Genetic samples? How are genetic samples from people saving them? “I don’t get it? What do you mean samples? You have been collecting humans?” I ask him, confused.

“No, samples. Blood DNA samples,” 

“And how is that going to save humanity?” I ask, perplexed at his reasoning.

“Are you sure you want him in on this?” he asks both my bosses, but both of them answer quickly, “Yes!”

Sighing, he turns back to me. “We have collected over three million blood DNA samples. Over one million female egg cells, or oocytes, and over one million male sperm cells. These are stored in a deep bunker on the moon. What we need is an administrator to watch over the system,” he finishes.

I gape at him in shock. I am not sure if it’s the number of samples they have gotten or the fact that we have a base on the moon. I guess my brain knows which one since I blurt out, “We have a base on the moon?”

“We do, but we need someone to watch over them, for when, as you called it, the nuclear apocalypse happens, and it’s over. We need someone to watch the systems with all the human minds in it.” It takes me a second or two to finally clue in to what he just said.

“What! What do you mean, human minds?” I ask him.

“And this is where we get to the chief topic. We cannot take humans as they are. They would die. So, we will upload folks onto what we call The Doomsday System. Think of it as a big VR system, but for human consciousness. The technology works, thanks to Paradigm Alpha. Most folks we can upload, but they are just on pause as it were. Not able to interact with The Doomsday System. Think of it more like storage,” he says, explaining it.

“But wait, so you want me to get uploaded with them, to watch over them, but how is that going to work, when my brain will be in storage? And I hope you aren’t going to say you have some kind of new technology that will make me immortal,” I tell him with a nervous laugh.

“No, you will be uploaded. But you have something unique,” Mrs. Laman says quietly.

I look at her with a questioning look and ask her, “And what’s that? I am a simple bug tracker, Mrs. Laman. You know that. I have been doing that for the last 12 years. And I am not being vain when I say I am quite good at it.”

“And do you know why you are so good at it?” she asks me instead of commenting on mine.

 “I pay attention to details?” I ask her, perplexed with her question.

“Nope,” she says with a smile, a truly genuine smile. “The reason you are so good at it is that for some reason, your brain is able to separate itself from what is real, and what is not. When you are under for VR, your brainwaves, for some reason we have not been able to validate or copy, goes into overdrive, which allows you to go past the boundaries of the normal systems. Honestly, we are studying you while working for under VR, which has allowed us to create some of the technology we have today for the new VR systems.”

“What do you mean real and not real?” I ask her puzzled.

“When most folks go into VR, it’s hard for them to tell what is real and isn’t. You, on the other hand, can, which is what makes it so easy for you to find bugs in the game. You can pull yourself away from the ‘game’ long enough to see it’s not meant to be there,” William says now.  “Do you know why we tell you not to tell folks what you do for your job? As a bug finder, I mean?” he says.

“I just thought it was because of the NDA,” I tell him.

William shakes his head, “No, it’s because you are the only one,” he says.

“What? No, that’s impossible! You have an entire team on floor nine here that does only that, they find bugs,” I say in disbelief.

“Oh, they do. But in the code itself. Not in the game. You are the only one who does that since you are the only one that can.”

I stare at him in utter shock. What does he mean, I am the only one! I can’t be the only one finding bugs and glitches while in the games that Paradigm Alpha creates! That would be ludicrous.

“Why do you think our games are so much better than the competition, Jeff.” Mrs. Laman says with pride. “It’s because of you. You find errors that our coders or debuggers would spend months, or even years finding. That is why we are able to get games to market faster.”

“I honestly don’t know what to say, if I am so important for this company, why are you doing what you are to me?”

All four at the table have the grace to blush at that comment. Mrs. Laman is the one who answers me but also shocks me by putting her hand over mine. “Because, in a way, we need you. Jeff, we are entrusting you with our care for a long time. There isn’t anyone else who can. You will one day wake up, and if the worse comes to be and us on Earth have destroyed each other, you will be our last bastion of hope. You will be our protector, our savior, and our salvation.”

“Laying it pretty thick on there, aren’t we Thelma?” William says with a soft laugh.

“No, he needs to know how serious this is, and why I have spent most of my own money and time into this.”

“So,” I say awkwardly, “how is this supposed to work? I hope I am not going to the moon? I mean, how are you going to keep me alive for what may amount to be thousands of years, until the Earth can be lived on again?”

Here, the two owners of Paradigm Alpha look at his other oddly. Finally, Thelma is the one to look back at me and answer. “Your body won’t be alive.” She tells me softly.

“But,” I tell her, confused, “How am I supposed to watch over everyone in VR if I am dead,”

“We will upload your mind to The Doomsday System servers, and there, you will live your days out in a game, until the AIs of the system feel that it’s time, and you will be pulled out of the game to begin the reseeding of Earth. We cannot trust this to the AIs at all. They are smart, but they aren’t human,” Thelma says softly.

“Wait, you want me to play a game for thousands of years?” I tell them all in astonishment.

“Yes, but to you, it won’t be thousands of yours. We will be telling the AIs to make it so that the time dilation for you is 10:1. So for every ten years outside the game for you, it will be one year in-game. So if you are in-game for say 1,000 years, you will only feel like for 100 years. And if you play a long-lived race, you should be fine,” William chimes in.

“Wait, what game am I going to be playing?” I ask them suspiciously. If it’s the pirate game Hooked Ships, forget it.

“You will be playing a completely new game that has been created with feedback from all the other games and built by the AIs. We have shown you snippets of it to find bugs that you have found none. So we know the game is solid with no bugs,” he says proudly.

“Wait! Are you talking about game X? I thought that was a new game coming out next year and that you just didn’t have a name for it!” I exclaim.

“No, you will play that one, but we are not giving it a name. This will be a new world for you to explore.”

Looking around the table, at the eager faces, I don’t know what to say. I mean, I don’t have much choice but to play a game for a long time and be that character? I mean, how many times have I wished while playing a game for fun that I can just escape and be in the game forever as my characters? So, instead of trying to escape this, I grin at them and say, “Sign me up!”

Artwork by arcanecovers.com

Chapter 1

Oh shit, I think to myself. We are all about to die.

“You can’t talk to my Master that way,” screeches Mira huffily.

Reaching up, I put my hand on her tail and stroke it quickly. “Now, now, Mira. Don’t make the, hmm, man upset. I am sure he doesn’t mean ill towards us?” I ask worriedly at the tall Sha’ara.

The Sha’ara in question looks at Mira with thoughtful eyes and then looks back down at me

“You are not what we expected.” He tells me.

“Well, to be honest, we did not expect you all to be here on floor 30,” I tell him

“Fair. Come.” With that, he turns around and yells out at his warriors, “Safeguard the perimeter!”

Looking at my group, I whisper, “All right, but that doesn’t answer my question,”

“Just go with it, Jason,” Michael says. “Maybe there is a reason they are here? And how the fuck do they know about you?” With that, he slaps my back and follows the Sha’ara with Misha right behind him. Shrugging my shoulders, I follow him with the girls in tow.

We head away from the level gate, and into what I can only describe as a jungle. There are tall trees, vines, and overgrown vegetation everywhere. And it’s damp as we step away from the gate. There is a path we are walking, but I can see that even then, some warriors are up ahead, hacking at the vegetation. Looking around, I spot some lookouts in the trees. We end up following the tall Sha’ara for about fifteen minutes, but nothing is said, even by us.

Finally, we come into a clearing, and I see it’s a sizeable village, with huts mostly. I don’t see one building at all. The Sha’ara takes us to one of the bigger huts and stops in front of it.

“She will see you now,” he says cryptically.

She will see us now? Who will see us now, I think to myself? He points to the curtain that is across the door. Looking at my friends, they shrug their shoulders, not having any ideas either. Walking forward to move the curtains aside, and I am about to step in when the tall Sha’ara says, “Only Dragonheart and his dragon,” he intones.

Looking back, I see that he has put his large arm across the entrance to stop my friends from coming with me. Rasha is about to say something, but I lift my hand up. “It’s fine. I have the best protection right here,” I say, petting Mira, which causes her to purr. Damn, how the hell does a dragon purr? Looking at Mira, Rasha nods. I know she isn’t happy about it.

Turning back, I walk into the hut, and the curtain falls back down. I walk into an almost empty room, except there is a sleeping area off to the left. In the middle of the room, there is an older Sha’ara sitting there. She has gray fur and is so ancient she is hunched over. Walking towards her, she looks up at me. I can see that both her eyes are cloudy with white.

“Ah, so the vision was real.” She says, in a frail voice. “I thought I was going crazy when I had the first vision over 80 years ago.” At which point, she cackles. “But now I know I was right, and they were not.”

Looking at her oddly, I sit down in front of her, and her eyes follow me. Visions? And if she is blind, she followed me, sitting down as if she can see. Her eyes even stayed with mine.

“I am not sure I understand,” I tell her truthfully.

“I can understand, here is an old batty woman telling you that she had visions of you over 80 years ago.” She says with a smile.

How can she have had visions of me, if this place wasn’t created till like less than a year ago? How do I explain to her that her Realm was built on a structure that was a Quantum computer? Or how the time was sped up so fast. That what happened in a year was for this Realm thousands of years? This is not making any sense.

“You have some confusion?” she asks me with a soft smile. She might be old, but even I can tell that in her youth she must have been a beautiful Sha’ara. Her fur, while gray, it’s spotless, and has a luster to it, that shows she still takes care of herself at her age. But wait, she said visions 80 years ago?

“Do you have a name?” I ask her.

“Ah, I do! We should get the formalities out of the way, Jason Dragonheart. I am called Panthrami.” She says, bowing at me while sitting down.

“Err, Panthrami, how is it you know my name?” I ask her in shock.

“That is because I am a Seer. I have been watching you grow as a man, since the day you were born, in the Realm you come from. And I must say, it is quite an odd one. I have never seen such wonders as those I get in a glimpse of my visions of you. And before you ask, I have had these visions for 80 years, but you do not seem to be my age.” She says, shaking her head ruefully.

“You have been watching me since I was born?” I ask incredulously. How is that even possible! GFL only created this game World less than a year ago! This makes no sense.

“Yes, I was granted my first vision of you when I was 19. I was not sure what it meant. It showed me you being born, but you had a dragon sleeping next to you in your crib. She would watch over you as you slept. That would be the dragon you have on your shoulders.” She says to me with a radiant smile.

“Mira, how is that possible? Do you know what she means?” I ask her. Not getting an answer from her, I look up at her on my shoulder. She has a confused look.

“I am not sure, Jason. But this event that she speaks of, the sleeping with a babe in his crib. I did so, as it was a request from my father, Mutmaha. But Jason, that was something I only did once, and it was over 5,000 years ago.” She says confusion in her voice.

Looking at Panthrami for an answer, she gives me one. “Time does not always flow the same in all Realms, Jason. How old are you now?” She asks me softly.

“I am 42, but Panthrami. That makes little sense. How can you see me in your visions over 80 years ago, and Mira is saying she was in my crib when I was a babe, over 5,000 years ago?” I ask her, now really fucking losing my mind. How the hell can this even be?

“Time flows differently everywhere, you being a Demigod should know this,” she tells me.

“What do you mean?” I ask her, not understanding her reference.

“Does not your own personal Realm run at a different time speed?” She asks me with a small smile.

What the fuck? How does she know about my personal pocket Realm, or my Demigod’s Dimensional World? I mean, I just got the damn thing. And I only know about it because I ran away to it. And she isn’t wrong. The speed it runs at the time dilation is different. I had spent over an hour there, but to everyone else it was 1.5 seconds. The dilation there is 3,600:1. But that still begs the question. How is that even possible, she had visions of me if this place was not even created yet before I was born? Or wait, was it?

I have been told that this Realm, with the Realm of the Angels, Demons, and even Dragons, was created only once GLF created their Game World on the Quantum servers. But was that true? Even Bradard said it was only after that event happened, that access to my Realm the Forbidden Realm, with Earth in it, became accessible. What if it was always there? But it had been hidden somehow and the event that GFL did only connected it to the rest of the Cosmos?

Quest Update: What Is Hidden Can Always Be Revealed

You have figured out that maybe what was you were told might not be true. That just perhaps the Realms were connected somehow? And that the Realms were not created because of an Event on yours? Now you’re getting somewhere! Good job!

What the hell? And is that sarcasm? I honestly can’t tell with the way that snarky commentator wrote it. But wait, that makes no sense. Looking back at my Quest journal, I see that the Quest talks about magic.

New Hidden Quest
What Is Hidden Can Always Be Revealed
Type: Cosmos
Difficulty: Extremely Hard
Level requirement: N/A
Prerequisites: Ability See Magic Master level
Hooray! You have discovered a hidden Questline. This Questline is to figure out how magic within the Cosmos works, in relation to everyday use. Can you find what the Gods themselves were not able to?
Rewards: Exp: 1,000,000
Rewards: 10,000 gold
Rewards: Gain 10 Demigod levels
Gain 50,000 Faction with The Being

So, does that mean that magic was the way it hid my Realm and the others? But if The Being wasn’t the one who veiled my Realm, and these other Realms, why? Jesus Christ, add more to my list of things to find out. Sighing, I look back at Panthrami.

“Sorry, was looking at something, and finding something out, that is just making me more confused,” I tell her lamely.

“Do not worry, young one. I am sure you will figure it out,” Panthrami tells me with a warm smile.

“Figure it out? Do you know what I am supposed to figure out?” I ask her, mildly shocked. Does she know my Quest?

“I am a Seer, and while I cannot see everything, I know that you have something hidden, you are trying to find,” she says cryptically.

“Can I ask, why are the Sha’ara here? And you don’t look at all like your typical Sha’ara? If anything, you seem all much bigger than the ones I have seen in Town. Why are you living inside a dungeon, specifically on level 30? This is supposed to be a dungeon that is instanced, or that we would have to ourselves. The only thing that should be here are the monsters in it.” I ask her wondering what they are doing here.

“Ah, but what if we are monsters in this dungeon?” She asks me with an enormous grin.

Suddenly, I am up and in a combat pose for her attack. Shit, How could I have been so stupid! But then Panthrami holds up her hand. “But peace. I have a story to tell you. You are correct, we are monsters, but we were not always. After my vision of you, I know that you would come through here, but I did not wish to miss you. So, I made a deal with the core of this dungeon. In exchange for allowing me and my picked warriors to stay here, on a level I know you would come, we agreed to become its monsters. That is why we are bigger than or brethren. We have now been here for over 30 years. We have become things that others would seek out, to gain levels. But in exchange, we do not die.”

“Why would you do such a thing?” I asked, horrified at the idea. They gave up their lives just to meet me here?

“For me to meet you, I must live passed my normal lifespan. This was the only way. While I am a Seer, and it honored me to have seen you growing up, I am also here to warn you, which is why I needed to be alive.”

“What can be so important, Panthrami, that you would give yourself up to becoming a mob in a dungeon?” I ask her softly.

“The fate of the Realms. What you seek with that which you are trying to find that is hidden. It’s not just understanding magic. It’s understanding the fundamental way the Cosmos works. But that is not my warning. My warning is this. Being Strong is not enough; you must show compassion and love.” She says. That last part, though, is not her own voice. There is power behind that voice, and the timbre of it is very much male. What the fuck?

Looking at her, she is blinking, like just waking up from her sleep. Seeing the shocked look on my face, she smiles warmly.

“Ah, I can tell by your look that he passed the message on.” She says with a sad sigh.

“He?” I ask her.

“We do not have a name for him, but he is all around. Something tells me he is more than a God.” She says wistfully.

“If it’s I think who I think it is, many of the Gods call him, The Being,” I tell her, with a sigh, “But what happens now? Do you all leave and go back outside and to your homes?” I ask her.

“No, now we stay here. The contract with the dungeon core was not for a specific time frame. But until it does itself.”

“And how long is that?” I ask her, shocked.

“For a dungeon, this powerful? Probably centuries, until it gets stronger itself and then it might be longer. But do not fret Jason. This action was something I accepted willingly and those warriors with me. We did not go into this, not knowing our fate,” she says sadly with a smile at me.

“Centuries!” I cry horrified again. How the fuck is that one message, of love and or whatever, worth having hundreds of warriors and herself trapped here forever? That fucking pisses me off. Why the fuck would The Being allow something like this? I can just imagine that as mobs, they would get killed, feel pain, and then be resurrected again, in order to do this over and over. And I was going to send my own recruits from my Guild into this dungeon, but not if it will do this to them! No fucking way am I going to send others to inflict pain. Monsters I get, but these people?

“Wait! You said a dungeon core, and you had made a deal. What is that?” I asked her something niggling at the back of my mind.

“Dungeon cores are the beings, or essence that run this dungeon. It’s what allows monsters to respawn, provides the gold and treasures you find. It was it that we made a deal with.” She says, her head tilted sideways. “You do not know of this? Ah, I guess you would not, as one thing I never saw in my visions of you, was magic.” She says as if I had confirmed a puzzle to her.

“No, we don’t have that where I come from. I am just finding out that in my Realm, there is no magic at all.” I tell her, trying to think something through. What was it about some books I read about dungeons that were sentient? Shit, why can’t I think of it? Oh wait! Internet, shit, forgot I still have access.

Opening a browser, I open a search engine, and I search for dungeon core. Shit, that’s a lot of hits. Looking through the links and the information, it seems that if it follows the same as what the books are saying, the core is usually in the dungeon somewhere, and it protected as that is what controls everything. But also what is the brains of the core, or the core is the brain. Why the fuck does my Earth have so much information on this as stories, if we don’t have magic? Another thing to my fucking list.

“How did you contact this core before?” I ask Panthrami, curious how she made that contract.

“If you speak out loud and it is interested if what you want to talk about, it will speak.” She says, like telling me it was sunny outside. That’s it?

“Hello? Dungeon? Dungeon core?” I ask her, feeling like an idiot talking to the floor. Not getting a response, I try again.

“Hello? I wish to talk to you about the contract you did with Panthrami and her people?” I say more forcefully.

Then, all around me and from the ground, a deep voice that sounds like the earth itself says, “I am not interested in dealing. The deal that they made stands.”

Here we go. Progress. “You cannot release them from their contract, as what she, and they, did was not of their own choosing.”

“It matters not. A deal is a deal. Unless you wish to change the terms of the deal?”

“Change how?” I ask it, knowing where this is going already, making me sneer.

“I will release them, if you, and those of your party who came in, take on their contract.” It booms all around me.

Mother fuck, so in order to get rid of their contract, I would need to step in and take over. “Give me a moment,” I say, stalling for time. At least it was willing to talk. I need more time to think. Moving myself to my Demigod Realm, I am back in my land with grass as far as the eye can see. But I don’t want to be away long. So bringing up my spells, I look to see what I can use, maybe. Hmm. Here is one that might help me find that damn core.

Level 11 spell Demigod’s Farsight. This spell allows you to see anywhere in your Realms.

And technically, this Realm is mine, so it cannot hide from me. Now, what do I do once I find it? I mean, I need to get to it, right? Oh, phase shift! I had thought of a good use that would be for Rasha, but maybe I can use it now, I think with a grin—looking at the spell to make sure.

Level 5 spell Demigod’s Phase Shift. This spell gives you the capability to walk through any solid object. This works on all material, including magical defenses that are one Demigod level below yours. This spell can be placed on another person. Maximum 2. Duration: 1 hour. It can be combined with invisibility spells.

Yes! I can invis to it, so it won’t see me coming. But will an hour be enough time? Will teleport work? I can’t gate to the core, since I have never been to where it is.

Level 3 spell Demigod’s Teleport. This spell will teleport you within 20 feet of your current location. Line of sight only.

Fuck, 20 feet? Though, what if I use invisibility so it cannot see me, after I find where it is, and just cast teleport till I am next to it? But again, then what? I don’t want to kill it. Because honestly, I want this dungeon intact. But if it means releasing Panthrami and her people, I am willing to lose it the dungeon itself. I know I cannot let them live like this. I might have to threaten it, and lose out in the end. But what will happen if I kill it? What happens to them and the monsters in here? Shit, there is just too much to factor in. You know what? Fuck it. I need to do what I feel is right. So, pushing myself back into Destiny’s Realm, I appear just as I was before, still standing from getting up in a battle stance earlier.

“Let me work things out in my head a moment,” I say out loud, and I close my eyes.

Using Demigod’s Farsight, I look around closer to me, trying to find this core. I don’t even know what I am looking for. I have my eyes closed, but I am not doing anything else to give away, like moving my head as if searching. Where the fuck are you, you shit for brains. Come on. Looking closer, I decided to look down at my feet with Demigod’s Farsight. Ah-ha! Gotcha, you motherfucker. I can see about 100 feet under me. There is a room that is well guarded with a ton of monsters. I guess it’s trying to protect itself. It thinks I am just a Player. It doesn’t know I am a Demigod.

With my eyes closed, I cast the following spells in order. Demigod’s Strength for an extra +50 to my STR, Demigod’s Protection,  so I can take 10,000 damage if it tries anything. Then Summon shadows, and before it has a chance to think about what I am doing, I cast Demigod’s Phase shift followed by Demigod’s Teleport 5 times in quick succession. It makes me dizzy, but then I am next to the core. It has a barrier in front of it, but as it’s not a Demigod level one, I walk through it until I am standing in front of the core. I hear a commotion outside the barrier and turning slightly to look, and I see that the monsters have all formed up lines in a circle around the core, roughly 20 deep. And some of those monsters are huge fuckers. With a grin, I reach out and place my hand under the core, so it’s almost touching it. Then I let go of Demigod’s Phase shift. Suddenly the core is in my hands.

With my other hand, I cast Demigod’s Pheonix’s Fire and place it right next to the core, where it can feel the heat. At least I hope it can feel the heat. Suddenly I feel electricity hit me through my handing of the core.

You have taken 200 points of damage from a Dungeon Core.

“Try that again, and I fry you to a molten ball of metal,” I say through gritted teeth. Then again, I get the shock and another notification.

You have taken 300 points of damage from a Dungeon Core.

“All right, want to play it that way, say goodnight you fucking piece of metal,” I say grunting in pain and bring my hand with my Demigod’s Pheonix’s Fire toward it

“Wait! Wait! I surrender!” it screams at me.

“To late, should have dealt with me earlier, now you will be useful as a paperweight in my new home,” I tell it. I mean, I won’t, but I need this thing scared shitless.

“Please!” it sobs. “I don’t want to die. I will do anything you want.” Wait, did it just change its voice. Whatever still not dealing with it.

“Call off your horde of monsters first,” I threaten it.

“Done!” It screams. Looking outside the barrier, which I now see seems to be made of diamond, I see that monsters start to shuffle away, with confused looks. So it can control them, and their confusion is they aren’t sure how they got there.

“Next, you will vow, right now with the Gods as your witnesses, that you are my property and will not seek to harm me, and will do whatever I tell you from now on. Or I will destroy you here and now,” I tell it with an evil laugh. All right, that might have been over the top.

The core is quiet and says nothing for seconds, making me starting to worry. But then it says in a monotone, sexless voice. “If I do, do you promise not to harm me, and take care of me?”

What the fuck, it’s negotiating now? And what’s wrong with his voice? I knew it sounded like it was changing, but this is fucked up. Well, seeing as I actually do want the dungeon to myself and safe too, I guess in a way, I do not wish it harm.

“I shall,” I tell it, nodding my head.

“Very well. I do hereby allow myself to be the property of… What’s your name?” It asks me suddenly.

“Jason Dragonheart,” I say, going with the name I much prefer lately.

“I do hereby allow myself to be the property of Jason Dragonheart, with the understanding that he will take care of me always,” it says.

The Gods have witnessed this. So let it be.

Congratulations, you now are the owner of (1) dungeon core.

Dungeon cores are rare, and can bring wealth and fame to those who own one. This one is a level 100 dungeon with monsters that are 1 level x 0.5 the level at maximum on their floors. This dungeon is over 1000 years old. The value of this dungeon in gold, treasures, and monsters is over 2 million gold in assets. As the new owner of this dungeon, you can allocate where resources are placed, or you can allow the dungeon core to take care of this for you. Which do you wish to do?

Shit, there is no way I am going to allocate or run this thing. I am sure that is a full-time job in of itself. So I think the dungeon core takes care of it, hoping that will work.

Very well, the dungeon core has been granted leave to assign and place resources, including and not limited to gold, armor, weapons, jewels, items, resources, and monsters. It has been notified of this request.

Suddenly, the metal ball in my hand turns into a crystal clear as a diamond, and then it says in a very female voice. “Hi! My name is Crystal. Teach me, Master!” and it giggles.

Oh, Fucksakes, really? I think groaning in mental and emotional pain.

Book 2 of Sigma Worlds, The God Spark is Live at midnight EST!

Will also be available on Kindle Unlimited.

Book 1 for one day will be 0.99c on the US Markets and £0.99 on the UK market after midnight tonight EST as a thank you to my readers!

Jason, and now his best friend Michael, are finding out just how different things can be, even as Demigods.
What will he do? The God Bradard now wants him to be his Champion, but can he do it? He feels that the Gods are giving him things that are just to OP to just force him to do what they want, and honestly he doesn’t know what to do.

Follow him again as he goes deeper into what Destiny’s World is and what are the stakes involved. Can he keep Earth safe? Nevermind the other Realms under him?

Adventure, love, and faith. Will they be enough for Jason to keep him going.

What People are saying about Book 1, Destiny’s Champions.

“Ok, I wasn’t sure about this book at first but before I knew it I had read the entire book”

“The world created in this book is just incredible. The story just draws you in and you can’t put it down.”

“You often find feels of books hiding away in of ways. This book is one which I’m honestly pleased to have stumbled across.”

This book contains harem themes, language, adult situations and some monster girls

https://geni.us/gaKPLTq

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I hated working the night shift. The time I spent working my night shifts was mostly coding away on things that most of the day staff hated doing. But in this, it kept me with a job. And honestly, I was good at it. Few loved to dig deep into the code that the ‘programmers’ updated every week. Working as their bug reporter/finder sucked at times. It’s almost like they didn’t care and hoped I would catch it all. They were sloppy as shit. I had been working on this last line of code for the last four hours, trying to find the error in it. Sighing again at the unfairness of it all, I grabbed my coffee and took a sip. Shit, it got cold again.

Getting up from my chair with my coffee mug, I headed to the table behind my desk, where we kept the coffee machine and the microwave and put my coffee in it and hit the thirty-second timer. Waiting for it, I still thought back to my meeting earlier today before my shift ended at 8 am. The manager of the company came in early just to have that meeting with me. It was supposed to be a meeting for the job opening as a daytime programmer that I applied for last week when one of our programmers took a job offer with a big tech firm. That left an opening. I had been working for this company now for the last ten years and figured I had it in the bag. I was their top debugger and thought I could finally move on up the chain within the company.

Well, it proved to me otherwise. I had studied the company system for hours at home for the last couple of days. I knew the system inside and out. I know our goal, our product. Better than any other person I felt. But that got destroyed within five minutes of the interview. My manager said I was too precious to lose as a debugger on the night shift. Fucking asshole. He went on and on about how good I was. How I fixed so many bugs and saved the company so much money for their clients.

The microwave goes off, so I open the door and grab the now hot cup of coffee. I should learn to drink the Shit while it’s hot instead of forgetting about it while coding. Sitting back down, I look at the line of code on my desk. Instead of doing work like I should, I rub my eyes. Seriously I need a break. I should do a small run around the building. Usually, when I find I am stressed, taking a run around the building on our campus frequently calms me down. And honestly, that interview is still pissing me off, the manager is pissing me off, and this line of code is pissing me off. Just then, my phone went off, telling me I had a text message. Must be my manager checking up on me again. Swiping the smartphone open, it’s showing a number I don’t know. Who the heck is this? Opening the message app and going to that chat, I start to read the message.

You don’t know me, but you need to leave the building you are in right now. Your life is in danger! You need to go as far as you can from there. Seriously, someone is on the way to kill you, Brandon. Please, you need to listen.

Staring at it, I think what the fuck is this Shit? God damn telemarketers are getting bad. What’s next? It will tell me that to call them off, I need to send them my credit card number? Blocking the number, I stare back at my computer screen with the code and decide I really need a break. I see it’s 3 am, and it’s close enough to my hour lunchtime. I usually just sit in the lunchroom on the couch and catch up on some reading, but I think I need that run, because now I am adding telemarketers to the things that piss me off tonight.

Heading out of the office of four desks that I work in with other coders, I head towards the elevators to go to the main floor and the men’s locker room to change. My coworkers find it odd that I run. Most coders are not anything like me. I don’t run the typical look of a coder, though I wish I did to stop women from hitting on me at work. Being a geek and being 6 foot 4, slim with an athletic build, doesn’t help. I also have blond shoulder-length hair. Not to impress, just I don’t want to waste time to cut it. It’s not that I don’t want to date, I just haven’t found the right women. Period. I dated on and off after college, but at 32 now, I don’t think I will find my ideal partner. Most are just so damn shallow. 

Walking by the guard at the desk, I wave to the guy who is there. Not sure why we have security out here in the middle of nowhere. Not like our company has any secrets to hide or protect. Going down the hall towards the back of the building, I enter the door that says Men’s Locker and go to my locker. Good old #3. It’s been my locker since I first started working here ten years ago. In fact, I think my anniversary for my 11^th year is coming up next month.

Getting my running pants, runners and shirt out, I change into those from my everyday work clothes, which are jogging pants, some kind of geek t-shirt, which today is one that just says ‘Dune’ on it and runners. But they are different ones. These are for running. Those are for working. Coworkers honestly don’t understand. Why would I run into my clothes and sweat and wear the same thing again? Putting my hair into a ponytail, I shake my head. I close my locker and head back out. Since I am near the back of the building, I go out that way.

Once I am outside, I breathe in the Florida air. It’s hot tonight. I would say close to 80F. Tomorrow will be a scorcher. Christ, I hated June weather. At least running at night, the humidity isn’t as bad. Crap, I forgot my damn phone and earbuds upstairs. Fucksakes! See what happens when you get distracted, Brandon? Screw it. I don’t feel like going back up. At least I didn’t forget my ID lanyard and get locked out. Again. Shrugging, I slowly stretch as I walk towards the side of the building. Once I turn the corner, I slowly pick up my pace from a walk to a jog.

Just as I am about to hit the front of the building, to head out to the road to run down the 5 miles of the street to the major road, I hear a screeching of tires. What the fuck is going on, I think to myself. Heading past the building, and looking to the front entrance, I see a black SUV with two enormous men in black combat fatigues come out of the car. They are tall. About my height, but they are wide where I am not. These guys look like fucking linebackers. But what stops me in my tracks is the fact that they are carrying weapons in their hands. Handguns. They must have heard me since I am only about 100 yards away from them. They turn towards me. One of them holds up a smartphone, looks down, and looks back up.

“That’s him; grab him!” I hear the driver yell to his partner.

What the fuck do you mean I am him? OK, I don’t care who the fuck you are, but if you see someone like these men with guns say, “That’s him, let’s grab him!” you will not stick around. Turning on my heels, I head back towards the back of the building. I do not know who they are or what they want, but I don’t know them. Good enough for me. Just as I am going around the corner of the building, I hear a loud gunshot. Then in front of me, the wall of the building shatters in a shower of cement, exploding from an impact point.

Holy fuck, are they shooting at me? I feel a sudden fear for my life. Why the fuck are they shooting at me? Hearing them run behind me, the fear I feel gives me a burst of speed that sends me around the corner before I hear the next gunshot. Shit, I need to get into the damn woods and hide! This is fucking nuts. Who are these assholes? Are they cops, and they got the wrong guy? Running as fast as I have ever run before, I head towards the back of the building and the treeline back there. It’s dark back there, so maybe I can hide from them.

I make it to the treeline and into the tree. But then suddenly, there are more gunshots, and the surrounding trees explode with bullets. Thinking about what I always saw in army movies, I zigzag left and right, hoping they don’t hit me. For the next couple of minutes, I try to escape these fucking crazy men. What the hell! After a while, I finally hear nothing, so I slow down and hunker down to catch my breath. I am not sure how far I am from the back of the building. We are in a private area, and I know behind us is just forest and swamp for miles and miles. Taking deep breaths, I try to catch my breath, but my heart is still racing, and I am sure it isn’t from the running.

Then to my left and behind me, I hear them. They are trying to be quiet, but I can hear them easily. They aren’t even breathing hard. God dammit. You look like linebackers. It should wind you! Getting up again, I run ahead again, and this time I head away from them, trying to see if I can circle towards the building. Maybe if I can get to the building security, he can call the cops to find out what is going on, and maybe tell Thug-One and Two to leave me alone.

“He is heading back towards the building!” one thug screams.

What the hell! How did he hear me? I was quiet! I might be a nerd, but my parents, before their deaths, used to take me camping all the time; Dad used to show me how to run quietly in the woods. Slowing down, I head away from the building again, but going slower also means I am quieter.

“Shit, I lost him. I can’t hear him anymore!” the same thug yells out to his partner.

“What do you mean you can’t hear him? Use your fucking ears. It’s what we pay you for!” thug two screams at him.

“I am using my fucking ears. I don’t know how he is doing it, but I can’t hear him,” he screams back at his partner.

Even though they had stopped to yell at each other, I had not. I had kept going away from the two of them. Once I am sure that I am far enough away, so they don’t hear me, I run faster, and now I circle back towards the building. Looking up at the moon, I can tell that I need to turn slightly away from it to do so. After about fifteen minutes, according to my watch, I slow down and walk instead. After about another five minutes, I see the lights from the building in front of me. Good, finally, I can get into the building and ask the security guard to call the cops.

Just about two feet from the treeline, out of nowhere, a sleek black shape comes out of nowhere and grabs me and throws me hard onto the ground. A hand goes over my mouth to stop the scream I was about to let go. I try to struggle, but holy shit this person is strong, I cannot even move. It’s lying on top of me with me on my stomach. The person has their arm around my throat, and the other hand is covering my mouth. There is just enough pressure to send me a message to stop struggling, or they will choke me. I stop fighting and the pressure eases off slightly. Then I can feel them lean down towards my ear and so soft I can barely hear it; a very female voice says.

“Do not move and keep silent, or we are both dead.”

Now I am thinking to myself. What the fuck is going on here. I have two thugs after me for a reason I do not understand. They are shooting at me. And now I have this ninja lady who came out of nowhere, put me to the ground like I was a five-year-old kid, and could keep me there like I was said five-year-old kid. In the chokehold, I could tell she was strong. Much stronger than me, and I wasn’t a pushover. I might have been a geek and a coder, but I still went to the gym regularly and ran daily. Only because, my dad said, I would never know the situation where I would need to run. He used to joke he was getting me ready for the Zombie Apocalypse. That was another reason he showed me survival skills, and even like what I was doing earlier, running quietly in the woods.

A noise to my left brings me back to my senses around me. Closing my eyes, I try to figure the direction. It’s coming from just slightly in front of me. When I was thrown onto the ground, the ninja lady had turned me away from the building, so that meant the thugs had somehow followed me. How? I was damn quiet, and it’s too dark to track me, even if they had wanted to. You can’t see shit. I try to get up to run again, but the hold around my neck jerks very hard, as if to say, don’t you dare. I nod yes. I get it, don’t move.

Slowly the arm moves away from around my mouth, but it’s pressed to the back of my neck. Then slowly, the arm around my neck eases and slips away. I naturally try to get up, but she presses down on my neck. Hard. Jesus, this lady is strong! Instead, I just put my head back down. I hear the thug again, and I can tell he is moving slowly. Trying to be quiet, I assume. But somehow, I can still hear him walking around out there. How is that possible? Even with my dad, my hearing wasn’t that good. Must be the fear making me more acute to things. Hell, I can even smell the sweat off this ninja lady. I can tell she is afraid, but excited. How the fuck do I know what that smells like? The night gets darker, and looking up, I can see that some cloud cover is now covering the moon. Then the ninja lady does her trick, and she isn’t there with me anymore. Looking around desperately, I can’t see her anywhere.

Then the thug I heard moves closer and sees me in the dark.

“Well, well. Finally stopped, have you? Good, my partners should be around soon. But I am taking the kill for this one, not him. I will enjoy the reward for bringing you in dead,” he says with a big evil grin on his face. Lifting his hand with the handgun, he aims it at my head.

Before I even have time to do anything, there is a snarl of something like an enormous dog, and out of the woods on the side of the thug, comes the biggest dog I have ever seen. It snaps its jaws around the man’s throat and bites hard, causing the man’s screams to cut off and then all I see his blood everyone as the dog pulls away from the thug. Then all I hear is him gurgle, holding his hands to his throat. Then after ten seconds, his hands slip away from his throat limply, and he falls over dead.

There is a gunshot and the dog yelps in pain, but then it’s gone into the woods again. Just then, the thug’s partner comes through the trees, handgun pointing at me, and he is pissed.

“What the fuck have you done to O’Leary?!” he yells at me, like I had something to do with it. “They didn’t tell us you had a fucking dog. At least I shot the little shit. Now it can go die in the woods.”

Going to his partner, he puts his hand on his neck. I assume to check for a pulse. Not finding anything, he looks through the pockets and grabs the man’s wallet and whatever else he finds there. He then reaches into the man’s shirt, grabs a chain his partner was wearing around their neck and pulls hard on it, causing the chain to break, and he pockets it. That is just gruesome. All this time, he still has his gun aimed at me. I am so fucking scared I just sit there, my back against a tree.

“Sorry it’s come to this kid, but your parents done fucked up,” he tells me.

“What the hell is going on here,” I yell at him. “Why have you been shooting at me! You must have the wrong guy. I work as a coder for a company that I am sure doesn’t have any secrets.”

“Oh, you stupid fuck. I can’t imagine dying without knowing why. But, hey, that’s not my issue. I am just following out the contract. My job was to find your parents and then to find you, kill them and then kill you. But your parents beat us to it, and now the only loose end is you, kid.”

He comes and squats in front of me, with the barrel of the gun still pointing towards me. He takes a deep breath before he continues.

“But, since I am about to kill you, since I doubt your dog will get the jump on me, I will let you in on a secret. The Organization should have killed you when you were born. Because now we have to deal with all this shit, but hey, I came out of retirement for this. It’s a nice chunk of money,” he says with a smile. “But seriously, kid. No hard feelings, it’s nothing against you, but your heritage,” with that, he lifts the gun and points it to my head. 

I close my eyes since I don’t want to watch my death. I am so scared but I am also so angry. I am so livid at feeling helpless. I can feel a well inside me I never felt before. Something that is telling me to push. Reaching down into this well, I feel like time has stopped. Slowly the forest around me fades away in my mind’s eye, and I am transported to somewhere else.

Opening my eyes, I am standing in what I can only call an Ancient ruin. The place is old. I can feel that it’s older than anything we, as humans, have found. Turning around, I see that an animal is sitting on a stone throne. It’s a vague shape, and I can’t tell what it is from here. Slowly, I make my way to stand in front of it. I was never stupid. I don’t know what was in front of me. But I needed to show it respect. Kneeling onto one knee, I bow my head towards it.

“Mahna, mi medo,” it says to me. Somehow, I can understand it. “Welcome, my son.”

“How am I able to understand you? And might I ask who you are and where I am?” I ask the shadow animal.

“Ah, they do not teach you the language anymore? You humans have changed much these past centuries,” the voice says in a deep gruff voice.

Suddenly, in front of me, is the biggest wolf I have ever seen in my life! The wolf is about three times as big as any I have ever seen, in any zoo, or even on television. It stood as tall as me, at the shoulder, and it was sitting down. Its coat was so silver, and so healthy that it glowed. But what truly got me were the size of its paws and its teeth. Shit, I will die here too.   

“No, you shall not die here, little one,” it says, laughing. “You were near death, and you called upon your powers. I am but here to guide you on Earth. As you are the last of us, I shall grant you leave to be who you are. When you leave here, I would suggest you move as fast as you can to the right, or left, whichever takes your fancy. This is wisdom that will help you not die. One day we might meet again, little one, but for now, you do not belong here. You are not yet powerful enough,” with that, the wolf howls at me and at the end of its howl, I feel myself slowly go away from this place, back to my body.

Shit, no, not my body! I am about to be shot at point blank range. Wait, he said to move. Without thinking about it, I move to the left quickly, and I hear a gunshot go off. Opening my eyes, I look, and I can see that the thug is looking for me. I am over ten feet from where I started. Holy shit, how did I move so fast? He finally sees me, and I can see the shock on his face, but he brings his gun up to shoot again, but I know I need to get that away from him, without thinking about it I am suddenly in front of him, and my hand is around the gun’s grip, with my hand over his. I squeeze as hard as I can to see if I can dislodge his hand from it. Instead, I am shocked that I end up crushing not only his hand, but the damn grip.

He screams out in pain. Seeing as this guy tried to kill me, I feel that anger coming back. And without remorse, I cock my hand back into a fist and hit him in the face. What I thought would happen was he would get knocked out, so I can run away. But I am surprised that his head explodes into gore, with brain matter hitting the trees behind him. I am left standing there, holding a dead body with no head. Looking down at this now mangled piece of a human being, I slowly look at my hand that is now covered in blood, brain matter, and I don’t even know what else.

“Oh… that sucked for him,” I say.

Then I promptly move away two steps before I throw up.

Welcome everyone to my author page. This is for sure a work in progress as I have been more busy doing writing, the doing my website, as I am sure the writing is more important. As of July 1st, my first book Destiny’s Champions – Sigma Worlds Book 1, is now available on amazon. (https://geni.us/SigmaWorlds1) and I am almost done book 2. The best place for now to get updates would be on my facebook page or my Twitter. Links below.

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