129 A Chance

I stopped my face from curling up like a raisin, but it was a feat of sheer willpower. I paused, lost for words as I stared at her. Once I got my bearings, I finished what I was saying, “Alright Amara, fine, I’ll...leave.” I turned and walked out of the room, holding in my shock. I had no idea Amara was that powerful. Even Yawm would be blown back by the tools she had at her disposal. She connected me to the system in seconds. The message even mentioned she was an admin. I thought Overseers were admins. Those and many more questions swam in my head as I walked back to my room. It was right down the hallway, so I reached it in seconds. Once there, I sat down on my bed and opened my status. Rebooting system details for Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm. Gathering details...Assessing analytics...Gathering internal details of trees, attributes, and numerical scaling...System assessed. Status now available for viewing. Level 3,126 Strength – 2,677 | Constitution – 4,175 | Endurance – 15,831 Dexterity – 949.1 | Willpower – 7,673 | Intelligence – 2,614 Charisma – 233.3 | Luck – 808.2 | Perception – 354.7 Health: 1.39 Million/1.39 Million Health Regen: 1.60 Million/min or 26,669/sec Stamina: 802,172/802/172 | Stamina Regen: 7,361/sec Living Dimension: 0.34 Trillion/4.30 Trillion Mass: 106,315 pounds(48,323 kilos~) Damage Res - 98.5% | Dimensional Res - 49.25% Phys Dam Bonus – 32,978% | Damage Bonus – 40% Event Horizon – 20,000 + (100% of your total health)/min The stats were back up, along with my tree menus. It was a thing of beauty. A second later, a message came from Amara. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - We’ll speak through these messages. I remembered a simple fact about the system that would help us out. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - You can send messages with a thought. You don’t have to type it out like you did with your hair. You’re more stealthy that way, if you’re trying to be stealthy that is. It took a minute before she answered. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - I will do so from now on. It’s good you understand the necessity for secrecy. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - Why did you let me back into the system and why are you helping me? This message took a few minutes. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - Keeja told me about what Yawm has done. He is an immense evil, even for we eldritch. I also researched him using the obelisk and found out that the world eater isn’t as kind as he pretends he is. He even hid notes in the research logs he gave me access to. I am new to this world and I am eldritch, but the demon lying under his skin is easily seen. It’s hungry, an ego that happies itself by controlling and deforming others. I despise the way he hides behind pretty words, either that or he simply kills for silence. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - Well, it’s good that you figured that out. Still though, how do you even know I’m against Yawm? Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - It took a while before I could discover some method of communicating with you in the open. You were lying to Yawm when we first met. After a few hours, I discovered that you used your abnormal qualities to deceive him. Clever, but doomed for failure in the end. I verified it by mentioning your level whenever you were charging your mana. After the fact, I planted a spell on you during the height of your mana generation. It disguised the weak listening spell to perfection, as I planned it would. After that, I listened in on your ‘contract’ with Yawm. He threatened you into joining his cause. I know why he did, and I will share my judgements with you. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - Damn...I never even felt it. I’m the one who’s impressed now. Still, I’m wondering why you thought to fight against Yawm. You have a lot of know how that he doesn’t. You could use that for quite a few advantages. I’m not in the same position to give you stuff. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - Yawm’s favor is like the favor of an Old One. You’re still nothing more than meat to them. He has used many eldritch for his own gain before. Look at the eldritch chained to him that manifest around us. They are nothing more than props and experimental fodder. He reminds me of the eldritch that parade around as angels and demons. They are all evil, from Gabriel to Michael. Yawm would rank among the worst of them. To trust him is to trust Lucifer. It’s more than foolish. It’s willful ignorance. What I wonder is how will you defeat that abomination of cipher and skin. What makes you imagine you could? His inscriptions that smother his body are beyond me, their complexity unknowable. It was given by gods and horrors beyond us. He is strength and he is speed. He’ll crush us under his heel as we are. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - I can’t trust you enough to tell you anything. You’re the reason I was locked into this damn contract to begin with. Why in the hell should I help you? Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - I gave you back your access the moment I could safely do so. I cannot cancel that contract. I could think of no other way to learn of your integrity. With your admission to Yawm, I verified it. You are someone who can be trusted. You’re just trying to get rid of him before he destroys you and your home. We are the same. He will rip my mind apart, lobotomizing me before using my flesh as fuel for his delusions. Do want to share the same fate? If not, then put your trust in me as I’ve put my trust in you. Otherwise we will both be devoured. I scratched the side of my head, a bit disgruntled at my situation. After a bit of though, I decided to at least try this out. To Amara, I was the lesser of two evils. She was taking one hell of a risk telling me all this. If I wasn’t willing to at least put something on the line, then I’d never get anywhere versus Yawm. He was waiting for me to fuck up and get Ajax here. If I didn’t do something crazy, then Amara was right. Yawm would turn me into his next follower at this rate. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - Just know that if you give this information to Yawm, we’re both fucked. Remember those inscriptions on my forearms? I can channel mana into them to increase my strength. With enough time, I might have been able to kill Yawm even without the system’s help. I was biding time so that Yawm wouldn’t destroy Earth. Yenno, my home world. During that contract, Yawm tried taking away my way of getting stronger. He missed these inscriptions on my armor because he didn’t know about them. Besides for that, I can eat eldritch and turn the energy into enhancements. Now that I have the system, I can gain experience for level ups like normal. That’s all I got for now. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - Feeding your armor with mana...Do you know a way that I can share my mana with yours? I know my mana generation pales compared with yours, but it will help accelerate your growth. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - I do know a way of doing it. I’m surprised you’re willing to though. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - You’re not as psychotic as that mongrel is. Just as well, I saw his personally made inscriptions. Though he may act as though he knows the cipher well, he has no talent for it. All of his most powerful inscriptions are from something else altogether. We can take advantage of his ignorance. I already gave him a vague, nonsensical gibberish for a lesson earlier. He couldn’t even tell that I was leading him into dead ends. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - Yawm did mention getting his inscriptions from missions with Etorhma. I’m starting to piece things together. I remember showing him my own carvings when we first met. I expected him to bash on them. He was surprised by the quality of my technique even though I just learned how to make them. That’s not what I expected at all. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - We found the chink in his armor. Know we must dig our knife deep into the opening and twist. Give me whatever it is I need to send you my mana, but do it inconspicuously. I can give you lessons about the cipher over this messaging system as well. A better inscription should result in better enhancements for your armor. If you can come up with a way of leveling up, then it should only take a few years at most to overcome him. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - Sounds good. Besides for that, we might be able to sneak you some of Etorhma’s tears. They are from an Old One who gave Yawm the inscriptions on his skin. According to Yawm, they had no negative effects on eldritch. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - Words from him mean little. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - True. I’ll try to handle it then. I’ll see if I can’t get him to help us out without meaning too either. I’ll also send you an invite into my guild. It will give you some extra attributes, making you a bit more durable. We’ll have to pinch pennies if we’re going to beat Yawm’s ass. Amara, the Lost One(Time: Undefined) - We begin work immediately. Good fortune in your hunt, and may you never be hungry. Dimension-C138, Harbinger of Cataclysm(Time: Undefined) - Uh...yeah, sure. Same for you. I closed the mission log and stood up from my bed, a sense of invigoration pumping through me. I shook my head and slapped my hands together, a renewed sense of purpose coming in. It was pure insanity. One second a demonic bastard forced me into a life oath I can’t break. The next, a tech eldritch broke me back into the system. That’s life though. I cracked my neck then rolled my shoulders. I paced back and forth in my room, thinking for about fifteen minutes. I devised a nefarious plot for Yawm. I’d make him help me without him even knowing it. That was the plan at least. I walked out of my room, pacing down the luminescent hallway. Eldritch darted away from me as I walked towards Yawm’s study, knocking on the door. I took a deep breath before Yawm beckoned me in, papers spread all over his desk. As usual, he hadn’t made any progress with his cipher. I didn’t rub it in though, “Yo Yawm, Do you mind if I kill a few of the eldritch outside?” He raised an eyebrow, “What for exactly?” I shrugged, “I need to unload some steam. I can’t study all day. It gets so damn dull.” I wasn’t lying for the most part. Studying for weeks on end without doing anything else was tedious as watching paint dry. Yawm cupped his chin, feeling the same way. He gestured outside, “Avoid the eldritch in the lake if you can. They are for our visual splendor after all. The eldritch above and below that should suffice?” I nodded, “Yeah. I personally prefer crushing the abstractions, if you wouldn’t mind.” Yawm rubbed his hands together, “They do pulp rather nicely, don’t they?’ I grinned, “At least someone gets me.” Yawm shooed me off with a hand, “Then go have fun. I’ll be in here, enjoying my own self imposed drudgery.” I left the room and reached the exit of Yawm’s palace. It was a doorway with a bubble outside of the doorway. When I opened the door, there was a pocket of air keeping the ocean outside. I jumped, taking a deep breath before the water surrounded me. Beneath the murky water, my eyesight was pristine. I landed on the clear crystal lining the bottom of the lake. I sprinted up the edge, leaping out of the lake with an explosive plume of water following me. Waves rippled across the water before I neared the edge of Yawm’s rift. Here the floating islands and chunks of suspended skyscraper darted the landscape. Innumerable Abstractions sat upon the ledges of these islands. Their angular, geometric bodies stuck out like a sore thumb. Their awkward, unnatural twitching made them seem like insects of a hive mind. As I paced closer, they reacted like hornets guarding their nest. Beneath me, the solar beetles crawled out from their nests underground. Since the abstractions could enhance the levels of enemies, I’d avoid them until they were worth killing. Once that happened, I’d slaughter the whole group. As I hoped, the abstractions circled around me, generating energy. The beetles evolved before my eyes. Their armor thickened. They molted from their old shells, their size too large for their old carapaces. I grinned at the sight while cracking my knuckles. For the first time in a long time, I’d be able to cut loose. This was going to be fun.