Janus and The Prince: A LitRPG Saga (The Nightmares of Alamir Book 2)
Page 3
Oblivion…?
A thick, heavy burp reverberated through the forest. Rhythmic beeping followed up. “Masssssster,” a serpentine voice spoke. “I have taken care of the disssssssturbance.”
“And?”
“Jusssssst a low-tier deity from the concrete jungle world. They were a good sssssssnack.”
“Anything else?”
“A ssssssssskeleton isssss here. A sssssstalker sssssssskeleton.”
“Destroy it and leave. Every human and nightmare within a thousand fields have no doubt sensed your presence. Do not draw any more attention than necessary.”
“Of coursssssssse, Massssssster.”
I could not see the creature. I could not see it, no matter how hard I tried. I could only hear it, its nasal breathing, it’s thick, pounding footsteps. The manner in an inexplicable weight centered down upon my skull and locked me in place.
“Wait –” I said, thinking, thinking. “Let me join you –!”
“Can you ssssssssee me?”
“Y-yes, I – I –”
“If ssssssskeleton cannot even ssssssee Apophisssssss, sssssskeleton is too weak to be of usssssse.”
“Wait, I can still –”
My skeleton shattered like a ceramic plate against concrete floor and everywhere went silent.
Chapter 2: From Oblivion
I was too optimistic.
[The title {Phoenix} has come into effect.]
The forest clearing was silent. The smolders of the campfire were long since dead. The air was thick with the scent of the decaying carcasses of the chameleon-panthers, slowly being beaten by the harsh glares of the mid-day sun. My skeletal body was as it always was, the voice of Oblivion was long since gone, as was the snake-like, hissing sound that came from the invisible thing that killed me.
Apophis.
I died, there was no mistaking it. My [Duality] had not been active. There was only one reason I survived, and it was because of my title: [Phoenix].
Title: [Phoenix]
Details: A mythical title. Grants a 0.9% chance to revive from death with complete immunity to what killed you. Every brush with death you survive or near-death experience you have adds +3% odds to the chance. The odds are reset upon each successful resurrection.
Current Chance of Resurrection: 3%
Immunities: [Acid Immunity] [Fire Immunity] [Disintegration Immunity]
Disintegrated. That was how I had died. Disintegrated in an instant.
[Installation Complete!]
[You have (5) Messages From Admin: Oblivion]
Words floated themselves across my vision in the familiar blue box. Words danced and I read them.
Message: [Apologies]
Janus, if you are reading this, then I am likely no more. In my folly of reincarnating you into Alamir, I created a trail which connected it to your world. I believed I had little cause for concern, due to the weak nature of the trail.
I was wrong.
Powerful beings reverse-engineered the trail and created a doorway back to your world. I, alongside others like myself that govern your world were able to thwart their advancement by redirecting them into the ancient past, but this was all we could do as a last resort.
Already, their presence alters history. Janus, if they are not stopped, not destroyed, then the world you knew will never come to be.
I stared at the words. The floating, damning words that stared at me. Apologies, Oblivion said. Apologies.
Oblivion said he considered me his friend? Me? All I had ever done was have two conversations with him. One of those two conversations was me goading him into hoping he killed me. Was that all it took to become the acquaintance of a divine being? Goad them?
I stared at the message with a mix of indifference and irritation. What did it matter to me that the world I knew would never come to be? I was no longer a part of it.
Due to the nature of your soul, you will not disappear from the alteration of history, however, your memories will. You will lose all memory of the life you lived on earth, because for all intents and purposes, that life never happened.
“Lose… my memories?”
I would like to say that I was not bothered. Say that I shrugged off the information without care. Pretend as if I did not read words that sent a dagger of emptiness into me. To lose my memories was to become a different person. It was to die, yet live. For everything that made me who I was to be gone, replaced instead with an individual who was superficially me, yet not.
True oblivion, in a sense. Without any memories and logic, would I become some mindless monster, going about killing and destroying without a lick of intelligence? A mindless monster with the ability to slip in between timelines and choose the most favorable one, relying on animalistic instincts to hunt and destroy.
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to rage. I wanted to curse. I wanted to swear. Strangely enough, the only thing I did do was chuckle.
“Even in death, Oblivion, you arrive like an inept god-from-the-machine to make my life more difficult.”
Numbness. The numbness was odd. There were so many ranges of emotion I should have felt, yet, somehow, they all felt muted. Silent. The desire to curse was thrown away by the realization that cursing would not change the problem. Raging and ranting would only waste valuable time that could be used searching for a solution.
The situation is not hopeless, Janus. If you are not strong enough to destroy the beings, there is a second option. The Anathema of the End: Omega. It is Alamir’s kill-switch. Omega cannot be bargained with. Omega cannot be reasoned with. Its sole purpose is indiscriminate destruction. It will destroy all nightmares and eliminate Alamir from existence.
If it comes to it, you must destroy Alamir to save Earth.
“Oh of course, let’s just give a big middle-finger to the millions or billions of lives here just to save that other place, now don’t we?” I snorted.
So, my choices were:
A – Kill god-killers.
B – Destroy the world and die.
C – Lose all my memories.
“What an excellent array of options,” I muttered softly underneath my breath. Of the three, only option A seemed remotely viable, making it less of an option and more as the only choice. There was no way this was not intentional. The other two options included either the death or termination of me, and considering Oblivion knew how much I disliked threats to my own existence, there was no way he expected me to choose to lose my memories, or to destroy the world.
Hence, he was setting me up to pick option A.
“How long do I have for this?”
There was nothing left on the message that read apologies. No indication of a time-limit. That did not comfort me.
[You have (4) Messages From Admin: Oblivion]
I opened the next message without hesitation.
Message: [A Possible Third Alternative]
Janus, it has come to my attention that the choices I have offered you are not at all favorable. In that manner, there is a possible third alternative. The threat of Mutually Assured Destruction has kept bay people in your world from engaging in hostilities for years, and it may do the same here.
The Nightwitch that named you, Zlosta Janje, is the Avatar of Omega. Should you recruit her to your side and use her as a bargaining chip, you may be able to convince the beings to cease their assault on Earth. However, they will most likely not listen to such alone. You will need a sizeable force of powerful individuals under your command as a show of strength.
If you can gather an army and have beside you the Avatar of Omega – you may be able to stop the forces invading Earth without bloodshed.
However, Janus, I cannot be sure how effective this strategy will be. There is a chance it will fail or a chance that it will lead to unexpected consequences. Regardless, I recommend you attempt this strategy, if only because in the advent of its failure, you will have an army to support you in battle, and have the option to unleash Omega as a last resort.<
br />
He was watching me.
My body trembled. “You… bastard.”
He had been watching me. All along, from the beginning, he had been watching me. There was no way he did could have known that Zlosta was the one who named me unless he had been watching me.
“More than that…”
What were the odds? The odds of reincarnating in a place where I would just happen to meet and be named by a person who would be the Avatar of the being I needed to destroy the world? What were the odds, of having being named by the person who was the Avatar of one who could destroy the world?
“He said he did not choose what I would be reborn as, but he never said anything about where I’d be reborn.”
There was more to the story I was not getting, but if there was anything I knew, it was that Oblivion could not be trusted. So far, the being claimed that it had no reason to lie, yet, it also had no reason to tell the truth, and thus, no reason to lie by omission.
Is he even really dead?
My skepticism rose. All of this was too much. Too convenient. It felt as if Oblivion was trying to steer me down the path of a heroic martyr. Giving me a task as absurd and challenging as saving the world and having me make a decision as tough and challenging as choosing whether to lose my memories or lose my life –
“I need more information.”
There was too little data to work with to draw any conclusions. I needed to work my way up to a position in which I would have as much information as I could gather about Alamir, and decide for myself, whether or not Oblivion’s task was as true as he claimed, or if it was all an elaborate ruse. I needed to learn more about Omega, learn more about that being that killed me, Apophis, and find out what Alamir’s stance on gods and divine beings were.
Considering Oblivion’s lack of omnipotence and omniscience, he was akin to a Greek Deity than he was to a capital ‘G’ god. Greek Deities could be outwitted by humans and were often flawed, imperfect beings. If that was the case, the task of killing the beings who (allegedly) killed him would not be as insurmountable as I originally feared. Difficult, certainly, but not impossible.
“But where do I start?”
Information. Where would I go about acquiring it? A library would be a fantastic choice, other than attaining information from reputable knowledgeable individuals. Yet, that came with its own risk of misinformation or incomplete information or skewed information that was biased in one way or another. Then there was the sensitive nature of this information that I was acquiring, which made things more complicated.
Could Zlosta assist me? Zlosta, the beautiful, insane, highly possessive Zlosta. The information she had was not wrong, however, it was sorely outdated, and that was what led to her capture by the Alhamisians.
The humans might have more information. Of course, that would mean I would need to infiltrate a human city and steal all the books in their library, this was assuming I could even read or write the language they spoke.
Alhamis was the only place I knew of, and it was home to a boy who could summon black holes with nothing but a snap of his fingers. An obstacle that was, as of now, highly insurmountable.
Nothing is ever easy is it?
[You have (3) Messages From Admin: Oblivion]
I moved on to the next message.
[You do not meet the requirement to view this message at this time.]
[Requirement: Tier 6]
[You do not meet the requirement to view this message at this time.]
[Requirement: Tier 7]
[You do not meet the requirement to view this message at this time.]
[Requirement: Tier 8]
Requirements? He put in requirements for the remaining messages? My suspicion and doubt only began to grow.
[Admin Note]
The information on the names of the beings who invaded earth, their base, their location, motives, abilities, and time frame is extremely sensitive. It would be dangerous for that information to be made available as you are now. Once you are strong enough, the information will be revealed to you.
However, I have made a few additions of my own to ensure you do not stagnate and are always advancing forward.
I wish you the best of luck Janus.
The admin note vanished. Several seconds passed, with my laying on the forest floor, trying my best to come to terms with everything I had read.
The tasks seemed simple, when I looked at it. Free Zlosta, acquire godlike power, form an army. Of those three things, acquiring ‘godlike’ power was the only one I knew how best to start on. Fight, kill, acquire experience points, level-up. That was a simple strategy for acquiring godlike power.
I don’t know how long I have.
Oblivion had omitted to mention how long I had before the Earth was gone and I lost my memories. Another fatal flaw in his story. What was true, and what was shrouded in intentional layers of half-truths and omissions?
Daily Task System Unlocked!
“What’s this now?”
Daily Task:
Gain a minimum of 100,000 EXPGain at least one new Weapon/Armor/Skill/Minion
Gain at least 5 Levels in two different skills.
Rewards:
Double EXP Gain for 48 Hours. (Stackable)
Summon a Random Item Chest Once a Day. (Quality Increases with daily summon.)
All Skills Can be Used Once a Day with Zero Mana Cost. (Does Not Stack)
Penalty:
–50% Experience Gain for 24 Hours. (Stackable)
Randomly Forfeit One of Your Skills/Weapons/Armor.
Your Highest Level Skill is Reset to Lv. 1
Time Limit: 11h07m34s
Forcing me to gain a minimum of 100,000EXP every single day? To get at least ten levels, in two different skills, every day? To earn at least one new weapon or armor or skill… every day?
Standing from the earth and wiping the dust from my bones, I organized my thoughts. I did not need incentives to constantly become stronger, and this carrot and stick approach to power was unnecessary, but not unwelcome. If appropriately used, it could lead to a positive feedback loop wherein each success and completion of the task compounded and added to further successes, and that would be highly advantageous to me.
The stench of rotting flesh remained thick in the air, as the dead carcass of the second panther lay untouched. Summoning a gnome golem, the creature shed the panther’s skin and ripped out its entrails while I returned to the spot I had underneath the tree. The gnome brought the pelt of the beast and vanished.
“If I wanted to create some armor... [Earth Control.]”
A modified hockey mask made of clay molded itself before my palm in both paths. The eyeholes were replaced with small slits, and with some darkened charcoal and chalk, I painted the mask with red and black, paying great detail to the coloring.
Item Crafted!
Apparel: [Clay Hockey Mask]
Class: Uncommon Item
Durability: 50/50
Effects: 10% Bonus to Intimidation Skills.
You have equipped [Clay Hockey Mask] as your head apparel.
You may view more information about Weapons and Apparels in the Equipment Menu.
A mirror appeared within my hand with some sand using [Earth Control] and my appearance came before me. The mask was an exact fit. A skeleton wearing a hockey mask was visibly unsettling.
Making minor adjustments on the eyeholes and using the mirror as an aid, the mask extended until it stopped being a mask and became a helmet. Ensuring it obscured every single bit of visible skull was vital, hence it stretched further until it was perfect. To complete it I placed another face at the back of the mask.
Item Upgraded!
Apparel: [Mask of Janus]
Class: Unique Item
Durability: 2500/2500
Effect: 20% Bonus to Intimidation Skills.
Bonus Effect from Epithet: Immunity to Flanking.
You have equipped [Mask of Janus] as your head apparel.
Daily Task: Gain at least one new Weapon/Armor/Skill/Minion [Complete!]
I was not done. Using the pelt of the Chameleon Panther, I made a series of adjustments on it until it was suitable to be draped over my form as a long robe.
Item Crafted!
Apparel: [Chameleon Panther Cloak]
Class: Rare Item
Durability: 550/550
Defense Rating: Tier 1 (Medium)
Effects: +75% Bonus to Stealth in Jungles, Forests, and Grasslands. +30% Bonus to Flanking and Stealth Attacks in Jungles, Forests, and Grasslands.
You have equipped [Chameleon Panther Cloak] as your body apparel.
The robe was a perfect fit. Long enough to obscure all of my skeletal features save for my skeletal hands and feet. My tail was easier to hide as I wrapped it around myself as a belt. My hands and feet were now the only things left indicating that I was a skeleton. For the feet, I created a base with clay, shaping the base into that of a pair of brogue shoes. Once the basic shape was formed, I turned them into solid iron.
Item Crafted!
Apparel: [Iron Brogues]
Class: Unique Item
Durability: 1460/1460
Defense Rating: Tier 2 (Low)
Effects: Deals [Iron Element] Damage. 50% Chance to inflict [Stun] while Kicking.
You have equipped [Iron Brogues] as your feet apparel.
All that was left were the hands.
Item Crafted!
Apparel: [Iron Gauntlets]
Class: Common Item
Durability: 100/100
Defense Rating: Tier 1 (Low)
Effects: Deals [Iron] Element Damage. 2% Chance to inflict [Stun] while Punching.
You have equipped [Iron Gauntlets] as your hand apparel.
You are now [Fully Equipped]!
Checking for applicable Apparel Set bonuses…
[Iron Gauntlets] and [Iron Brogues] match!
[+0.5 Defense Tier Rating!]
With [Herculean Strength] I could move the Iron Brogues without issue, and with [Earth Control] I softened the joints of the Iron Gauntlets so I could equally operate it and flex it without problem.