by Simon Archer
“Oh?” my mom said and then was silent for a long moment. “Are you doing stuff with the government?” She gasped. “Is the Illuminati after you, and you’re going into witness protection? I always told you they wouldn’t like you winning all those games.”
“It’s not really anything like that…” I mumbled and then because I couldn’t think of a better answer, I just sighed. “I’m going to be helping a good friend of mine with a secret project that might save the world. Like, really save it.” I swallowed. “But I have to go to her lab to do it and, well… security clearance?”
I was scum, the worst really, for not telling her the truth, but how could I tell her what was going on? Would she possibly believe I was being recruited by a Goddess to save the world from a primordial deity of destruction?
“That sounds really important, dear,” she said in her comforting, motherly way. It made me feel both better and more guilty. “Don’t forget to eat your vegetables, especially because you sit so close to the screen. It can ruin your eyes.”
“I’ll make sure I take my vitamins too and drink my milk,” I said with a laugh as we stepped into the building, and I came face to face with the first portal I’d ever seen in real life.
It was just like the gate in that it was a swirling mass of color and energy rent through space and time. Sparks crackled off its edges like a Tesla coil that popped and zapped at the surrounding walls while leaving no trace that they’d struck anything at all. The smell, like fresh cut sod and ozone, filled my nose.
As I stared at it, I must have missed what my mom said next because the next thing I knew she was calling my name.
“Garrett, did I lose you?” she asked, then I heard her smack her phone on the counter. Yes, I’d replaced quite a few phones for her. “Garrett?”
“I’m here,” I said as the portal began to flash red, and if that meant what it did in the game, I knew I had less than thirty seconds to enter. “And I also have to go. I love you. Tell Pop-pop I love him too.”
“I’ll do that.” She made a kissing noise. “Catch that and take it with you.”
“Got it,” I said as I reached out and caught the blown kiss as it transcended all of space and time. “Thanks, Mom.” I sent one back in her direction.
“Do great things, Garrett.” Then with that, she hung up, and as the sound of silence filled the air, Rhapsody turned to look at me with a strange look on her face. It was almost confused but also filled with respect, if that made any sense?
“That was really sweet,” she said as she held her hand out to me. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah, I’m ready.” I took her hand, and power flowed through me in a way that was not unlike her kiss.
Only, this time, I felt her power touching me in an entirely different way. Heat traveled through her fingers and into mine, warming me from the tips of my toes to the tops of my ears, and the best way I can describe it is like drinking hot cocoa on a cold as fuck day. Only times a billion.
My eyes opened in that instant, and for the span of that almost nothing of a second, I saw the world unfold in a way I never had before.
The portal stood before me, inviting... no, beckoning me forward.
“Destiny awaits, Garrett.” Rhapsody’s voice was a whisper on the wind as we took a step forward hand in hand.
“Well, then let’s make destiny our bitch,” I said and stepped into the portal.
I probably should have been less confident because as the rippling energy of the portal hit my body, it was like being hit with a Stone Cold Stunner. My teeth snapped together, and pain unlike anything I’d ever felt hit my body.
But it wasn’t because of the portal, not really anyway.
It was because I felt energy course through me. It filled my cells to the brim with power as it traveled up my spine and spread out through my body.
And, at that moment, as my entire body was broken down and hurtled through all of space and time to the place where I would confront Zaxcs, I knew one thing to be true.
I was more powerful than I ever had been before.
7
As I exited the portal, I was immediately inundated with a series of messages that appeared in my vision as though I was logged into Terra Forma.
They let me know several facts that would have otherwise been completely obvious.
First and foremost, I was in the Hall of Mirrors, which was where all Terra Forma adventures started. It was the place where I could travel between worlds by stepping through one of the mirrors.
Second, I was level one and was currently classified as a Godling. That wasn’t surprising as it was the lowest rank of God in Terra Forma. I knew that as I grew more powerful, I could ascend to higher ranks.
Thirdly, that the Portal I’d come through was well beyond my level, and as Rhapsody appeared beside me in the Hall of Mirrors, a series of metaphysical chains appeared across it, barring it from use. I didn’t even need to read the message attached to it to know I wasn’t going home anytime soon.
Instead, I focused on my surroundings. I was standing in a room that was completely white… or would have been if not for all the fucking mirrors. Mirrors on top of mirrors of every shape and size dotted the landscape. The floor was made of mirrors. The walls and ceiling were mirrors too. Infinite mirrors extending in every direction and reflecting back at each other so that looking at any single one was like staring at an abyss of endless eternity.
It was too much, really. To stand in the center of infinity and know that it stretched out into a vast infinity of worlds. That each of those mirrors was a world I could unlock. That each led to far-off places, some in this dimension, some not, but all teeming with otherness.
I felt my head start to swim, and as dizziness threatened to overtake me, I tried to look away. As I did, I found Rhapsody’s smiling face.
“Be at ease, Garrett.” She reached out and touched my forehead with her index and forefingers, and in that instant, I felt a lot better. Sure, I was still standing in a room full of portals to infinity, but at the same time, I could now comprehend my place in the infinity.
“Thanks,” I said as I concentrated on her smiling face. Then I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. It was go time, and I needed to make use of every last second. No matter how long I had, Zaxcs would eventually show up, and I had to be ready.
“You are most welcome,” she replied as I opened my eyes. “What is it you would have me do to help you?”
“What can you do?” I asked because in the game, after bringing you to the Hall, Rhapsody wasn’t able to offer much support besides being sort of present for advice and whatnot.
“Not much, unfortunately.” She frowned. “I have managed to use my powers to change you from a human to a Godling, but unfortunately, your level of Godhood is not sufficient for me to give you very much help right now.” She sighed. “The rules of the universe frown on Gods helping beings of lesser power, even if we are both Gods. If you grow stronger, I will be able to help you more.”
“Right.” I wasn’t surprised because it had been that way in the game. “Say, is there a way to suppress all the portals I can’t currently enter?”
“Of course.” She grinned at me. “You are a God, albeit a weak one currently.” She waved her hand at the surroundings. “Just will it and it will be.”
I did as she said, and as I thought about making them disappear, all but three of the mirrors vanished. One was the mirror I’d come through and was still chained up, so it was of no help. The other two were only a few feet away, and as my gaze flicked to the left one, I found myself staring into a world I knew well.
“Training dungeon,” I murmured with a nod. “So that’s real?”
“In a manner of speaking.” Rhapsody’s gaze settled on the dungeon portal. “I have spent a considerable portion of my power to make this a reality for you, and it would do no good if you were not able to take full advantage of it.” She turned her sparkling eyes to me. “Hence, the training dungeon. It will
help you familiarize yourself with your initial powers.”
“That just leaves my world,” I said as I turned to the last mirror. Through it, I could see the makings of a solar system. Not ours of course, but a completely different one that, from the look of things, had a massive star, several planets, moons, and everything in between.
There was just one problem.
“It’s totally dead.” I swallowed as I read through the messages that appeared in my vision. “None of these planets have life or are in anywhere near a proper orbit. Hell, the best one doesn’t even have an electromagnetic field.” I felt my heart start to sink. “Is there anywhere else?”
“Yes, but strategically, this is the best system to confront Zaxcs.” Rhapsody met my look of despair with one of absolute confidence. “I know it may seem difficult, but I believe you can transform it into something amazing, Champ.”
“Well, right now I don’t feel like the Champ,” I said as I read through all the data coming in. None of it looked promising. “Still, I always liked a challenge.” I cracked my knuckles with a nod. “Let’s get on with this.”
“That’s the spirit, champ.” Rhapsody beamed at me and then did a very nice little bounce. “What would you like to do first?”
“I want to run a survey on the system and get a list of, well, everything useful.” I touched my chin. “When I played before, I had an add-on with a script that would tally a galaxy’s resources and whatnot. Can we do something like that?”
“I don’t see why not.” She stared at me. “You are a God, after all. In this place, your powers are largely bound only by your own imagination.”
“Okay…” I said, not wanting to argue with her about how I was only a level one Godling, but whatever. Instead, I focused on the system beyond the mirror. Then in my second act as a god, I focused on the information I wanted to know.
It was crazy to have information suddenly be in my brain.
There were sixteen planets in the system, several dozen moons, and a plethora of asteroids. What’s more, I knew the rough composition of the closest ones. It made my stomach sink.
Not because I wasn’t happy with the knowledge. No. It was because the planet nearest the optimal temperature zone sucked. Sure, it had a lot of rare resources on it, but stripping your main planet bare was a good way to fuck yourself in the future. If I did that, the future inhabitants would have a lesser ability to survive.
That was assuming it ever got inhabitants because its current atmosphere was 0.6 percent. Worse, even if I melted the ice caps on the planet and converted the easily accessible minerals to create CO2 and other greenhouse gasses, I could only increase the atmosphere to around 1.2 percent.
A quick glance around the rest of the solar system let me know there were enough water and gasses on some of the other planets to create a viable atmosphere on the one I’d chosen, but that looked like a logistical nightmare given my current power level. I’d have to strip mine all those planets and then transport it to my desired planet, something that would take way too long for my liking.
The main problem though was twofold. The core of the planet was dead, and because of that, it wasn’t generating a magnetic field whatsoever. That meant the solar radiation from the star was ripping away the atmosphere on the planet at a crazy rate so that needed to be fixed too. And that had nothing to do with the non-minor fact that the planet was a bit too far from the star to reach the optimal temperature.
No. It would need to be moved closer.
Now, in Terra Forma, all these things could be fixed in a variety of ways, but they required a ton of energy, and call me crazy, but I was betting a level one Godling didn’t have that kind of power.
“How much Aura do I have?” I asked aloud, though I probably could have thought it and known. As I spoke, a small green bar that indicated how much energy I had available for skills, magic, and pretty much everything in between appeared in the corner of my vision. There was no number on it, but somehow, I knew it wasn’t very much.
“How much Aura does it take to move Planet Six into the proper orbit?” As I said the words, I concentrated on what I wanted and then frowned as the information popped into my head. I needed sixteen times my current maximum. Awesome.
On the upside, restarting the planet’s core was only four times my current maximum.
“What have you learned, Garrett?” Rhapsody asked, clearly curious.
“Don’t you already know?” I asked as I let the problem turn over in my mind. I needed to both restart the planet’s core and move it into the correct orbit. For that, I’d just need to level up.
“No.” Rhapsody shook her head. “In this realm, you are the God.” She gestured at the mirror. “My avatar is merely that.” She gestured at herself. “Your realm is not strong enough for me to manifest here as a Goddess.”
“Ah.” I nodded. That was certainly a bit different but not surprising. “If the realm gets stronger, will you be able to come as a Goddess?”
“Perhaps,” she tapped her chin in thought, “but it will be a long time until that happens.” She waved the conversation away. “So, what are you thinking?” She pointed to the mirror with my star system. “About that?”
“I think I need to move that damn planet and restart the core,” I scrubbed my face with my hand, “and to do that I need to be a lot more powerful than I am.” My gaze flicked to the training dungeon. “I guess I know what needs to be done.”
“What’s that?” Rhapsody asked as she came up to me and smiled.
“I’m going to do the training dungeon and get more powerful. Then I’ll come back and fix this mess.” I gestured at the system. “Can you hold down the fort until I get back?”
“I would be more than happy to do so.” She nodded like I’d given her an incredibly important job. It was weird because while I knew it was only Rhapsody’s avatar and not the goddess herself, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad.
In the game, she hadn’t been able to enter any of the mirrors, so I’d always tried to be nice to her and sometimes even gave her things to do while I was gone, even though I could do most things myself, and that had seemed to make her happy enough.
“Awesome.” I gave her a salute as I headed toward the mirror that led to the Training Dungeon. “See you in a bit.” With that, I put my hand on the mirror and let it rip me apart and put me back together again like a cosmic Humpty Dumpty with better men and horses.
8
Rhapsody
Watching Garrett head toward the portal to the Training Dungeon through the eyes of my Avatar was concerning in a way I didn’t quite expect. For one, the man was quite unlike I’d expected to be in more ways than one, and as I thought about our initial meeting, I couldn’t help but flush slightly.
Granted, the man hadn’t known who I was when we’d talked, but the idea that he would want to mate with me pleased me in a way I couldn’t quite describe. It had been a long time since anyone had thought of me in such a way, and the idea of what it might be like kept flitting through my mind even as I tried to keep my attention on the here and now.
Not that there was much I could do until he returned from the Training Dungeon. And though I was worried about his safety, I knew he would return. Of all the humans I’d watched, he was by far my favorite. He was a gifted player, sure, and he was well trained, but that wasn’t why I liked watching him.
No, it was more his innate ‘ness’ if that made sense. When most people played, they did so in a brutish way, never quite mastering the game, but instead choosing to force their wills upon it and dominate it in a way the game was never meant to be played, and in so doing, they would often plateau. Those that managed to surpass their limits often found themselves heading toward yet another wall and unable to break through.
It was often due to their belief in themselves, that they no longer needed to learn because they had spent countless hours perfecting their craft.
That was an interesting notion, and so far as I’d seen
, it was incredibly false.
One always needed to strive to be stronger. To move past each and every plateau and shatter every limit. That was the only way to defeat Zaxcs. And we had to defeat him. For humanity and the universe at large.
And I knew with everything in me that the only one who could do it was Garrett Andrews. He had shown a remarkable tendency to learn and grow beyond every limit. Even at the top of the ladder where he now stood, he looked for newer, better challenges. He constantly tested himself.
And when he used random to win matches? Well, I knew he was the one. Sure, Terra Forma was one of those games that did randomly assign skills and classes based on what it thought the player would do well with, but at the same time, I’d seen players restart countless times to get an optimal build before beginning.
What they didn’t know was that the builds were always optimal if a player could find the right synergies, and that was something Garrett had been able to do time and time again.
It was why I had chosen him out of the countless humans on his planet because he wouldn’t be able to change his class or abilities now that he was here. He would have to use what he got and forge it into a power unlike any the universe had better seen.
“And there’s no one better suited for that,” I whispered as I turned my attention from my avatar and back out to the infinite cosmos. Off in the distance, almost too far to comprehend, I could feel the world devourer as he consumed everything in his path in an unceasing, unending pit of hunger and entropy.
He was still far away, and there was still time, but that didn’t mean I didn’t worry for all those lost to his endless appetite. Oddly though, I didn’t find myself as worried as I had been.
After all, Garrett had come, and he would win. I knew it in the core of my being.
9
As I re-materialized on the other side of the mirror, I found myself standing on a large expanse of dug-up earth wearing the same clothes I’d been in when I’d stepped into the bar what felt like forever ago. A quick glance around let me know there wasn’t a lot else here because it was sort of like standing in the Sahara Desert, except the earth looked less desolate and more freshly turned.
