Before the chapters begin, here's the synopsis!

Also, this story has absolutely nothing to do with any of the events in my other stories. Just wanted to state that.

Within the dark and light planes of Arkea, two types of beings reign supreme.

The non-sapient Fallen, whose ranks are made up of the remains of the dead Gods from the past Era of the Gods.

And the Chrono; former humans whose dormant Chrono gene – passed down to them as a way of defending the planes from the Fallen by the fallen God of Origin, Chronos – has awakened, causing their entire body to transform to the point that they are no longer human.

Their bodies reverted back to their prime at perfect health; their ability to age taken away; and a powerful ability unique to the awakened Chrono granted to them, along with heightened physical and mental capabilities, and the ability to pass through the walls between the planes.

However, this all comes at a cost.

Each and every Chrono is forced into the Tower of Origin every time they go to sleep where they must compete in at least one game every night whilst being broadcasted to every plane in Arkea.

Blake Artorius is a 23 year old man, a child of two Chrono, and has been in a coma for five years.

Our story begins after this young man’s Chrono gene awakens, causing him to fully regenerate from his injuries and wake up from his coma.

Now, after being unconscious for five entire years, the strange young man – who, in his memories, had only just graduated from high school – must avoid the politics of the three Chrono factions at all costs.

Prologue

Within a barely lit room of the Taran Hospital

Year 6137 | Month 11 | Day 1

“As stated by the Chrono Pact of the tenth century, put into place by the fallen god Chronos himself,” a woman begins speaking without taking her eyes off of the young man sitting on the bed close to the window, “any newly awakened Chrono will no longer be restricted directly by the human laws of the planes of Arkea and will instead be held under the laws of the Chrono.”

The woman has on a pure-black military-style uniform with the letters CRD engraved on a small and yet flashy badge located on the uniform’s chest. She has brown hair that flows halfway down her back with little to no curls, a pair of green eyes, and various different weapons located throughout her body as she stands with her back as straight as an arrow, just barely inside of the hospital room.

“Blake Artorius,” she continues while slightly clenching her fist out of irritation at the man’s obvious lack of attention towards anything she is saying, “from today onwards, you must obey the following laws.”

Serena Dawn pauses for a second here as she struggles to keep her expression neutral in the face of the young man’s actions, whether out of her own inexperience in dealing with Chrono or just her strict and by the book personality. However, after taking a deep breath, she manages to calm herself down.

She glances briefly at the door behind her before turning again to the young man whose eyes – including both his naturally blue eye, and his pure-white Chrono eye that is more like a ball of white energy than an eye – are still focused entirely on the window next to him and the vast city sprayed out beyond it.

‘Please let someone more experienced get here quickly,’ she thinks to herself with a mixture of both irritation and fear.

A freshly recruited human officer like Serena normally wouldn’t have been sent to indoctrinate a newly awakened Chrono, but due to the vast distance between the closest Chrono Regulatory Department branch office and the hospital, the department ended up having to send the closest officer regardless of rank to begin the indoctrination process before a more experienced one could arrive.

After a brief sigh at her bad luck, Serena continues speaking, “The first Chrono law – All Chrono must select one of the three major factions to be registered under, including the Chaos faction, the Order faction, and the Neutral faction.”

“The second Chrono law – In order to legally fight another Chrono outside of the Tower of Origin, the two parties must agree to an official duel beforehand. If an official duel is not agreed to and registered in the system prior to the duel, then any deaths, both amongst the participants of the duel and the spectators who willingly stayed behind after a three hour notice will legally be considered as murders committed by the party or parties in question,” Serena continues, still with a controlled expression on her face, “The third Chrono-”

The door to the room suddenly bursts open and a woman immediately walks in with a dark look on her face. However, as soon as she sets her eyes on the young man sitting on the bed, a wave of relief runs through her, causing her to relax for the first time in several years.

“Director Artorius, ma’am!” Serena quickly shouts with a salute once she sees the woman walk into the room, finally drawing the young man’s attention for the first time since Serena began speaking.

Half an hour earlier, in the Official Meeting Hall of the CRD HQ

“-and that’s why we should increase our supervision of the Darkling Party,” a man with a dirty gray Chrono eye says as he presses a button on the remote in his hand, causing the slide on the projected screen at the front of the room to turn dark, marking the end of his presentation.

Muttered conversations begin to fill the room as a couple dozen Chrono spread out around a long table speak amongst themselves about the man’s proposal. However, everyone falls silent once a loud alarm echoes through the building.

Not a single one of the Chrono within the room say anything for nearly half a minute.

Finally, the female Chrono at the end of the long table with a pure crimson Chrono eye speaks up, breaking the silence. “Where is the newly awakened Chrono located?”

Her voice seems to break all of the other Chrono out of their stupor as they all turn to look at her. The woman has long, raven-black hair, with one blue eye to match with her crimson Chrono eye. She has on a similar military-style, black uniform to the rest of the Chrono within the room, except with a golden star engraved on its shoulder, and a special collar that flares outwards around her neck.

“It looks like one of the recruits was sent to the new Chrono due to the distance already,” the male Chrono with a pitch-black Chrono eye standing next to her wearing a uniform similar to her own, except without the special collar, says, drawing her dark gaze towards him in the process, “but the Chrono himself is located at the Taran Hospital.”

A flash of surprise crosses the woman’s face before she narrows her eyes.

“You don’t have to ask, Director Artorius,” the Star Enforcer says while tapping the earpiece in his ear, “I have already confirmed it with the Chrono Indoctrination Department.”

He then pauses as the other Chrono within the room – all of them being Star Ranked Officers of the CRD – begin to have various reactions of surprise at the sight of the hopeful look growing on their Director’s face.

The man glances at all of them before turning back to his boss and stating as clearly as possible, “The newly awakened Chrono is your younger brother-”

Diane Artorius immediately stands up from her seat, causing her chair to be sent flying into the wall from her speed right before her second in command finishes his statement.

“Blake Artorius.”

Without wasting even a single second, the director rushes out the door, leaving all of her subordinates behind in the meeting hall. On the way, her crimson eye begins to blaze slightly, and her movement speed continues to increase more and more until none of the humans nearby by can see anything more than a simple blur as she passes by.

Meanwhile, the Star Ranked Officers of the Faust plane’s Chrono Regulatory Department all proceed to stare out the door of the meeting hall for a few seconds until they begin speaking.

“Wasn’t her brother in a coma for the past five years…?” a Chrono with a green Chrono eye asks before continuing once he sees the Star Executor nod, “So he’s actually awakened?”

Once again, the Star Executor nods his head, causing several of the Star Ranked Officers to share surprised glances with each other.

However, this doesn’t last long before one of them – a woman with a purple Chrono eye – states in a seemingly emotionless voice, “Both of his parents were Chrono.”

Everyone within the room turns to look at her, only to turn towards the one who was previously making a proposal as he suddenly says, “Rose is right; I would have been more surprised if he hadn’t awakened as a Chrono at some point in his life.”

“But,” the Chrono with the green eye interjects before any of the others can say anything, “just because it was almost guaranteed to happen, doesn’t mean it would happen this early in his life.”

A short silence ensues after this comment, but it’s broken as another Chrono mutters, “And it’s a good thing it did. I know I wouldn’t want to be left alone, with my only remaining family member being stuck in a coma.”

Most of the gathered CRD higher ups all turn to look at either the door to the hall, or the director’s chair as they contemplate the man’s words.

Chapter 1

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Awakening Part I

Blake Artorius

Year 6137 | Month 11 | Day 1

“-any newly awakened Chrono will no longer be restricted directly by the human laws of the planes of Arkea and will instead be held under the laws of the Chrono.” The officer blathers on as I ignore her to look out over the city below.

Unsurprisingly, despite the five year time gap since I was last awake, there don’t seem to be very many changes.

At most I think there are more vehicles driving through the streets below, but from what I can tell, this hospital is located in the eastern edge of the city, close to the wall connecting Faust to the dark plane Chrysallia. So there isn’t all that much development out here when compared to the inner areas of the city, or the areas close to the walls bordering the light planes neighboring ours.

Not that it really matters much to me.

I lay down on the bed with my head leaning against my knuckles and my elbow resting on the mattress itself as I continue gazing out the window without bothering to look at the woman who is beginning to list out the laws. As if I didn’t already know them.

My thoughts begin to drift back to the last thing I remember before I apparently entered a coma.

It seemed like a good day. I had just left my graduation ceremony for high school – of which I would have gladly skipped if it weren’t for Diane’s insistence on attending – and was on my way to an arcade close to the school before a loud explosion echoed through the street.

And then everything went dark, and I find myself waking up in the hospital after apparently taking a five-year-long nap.

Actually…

My brows furrow slightly at the thought of the arcade.

I hope that arcade is still there.

Although I might not have much time to go anymore, what with this awakening garbage.

With that thought in mind, I reach my right hand up to my right eye before feeling the strange sparks of Chrono Energy flickering out of the Chrono eye and touching my hand. After that, I focus on the energy, using the knowledge ingrained into me by the eye itself and activating my power for the first time, causing a few incredibly small strings to appear above my left hand. At the same time, I feel a faint twitch from my new Chrono eye as the very small amount of energy used to power my ability is taken from it.

The strings are too small for the officer to notice anything, and I begin playing around with them out of curiosity, creating several different shapes until the hospital room’s door bursts open.

At first, I ignore the sudden entry, but my attention is drawn to it as I hear the officer stop listing laws to address the new person.

My eyes widen slightly as I find my sister standing at the entrance with a slightly fatigued but also relieved look on her face.

“Blake,” she says, a smile slowly beginning to appear on her face before it disappears again and she faces the officer, “you are dismissed.”

Director? My sister?

That’s an interesting twist.

The officer salutes her with a “Yes, ma’am!” and leaves without another word, closing the door behind her in the process, leaving me alone in the room with Diane.

Hmm, glad she’s gone. Her constant talking about laws was getting annoying.

I nod towards Diane before focusing on the strings in front of me again as she stares at me with that same relieved expression she had before.

The strings themselves aren’t very difficult to manipulate at first, but when I try to add more, they proceed to get harder and harder to control, leaving me almost unable to control ten strings at once.

Not bad.

But how strong are they?

I ignore my sister who is approaching my bed and reaching for my head as I look around for a second to see if there’s anything I can use to test the string’s durability and cutting power.

Suddenly, my attention is drawn back to Diane as she chuckles and says, “You haven’t changed at all, have you?”

Without showing much if any emotion on my face, I shrug and continue searching for something to use as a test subject.

It’s not like I was awake during those five years, so of course I’m still the same.

Diane – having raised me since I was nine years old on her own – seems to understand exactly what I had just thought and chuckles again before muttering, “It’s good to have you back, little bro.”

I grunt in acknowledgement before frowning at the lack of anything to use as a test subject.

Then again, this is a patient’s room in a hospital, so I doubt they’d have any blades lying around that could test a string’s durability.

Actually…

I turn my attention towards the weapons located around Diane’s person, including knives, guns, and even a sword – likely meant for dealing with Chrono and their much more powerful, and highly bulletproof bodies.

“Mind if I borrowed your sword?” I ask while raising my gaze to Diane’s face before briefly taking note of her single lifted eyebrow.

“To test your ability?” she asks without lowering the brow, only to unsheathe her pure-black sword and hand it to me once she sees me nod my head.

I nod my head again to show my appreciation before focusing on one of my strings and quickly moving it towards the blade.

It isn’t until after the blade cleanly bisects the string that I realize my blunder.

I frown slightly as Diane chuckles, apparently having seen the string despite its miniscule size, and says, “You should probably test it on a normal blade, and not an Ark infused one. At least for now, while you’re still only a Tier 1 Chrono.”

Yeah, I should’ve realized that before trying.

And I doubt the director of the CRD in Faust has any normal blades on her...

I glance at the strings before focusing on my hand.

Well, guess if I can’t test their durability with a blade, I can at least do this.

I move the string to my hands before grabbing both ends of it with them and pulling. However, even after using all of my strength, I can only barely rip it into two. Despite it only being a single thread of string.

And that’s with the string digging slightly into my hands and causing them to bleed during the process.

Diane whistles in appreciation and says, “That’s a pretty good ability you’ve got. Certainly a lot more versatile than mine.”

I nod my head slightly before glancing at her crimson Chrono eye.

If I remember correctly – and I think I do – she awakened as a Chrono just two years after mother and father died, which should be about twelve years ago, with an ability that matched her emotions at the time perfectly.

Berserk.

An ability that increases all of her physical capabilities by an enormous amount depending on the strength of her current emotions, with a base increase added on depending on her Chrono Tier.

Diane tenses up as I hear very faint voices begin to sound from the earpiece resting in her ear. She then frowns and shakes her head before focusing on my face and saying, “I know you don’t like this stuff, but we have to finish with the indoctrination process.”

My brows furrow in irritation before I sigh and turn to look out the window again once she begins finishing what the other officer from before was saying, except in a much shorter fashion.

“The third Chrono law – Chrono are bound only by the Chrono laws and the contracts they sign, and nothing else. The fourth Chrono law – Thanks to the Chrono’s abilities to both open temporary passages or simply walk through the planar barriers, they may enter and exit any and all planes at will. The fifth Chrono law…” she continues on and on, repeating law after law that I already know before finally reaching the last law, “and the Final Chrono law – each and every Chrono is still beholden to any of the human laws that do not conflict with these Chrono laws, of which you can find a list of the specific laws that still apply on the CRD’s main website.”

“Now,” she suddenly says after a brief pause, drawing my attention back towards her, “I doubt I really have to ask this, but do you know which Chrono faction you will select?”

I immediately nod my head before turning back to the window again as I clearly state, “Neutral.”

Through her reflection in the window, I see Diane nod her head in agreement with my choice while pulling out some sort of tablet and typing on it. She then speaks out loud, likely speaking to whoever is on the other side of that earpiece, “He has chosen to join the Neutral faction.”

After hearing that, I sigh and lay back down on the bed again.

If only the Neutral faction were completely neutral.

But I guess it’s difficult to not piss people off if you beat them in a game within the Tower, so it’s bound to be impossible to keep out of Chrono politics completely.

Unless, of course, I move to the monster-infested lands of one of the dark planes.

That’s something to decide on at a later time though. Because that just makes things even more annoying.

After all, there’s no arcades in those planes, nor are there any good sour foods.

Not to mention the monsters, but I could just use those as training practice. So they aren’t much of a problem.

At least, not after I get stronger.

Chapter 2

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Awakening Part II

Blake Artorius

Year 6137 | Month 11 | Day 1

“Have you checked your HUD yet?” Diane asks, drawing my attention back towards her from the window.

I silently shake my head before mentally calling, ‘Open HUD.’

Unlike with whenever I opened my HUD before becoming a Chrono, where I felt a strange twitching in my brain itself, this time I instead feel a strange fluctuation in the energy at the center of my Chrono eye followed by the appearance of a different looking HUD.

{--|>----------------------<|--}

Name: Blake Artorius

Tier: 1

Tower-given Title: Zero

Chrono Ability: Strings

Sleep Passes: 0 Tier 1 Passes, 0 Tier 2 Passes

Ark: 236

Top Ranked Games Won: 0

Mid Ranked Games Won: 0

Low Ranked Games Won: 0

MVC Bonus: N/A

Games till Monthly Requirement: 1 Top Ranked Game, 3 Mid Ranked Games

Time Arcs: 10

{--|>----------------------<|--}

Diane begins speaking as I examine the new HUD, “You should already know quite a bit of this, but I’ll explain it anyways in case you forgot during your five year long nap.”

I briefly glance at her as I sense a hint of bitterness in that last part before focusing again on the HUD.

“I’ll begin with the Tiers. There are five Tiers of strength for Chrono, and each of them drastically increases both the physical and mental capabilities of the Chrono, while also sometimes upgrading their ability. To raise your Tier, you must have won a certain number of Top Ranked Games and have the required amount of Ark, which as you know is the currency for the Tower of Origin and not just our currency here on Arkea.” Diane begins before asking, “By the way, what’s your Tower-given Title?”

Without looking at her, I answer in my usual dry tone of voice, “Zero.”

My eyes focus on my current amount of Ark before I glance at the window.

I never did finish spending my monthly allowances, so it kind of built up a little.

Of course, it’s not an extravagant amount, but it’s about half of the amount needed to buy a barely livable house, so there’s that at least.

Meanwhile, as I’m thinking this, I briefly take note of the look of surprise on Diane’s face through the reflection of the window that she quickly covers up.

Hmm.

“The sleep passes, which are often called SP, allow a Chrono to skip nights and simply sleep instead of entering the tower,” Diane continues, simply skipping any other talk about the title that was given to me by the Tower. “A Tier 1 SP lets a Chrono skip entering the tower for seven entire nights, while a Tier 2 SP lets them skip it for a single night, and they are each given by winning Top Ranked Games and Mid Ranked Games respectively.”

I decide to simply ignore her obvious avoidance of that particular subject as I stand up a little wobbly and walk the half a meter or so between the bed and the window.

Once again, Diane flashes a brief look of surprise in the reflection of the window before she finishes going over the HUD, “Every Chrono must compete in at least one Top Ranked Game and three Mid Ranked Game every month, regardless of whether they win or not. Otherwise they will lose one Time Arc, which is something that can be thought of as similar to a life in a video game, where if you lose all ten while in the Tower through either dying in a game or not fulfilling the requirements for a month ten times, then you die both in the Tower and on Arkea.”

After she finishes speaking, she simply watches me in silence as I look out over the city streets below. It’s currently about mid-day, but since there are clouds covering the sky, there isn’t much sunlight out. The streets themselves have a lot of traffic, both on foot and in car, with everyone seemingly rushing to get wherever they’re trying to go.

I glance at Diane, only to see her still watching me before I focus on the window again while messing with another string.

I’m a little surprised that she didn’t go into the MVC – otherwise known as Most Valuable Chrono – part of the explanation, but it’s not like it really matters. She’s only going into detail for everything due to the CRD’s regulations, and not because I don’t already know it all.

After all, it would be weird if the child of two Chrono didn’t know this stuff. So that’s the only reason I can think of for her going to the trouble of explaining it all.

Either that or the fact that I was in a coma. But the coma didn’t seem to have any effects on my memory, so that wouldn’t matter. And the doctors should’ve already told her that.

It isn’t until several minutes later that Diane finally moves from her place and walks next to me before dragging me into a hug.

I tense up slightly at the physical contact before relaxing again.

Normally I hate physical contact, but despite how well she’s covering it up, I know my coma really affected her. Much more than it affected me.

After holding me for a couple of minutes, she mutters, “Thank you for waking up. I don’t know if I could have taken losing you as well…”

I hesitate for a moment due to the overflowing emotion in her voice that is by no means normal for her before raising one arm and patting her back awkwardly.

Fortunately, she quickly lets go after this and takes a step back with a faint smile on her face, giving me back my personal space in the process.

Diane looks me in the eyes with a specific focus on my Chrono eye before lifting her own eyebrow and handing me something.

It isn’t until I take it into my hands and unfold it that I realize it’s an eyepatch.

I look back up at her with my eyebrows raised slightly.

“Thank you,” I tell her before putting it on to cover my Chrono eye.

She smiles at me with a slight shrug and says, “As I was rushing over here, I realized that you’d probably want something to hide that you’re a Chrono so as to not attract attention while you’re out and about.”

For the first time since I woke up, I feel a very faint tug at the corner of my lips.

She really does know me well.

Amusingly enough, her eyes widen at the sight of me almost grinning, but it doesn’t last long before she conceals it at the sound of more voices from her earpiece.

After not even ten full seconds from when whoever it is on the other end of that call speaking, the light in Diane’s eyes begins to dim a little and she says, “I’ll be there soon.”

I look at her for a second after she says that before turning back to the window again.

In the reflection of the window, I see Diane looking at me with reluctance as she says, “I’m gonna have to go for now, but I’ll be back before the hour of Origin to tell you about the Tower of Origin.”

Once she sees me nod my head, she immediately begins to rush out the door, and not even fifteen seconds later, I spot a blur rushing through the streets down below.

I continue to look out the window for a few more minutes before glancing at the door to the room right as the first doctor I had seen after waking up from my coma walks in through the open door.

“Would you mind if we ran a few more tests to make sure you're fine?” he asks very carefully, as if afraid that the Chrono in front of him might take what he says as an insult or something.

Without much care, I nod my head in agreement while walking back to the bed.

The faster I get this over with, the faster I can get out of this place.