-Chapter Eighteen-

The Altar

As Jason read through the script, he heard someone pipe up.

“Jason, you weren’t kidding about those contractors,” Andrew groaned.

“Yeah,” Diana joined in with a hum of agreement. “I’ve never seen someone channel so much Mana without using an Athenaeum.”

Tayor recalled Jason’s explanation of the ‘third-party’ Mana users.

Particularly, Contractors.

Due to the actions of the Perished which rapidly increased Mana in the atmosphere, it gave birth to many things, such as espers, bio-conduits, fairies, mermaids, monsters, vampires and many other things. From the increase of Mana, the supernatural phenomenon took place where the power of belief of mankind would manifest. As a result, the gods were born. Beings of principle and universal law themselves.

After taking form, these beings were peerless in existence. The Gods and Goddesses.

They have their own realm - Paradise, Heaven, the god-Realm, Olympus - the realm goes by many names.

Gods and Goddesses cannot act on Earth. The main reason is due to them coming to a consensus of not acting on Earth, in order to leave the planet intact. But another reason is because they are incompatible with Mana.

Gods and Goddesses are manifestations of Divine energy itself.

So in order to carry out their will, they must find humans to do their bidding.

Such are Contractors.

They receive large deposits of Divine energy from their God or Goddess, and convert that into Mana, manifesting it in reality on Earth.

While not necessarily destructive, a God or Goddess’ power lies in its own authority.

Each God or Goddess is in reality a law or principle. In the right scenarios, no other power can trump a God or Goddess’ authority.

Such as the emissary of death they met.

“That Contractor was strong,” Taylor furrowed his brow, joining in on the conversation.

“I still think we could flick him away with a finger, though?” Diana wondered aloud.

“We could at this very moment, yes,” Jason agreed. “But I’m not so sure about the future. That boy is monstrous. That Goddess of Death has found the perfect medium for her powers. His a complete, walking abomination of rage, fury and death, to the extent that he’s even begun to fuse with the principle of death, and the Goddess. Those two… as long as they stay alive for long enough, will become a very interesting existence,” Jason spoke, rubbing his chin in deep thought.

“When you say principle, you mean the same thing you’re fused with?” Andrew asked.

“That’s right. And same with Taylor,” Jason nodded to Taylor, who blinked in surprise.

“Huh?” he asked.

“You have begun merging with a principle already. It was how you were able to notice the timeshift. Your existence is already becoming independent,” Jason smiled.

“Wait… what principle am I merging with? I don’t feel any different either?” Taylor looked at his arms with perplexion.

“What’s your principle that you’ve merged with, Jason?” Diana asked.

“…Corruption,” Jason shrugged. “Thanks to the Provenance realm, I fused with the law of corruption. The law of hijacking another autonomous system and sending it into a haywire-spiral, I guess. Hard to explain.”

“Corruption? Interesting…” Diana thought. “Then what about Taylor? Which one is he merging with?”

“Hmm…” Jason narrowed his eyes at Taylor, gazing up and down at him. “It’s still a bit too soon to tell, but I think it might be aspiration. The law of aspiration, ambition and… vengeance, maybe.”

“I don’t know why I or even how I’m fusing with such a thing,” Taylor pursed his lips.

“It’s probably because you came into contact with it at some point, and it’s latched onto you,” Jason responded.

“How the hell does… ambition latch onto you?” Andrew wondered, completely bewildered.

“Hard question,” Jason chuckled. “Now, enough chit-chat. Let’s keep reading.”

The four fell quiet again as they turned their attention back to the translated journal.

I just hope Masters still have some compassion in their hearts.

The history of mankind was that they were found by the Masters. But over the last three years, along with what the other five were able to find out from their Masters, we were all able to piece together our information to form a general timeline of events.

The history of our Masters.

Our Masters also have parents. They all grew up together, and all of their parents were great friends.

All we have been able to tell was that there were races before humankind that the Masters belonged to. And those races had a large war.

The Masters ended up being the only ones who survived.

Because of the war, they became the only sentient beings remaining on Earth.

They were incredibly lonely, and that was why they had helped mankind in the first place, and even took us in.

…

Today Artelia came to see me. She told me Connor had pulled her aside earlier that same morning, and told her to spread the news that the six of us need to have a meeting.

I just got home from that meeting.

The things we discussed in that meeting… they horrify me.

Connor began the meeting by saying he was becoming suspicious of what the Masters were making us build.

Rhiana said she managed to notice as her Master was entering her room, something that looked suspicious hidden behind the door. But she couldn’t get close to inspect it, and she didn’t dare ask.

It looked like a time machine, she said.

There was only one way to figure it out for good.

So at Connor’s behest, we all took out the logs we had kept for each part we had made, and simulated a model of how these parts would piece together.

Each part on its own did nothing. It was like only one piece of a large puzzle, and even after all five of us combined our separate pieces together, we still were only able to make out a small section of this puzzle.

But it was enough.

Enough for us to know what was going on.

…

Jason read on, feeling both gut-sinking dread and fascination at what he was reading.

My Master would sometimes mention how he missed his people. Even though he has never met them, he yearns for them dearly regardless. By the time he was born, it was already too late. When his mother and father died of old-age, he was all alone, except for the other Masters.

I never knew how strong his desire was, to meet his people.

We concluded that the purpose of this altar was to none other than… revert the world.

Revert the world all the way back to before mankind came about. Before their ancestors died out.

This would make Masters the enemy of our race. What could we even do to resist them?

And does this mean… we were never really Masters’ children?

We were just tools, from the moment we were born.

We all knew that we had family out there. Master was even kind enough to let us keep contact with them.

Our true parents.

But it was Masters who raised us.

I could never connect with my parents… because they were far too… primitive. Only Master and my five true siblings understand me when I speak. I wonder if this is how Master feels?

And so, we were just meant to be tools all this time, to assemble this machine for them and help work out the mathematical equations.

I feel despair.

…

“This so-called ‘time-machine’ would be that altar?” Andrew asked.

“Guess so. This all checks out to be legit. It’s a miracle it was just sitting in a museum with no defenses, and nobody came to steal it in that time,” Taylor leaned back.

“If what this Levi guy is saying is true, then reviving these Masters would mean the end of our human race!” Diana exclaimed.

“Well, hold on, hold on. Reserve your judgement,” Jason sighed. “There’s still more to read. Only decide at the end.”

Three months have passed since the meeting.

During our second meeting a short while later, we discussed a way to undermine this so-called time machine.

Artelia broke into the forbidden section of the library, looking for anything.

And then she found something good.

Connor at the same time said he discovered the Masters had also set up a Primordial anchoring device, and maybe we could hijack it?

Artelia laid out the spell she found in front of us.

The Masters were immortal.

When we asked them what happens if they somehow died, like if they got hit by a boulder? I remember being young and asking such.

He smiled and said a boulder wouldn’t crush him but even if it did and his body turned to dust, he’d simply reappear out of the ash. He is immortal and nothing can erase him.

At the time I thought that was amazing.

Now I find it disturbing.

This spell was said to work on things that cannot be killed or destroyed. A soul-fragmenting sealing method.

It would guarantee effect.

…

For the last three months, we have been doing the endless math equations so the spell is successful.

Connor and Rhianna went and rigged a backdoor into the Primordial anchoring device, so that when the spell casts, we can slip a sub function into it.

We intend to employ a masking agent that will distort the anchor, making it impossible to locate the original Primordial timeline.

That way, this place will be off limits to any outsiders.

The cost of this spell was our lives. We asked each other if we were ready for this life-blood sacrifice?

And when I thought, we were nothing but tools, this wasn’t too bad of a way to go out.

So we agreed to do it.

If anyone ever reads this someday.

The Masters are not dead. They are immortal.

Even if our ritual succeeds, it only delays the Masters.

They will return someday. The destruction of mankind will take place after that day.

Levi.

“Well… shit,” Jason muttered, reaching the end.

“We can’t let these Masters revive,” Andrew spoke as he looked at his comrades.

“I believe the actions of the Perished are all for the sake of wiping out the Masters,” Diana said, with narrowed eyes.

“But… they want us to save this world by destroying it. At some point, they became twisted and irrational, their hatred for their Masters took over,” Taylor reasoned.

“The Perished’s goal was for human life to live on. And they have done quite well at it so far. Somehow, they persisted in life even after this ritual. Like some sort of ascension. Even if we somehow destroy this world sometime in our timeline, human kind did indeed survive and exist, and the Masters should be unable to revive in that timeline. In the next cycle, the same thing is repeated. We destroy the world in that timeline, keeping the Masters at bay yet again. Humanity is therefore considered sheltered, and we can just survive by moving from timeline to timeline, before the destruction of the world takes place. That’s the cut-off point, but any time before that day is fair-game. Humanity has continued to live on through the Perished manipulating us into this vicious cycle. How… fucking…” Jason clenched his fists.

“They want us to step into godhood, not to battle the Masters but become capable of suppressing them in their sealed state, and ensure they never revive,” Diana concluded.

“I don’t like that. I ain’t doing that all,” Andrew shook his head. “Fuck the Perished, and fuck their grand plan.”

Taylor suddenly stood up, his hands resting on the table in front of him.

“I think we can make a bet on the Masters. I have good reason for thinking so too,” Taylor looked firmly into his friends’ eyes.

“Go ahead,” Jason gestured.

“Firstly, on the topic of compassion of these Masters. You can notice they are very empathetic beings. One section of this journal spoke about the passionate love and romance between each pair of their Masters. They were also lonely, missing their old race. When they found primate-man, they showed compassion and patience. Levi’s journal also shows his upbringing was compassionate. The Masters were by no-means tyrannical. I think these six dickheads have got the whole thing wrong,” Taylor grunted. “Secondly, what would be the reason behind the Masters asking Magic to be passed down to all other humans? If all of this was going to be rewound, why would they bother? It’s as if our race was going to live on independently, if you ask me. And finally, this Primordial anchor. Did these six even stop to think about the purpose of this anchor? If it sounds like what I think it sounds like, isn’t it’s purpose to maintain a stable timeline? Why would the Masters want to leave this behind? What would they be trying to protect?” Taylor asked.

“That’s true… but how exactly did these six fall into this misunderstanding in the first place?” Diana asked. “Potentially, their natures of existence were corrupted even back to the past, so they developed rapid unfounded contempt at their Masters?”

Jason who had remained silent finally rose to his feet.

“Whatever the case may be, the only way to find out the true intentions of the Masters is to ascertain the function of the time machine altar,” he finished.

“That’s impossible… these beings are worlds above our existence. Even the Perished couldn’t comprehend this thing. It’s complex probably even for the standards of these Masters,” Diana disputed.

“Won’t know if I try. I’m connected to the Provenance Realm. I suspect that is the anchoring device. Andrew, bring out the altar,” Jason commanded.

“Alright, alright, there,” Andrew waved his hand and the altar gently plopped down on the ground in front of them.

Jason took a deep breath before he stepped forward and gently touched it.

The others sprung up in shock when the altar suddenly absorbed Jason in a flash of golden light, and then spat him out again, no less than a second later.

He went flying into the wall and through it, and came to a stop at the reinforced wall behind it.

Clouds of dust went shooting up everywhere and Diana ran to his side.

“Are you okay!?”

He coughed up a storm before he began to cackle and laugh.

“I saw it. I saw it…” he boasted before he suddenly returned to coughing.

After a few minutes of catching his breath, Jason returned to his seat when they all heard voices from the corridor.

“Oh god, what happened here?” It was Puria’s voice.

She appeared at the opening, looking at the four skeptically.

Mercy appeared behind her, curiously glancing around her.

“Mercy!” Taylor called, rising to his feet.

She lit up and came out, bounding into his arms.

“We heard some suspicious noise so we came over here to check,” she said.

“Oh yes, no matter,” Jason wryly chuckled as Puria curiously eyed the altar.

“What’s this thing?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Timey-whimey bullshit machine,” Andrew responded firmly.

Jason broke out into a laugh.

“Not anymore. I know it’s purpose now. When I touched it, I got to see a recorded segment stored within it. It still had enough functionality left to restore that virtual scene. I got to witness it’s creation,” Jason said smugly.

“Okay, cool. Good for you. Now, what the fuck does it do?” Andrew asked.

“Doesn’t matter!” Jason exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “Too much to say, too little time. Let’s go find these Masters. Get your asses up.”

Taylor looked to Mercy with a sharp breath.

“I’ll come back for you in no-time. Sorry, I gotta go again,” he told her with guilt.

“It’s okay,” she smiled to him, giving him a peck on the lips. “I’m happy to just see you again,” she reached up and brushed his loose hair out of his eyes. “I’m patient, so you just focus on doing your best!” she winked.

“Huh…” Taylor sighed. “Thank you, Mercy.” His lips turned to a small smile as he looked back into her eyes.

“I’ll cruise through it,” he waved as he backed away, joining Jason who drew a circle at the floor around them.

“Have a safe trip, you all,” Mercy smiled and waved.

“Good luck,” Puria nodded to the four, and they chuckled, nodding back.

“Thank you, Mercy,” Taylor smiled as he disappeared into thin air with his comrades.