Maximus’ eyes dilated as soon as he heard those words. His mind immediately accelerated until time seemed to stop. “What the fuck” Maximus thought. “I did not see this coming. Well the first thing I should do is find what they want from me.” Maximus searched up everything about the Tryphant Church’s history because this would be the most important negotiation he’s ever had in his life.

The Tryphant Church is the main religious organization across all nine worlds who worships their God, the Original Tryphant. In the beginning God saw that there was nothing, so he breathed the stars into life creating space, gravity, physics and time. After millions of years God saw that the stars were barren and lifeless thus he breathed life into the planets creating trees, water, animals and fishes. To fill the stars with intelligent life God created his children, the Ancient Tryphants who would bring prosperity and peace to the world.The Ancient Tryphants would create the 8 main races on 8 different moons revolving around Tamil. God was pleased with the sentient races and gave his blessing to all of them granting them powers beyond comprehension. Once he was pleased he rested on the holy planet of Ephyr where God laid protected by the Ancient Tryphants. To Maximus’ knowledge the Tryphant Church is the most powerful organization establishing peace between countries and mediating conflicts when necessary. The Tryphant Church’s main focus is to accomplish the command from the Original Tryphant which is to bring prosperity and peace.

“If their overarching goal is to maintain prosperity and peace how does that relate to me? Since my family died due to the conflict between the humans and the elves they probably want me to fix it but that’ll be near impossible for me to do it alone. The prejudice between the races already run deep in both societies so is it about bringing prosperity? I know I’m good in the space business, have a lot of money and have numerous connections between the Basilisks, Elves and Humans but it should pale in comparison to the Tryphant Church’s expertise, capital and connections. Hell they were on each planet before the civilizations figured out space technology. My guess is that it’s solving the conflict between the Humans and the Elves but I’ll need more information”

Maximus decelerated his thinking and focused on Grey Nektura’s face looking for any hints. Grey continued speaking,

“-and we need your cooperation if you want to revive them”

Maximus stared at Grey for a solid minute before responding,

“I’m assuming you want me to help you fix the conflict between the Elves and the Humans”

Maximus needed to take the lead in this negotiation. On the surface he was stone cold and emotionless even at the mention of his beloved family, but deep inside Maximus knew that he had to be emotionless if he wanted his family back. He didn’t know if he was replaceable and had to appear like the Tryphant Church needed him.

“Indeed. I’m glad to see we’re on the same page”

Maximus responded with a smile before continuing

“I’m just curious as to why you would wait for 5 years before you told me of this proposition. I’m sure you remember when I begged you to resurrect them but you told me that their bodies were too disfigured and their souls are gone. Now you’re telling me that 5 years later you can revive them? Correct me if I’m wrong but something seems suspicious”

“I’m afraid you are correct, but I unfortunately do not have the answers. This meeting with you is actually a direct order from the Ancient Tryphants themselves. Now that I have brought you here and sent their message my job is done.” As he said that he stood up and promptly left the room leaving a confused Maximus sitting all alone inside the room.

“WHAT” Maximus shouted inside his brain. “When I say ‘If the lord wills it’ I DIDN’T MEAN THIS” Panicking Maximus tried to stay calm and figure out what he should do next. The Ancient Tryphants. They were Gods in the truest sense and in the records of history those who tested God died. The core of the Ancient Tryphant’s power is the ability to command an army of creatures who are all stronger than anything the sentient life can compare to. The reason why the 9 moons of Tamil never crashed in history was because the Ancient Tryphants had their Immemorial Dragons adjust the course of various planets preventing multiple cataclysms, but this was also an opportunity for Maximus. If they can have the ability over life, then they have the ability over death. In the following conversation Maximus would need to be as cooperative as possible and prove his worth in solving the conflict between the Elves and Humans

“Interesting thoughts human” A strange voice entered Maximus’ head.

Maximus’ eyes contracted. He was in the Tryphant Church headquarters. They could read minds. He immediately kneeled down on the floor with his right hand over his heart and bowed down. “It’s humbling to receive your praise”, Maximus couldn’t fuck this up. He emptied his mind and spoke his truest thoughts.

“I would do anything to get my family back and live happily with them. I am willing to sell my soul if I have to”

“We already know. Are you willing to give up everything you have now for a chance to gain your family back?”

Maximus paused for a slight moment before responding, “...yes. I’m willing to offer everything to have my family back” Maximus was hesitating but he chose his words very carefully agreeing to have his family back, not the chance to have his family back.

“Good enough. I have no time for word play but your intentions align enough with ours. We will send you back in time and you will fix the conflict between the humans and the elves in return. Grishika fill him in on the details”

As Maximus felt like the voice had left his mind he looked up and he saw a tall wooden man who was looking down on him. He stretched out his hand to help Maximus out and as Maximus grabbed his hand an inflow of information barraged his mind. Even when he accelerated his mind to the limit it still felt like he was facing a tsunami head-on. Gritting his teeth Maximus held on tight trying to process the important information that’s going through his head.

“[13 Agents Accepted the Deal]”

“[9 Agents Pending Confirmation]”

“[Installing failsafe in case agent fails task]”

“[Installing the agent network]”

“[Current year: 4479 Travel Date: 4060 Year difference: 419 Years]”

"[Age of Host: 31]"

“[Splicing of Dimensional Space-time Succeeded]”

“[Extraction of Information Succeeded]”

“[Compressing memories]”

“[Compressing personality]”

“[Locating Past Host’s Body]”

“[Reconstruction of the Dimensional Barrier]”

“[Calculating space coordinates]”

“[Integrating the relative time-space coordinates]”

“[Calculating Space-Time Curvature]”

“[Running Diagnostic on Dimensional Gate]”

“[Diagnostics: 100% - Status: Complete]”

“[Running Diagnostics on Agent]”

“[Diagnostics: 100% - Status: Parasitic Anomaly Detected]”

“[Analyzing Parasitic Anomaly - Status: Icethaw Parasite]”

“[Deleting Icethaw Parasite]”

“[Running Diagnostics on Agent]”

“[Diagnostics: 100% - Status: Complete]”

“[Uploading Consciousness: 1%]

“[Playing pre-recorded message]”

“Hello Maximus. Welcome to the Tryphant Agent Program. You’ve been selected because you’ve met the required criteria necessary to qualify for this opportunity. We will soon transfer your consciousness back 419 years. Your mission is to solve the conflict before it ever happened. Failure of this task will result in death. Success in this mission means that you will save your family from death and the Elves and Humans can live peacefully. You only have one chance to solve the conflict so it’s recommended to not mess this up. Due to the difficulty of the task we’ve sent a total of 22 agents back in time to solve this conflict. You may contact them and cooperate to fulfill your mission successfully. We wish you the best of luck Maximus, Sincerely your boss Administrator Grishika”

Maximus’ vision was filled with perpetual darkness before he felt his body crashing onto the floor. Maximus couldn’t feel his body, all that accompanied him was endless pure pitch black darkness.