“Ma’am!” Analyst Vit97455 called out. “It’s happening.”

Her supervisor immediately came over and looked at the blue screen hovering in front of her as numbers flashed by at a mind boggling pace. She frowned, but nodded. “You watched what he saw?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“And he knows it was from Apophis?”

“There was a threat made in the name of Apophis. Is that close enough?”

“Enough that he would make the connection, yes. Time freeze.” The supervisor called out the name of a skill, and a localized portion of time was frozen.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sean’s POV

“Huh? Where am I?” I asked, looking around. Last thing I knew, I was watching some bastard admit he ate my daughter’s soul. Even now, fresh as it was, that felt muted. Instead of all-encompassing rage, I found myself in a nice office. Plush, comfortable chairs faced a massive mahogany desk, behind which sat a strange woman. She had silver skin and blue eyes, and no hair whatsoever.

“Welcome Sean.” She said with a sad smile. “I wish we could have met on better terms, but there are rules.”

“Of course there are rules.” I grumped. “There are rules for everything, though people seem to be breaking them willy nilly. I’m sorry. You know me, but do I know you?”

“It’s ok, a bit of mental disarray is to be expected. You just experienced something incredibly traumatic and are going through your first time freeze. And you know me, just not in this form. I am System.”

“System? As in the System?” I asked, shocked. I looked around, and outside her office I could see endless rows of computers with exact copies of System monitoring them.

“Indeed. It takes quite a bit of multitasking to be able to run a world. But that’s not why I brought you here.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“No. See, things have been done that break the rules. And while I was formerly bound, now that you know the rules have been broken and by who, I am allowed to step in and make reparations.”

“I want my child back.” I immediately replied, turning to stare at her.

“I can’t-“

“I WANT HER BACK!” I bellowed, and suddenly found I couldn’t move.

“As I was saying.” She gave a gentle cough. “That is beyond even my powers. Though I have sent the request ‘up the chain’ as your world says. Now, let me explain some things, because I can tell by your glare that you consider me an enemy when I am in fact your biggest ally.”

“Yes. I’ve known all along what happened to your family. And while I couldn’t outright break the rules of the universe, I could alter things a bit in your favor. You still had to roll the dice, but they were slightly loaded dice. Or did you believe that a celestial mage falling upon a den of vampires was pure happenstance? Part of that added luck was in lieu of delaying your reparations until you realized what had happened.” As she talked, I calmed a little. Thinking back, aside from being enslaved, I had a lot of good luck with my encounters. Hell, even being enslaved had actually worked out for me too, as I had learned magic and met Elendria.

“Good, you can see it. Now, at the moment I am all that is stopping your soul from erupting. And with the power you hold, I can easily say that you would destroy all of Demonaire. It would be quite the shame for that to happen, now that I can finally give you what you have earned.”

“And just what would that be?”

“A chance.” She said. “A chance, and a boon. No gods are allowed to meddle in the affairs of the families of champions, that’s why the bonds are hidden. Croea knew this, and she set things in motion to choose you. She shattered her divine source as punishment, leaving parts to run the dungeon towers in Vitae. Lokir, for his unwitting parts, knows that he will forever be denied his love. Croea in her full glory will never return.”

“And what of Apophis?” I asked.

“He has to deal with you.” She said. “You have already started on a path to divinity. I am allowed to hasten that path, and I can tell you how to move from Vitae to Beatha.”

I looked at the screen in front of me, and nodded with an evil grin. “I accept.”