(Dyson Sphere Estate, January 16th,2037, Day 380)

Patterns repeat. Electrons orbit the nucleus. Planets orbits Stars. Solar Systems orbit a Galactic core. Patterns repeat. Chaos forms Universes, Universes fracture or repeat, naturally or artificially. Outside Chaos is Nothing, on the other side of Nothing is more Chaos? The Labyrinth is multifaceted, yet the size of a Universe, Cosmos, Reality?

These random ideas and questions flashed through my mind until I woke up. I checked my internal clock and noted I’d been asleep for over 20 hours. The trip into the other realm must have taken more out of me than I’d thought. That thought brought me back to Bob and I checked his status. The amount of memory in his mind now held 254 lifetimes worth. Why did that number feel significant? It wasn’t that number specifically; it was the number 256 that was significant. My Perfect memory kicked in and I recalled that the first memory chips and programming languages could hold no more than 256 sets of data in the arrays you programmed into them. This made using computers to track personnel for companies with more than 256 employees problematic. They’d have to have multiple programs, usually tied to the first letter of the employee’s last name, which meant 26 different programs to keep track of with possible secondary files for last names that were quite common.

Why would that information pop into my mind? Could the same be true for Bob’s mind? Could… Bob’s number of lifetimes lived ticked up to 255 and my nanites had to repair a major brain bleed that occurred. I reviewed the number of lives that had been lived. It looked like the average was about 4 minutes and 56 seconds before a new life was added, so I had about 4 minutes and 30 seconds before his next, and last? Life was added.

The first thing I did was jump into the Cosmic Interface for myself and ensure that my settings were locked. Then I wrote a subroutine to revert me to my current stats if something changed me so thoroughly that I’d lost all my powers. I didn’t think anything like that would happen but better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. My one concern was if there was another level above the cosmic interface? If that were true, then whatever I was doing to the cosmic settings for myself may, or may not, have any effect.

Next, I queried my nanites and looked for Apolyn and what he’d been up to. The idiot still hadn’t figured out that something technological was riding him and even though he was technically a god. Adam started reviewing what Apolyn had been up to.

***

Apolyn had been trying to get rid of Adam, in every way that he knew how. He’d gone back in time until there was only one Universe and systematically removed entire bloodlines from the face of planet Earth. He’d been going at it for almost two days now and nothing seemed to work. He’d followed the bloodline as far back as he could, determining that they had originally come from Africa. The first couple of times he’d killed the females of his lineage. When that didn’t work he went and killed an entire village, then every single human within 1,000 miles. No matter what he did, time, somehow corrected itself. He’d been intrigued to the point that he’d actually stayed and watched as the timeline reset itself around him. The memory of him killing everyone was erased and everything reverted. He saw no agency perform the fix, it just happened.

He’d also noticed that each time he tried to change something the fix would happen even quicker. His last attempt had been to obliterate any chance that humans would exist on Planet Earth in Universe 001, sending a ripple throughout the many alternate universal copies of the Prime Universe by taking a comet about half the size of Mars and slamming it into Earth. This should have cracked the planet, destroyed the biosphere, and destroyed any chance of someone coming into existence that could thwart him the way he’d been thwarted.

Apolyn watched from orbit as the Comet entered the upper atmosphere of the planet and a ripple went out and around the planet as the comet simply ceased to exist. What the hell was going on? If this Adam character was thwarting him, he should be able to destroy him using what the humans of Earth referred to as the Grandfather Paradox. In this case, he had to admit, he was going a little overboard by trying to destroy the entire planet, but hey, that fucker had to die. If he destroyed Earth before there were humans, then any of the multiple alternates that contained Adam should cease to exist thereby ridding him of that nuisance once and for all.

With this last failure, there was only one thing left to try. Of Course, if he was successful, he’d never know. Apolyn teleported to the Solar System of Primore millions upon millions of years in the past. He made sure not to go back before the changes he’d originally made to ensure he didn’t undo the removal of the other divine. Dealing with Gods that were much more powerful than him was not on his to-do list. Much like the Earth system, Primore had gas giants and planets orbiting its sun, 14 in total. Out past those planets was an Oort cloud and in that cloud were rocks and asteroids the size of small planets. Utilizing his magic he altered the course of four of those large asteroids and put them on a collision course with Primore and watched as they descended.

It would have taken a couple of years for the asteroids to make their way to the planet so Apolyn just sped up his reference of time and watched as they impacted the surface and cracked Primore in half and then into an expanding asteroid field filled with the remnants of the biosphere as it was blown away. Apolyn had just enough time to realize that he’d made a terrible mistake.

***

“That Idiot!” Adam exclaimed as he felt the ripple travel through his Dyson Sphere. Adam noted that bob was floating dead in Chaos, as reported by his nanites that were still a part of him. He opened the Cosmic Interface and was surprised, yet not really all that surprised by what he found.

A CATEGORY 10 TIME EVENT HAS TAKEN PLACE. A TICKET HAS BEEN GENERATED. THE APPROPRIATE quintessence WILL REVIEW THIS EVENT AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS ACCORDINGLY.

Well, that didn’t sound ominous, Adam thought. Adams Nanites still existed throughout the Universe, but a change had happened, as remembered by Bob. There were a seemingly infinite number of alternate Universes, then there weren’t, then there were. When the Universes existed, Bob was alive on one of the Syndicates planets. When there were none, Bob was dead floating in Chaos. Also, it seemed that my memory was being affected as well. While I might exist outside time, the things I interacted with did not and as they ceased to exist, my memories of them faded as well. It was the weirdest thing, feeling half your mind cease to exist and then having it pop right back. If not for Bob, I would have been stuck in this stutter of time, just like everyone else. Just as I was trying to figure out what to do a being of such immense power that even I was daunted popped into existence and time stopped. Even I was frozen in place.

When I could perceive reality again I was in my estate and a boy stood before me. He appeared to be of middle eastern descent with eyes that measured and weighed me. Even I felt humbled by their gaze.

“Johnathan Bennard, Adamantadine, Adam I greet you. You may refer to me as Ptah. Though that is not my name or my function. In your literature, the name should provide you with some knowledge of the power I hold”

Ptah, was the Egyptian God of the Multiverse the creator of the world, the Egyptian version of God, with a big G. With as much humility as I could muster I answered, “Greetings Ptah, what can I do for you?”

“It would seem that you are both out of time and out of place. Through no fault of your own of course. The lesser beings who gave you this ‘reward’ could not foresee the problems it would create. Those problems have led to the Paradox that has stalled this Cosmos”

“Paradox?” I asked.

With a gesture, Ptah and I appeared behind Apolyn as he looked down on Primore and watched as four asteroids destroyed it. As that happened he ceased to exist, then the planet reappeared and a moment later Apolyn and the four asteroids reappeared leading to its destruction and Apolyn’s disappearance. We watched the cycle happen ten more times before we reappeared at my estate in the Dyson Sphere. “As you can, the being known as Apolyn really screwed up by taking that action.”

“I can see how that could be bad,” I responded. “Why remove me from the loop and speak with me?”

“Right to the point, Good. The reason, I’ve decided to speak with you is that I wished to know your intentions after I repair this situation.”

“You have seen that I have taken steps to remember what has happened?” I asked.

“Yes, it is not often that we encounter biologically ascendant beings that have gained access to the interface, let alone have the ability to make modifications and adjustments. While I can of course undo those adjustments I first wanted to find out why you made them.

“Simply, I wanted to be able to make sure something like what you just showed me could not happen. I failed.”

“You intended to try to keep Apolyn or someone like him from making changes to the timeline again, how?” Ptah asked.

“I was going to attempt to go back to the very beginning and lock the use of time, or at least curtail it like it was originally in the Cosmos I came from.

“The Cosmos you came from, wait…” Ptah’s eyes glazed over and I saw his body ripple. “I have reviewed your existence and see what you mean. In your original Cosmos, my counterpart had placed strict limitations that only a very few, whom it deemed worthy, could travel through time indiscriminately, specifically to prevent issues like this current one. Unfortunately, this is not something you could have accomplished. I have reviewed your life and all of your knowledge, including your theories and ideas, and even with as much as you know, you have but scratched the surface of the truth of existence. As answering the question for oneself is part of the reason for the Journey I cannot give you that answer.”

“I think I understand, so what are your options?” I asked.

“Not my options, your options. As for what your options are, in this Cosmos, you are done. This version of Apolyn will be heading through ‘The Eye’, as you call it, shortly. The various fragments of his soul that exist elsewhere will eventually join him there and he will move on.”

“The Eye is a waiting area?” I asked.

“’ The Eye’, when you finally travel there, will make its purpose known to you at that time. This brings us back to you and your options. The first option is I can leave you here to live out your existence as a God here, commensurate with the rank you’ve attained. You should know that when I fix the changes that Apolyn wrought this Cosmos will once again resemble yours and there will be many Gods throughout the Cosmos and the many alternate Universes that exist. Also, the rules as you remember them concerning time will once again be reinstated. While you might be able to travel into the far past, not many others will be able to, and only those whose purpose requires it will be able to do so frequently. I would strongly suggest if you chose this option that you only travel in time in pursuit of the purpose you serve. Otherwise, we might have another visit and it will not be, as pleasant for you.

“Understood,” I said. “The second option?” I asked.

“The second option is simple. After reviewing your life so far, I believe that you never actually agreed to become a divine. You just accepted the inevitability of that course. I will return you to a place and time in Primore after the changes you made with Xsistant and Tasha. You will have access to your Place of power but should understand that it will be but a copy of your original place of power. The original is tied up in the time loop you created. In simplest terms, I’m going to divert the energy being wasted here to create a copy of the cosmos you came from up and to the point of your success. The rules there will be close to what you remember. You will not be a God. Instead, you will once more be an Ascendant Human with a lot more experience, but still an Ascendent Human

I thought about that for a minute. I could go back, chase down the Vizier, fix the wrongs of that world, and…What was I thinking? If my purpose was to promote natural selection, there was nothing natural about introducing, for all intents and purposes, an Apex Predator with a power level that would compare to most Gods of the realm. Rank Disparity might exist but I’d be impossibly hard to kill and eventually I’d be able to overcome any obstacle. I thought about it while Ptah watched me, probably reading my thoughts, then he nodded once and smiled. Yep, reading my thoughts. “Is there a third choice?”

“Yes, I can return you to your original cosmos. The one my lesser removed you from that allowed you to be immune to paradoxes and such.”

“If you read my thoughts, then you know, if you leave me at this power level, even without magic, which I would unlock throughout that Universe eventually, I’d still be the most powerful being there. There is nothing natural about that?’

“Knowing the Cosmos you come from and viewing how things could play out if you went back, I would say that you are correct for the most part. There are forces and beings throughout the reality that even you would have a hard time dealing with. Your ability to be reborn constantly, however, does give you a significant advantage in any such encounters. Also, your multiple bodies and diffused consciousness make permanently destroying you almost impossible for entities of a lesser station than myself.” Ptah said.

“And my fourth option is to go through ‘The Eye’,” I asked

“That is an option for any being to accept at any time. In your case, however, you should know that you will have significant advantages as you move on. I can’t give any information except to say that the idea of Karma is Universal. What you have done, do, and will do, will all play a part as you move forward. But any sane intelligent being should know that.” Ptah said.

While we watched Apolyn appear and disappear I thought about everything I’d seen and learned. Everything I had yet to learn and then thought back to a couple of hours ago when I felt lonely. I looked at the entity calling itself Ptah and said, “I wish to return to my original Cosmos. I will visit with my family for a while. Make sure Abi, Evelyn, Mom and Dad and even the rest of humanity has what it needs to move forward then I think I will accept my fate and travel to the Eye”

Ptah smiled as he said, “So Be It!”

***

The last thing Apolyn remembered was watching the asteroids slam into Primore, then nothing. He wondered where he was and what was going on as he floated through the stuff of Chaos. He knew what it was as he’d been on its edge in Astral Space more than once. As he felt pulled forward, he noticed copies of himself coming up to and combing with himself. He felt no different as each copy merged with himself, though each time it occurred he felt as if something that had been missing had returned. This went on for some time before he found himself before a white door. The white door opened and Apolyn was drawn through automatically.

***

The Quintessence of Time, or as Adam knew him, Ptah watched Apolyn was guided through the door into The Eye and sighed. That one was going to be a problem. Luckily Karma did play a part and if Adam was going to follow soon, perhaps he could temper Apolyn’s influence. Then again, As he’d seen countless times throughout the ages the beings that this system produced could turn out in countless ways. He really hoped Apolyn wasn’t the one they needed. Adam, however, was someone that just might be exactly what the Quintessence were looking for. While an entity such as himself did not like or dislike in the normal fashion he found that he did like Adam. The one thing that he could do nothing for Adam about though was Adaline, her tasks in this Cosmos weren’t done. Besides, the relationships of biologicals were so fleeting and She’d probably see Adam again, perhaps, but not for a long time to come and definitely not on this side of The Eye. With that final thought The Quintessence of Time fixed the Cosmos and sent Adam back whence he came.