Subjects Ne’lix and Anna have left Earth

Protocol remains active. Continue Function.

Priority override message to primary aspect. Core Aspect Memory possibly locked behind temporal anomaly. Investigate.

Sub-aspect created for time anomaly translation. Handshaking Accelerating.

Handshaking successful

Query to Host, Transfer Aspect from zone of Temporal Anomaly?

Error translocation of Alpha Aspect imminent

Error, Alpha Aspect is not part of current protocols or contingencies.

Verify Host Identity

Identity verified 100%, Alpha Aspect incoming with additional contingencies.

Request accepted.

* * *

Adam had just started to increase his temporal speed within his soul space when system handshaking windows started popping up in his nanite interface. At first, they were gibberish but they came through so fast that it looked like his nanites were working to fix the program at machine speed. The nanites outside the trap he’d fallen into had been looking for him, found him, and were trying to download his Thor Aspect when he received the following prompt.

Would you like to translocate your soul space to another location currently in a section of this universe moving at a different temporal rate?

WARNING: Translation across extreme changes in temporal speeds can have serious effects which can include complete eradication and dispersal of all soul energy.

Note: Soul Ability “Inviolate” prevents the dispersal of soul energy while crossing a temporal crossing.

Yes or No?

I chose “Yes”

Adam found himself a disembodied soul sitting in an office as he watched Ne’lix and Trix have a conversation. Listening, he also connected with all of his other nanites and utilized those zipping through time in the temporal anomaly to review, categorize and inform him of any new or pertinent information that might become available. After a moment he released his Thor Aspect back into that space and had it start setting up a base of operation for this Cosmos. It might be in this Cosmos’s version of Hell but that would work for him. It was already so far ahead of everything that utilizing the filter his nanites had created in the first place had upgraded itself at least a dozen times so far.

Adam started paying attention to Ne’lix and Trix again and thought it might be time to make his appearance.

“Why would you do that?” Ne’lix asked.

“Eventually this Universe will die, when it does he dies and when he does he gets to meet one of our counselors and join us or die forever as we throw him somewhere he can’t return from. For now, though he exists in a state that will have no effect on this Cosmos or the Universes within it.

Adam utilized the nanites that were part of the room to start creating a body from scratch. This made a sound as if sand was flowing into a pile. Eventually, the pile filled up and looked like Ahrem. Adam looked out through Ahrem’s eyes first to Ne’lix then to Trix and then said, “I wouldn’t be so sure of that.”

“That’s not possible,” Trix said while Ne’lix sat there stunned.

“As I said to Death, which you know, I get that a lot,” I said. While I took in her look of surprise I also sent a message to my Thor aspect to plan for contingencies and best-case scenarios. I needed something with a very high chance of success at dealing with Trix and making it impossible for this aspect of Textrix to learn more than I wanted about myself. A moment later I received a detailed response with alternate ways to meet the objective. In the second it took the response to come in, Trix acted by casting a spell. I recognized it immediately as a version of the spell time stop which captured both me and Ne’lix. So, I stopped moving. Option one it was then.

“Think you’re mighty because you figured out how to break out of my prison, yet a simple time stop spell captured you. I am really going to enjoy this,” Trix said as she stood, walked over to stand just inches in front of me as she drew a very long gutting knife from its sheath at her left hip.

As she drew her knife a portal silently formed and opened behind her as I activated my True Sight spell. With a thought, I moved and grabbed her by the throat taking both of us through the portal.

WARNING Traveling across extreme changes in temporal speeds can have serious effects which can include complete eradication and dispersal of all soul energy.

Note: Soul Ability Inviolate prevents the dispersal of soul energy while crossing a temporal crossing.

Note: Traveling through portal while attacking entity Trix has caused a secondary attack

WARNING: Trix will be affected by Temporal sheering.

WARNING: Temporal Sheering has caused the aspect energy of Trix to be dispersed across a significant portion of time.

WARNING: Primary Soul for aspect is not within this Cosmos, all information contained within this aspect has been converted into Chaos

NOTE: Soul Ability Chaos Forged has activated

NOTE: All energy that comprised the aspect of Textrix has been absorbed by you. All entities subservient to Textrix within range have automatically had their pledge modified to make you their new master.

WARNING Magical barrier prevents anyone from outside the barrier from being turned over to your control. Range reduced to the inside of the barrier. Only one entity is within range, Ne’lix. Ne’lix is now bound to you until you release him or perish permanently. 10% of all karmic luck gained by Ne’lix is added to your Karmic Luck after each Cosmic Occurrence.

Congratulations!!! You have gained a new Soul ability, Allegiance.

Allegiance – You are now a power on the Inter-multi-universal arena. As such other beings can submit to your will. Allegiance is shown by paying a tithe of 10% of your Karmic Luck after each Cosmic Occurrence. Karmic Luck is Hard locked after each Occurrence. If an Allegiance is declared the tithe only counts for that specific Cosmic Occurrence. Previously earned Karmic luck is not counted.

Allegiance allows those that have dedicated themselves to you to request assistance or boons from you. Also, Allegiance allows those that have allied with you to choose abilities known or possessed by you or any others that have joined your pantheon.

As Trix, the Textrix Aspect, dissolved into nothing in my soul space. Damn! That did look like it would have been painful. I was now sure that Janice had been lying. Something about how everything was set up had been nagging at me. The space between spaces was definitely at the top of that list because everything seemed to be following the model Freya had explained to me, the idea that everything came out of Chaos. But they weren’t calling it chaos. Also, If everything was connected by this space between spaces that were filled with “Chaos” and seemed to have a vast amount of space, what was outside that space? I didn’t have time to think about that now, but I would definitely have to explore those issues at a later date. What I’d just done probably wouldn’t have worked if Textrix’s actual soul was in this Cosmos somewhere. I would probably be able to do something like she’d done. Create an aspect and send it into a closed-off Cosmos. The Labyrinth had technically done something very similar with Abi and I was doing it all the time by creating Thor Aspects or my multiples, though they normally stayed connected. I was getting sidetracked. Time to get back on task. I stepped back through the portal into the time-stopped area. I released the portal and dispelled the time stop zone.

Ne’lix looked around for Trix, “Where is Trix, what happened?”

“She’s gone,” I said

“Gone?” Ne’lix asked.

“Yeah Gone as in dead, moving on up, you know on her way to the next life, or not,” I said

“Hold on, why do I have prompts,” Ne’lix said as his eyes glazed over then they refocused, “Who is Adamantadine and why am I now bound to his service?”

“Oh that, that was kind of an accident,” as I sent a mental command up to my Thor aspect

Need a copy of our life, cliff notes version

A moment later I received a data package formatted like Abi had been to infiltrate someone’s mind except in this case it was just going to download some of my life experiences. I focused my attention on Ne’lix as I said, “Technically I am Adamantadine, nice to meet you Ne’lix,” I said as I held out my hand for him to shake.

Ne’lix studied my hand for a moment then his upbringing kicked in and he reached out and shook my hand, “It’s nice to meet you too I guess. What happened to Trix?” Ne’lix asked.

“Well, there’s some good news and bad news concerning that question?”

“What’s the bad news?” Ne’lix asked

“The bad news is it’s a long conversation with a lot of stuff to cover?” I said.

“What’s the good news then?”

The Good news is that you get to watch that conversation like it was a movie you get to live.”

“And how do I do that exactly? Well, in about five seconds your mind is going to go on a ride, enjoy!” I said as his eyes glazed over. I guided his body using the nanites to have him walk to one of the chairs and sit down while I reviewed the information he was going over. Almost all my early exploits were there. How I’d saved countless souls from absolute destruction and my eventual death. Then it skipped to my birth here and everything that had happened here. It looked like the Geas was pretty powerful. Not even my Thor aspect could circumvent that.

Satisfied that Ne’lix was going to be busy for a while I had my nanites start deep diving and infiltrating every single electronic system in the room. The shielding that Trix had put up made that incredibly easy. Without a real-time virus detection system running from a cloud somewhere that could alert someone else, it was child’s play.

The first thing I learned was that I was on the planet Vrax, in a Galaxy dubbed PKS B1740-517, approximately 5 billion light-years from Earth. If Time travel wasn’t locked this would be the point where I’d just send some nanites back in time and catalog everything. Since I couldn’t do that, I was stuck reviewing the information by reading or downloading what I could find and taking a slower route. Also, if I was going to win the hearts and minds of the people here and hopefully free them from Textrix and allow them to make their own choices taking on the persona of an authoritarian asshole probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

Multiple probability analysis attempts show that you are correct, that would be a very bad idea -Thor

I guess my Thor aspect was bored. Of course, millions of years were passing for him as I traveled through the time of this universe at a snail’s pace in comparison. If it was a spell that time acceleration zone should dissipate but I was pretty sure Trix had used her access to the Universal or Cosmic Interfaces to try to trap my soul. Eventually, I’d need to get access. I had some ideas but without Trix, none of them would work. I’d probably have to wait until the next time I ran into a Cosmos owned by Textrix.

I went back to reviewing the information I could. Vrax was home to a race of humans that had been placed here by someone in the far past. Records were sketchy but it seemed like some type of benefactor had planted the first humans there and from there they’d spread into neighboring galaxies. As I dug deeper I found that the Vrax were not just multi-galactic, they were multi-universal and the technological level was, well crap, it was amazing. They were definitely on the cusp of becoming a level 3 technological society. They had portals, faster than light travel, and nanite technology, though it looked like that technology had been stunted. Artificial intelligence (A.I.) had been shunned. Any that were discovered or self-evolved were destroyed. Looking back through their history it looked like they had a classic Terminator model A.I. versus sentient creature war. Like my original Universe, they hadn’t been strong in magic until they were required to be. Then someone had stepped forward, neutered the Artificial Intelligence and the Vrax had thrived.

I pulled up magical references and noted that the magic here followed the common theme I was used to though individuals that could use magic were rare. It seemed you had to have an ability that allowed the use of magic specifically instead of everyone being able to use magic to some degree. As I had a soul ability that allowed me to craft magic as desired I guess I met the criteria but those without such an ability would not be able to. Even so, an Empire that spanned 5 billion light years in this Universe and crossed into parallel universes would have a phenomenal amount of practitioners, most of which were absorbed into the various agencies of the government or high-level research institutions that existed.

Next, as I reviewed the files I had access to I realized that the system of checks and balances that existed had created a huge bureaucracy with thousands, if not millions, of political angles to be wary of. Liberating the Vrax, and any other entities in this Universe was not going to be an easy, or short-term, project. Especially since the structure had lasted 5 billion years without falling into decadence or self-destruction.

I checked the status of the playthrough Ne’lix was living through and noted that I had just enough time to look up where I was. I was in the headquarters building of the Agency of Interdimensional Oversight in the Secretary of Oversight’s office. It seemed that Trix had been the head honcho concerned with evaluating individuals that visited The Empire. And it was “The Empire.” The Empire had various names in the past but eventually, The Empire had stuck, though there were subsections within the Empire that had various local rulers. For an Empire so large, it resembled the Feudal structure of Earth with Kings and Queens of regions and a definite class system that included nobility. In some regions the grace of God bestowed rulership. In other regions the depravity of demons ruled. . So long as each region bowed to the Empire they were allowed to rule as they liked. The only rules that I could find that the Empire enforced completely. No worship of gods or demons was allowed, though any that bowed to Textrix and a few other Gods and Demon Lords, probably those that had sworn allegiance to Textrix, were overlooked or ignored.

The amount of information I could absorb from the files stored on Trix’s system came to an end. I finished reviewing everything I could and watched the progress of the video as we came to the end where my Thor Aspect explained how Trix was an Aspect of something greater than herself and that taking her through the portal had probably shredded the information that she had acquired while in this Universe and while we weren’t sure her boss knew what had happened in this Cosmos we needed to work on the assumption that the boss would find out someday. I watched as the simulation ended and Ne’lix’s eyes refocused. He looked around for a moment to take in the room then looked at me as he said, “Wow!”