I floated there in front of the purple node where I’d sent an Observer Manifestation thinking about what to do next. Not one to put off important decisions for too long I recalled the manifestation. Soon after a prompt filled my vision.

A Manifestation has returned, would you like to review it now, Yes or No?

I chose “Yes” and then found myself looking down at my dad holding my mother’s hand as a baby was born. I watched Johnathan’s birth, his antics as a baby and young boy as he grew up into his teens, and then as a young man that joined the Boy Scouts. He found the ring, put it on, and went off to college. On his 21st birthday, he went home to Clovis to be with his mom and dad. Unlike my version of that night, his was just a bit different.

As Johnathan walked into the house and called out to his mom and dad he turned into the kitchen and found both sitting at the Dining Room table, tied to the chairs with two bullet holes in their chest and one in their head. Their eyes were open and vacant as they sat held by the ropes. The shock of finding them that way shocked him and at that moment the assassin stepped out and put two bullets in his chest and one in his head, knocking him back and to the ground.

I thought back to that night and realized that at that moment the Johnathan I was looking at had thought that he was a normal man, much as I had at the time. This time though he would not practice his meditation. If there was an Abi that was supposed to be in his subconscious he’d never talk with her, and he wouldn’t come into his new powers slowly. What kind of monster would such an event make? I was about to find out.

I watched as his already high attributes saved his life. The bullet had not penetrated his skull or his chest. They’d knocked him down and back but hadn’t done any damage that his body wasn’t already repairing. The Assassin was looking around to make sure there were no other threats when Johnathan, with 363 times the strength and speed of a normal human moved, moved in a flash, took the gun from his right hand, and shot him in the groin twice while the assassin’s head was turned.

Even watching through this manifestation, I could feel the intimidation radiating off Johnathan as he cuffed the assassin on the side of the head with his fist, knocking him out. He then picked up the assassin one-handed and took him to the dining table and threw him on top of it. His gaze went to his parent and the rage in his eyes doubled. I heard him whisper, “This will never happen again” as he methodically went through the assassin’s pockets, retrieving everything that he could. Suddenly Johnathan froze when he heard something my manifestation hadn’t picked up.

While Johnathan at this level would not have been comparable to me, he was more than capable of dealing with anyone else on an Earth without magic. Moving like the wind, Johnathan made his way upstairs and out of a window on the opposite side of the house from the individuals converging on the house from the backyard. From the roof, he quickly shot and killed the three men with submachine guns that were advancing on the house from the alley behind his backyard.

He left the bodies where they fell and looked up. He moved to one of the assassins, pulled more ammunition for the pistol in his hand from the dead man’s combat harness as he aimed into the sky, and fired. A drone that had been hovering about 1,000 feet up fell sparked and started to fall out of the sky. As the drone dropped, Johnathan moved. He jumped from where he was to the neighbor’s roof and then hopped from roof to roof until he caught the drone before it hit the ground. He removed the battery pack and headed back to his house. The noise he made landing on the roofs had drawn attention, but he was back to his yard, onto his roof and through the window, he’d exited the house from, before anyone had even made it outside to see what had happened to their own homes.

Once inside, he went up to the unconscious assassin on the table and mouthed, “Don’t need you anymore,” and shot him through the top of his head three times. He took off his clothes and underwear and dropped everything he was carrying in a pile on the floor by the table. The only thing he held onto was the drone. Next, Johnathan went upstairs to his dad’s room and grabbed some of his old sweats and a hooded sweater. He also grabbed five $20 bills from his father’s emergency stash and made sure to put everything back as he’d found it. He put the small hand-sized drone he had in his sweater pocket. the $100 in his pants and pulled the hood up to cover his features.

Johnathan came downstairs and walked out the front door like nothing was wrong. A few of the neighbors called out but he pointed at his ears to indicate he was listening to something then started jogging down the street. He jogged towards the outskirts of town and once he was there started heading south using the dirt roads and crossing the flat terrain as he could.

I watched as he went through the self-discovery of just how powerful he was. I thought back to that time for myself. This Johnathan should have been level 5,000 and if this Cosmos was following the same rules as the one I started in he should have attributes right around 3,630 giving him an average running speed of just around 89 miles per hour. Without nanites and the skills to help him, his health regeneration would be about 1 per second but his mana and stamina regeneration would come back a little quicker, roughly 2% of his maximum every second. As long as he had food and water, he could probably keep up the pace he was jogging at for quite a while.

Johnathan stopped in Roswell two hours later, grabbed some water from a house on the outskirts of town that didn’t seem to have anyone home or any cameras anywhere then continued west. He stayed away from the roads but followed them as he could checking out his maximum running speed. He made his way to Tularosa then south to Alamogordo and southwest over to Las Cruces. Once he was at Las Cruces he made his way southeast toward El Paso. Once it was dark he made his way to a neighborhood that was near the Rio Grande River and then jumped over the wall and into Mexico.

As Johnathan made his way into the slums he came around a darkened ally to stare into what I knew to be a gate, though it was unlike any gate that I’d ever come across. Through the gate, a landscape reminiscent of primordial earth with volcanoes and lava off in the distance was visible through the portal. As this Johnathan had never seen a gate like this before he hesitated as a man in a business suit stepped through and locked his gaze on Johnathan. The portal closed behind him, and the man stepped forward displaying his small horns on the top of his head, red-slitted eyes, and red-tinted skin.

What followed next can only be described as similar to when Agent Smith attacked Neo at the end of “The Matrix.” Johnathan attacked. He utilized every hand-to-hand martial art trick he knew at his full strength and speed to attack the demon. Looking bored the demon easily blocked or sidestepped every attack. When Johnathan paused and was about to step back, a very pleasant-sounding voice said, “My turn,” and moved so fast that even the observer lost track of him. When he reappeared one second later he was holding a sword against Johnathan’s neck. The demon withdrew the blade in a flourish and sheathed it. As he stepped around Johnathan and walked toward the entrance to the ally, “Come take a look,” the demon said.

Johnathan, followed the Demon to the edge of the ally as the demon asked, “Would you like the ability to do something like this to your enemies?” As he pointed to the numerous dead bodies that limited the landscape.

Johnathan came to the entrance of the ally and looked to his right and left. As Johnathan looked out the first child screamed. This was followed by more screams until sirens could be heard in the distance. Littered throughout the street and in every vehicle were bodies of men and women that had either been stabbed, slashed, or cut in half.

Johnathan’s eye’s lit up with malice as he said, “Yes please, what do you need from me in return?”

“What we’d like, you cannot give. From you, I need a vow stating that you will never try to harm or kill me, so long as I have not first tried to harm or kill you,” The demon said.

“That’s an odd way to make a vow, wouldn’t you want to just be able to harm me at will without me being able to retaliate?” Johnathan asked

“Would you agree to those terms?”

“Fair enough, I Johnathan Bernard Vow never to harm or kill you unless you have tried to harm or kill me first,” Johnathan said.

“Come with me, we have work to do,” The demon said as a portal opened into a much nicer location than the hellscape the demon had ported in from.

As they both walked through the portal the demon continued, “The first thing we need to do is get you ready for what’s coming. To do that…” the portal suddenly cut off.

A moment later a new portal opened in the ally and Johnathan stepped out onto the sidewalk. He appeared weathered and something had changed about him. He turned his head back towards the portal, “Thank you, Master, I will get done what needs to be done.” Johnathan said as he cast a spell to turn himself invisible then flew up into the air and headed north. The Observer easily keep pace and was able to see through Johnathan’s invisibility. While he flew he pulled out the wreckage of the drone he’d found on the day of his parent’s murder then cast another spell that brought up information that only he could see.

Johnathan adjusted course and increased speed so that he soon arrived on the outskirts of St. Louis MO. He lowered himself into the backyard and phased through the wall into a house. As he walked along a hall he stopped at a portrait of a man, the same man that had tried to kill him in Clovis. It was a family picture of the man, his parents, and a sister. Johnathan walked through the house until he found the girl watching television with her parents. With a little fan fair, he waved his hands and a portal opened to the hellscape the observer had seen previously. Before the girl or her parents could react he’s already thrown each of them through the portal which then closed.

This pattern repeated three more times. Each family member of the assassins was thrown through the portal. When that was done. The last family he’d cleansed had a son that was into programming, just as Johnathan had been. Johnathan went to his room, hacked his computer, and went to work. He broke into every secure sight of every government agency leaving, what the observer recognized as a subtle yet obvious trail back to this terminal. Then he waited.

Within an Hour a blacked-out helicopter flew over the area and a squad of six people dropped into the house, looked around, and confiscated the computer. A black van pulled up to the house and the six-man team left without a word. Johnathan flew above the van to see where it went. When it pulled up the helicopter which had landed so they could load, Johnathan just waited until it took off and then followed it to their base of operation which was in Colorado Springs CO.

I skipped through the memories watching as this Johnathan systematically removed a massive portion of the population of Earth from its surface. He didn’t kill people outright, he just sent them through the portal to the hellscape which never showed anyone moving on the other side. Eventually, a portal opened and the demon he’d met before stepped through carrying a glowing hexagonal prism.

“You’ve done well, Johnathan,” the demon said as he handed the hexagonal prism to Johnathan.

Johnathan took the hexagonal prism reverently and then placed it on the ground as he chanted.

“Only through death, is rebirth possible

Only through destruction, can something be created

Only through service, can one rule

Only through obedience, can one rebel

Only through pain, can I hope to find pleasure again.”

As Johnathan finished he started tapping each of the six sides of the hexagonal Prism six times. It seemed as if there was a sequence to which side needed to be tapped in what order but there was no way to visually tell which side was which. Once six sides were tapped the hexagon started to unfold and a glowing white field started to spread as the demon and Johnathan stepped through the portal and it closed. The observing manifestation stayed ahead of the glowing field as it continued to grow until the entire planet was covered. It continued to spread. Eventually, the sun was engulfed but that didn’t matter the observer was flying away from the energy field as it continued to grow and expand. When I recalled the Manifestation the Milky Way was a memory and the curtain of white energy was still growing.

I came back to my senses floating in front of the purple orb as it started to flicker. I quickly cycled my vision into the past and noted that it was still purple and stable just an hour ago. So, whatever this effect was it wasn’t traveling into the past. Why then had the nodes I’d visited just recently all turned black so quickly? Then I had it. I flew up and around the curvature of the primary node to look at the nodes closest to it and viewed them in the far past. Whatever was being done to those nodes was happening in the past. Because these first nodes were falling, every node that split off from them was falling as well, except for the two purple nodes, which were still starting to flicker.

As I watched, every branch except the two that the purple nodes were on started to glow from within. This started from the farthest nodes out. Suddenly one flared white, popped, and the energy followed the connection to another node which turned white and popped. This continued in rapid succession until entire branches were gone. It reminded me of a fuse blowing and causing other fuses to blow in a cascade.

When the nodes beyond Cosmos 2 flared white and disappeared the energy from Cosmos three rushed back towards Cosmos 2 and stopped. There was a pearlescent glow within the purple coloring of Cosmos 2 now. When I looked at the other purple node I noticed that it also had a pearlescent coloring to it. It was at that moment that I realized that except for Node 1 and 2 and two different branches there were no other nodes or cosmos in this Realm Space anymore. What was that demon trying to do? Why was Johnathan helping him?

There had been universes within each of those Nodes, multiple universes. How much negative Karma would destroying all those universes and the beings within give a man? I opened my personal interface to check and see if this had affected my karmic luck and was relieved to see that his actions had not. A better question, where was the asshole? Sometimes, just sometimes, maybe I should just shut my damn mouth.

A portal opened and the Johnathan I just wondered about appeared in Realm Space not 100 feet from me. Then something weird happened. Not able to control myself I was yanked toward Johnathan as we were both yanked toward the prime node. The very first node in this Realm space. The first Cosmos. As Johnathan and I slammed into each other, because it looked like he’d been drawn to me as well, I heard him say, “What the fuck?”

Through the portal, I saw the demon’s head stick out and he waved as he called across the distance as we fell away from him and towards the prime Cosmos, “Places to be, things to do, have fun Johnathan, and thanks!” The demon’s head disappeared and both Johnathan and I sighed just before Prompts filled my vision.

WARNING: Error Negative Karma is interacting with Error Positive Karma

WARNING: Entry into Prime Node is forbidden by quantum apparitions

As I read that message a third Johnathan was drawn from the node below us until he slammed into and through, no, not through, he was merging with us. We were all merging.

Odin, Get everyone back to….

I tried to get that information off to Odin as my mind and body were flooded with the with lives and memories of two other Johnathans. Part of me noticed that both purple nodes flared white and popped and then the first nodes from the prime node turned black flared white and popped. I focused on the merging that was trying to take place.

The Johnathan that had been pulled out of the Primal node had been a programmer for a major technology corporation and had no idea what was going on. The Earth he had been pulled from appeared much as mine had been. They were almost identical. That Johnathan didn’t believe in magic either though he couldn’t explain the prompts he kept seeing. He was part of a group that believed that something had been placed in their eyes to create the prompts he saw and interacted with. It wouldn’t be that hard to do. Only Logic and Technology made sense. With a quick glance, I looked at his personal information which showed him at only level 10.

The Evil Johnathan on the other hand was another matter entirely. It didn’t matter that he was only level 5,000 and capped. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t created nanite technology or become a creature of Chaos. He had become a Creature of Order which canceled out my Creature of Chaos benefit. None of that mattered. What actually mattered and I didn’t figure this out until afterward was that he had almost as much negative Karma as I had positive Karma and when we touched a cascade of karmic energy began to be annihilated the longer we touched until a critical mass was reached and all three of us formed into only one Johnathan Bennard. Just as that happened, I felt Odin withdraw part of himself and seal it off just in case as he tried to get Adaline and Pandora to safety. All portals for my family and their friends were closed and they were safe in my original place of power. Hopefully, the barrier of nothing would protect them.

An explosion of karmic energy rocked realm space as both Adaline and Pandora were ejected from it and disappeared. Some of the nanites that had been in there went with them as chunks of planet earth. Odin had done well though as I saw the chunks morph to surround both in a protective coating as they flew out of my soul space. They’d been holding each other, mother and daughter as their cocoon of nanites had vanished. Wherever they’d ended up, I hoped they’d be together. If they lived I would find them. As part of me watched my love and my daughter disappear my mentality absorbed the benign Johnathan’s memory and personality from the Primal Node I was falling through into the Universe inside. As I crossed those barriers I found myself falling into Earth’s night sky over Nebraska as a shooting star, part of me recognized the pattern of Kansas City MO, Des Moines Iowa, Omaha NE, and Lincoln NE.

The primary part of my mentality though, that part of me, only had time for the eradication of the evil Johnathan’s mentality. I kept his memories and stored them away, then I ripped his very mind apart. Instinctively, I knew there could only ever be one of us and there was no way that I would let this monster continue. Where I’d almost been gentle and allowed Prime Johnathan, as I thought of him, to be incorporated into me, I did not do the same for a version of myself that had killed so many.

As I eradicated and absorbed two other versions of myself, I also received a warning prompt.

WARNING Chaos Identity contained in your Soul Space and infested within your being is not compatible with this Cosmos. As a creature of Chaos, you may continue to harbor those identities, but they will not be permitted to contaminate this Cosmos.

WARNING: You have entered the Primal Cosmos of this Realm. Certain features of your parent Cosmos are not available in this Node

WARNING: This Primal Node has been Locked. Major events no longer produce nodes within this Realm.

Congratulations! All portions of your Soul have been reunited. You have achieved Absolute Soul Level at 100%.

Congratulations! Your Soul Level has increased to Transcendent 0%

My Soul level increased, and I was in a Primal Cosmos. While that was interesting the more important question that I wanted to be answered was, where were Adaline and Pandora? That was the last thought I had as I slammed into the ground at a terminal velocity just north of Grand Island NE. It was almost ironic that at that exact moment my mind decided that the strain I’d just gone through was also enough to finally knock me unconscious.