Over the next week, we worked to save this version of Earth. Luckily, the dungeons underwater didn’t pose too much of a threat. Of the 21 only 7 were near shorelines. A lot of nonaquatic monsters that exited the Dungeon were crushed by the pressure of the ocean or drowned before they could make it to the surface. Abi and Amanda were able to get the word out about the 11 dungeons on land. All the populations within 5 miles were evacuated quickly and efficiently.

My task in each scenario was to find the dungeon entrance and seal it. I couldn’t make portals for every dungeon to the Unicorn Singularity so I did something a lot simpler. I would find a dungeon and then open a portal in front of its entry point and make the exit into a different Dungeons entry point. By doing this I closed off Earth from the Dungeons and the monsters that were trying to break through. As they left a dungeon they entered another one. I couldn’t keep this up forever so I created portals with a one-year time limit. Though I added just a little more power to each portal as I went along so they wouldn’t all fail at once. That should give me time to take care of each portal before the next came one came down.

Desirae and Clarence went out and dealt with any monsters that popped up or manifested from the ambient magic. Additionally, in non-populated areas, the militaries of the world were able to deal with any of the smaller threats. I left one version of myself at every entrance just in case something was able to break through my portal. I didn’t know if that was possible but wanted to make sure each area held. I kept my primary body with Adaline in our Estate on the Lifeboat and monitored from there. I’d also asked for one of the rings. I’d given it to Adaline who was now playing catchup with everyone else.

Adaline had been level 5,000 when the ring giving her one million experience a second had diverted that XP into Pandora because she’d reached the maximum level because the Realm level maximum hadn’t been lifted yet. Adaline was well behind the level of any of my other family or friends so it was her turn for a ring. She’d worn the ring for just over 7 days now and reached level 5,125. To reach level 15,000 would take her another 3 years and 2 months and she’d still be behind the others. That was fine, I had a feeling she’d have time.

Honestly, I was more worried about what she’d try to do once we found out where Pandora had been sent to. I had a feeling, that I couldn’t quantify, that the location she’d been thrown to was going to add another level of complexity to my understanding of this…existence. Yes. Existence was the only word that could encompass all the dimensions, planes, universes, cosmos, realms, layers, and realities. I had thought a “reality” was the all-encompassing descriptor that held everything else but I was pretty sure with how Pandora had disappeared that there was more. I could be wrong and she could have simply been shunted to another realm but I had a feeling if that were true I would have been able to teleport to her with little or no issue. I’d tried at least once a day every day. Nothing had happened.

Then the world had been placed under siege by monsters. My list of things that needed to be done before I could track down Pandora was growing;

Save the World from Monsters. Find out why the Labyrinth stopped holding back the monsters Speak with Knowledge, though I should probably put that before speaking with Bri Ensure Earth has protectors that can take over if family and I aren’t around anymore. Deal with whatever pissed Bri off Check on Apolyn every once in a while to gloat. Yeah, petty, but fun! Speak with the family about what they wanted to do about becoming Neophytes. That would make them immortal, as far as I knew but would take them out of helping Earth Directly. Also, that talk with mom and dad should be fun as both were very religious. Find Pandora, which was really what I wanted to do first.

There were other things I needed to do but those eight things were at the top of my list. It was time to speak with a God, a real one this time. I disconnected from the other 32 copies of myself watching the Dungeons. Each was part of me but I didn’t want anything to affect them as they held the gates. I then turned to Apolyn who was standing beside me on the Balcony as we looked out over the now quite busy Lifeboat.

“Adaline, think you can help Mom and Dad take care of things here for a bit?”

“Why? Where are you going?”

“I have an invitation from a Goddess to answer,” I said.

“Do you think she’ll know what happened to Pandora?”

“I hope so. I don’t know though,” I said honestly

Adaline came over, hugged me, then kissed me before she withdrew and said, “If she can help us find our daughter do whatever she asks.”

“I don’t think I’d have much choice, but I’d planned to do whatever she asked anyway. Her Shadow that I’d served as a Cleric had helped me heal you after all. I still owe her for that.”

“True. How will you get to the Goddess?” Adaline asked.

“Easy enough, I’m going to teleport to Primore and go to one of her temples. I should be able to talk to her from there. I might be able to ask her to come here but I don’t want to pop people’s brains when that much divine presence enters the area. As far as I can tell I’m the only one with that much power around and I don’t have a divine presence.”

“Good idea, besides I’m not actually evil, but I’m not exactly good either.”

“Neither am I but I feel that I strive for good more than evil,” I said.

“Unless you go full murderhobo,” Adaline said

“Murderhobo?”

“You need to read some of the more recent fiction that’s out.”

“It’s not that, I know the word, remember ‘Perfect Memory’,” I said tapping my head lightly, “ I was just surprised to hear that word uttered from you,” I said grinning.

“I can read,” Adaline said pouting. When she realized I wasn’t buying her act she smiled and said, “Can’t blame a girl for trying to sway you with cuteness”

“Don’t forget your absolutely stunning figure and bountiful assets,” I said

“Hey!” she said in mock indignation.

“I love you!” I said warmly and with all the depth of the feelings I had for her.

“I love you too,” Adaline said as I teleported to Venoran which was in utter chaos. I’d chosen to appear a mile above the Capital so I could fly down to the temple only to discover that Venoran was an active war zone. As I looked around a ballista bolt, no spear, hit me and disintegrated on impact. I wasn’t even budged. I looked around for what had thrown the spear and saw a titan. An honest to god Titan who was over 100 feet tall. That he’d been able to throw that spear a mile into the sky and hit me was a testament to his skill and power.

As I took in the scene I saw a contingent of Titans near the Dungeon Entrance which had expanded to allow them to easily enter the World of Primore. I could see 43 titans that were making their way from the Dungeon into the city proper. The gate and city wall near the dungeon had already been toppled and dead people were littered all around as other civilians fled while the city guard tried to fight the titans.

Another spear was thrown at me. This time I opened a portal between us and one directly beneath the titan. I’d adjusted so that the spear entering the portal would enter through the titan’s groin and exit through his head. As the portal opened beneath him and he started to fall down the spear he’d thrown entered and pushed him up out of the portal he was falling into and exited his head, killing him instantly. The spear was barbed so it would do terrible damage as it was removed. Something the titan who’d thrown the spear would never have to worry about again. He’d kind of looked like a whale when they jump up on the water and land on their side, except he landed on land with a loud “thwomp.”

The other titans nearby brandished their giant swords, clubs, and axes as I casually reached out for the spear holding the dead man and called it to me with telekinesis. Looking down for the leader of these titans, were they monsters? They had to be or the dungeon and the labyrinth would have destroyed them. So no parlay then. As the spear reached my hand I let my chaos reach out, convert and absorb the titan and the spear.

The Titans below were in the middle of yelling their defiance when I drew my Chaos Blade and destroyed the other 42 titans in a moment. Nothing flashy or fancy, I just moved at my maximum possible speed and lopped the heads off the other 42 then returned to my starting point. I noticed that three of the titans had started to bubble and morph and opened portals beneath them that would eventually deposit their mass into the Unicorn singularity in my Universe. Luckily the portals were only opened for a moment and nothing but the three titans and a little atmosphere were sucked into the vacuum of space.

I looked around one more time and saw a new titan step out of the Dungeon with a grin on his head that was seen by the guards when they found it. His head had rolled down the front of his body as I’d cut it off on my way through the portal. I entered the dungeon properly and found a mass of titans still making their way toward the entrance chamber. When they saw me they screamed and charged. It seemed that this dungeon was now filled and they were making their way toward the surface. How could I stop the monsters from overrunning the city?

I could remove the Item of Power but that wouldn’t close the dungeon. I could try to destroy it but I didn’t know how to do that. Also, I just didn’t want to. What I could I do to make the city safe? That might work for now, not as surefire as what I did but was definitely something to consider. As the group of titans and other monsters charged me yelling and screaming I set the exit into the city as my limit and allowed my chaotic form to give way to my purely chaotic nature and then expanded through the entire dungeon, level by level in roughly 10 seconds. I had surrounded every monster whether dungeon or labyrinth born then I dissolved and converted them. This took less than a minute.

When I was finished, I left a copy of myself at the labyrinth entrance because the dungeon was going to need energy so those monsters coming through from the labyrinth were just going to be killed by my copy and left for the dungeon to absorb. I brought the rest of my chaotic mass back together and reformed in the entrance chamber. I was going to have to be careful about using that aspect of myself. It felt really good to just let go like that.

I stepped back out of the dungeon as guards came rushing from the city to attack the dungeon.

“Stranger, what has happened?”

“Nothing much. Tell your men to stand clear of the walls and rubble for a few moments, I’m going to fix and reinforce this area. Then I must head to the temple district. A guardian has been placed at the entrance to the Labyrinth below. Feel free to set up a guard if you wish but even you will agree that it probably won’t be needed when I’m done.”

“What do you mean?” The Captain asked.

“You’ll see,” I said as I floated above the city, reviewed my memory of Venoran, and wished the walls as they were. In a moment the entire wall and defensive garrison around the entrance to the dungeon had been remade. Then I made changes at the entrance to the dungeon. I landed in front of it and created an adamantium structure that went into the ground at least one hundred feet to provide leverage and place an Adamantium door that could only be opened and closed from the outside, that also had five solid adamantium bars that could slide across and bar the door. I made sure everything was counter-weighed so that the doors and bolts could slide smoothly and tested them while the guards watched.

“Is that Adaman…” a guard started to ask.

“Shut it!” the Captain barked.

When I was done, I turned to the Captain who asked, “Are there any wards or magical protections in place?”

“No, the King and his wizards can handle that if they think it’s necessary. I will be back to collect my guardian when I am done at the temples. The dead that were caught in the rubble or attack are laid out and awaiting pickup for burial. Additionally, should you venture in, the guardian looks like me but is not me.

“Understood, and thank you,” The captain said as I floated up into the air and flew to the temple district. I landed outside of Serena’s temple and walked in. As I came to her statue a cleric walked up.

“May I help you sir?” the cleric asked.

“No, thank you, the Goddess bid me to visit, so I am here to visit,” I said as I vanished from the temple and reappeared in the equivalent of a 21st-century millionaire home with all the modern luxuries I’d expect to find on Earth. I did a quick check and except for a three thousand-foot area I was in there were nanites controlled by Thor outside of this bubble.

“Before you ask, A pocket Dimension, attached to Earth at this location. There is of course a building identical to this one in that location and if you were to visit it I would know that you were in the area but mortals would not be able to enter this domain unless they could rival my power,” Serena said as she strode into the living room I’d found myself in. “Please have a seat, we have much to discuss.”

I chose to sit in one of the recliners that were strategically placed beside another recliner that looked out over the Pacific Ocean. I did a quick comparison search and realized I was in one of the Houses on the Casa Fiesta peninsula just south of Zihuatanejo Mexico, about 1,500 miles south of Los Angeles California, “Nice area, more of a tourist town though,” I said.

“It is but wasn’t always so,” Serena said as drinks appeared floating before each of us.

I reached up, took mine, and nodded, “Thank you for your hospitality. Should I refer to you as Goddess, Serena, or something else?” I asked.

“In this setting, Serena is fine. Otherwise, Goddess or Goddess of Knowledge, if you please.”

“Understood, Should I ask questions or are you going to begin?”

“I’ll start, doing so will let you know the ground rules for what I can and cannot divulge.

“Understood.”

“First, as far as I know, Pandora is alive. Where she is and what she is doing there I have no idea,” She said as she raised a hand to forestall my question, “I am the Goddess of Knowledge for this Realm. I know everything that happens in my realm and those Universes within it. I am also privy to major events in adjacent realms and layers within this Reality. What I have no knowledge of are events that happen outside of this Reality. Pandora’s last system messages were as follows,” Serena said as a holographic screen appeared and message text was shown to us;

“WARNING: You have been Ejected from the Soul Space of Adamantadine

WARNING: You have been affected by a Realm-wide Unification event.

ERROR: No Cosmic Identifier located

ERROR: No Realm Identifier located

ERROR: No Layer Identifier located

ERROR: No Reality identifier located.

ERROR Elevated

Criteria met, Recall initiated.

Cosmic Identifier set to 1

Realm Identifier set to 1

Layer identifier set to 0

Reality set to 1”

“Immediately after that last message, Pandora was shunted through a rift that ejected Primal Chaos into this Realm. Luckily no ill effects were noted. As you know every creature has an identifier that details its origin and structure. These identifiers are assigned at creation. Unfortunately, Pandora’s identifiers were blank as the restructuring of this Cosmos was in flux. I also believe it had something to do with her chaotic nature. When the forced unification began her blank identifiers were reset and the Reality setting was set to 1,” Serena paused allowing me to ask a question.

“Isn’t this Reality the first one?” I asked.

“Many have thought so, though there were doubters. It would seem that those that doubted were correct.”

“No one knows for sure?” I asked.

“Someone might, but I have never met that person, demon, angel, or divine.”

“Okay, different question? If you are the Goddess of Knowledge, what is Ptah the God of?” I asked.

“Who?” Serena asked puzzled.

I created a holoprojector and displayed a three-dimensional image of Ptah as I’d met him.

“Oh him? I saw you interact with him in the shadows but he has never been part of this Realm. I’d know. In fact, as he’s had a direct impact I should know. That is disconcerting,” she said.

“Don’t trouble yourself too much I said,” as I purposely kept my mind clear of any thoughts that might come into existence. I started following the decimal points of pie just to distract myself.

“What?” Serena asked

“Just a hunch, that I have. I think we should both leave that question alone and If I don’t think about it, you can’t learn about it so please, a subject change?” I asked.

“Very well. When your Cosmos was fractured and started the spiral of diminishing returns a number of the Divine fled. A few of the lesser did not, seeing it as an opportunity. You met a couple of them and even destroyed one, which we thought was impossible. Of course, if a God of Destruction is stupid enough to be destroyed, that is one way to end one’s existence. Moving on. Those divines that stayed behind adjusted the rules and setting of the various Cosmos that popped up into existence within this Realm without thought to the consequences of copy after copy being made.”

“Why did you enter the Cosmos.”

“Simple enough really, how was I to know what was happening without being there? What none of the gods expected was the way their souls became divided. Many couldn’t handle the separation and their shadows immediately fled back to their Primary Soul, for lack of a better term. Even as remnants of their actual power the soul fragments were able to return,” Serena said as she paused and took a sip of her drink.

“Most of them left this Cosmos?” I asked.

“Yes, but what you didn’t know is that once those divines were whole again they left your realm for other Realms. Some even created their own?”

“Why is that important to me now?” I asked.

“In the breath of Heaven and Earth, any combination can and is often discovered. The reason for this is simple. Those that came first deemed it so.”

“Because they willed it?” I asked.

“Those that came first, became the first Gods. I am not one of them but I have been granted the knowledge that way back at the beginning of this Reality, before this Realm or Cosmos existed, it was much easier to become a Neophyte. When they first realized everyone was eventually doing so the rules of Reality were changed to make it harder. Even now, the rumors of such are known to the people of this Earth. Those that follow Hinduism, for example, believe in 33 million Gods.”

A thought entered my mind and I spoke without thinking, “Those Gods and Goddesses became immortal and are even now still around. What happened to those Souls that did not become divine after the rules were changed?”

“That is a very good question,” Serena said as she took a drink and looked out over the Pacific Ocean.