Bonus Chapter 4

Dr. Thurston Charleston (13th Universe)

What an odd life. One second you are, well Dr. Charleston didn’t quite know where he was, at least not at first. He was a psychiatrist, a very good one. He even had the recommendations and back story to make it, so the military was more than happy to hire him, without question.

There was just one problem, he had no memories. Well, he had one, his first and only real memory. The memory of when he first seemed to come to life, the moment when he was a twenty-eight-year-old doctorate candidate, who managed to bump into the most interesting fellow. A boy, who seemed to grow a violin case from out of nowhere.

How he knew it was a violin case, and where the case came from were a mystery. Thurston managed to talk his way into the recording booth to see what happened. He watched as he stood around the line, seeming to be stalking a prey. Then when it was the boy’s turn to go in, the feed showed Thurston charging forward to touch the awakening candidate.

Then there was a momentary flash of blinding golden light. Then Dr. Thurston Charleston stumbled back. At the same moment, the boy appeared to have created a violin case out of nothing.

Odder still was the fact that he seemed so comfortable with the odd item by his side, that he failed to even notice its existence.

Of course, Thurston continued to watch the boy from that point on. He watched as the boy tried to enter the temple, only to be denied access. This was not uncommon, many people were unable to awaken. But the reason why this particular boy was denied access was unique. He was denied, due to the fact that he had already completed the temple?

Of course, the guards on hand failed to notice the marker. They assumed that the boy was just a null but seeing the notification from the temple caused a few questions to form in Thurston’s mind. First, who was this boy? Second, had he in fact already gone through the temple?

The Temple was ancient, supposedly built by civilizations that had long ago conquered the cosmos then just as miraculously died out without any records of their passing.

Then the next problem came, when he decided to wait around. He seemed to wait as if he was a lost puppy. The longer he waited, the more frantic he seemed to get. Until finally he got up and checked with a receptionist about a Jessica Childers.

This was another odd note for the boy, as the boy, one Kyle Goldman had never in fact met this, Jessica Childers. Had the two both completed the awakening process from the Temple, they would have both been taken off to the Academy. But they hadn’t. In fact, these two would have no way of knowing each other.

The more he investigated the whole situation, the stranger everything became. Then after hearing that Jessica Childers was presumed dead in her Temple run, he visibly deflated before leaving the Military Industrial complex. That was the last he heard from or about Kyle Goldman, until he appeared just a short time later…

***

Jessica Childers (13th Universe)

The pain of being broken apart, then carefully placed back together again piece by piece, only to be shattered apart again was a nightmare. One that Jessica wished she had never experienced. There was of course, just one problem. She was cursed. Cursed and unconscious.

Thanks to her battles with the Behemoths, she had gained a partial title from her participation.

Title Gained: Behemoth Slayer (Lesser) (*Partial) Behemoth Slayer (Lesser) (*Partial): You were part of a team that killed a legendary Behemoth of the apocalypse. Your team managed to kill them in such a way that they will never respawn to begin the next stages of an apocalypse. For this you have gained a Partial blessing. Most memories of your past life will be retained indefinitely. You now have an Enhanced Memory. Title Gained: Behemoth Slayer (Lesser) (*Partial). Behemoth Slayer (Lesser) (*Partial): You were part of a team that killed a legendary Behemoth of the apocalypse. Your team managed to kill them in such a way that they will never respawn to begin the next stages of an apocalypse. For this you have gained a Partial blessing. You will now be an unageing immortal, so you can witness the rise of the universe you fought so valiantly to save. Title Gained: Behemoth Slayer (Greater) (*Partial). Behemoth Slayer (Greater) (*Partial): You were part of a team that killed a legendary Behemoth of the apocalypse. Your team managed to kill them in such a way that they will never respawn to begin the next stages of an apocalypse. For this you have gained a Partial blessing. You will now have the Spirit Power: Lesser Spiritual Regeneration added to your list of abilities.

The only problem, she didn’t have a Spirit Attribute. At least she didn’t have one at first. With the last Title, she gained the Spirit Attribute, but that was barely enough to stave off death.

Now she lay broken and clutching at her chest. She thought about fighting her way through the trials, trying to stave off death in such a way that she could eventually gain enough free points to increase her Spirit Attribute. The only problem, to move even slightly was painful. So, she just lay down and waited for death to take her. Unfortunately for her, death would never come from dehydration or lack of sustenance. While she was in the temple, her body would be nourished by the system itself, a process so powerful it existed before modern space races kept records.

Still, it was all Jess could do, to lie down, and relax her mind enough from the pain wrecking her body long enough to sleep.

***

Jessica Childers (14th Universe)

Jessica’s mind was caught in a paradoxical loop. She had just entered the Temple when her mind hit a self-repeating loop. She had to unconditionally love someone she had never met. This of course caused problems for her, as her mind couldn’t put a name to the person who she was supposed to love.

The worse part of all of this, she had written the commands in her own hand, but how? Or when? She fought against the commands, to try to break free from their bindings, but she was incapable of doing so. In the end, she could only sit back and wait for a death that would never come for her, while she was in the confines of the Awakening Temple.

***

Jessica Childers (15th Universe)

Jessica gripped her chest, as she remembered. She remembered the pain, and knew she was going to die. The only problem was, death never came. She half expected her mission to be at an end. That she would finally be allowed to die peacefully. But death would not come for her, not now. Not with her new Partial titles and subsequent rewards. She was an immortal, one who would carry on the burden of abandoning her love, her one true soul mate, when he needed her most.

Worse, she had to deal with this constant pain of having her soul both break apart and be pieced back together, only to be shattered again and again.

Then to add insult to injury, she was no longer a Guardian. Now her sacred wings denoting her as a protected person were gone, so too was the voice of the great tree. She wanted to reach out to the tree, to desperately hear its voice one last time. But silence was all that she heard.

Of course, the tree had also died. Its last act in this universe, before it was overrun and devoured by Prolaxians, was to send her to a different universe entirely. One where she would be able to save her universe, but at a cost to herself.

Now rather than being rewarded, it was like she was meant to suffer a thousand deaths, while she waited for a death that would never come for her.

***

Rayquel- The Iron Butterfly (All Universes)

Rayquel awoke one day to find her body stripped of their normal beautiful wings. Wings that had served as both a blessing and a curse for most of her life, were now inexplicably missing. Worse, the words of the great tree was gone.

Only the Rayquel from the 13th universe failed to notice anything strange about this sudden lack of communication. For the Rayquel from the 13th universe, this was the situation as normal. For her the only thing that had changed was her beautiful wings were gone, along with the noted marker from the system letting her know her guardian status had been revoked.

For the other two Rayquels the loss of connection to the great tree was a pain they could not fully grasp. Immediately the two went to investigate the sites of the great trees, only to find them missing. Where the massive trees that once stood well over thousands of feet tall had sat, were now left with only empty craters denoting their passing.

Something tragic had happened, but no one could quite tell what had happened, nor who could have done such an act? Who would dare destroy the sacred trees? How could they do so without anyone noticing? These questions and more would come about and be uttered by all Endarians in time. But for the Rayquels, their most pressing concern came from why they had suddenly been abandoned as Guardians? For years they made their entire identity around the fact that they above all others had been chosen by the great trees. Now that their special status had been revoked, they felt empty. They felt as if their entire purpose had been changed for no true reason.

***

Goldhammer (13th Universe)

Goldhammer couldn’t quite tell what he was feeling. He had woken up, feeling as if he was missing something. He idly rubbed his stomach, only to find that it was still a firm working piece of muscle that it had always been. Even if now the same stomach was covered by more than a few layers of protective fatty tissue.

With a practiced motion, he made to get a drink of alcohol from the keg on his nightstand, but then thought better of it. He was still years away from the time when he would go through the transition. For this Goldhammer was blessed, and while he knew it had a lot to do with his golden skin. He also realized that for whatever reason, he had managed to fight off the glandular disorder that plagued most of his people. The same glandular disorder that marked the downward spiral of many Dwenvarians. So long as he was fit, and remained healthy, Goldhammer was certain he could fight off the call for a transition for at least a few hundred more years.

But still, there was a faint missing form in his stomach. One that he could almost swear that he missed. For a moment, the idea came where he wondered what it would be like to have a baby? At that thought, he merely scoffed to himself.

“There will be plenty of time to worry about a baby later.” Goldhammer chuckled to himself, as he decided that the empty hole in his stomach needed to be filled with a rather large omelet.

***

Kyle Goldman (13th Universe)

The entire universe was at his fingertips. He had a new lease on life, one where he was not tied down by anyone or anything. All his previous obligations were gone. Instead, everything he had was replaced by the fact that for the first time in as long as he could remember, he had nothing pressing to do.

Better still the way he had been rejected, not just failed, but rejected by the Temple meant his vitals weren’t even registered with the military. He was for all intents and purposes a classless and undesirable individual. In his past lives, or maybe just his time before he was forced into his crazy role, this would have been devastating. Yet, the way it was now, he couldn’t help but feel relieved.

He had done it, not only had he achieved the impossible, but he had survived. That was when he checked over everything he had gained over the final reset. And it was a final reset, of that he was certain. For there were no more Celestials pulling strings that could be unwound. There were no more universe ending calamities to stave off. There was just his future, and if he had to admit, his future was bright, especially considering his recent advancements.

With the death of the final Behemoth, he had once again been pushed ahead in levels. But unlike the standard 100 levels he had gotten from the two lesser Behemoths. The bonuses he gained from the Greater Behemoth was 300 levels. Well 300 levels per class, which at a rate of three classes added up to 900 total levels. This meant he now had 297 Free Attribute points to spend, his maximum Attribute cap had risen by 180. This meant his maximum Attribute cap had more than doubled from 178 to 358. Better still, he managed to keep all his powers and enhancements.

The only reason he wasn’t glowing right now like some red-light district neon light was the fact that his body was still changed. First his wings were gone due to his no longer being a Guardian. Secondly, he was still using his Master Tier Shapeshifting to keep his bright hair and eye colors under wraps. In fact, the only thing that could have denoted anything happened to him at all, was the sudden appearance of his violin case.

Yet, he had been so used to it by his side over these past few months that he almost failed to notice it. He almost forgot to check the secret compartment for certs as well. The compartment that held his remaining 823 certs. A prize that he knew would soon come in handy, especially with the source of certs being eliminated. He figured such a large collection of certs would be a huge windfall, if he played his cards right. Still, he had a lot to do.

He made a To Do List.

To Do:

Meet out Justice to Judges.

Heal 14th Jessica Childers’s mind.

Neuter Brothers in all Universes.

That was more than enough to start with. Once those tasks were done, he would then try to find something else to do. He knew he wouldn’t be able to live with himself, if he didn’t take care of the first task as quickly as possible, which was why he made that my top priority for this new life. He was going to make a difference in this lifetime. Maybe not save the universe type of impact, but one that would still be worth noting.

Taking a breath to calm himself, he took in one final breath. Then he looked at his status window once more, just to make sure he wasn’t still dreaming:

Name: Kyle Goldman Age: 18 Race: Half-Human* Mage Class Type: Prime Support (Omega)

Level: 566

Certs Remaining: 0 (of 567)

Mental Class Type: Psionic Prime (Omega)

Level: 566

Certs Remaining: 0 (of 567)

Spirit Class Type: Spiritual Augmentationist (Omega)

Level: 563

Certs Remaining: 0 (of 564)

Attributes Free Attribute Points: 297 Physical Attributes (Base Max: 358) After Modifiers Strength: (16) 82 Dexterity: (20) 102 Agility: (25) 128 Endurance: (29) 148 Mental Attributes (Base Max: 358) After Modifiers Perception: (30) 154 Intelligence: (38) 195 Willpower: (38) 195 Power: (73) 374 Spirit Attributes (Base Max: 358) After Modifiers Spirit (178) 302 Magic Aptitudes Specializations Spirit-X: 99+% (Spell Breaking, Unweaving, Negation, Dampening, Rendering) Healing-X: 99+% (Mend, Cleanse, Purge, Heal) Air-X: 99+% (Cleanse, Create) Water-X: 99+% (Cleanse, Create) Healing Aura: 99+% Physical Attribute Boost: 99+% Master Tier Artifact Enchantment: 99+% Master Tier Shapeshifting: 99+%

Psionic Aptitudes:

Mind Rend-X: 99+% Mind Shield: 99+% Telekinesis-X: 99+% Mind Heal: 99+%

Pyrokinesis-X: 99+%

Total Recall: 99+%

Precognition-X: 99+% Revelation Sight: 99+%

Spirit Aptitudes:

Spirit Attribute Augmentation: 99+% *Spiritual Regeneration: 99+% Spirit Power Augmentation: 99+% N/A

Skills

Base Skill

Specializations

Linguistics: 99+%

Rune Crafting: 99+%: Reading/Writing: 99+% Art: 89%: Human Painting 99%

Navigation: 91%:

Astronavigation: 99+% Musical Instrument: 87+%: Violin: 99+% Meditation: 82% Piloting: 81%:

Human Fighter Pilot: 99+%

Endarian Fighter Pilot: 98%

Firearms: 75%: Blasters: 95% Mechanical Engineering: 91% Hand to Hand Combat: 85% Human Martial Arts: 90% Empathy: 78% Medicine: 71%: First Aide: 84% Melee Combat: 68% Sneaking: 72% Planetary Synergy: 17%

Blessings

[Energy Sight], [Increased Psionic Potency], [Increased Magic Potency]

Title Bonuses

+160% Resistance to Prolaxian Herald Powers +10% Resistance to Celestial Powers All Attributes increased by a combined +70% (Combined) Eidetic Memory Unageing Immortality *Spiritual Regeneration