After relaxing with Adaline for three days the others started portaling into my estate in New Mexico. They’d all come to an agreement that they wanted to accept the path of divinity from a place on Earth. The decision was made to do so from my home. The first to arrive were mom and dad. We talked for a little bit until Amanda and Abi arrived. They’d been getting their assistants prepared to help Thor out while they went on their sabbatical, as it was being referred to. Desirae and Clarence had visited the Dungeon, Al, and then prepped the best teams that went into the dungeon. The teams were added to the payroll and hired to continue training new adventurers. Al agreed, so long as the first level was the only level considered purely for training. Adventures that went deeper were fair game, which everyone agreed to.

The rest of the day we sat around and discussed the state of affairs on Earth and how things had settled down quite a bit.

“You should have been here when we opened Al up,” Abi said.

“Yeah, the number of privileged people that thought they could just blast their way into level two with weapons was staggering,” Amanda agreed.

“I have to agree, Adam. That first couple of months it’s probably a good thing you weren’t around. You tend to protect others that should be able to rise and fall by their own decisions,” Desirae said.

“I’m not that bad,” I said.

“I would have killed myself if I’d been in your shoes when we first crossed paths,” Clarence said.

“Yeah but at that point, you couldn’t have killed me with a nuke detonating on my forehead. Shoot even your shadow that tried to kill me before I’d even left this Universe the first time was months behind being able to kill me when we first met.”

“True,” Clarence agreed, “But, you let my shadow and I live. We could have turned into enemies.”

“Better to put your enemy down than face them again?” I asked.

“I know you know the doctrine,” Desirae said. “You have a White Knight” complex.”

“Yep,” Mom and Dad said together.

“Teamed up on by my own parents? Where’s the loyalty?” I asked.

“Where loyal, and we’d never think of lying to our son,” my dad said with a wink

“Unless we were getting him a present?” Mom said.

“Or not telling him that we’d just finished trying to make him a baby brother or sister,” Dad said.

“Okay, I get it!” I said

“As do we all,” Desirae said with a hint of a smile.

I looked around the room as everyone laughed and giggled until I also burst out laughing. The laughter went on for a good five minutes before we all calmed down and I said, “A little bit of a subject change, have you all decided what purposes you want to pursue?

“I want to do something to help the dungeons, specifically Al, out. God of Adventure, exploration, treasure, something like that,” Clarence said.

“I’m going for something a little more sinister. I think I’m going to further the cause of Rogues. Either through shadows, theft, or assassination,” Desirae said.

“I would have expected nothing less,” I said with a grin.

“I’m thinking of healing or some other purpose that helps people,” My mom said.

“Me too,” my dad piped in.

“And you Abi?”

“Magic, all the way,” she said.

“Any specific kind or just magic in general?” I asked.

“Magic in general. More people need to learn how to use it, especially in this Universe,” Abi said

“Adaline?” I asked.

“Secrets?”

“Secrets. Creating them, hiding them, and ultimately uncovering them.”

“Those are all interesting choices, make sure you have a backup in case you can’t choose your first choice,” I said.

“We do, and we’ve decided to try to form a Pantheon together or join the same one,” Adaline said.

Everyone nodded as they looked around the table, “What Pantheon will you try to create?” I asked.

We don’t know, though we were thinking something like the “Steel Heavens,” Abi said.

I thought for a moment, then grinned. “Steel Heavens? Because all of this became possible from an Adamantium ring which in Latin means strong as steel?”

“Exactly!” Desirae said.

“It’s also really easy to remember if we all become separated during the initiation process, if there is one,” my dad said.

“So when are you all going to go?” I asked.

“Thor, if you would?” Amanda said.

A table materialized with eight champagne glasses on it. A small portal opened beside Amanda. Reaching into the portal she withdrew a bottle of “2013 Taste of Diamonds” and in a show of quick expertise uncorked and began pouring some into each of our glasses.

“Who’s paying for that?” I asked with a grin.

“You are of course, though if you need more money I’m sure Thor can create some for you,” Amanda said with a smile.

“You know, I’ve never actually indulged before. At over 3 million dollars a bottle now, I guess there’s no time like the present,” I said lifting one of the filled glasses from the table. Mom, Dad, Abi, Desirae, Clarence, Adaline, and lastly Amanda after she set the bottle down.

“As toasts go, son, that sucked,” My dad said.

“Million odd years, huh? Had to make it all about you didn’t you,” Adaline chided me playfully.

Desirae looked around before she spoke, “Now it’s go time. Everyone get your prompts ready. Adaline kiss your man, it might be a bit before you see each other again.

Adaline turned to me and leaned in for a kiss, which I returned. As she pulled away she whispered, “I love you.”

“And I love you,” I said before turning to my parents and then to everyone else as I said, “I Love you mom and dad and I hold a special place in my heart for the rest of you, please be careful.”

“All right people, I’m going to make a toast, then we’re going to down our drinks and then we’re going to accept those prompts, any questions?” When no one answered Desirae raised her glass, “To Becoming Gods!” she said then downed the rest of her champagne as everyone else did the same. They each threw their glass into the air, which Thor decomposed immediately as their eyes unfocused then almost simultaneously they all disappeared and I was left standing alone.

Thor’s voice spoke to me from the room, “What will you do now Adam?”

“Now? Now you will start setting up the Sol System to weather all forms of attack while I work to fix reality as a whole. I may be a bit,” I said as I focused my will and altered my state of being to move me out of the Realm I was in and into Primal Chaos, something I hadn’t done before but was pretty sure I could.

WARNING! You have entered Primal Chaos. The quantum state of this area is not compatible with biological beings.

I closed the prompt and then looked down to notice that my body was adapting to this region by becoming Primal Chaos, almost like a liquid form man. That was pretty cool. I decided I might need a spot that could support biological entities if I was going to talk to Chronos and willed a small room into existence around me. Nothing fancy, just a closed room with a table and two chairs opposite each other. If my calculations were correct I should just be able to…

Chronos appeared in the room, “No need to call,” she said as she moved to the chair and took a seat, “What can I do for you Fortune?”

“First, please call me Adam, I’m not used to this title or the name Fortune.”

“As you wish Adam,” she said.

“Second, why do you appear as a young girl?” I asked.

“I have found over the years that appearing as a child causes others to underestimate me or my power. It also facilitates conversation without the normal male-female dichotomy or tension that comes to exist. I tried appearing as an elder of the various races I visit, for humans it was an old man with a white beard. While I was taken seriously, I usually had to prove my power. As a child, I could walk around with quantum physics books and only J would try to put a bullet through my head.

“Men in Black reference, nice,” I said.

“After researching humans, I have found that references utilizing your culture helps them understand my meaning quicker. Though in your case I need not try. I do believe of all the beings I have encountered you might be able to comprehend everything as I do.

“I don’t know about that. If you’re an array that formed out of an infinite amount of chaos and have access to every point in space-time everywhere simultaneously I doubt I can compete with that. Honestly, why aren’t you God, I mean the God over everything?” I asked.

“Simple enough, I choose not to be.” While it is true I am connected to every point in space-time, they merely make up my body. I can focus on that part of my body and know what’s going on there but if it doesn’t create ripples in other points, I usually don’t take an interest,” she said.

“I guess I come across like a tsunami,” I said.

“More like the 11.0 earthquake that caused the tsunami,” she said.

“Are you going to prevent me from trying to fix things back to the way they were?” I asked.

“No, but I would suggest that you try to find a way to fix the connections from this point forward. If you go far enough back, your family might survive the changes but they may still be irrevocably changed.

“I thought we were immune to such changes?”

“As you just pointed out there is a very good argument for why I should be the most powerful being to ever come into existence. If your conjecture is accurate wouldn’t it also be true that I could do whatever the hell I wanted? Of all those beings that have popped into existence to help maintain reality so we all don’t just cease to exist you and I are the only two that can make serious changes without worrying about holding vows or promises.”

“Why is that I asked?”

“Because the changes will happen after the actions we have taken manifest. Others bound by vows are stopped before they act. As an example. Let us look at your opposite, Order. If Order were to make a vow to you that he would never go back in time and change anything about you that vow could ultimately kill him to prevent him from breaking his word because he both serves and is, order. Now you’re probably thinking what about a God or Arcanus Numen of Lies, if there was one, there isn’t by the way. If there was though they would still be bound by a vow or promise because Order is not diametrically opposed to their purpose and is fundamental to the continuation of reality. Time follows one of those rules though if someone travels through time and makes changes that cause a vow by myself to be broken I am free and clear of that paradox because I did not break the promise. You, as Fortune do not have to worry about any of this.

“So, while I could go back and change time those changes could still affect me if I’m breaking the fundamental rules of reality?” I said.

“Exactly,”

“I think my explanation was simpler”

“I’m just an amalgamation of all known points in space-time spanned across all of reality, what would I know?” she said with a grin.

“Point taken.”

“Any hints?”

“Literally millions, how to go about making the changes you are going to make is for you to figure out.”

As I thought I had nothing more to say, Chronos vanished. I allowed the room to vanish and found myself surrounded by Primal Chaos again. As I had before in normal chaos so long ago I acclimated to my environment and took in all my surroundings. I could feel my realm as if it was right next to me but I couldn’t see it. That wasn’t right either. Unlike my exposure to the place between places that connected all the shadow Cosmos

In my realm, I could not just visualize what I wanted to. Instead, it was more like a feeling. I could inherently feel what my realm was like and I could link myself to it then pass into it. I could also feel other mirrored feelings but I had no way to distinguish between them. As I was starting to get frustrated I thought about the leviathan. If she could reach other realms, I should be able to as well. As that thought entered my mind I felt millions of tendrils reaching out throughout the Primal Chaos. Some paths were active while others were long dead.

Going back in time and changing things would be bad. What about going back in time and just looking? I focused on one of the broken threads of the labyrinth then willed myself to be incorporeal, invisible, at a null gravity state, and scentless as I dove back through time until the broken links were once again whole. As I traveled further into the past the density of Primal Chaos seemed to lessen and I was able to see farther until the threads I could see filled my vision.

I kept myself within the primal chaos as I followed them back to a single point. While it only took me a sentence to explain what I did, the amount of real-time I spent was a bit longer. While I worked, I would take a break and retreat into my mind space as I floated in Primal Chaos then get right back to work.

When I finally found the starting Realm, I concentrated on the Realm in front of me and tried to will a Realm Interface to open.

Realm Interface activated.

That had worked, almost too easy. I went through each screen and code setting I could find. I even found access to settings I’d never seen before, had no idea what they were or what they did. It took a little while but I made sure to get every scrap of data I could.

When I was done I closed the window and willed myself through time to one second after I went into the past then opened a Realm interface for my realm. As before, I went through every page and data entry and started noticing the differences. Immediately.

I checked five other realms until I was sure the changes were the same for each. Except for their identifiers, they all had settings that adjusted the maximum character level, mana density, and a few other minor settings, a couple of which worked together to make humans more prevalent throughout the Realms. The settings that made that happen had been embedded within other settings. This made it so that a common combination of factors occurring within the Realm eventually led to a DNA pattern that allowed for humanoid-type creatures with a very high probability that they would be Homosapien in nature. Especially in low magic settings, which each of the Realms I’d checked had been. As the magic density of the Universe and Cosmos increased variations would occur which led to the creation of a lot of the other known mythical races like dwarves, elves, gnomes, and the like.

Whoever had thought up these changes had done so in such a way as to remove most of the randomness from reality. Or a better way to say it is they had ensured that randomness always led to an outcome that allowed for humanity. Why would someone do that? The fix was relatively obvious and easy to create, especially since I had such a fundamental link to chaos in general. I could create a batch of Primal Chaos that would spread exponentially like a wave. Unlike Chaos, I wouldn’t be able to control the action because Primal Chaos did not like holding any shape for very long but it would spread and everything it touched would be changed. That would bring every realm the Primal Chaos touched back to its original settings, after which it should be a relatively simple thing for the links the Labyrinth had created to reconnect. Of course, if I messed this up…

I put those negative thoughts out of my mind, created the realm-changing virus I would need, and released it. Like a pebble hitting a pond a ripple spread away from me in all directions until it faded from view.

Anxious to see if what I’d just done had worked I willed myself to enter my Realm once again near my estate in New Mexico. Nothing happened. I gave it a few more moments then tried to will myself inside. Still Nothing. I opened the Realm Interface, or I tried to only to be met with the following message.

WARNING! Fundamental Realm Shift In Progress. Access is Temporarily Unavailable.