Anti-Mage

After Caitlyn and Anton arrived back in the Hangar at Dover Air Force Base, Anton found one of the people who seemed to be in charge. A few moments later, Caitlyn was in charge. After that, things moved quickly. Anton was introduced to Felix’s personnel. As they were walking through the hangar, combat could be heard right outside the building. Caitlyn grew a bit excited when they rounded a corner. She caught sight of a man of Latino heritage.

“Pavo!“

“Commander Sheppard, where have you been?”

“Around. Anton, this is Pavo. Pavo, here is our Supply Specialist. He keeps track of all of her weapons, ammo, food, and water. Pavo, this is Anton.”

Pavo stuck out his hand, “Anton, is it? Any friend of the Commander and all that.”

Anton shook his hand, “So what can you provide right now?”

Pavo smiled and then waved his hand. A pedestal rose out of the ground in front of him, reaching up to his waist. A hand holding a bronze orb sat on top of the pedestal. Anton looked at the pedestal and then back at Pavo, “And?”

“And…it’s a Military Supply Node,” Pavo declared happily

“And what does a Military Supply Node do? No, better question: How did you get access to it?” Anton asked.

“I was offered the class Military Supply Specialist. The class gives me access to this Military Supply Node, which is ranked. Bronze is the lowest rank, while diamond is the highest rank, as far as I can tell. As for what it does, A Military Supply Node allows anyone I permit to touch it and purchase military items, which include food and water which can be deposited anywhere within 100 feet of the pedestal or into your Personal Storage. The only downside is that the Military Supply Node only accepts SYSTEM credits.”

“Do you get some of the profits from the sales you make?” Anton asked

“Not exactly. I receive credit toward my next purchase, but I can only use it on items the Military Supply Node sells, or I can use that ‘Credit’ to increase my Military Supply Node rank.”

“What’s the difference in rank do for you?”

“Right now, I’m limited to 100,000 credits per day. Once I earn, or come up with 100,000 credits, I can invest that money to increase my Node rank to silver, which will increase what can be purchased to one million credits each day,” Pavo explained.

“What has been purchased so far?” Anton asked.

“Not much,” Pavo sighed.

“What? Why?” Caitlyn asked.

“One Credit equals 100 copper pieces, One silver equals one Credit, and 100 silver equals one Gold. One clip of ammo for a weapon ranges in price, but right now, it’s between one and five credits per bullet, plus another three to five credits for the clip. Ammo boxes, that’s 1,000 rounds of ammo, for 9mm rounds cost 5,000 credits.”

“5,000 credits? How are you paying for that?” Anton asked.

“We’re not. We’re only earning one to ten copper per kill. Granted, we can sell the carcasses for anywhere between 10 and 1,000 copper, depending on the level of the creature. Each level brings the payout up by about 100 more copper. Still, the cost to kill them with weapons outweighs what we’re earning.”

“Then you stop using firearms. Get some melee weapons. Spears, halberds, swords, you know, pointy sticks!” Anton said as he placed his hand on the Military Supply Node. He looked through the options available until he found the one he was looking for and directed his wishes into the node.

Would you like to deposit 200,000 credits to be used by Pavo for purchases, Yes or No?

Anton chose “Yes” and then looked up to Pavo with a smile, “I just deposited 200,000 credits into your supply account. 100,000 so you can upgrade and another 100,000 to make sure you keep everyone fed and equipped for the next 23 hours while the Earth Node is active. I would suggest that you purchase melee weapons for everyone first and then worry about providing firearms. In fact, Here’s something that should hold you over for a while,” Anton said as he removed his hand from the Military Supply Node and walked over to a corner of the hangar nearby.

Anton quickly pulled out all the invader guns and ammunition that he’d picked up off the dead bodies near the White House. He made sure to stack the weapons on one side and the ammunition on the other. He kept all of the American weapons and ammo, though. Those items he’d save for friends and family, as they’d be easier for them to learn to use

“What is all of this?” Pavo asked as others came up and looked at the piles of weapons and ammo.

“The firearms are off of the dirtbags that attacked Washington D.C. and killed the President of the United States. I may have killed a few. However, a lot of weapons and ammo were picked up after they were already dead.

Pavo looked at the weapons, equipment, and ammo Anton was laying on the ground. He then went over to his Military Supply Node and placed his hand on it. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked at Anton. “Where did you get that many credits?”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Anton said with a smile. Then he walked back over to the node and placed his hand back on the Military Supply Node next to Pavo’s hand. Anton did a quick search for melee weapons. Then, he focused on longswords. Once he settled on that category, more options became available. He looked for nonmagical high-end swords. After only a few moments, he found something that looked like it would work.

Monofilament Edged Longsword, Weight: 4 lbs., Base Damage 7, 1,000 Credits

Anton bought ten, which he deposited into his Personal Storage. He summoned one from his inventory without its scabbard. He quickly tested its weight and then drew his thumb across the sharp end of the blade, which immediately drew blood. If his Physical Damage Resistance hadn’t been as high as it was, he probably would have cut that thumb off.

Anton put his thumb in his mouth for a couple of seconds to wait for it to stop bleeding and then pulled out his thumb, “Damn, that was sharp,” Anton said.

“How much did that cost?” Caitlyn asked.

“Just 1,000 credits. Here, take this one,” Anton said as he put the weapon in his hand back into his Personal Storage and pulled out a different one, which was still in its scabbard. Anton held it out, which Caitlyn accepted with a smile.

“Thanks, Anton, I’ll pay you back.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’m going to leave you for a bit and go get Felix and bring him back here after I rest and recover the energy that I spent bringing you here.”

“Sound’s good. I’m going to work with Pavo to get our people equipped and set this place up.”

Anton waved and then activated Specter followed by Planar Shift. A moment later, he appeared back in Minot. He made sure the bathroom was clear and deactivated Specter in the bathroom. Anton called out, “I’m back,” as he stepped out of the bathroom into the living room.

“That was quick?” Anton’s Dad asked from the couch.

“Yes, it was,” Felix said from a chair near his father's.

Anton nodded, “Yeah, Caitlyn is helping them get set up. One of your people already has a class with a Military Supply Node as part of it. I put some money in that for your people so they can get equipped to take out the giant Ground Beetles without wasting ammunition.”

“Giant Ground Beetles?” Felix asked.

Anton spent the next couple of minutes explaining the Earth Node that had popped up and the waves of Giant Ground Beetles flooding the area while he regained Psychic Energy.

“So, what you’re saying is that there is a source of low-level monsters near my people feeding them XP? And it will do so for just over 23 hours and then repeat that cycle every 7 days?” Felix asked.

“Yep,” Anton said.

“And what makes you think that the Earth Node is there only to feed humans?”

Anton paused for a minute and thought about it before he said, “You're right; those monsters will feed the local area, which should draw stronger monsters. We should get back.”

“You better come back and get me,” Amelia, Anton’s 23-year-old sister, said. Before Anton could respond, she continued, “I can help the guy Pavo you described. I don’t plan to fight bugs up close and personnel. If you’re saying that magic is back in the world, I want to be a caster, preferably a healer. Where better to get a chance at that than where people are fighting and getting hurt?”

Anton looked to his mom and dad, who looked at each other before his dad offered, “Come back and get her when you get the chance. If she can become a healer of some sort, that can only help all of us.”

“Alright, I’ll be back for you,” Anton said, then looked at Felix. “You ready?”

“Yep, let’s go, Felix affirmed.”

Anton reached out, grabbed Felix’s shoulder, and activated Planar Shift. They both appeared in the hangar near a desk Pavo had set up where he sat with his Military Supply Node. Anton had only been gone for 10 minutes, but things changed dramatically in that 10 minutes. There was now a queue to get access to the store while a couple of people ran back to the supply of weapons that Anton had left, reloaded weapons, and then made their way back to the barricade that had been set up to repel the beetles.

For the people at the various barricades, one person would kill a beetle, the next would step forward, put the beetle in their personnel storage, and take the place of the person who killed the beetle. Then, that person would step back and wait while the next beetle was killed. When the next beetle died, they’d swap again. Across the barricade, two people would take turns killing, collecting, waiting, and then repeating.

There was a third person behind the two up front with a firearm ready to step in and help when necessary. That usually happened when one of the larger beetles showed up. The people he’d seen running to the weapon and ammo pile were resupplying the people with the firearms.

As Anton watched, Felix walked over to talk with Caitlyn, who was calling out commands:

“Close that gap!”

“Jerrick, stop picking your nose with that sword. You use it to kill beetles, so do not gently tap them and hope they’ll move away.

“Sarah, watch where you are shooting; you almost hit Bently’s leg when you shot that bug's head. Seriously, that was a good shot; just watch your background.”

Anton watched in awe as Caitlyn went into full military instructor mode, which kept everyone focused on killing beetles. After 10 minutes, everyone was swapped out. The people fighting up front were replaced by the people shooting guns and retrieving ammo.

Caitlyn called out, “Remember, when you’re the one grabbing weapons and armor, sell the carcasses you’ve picked up. First full rotation in 20 minutes. At that time, you can hit access the Military Supply Node and grab something to eat and drink. We’ll do this every 30 minutes. Remember, we have to keep this up for another 23 hours. Do not get distracted.”

Anton caught Felix’s eyes, gave him a thumbs up, and activated Planar Shift. The 10 minutes he’d been in the Hangar had given him more than enough time to recharge his Psychic Energy.

Anton appeared back in Minot, where his sister was waiting in the living room with his mother and father.

“How long will you be gone?” his Mom asked.

“At least a day unless you want me to come back and get someone else,” Anton asked.

“No, we should be fine here. Help your sister become a healer if you can,” Anton’s dad said as he turned to Amelia and gave her a hug, “I love you, be careful.”

“Love you two, Dad,” Amelia said as she hugged her Dad and then her mom, “Besides, someone has to keep Anthony from going off the deep end. Right now, he can Teleport; pretty soon, he’ll think he’s Harry Potter, or who was that mage in the Forgotten Realms Universe, Elminster? Yeah, he’ll think he’s some powerful wizard.”

Anton shook his head, “Actually, that’s the one thing I could never be, but more about that later. You ready to go?”

Amelia stepped away from her mother and over to Anton, “I’m Ready.”

Anton smiled, put his hand on Amelia’s shoulder, and activated Planar Shift.

They appeared right where he’d expected. It cost him 100 Psychic Energy to Planar Shift to Minot and 1,100 Psychic Energy to Planar Shift with his sister back to Dover Air Force Base. That left him with 665 Psychic Energy. He could use Meditation or Battle Meditation to recover quicker, but at a recovery rate of 180 Psychic Energy each minute, he’d be back to his maximum Psychic Energy in about 6 minutes.

Anton was brought out of his thoughts as Caitlyn walked up, and Amelia disengaged from his hand that was holding her shoulder. “Hello again, Amelia; if you come with me, I’ll assign you someone so you can help out.”

“Do I get to learn how to fight with magic?” Amelia asked.

“If that is what you want, sure. Has Anton explained anything of this new reality to you?” Caitlyn asked.

“Not really.”

“Okay, let me introduce you to Pavo. He can explain about Experience, leveling, and class choices…” Caitlyn said as she led Amelia away from Anton. While the two women walked off, Felix came over.

“So, what are your plans now?” Felix asked.

“Your people seem to have this hangar locked down. I was thinking about checking on the U.S. Military personnel on the other side of the base,” Anton said.

“Not sure what you expect to find. Gunfire from the other side of the flightline line seems to have dropped off. There have been a few small explosions. My people think grenades.”

“What are the beetles doing?” Anton asked.

“A lot are coming out of the hole in this direction, but just as many are moving off across the runway to the northeast, climbing the fence and making their way off this base,” Felix said.

“Do the beetles seem to be coming out at the same rate they started at, or have they slowed down?”

My people outside seem to think that there is an upper limit because every once in a while, the beetles will pause coming out of the hole, or fewer will appear, but we have no idea what that upper limit is,” Felix explained.

“Alright then, I’m going to go over there and meditate for a little while to recover. Then I’m going to check the base.”

“We’ll be here Until we can claim this area…”Felix started to say and then froze.

“What the hell?”

“Yes.”

SYSTEM Message: Felix has claimed this domain, which includes this building and a 500-foot-diameter sphere centered on it.

Monster Spawning will not occur in this domain.

Resource Regeneration occurs at the standard rate while within this Domain.

“Well, that’s interesting,” Felix said.

“What?” Anton asked.

“The SYSTEM just asked if I wanted to claim this hanger as my domain, so I did.”

“Did it cost you anything?” Felix asked.

“Not that I can see, though I have a new tab in my Status. Wait, I can make changes to the Domain, though there are costs for each change. Wow, I can set a tax rate for any purchases made in my domain…”

Anton smiled, “It looks like you have some things to figure out. I’d ask Pavo if he’s upgraded his Military Supply Node yet. If he hasn’t, I’d definitely get that tax rate set before he does,” Anton offered.

Felix’s eyes went wide as he realized what Anton had just said. He turned and rushed off toward Pavo.

Anton smiled, activated Specter, and rose through the ceiling of the hanger so he could look down and see what was going on. It was now just after midnight. The Giant Ground Beetles were still coming out of the hole in the ground at the Earth Node in the runway. Now that Anton could see both Felix’s people and the source of the Ground Beetles, he noticed that whenever a beetle died, a new one would appear. When none died near the hangar, some beetles would still spawn, but only three to five a second. The Beetles Spawn rate had slowed down considerably.

Anton could see that most of the spawning beetles were heading toward the hangar. The ones heading east had already torn through the fence surrounding the base, and the ones that headed south had disappeared into the buildings that made up the base.

The first thing he needed to do was recover his Psychic Energy, so he closed his eyes and activated Battle Meditation. It would take just over 10 minutes for him to regain the 1,213 Psychic Energy he’d used, which would be 1,223 by the time 10 minutes had passed. Sure, he could have stayed in the physical plane and regenerated twice as fast, but within this dimension, it was a lot less likely that anyone would disturb him. That’s why the SYSTEM announcement that broke his concentration surprised him so thoroughly.

SYSTEM Announcement

Hail and Rejoice!

The Gods have returned to the 13th Universe.

New Faith-based classes, Titles, and Perks, are once again available.

Note: Not all divine roles have been filled at this time, though the ranks of the divine grow by the second.

Gods? Anton wondered what that would look like in this new magical world. Anton put this new information out of his mind for now and refocused on replenishing his Psychic Energy as he reactivated Battle Mediation.

***

Mr. Johnson, that’s the name on the ID cards he carried anyway, looked down from the Air Traffic Control tower at Dover AFB. He cleaned his bloodied dagger on the uniform of the sniper he’d just killed and looked down the runway toward the hole where the beetles were spawning. Damn, beetles. Killing them was nothing like killing these soldiers, nor did they give anywhere near the same experience points.

Mr. Johnson had been stuck at his damn base ever since the power had gone out. Then the damn beetles appeared. Though, if he was being honest, he was finally having some fun. The soldiers killed the beetles, and then he hunted and killed the soldiers who were stupid enough to go out on their own. That’s how he’d made it to level 15 so fast.

He’d thought about joining up with the military personnel, but then one of the idiots had tried to kill him, him? What about “C.I.A. Operative” gave any of these weekend warrior soldiers a chance against him? A Special Operator might not have had a chance if he’d been able to get the drop on him, but he hadn’t. Mr. Johnson had made sure that little shit of a cook understood precisely how badly he’d fucked up right before his blade pierced the moron’s brain. That was also when he found out that killing beetles was a waste of time. The XP from killing the cook had allowed him to choose the assassin class he’d picked, after which he had immediately increased to level 4.

Mr. Johnson had received access to two ‘spells’ which he’d been very leery of trusting, but they did seem to work. The first spell, Mark, was a target marking spell. For five mana, he could cast Mark on any target he could see within 1,000 feet if the target failed a resistance check. He didn’t understand the mechanics of those checks, but if that check failed for the target, the spell worked, and from that point on, for the next hour, an icon appeared in his internal map, letting him know where his target was as long as they stayed within 1,000 feet.

His second spell was Invisibility. It made him invisible to normal vision and allowed him to sneak up and dispatch multiple sweep teams that had been protecting the base. The General in charge of this base had been an idiot. Instead of working to get his people more powerful by any means necessary, he’d had them turtled up in their buildings waiting for backup. For some of the armed groups that had worked when the beetles attacked. For others, they had been forced to flee if they could. Some hadn’t made it out and had been overwhelmed by the Beetles. Sure, the beetles were easy kills individually, but if three or four ganged up on a person, they tore through them in short order.

The few groups that had survived soon ran out of ammo and were overwhelmed. A couple of locations, like this Air Traffic Control tower and the paint barn hanger at the end of the runway, had been holding the beetles off while others tried to flee. Well, not this tower so much now, but it had been a pretty defensible area until he made his way inside.

It had been kind of anticlimactic to kill the five people guarding the stairs, the General and his aid in the control room, and finally, this sniper. Mr. Johnson stored the sniper's weapons in his inventory and then rolled the sniper's body off the roof. The beetles were already making their way into the tower, so those bodies would soon be taken care of. There was no reason to leave any evidence of what he’d done, just in case.

Mr. Johnson threw the repelling rope the sniper had already set up off the other side of the tower and cast Invisibility before he repelled back down to the ground. Now, it was time to make his way to the Paint Barn Hangar at the north end of the Runway.

He still didn’t trust his spell completely, so he followed his training and stayed low as he moved from cover to cover. It was slow going, but he was able to make his way north along the runway at a steady rate. When he was more than halfway to his goal, new notifications concerning the Gods returning to the Universe populated his vision. He moved to cover as quickly and quietly as he could and reviewed the information that he’d just received.

Mr. Johnson, just to be smartass, because he didn’t believe in God or gods of any kind, whispered, “I dedicate the blood and death I’ve produced this night to any good of death, destruction, or assassination.” Not expecting an answer of any kind, Mr. Johnson was about to move out when everything around him froze. The insects stopped chittering, the wind stopped blowing, and the shadow of a flag he could see in the distance stopped flapping as it froze in place.

A raven-haired beautiful woman appeared before him. She wore a black dress with a pair of black daggers, each with a single ring of silver in their handle at her waist. With dark red eyes, she looked down on Mr. Johnson with a gaze that he knew saw right through him.

“Jacob Landcaster, I am the reincarnation of the Goddess of Violent Death Keres. I see that you do not believe fully. This will change in time,” The Goddess said as she floated close to him and touched his head. He tried to flinch away but found that, like everything else, his body was also frozen. The only thing that he could move was his eyes.

Jacob felt a pain pierce his skull for a moment before a Notification filled his vision.

You have received the Divine Blessing, “The Kiss of Keres.” Once per day, you may initiate an attack that will leave your victim in excruciating pain as they target takes 100 points of damage. Should the target survive the attack, the cooldown for the use of this attack resets. Should the target die, the target is consumed by shadows and automatically dedicated to Keres.

The Goddess Keres smiled as she pulled her hand back and looked down the runway and then up at a point above the runway. A hint of a smile crossed her face as she turned back to Jacob: “I see that you had intended to treat those in the hangar you are headed toward with the same equanimity that you have treated others thus far this evening. While I am a Goddess, and you carry my blessing, I am not allowed to control you, but I can offer you some advice. Do not. Instead, pledge your service to the one in charge and be sure not to cross the Specter. If you do, I will see you much sooner than you would like to.”

Before Jacob could respond, the Goddess vanished. Immediately, the sounds of the world returned, and he could move again. What in the actual fuck was that? Jacob thought as he opened his Personal Status and found that the Blessing of Keres had been added to his Status. As he looked over the information, he thought of the various ways that he could use that particular attack. It would make him one of the deadliest assassins the world had ever seen, especially if he used it during a sneak attack, which normally tripled his damage. He knew it was a fatal attack because, with 137 hit points, he couldn’t survive if a similar attack hit him.

Jacob recast invisibility before he left the safety of the building and stepped out into the night to the next building. There were beetles still headed his way from the hole in the runway, but they ignored him for the most part. If one came too close, he used his dagger to kill it before moving on again. As he came to the last building before he had to make his way across a field of open ground and past the fuel tanks, his luck must have been working overtime as a group of five Military personnel left cover off to his left and rushed across the field toward the tanks. They were obviously trying to remain out of the Line of Sight from the Hangar and trying to dodge the Beetles. Unfortunately, they weren’t so lucky. A few beetles noticed them and turned in their direction. Jacob watched from the cover because he was sure that the group was going to have to deal with more than the three beetles following them.

***

Anton finished his Battle Meditation above the Runway and looked down. He could see Felix’s people holding the Beetles back from the hangar and noticed that a grouping of life force had appeared near one of the fuel tanks, which had to be at least 1,500 feet from the hangar. Anton floated over to take a better look and found five military personnel fighting off a swarm of beetles. He also noticed that a large grouping of beetles had altered their courses and was moving toward the group of five.

One of the drawbacks of Anton’s ability to see the soul essence of someone from the alternate dimension he watched from while in his Specter Form was that he couldn’t see through physical objects. If his Line of Sight was blocked, he couldn’t see someone hiding around a corner. Any noise such a person might make, or the breathing they might be doing, was also impossible to detect because sounds didn’t carry across the dimensional boundary. It was one of the reasons he usually flew around a building when he was scouting it out. So, him not seeing the sixth person wasn’t just a matter of luck as that individual was doing his utmost to stay out of sight from the Hangar, which was the direction Anton was moving toward the five military person from.

Anton moved closer and kept an eye on the group of five and noticed that a large grouping of beetles was heading in their direction from the Earth Node. Anton decided to help them out as the more people that survived to help Felix, Caitlyn, his sister, and company, the better. Anton landed with his back to the building behind him and deactivated Specter. He looked toward the stream of beetles that was now only 100 feet from the fuel tank and the military party that was still fighting the three beetles attacking them.

Anton looked at them and called out loudly, “Finish up those beetles and fall back to the building behind me!”

The five military personnel continued to fight but noticed him and kept a wary eye in his direction. That was fine. Hopefully, his little display of power would convince them to come with him to the hangar. Anton opened his mouth, focused, and let loose a Spectral Scream that reached just over 900 feet. A wave of psychic energy blasted forth from his open mouth and killed every beetle it washed over.

In a moment, more than 55 beetles dropped to the ground, dead. Anton turned to look at the soldiers to make sure they’d taken care of the beetles near them when he noticed that one of the soldiers looking at him squinted before her eyes started to go wide in shock.

At the exact moment, the hair on the back of Anton’s neck stood on end, and he felt something was bearing down on him. Before he could react, a dagger plunged into his back. A pain unlike any he had ever felt before exploded from the point of impact and lit every nerve in his body on fire. Even so, he was quickly able to compartmentalize the pain and pull up his Combat Log.

Combat Log

The ‘Kiss of Keres” has been bestowed unto you.

Base Damage: 4

Bonus Damage: +9

Kiss of Keres: +100 / Divine Effect: Excruciating Pain

Critical Strike Multiplier: x3

Total Damage: 339 (113 x 3)

1,275 of 1,614 Hit Points remaining

As Anton looked over the information, the pain he felt from the blow continued to fill his body. Unfortunately for his attacker, Anton was no stranger to pain. As the dagger was withdrawn from his back, Anton swiftly turned and grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the dagger. He activated the disintegration effect of his Anti-Mage ability. He could have snapped the wrist with a squeeze but wasn’t really thinking when he instinctively pushed the ability into the wrist of the hand holding the dagger.

The assassin only had time to utter a single word, “What?” before his body withered before Anton’s eyes. Anton had never tried to use that ability on living creatures before, mainly because it was implied in the text that it could only be used on inanimate matter. It seemed that it had worked, though. In the same moment that his attacker became a desiccated corpse, Anton’s Hit Points were reduced by 137. The only thing holding the corpse upright, Anton’s hand on the wrist of the corpse.

***

Jacob Landcaster looked out onto a plain of darkness where the Goddess Keres stood before him and shook her head, “You chose poorly.”

Before Jacob could respond, the scene shifted. A huge hole opened below him, and he began to fall. As he fell, he thought he heard the goddess say, “What a waste. Also, pay attention.”

Pay attention, why would he have to pay attention, “Jacob thought.

The tunnel above him closed, and he began to fall faster. He felt that the rate at which he was falling was increasing the farther he fell. Suddenly, the tunnel opened into a red smoke-filled sky. Below him was a landscape of a primordial rocky plain with lava pools and lava rivers scattered throughout. He could see figures moving about as the ground grew closer and closer until, finally, he could make out their form. Demons and Devils of all shapes and sizes filled this place.

At the velocity he was traveling, it was but a moment before he slammed into the ground and flattened like a pancake, which hurt, a lot. He thought he should have died, but no, he spread out like an amoeba, the stretching sensation only adding to his pain as it felt like every part of himself was pulled from every other part of himself.

After the pain and shock had worn off, his body slowly pulled itself together and solidified itself back into a form similar to what he was used to.

“Stuck the landing, I see,” a voice called from beside him.

“What? Who?”

“Not to worry. Someone will be along to fetch, brand, and then explain the rules to you.”

“What rules? Where am I,” Jacob asked.

“Isn’t it obvious You’re in hell. Or, at least what the SYSTEM considers Hell.”

Just then, a Notification appeared in his vision.

You Have Died!

Your Spirit Lives On!

Your actions have been measured and weighed.

Servant of Keres,

Welcome to Hell!

…

…

…

External Link Detected.

Anthony Nicholas Thomson, This is not yours to witness.

External Link Severed.