Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

I made my way back to the circular room and saw that nothing had really changed from the time that I left. Seeing that I still had some time before whatever trials were about to begin, I walked around the room, using the Arbiter skill to check the most relevant stats for the group.

Most of the information that I could see was related to their level and classes, just like what I saw with Xalla, but now their levels were not hidden from me this time. The lowest value that I saw was at level 7 - which really puts into perspective how bad my own level was - and the highest was at 16. They all had the commoner class, and nothing else was remarkable about this group of individuals.

I quickly ignored them and started to really check out the people who had something different displayed.

About 10 or so people had one of their stats shown instead of a level, and these stats were all in the 50’s range. Only two stood out within this particular crowd.

First off, there was a hulking individual slumped over on one of the chairs. He had to be at least 7 feet tall, since he was almost as tall as I was sitting down, and his arms were as thick as my thighs. I don’t even want to imagine how much he weighed, because the poor chair he was slumped in looked like it was about to collapse. His tanned skin was glistening in the light, and they seemed to almost burst out from the shirt he was wearing.

Above his head displayed:

Attributes:

HP: 382/382

MP: 0/0

Strength: 77

What on earth was that strength value… remember that I had a strength of 4 before taking that potion from Q. That means that he was, what, 20 times stronger than I was? Was that even humanly possible? Did some monster manage to sneak their way into the trials with me?

Someone else who had even more inhuman stats was a small, unassuming woman with frizzy red hair. She was dressed in a comfy sweatpants and hoodie, and I would have probably never paid attention to her if I saw her walking down the streets. However, the numbers displayed over her head said that she was anything but ordinary.

Attributes

HP: 177/177

MP: 0/0

Dexterity: 90

That was by far the highest number I saw from the entire lot of 199 individuals - I counted this time, I apparently forgot to count the people sitting behind me the first time - and no one other than the dude before her even went close to that number. I made a mental note to keep my eyes out for her in the future. This was another freak of nature.

However, the person who caught my interest the most wasn’t one of those two, instead, it was an Asian youth. He didn’t look much older than his early 20’s, and although he was a good-looking person, he didn’t stand out from the rest of the crowd. What was unique, however, was that the most relevant piece of information my Lucky Eyes of the Arbiter showed was his Title.

Primary Soul Title: The One Who Peered Into the Abyss

Description: Awarded to the final survivor and one who has seen the Destruction of All. Your will to live and endure has garnered the interest and admiration of the Creators, and you have been allowed to return to the beginning of it all. May you learn from your failures, and continue your struggles anew. We wish you the best of luck in your second life, and may you succeed where you have previously failed.

I had to double-take the information I saw there. The One Who Peered Into the Abyss…final survivor and allowed to return to the beginning? If that description is real, then this is someone who died in the future and was allowed to have a second chance? What did they call them in popular media again, a Regressor?

If I knew anything about those kinds of people, then it's that they're bad news for everyone around them, especially their enemies. And isn't the enemy of this particular Regressor the people who worked in Site 1102? Oh boy...

Well shit, I think I found Q’s temporal anomaly. Which means that I now have to monitor him, whatever that means. And it also means that he'll probably kill me if he finds out that I'm working with Q. Just what I needed, more things to worry about!

But wait, there were a lot of implications to that title. If this guy did somehow die from the future, and he was the last one to do so, then it means that some kind of disaster had to have caused all of that to happen. It must have been bad enough for the description to name it the Destruction of All. And then there’s that bit about the Creators. I can’t do anything until I find out more about the situation, including informing Q about him.

I sighed as I was given new information that was useless to me again. There were too many unknowns. Let’s ignore the information that I couldn’t define until later, and just focus on the things that impact me now.

If this title was correct, then in the future, some kind of event would happen that caused everything to end - whether that’s just the human race, or the universe as a whole was unsure, but whatever happened sounds real bad. Perhaps I can escape that by siding with Q and the Central Collective, or perhaps they would also be destroyed. Once again, that information has to be something that has to be acquired in the future. Ignoring that for now, I took stock of the info I could use.

First, if this man had the title, then it means that he was able to survive further than anyone else and had to have the skills needed to achieve that kind of feat. Too bad I didn’t know what kind of disaster he endured in the future.

Best case, only humanity ends, so I'll befriend the monsters here and survive as a Xollon Idol. Just warm up to Xalla and live with her or something. Worst case and everyone dies, I just have to ensure that this here regressor survives and fixes everything. But no matter what, it would be in my best interests to latch on to him and reap the benefits of his knowledge.

So all in all, it means that I had to do my best to get into his good graces if I wanted to maximize my chances of survival, while simultaneously juggling my relationship with Q and his gang. I’ll decide how to do the former once I see what type of person the regressor is, but either way, I had to factor in a lot of new information in my calculations. Let’s just observe him and the situation first, probe for some useful pieces of information when I can, and assess the situation again once I know more.

Seeing that nothing else was of note, I went to take my seat amongst the others, but no sooner had my butt touched the chair did a new figure appear near the big door.

“Greetings, Lord Arbiter,” the new being said, “I am called Malazel, but I will be introduced as Raffiel to the humans. I have been transferred here at the request of Q, and I am now in charge of the trials for Group 054. Please let me know if you need anything from my end, and I will do my best to accommodate your esteemed self, or convey your wishes to Q if needed.”

Malazel, or I guess I should call him Raffiel since I was part of these tests, looked like, well, a stereotypical Christian Angel. He was impeccably handsome, with curly blonde hair and nobel features; he wore a pristine white robe, and two huge wings adorned his back. If I hadn’t just come out of the back of the facility I would have almost believed that Raffiel was actually angelic.

Instead, I used the Rookie Arbiter skill and felt a strange sense of relief when I saw the information displayed.

Malazel - Level ??? Demon Duke of Mirage

The fact that I feel relieved that the person before me was a demon instead of an angel should be concerning, but I think I stopped caring about such matters a long time ago at this point. Demons I can work with.

Still, Raffiel must be pretty high up in the pecking order of things if Q personally asked him to come here.

“Thank you.” I said with a nod, “Please call me Walter from now on, that is the name I go by with the other humans, and I will refer to you as Raffiel for the same purpose.”

“Of course, Walter.” He said with a low bow, “Is there anything I can help you with before the trials begin in earnest?”

I thought for a second but decided that it would be best to just get things rolling, “No, but please remember to treat me like any other aspirant when we’re in front of the humans.”

“I understand.”

With that, the demon nodded at me one last time, and with a snap of his finger, the location we were at seemed to change before my eyes. Gone were the concrete floors and boarded-up windows, and in their place was a resplendent great hall made of the finest marble adorned with artwork and sculptures that would put Michelangelo to shame. The once barren metal door was replaced with a grand stage with a magnificent view of rolling mountains and clouds as a backdrop. Even the chairs we were in changed to soft, velvet-laced showpieces.

I guess the Mirage part of the demon’s name made more sense now. Let's see how things progress from here, and what new bullshit awaited me.