2 Chapter Two

Arabella Jones was a good landlord. She took all her responsibilities seriously and always addressed the needs of her tenants. On this day, however, she was in a dilemma. One of her tenants, a young man, had yet to pay his rent. So she paid him a visit only to find there was no response. After asking around, one of his neighbours recalled seeing him leave with a small bag. Assuming the man was on a trip, Arabella decided to give him another week. A week quickly passed and the tenant had yet to return.

Sighing, Arabella grabbed her keys and entered the small apartment. If the young man wasn't coming back anytime soon, she had to make sure the gas and lights were off. Walking in, she saw the light of a lamp in the darkness of the bedroom. As she went over to put it out she saw a young man dressed in pyjamas sleeping silently on the bed. Taken aback, she called out to the boy. After several attempts and no response, she reached out to jolt him. Arabella slowly grew worried, as, despite her attempts, he wouldn't wake up. Taking a closer look, she was surprised when she saw the boys face. He seemed a lot more...handsome than she remembered. Blushing furiously she checked the youths pulse and found that it was slow and strong. Had he been lying here for over 2 weeks? Was he in some sort of coma? Worry turned to fear as Arabella quickly pulled out her phone and called for an ambulance.

———

The doctors were baffled. The state of the patient was incomprehensible. When he was brought in a week ago, they were told the patient hadn't eaten in over 2 weeks. However, when they saw his condition, they were completely shocked. He wasn't suffering from any sort of nutritional deficiencies. On the contrary, his health was beyond reasoning. Despite this however, he was in a vegetative state. His pupils didn't respond to stimuli. What scared them next was the iv tubes. The moment the needle was pressed against his skin, it would bend, unable to penetrate the skin. This was like nothing they'd seen before. The best doctors in the hospital were unable to find any skin condition which would cause this. The patient had smooth vibrant skin, not matching any symptoms they could conjure. They decided to leave the matter for the moment and find the cause of the coma. The patient went through numerous physicals but it was the brain scans that almost caused numerous heart attacks. His sleeping brain was operating at 100% and lit up the MRIs. The best doctors from nearby hospitals were called in for help in evaluating the patient. Their numbers steadily grew.

———

War. The world had fallen into chaos. Whole cities were wiped from maps. Constant explosions were the norm. It was the longest war in human history going onto 20 years. The population had fallen to 4 billion with many suffering from radiation poisoning. However, it was the environment that had suffered the worst. This war had set humanity on the path of no return, doing irreversible damage to the planet. In the beginning, many were ignorant to the cause of the outbreak but over the years rumours had become fact and many knew a version of the truth. Country A had discovered the body of a deity and through intelligence networks, this information had spread to the other nations. At first, they were all sceptical of their intel but soon spies and informants gathered irrefutable evidence of the entity. Human greed took care of the rest, plunging the world into an era darkness. One good thing that had come out of this travesty, however, was the advancement of technology. Military and medical technology had reached new heights as the war pushed each nation to its limits. After close to 2 decades of fighting, however, talks began. Their planet and race were under imminent threat of death if they didn't end the war. And so the World Truce Federation was born. The world was united as one and the greatest minds on the planet had finally come together to study the anomaly.

———

"Alright everyone the senior technician says pack up." A scientist shouted.

"Are we finally done with this cumbersome work?" Another asked.

"How much money was wasted on this guy?"

The staff members chatted amongst themselves as they proceeded to disable the lab equipment. The low hum of mechanical equipment slowly faded into the background, the blinding light bulbs switched off one after the other until only the main "Restricted access" room was the only lit area in the entire research wing of the building. The exterior walls of the room were plastered with all kinds of warning signs and advised using protective lab coats and such. At the climax of the Great War, governments around the world poured all their resources into science research and that meant ensuring the safety of scientists. The more conventional protective equipment from a hundred years ago was long since abandoned when a brilliant bright mind managed to successfully produce reinforced clothing using nano fabrics. The protective equipment was made to function in all climates and resist pressure to a reasonable extent. A squad of heavily armed men slowly proceeded towards the room in unison.

"Well? Are your men ready?" The senior lab technician grumbled.

She wasn't happy about the Federations decision on pulling the plug. She was confident that in time, she would have made a breakthrough. She would succeed where a hundred years of research failed. A large man stepped into the light revealing his grotesque face, with multiple scars running across it. A truly unsightly figure. The current humans looked vastly different from their counterparts years ago. Genetic mutations became commonplace after the nuclear war changing the genetic makeup of most exposed individuals. The mutations introduced would either be a dream come true, or a nightmare. The luckiest of humans would have extremely beneficial mutations improving the nervous system and granting a sturdier body. The less fortunate ones would have their mentality or body structure completely changed.

"God was clearly angry when he made you," she ridiculed.

"Didn't take you to be religio..." just as he was about to finish his sentence a thunder-like BOOM shook the building. The reinforced glass windows and light bulbs in the room begun to shatter one after another until the only remaining glass instrument was the incubator in the centre of the room. The figure inside the incubator changed from a fetus position to spreading its limbs out, the space around this being became distorted and then a shockwave was sent out.

— — —

Slowly he opened his eyes. What he felt at that moment was power. It was a self-assured fact that gave him this feeling. He was absolute. He was also nude in a huge tub floating around in some sort of liquid. He flexed the muscles of his body for a fraction of a second, causing the liquid to instantly evaporate and the glass of the tub to shatter and blast outward. He stepped out and stretched his body. It had gotten stiff over the years. His last memory flashed by in perfect detail and he stopped. Slightly shaking, he called out in a hoarse voice, 'status'. Instantly the familiar blue screens flashed by before him.

{Congratulations! Legendary Divine title: "Paragon" activated!}

{Congratulations! Legendary Divine title: "God of Strength" activated!}

{Congratulations! Legendary Divine title: "God of Knowledge" activated!}

{Congratulations! Legendary Divine title...}

...

Several congratulatory messages popped up signifying that he had successfully activated all his titles. His health, mana and qi bars all now displayed ∞. As he sifted through the numerous notifications another one appeared.

{Player is no longer human. Please choose a name for your race.}

He thought for a few moments about the implications of that notification. He was no longer human. No, he had surpassed humanity in every way.

{Congratulations! Player is now a member of the: "Divine" race!}

{Player has no class. Player can choose to have a class based on their abilities assigned to them. Assign class? Y/N}

He selected Y.

{There are no existing classes befitting Player's abilities. New class: "Untitled" has been created!}

He momentarily thought of a name. What kind of being should he class himself as? A devilish smirk spread across his face.

{Class: "Untitled" has now become "One Above All"}

He was smiling in content at his new status screen when he decided to put it away to survey his surroundings. He was in an enormous lab of sorts. He didn't recognise any of the advanced machinery and computers which took up most of the laboratory. He noticed that all the machinery seemed to be focused on the tub from which he had emerged. He instantly put together a theory of 98.626% accuracy. There were 16 people in the room besides himself. 9 of which were in white lab coats. The rest wore some sort of military fatigues and were armed to the teeth. He looked towards the female who had the largest presence. When he looked, he saw. Her name, age, body statistics and history all neatly arranged themselves before him. This was the eyes of the God of Knowledge. He slowly turned his gaze towards the heavily armed men and analysed them all. In an instant, he had compiled information on every person in the room. While he calmly watched them, they stared at him in complete and utter shock. This was a subject which had lay comatose for over 100 years and hadn't aged a day! For him to suddenly wake up, had caught the researchers completely off guard. The senior scientist was the first to regain composure followed by Scarface. Meeting his gaze she blurted,

"What are you?"

She asked the question which had left 3 generations of scientists stumped. Before he could respond, Scarface raised his weapon and trained it on him before shouting,

"Take another step and we will open fire!"

The rest of his squad followed suit and aimed their weapons in his direction. Unfazed, he said,

"What I am, Mrs Moore is of no use to you. What I'm capable of, however, is."

He turned his gaze towards the armed men. Ever since he'd awoken he felt a new...force. A force he felt he could manipulate. Focusing on his assailants, he reached out and pulled. A roaring noise filled the minds of Scarface and co as their eyes rolled back in their heads. Without rhyme or reason he, followed by his squad, instantly collapsed into a heap on the ground. In a blink of an eye, an elite squad of 7 had been taken out. The senior researcher felt her back grow cold at what she had just witnessed.

'Don't worry they're only unconscious.'

When she met his gaze she felt as though he could see everything. Before him, she was as naked as the day she was born. He chuckled,

"Come now, I'm also in my birth suit."

She froze. He knew her name! And now he had obviously read her mind! What was the full extent of this beings capabilities?

"Since you asked so politely allow me to enlighten you. I know everything. I know the day you were born and the day you will die. I know when the world came to exist and when it will come to an end. I am not human, nor am I God. I am the one who stands between absolute power and frail mortality. The one above all, I am divine!"

His deep enchanting voice echoed out into the laboratory. He willed his body rise, and so he flew. Faster than the eye could see he rocketed through the ceiling of the building leaving the smartest people on the planet dumbfounded. It seemed he was deep underground as he had been moving for several minutes before finally breaking the surface. Not stopping, he continued upwards before taking in the view. He looked down at the base he had just left. It was a huge building surrounded by nothing but desert. His magic allowed him to defy the laws of gravity and fly. As he hovered there, he once more brought up his status screen. He was smiled in content when another notification appeared.

{Congratulations! Player has successfully completed The System! As The System is now redundant, it will be erased. The inventory will still be accessible in the form of a ring. Farewell Player.}

A line of complex code and random symbols flashed before him. With his current intelligence, he knew that the system was unwinding and breaking itself down. After a few seconds, the messages vanished and a single simple black ring fell. He swiftly caught it and adorned it on the index finger of his right hand. The moment he focused a bit of his energy on it, a boundless black space seemed to open up before him. In it was his suit of armour and his weapon. He easily equipped it, the beautiful set covering his nude body. He drew his sword and as soon as it left its sheath, it threatened to cut reality in half. Resheathing it, he gazed somewhat sadly at the ring on his finger before looking up. With all the immediate issues dealt with he decided to take a look around. Moving at light speed, he took in the current state of the world. What he found was surprising. Many countries were derelict and uninhabited. The human population of 4 billion were all in a single 'country'. It was a located in a huge dome-like construct. From what he could tell a huge war had taken place and in the aftermath this shelter was built to artificially purify the air and protect citizens from radiation. He chuckled as he was obviously the primary cause of the nuclear war. He stopped flying for a moment and vanished from his position reappearing outside the remnants of his apartment. A sense nostalgia welled up within him which he promptly pushed to the back of his mind. He flew above the rubble as his vision scanned for the locket. He had come here in search of the Locket of Fate which still owed him a wish. His search was fruitless so he moved on and decided to look for it with his new abilities. He spread his senses outwards, covering the entire Earth. He scoured every nook and cranny of the planet before finally discovering it. The Locket was in a graveyard, buried underground. The name on the gravestone made him laugh at the irony. It was his own. The government must have proclaimed him legally dead and allowed him to be buried. They must have said he had been cremated as he saw an urn of ashes beside the Locket. It was probably one of his friends who needed to bury him along with the only possession they could find that might have been of value. He touched the gravestone instantly crumbling it to dust before retrieving the Locket. Whilst searching for it, he had considered what to use it for. Before making a third wish he first tested the limits of his body. He could survive and freely travel in space as his indestructible body no longer required oxygen. He had swum to depths of the oceans to challenge its pressure. It too had no effect on him. He even took the time to cleanse the planet of pollution and radiation, breathing new life into the world that raised him. Physically there was nothing more he could wish for. He could leave this planet at any moment and explore the universe. However, this Locket would always be here. After he made his third wish it would later find another host to grant wishes for. This could be detrimental to his health. As long as the locket existed, he could never truly be at ease. He took a deep breath and spoke in a clear voice,

"I wish for the destruction of the Locket of Fate."

[Wish is being generated...'destruction of the Locket of Fate'...? Locket of Fate...indestructible...wish...destroy...@&%#...]

His stomach sank as he read the golden words. He had an extremely bad feeling.

[yoUr...WisH...iS...gRanTeD...?...¡PARADOX!]

The golden words flashed a dangerous red before the madness began. The Locket began changing. It looked as if it was collapsing into itself. It morphed horribly as it shifted between dimensions. Becoming 2 dimensional for a moment before going back to 3 dimensions. The space around the locket fractured and a rip in space-time appeared. The fissure pulsed with unparalleled gravitational force as it engulfed all space before it. He instinctively attempted teleporting as far away from the hole as he could but it seemed as though the very space around the portal had been locked. He couldn't move at all and could only watch helplessly as his body was engulfed in the abyss.