I live on
My plan was simple, it was to train until 1994 and be caught by that serial killer. It was now time to learn what that ritual was
So I did!
Currently I was bound and gagged with a couple others. There was even a child now, what a psycho. It does remind me of my time with Gilles though.
While I was not good at magecraft, getting out of this situation was still easy. I built some muscles this time as well.
It was progressing exactly as it did before.. no wait I guess I died first back then. Whatever, that's not important
He approached me with the knife in his hand while his other hand was holding a book. He seemed to be reading it while saying "Fill, fill, fill" constantly. He was immersed in reading it, which was good for me. Without noticing it I broke out of the rope with a little spell I casted and jumped over him. It was time to show why I trained my muscles till now!
He was surprised and tried to retaliate but I didn't give him a chance and threw him to the ground in an attempt to shock him and make him drop the knife. As I threw him with a little too much force so as he was falling his head hit the table
*CRACK*
.. whoops
Blood was coming, looking over how his head was twisted it seems I accidentally broke his neck. Uh, sorry? I was going to ask you about the ritual, now what am I going to do?
I looked at the corpse and its face was smiling... I guess he went happy
Now getting up I ripped off the gag in my mouth and turned back to other survivors. Hmm I can't remove their memories… I will think about it later
"Now then, what am I going to do with you?"
I was looking at the ritual on the ground. I tried to find what it was but couldn't. Dammit Teacher, you could at least teach me more about rituals.
While thinking of what to do a mad idea came to my mind. Should I just activate it?
The worst possibility is that everything dies... Eh I came this far, let's give it a try. Now what did he do back then
I moved closer to the ritual and brought my hand on top of it. With the knife on my left hand which I got from the dude I cut my wrist a little.
The blood dropped to the ritual and nothing happened.
"Is this not it?"
While thinking about what I did wrong, the ritual started to shine. So I was correct. Lets see, a demon, an eldritch creature, a curse that will fall on this town, what will it be.
The light grow even more…. but that was it
Disappointingly the light dimmed out and nothing came out. It looked like the ritual failed.
"I guess I was wrong"
Perhaps this ritual was wrong from the beginning. He only saw it lightening up back then too so maybe this was the same result the psychopath faced.
"Bummer"
I left after that. There was no point in lingering around any longer. I may be heartbroken but it doesn't matter. Getting rid of the totems I called the police, not long after I could hear the sirens.
Hmm what is this tattoo? Wait, did I make a deal with some kind of devil unknowingly? Shit, well let's hope it can wait
I did have some stuff I needed to get, they did say they left them on port…
—-
This is not it either..
I was currently looking at the container number as I was walking but it looks like they didn't place mine on a correct spot. Why god, why make me suffer searching for it.
"What nonsense. I'm the one true king. All others are mere pretenders."
Hah, someone was fighting? They were quite loud. Let's see what's going on.
As I took my steps I felt like someone was following me and turned around but there was nothing.
Well we were on a port, the wind is strong around here. I continued and eventually reached where the voice came from. Just one sight and I could tell, I found another Magus!
"If you're that insistent, then why not name yourself?"
A brute guy with red hair was screaming towards a goldie v2 who was strangely standing on top of a street lamb. I couldn't see his face sadly though, but I could see others' faces and l was feeling a dejavu when looking at one of them.
She looked incredibly familiar
"So you would question me, you pretender? Me, the true king?"
That hair color and eyes…
"If, even in the presence of my glory, you cannot discern my identity, your blindness will seal your doom!"
There was golden light coming from that goldie v2s back but I didn't focus on them. Currently all my focus is on that girl in blue. She wa-
Wait, I remember now. Wasn't she..
"Lily?"
That silly sister of Morgan who she kept talking about
Suddenly everyone looked over at me. Shit..
"Uhm.. hi?"
"Another Master? But who is Lilly?"
I had no idea what he had meant but Master but I didn't care that much honestly.
"Hey Lilly, you have grown up! I thought you were dead after your sister went mad"
Lilly seemed to be holding something but her eyes were shaking a little.. or were they? It was too far, I couldn't see that well but I could see the big question on her face
"Saber, you know him?"
"I..I don't but how-"
Ohh right, how could she. We have seen other like what, one time? I kept hearing about her from her sister but I doubt she knows about me
"Ah you probably don't remember. It was a one time anyways but I kept hearing about you from your sister. She was always thinking of ways to make you happy but suddenly she changed so I thought you went missing. You look quite young though, it's been like what.. ehh how long does it makes it now, around 1500 I guess"
Hahaha to think someone was still alive. I could talk shit about Morgan now!
Hmm but why is everyone looking at me strangely?
"He is a Master that's for certain but Death Apostle? And where is his Servant"
"Hey Saber?"
"You.. What did you say about her?"
Huh, she was acting weird
"Did I come at the wrong time? Sorry, I will come later"
As I was about to turn around someone started laughing. It was goldie v2
"Hahahahahaha. Good, good! "
He turned around to face me and I couldn't believe it. That man was no goldie v2, he was the original.Two in one day?
"En-"
"Kid?"
Instantly the smile disappeared from goldie and what replaced it was anger
"You, a mongrel, dared to call me Kid?"
Weapons started to come out from the golden lights and they aimed for me but I couldn't care less
Duh, I was old and I still could remember that small face of yours.
*Blurgh*
I looked down and look at that, I have a huge hole in my body now. Looks like I was going to die. My body dropped to the ground but I can't leave like this! I had to speak with him at least
"Of course! Ah, I can't forget that heartwarming situation. Me telling you of the tales of Gilgamesh while you listened to me without saying a word. I was dying of cold and you didn't help me a bit. It's cool. In the end it seems you did listen to me, look at you. You have become just like the Gilgamesh I told you about, just without the beard. It is good to see that you kid, grew up and held up to might of the name"
I was sincerely happy. It seems I did something!
"Gilgamesh? He is Gilgamesh, King of Uruk!?"
The others were shocked at his name but.. a bit too quick to jump on the train no? Afterall he is no King of Uruk, he is another Gilgamesh… right? Wait… he is not that Gilgamesh right? I didn't tell his whole story to his face right?"
"You.. Who are you? Tell me Mongrel!"
He doesn't remember too? I guess I was not that important
"Hehehe, you make me sad kid.."
Ah, I was losing my voice.
"I did not kill you immediately for such an offense of calling me a kid but it seems you don't learn"
*Blurgh*
More and more blood came out. Haha, I couldn't even feel my body now. I explained it pretty well though.. hmm perhaps it was something else. It couldn't be right?
"Hey.. Lilly. Do you remember a kid…. running 8 laps… around the castle and dropping down on the 7th?"
I was not even able to say a complete sentence in one breath now.
"..No?"
The kid was talking but I couldn't hear it. My only focus was on her answer and now I understood.
I looked at the sky before drawing my final breath
[User died]
It wasn't that they couldn't remember. It was because I had never met them in this timeline. I was not going back on a singular timeline.. that was the reason sometimes my room changed.
[Searching for another ending]
I was traveling to another timeline each time. Now it makes sense. And the tree was in my vision again
[Found]
Was.. was all these root another timeline?
[Mystery: 649,032]
Something I didn't know was that I had left someone. A certain robed man was going around in search of me after I disappeared with my teleportation and couldn't catch up to me, that is until my death. His Master's disappearing and later on death after his failed summoning he was going mad at me, don't blame me. I didn't know.
—-
Well now I feel dumb
[User died]
It does make a little bit more sense now.
[User died]
I never went back in time, it's just that particular timeline didn't progress enough.
[User died]
Good job me!
[User died]
Well this doesn't change anything in the end.
[User died]
By the way, why am I dying constantly!?
[User died]
It was getting frustrating. It's been more than 2500 times already and I would always find myself in space with nothing around me. Sometimes there would be gas and sometimes there wouldn't… wait is this before earth formed?
[User died]
I re- oh wait. I'm somewhere else.
Looking right and left I couldn't figure it out. I was stepping on cold metal and this place I was on, it looked like I was in some sort of hangar.
-A trespasser has been found-
Me?
-Deploying weapons-
"Wait!"
But nothing I said mattered. Before I knew it I was already dead, my body rolling on the ground.
-Deploying cleanup-
It all happened too fast for me to even escape
[User died]
[Mystery:732,845]
—--
Oh where was I this time?
While I was trying to figure it out a door opened. It was a really huge door similar to those doors from gladiator movies where people would enter the arena.
I didn't immediately go out but looked from side to side to see what was going on.
Well there was a huge woman with snakes all around her and a half naked man with red cloth on his back screaming. Oh tons of people similar looking to him appeared as well, just blue like a spirit.
"Leonidas!"
"Those troops!"
Someone else was talking. Erhm lets see, a shield holder girl, a boy and a wizard?
"Lord Ushi-"
Leonidas they said, so he should be that spartan guy. He was talking about someone's sacrifice but honestly I couldn't understand it. The boy looked to be wearing rather modern clothes and I don't remember stuff like this in Leonidas's history.. what kind of timeline I was on?
Fire?
Shield on the air?
What was even going on, I had no idea. But it seemed like Leonidas was trying to protect this place against that snake lady.
Oh the lady was spewing out lasers now but shields were deflecting them… I wonder if those lasers that got deflected were hitting something. I looked up but no, it was going over the shield. How were those not hitting the back? The shield was reducing its force I guess.
Should I help Leonidas?
The shield got bigger after he hit the ground once more but he wasn't looking that well. His mask already turned to stone.. oh wait that lady is a gorgon!
Eh let's go over to that magician first, all of them look stronger than me anyways.
I couldn't even teleport here since there were no doors.. Hey, I know that I'm on one of the roots right. What happens if I change my position on the root? I mean I can already go over from root to root so why can't I move on the same root?
I tried to imagine the tree again but this time I focused on the roots.
"Ansuz"
A spell that was definitely not correct for this job but I didn't know what else to do.
Lucky it worked.. kinda. I couldn't change where I was going instantly but roots spread out from the ground and formed a door frame. It seems I somehow managed to combust the roots, it sounds so wrong.
I tried to open the door but my legs gave off and my body went down. My eyes were droopy and at the last second I saw the door frame that was created disappeared.
My mana was not enough
[User died]
[Mystery: 760,523]
—-
Hmm now, for the last few thousand deaths it was all me trying to make the spell as mana conversing as possible and I did manage to make it better.
[User died]
[Mystery: 802,329]
No, I was just kidding myself. I couldn't even cast it a single time correctly.
I should relax for a bit. I will continue later
—-
Anyways, now where was I?
"Captain! The enemy is using their plasma cannons, our shield won't be able to handle it!"
Oh I'm on a spaceship it seems. The view is really good, just look at those stars
"Direct all power to engines. We are going to get the hell out of here!"
"Understood, Captain!"
I couldn't see any planets around though, there were only chunks of metal floating on the empty space
"Where is the Vice-Captain?!"
"I CAUGHT THE INTRUDER"
Hm, my hands and legs were suddenly tied. Losing my balance I fell down and hit my head.
"Hahaha, as expected. Captain, look!"
Ah, perfect. Dying from hitting my head hard on the ground, just what I lacked on recent deaths.
"Huh,---- respond wil– —----"
I couldn't even understand what she was saying anymore. Well…
[User died]
[Mystery: 802, 348]
—-
"Soldiers! Today is the day we get rid of the Hassassins!"
"Hooray!"
It was night time, I was extremely sleepy but I couldn't fall now.
"Ready!"
Ah, I was not even a trained man. Life was harsh as I was not as skilled as others in fighting as well so it was pure bad luck.
Oh wait, we are attacking now.
As we rushed others were burning the place down. THe assassins with skulls on their heads were coming nonstop.
"Shit, shit, shit"
I was trying everything to stay alive and thankfully I was successful on that.
It was crazy, we clearly had a number advantage but the assassins were almost turning the fight. There were some crazy ones that were going all around the battlefield like a ghost.
*crack*
My spell shield I casted on myself broke. I turned my hand and skewered the one that broke it instantly but I failed to kill him.
He disappeared afterwards, I wasn't sure. My head was spinning.
Poison? I don't know.
Near the stairs I felt like I was about to die and tried to hide but we were facing people that mastered the art, how could I hide from them.
My eyes were getting droopy but I saw someone going down the stairs as many soldiers were trying to kill him. All of them failed.
"What kind of assassin is over 2 meters?"
He was already near me. I could feel that he was holding my helmet and how he was crushing it. When did they start to make gorillas wear a full set of heavy armor and call them assassins?
[User died]
[Mystery: 820,482]
—-
"Hey buddy, are you ready?"
Ready? No I was not
"I don't trust those pirates"
Because I knew what would happen
The man just smiled at me
"Don't worry, we have him after all"
That still was not comforting me because I knew he would also fall
"We won't be oppressed!"
Fools, total fools
Pirates work for money but we are facing the Roman Empire here.
It is obvious they are going to backstab us
"To Sicily!"
I should have not turned back to Lucania
"Hey"
I turned to face the main man, Spartacus himself. He was the reason I couldn't turn back, I was among the first slaves after all.
There was no turning back anymore.
"Here, wear this."
He smiled and took the cape I gave to him. The cape I spent half my magic on
It would protect against a single life threatening strike. I wanted to give him something more powerful but this was all I could do for now.
Still it will allow him to stop one more oppressor
"Thank you"
He wore it and went to the frontline. We would be attacked soon but I at least gave the cape
I liked him, he was a great guy
Heh, hope of the oppressed humans. It fits him.
I took my step behind his back as well as others. To our dead, I guess
[User died]
[Mystery: 852,392]
—-
What should I do… what should I do…
I was again in modern times and had left Japan as early as possible. I now knew Gilgamesh and Lily were there but well, what's the point of meeting them if I will get killed instantly.
My magic was progressing but slowly. It was weird honestly. I had been following what Morgon taught me in our short time and some other bits and pieces I found in my lifes but it's been too slow.
The door I was trying to create was something that clearly was not much of a magecraft but I succeeded on doing it the first time.
"Maybe?"
I lifted my hand and tried to focus on Mystery, not mana, ed or whatever she had called it back then. Mystery was a force that enabled users to cast magic right? My Mystery kept on increasing so could I control it?
I focused hard on trying to move anything but it was simply a failure. What was the point of Mystery then? It did make my Mana stronger and magic in the end but it was just extremely unstable.
I couldn't cast a simple fire, well I could but I could but not a small one. It was the reason a simple shield spell took too much of my mana. The shield would almost protect from everything but afterwards it would shatter due to excessive mana.
"Ansuz"
I thought about Zeus this time and lightning appeared and striked. All the lights went out and came back later on. It seems the lightning short circuited.
Currently the only spell I was able to cast comfortably was Ansuz while thinking about Janus. It would still go away after a few seconds but it was by far my most stable spell.
Just what can I do?
"..nothing for now"
I lacked knowledge. My mastery over the roots were not great for now as well. For now whenever I tried to move them I would die but I believe in myself.
"Let's try it again"
Let's just try to cast it for now.
I imagined the tree I would always see and focused on the roots
[User died]
[Mystery: 862,328]
—--
[User died]
Again
[User died]
One more time
[User died]
Close, I stayed awake one more second
[User died]
[User died]
[User died]
[User died]
[User died]
[User died]
[User died]
…
.
.
.
.
"Fuck, one more time!"
Before I was able to try again a voice stopped me
"Want me to help?"
—--
This cycle I'm going through is tiresome.
"Sir, would you like me to fill?"
"Please, thank you"
The waiter smiled and went away after pouring coffee on my mug. I was currently wasting time here.. I didn't know what to do.
"I thought you hated coffee"
"I do"
Still I took a sip. It was bitter, same as always. No matter how much I said I hated it I couldn't leave it. No matter how much I refuse to say it, I like coffee for its bad taste.
"This timeline is ending too. I hope you remember what we talked about"
This old man, heh.
"Of course, prank the maguses from Clock Tower"
I still had no idea what this Clock Tower was though. He never told me.
"Hahaha, good. Well then, it was good talking to you."
Indeed it was. Thanks to you I understood my mistake after all.
"By the way old man, what is your name?"
"Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg but you can just call me Zelretch. How about you?"
Funny how after years of spending time together we didn't even know each other's name.. but my name huh?
"I wonder"
I had long forgotten it
"You can call me Neo"
So I just said a random name. Now that I think about it, what did people call me by?
"Neo, interesting name. Well, not that I will remember it"
It was indeed sad. I wonder why he still can't remember about me on other timelines.
My information stayed on this timeline and that was it, outside my information did not exist.
I looked out and saw the we only had few seconds left
I got up from my seat and casted my spell. Finally I wouldn't need to use Ansuz anymore, now I can travel without any problems. A method that was even better than what he is using.
The space in front of me cracked open, my door opened.
"Still fascinating to see that"
The roots were finally under my control to a degree.
"See you later old man"
If I can ever meet you that is
The meteor came close enough that its pressure destroyed everything.
[User died]
[Mystery: 1,000,052]
My Mystery also went over million now
[User had unlock a memory fragment]
[Memory sequence is starting]
My vision went black and it stayed like that
Till like a switch was unlocked everything lightened up. This place was.. a library
"Father, where is this?"
And there were two people walking through the shelves
Both had impossible to see faces or features
"You remember your sister and brother right?"
"Yes father. Sister does the beginnings and brother is the one who finishes them"
They stopped after the child answered fathers question
"Have you ever thought about where their works go?"
The child thinked for a little while before answering
"This place?"
The father than ruffles the child hair
"Correct."
He then went over and picked a book on the shelf. The shelf itself had many empty spaces.
"You see, your sister and brother tried to fill this place by themselves but they by themself can't fill the story"
He gave the book to the child and the child opened it. The name of the book was "Beast of 666". I had no idea what it was about so I was curious. When the child opened the book and skimmed through it I finally understood where the father was getting at. The start and end was there but the book was… empty.
"They by themselves can't fill the empty place. The books however can't stay like this, they are in this state and do not belong to here. That's where you and your little sister come to play"
"My sister?"
"Yes, she will do the middle and you will fill the remaining parts. You will connect the story the book wants to tell."
The father then placed the book where it was after getting it back from the child and picked him up. Walking away they reached a mirror and looked at it.
"Child, when you grow up you will spend a lot of time in the stories. Your job will be the hardest among, you will fix the mistakes of your sisters and brother"
"But father, what if I make a mistake?"
The face of the child was now visible but the fathers was not. The only thing I could see was a smile on his face
"For good books to exist, bad ones need to exist as well. Just do as how you feel like it child"
The child smiled at the fathers answer. The child's face was familiar to me. After All that face was,
Mine.
—--
I woke up
Looking around I saw the tree once again but I also realized something.
"I can move"
Something I was never able to till now, I coil move around freely. The notification saying searching for another ending didn't come.
I looked around and saw the roots infinitely expanding.
Then I imagined it, to order this place to make it easier to me I imagined the library.
The roots began moving as the space around me started to change
I was on the library, the library I saw
The shelves had many books so I went near one
I picked up two books. Both of them read "Epic of Gilgamesh" but I could for some reason knew the difference even before opening them
Opening the first book it was like how I remembered it to be. The child of gods, the one who went against them and more. This was normal, so I opened the other book.
I immediately knew the difference.
The start was different, it talked about Gilgamesh's youth. Part where he went outside Uruk.
It told about how he met a Seer at a cave, on the verge of dying. How the Seer told him about his future, the path he would take.
This story was familiar
I took another one, this one was about a witch. It told about her story, a different viewpoint to the popular story. Most parts were blurry to me, parts which were not available to me. But among the path of her creating a child I could see it.
"Morgan, —------- - - — – —--------- ,her child, Mordred, was created using a mix of bloods. The bloods were from Morgan, Arthur and a child Morgan took under her wing long ago, when she was still the big sister and not —--- - —----"
The parts were short but I could see it
I took another book, "---- - – —----". The name was a blur to me but this one was similar to others. I opened it and started to read through it. Almost every single line was blur with only one page having words I could read
"In the midst of — talking someone appeared. He looked normal with a stupid expression on his face. He was looking towards —- and his mouth finally opened. "Lily" he called, a name that not one understood except one. An unknown piece had entered the battle and he spoke of a past forgotten, not remembered anymore. —-- and —-- —-------- – —------------------ – —------------------- - - —----------------------------------- —--------------- - - —----------------------- —---- —----------------------- - —--------- the man was —-- - —------- but his —--------- - —-------- A foolish —- came without — —------- He turned against —-- and muttered out something. In a —- – the weapons were fired towards the unknown man and he-"
The book continued on. Explaining what had happened but I was not able to understand most of it.
Still it was certain, I now knew what was going on.
I looked at the book in my hand and tried something, a spell that I learned thanks to an old man. In a second roots appeared all around it and it was gone the next second. Looking at the shelf I could see that the book was now where it was before I picked it up.
Every book was a root. Every root was a timeline. Every timeline contained a story.
My.. father sent me here. I was to fill each story. I was to fill the timeline.
Then when will I reach the ending? Why was I following the ending? Who was my father?
I did not know and the only way to know them was to fill in more stories.
[Congratulations, User has unlocked a function]
[You can now select your search to be on manual mode or randomized]
I see, it was easy to understand. Until now it was random and now I could select by my own will.
I still did not have any certain timeline to enter so I ordered the shelves to be mixed for a bit before stopping.
Approaching one of the shelves after they stopped I picked up a random book.
"---- – —-"
I did not know its contents so it was a blur.
"Heh"
I entered the book
[User has selected "---- - —--"]
[Mystery: 1,000,052]
—--
"Hey little child"
I looked around as my senses came back to me
"What are you doing at this hour?"
A long white hair, with a baggy cloth. A face that would make any race fall for it.
"How did a human child like you come here?"
Don't ask me lady, I wish I knew as well.
"Child, do you want to come with me? Other fairies are not the nicest people"
And how could I know you are nice?
"Okay"
But who cares
She smiled as I moved near her. It was weird, my movement didn't feel natural
"You are a strong one aren't you? Not many can arrive here and survive."
I understood what she meant, the mana around the air was quite a lot. Still I shaked my head
"I'm weak"
I was following her as she was leading me towards her place or something
"No need to undersell yourself. Even some fairies struggle to walk here"
I was not underselling myself. I was indeed weak.
"But those fairies can kill me easily"
I did not know them of course but if they were stronger than the average soldier then I would have no chance.
"Hoho, were human children supposed to talk like this?"
I remained quiet
Soon we reached a tree and she waved her hand in front of it. The tree widened up and revealed a portal. It had a good stability, probably something that was used by many. I could feel the area around it there was something else but I didn't know, probably detection magic.
As we entered the place around us has changed
There were flowers everywhere and a single house on the middle
"Welcome to Garden of Avalon child."
A head came out from the house. His white hair under the sunlight was showing the colors of a rainbow. His face was full of curiosity
"You can call me Father from now on"
Wait, it was a he and not she? Damn, he looks so feminine under the robe.
He later pointed towards the child that was looking at us, mainly towards me
"And that is your brother, Merlin"