The Mad King of Adventure

(Perspective of view: Third Person)

“Shit, I’ve got a pounding headache, did I overdo it last night? Ah who am I kidding, I’m surprised I could even fight that hard by myself.” Ryan’s mind brings itself awake as he realizes that he is surrounded by a familiar dark black void, the only difference being the distinct lack of wording present proclaiming his death.

“Am I seriously back here, no wait, I am back here.” Ryan shook his had as he adopted a mock thinker’s pose. “No that’s obvious therefore either my body is comatose and I won’t wake up or I am slowly perishing from overuse of my body.”

“Wrong and wronger. To think such a nihilist defeated us in a fight. We cannot believe our everlasting victory was denied by a cretin such as yourself. Ah it does feel nice to speak in a more modern version of Equish however.” A dark and cold voice churns out.

Already Ryan turned sharp, vigilant of his surroundings and the inconspicuous voice. “It’s always one thing after the other, I swear it’s like a brick wall here.” Even through his unguarded speech there were still bits of his nature seeded through. “They said ‘us,’ interesting. A hivemind mayhaps?” He quietly noted to himself.

Ryan spent no time turning around whilst re-equipping his dagger. Only to be met face to face with a plume of pure darkness that was a shade darker than the void that surrounded him. “I’m sorry but who are you?”

The conglomerate of darkness chuckled; a myriad of voices being heard all at once. “Do not play coy, you know who we are.” The presence practically snarled out, its hostility growing by the second. “You had a helping hand in the element’s win over after all. You damnable existence. If we knew you were a Champion then-” The darkness briefly lunged out a tendril of darkness.

“-We would have killed you were you stood.” The tendril stopped moments before hitting its mark. Ryan’s eyes uncharacteristically widen in fear.

He tried his hardest to keep his composure but bits of weakness trickled past him, so he turned his fear into strength, and strength into rage. “But you obviously did not and that resulted in your defeat, Nightmare Moon. The lonely one, the one who won’t be missed, the dead mistake. Take your pick but it’s what you are.”

“Wrong once again Steele.” The dark entity snides. “Nightmare Force, that is what we are. Or at least a fraction of its collective consciousness.” The being named Nightmare Force retracts its tendril away from Ryan with a huff. “This rarely happens to us unless capability is present for another agent to be within our midst. Count your stars as this is to be the only reason we find you tolerable.”

Ryan pulled his dagger closer to his head; only to realize the dagger he thought he was holding was never there in the first place. His eyes briefly widened before returning to normal. “A reality warping entity? And this is only a fraction of its power? I’m surprised I haven’t already been ripped apart but I can figure out a few reasons for why.”

“Relax your posture, smile, and greet with open arms ready as the debonair guy you are.” Ryan steadily laxed his shoulders and presented the same toothy grin he’d give to Princess Celestia, not friendly nor could it be called out as fake.

“Okay I can tell you most likely want a mutual interaction between the two of us, correct?” He curiously prodded.

The Nightmare Force moved forward as if to appear more present in the conversation. “We should be asking you that. Strong wills have to force us into their mindscape to have the grandiose chance of speaking to us.”

“...Ah, this will take a while then. Do you mind setting up a more comfortable scene that would accommodate the two-”

“-Done.” In an instant a world came into form. Patterned gray bricks served as the cobblestone roads, tall castle-like buildings surrounded the pair, cars out of the late 1880s appeared and infrequently drove past the two, an endless crescent moon, Ryan himself was sat directly across the perfect double of Nightmare Moon sitting down with a cup of tea in her hands as she placed it back at the table that was created in front of them.

“This feels familiar yet homey, a light fog is covering this place and that large clock tower is giving me some sort of comfort. I do strongly dislike being cut off however, not that there’s anything I could do about this entity in the first place.”

The duplicate of Nightmare Moon sighed. “This is the most we can cater, anymore and it would be considered babying you. Now then you may ask away as long as we may do the same.”

“Well I’d like to apologize about the rudeness I showed during battle, you see-” The Cameo began.

But the entity was quick to stop him. “-You are not sorry at all, not in the slightest. Cut the pleasantries already.”

Ryan carefully nodded his head. “Fine, what exactly are we supposed to do here? How much do you know about me?”

‘Nightmare Moon’ hummed in thought. “It depends on what exactly you desire. And we do not know enough. It’s our turn to ask two questions now.”

Ryan silently cursed himself. “Shit, I got nothing out of that and she, I mean it, got two freebies out of this.”

“Do you realize you called upon a goddesses’ attack during that last attack against us?” She questioned.

The newly ascended being waited for the second question but it never came. “More and more questions, dammit! I don’t even understand what she’s asking but I feel like I cannot waste a question asking something like that. She’s gauging what to ask about my response then. Too clever of them.”

“No and I have no idea where the attack came from. It was out of ‘unique’ circumstances we’ll call it.” He honestly answered.

‘Nightmare Moon’ took another sip of her tea and narrowed her eyes in concentration as if searching for something. And that snide smile of hers told him that she found exactly that. “Hm, ah that is interesting. Tell me, how is your relationship with our past host’s abuser?”

Ryan looked dumbfounded by the question. “I’m sorry, who are you talking about?”

“Princess Celestia the one and only solar tyrant of course.” The Nightmare clarified though was slightly disgusted by the looks of it. “The one who oppressed our previous host and is doing the same to you Steele. Grooming you into a protector of one Twilight Sparkle and soon the rest of the Elements if our deduction is correct.”

“...” He stopped, the man stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped looking, all of this stopped for three seconds.

“Never again.” He uttered. “Never again do you look through my mind to pull out details.” Ryan’s stone cold expression threatened to cut the Nightmare Force in twain only to meet her unamused glare.

‘Nightmare Moon’ only grinned in response, a grin that was wholly familiar to the knowing monster. “You never offered a price for such a hefty request, to add to that you never answered our question, and disrespected us upon our own land. That was three strikes and three is enough.”

“We desired to ease you into this. Ryan Steele you have officially lost that privilege.” The living nightmare continued. Ryan’s eyebrows furrowed at this.

“Mind reader, reality warping, territorial. I really do have my work cut out for me.” He felt as if he should’ve bashed his head against the cold unfeeling metal in front of him before realizing how little good it would do him.

“Frankly you know nothing about anything. Not about how your little ‘system’ works as you call it. Yes we have seen it in its full glory but the way you are working through it is a major misuse of this potential power.” The Nightmare Force haughtily chuckled. “Thankfully in your case we know much for our knowledge is many. We can offer you an oasis in this desert you find yourself in.” They took another sip of tea, but their piercing eyes were still locked on to Ryan’s gaze.

Ryan blinked. “You are offering me a magical contract?” But there was no way they would do that after being killed by me would they ever even consider an essence binding agreement-

The Nightmare Force slapped the tea cup on the table at such an unbelievable force for a ‘casual’ conversation that both parties would believe this to be and in a poof a short scroll appeared on the table which was levitated over to Ryan Steele. “Exactly that, in fact we’ve already written it down and just need your signature. Read if you desire or do not, we don’t care. Either way this would greatly benefit the both of us, you more so than I.” The Nightmare Moon double hardened their gaze. “We still meant what we said before about you having you as a great future investment to us.”

The man of supposed chimeric origin narrowed his eyes into a glare; his mind became sharper as he began visualizing everything inside his mind as if this were a game. Every single pint of wordplay he knew came to the forefront of his own mind; he’d never allow himself to become a slave to yet another monster, not if he could help it.

Wordlessly the man snatched the scroll that stayed in its temporary stasis within the air. His mind trailed throughout the contract and fluently began reading the piece of paper word by word. Decidedly he was to wear his emotions on his sleeves, for how it may offer more opportunities to tweak the permanent agreement if necessary

“To the entity known as Ryan Steele, he shall be granted permanent partnership with the piece of the Nightmare Force that he has inside his mind. Inside this mutually beneficial relationship the main benefactor, The Nightmare Force, will impose a nonstandard geas to Ryan Steele that states the following.”

“Number 1, the Nightmare Force will always offer sound and helpful advice to Ryan Steele when asked as long as it aligns with both their goals for the long and short of it while he is unconscious or asleep. Otherwise this will only form in instinctual grants of emotional pulls to feel out certain dilemma.”

“Number 2, it is imperative that the Nightmare Force will also be able to receive information regarding any prevalent information during this partnership to avoid infractions.”

“Number 3, the Nightmare Force will bestow the knowledge it has accumulated into tutelage to Ryan Steele while bestowing passive resistance to evil influence, both physical and mental; however this, as stated in rule number one, only works in the dream realm.

“Number 4-A, Under no general circumstance is Ryan Steele allowed to let others know about this partnership nor hint at it unless it is absolutely necessary and agreed upon or if the Nightmare Force is inactive at the time then the decision is to be made by Ryan Steele’s personal judgment.”

“Number 4-B, Upon the agreement of this geas the goal of Ryan Steele and the Nightmare Force will be enacted. This is to kill Princess Celestia at all costs. At some point when both partners agree they shall take steps and employ methods to defeat and kill Princess Celestia, failure to do so will result in the contract being broken and Ryan Steele perishing.”

The Nightmare impatiently taps her hoof on the stone ground below, their arms cross over one another as an unreadable expression replaces her previous one of confidence and Ryan knowingly smiled- no, grinned with a maddening expression.

“They must really be crazy to think that I would…”

“Accept, I accept the terms and conditioning of this contract and in turn this geas. Pleasure working with a fellow monster in arms!” Ryan gleefully answered. He himself reached over and over rapidly shook the Nightmare’s hand before letting it go.

Instead of the ferocity that Ryan was expecting to follow suit afterwards he instead got a pleasant smirk in return.

“Oh? Such eagerness for an insurrection we see. Or is it truly the personal endeavor that clouds your mind to answer?” They haughtily laughed at Ryan. “Whatever the matter is, know that this binds you for the rest of your existence Steele so if this is an act we would suggest you drop it.” Their snout still peaks through to show something that the Nightmare Force had barely showcased before, genuine positivity and Ryan knew how great the reasoning was.

“Are you kidding me?” The human sneered in disbelief yet still upheld his very own sense of playfulness. “Nightmare Force before I say anything else if we are to delve deeper into making this hypothetical partnership official then I will need to call you something different.”

They tilt their head, their ears perking up in the process. “Hm? And what exactly did you have in mind Ryan Steele?” They mockingly asked.

And Ryan provided an answer with a laxed look on his face “Alter. It is uncannily fitting to name you Alter. Nightmare Force; you, in essence, are an Alter or rather that is what I can deduce. An entity or collective not too dissimilar to yourself is meant to ‘corrupt’ the thoughts of others and warp what the future had in store for them.” Ryan held upon two arms from side to side. “And to that I’m welcoming an altercation, I reject the future that the Princess has set for me.”

The bundle of consciousness gently digested what the human in front of them spoke of and nodded. “You may now refer to us as Alter then if it would please you; we aren’t displeased with it. As for your reasoning to accepting this deal Mr. Steele?” The newly named Alter questioned.

Ryan’s foot tapped against the stone floors somehow echoing in the open space that surrounded them. “A song.” His head turned up to stare at the moon. “When I fought you, the world itself was singing.”

This seemed to catch the Nightmare being’s attention. “Truly? Maybe we were fated to lose then. What exactly did you hear?”

“I was called a monster, a grinning wolf in sheep’s clothing, whatever you’d call it, but the one thing that stayed constant was my craftiness, never once outright saying those things and instead using strong implications. It always spoke of false dreams of mine and how there were things better than just protecting myself.” The man sighed and shook his head, the moon almost shined back at him. “Strength is needed for a broken toy to fix itself; pieces are chipped and can’t be put back together so you force them to be. To fight for them.” Ryan looked back down at the previous enemy.

“...Ain’t it obvious in the end? Because I can’t do a thing, I’m just sinking further and further into something so artificial it’s sickening.” Ryan’s face soured into something fierce. “This is about the most I’ve expressed myself in a long time and it’s to a damn villain! But you know what? I couldn’t care less, I just need to protect a family I care about and protect my ideals of adventure and fun with all that I am. I need to be stronger!” In a burst of agility and rage the table the two were sitting at was kicked over, shattering the teacup that rested on it. Ryan’s face turned from disgust into rage as he came onto the veil of shouting at Alter who only sat there with a considerate but distant look.

His hands formed claws at his side and he kept an angrily disturbing cycle of breath. “We’re living in a world that’s so gray it lapses back into black and white. This endless cycle is despicable and the ones in charge are the only ones who can stop it but fear the casualties.” The fog that was around them steadily began increasing in density. “And if I have to kill some princesses, kings, queens, or any rulers then so be it. A small price to pay for something that should have been. All I wanted to do was have one of those fanatical adventures you'd read in a fairytale and it was ruined, all because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Now I need to take life by the reins and you will help me with that Alter.” The man’s violet eyes bore holes into the ground as he forced a smile. “So, does that tickle your fancy? Or do I need to write an essay for it?”

He did not have to wait long for an answer, a slow cascading applause came from Alter. “We have all the answers we need dear Ryan Steele. We look forward to working with you under equalship.” Alter raised a hand towards Ryan who didn’t hesitate to shake it.

“As do I, Alter. Ah and a shame I did not see the irony sooner; you picked London of all places to meet up or my subconscious did so and I didn’t realize it.” At this Alter grinned as their body lit up in a blue inferno that felt oddly comforting to Ryan, still holding onto their hand for longer than intended before releasing it. The contract became lit in this brilliant blue azure that engulfed the thick piece of papyrus.

“Do I ask my questions now or wait? Alter’s got that same thinly veiled expression that isn’t giving her true intentions away.” It’s been so long since Ryan has had a proper challenge besides Princess Celestia who’d be prone to brushing him off as anything but. “Am I infuriated by this? No, this is akin to a smart prey going against a hunter. A circle of nature so l refuse to leave that to self-denigration. I will play my cards how they are meant.”

His mind made up he decided to point out something that was bugging him from his tardy recollection. “Late 1880s aesthetic, intense fog, Big Ben, maybe I am a fool who still has much to learn or maybe this is another one of my acts, who could say for certain? Or maybe I really am a cursed man.”

Alter, still seated in her chair, tapped a hoof to the ground. The fog grew denser as it climbed up Ryan’s body, obscuring his vision bit by bit, not that he minded. “And how would you define your actions if given the opportunity?”

Ryan deeply inhaled, the fog had begun to gather at his neck and above the streets of this made up version of London, not that he cared. “A person willing to ‘wait and hope’ someone to hope that there are other kindred spirits out there to manipulate for my will and still desiring to be my friend. There is no precise way to describe stupidity for it is brave to be stupid even if unwillingly.” The Cameo simply answered.

The fog finally reached his eyes, obscuring his vision, not that he needed it. “So be it then, we’re afraid our time has run out Ryan Steele. As you can tell the clock will soon strike midnight signaling your true benefactor’s reach to speak to you.”

He unconditionally frowned in anger. “You tricked me, you let me run out the clock.” Ryan said, almost as if asking a question.

Alter only smiled as she shook her head. “Are you surprised that someone can play your same game?” The fog began seething with a darkness that whirled around the two of them, just barely obscuring what the piece of the Nightmare Force was saying. “We truly do have much to teach you then Mr. Steele because this shan’t go on. The so-called ‘big leagues’ of our world will eat you up and devour your naivety in an arduous attempt to try and harm us.”

Before Ryan could say anything he was swallowed whole inside the insidious umbral coating. And brought back unto the darkness he resided in previously.

“Fucking dammit!” The swindled man kicked out at the open darkness. “Now they’ve got more information on me than I do of them.” He sighs and slumps his shoulders. “Alright well they said someone else was waiting for me so who is it this time?”

“Collect yourself and remember you are the one who’s going to figure everything out. Judging by their willingness to throw me out into the deep end they’re probably aiming for dramaticism so in around three… Two… One…”

“That would be us. You, Ryan Steele, are our champion and because of that we have left you alone for a total of eight years.” The voice is gruff and immensely distorted, one that echoes all around the space Ryan hovers inside.

The rebirthed human’s forehead wrinkles but he manages to crack a smile. “So you’re my benefactors, how come you let me make a deal without meeting you two first?”

“Do not fret our dearest creation, you are to relax in our domain. We brought you here to bring information. Some other entity happened to beat us to the proverbial punch.” A calmer and feminine voice speaks; the tone was akin to honey, a sickly sweet one at that.

“Then you both have a lot to answer for.” Ryan holds out his hand to call upon his inventory, nothing appeared in it. “Huh, what the heck is wrong with my inventory?”

Some booming laugh echoes throughout the voided space. “You would dare use the gift we bestowed to you against us? Especially after giving you one that is so conceptually flexible in use. What guts, we were right to pick you as a successor.”

“Antics, do not mind Ya’lada. He is excited to finally see you in person as am I, Ryan Steele.” The woman’s voice assured.

“I thought we agreed not to use my nickname in front of him Gaia.”

The apparent entity named Gaia verbally sighs and chuckles. “He will figure it out anyways if he is to be our most trusted human. We should simply introduce ourselves to him. Bring out the form I made you.”

There’s a small grumble that sounds throughout the void.

A strange humanoid woman made completely of ethereal refracting clear chunks of crystal that are loosely floating together, appears a few paces in front of Ryan, a crown made of stone rotates above the figure in a halo fashion.

When the humanoid descends, so does another entity. They have one key feature about them, they are a rhombus shaped rock that has a violet colored ring surrounding a blood red light that originates from its center. Several pieces of obsidian that appeared as branches orbited around the abnormal creature.

Creatures like these shouldn’t exist, not to Ryan that is. It’s the reason for being on edge against the incomprehensible factors in front of him.

The conglomerate of refracting mass glows as it speaks. “I am Gaia, your co-creator and deity. The feats you have performed without our help thus far have been impressive. I expected no-less from a successor and those looks have certainly been doing you favors, and you may thank me for blessing you with them.” Gaia giggles at the end of her introduction.

“And I am Yaldabaoth, your other co-creator and demi-drowned god. We were the one who blessed you with a new family here in this world. A surprise no? Mortals such as yourself believe Gaia to be the progenitor of all things kindly related. Do not tell her we said this but she gets on our damnedest nerves.” The floating dark mass joked, neither parties laughed however and instead left an awkwardness in the air.

“Yaldabaoth and Gaia? I can’t remember anything specific about them, sure one of the original worlds was named Gaia. Not that it was specifically any sort of goddess though. Yaldabaoth though? I think I can recall him being a false god, something to do with limiting freedoms. What is it with all this history being brought out? 1880s London, the literal Earth, and some god of Control.”

Although Gaia had no eyes, Ryan the silent observer, could tell that she was deadpanned based on how she was staring at Yaldabaoth. “Ha ha Ya’lada, Ryan must be rolling around the mental space from such a jest.” She had cleared her throat(?) or at least emulated that, earning some confusion from Ryan. “Dear Ryan, do not allow for Yaldabaoth’s terrible gestures dissuade you from whatever questions you may have for us. Please ask away successor.”

The Cameo wasted no time with the goddess’ polite acknowledgement. There were a million different things he wanted to say, a bit more than half of them were offenses that could never be told to the commonwealth or he’d be arrested on the spot. He knew none would help if what they were saying was true. Instead Ryan Steele, the ever respectable man, was thinking, he figured that what was thought next in his mind would need to be said aloud. Behind using humor to lighten the mood, he had a feeling the actual question he wanted to ask would not have a pleasant answer.

Rolling his wrist to attempt to give himself some time to speak, Ryan finally got to express his legitimate opinion for once. “Color me disappointed then, I was hoping you’d both have sexier forms on the count of being, well, gods?”

Gaia’s vessel rolls around on the floor, laughing her crystals off, including in the literal sense. Yaldabaoth, being the more serious of the two had a small pinkish tint on his rhombus-esque vessel which were covered by the several floating obsidian branches. “E-excuse me? Would you mind repeating that? We thought of it to be something debauchery in nature to the eidolon that is before you.”

Ryan stepped forward, finally having the edge of this back and forth, no matter how much it cost him what little self-dignity he had. A shameless man to be sure. “You heard me, and Gaia heard me too. From outer gods I’d expect sexiness! Maybe it’s because I never got to see that one continuation of Sucker For Love, or whatever it was called. But I guess this isekai just isn’t the harem type huh? Y’know… Unless one of you could fix that for me.”

While the crystal body flailed around on the ground, she held her abdomen area while snorting in laughter. “Y-Ya’lada! Did you hear what the m-mortal just said?! We were propositioned, propositioned for the first time in history! Ah this is the funniest moment I’ve had since we got you and Mekhane in a room together for negotiations!”

Gaia gave herself a second to recover as she saw Ryan floating closer to Yaldabaoth in a cocky manner, which did not help the immense blush he was building up. “No way, not in any eternity are you blushing. I thought only I could make you do that, then again you are relatively new yourself to this god-hood thing.”

Yaldabaoth did not think that embarrassment at the cost of his own humility was worth it, not as the two trolls in the void did. “Drowned gods do not BLUSH! If you only have ridiculous questions like that then this is going to end until our next encounter.”

“Drowned gods, better remember that term. Goodness this is all a pain for a thinker like me. But stupidity is optimal yet ignorance is avoidable.”

I backed away, retreating from my approach and conceding. “Okay, jeez calm down I was only playing, but you’ve got my number if… Y’know.” Another groan reverberates from Yaldabaoth. “Right, serious. Okay then, I think you both expected me to ask this.” Ryan Steele took a deep breath, it was good while it lasted. Comedy like that was hard to come by for him, so he always had to make it himself. “Why am I here, why me, and most of all, why were my stats so bugged out?”

A rough sigh came from Yaldabaoth’s vessel, the blush he had was slowly fading away. “A heavy hitting question as one of your old kind would say. Very well, I was always the better when it came to story telling Ryan Steele. I know Gaia will interrupt me, it’s an inevitability.”

Ryan leaned forward despite the fact he was levitating in a dark void. “Old kind? Is he referring to when I was a normal person, relatively speaking that is, that was still going through college?”

Yaldabaoth snorted; or at least emulated something eerily similar to a snort. “Yes, I am, after all we were the ones who brought you here. Originally you were always meant to become a Cameo. Though sending one from another dimension entirely and then having them become the pinnacle of what all races should be is very difficult. Naturally this ended in an accident. You were turned into a Castellan that had the same physical traits of a Cameo except for one. That is something you will find out of your slumber.”

Ryan tries to wrack his brain for anything relating to the word ‘Cameo’ and only draws blanks. “Mind reading and making up terms, I’ll take a shot and say that it’s a new creation of yours? That race sounds more falsified ya know, and it takes a liar to know another’s lie. Also if you ‘pulled me’ from Earth then you should know that you two are just made up video game characters where I come from.” He would not make the same mistake of not asking questions twice.

“First and second, yes and no respectively. We acknowledge that it’s the truth where you come from. Obviously that is not the case in this realm. Third neither I, nor Gaia have lied to you thus far. Cameos do exist, just not for a few millennia to our knowledge, however we have erased your memory of it for safekeeping. We will only transfer said knowledge once you wake up.”

“Repressed? Are you screwing with me right now? Is everything inside my head going to be some sort of mind manipulating creature?” These thoughts go unsaid by Ryan as he knew there was a good chance consequences would be presented if he did.

Yaldabaoth grunts and turns his vessel away for a moment. “There’s no divine reasoning for that, I simply do not wish to deal with a whining man child that complains of a gift bestowed upon them.”

Gaia’s form lurched at Yaldabaoth with playful intent, settling for a small shove instead. “What he means is that the results may not be to your liking. Now then, as for the specific reasoning for your abilities? Your competitive and brazen spirit allows for you to make a myriad of mistakes and the system helps you correct and learn from them.”

Ryan pondered, his gaze upwards to the endless abyss. “Is that why I randomly got that skill when I was about to die?”

The crystalline goddess claps her limbs together which somehow produce a normal sounding applause. “Well done, now you are getting it, successor! As for your main purpose being here we need an agent. To make sure that the title of “Mad King” is passed along nicely. There was a Mad King before you who could use nearly no ether yet he acquired world class fame, that will be your same goal. Or rather it is to keep balance, traveling to different continents to make sure everything is in working order. So that similar events to the Great Drowning never occur.”

Putting mockery aside, Ryan is far from sold on this. “O…Kay? How the fuck do you want me to do that? I got my ass kicked by Alter. If you ever wanted me to stop some sort of big bad then I’d need an entire team at the very least.”

Two of Yaldabaoth’s branches float in front of Ryan; they slowly bond to each other as a demonstration. “Ah right, ‘Alter’ the one you formed a contract with. Ryan, you will always be accompanied during your travels, that is a part of our blessing.” Then the obsidian branches snap and break off from each other. “This does not mean that these companions will always stay together which is why you must travel and learn. Because of this, once you travel you are to be named Myriad to symbolize this. Alter is one of many who will crusade and one of few that should be permanent.”

“That is the reason we also gifted you with that book you picked up. It will give you knowledge on what you do not already know. Think of it as a starting guide.” Gaia added.

Ryan rapidly shook his head after hearing this. “You two are basically saying I’m gonna lose friends as soon as I earn them? Hm, C’est la vie I’d suppose. And Myriad, hey I like the name. Many of one as one is many” The prospect of having to constantly experience loss without fail actually makes Ryan chuckle, life truly is going to get better for him, no longer will it be arduous

Gaia’s normally refracturing light turned to a hue of green and her motherly tone became more comforting. “It is not to say that the friends you have made went to become all for naught. Simply that it is going to be apart of the process of living.”

Her partner retracted both obsidian branches and crossed them over each other, resembling a similar gesture to crossing arms. “And your power will become unrivaled. Ryan, you will become the entire deck of cards to build a house, thus, victory will pave its way to you.”

Ryan chuckled at hearing the mere idea from Yaldabaoth. “I ain’t no Gary Stu that can do whatever he wants, heck without the inventory and training from Celestia’s forces I almost got my ass kicked by Marax, who was holding back while I on the other hand was playing dirty.”

The demi-drowned god, whatever that was supposed to mean, let out a hearty laugh that came from his core. “That is why we picked you. Any and all who follow you will do so either from pure hate or pure love, you speak your mind even if unneeded, much like now.”

“Yaldabaoth, our time runs thin here. Let's wrap this up and make our way to the casino. Besides we can spare no more for hints.” Gaia confessed with a strict and rule-following voice.

Ryan felt the complete opposite, as if listening to two parents explaining the most rudimentary of things to him as he sat there listening. It was safe to say that Ryan didn’t enjoy this feeling, missing Spike and Twilight with each passing second, mostly Spike but don’t tell Twilight he thought that.

Yaldabaoth’s crystalised rhombus of a body turned to Gaia’s vessel. “Right, this time we shall win Gaia, I swear it! Hopefully this time we will not lose like in that one mass chess match we had with the other gods. They all quit halfway through, such a shame too, I had money on the human turned dragon there.” The half drowned god reminisced about some unknown chess match that Ryan had no knowledge of. Gaia’s crystal body held a posture that told of nearing sourness but teetered back to content. Eventually Yaldabaoth turned back to Ryan. “Seeing as I can no longer answer questions, instead I will list off your gifts, after all no good deed goes unpunished.”

A static blue screen pops up in front of Ryan’s face, bold lettering appears inside it confines.

‘Congratulations! A reward of legends has been bestowed upon you by the gods themselves. It has a very small chance of containing mediocre goods.’

“There’s nothing actually listed-” Ryan tries to say before he’s cut off by a sudden second screen that has ‘Rewards’ in bold, below it is the image of some yellow ring that has thin strands of gold wiring that encases a green orb, the second picture is of a earring with a small vine coming from it, the third image held a large wooden treasure chest that was by far the largest he’d ever seen, the final picture was… That’s fucking wrong, wow.

“That’s not funny let alone hilarious.” Ryan simply stated, how could they do that to him? Sure he was a dick but why was a picture of a stick figure getting impaled nine times by spikes on here?

Gaia raised a crystal arm as if to ponder what Ryan meant. Then she remembered the image he was suggesting to. “It is no joke young one; that is your magical trigger. It was Ya’lada’s idea to bless you with true magic besides reinforcing your physicality. Yours is unique because of its “hacked” nature, so this is the workaround. All you need to do is imagine yourself being impaled nine times, that exact moment with the nightmare if you have to and magic will be able to properly flow through you.”

Ryan rolled his eyes at the notion. “Still didn’t have to be such a poor reminder. As for my stats, why the fuck couldn’t I access them?” If they were going to be disrespectful about his death, which hurt like a bitch by the way, then why shouldn’t Ryan return the favor?

“Apologies, we were working on patch notes the entire time. They were fixed as soon as you perished.” Gaia admitted, having zero shame for what was said. The goddess had made a huffing sound as she saw Ryan’s cold expression. “Do not get pissy with me. After all, I was the one who gave you two gifts rather than one.”

Yaldabaoth’s red core glows even brighter, it emanates a strange colden heat around himself, giving Ryan the chills. “Are we really going there?! Okay fine then, Ryan when you meet an entity named Discord tell him that Yaldabaoth said that he owes me a favor. There! Now I am not as stingy as you would have him believe you glorified ascended fey! Now good bye!”

“Hold on, you two didn’t answer all of my questions!” Ryan attempted to hover forward yet the attempt was in vain. There was a pounding sensation inside of his head that made him lurch over in the void, eventually passing out inside the void with more questions than he could have ever possibly had answers to.