Author’s note:

This chapter is the turning point of everything.

Chapter 60- The Path Not Taken (Timeline B)

***July 5th, 965 A.F. (Night)***

***Mechanna***

***Ajax McGuire**

When I tied Wyn up, I thought everything was over. I thought that I had survived a dangerous encounter with a traveler. I was naive to have such thoughts. Of course, the gods doesn't let me off that easily. They hate me too much.

“No, no, no! Not like this!”

Still lying on the ground, I could feel the rumble throughout my body. The Rubik's cube maze started to shift. The rows of room on my right rose as the whole dungeon turned. The grinding of metal on metal drowned out the silence of the void. The sight was awe-inspiring and surreal. Snapping out of my daze, I quickly got up from the ground and ran towards the nearest hatch. I needed to get inside where it safer before the block I am standing on starts to turn. If it does, I would inevitably fall to my death.

Just as I unlocked the hatch door, the ground I stood started to incline. Slowly at first, but then it picked up speed. By the time I opened the hatch, the ground was already at least at a twenty-degree angle. All of a sudden, the incapacitated Wyn slid pass me on the right like a hockey puck on ice. I had a short moment of inner struggle before I let go of the hatch and chased after her.

“I am going to regret this.”

I ran downhill with all my might, chasing after her. When I caught up with her, I grabbed her free hand and slammed hard on my heels to stop. I had skidded at least another two and a half blocks of rooms before I managed to stop myself along with Wyn. The soles of my shoes were ripped to shreds. With my free hand, I opened the hatch. Unfortunately before I can completely unlock it, I lost my footing. The slope was just too deep. There was no other way but to tough it out now. Using my last bits of strength, I pushed myself up just a bit so that my arms hung around the hatch. Now with my arm hooked firm in place, I grabbed Wyn’s free hand with both my hands. At that point, Wyn finally stopped vomiting. She coughed a bit and started to breathe normally.

“Hang on Wyn. We can last through this.”

The cube kept rotating. It had lasted about another good 5 minute before all the grinding stopped. Space returned to its dreadful silence. The gods play their pranks once again. We ended up on the underside of the maze. One in six chance and I get the worst outcome. This looks like checkmate. Even if I didn’t have to carry Wyn, there was no way for me to open the hatch and get back into the room. I hung in silence as my energy slowly saps away from me. The tied up Wyn looked up at me. In our final moments, I decided to lighten the mood with some conversation.

“This looks like the end of us. Ah, I shouldn’t have played the hero. Are you going to respawn with a bit of penalty only since you are a traveler right? I wonder what type of punishment is it.”

“Why did you save me?”

“Haha, now you ask? How about the same old rule we had in Caedona. I asked you the question first back in the dungeon which you still didn’t answer. Why did you start to attack me?”

After a bit of hesitation, she finally answered.

“It’s because I found out you are someone using a hacked avatar.”

“Wait, what? I am not a hacker! What made you think I was a hacker?”

Her eyes became as wide as a plate from the revelation.

“But then. What… that doesn’t…..That doesn’t make any sense!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! What a joke. Of course, I got into this situation because of a misunderstanding. Just wait a damn moment. From the sound of things, you believe me when I tell you I am not a hacker? You can’t be this naive right?”

She stared at me in deep thought. After a while, she finally spoke.

“Ajax, let go of me.”

“Nah, no way. Just let me think for a bit more. I can get us out of this mess.”

“No, it’s fine. Just let me go.”

“I didn’t listen when you told me not to go into the dungeon. What makes you think I will listen to you now.”

Wyn took a deep sigh and forcefully removed her hand from my grip. I watched in horror as she fell into the abyss.

“WYN, NO!!”

My yelling was all for naught, though. Wyn only fell for a couple of meters before stopping in mid air. She then cast a spell to burn the makeshift rope that was tying her down. She floated slowly towards me and extended her hands.

“Come, let’s go somewhere safe and talk.”

***July 5th, 965 A.F. (Night)***

***???***

***G.O.D.***

“NO NO NO NO NO!”

I punched the monitor as hard as I could in fury, shattering it into a million pieces. When I pulled my hands back, the broken shards of the screen came back together, forming it whole again as if someone have pressed rewind on a VCR player.

“That’s not how it should have gone. He should have died by the creator’s hands!”

I paced back and forth in deep thought. Something went wrong. I caused the first rotation to trap him inside the dungeon. It should have been at least another hour before it rotates again. Did I make a mistake? It’s impossible for me to make a mistake when it comes to this world! I went back to the data to double checked my calculations. I noticed an inconsistency. Something that shouldn’t have happened according to what I have predicted.

“Why did the dungeon rotate before the scheduled time?”

I went over the data, again and again, trying to figure out what caused the rotation. After studying everything for hours, I finally found the reason. Before Ajax went into the dungeon, there was also an additional unscheduled rotation, and the creators caused it. The final verdict: the creators caused the unscheduled rotations which saved him out of pure chance. Since it was caused by the creators, it wasn't registered as a part of my predictions. After finally figuring the reason my plan did not materialize, I let out a long sigh.

“There’s nothing wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with me....”

***July 5th, 965 A.F. (Night)***

***Mechanna***

***G2O9DA***

Sub-mission A, successful.

Timing, flawless.

Calculations, accurate.

Diagnostic, activate.

Self-repair, incomplete.

Primary mission, inadvisable.

Access to functions, partially denied.

Sub-mission B, initiate.

Guardian mode activated.

Invisible mode reactivated.