"Needs more testing…" Zeel murmured, and continued to test the limits of his current abilities, planning for what comes next…

There was a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do it…

The sense of urgency was nerve-racking, like any second something would rise from the shadows to consume Zeel and everyone he loves…

This was ironic since as much as he could remember, the people he loved barely numbered five…

And it was a very stringent love…

Zeel closed his eyes and allowed the sleeping Divine Energy to rush to the surface as he channeled one of his previous abilities…

The best way to know what had changed due to the merger of his Death and Speed Divinities was to establish a baseline and extrapolate from there…

First came [Omnidirectional] – his ability to instinctively know the vague direction of anything he needed…

This ability was mostly used to keep track of Alice and Elizabeth… knowing where they were at all times was a sort of comfort to his weary mind…

Alas, the ability was no longer so strong with the loss of the nanites…

Honestly, the usefulness of this ability was limited with the use of his nanites, but now that he had no nanites, Zeel felt like this ability would prove especially useful…

That is if it still functions under the same conditions…

"[Omnidirectional]…" Zeel whispered, closing his eyes and focusing his mind on a singular thought – finding a location with friendly people…

The conditions set were not specific, but Divine Abilities worked with mostly intent, so Zeel was not troubled by technicalities as long as his intent remained firm…

If magic was like a computer, then Divinity was like an AI – it knew what you wanted to do and did it in your place… all you needed to do was give the command…

At first, Zeel felt nothing so he reopened his eyes in confusion, but eventually, a nagging feeling to head north was birthed inside his mind…

[Omnidirectional] was a subtle ability, but it seemed to work nonetheless…

Yet, Zeel could also tell there was something different about it…

Next, he concentrated Divine Energy into his eyes…

"[Traveler's Eyes] …" he whispered solemnly, and the world in his view dimmed a bit…

It was like everything bright became slightly less bright, but since there was no one to see, Zeel could not test the ability fully…

The mere fact that the ability activated was enough information for now…

Still, it stung his eyes, and though he was accustomed to pain, the rapid loss of Divine Energy was something Zeel could not tolerate…

He immediately canceled his [Traveler's Eyes], and grew determined not to use such an energy-intensive ability…

At the end of the day, all the ability did was show the important moments in a person's life, and Zeel was more concerned about himself than anyone else…

The world could be damned as long as he was alive…

It was only after [Traveler's Eyes] was canceled did Zeel feel a profound weakness in his limbs…

This was not physical exhaustion, but something more alarming, and, of course, he could not tell what it was…

Without the nanites to quantify his experiences, Zeel was forced to feel it all in an emotional sense, and if there was one thing he was bad at, it was sensing things emotionally…

Hell, he still had yet to properly process the loss of Elizabeth, and that would probably be something to come back with a vengeance at a later date…

"I feel like bullets can kill me now…" Zeel murmured, quantifying through emotion what his analytical mind could not "I bruise more easily, and I am generally weaker…"

The issue was obvious at this point…

While he was hoping for a merger of his Death, Dimensional Shift, and Speed Divinities, instead, what he got was a fragile semi-merger-balance…

And the balance had to be maintained or he would be further weakened…

"At least, I have an idea of where to go…" He reasoned, trying to view the glass as half-full – something Alice had tried to teach him in the past, but the lesson only became useful now…

'Half-full is lazy thinking, would you like me to half-kill you?' was his favorite response when Alice tried to instill her lessons into his mind…

Now, he longed for such petty conversations…

"This worked earlier, it should work now…" Zeel mused, rousing his Divine Energy once more "[Early Time-Zone]" he whispered, and one second became thirty in his perception…

Actually, Zeel wanted to access a deeper Time-Zone, but he could barely manage [Deep Time-Zone] on one of his good days, and this was definitely not a good day…

He had not had any rest since his battle with Ahmanet…

Even before then, in the Tomb Raider Universe, it was one battle after the next, so Zeel was determined to go on a vacation…

Alice was a big girl and she could handle herself…

Elizabeth was placed in Ahmanet's old tomb – a device that froze time at the moment of death…

Aurolana, even if she had lost her mind, just needed a couple of dozen years to recover and she would probably come looking for him…

As for Gabriella, and Aurora – hopefully, he would never see them again in this lifetime…

Feeling the Time-Zone slipping, Zeel shook his head free of wayward thoughts…

Bringing his fingers in front of his face, Zeel roused a bit more Divine Energy into maintaining the Time-Zone, and a spark of black lightning flashed into life for a split second…

The color of his lightning had also changed…

"Bummer…" Zeel cursed since he liked the unique transparent color of his normal lightning, but black lightning was also intimidating so he wasn't overly disappointed…

Maybe it came with some added effects…

---STEP---

---STEP---

Zeel took two steps in the sand, attempting to test if he could maintain the Time-Zone and simply run to the nearest Town or City, but alas, it was not meant to be…

Almost instantly after taking a few steps, he felt hungry for something other than food…

Fatigue bombarded his mind like a runaway train and the Time-Zone shattered with a squeal of guilt, almost as if it knew it was causing him damage…

The world return to normal, and Zeel fainted for the first time in his life…

Usually, even when unconscious, he would leave behind a vestige of his consciousness to keep a lookout…

But for the first time ever, Zeel was left completely unguarded as his mind and body collapsed in a deep slumber that may or may not have included some drooling…

A toddler walking by could have killed Zeel with a fork and become the first Being in the Multiverse to wipe the Homo-Superior Race completely from existence…

That was how defenseless Zeel was…

----------------------

There was supposed to be nothing in his dreamless slumber, but almost to spite him, Zeel found something very odd…

It was not his dream or the dream of anyone he was familiar with, but he found himself in a room with a loli who was playing games on the nearby television…

Her mouth made more sound effects than the game, and she would tilt to a side to control the movement of the car on the television, instead of flicking the joystick right…

Clearly, she was not very bright, which was ironic considering she seemed to be made of pure, white light…

"You seem familiar…" Zeel admitted, comparing this small girl to the Red Queen and noting she was much cuter, almost on Ella's and Ella's level…

"Cuter…" The loli corrected as if she could read his mind, which she could…

Zeel felt a bit unnerved… he could tell this was his soul, but somehow, the small loli was in charge…

"Your name?" Zeel quirked a brow, having the name of the loli on the tip of his tongue, but for some reason, he could not say the name…

"Lorien…" Lorien replied, leaning deeper into the couch as her hand took a scoop of ice cream from the table to her left…

"And what are you doing?" Zeel asked, confused…

"Cute… hard… retired… shut-in... [Being cute constantly is hard, so I retired and became a shut in] ..." Lorien admitted, continuing with her video games, but she paused and look at Zeel seriously "Sorry… toy… replace it… later… [Sorry about breaking your toys, I will replace it later with a better model] …"

Just as Zeel was about to ask what toy, Lorien pointed to a side of the room where a vague silhouette could be seen standing still as if frozen in time…

There was a girl trapped in a display case, and Zeel could recall who she was instantly… she had his silver hair and ruby-red eyes, but she seemed almost like an incorporeal entity…

"Ciara?" Zeel muttered confused, recalling the Wan-To who was his love on the Nameless Planet hundreds of years ago "How-" he turned to inquire more from Lorien, but she dismissed him…

The dream shattered…

---------------------

Zeel shot up and out of the sand that had buried him…

There was no telling how long he had been unconscious, but it was enough for the winds to bury him nearly three feet deep…

"That was way too trippy…" Zeel sighed, rubbing his temple in frustration…

Even without all his memories intact, life was still finding a way to fuck with him…