(Area 51 Nevada, January 1st, 2036)

“Where to start, first, I was born Johnathan Bennard. In the reality, I came from I found a ring that allowed me to attain a level of existence that men had not attained in a very long time. Before everything was done I’d explored the Milky Way, and was getting ready to spread out.”

“The entire Milky Way?” he said disbelievingly.

“Well technically that was Thor, an Artificial Intelligence I’d created. Eventually, he and I merged. In this noggin right here,” I said pointing to my head, “is information concerning every single star system in the Milky Way, though it’s probably worthless now”

“Convenient.” The Admiral said.

“Okay, the short version. A long time ago in a galaxy far away, in a different Universe, in a different multi-verse within this Cosmos, a Goddess succeeded in guiding a race of people to create something which devoured Universes. Eventually, our Universe was threatened and I was either guided or lucky enough to figure out a way to go back in time to a point where I punched her in the head and killed her.

“You punched a God in the head and killed her?”

“Well, she wasn’t technically a God when I killed her.”

“Okay, let’s pretend for a second that I believe anything you’re saying. Why are you able to remember anything that happened. The Moment you changed something, everything from that point should have changed as well.”

“That’s a very good point and…” A Purple prompt appeared in my vision

Currently you are the only being in this Cosmos that has any knowledge of the next level of existence. Keep it that way…for now

“Is something wrong Mr. Bennard?” the admiral asked.

“No, I drifted off for a second thinking of something. Anyway, what I was going to say is that since I was born I have this ability called Perfect Memory. I cannot forget anything I’ve seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled and I have perfect recall.

“Really, what code did I use on the Elevator?

“178456”

“To enter this room?”

“11997530”

“And the phone number that called me just a little while ago”

“555-867-5309”

He looked at me questioningly, then laughed.

“Exactly the screen on your phone said “Boss” there was no number listed, thought you’d like the song reference.”

“Perfect Memory you say?”

“Yep, it’s one of the reasons that Mr. Bennard had those cameras in his house that recorded his abduction? The NSA has been watching him since he showed interest in Computers,” I asked.

“You talk about him like he’s not you?”

“He wasn’t. The Multiverse is comprised of countless Universes and there are countless Multiverses, I’ve seen them. There are countless copies of me and you. This Universe though was supposed to be the one I originally came from, even though I’m immune to Paradox now, supposedly. I figure this version of me probably had the same abilities I had.”

The admiral looked at me skeptically, “No one is immune to Paradox”

“Yeah, I have a hard time believing it to but here I am in a Universe, with memories of another time, place, and multiple Universes.”

“So what do you think happened to the other you?”

“Someone or something knows I’m here and didn’t want two of me here for some reason.”

“Okay, but who would that be?” he asked.

“No Idea, where I’m from as far as I know there was only one God and one Angel left in this Universe”

“Why was that?”

“Well that’s kind of a long story, I’ll see if I can shorten it for you. That evil Goddess I smacked in the head created something that was running around eating Universes. Well, that thing really liked souls for some reason and a God here decided that it would be a great idea to sacrifice the souls of one Universe to save other Universes.”

“Did it work?”

“For a while, yeah. Until someone did something stupid in a different Universe and drew its attention away from ours.”

“And you went back in time and took out its creator, thereby saving all the souls of, how many Universes

“I actually lost count”

“I thought you said you remembered everything?” he asked.

“I do, and while we were going back in time I got bored so stopped paying attention.”

“How do you stop paying attention to what’s going on around you?”

“Well I have this perfect memory so I just retreat into my own mind space and read books, watch movies, that I’ve read or seen before, that kind of thing,”

“That’s not possible,” he said.

“Well, I haven’t tried to do that in the last couple of hours but trust me when your Personal Interface pops up, you’ll start to being able to do things with your mind. Anyway, Personal Interface, I got off track though. That God decided that our Universe needed to be devoid of magic to help to prevent the populations from rising up and preventing their role as fish food for The Ancient Enemy.”

“Any idea how he did it?”

“A few, but I was never able to check it out. Funny thing, I could check it out now if I wanted to. Of course, getting to singularity right now is a little bit on the hard side of things to do.”

“Okay, magic was taken away back then, and you fixed things. Why don’t have magic now?”

“Yeah, that part is surprising. As I said something’s going on I don’t understand.”

“But you’ve said you’re using magic?”

“Yeah, it’s kind of a reward for saving the souls of countless other people and choosing to remain mortal.”

“Care to elaborate”

“If I put it in terms you’ll understand think of mountain spring. Magic leaks through me into the surroundings, even if there isn’t any magic there. So I bring the magic I use to do things with me.”

“Do you know how you’re doing it?”

“Yep”

“Can you turn it off?”

“I’m pretty sure I can’t, nor would I want to if I could, magic is awesome!”

“Okay, another thing you did earlier is state that you’d be back if we killed you?”

“Yeah, I’m a regular Deadpool, except that if I’m reading my ability right I don’t even need a part of my body to come back.”

“I’ll humor that idea for a second. If that’s true why would that ability be given to you.”

“Oh that, I’d already made myself immortal long before I save the Multiverse. I wasn’t going to die anytime soon, if ever.”

“So why would ‘they’ whoever they are, give you something like that back?”

“Balance I guess, not really sure, though it seems like they, the Gods, have rules they must follow.”

“Well, if they have rules, then they have a bureaucracy which means that ability has limits. How many times do you have to die before that ability goes away?

“As you said there’s some red tape involved and I’m pretty sure someone found a loophole.

“How many times?”

“One time for every soul I helped escape annihilation”

“Excuse me? If we’ve met before you know I have science degrees right? You’re saying that you will be revived one time for every soul you helped escape annihilation. By your own words you’ve said you saved multiple Universes. Each universe is theoretically infinite?” he asked with wonder in his voice.

“Well, yeah. Also, I’m not sure if the system counts potential souls I saved. For instance, if it’s counting the new souls that were created between the destruction of a Universe and now because I stopped the Universe from being destroyed.

“That’s some loophole, Have you tested it yet?”

“Nope?”

“Why?”

“Because when I came back my level was reset to zero”

“Level?”

“I don’t know why Magic isn’t working here on Earth but once you have magic you gain access to a pop-up screen that is part of you. It allows you to see any messages and check your stats and attributes.

“As an Example?”

“Your level for one, your attributes. Normal Human adults usually have tens across the board.”

“That sounds like something out of a Role-Playing Game or computer game?

“It is exactly like that and the numbers have real value. When my attributes get high enough I’ll be able to teleport to the moon, right now all I can do is create magical gates or portals. They cost less energy.” I said

“Still it seems far-fetched that reality is run like a computer game?”

“I checked, this reality still has the Movie ‘The Matrix’ and someone has put forth the theory that we’re all living in a holographic computer simulation.

“Yes, but there’s no proof!”

I used my Infinite Wealth ability to pulled out a Gold Bar and set it on the table. “I think we can both agree that there is nowhere I could have hid this right? Well in my last go around a God pissed me off and as part of his punishment, I received an item that would give me whatever currency or wealth I needed upon request. Not really sure how the Gods pay for things but every time I call forth wealth it somehow costs him something. When I appeared in Antarctica that item had now become an ability and is still tied to that deity in another Universe. This isn’t magic strictly speaking. I could probably conjure a gold bar and it would last only so long as the duration of the spell would last but this bar is here to stay and that deity is going to pay for it.”

“But you changed everything, why would something that did not happen this go around still be true now?”

“My guess is that the Divine play by a different set of rules and those rules get enforced no matter how many times you change a timeline. Call it cosmic Karma or some such idea,” I said as I pulled for another Gold Bar “Here, have another.”

“Let me guess, you really don’t like that guy”

“I freed that asshat from a prison he’d been stuck in for over 500 years. He didn’t even say thank you, Fuck that guy!” I said as I pulled out and put a third gold bar on the table.

“Mr. Bennard, what am I supposed to do with these?”

“If you don’t want them I can take them back?”

“That’s okay,” he said as he pushed a button. A door opened and an Airmen walked in.

“Yes sir”

“Get some help and Get these three gold bars sent off for testing at Area 51. I’ll let you know what to do with them later.”

The Airmen left and returned with two other Airmen. Each took a bar and left.

The admiral activated the Intercom, “Commander, two meals please”

“Right away sir,” came back through the intercom

The Admiral looked “Okay, let’s say for a second what you’ve said is correct, what does that mean for the world”

“Well, that’s what I need to figure out. The reason I decided to come in, instead of just disappearing for a while is that if I can convince you and Washington, and the Illuminati, whoever they are now, that I’m just here to help, perhaps we can come to an accommodation. Gold from nothing is not my only trick”

“What Illuminati?”

“If this version of Earth followed mine closely there were 28 people running everything a couple of years back. That could have changed, we’re a couple of years further along than I was when I had to take measures in my timeline. “

“Measures?” the Admiral asked.

“Yeah don’t worry about it. I couldn’t do that right now if I wanted to, so now I have to deal with people.”

“If I can ask, what did you do last time?”

“Well, I created subatomic nanite technology that existed throughout every atom on this planet and every planet in the Milky Way. I had complete control over the building blocks of the Universe so I could do pretty much whatever I wanted. As I was getting close to showing the world the powers that be were getting a little bit antsy and decided I was more of a threat than not. As an example, I will tell you that one of those individuals was highly placed in our Government and that she…wait for it…Oh come on, it doesn’t take that long….” I was saying as the door to the room opened and a CZ 75 45, silencer attached put a bullet through my head

You have Died!

Deaths allowed: -1 of ERROR

Well, I needed to test ability, looks like it worked because I was back. I looked around and noticed I was in the desert opposite the runway at Nellis next to a small spring of water butt ass naked again. I willed myself invisible as I heard a siren go off. I wasn’t sure how much time went by but if this ability was a reward I probably reappeared almost instantly. I teleported behind the open door to the conference room to a man already turning his head to check behind him who had a bead on Admiral Ainsworth. I willed a protective shell around the Admiral as the man continued to turn to face me. I wasn’t sure how combat worked now and I knew I wasn’t as powerful as I used to be but my skills should make up for it. I stepped forward and into the assassin breaking his arm which caused me to become visible. He was good, I’ll give him that, he was already trying to step away from me as I throat punched him and crushed his larynx. As he involuntarily reached up to grab his throat, I grabbed the back of his head as he gagged and slammed it into the desk as hard as I could. As he started to slither to the floor I grabbed his head and twisted. His neck snapped, killing him. A prompt appeared in my vision

You have killed Assassin Level 1, you have earned 10 XP

I looked up to see the Admiral trying to move but the idea I willed into place had been a barrier of force that had locked him down in the chair. I willed another barrier over the door behind me and one between the Admiral and me to divide the room in half then released the Admiral from the chair. The Admiral rose to his feet drawing a pistol pointing it in my general direction. I noticed my dead body in a chair, a nice clean hole in my head. Before the suit could get ruined I touched my previous body and put it in personal storage. Then I called forth the clothing to be worn and was pleasantly surprised when the clothes appeared on me. So no rainbow smoke and I could use my personal storage to swap clothes. I was going to like that.

“Admiral, calm down, I have a question for you. A couple of years back there was a female Vice President”

“Yes, Paula Billingsgate, she’s the President”

“Yep, she’s the one.” I conjured a can of black spray paint then covered the cameras behind me.”

“What are you doing? Stop or I will shoot”

“I touched the assassin’s body placing it in storage then willed his weapon into my hand. I cleared it, checked it, checked its ammo, then put it back into storage. I conjured a tennis ball, showed it to the Admiral then threw it at the door into the other room that was still open. It bounced off an invisible barrier. I willed the ball over to my hand and then said “Catch” as I tossed the ball underhand towards the Admiral who looked at me as if I was crazy until the ball bounced back towards me off an invisible barrier halfway between us.

“Please put your gun away, the ricochet might hit you. I can’t control objects moving that fast yet.” I said

He holstered his weapon and spoke again, “Was that some kind of illusion?”

“Good question but no, I just died. Now that I think about it, that was my first actual death. Pretty cool, I wonder how much experience that guy would have received for killing me. I’m sure now I’m only worth whatever my level is times 10 but technically I was level 100,000 before the timeline fix. That should have jumped him up almost 20 levels. Too bad you all don’t have Personal Interfaces and can’t allocate your attributes, he might have been a lot harder to kill. Any idea who that was?

“Nope, though he’s in uniform and seems to be military. I wonder,” The Admiral stepped to the glass wall and looked into the glass window beyond, “I think everyone in the other room is dead.”

“I think so too, ‘Come with me if you want to live’” I said

“Not funny, and we aren’t going anywhere."

"Question? Does this facility….” Then I realized what that bitch was probably doing. I dropped my walls, moved over to the Admiral, and surrounded us with a bubble of force.” As the room shook and went dark. I willed light into existence and looked around. The Admiral and I were in a 10-foot bubble of space surrounded by concrete dirt and crushed bodies. I knew there were crushed bodies because parts of the sphere were covered with blood.

“So the Vice President is The President. That bitch tried to kill me twice, once with an assassin and once with “Angel Fire” last time.

The Admiral’s eyes widened

“So you have that too. Figures. Did this room have a self-destruct device in it or just a nuclear device buried somewhere?

“Just the nuclear one which had to be activated from this room. It could not be activated from anywhere else.”

“So most like Angel Fire, again. What a cunt. Good thing we’re 50 floors down. I think this time I’m just going to kill that bitch. I know Serena, if we could talk you’d tell me to treat her as an individual but some bitches just need to die.”

“Who’s Serena?”

“Long story, I might tell you about it some time. Tell you what though we need to get out of here. The President and her accomplices just tried to kill you. Okay they just tried to kill me but you were collateral damage, where would you like to go?

“If she used “Angel Fire” as you think she did Nellis is gone, as is a five-mile radius from point of impact. Can we check that somehow?

“Sure, we don’t even have to leave this bubble.”

I willed a portal to open facing down 1 mile to the North West of Las Vegas over Nellis AFB. There was nothing but a crater where the Headquarters building had been. The Mike O’Callaghan Military Medical Center was mostly standing but the side facing the impact point was gone, as were any planes that had been parked on the tarmac. Out to five miles, I could see blast damage. A lot of good people just died. The impact had created a crater 90 feet deep, 300 feet in diameter. I closed the portal. We needed to be somewhere off the grid.

“Can’t argue the evidence the general said.”

“Yeah,” I said as I opened a portal into the Prince’s Suite at the Mirage. “Follow me,” I said as I stepped through. Once we were both in the suite I pointed to a bathroom then went to the elevator and rode it down to the check-in, the same clerk was working.

“Sir, we didn’t see you come in, we thought you’d gone with the military?” she asked questionly.

“We did, I just wanted to make sure you knew I was here. Also, I wanted to change my payment arrangements. Continue using my original card to pay for everything from earlier and to pay off the damages but use this one,” I said as I used my “Infinite Wealth” ability to create a second card with different information, which it did. “Please use this card for the rest of the night.

“Yes sir,” she said as she took down the information and handed the card back.

“Also, If you’d have the kitchen send up two of your best steaks with all the trimmings that would be great.”

“As you say, Sir, will there be anything else?”

“Nope, I better get back up there,” I said as I went back to the Elevator

I went back up into the room and pulled out the laptop and hacked into the White House until I was able to view the room the President was in and watched

“You’re sure we go him?” the President was saying to a group of people around a table deep under the White House. Not one person she was talking to was a member of the armed services, though they might have been members of the house or senate. Enough had changed that my memory was exactly on par for this place as it was for my original timeline.

I looked around and noted that the Admiral was still in the bathroom. I hacked the schematics of the white house. Figured out spatially exactly where the President was from the Oval office. I went over to the kitchen and pulled out a pot and placed it on the ground then opened a portal directly above the pot which opened from the top side allowing me to peer at the top of the Presidents head. I checked the laptop and sure enough, there was distortion directly above her head. Everyone looked on in shock as a hand, my hand, reached down, grabbed her hair and pulled her head up through the portal, and closed the portal separating her head from her body. Her mouth was making movements like she was trying to talk. I didn’t know if this would work but I willed her brain to remain oxygenated for 10 minutes. Then I opened another portal to the same room and dropped a fireball in that detonated destroying everything and everyone there as the portal closed again.

I picked up the pot with the her head in it and looked down at her, “I’ve gotta say, that looks like that sucks. Good news for you, you only have to worry about it for about 9 more minutes. I don’t know what it is with you, but you caused me a ton of trouble the last time around. This time, I’m nipping that in the butt. I can’t get everyone, because I don’t know who they are yet but I’m sure this will slow things down a bit. Oh yeah, everyone in that room is now dead too, Oops! What’s that, you want to know what kind of…forget it, you’re not worth the effort. Enjoy your afterlife. Look on the bright side, at least you weren’t torn apart by a mob on a distant planet.” I thumped her on the nose lightly then opened a small portal to the bottom of the crater she’d created out of Nellis AFB and placed her head on the dirt there. I withdrew my hand and closed the portal.

I went over to the sink, rinsed out the pot, cleaned it with soap, then placed it in the dishwater for later. As I was finishing up the bathroom door opened and the Admiral stepped out. “Where you talking to someone?” he asked

“Nope, I did order two steak dinners though if you’d care to join me, they should be up shortly. Then I think I’m going to need to get you back to the Pentagon so you can coordinate rescue efforts.

“I should be headed out now..”

“You had ordered us dinner before we were interrupted. You’ve had a shock to your system and you need to eat. It’s 1 a.m. in the morning, I’m sure they can live without you for another 30 minutes. Besides I have to get something before you leave.” I reached over and hit the front desk button on the intercom in the kitchen”

“Yes?” the clerk asked.

“Same criteria as before. I need the most expensive Android smartphone and I need it activated under the name Adamantadine. Pay for unlimited for the next year with automatic renewal to the card I gave you. The Clock is ticking”

“Yes, sir, we’ll get it to you right away.”

I turned off the intercom just as a cart of food was rolled in. There is nothing like the smell of a well-cooked steak.

“Over at on the dining room table please”

The bell boy placed the trays and drinks, though we had a fully stocked bar in the room as well. I went over, handed him a 100-dollar bill and he left.

“Do I owe you anything for the meal?”

“No Admiral, my treat, it’s the least I can do for you before you have to step into the thick of it.”

“Nonetheless, thank you for the meal”

“Your quite welcome.” We sat down to eat, not making any small talk.

A couple of minutes later as we were getting started a young woman stepped out of my elevator entrance with my new phone. She walked right up to me and handed it to me, “5 minutes, preprogrammed and ready to use. We were even able to add your biometrics from the card we had on file. Your fingerprint should open it for you.”

“Thank you,” I said as I hand her thirty 100-dollar bills. “Really good job”

She smiled, turned, and exited the Suite.

As I went back to the table to sit back down the Admiral looked at me with a grin, “You are sticking it to that Divine, if I believed that part of your story, of course, every time you can aren’t you”

“Absolutely, if you cross me or try to kill me, or in the case of that assassin tonight actually succeed, If I have the chance to return the favor, game on!”

“I think I understand that about you,” he said with a smile.

About halfway through the meal, the Admiral asked, “Mr. Bennard, could you turn on the news? I need to see what’s going on”

I look around, didn’t see a remote so tried, “Alexa, news” the wall lights up with Fox Headline News. “…We need to warn you, the next scene is graphic” as the screen switched to the image of a head sitting at the base of the crater as shot by the shaky camera of a cell phone.

“No one knows how the head was placed there, nor has it been identified. Teams are waiting to make sure there is no radiological fallout before making their way into the crater…”

The Admiral looked at me thoughtfully, “Mr. Bennard, care to explain?”

“Nope, I’m good. I will say you should enjoy your steak though. When you get back to the Pentagon you’re probably going to be busy.”

“What did you do?”

“I took care of some problems we would have both had moving forward.”

“Okay, I can understand that, whose head is that?”

“It’s a surprise, but a good one I think.”

The Admiral turned back to his meal and watched the news as he finished his steak. I did the same. It was 3:30 a.m. on the 2nd of January 2036 when I opened a portal for the Admiral to step out into the entryway of the Pentagon. I watched as he walked inside and was escorted downstairs. I closed the portal and tracked the Admiral through my laptop as he made his way into one of the many situation rooms. I listened in.

“…Approximately three hours ago the President went into the bunker area of the White House for a meeting. Secret Service Personnel reported that they heard a small explosion and entered to find out what had happened. Everyone in the room had been burnt to a crisp including the President. Except that her body had been decapitated before the burn.

“How do you know that?” The Admiral asked.

“The stump was burned.”

“So the president was decapitated then that area was burnt with the rest of her body.”

“Yes sir!”

“So where’s the head”

“We’re keeping the press away but the head in the Crater in Nevada is the Presidents sir.”

“Come again?” he asked

“The President’s head was in the crater. Face Id and Retinal patterns match, it was her.

The Admiral looked around the room until he found a camera, the camera I was looking through then scratched his eyebrow with a middle finger as he said, “I wonder how her head got there?”

“We have everyone working on it sir. No one has an idea. We plan to break the news that the President is dead right after the sunrise. The Vice President already knows of course and has been sworn in.

“I need to talk to him as soon as possible”

“You and a million other people.”

The Admiral took off his restricted area badge and handed it to the Captain he was talking to. “Please verify usage of this pass within the last 6 hours.”

“Yes sir,” he said as he went over to a terminal and plugged it in. Then he looked up shocked. Sir, it says here that you checked into the Headquarters secure bunker at Nellis AFB at midnight?”

“Yes, it does.”

“And, you’re here now”

“I am, I need to speak to the President as soon as possible.

“Yes sir!”

I shut down the laptop and relaxed for a bit. I probably had about 60 minutes before the FBI or someone else came knocking at the door again. I watched the news for another hour and stepped out onto the balcony at 5 a.m. I didn’t plan to be outside, I just stepped out. I watched as a faint blue spider-like energy network rose from the ground all around me up into the sky until it looked like it went off in all directions and then faded from view.

Planetary Soul Trap has been cast. This spell will last for 1 year. Any creatures killed during the next year on or near this planet will automatically have their souls trapped in soul gems stored for that purpose. Note: Local Soul Trap spells will still work. Only if a soul is not captured immediately will it be captured by the Planetary Soul Trap spell.

Holy shit, I wonder how much mana it cost to cast that spell

A new prompt appeared in my vision and a snarky female voice sounded in my head.

Greetings humans! I have some good news and some bad news. First the Good News, you are not alone in the Universe. In fact, you knew this 10,000 years ago but someone forgot to pass that information on. Well, no one lives forever, do they? Second, The Magic suppression field that was placed on this planet has been turned off and a Soul Trap spell has been cast. If you die now your soul will be used by members of the Syndicate to continue our Galactic conquests. Who am I kidding, Souls keep the lights on.

Now for the bad news. Yours is one of the many worlds that have been prepared for this form of forced species adaption. We estimate that less than 1 in 100 of you will be able to adapt to the changes that are about to happen to your world.

Why you, why now, Why? Why? Why? If you live long enough, maybe you’ll learn why. For now, In Accordance With (IAW) Galactic Cultivation Law 1C-003-4ZP-YF. We added the “-YF” just for your species, it stands for “You’re Fucked!” Each of you has one hour to prepare for magic to be released into your world again. As part of that law, I am required to tell you that Magic is real, Monsters are real and at random points around the globe, both on land and at sea, monsters will be appearing on your world. Also, the monsters will grow bigger and stronger as the magical density comes back to universal norms. Each of you now has a Personal Interface or PI. You control this with your thoughts. For more information think “Help Information Cultivation. Part of the adaptation process is figuring out how to survive for yourself. If you can, you will thrive, if you can’t please say hello to, oh what was that race that not one person from that species survived, Who cares!”

Finally, The Gamblers Network would like to let you know that just because you’re from a backward ass country fuck of a planet out in the middle of nowhere that doesn’t mean you aren’t given a chance to participate in bets concerning your planets cultivation, though there are restrictions. You cannot place bets with any other currency than Syndicate Credits and the Gamblers Network strongly suggests that if you are going to bet on anyone, Bet on yourself! Also, make sure to check out the various type of insurance you’d like to purchase, and be sure to check out your odds by checking with your PI and looking up Cultivation Stats. Currently, they are set but will start adjusting the moment the Cultivation officially starts in 57 minutes. The more likely it is that you will live and thrive, the lower your odds go. For instance, if you have a 1 in a Trillion chance to last 1 day, like babies by themselves If somehow that baby survives to the next time cycle, 1 week, their odds will not be 1 in 1 trillion, they probably won’t be 1 in a thousand. Payouts for wagers are based on the odds at the time of purchase, not the end of the cultivation, So bet early.

We here at the Syndicate would like to thank you for participating in this Cultivation and should you survive, look forward to working with you in the future.

So that’s what being dictated to by a tyrant that controls everything feels like.