The Genesis Game

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"So Seraph, what do I need to know?" Asked Paul again as he gathered up pieces of driftwood on the beach and set them on fire.

Seraph laid back on the sand to enjoy the heat and try to make himself as comfortable as he could. The Abyssal Ichor was already beginning to work on reshaping his body, Seraph could feel it, like insects crawling beneath his skin. It was not a pleasant feeling, uncomfortable, but not painful, Seraph was sure that would change.

"Mythic cosmetic change." Thought Seraph as he justified the impulsive decision to drink the Ichor.

Clearing his throat, Seraph turned his head to address Paul. "It starts with how I died. I was the leader of a Guild called Carrion Crow, and had been the leader for decades. My guild was full of the strongest people in the entire world and was a household name that everyone in and out of the dungeon came to fear due to our power, but in the end it wasn't enough. I alone was able to survive and reach the end of the World Dungeon, and there I died at the Altar of the End, only to be sent back in time to prevent the fall of Humanity."

Paul looked at him with suspicion and challenged what he said. "I said you said you had the restart ability, what's the truth? Did you lie, or are you lying now?"

Seraph grunted as he felt his insides shift before responding. "I lied, I had my reasons, but since it's just you and me, I can tell you the truth, whatever you might think, blood is blood. I can trust you in a way I can't trust anyone else. Too much is at stake."

Frowning, Paul's eyes narrowed. "That's quite the complex you have there."

"It's not a complex." Responded Seraph in anger, annoyed with the man. "It's reality, out of the 7 Billion People on Earth, and the hundreds of people who were granted Legendary Classes, I alone got powerful enough to harm the Infernals."

"And I hate that. Some of the people closest to me, my friends, the co-founders of my guild, my, well it doesn't matter. They all died trying to get the rest of Humanity information on the final floor while I tried to protect the rest of Humanity. We were forced to try to finish the game long before any of us thought we were ready for it."

Paul c.o.c.ked his head curious. "What do you mean you weren't ready? Why would you go for it if you weren't ready?"

"Because we didn't have any choice not to." Responded Seraph, gritting through his teeth as the Abyssal Ichor continued to ravage his body. "We knew there was a connection with the dungeon, but we never figured out what the connection was, only that some time after the dungeon first appeared, a green mist began spreading across the entire world, and wherever it went, death followed."

"Death followed?" Asked Paul, skeptical.

"Yes, death followed. Wherever the mist went, whatever the mist touched, changed. Imagine Arlington Cemetery overrun with Colossal Abominations, or every cemetery spawning fetid undead, trees warping into hulking golems hungry for flesh. Every person, every man, every woman, every child that was caught behind in that mist turned into monsters, and never the same monster, all random chaotic mutations, turning feral, hungry, and insanely aggressive."

"I made a mistake. We made a mistake and thought it was a problem for the world outside of the dungeon, a world that we didn't belong in, not really, not anymore. I was wrong, eventually when the entire world was covered by the green mist, something changed within the dungeon. The creatures from outside began to force their way in, eventually infiltrating Hometown, destroying it. It was just a matter of time before everyone else died. Most people, even at high levels didn't have a way to defend against the poisonous aura, or lacked the strength to fight against it's monsters. We had no option but to try and finish the dungeon, staying wasn't an option."

Seraph started coughing and had to turn over as he spit up bloody bile and bits of black blood.

"I'll be fine, promise." Told Seraph to his father, trying to erase some of the man's concerns and unease with events."

"Alright." Responded Paul, unconvinced. "So from what you're telling me, our time in the dungeon is finite, and eventually we need to be prepared to end it. But that can't be the only obstacle in the way of finishing things now is it?"

"No it's not." Admitted Seraph. "Gaining levels isn't easy, but the actual grinding for experience in the dungeon, while dangerous, wasn't what hurt us the most. It was the conflicts between us that kept coming up."

"Explain." Responded Paul. "This is important and might be the key to everything."

"You have to understand." Explained Seraph before breaking down into another coughing fit. "The dungeon was the only safe place in the end, and you've been there, it's smaller now than it used to be. In my original life Hometown could house hundreds of thousands of people, now it can only accommodate a fraction of that amount, but either way, be it hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands, that's nothing compared against the sum of all men, a mere fraction of a percentage point of everyone on Earth. Who lives, who dies, who gets to grind the dungeon, who has to live on the surface, those were the sort of decisions we had to make."

"I'm sure that was hard on you." Said Paul, though Seraph couldn't tell if he meant it as a declaration or if it was meant to be ironic. "But how did you wind up like this? Because the person you became, was nothing like the son I remembered."

"It's easy to be critical." Snapped Seraph. "My hands run red with blood, but no one else had any ideas. We had to pick the few who we thought would live. I didn't have the luxury of the morality you want to beat me with. Do you know what morality is? You're ethics? It's a cudgel the weak use to avoid getting their hands dirty."

Paul looked at him with a sad look and reached out, putting his hand on Seraph's shoulder. "I'll help you, we can figure out a better way."

Seraph looked down at the ground in pained remembrance of the man his father had been, before turning back to Paul and answering. "I told you once that you died on the day the dungeon first appeared. On that day, the dungeon began spawning monsters to send to the surface, one of those monsters, a Hell Hound, found us trapped on the highway struck in traffic and unable to move. We thought it was a wild dog that had gotten on to the road, but it was too big to be just a dog, and there were so many people on the road. Neither of us noticed the screaming and the people running being chased down by the Hell Hounds until it was too late to get away. Those that tried to run were ran down by the Hell Hounds which jumped on their backs, tearing into the back of their necks, killing them before moving onwards.

"When they got closer to us, and we could see they were shattering windows and windshields to get into cars, you pulled me out of my seat onto the floor in the back, and lay over me with your body. When they came for us, it was the worst thing I had ever seen in my life. You screamed in pain for so long, and there was nothing I could do to help you, I was paralized with fear, and I could tell you didn't want me to help you. There was nothing I could do to save you. Even as you screamed as they tore into you, you refused to let go of me, you refused to let them drag you away and drag you off of me. When you finally died, they'd already moved on to easier targets to take and there was nothing I could do but watch you die."

"I was stuck there beneath you, staring into your lifeless eyes as hours turned into days, and no one could hear me screaming for help, or if they did, they choose to ignore it. I lay hungry and thirsty in my own filthy, stewing in my waste until a group saved me, I had thought the group was there to help, but instead they threw me into the mouth of the dungeon as a sacrifice to try and appease whatever monsters the dungeon spawned. That's when I was first offered the class of "The Accuser, thats when I first picked up the mantle of Seraph.

"What happened after that? Asked Paul, his face serious and concerned, his eyes heavy with emotion.

"The elves of Hometown were not very welcoming towards humanity. They saw us as a threat, a threat that could dislodge them from the dungeon. They stole from us, they harassed us when we were still weak, they outright killed us when they could, which was not often I made sure of that, it was an unspoken conflict between us, and humanity was losing even as every day as more and more people were forced into the slums of Hometown to share the meager resources we had, while the Elves hoarded the rest. We went to war with them because it was the only choice that made sense.".

"That's concerning." Said Paul. "There had to be another way. There is always another way. But that is something we are going to have to figure out sooner rather than later, where is everyone going to go."

"What I need to know though." Pressed Paul, "Is how did you get here? How did you get to this point. Take a hard look at your actions and tell me honestly every choice that you made was the correct one. You can't and I know you can't. Because that's what you need to be doing, you've already admitted that even though you came from the future, things are different. This is your life, there's no easy out and your not going to be able to lean on whatever foreknowledge you have to guide how things are going to go."

Paul reached out and put a hand on Seraph's shoulder to comfort him. "You're going to need to get stronger, stronger than you ever were in that other life of yours, and you're going to do it by identifying your strengths and weaknesses and working to build upon them, and address them. You need to learn how to fight, how to command, how to lead without relying on overwhelming power to overcome obstacles. Do you understand this?"

Seraph nodded, his face flushed with pain.

"Good." Paul said in reply, nodding his head. "We need a course of corrective action to implement real change and then going for it, but now isn't the time for that is it? Let's just get you through this change, or whatever it is that your body is doing."

Seraph nodded in agreement, he had been holding back the flow of the change within his body, but couldn't do it anymore. He needed to let go.

"I may have made a mistake." Thought Seraph as he braced himself with his good hand, while a burning sensation was felt near the nerve endings were he had lost his hand. Slowly, piece by piece the flesh began to bulge and push outwards, forming into a blackened hand with glistening talons that looked as if it had been burnt and thrust into before the color began to fade and looked like the rest of his pale skin. Exhausted, he collapsed on the ground as Paul held his hand, reassuring him it would be ok as he was hit with the same burning sensation throughout his whole body, as the Ichor worked to expand his body.

Seraph watched wordlessly as his body began to change before his eyes, it was odd, but he felt terror as he looked down on himself, wondering what he would become. Strangely he felt the heat of anger replace his terror and his exhaustion, as his ment through a frenzy of scenarios, and a thousand possibilities, a million different gruesome ways this could turn out. Until finally the sensation passed. Paul was still holding his hand, his face pale and shaken, the ground beneath him wet and soaked from the ordeal, the fire low and the sun coming up.

Exhausted yet refreshed, Seraph stood up on his legs, no longer mangled, thankful he hadn't turned into a monster, he still looked human.

Notification: Abyssal Ichor (Mythic) has combined with Body of Mana. Abyssal Body unlocked.

Notification: Abyssal Body Unlocked. This passive is always activated and converts mana to restore damaged limbs, body parts, and executive functions. As a result of this ability, your physique has increased.

Notification: Ability – Touch of the Abyss Unlocked. This activated ability allows the user to restore their health by converting organic matter into healing energy.