The Genesis Game

(If you enjoy the story, please, please, rate and review. On here, goodreads, amazon, ect)

I am almost always available on discord at

tiny.cc/OKelleysDiscord

To read the full volume check it out on Amazon Kindle Unlimited at tiny.cc/AmazonTGG

Or support me at

tiny.cc/Okelleysauthorpage

javascript:;

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

The night air was full of smoke and a haze had descended on the city making it difficult to see. "Perfect." Thought Seraph as he looked on from his vantage point on the hilltop in the woods, watching as humans and elves ran around in panic, watching as they tried to put out the multiple fires set on his orders by the saboteurs he had seeded throughout the city.

"Brothers." Said Seraph, his tone steady but hushed as he addressed the men and women under his command that had grouped up around him to hear what he had to say. "It's been a long three years since I first came here, and I've never been prouder. Some of you have been with me since the early days, and some of you have joined me more recently. Tonight, our guild Carrion Crow cements control of Hometown, and our enemies, the guilds Legend and Chaos are near total collapse, even now our brothers in the field are wrapping up their operations to bring them to heel."

Pausing to look around, Seraph saw the reverence of his guild members towards him as they nodded their heads in approval and cheered, in their eyes he saw a reflection of his own bloodl.u.s.t.

"And now it's our turn." Seraph continued his voice growing somber as he fed into their energy. "We march on the elves, we march on our enemies. Anyone who is not with us is against us, and tonight we take them all."

Seraph made a fist and put it over his heart as he looked at the members of his guild, looking each one in the eye in acknowledgement and respect. The gesture appreciated, he knew they would fight that much harder for him.

With a nod to his Lieutenants, they all began to move out in their teams as each headed off into the night to engage with their targets.

Watching them all go, Seraph hung back waiting till the last of his guild members had passed beyond his sight and him theirs before swapping out his outfit and donning the outfit of a regular member of Carrion Crow.

Even his wings were hidden by a glamour as he walked down the hill in front of the guild headquarters, he would be joining the fight too. Zoldos could handle the command node on his own, the man was an anomaly, his Hand of the Zephyr ability allowed him to manage data at a rate no one else could keep up with, if he had any talent with the blade he would have been unbeatable, but it was not to be and Seraph benefitted from this. For functional tasks, it was better for Zoldos to manage and better for Seraph to go into the field, even if it was in disguise.

Breaking out into a light run, though careful to avoid making too much noise or strain his stamina prem.a.t.u.r.ely, Seraph ran down the hillside path that led through the forested area surrounding his Guildhall to the edges of Hometown itself.

As he stepped through the trees and approached the first set of buildings, Seraph decided against going down the main road as a way to avoid garnering attention and avoid anyone questioning why a lone soldier of Carrion Crow would be traveling alone.

Seraph turned instead and walked down the alley behind the buildings to stop and listen, to stop and observe. The streets were full of noises. This was a night of tears and pain as cries for mercy went ignored. For many who had opposed him and the growth of humanity in the dungeon. From everywhere around him he could hear the sounds of fighting.

He allowed himself a smile, and though he was excited to join to his member and fight alongside them with his anonymity, he knew it was not his time yet to join the fight, and when he did, it would not be under the guise of a lowly foot soldier. The most powerful of the elves had not yet revealed themselves, and Seraph's power would be needed to ensure his men were not annihilated.

Victory was close, this Seraph knew, but Seraph also knew it was not guaranteed. To reach the point where this coup, this insurgency was possible had been difficult and owed more to luck than because of the efforts of him and his men. Seraph and a few of his most trusted Lieutenants had arranged for explainable accidents and assassinations of some of the Elven leaders and a few of their elite soldiers. If the Elves had been allowed to group together, the entirety of Carrion Crow would have been repealed and destroyed. Seraph was powerful, but not even he could take on so many.

"Sometimes when brute force fails, the subtle knife can find a way." Thought Seraph as he looked up at the moon and waited.

The sound of feet running down the alleyway interrupted his thoughts and he turned to face the newcomer, pulling his sword from its sheath and stepping out into the road to block off escape. But as the man approached, the light revealed details of his face. Seraph could see this was no elf, it was a man wearing the emblem of the Legends guild, and in his arms, he carried an injured child. Seraph stepped out of his way and disappeared into the shadows as tears ran down the man's face as he ran towards whatever safety he could find. "The dungeon could be a harsh teacher." Thought Seraph. "Many learn the hard way that the healing of the dungeon does not work during times like these when control of an area is being contested."

Concealed within the darkness, Seraph allowed the man to pass unmolested, only to watch as the man put the injured child down behind a stack of boxes and told the child "They won't come to get you here. They're all running too. Please, please be alive when I get back, I'm going to get you help I promise, I'll be back. There shouldn't be any elves here anymore." As the child wept, the man pressed his finger against the child's lips as he ran away into the night."

Seraph watched for a moment before reaching into his spacial pocket and moving to help. "Hey kiddo." Said Seraph. "I'm going to put this gauze on you, it'll help to stabilize your injury until you can get healed. What's your name anyways?"

The child didn't respond for a minute as if debating in his head whether he should say anything.

"Kiddo, I just saved your life. Don't waste that." Chided Seraph with a low laugh edged with menace.

The child understood the undertone of the threat levied his way. "It's Reverend."

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

Gradually, Seraph began to regain his consciousness, his head pounding from the worst headache he had likely ever experience, the pain of which seemed to be infinitely worse than any wound he had received, a list that included the very wounds he had died from.

Thankfully though the lights were all back on, the sun appeared to have begun setting, allowing Seraph some measure of comfort to fend off the pain in his head.

"Ah, you're awake." Said Jack. "Thanks for the new toy and everything, I'm fairly positive without your assistance the spell would have failed, and I might have died. Instead of well, you know, you almost dying."

Seraph gritted his teeth and turned towards the man, the effort of which almost caused him to lose consciousness again from the pain.

"Hey now, no need for any of that." Laughed Jack as he sat cross legged near Seraph's outstretched body. "I've been awake awhile now, watching over you I might add. You can take the time you need to pull yourself together, I want you to remember this moment though Seraph. I could have killed you while you slept, I could kill you now while you're still incapacited, but I didn't and I don't want to, and do you know why?"

Seraph looked at the man for signs of mania, deception, or some sort of madness and saw none of them. Maybe he had misjudged Jack's character. Seraph had no idea why Jack had left him alive if the man had been considering killing him. The consequences of their pact were currently inconsequential, and the longer they remained together, the harsher breaking the pact would be. "I don't know." Said Seraph curiously, "Why don't you tell me?"

"Because you're the ticket man." Replied Jack, his face serious. "You know this place in a way no one else does. I thought about it when you were passed out and I thought about some of the things you said. You have the Restart ability but said you didn't remember me. I don't think that you're a liar, which leaves me with one conclusion, being around you has changed my fate. I have to acknowledge that I'm alive somehow because of you, because this time you crossed my path. It makes the most sense for me to stay close to you."

Seraph couldn't fault the man's logic. "Thanks?" Seraph said awkwardly. It was something he hadn't considered yet himself, as the timelines diverged things would become different quickly, and the things he had known would eventually no longer matter except for maybe the most rudimentary facts.

"But is that it Jack? You had an ephiany, and now you want to team up?" Seraph asked pointedly. "What's different now?"

Jack's posture slumped, a dejected look on his face. "I just want to live man. I don't want to die here and I think you can help keep me alive." He responded.

"I can use this." Thought Seraph with clarity, realizing his headache had passed.. Soon, very soon the dungeon would be out of its beta phase and hundreds to thousands of people would flood its lower floors. In his first life Seraph had been young, naive, impulsive, and volatile and had contributed to the unrest that had beset Hometown, this time things would be different, but he would need a mouthpiece, and that was a part Seraph couldn't play himself.

"I don't disagree with your thinking on this Jack." Replied Seraph, there was room in this for both of them to get what they wanted. "I'm going to need something from you. Something that's going to benefit both of us. When I form the guild, I need you to take on the appearance of being it's leader. It doesn't matter how old my mind is when I've got the body of a child.

Jack nodded. "I can do that, I get it, you've got the Children of the Corn thing going on and nobody is going to be into that."

Seraph glared but didn't respond and moved to change the subject. "We need to get moving though. I doubt we've long before the dungeon goes public and just as their were advantages to being first through the tutorial, their are advantages for being the first to form a guild."

"How would you know?" Asked Jack.

"You ask." Responded Seraph. "Notification request, what time is it, how long have I been in the dungeon and how much time remains until the Dungeon emerges?"

When the notification appeared before his eyes, Seraph read it outloud so that Jack could know the information.

Notification: Current time is 16:42 Dungeon Time. You have been in the Dungeon 75 Hours and 42 Minutes. Approximately 6 Earth hours have passed since you entered the Dungeon. Dungeon will emerge in 76 Hours and 18 Minutes Dungeon Time at approximately 4:00 A.M. Earth Time.

"You know what that means right Jack?" Asked Seraph hoping the man could keep up with him.

Shaking his head, Jack admitted he had no idea.

"It means we've got three days in the Dungeon to form the guild and cement ourselves as the leadership of humanity within the dungeon, three days to prove that we belong at the cornerstone of governance." Explained Seraph. "We need to get down into town if were going to do the guild unlock quest. Where's Rosebud."

"That's a pretty quick timeline, do you think we can really do it?" Responded Jack "And whose Rosebud?"

Seraph looked at Jack, and then around the room. "Rosebud is what I named the thing from the nether that we summoned into the body of Alexander, and yes I think we can do it, we have to if we want to stay ahead and stay alive."

"Oh." Responded Jack flatly. "Alright, I'm trusting you, and yeah the creepy happy mask face guy, I had to send him outside to wait and to run back in here and let me know if anyone was coming."

"That was a good idea, you did well." Complimented Seraph. "Wording is important with these pets; you could have just as easily told him to guard the area instead of watching and informing you if anyone approached, if the former, Rosebud would have likely tried to kill anyone that came close."

Jack swallowed, noticeably paler. "I'll keep that in mind. These pets are very literally aren't they?"

"No they're not." Responded Seraph, "But they do obey their nature, and the vicious ones tend to look for ways to main and kill. Rosebud isn't a dog, it's a nether being we've conjured into the reanimated flesh of somebody I killed, don't forget that."

As if responding to his name, Rosebud walked through the door without being noticed, as if materializing from the shadows. The pet turned to Seraph and nodded "Cousin" before acknowledging Jack and reporting. "Master, I have done as you have instructed, there is currently an elf woman approaching." The white mask turned into a hideous upturned smile, the eye slits narrowing. "Would you lay me to waylay her?

Seraph interrupted. "You don't. Any of the elves could destroy Rosebud, and they would track us down and kill us. She'll be here soon, then we will figure out what to do next."

"Yes Master." Responded Rosebud, a hint of disappointment in its voice.