The desire to leave swelled up a lot the way the anger did when he became enraged. He did not want to be interrogated. There was an itch in him to get to somewhere safe and alone that had been growing every second since he had gotten back from the fight. He had been suppressing it for Corrine’s sake, but he couldn’t continue to put it off.


    “I have to go.” He said curtly; then, before anyone could object, he was back in his private system room for a second, and then he was elsewhere.


    The area he found himself in was wrong.


    Not wrong as in incorrect or evil, but more impossibly different from anything he had experienced. There was nothing specific he could put his finger on. It looked normal; the ground felt the same, but it wasn’t. There was just an aura of greatness. He wasn’t a religious man, but he wanted to get on his knees and pray to the walls, the floor and the ceiling, everything.


    Yet when he really looked at anything, when he examined it, Danger Sense screamed at him. There was a threat of something so powerful that studying it too closely would cause him to spontaneously explode.


    An alternative issue presented itself. It was like something was peeling off a scab, but one in his mind and not on his skin. His presence in the strange room caused locked memories to stir.


    Terrifying ones. Flashes of him secretly observing a dragon and inadvertently spying on a GOD only to have it notice him. And then… he didn’t want to think about then. Then was a moment to be buried in a black hole. A period of such terror that only an active intervention of DEUS had saved his soul from collapsing.


    But this was not a clinical discussion of historical events. It had been him spying, and it had been his soul that had been at risk.


    How? He thought his heartbeat racing.


    How had he done that?


    Then other memories began to shift and emerge.


    GODS talking about him…


    He shuddered.


    His brain nearly shut down as he considered those implications. Not a singular GOD, but GODS in plural form. It was surreal that BEINGS with the power to make and shape thousands of universes had been talking about him.


    What he was feeling now was a less intense version of that first memory, the one when his soul had almost collapsed. He could feel the weakness and was experiencing that overwhelming terror that transcended all boundaries. Then an inner strength from other locked memories buoyed him up. It restored him and allowed him to regain his equilibrium. Something from amongst his missing memories made the pressure of that knowledge bearable.


    In the past, he had overcome this, so the reflection of history could not find purchase on him.


    Then there was another flash of memory.


    This time, it was about GODS arguing over him.


    He collapsed at the knees, unable to do anything else.


    Once more, the tidal wave of terror transfixed him, but his distant self made him stand up to face it. Blood was running from his nostrils, but he did not bend. He allowed the tsunami to crash over him, and he refused to let it wash him away.


    This had already occurred, so why should he let fear control him?


    Then came the knowledge that a GOD, not a proxy like what he suspected happened with the coins, but an actual GOD, had actively targeted him.


    This time, he blacked out and returned to consciousness lying on the floor.


    Darkness filled him, and that loving presence from earlier came in, restoring key bits of him. He was still himself; the memories remained blocked, but he knew more now. It was terrifying stuff he didn’t want to think about for sure, but it caused some of his problems to no longer seem so all-encompassing.


    It had happened.


    He had survived…


    Well, kind of survived. The fact he was in a six-year-old body implied otherwise. However, he was pretty sure the plotting of GODs had not directed the wador to do what it had. That had been a purely personal attack.


    His previous life had been far more impactful than he had imagined. What the others had written about him in the name memorial, being a member of the Heroes of Humanity... They had shown his importance. These new memories implied a lot more.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    How? He asked again.


    The idea of any mortal catching their attention did not make sense.


    What had he done it? How had he managed it?


    And perhaps there was a reason, after all, for his memories to have been blocked. Could his four-year-old body in a ritual circle have coped with that pressure?


    There was no simple answer to be had. Slowly, he picked himself off the ground. The space he was in now made a lot more sense. The walls they were not a construct created by a trial or the far extremities of the system. They were… It didn’t matter, Tom decided quickly in response to his mounting panic. The nature of his surroundings was irrelevant. Some secrets were best left undiscovered.


    Suddenly, April appeared across from him.


    She glanced around frantically, and then her eyes rested on him. They were wide, wider than he had ever seen. “Tom, what have you done?”


    Her eyes were flicking from side to side, and he saw panic on her perfect features, and then, a moment later reality warped and they were sitting at the café in the normal spots. April’s cup of coffee was trembling visibly as she raised it to her lips. A drop even sloshed over the side to strike the table.


    He had never seen her do that before.


    “Are you okay?” He asked.


    “Do you know what’s happening?” she shot back rather than responding to his question. “Do you?”


    The walls, he couldn’t help but notice had the same feeling of greatness as they had in the empty space room. Extras had been added, but they were still in the same spot. “Yes, I do.” He didn’t want to address it consciously, but he knew. “Yes, I know where we are.”


    The reproduction of the angel across from him swallowed heavily and took another shaky sip. Coffee splashed to the side and ran down her chin. “I was asked to brief you for later. De… De…” she stopped talking for a moment. “Something’s coming after this, and our discussion now will give you context.” She looked down at the clipboard in her hands.


    Whatever was written did not help settle anything.


    “I…I … I.” She laughed at herself and her involuntary stutter. “I guess some of the things you’ve told me in passing make a lot more sense now. This is a title you received in your past life. I have a note that the bolded stuff meant extras that triggered at, or after, your death.”


    She handed him the clipboard.


    Title: Known Heretic (2): The regard of GODs is a heavy burden, especially when you are aware of it, and it must be balanced by positives.


    Reward: All who know you, even in passing, will be affected by a passive influence. Those stronger than you will think more highly of you, and will be reluctant to act against your interests and more likely to gift you a valuable item tailored to your needs. Those weaker will perceive you to have more strength than you actually possess, and treat you accordingly. They will occasionally be compelled to give you tribute that will also be shaped to benefit you as much as possible.


    The title makes it almost impossible for anyone but yourself to recognise the effects of it. Any gifts received will be dismissed as normal and not noteworthy.


    Awarded for: Being aware that you are known by name and reputation by all eight GODs, and have had at least two GODs actively plot to affect your life.


    <ul>


    <li>Legendary Title. Title is hidden from all but you and your patron GODDESS, so no ranking points or experience may be awarded until this status is revoked.</li>


    </ul>


    Tom read through the title and first focused on why it had been both awarded and then upgraded. The wording, despite how threatening it was, did not hold a candle to the impressions of those meetings in his mind.


    Something printed on a page could not match the memory of meeting a god, especially an angry one.


    He wished he had neither.


    He licked his lips as he read the new bits. At least two GODs had actively plotted against him. Theoretically, that did not mean they had wanted him dead, or even that they were trying to do something bad to him, but from his memories he knew better.


    GODs had tried to destroy him, but he was still here and in the game. There was evidence that a massive fate ritual had been dedicated, over presumably thousands if not hundreds of thousands of miles, for the sole purpose of killing him. The resources that must have taken were immense, but with this knowledge, the effort now made sense.


    That was a GOD hunting for him, and, whichever species had done it, they had been acting on a divine request. It was no wonder they had invested so much. The very concept chilled him to the bone. He had speculated about that exact reason, but there was a difference between wondering and knowing.


    He shut his eyes. A god was… Fuck. He didn’t want to think about it, so he refused to and he forced himself to focus on the benefits.


    Those lines also answered his open questions about why Maurice had gifted him the trait stone, or about his luck in getting the special crystal to boost his affinity, about or the training ring he had been given. The cause of all those events were now obvious. It had been this title working silently in the background.


    There were other abilities that remained a mystery to him. He looked up at April. “I have more hidden titles, don’t I?”


    She nodded. “Yes. Yes, you almost certainly do.”


    “Can you?...”


    “I can’t,” she interrupted. “I can’t show them to you because I can’t see them, but if they become visible to me, I will share.”


    “Is that possible? Can their status suddenly change?”


    “Tom, look where...” She suddenly stopped talking, as her own words reminded her of where they were. She swallowed heavily and her eyes agitatedly surveyed the room. They were jumping from spot to spot like a bandicoot crossing a space where it knew a predator might lie in wait. Both her fists were clenched so tightly he could see veins popping out. She drew in a shuddering breath and shut her eyes. “Tom, what I meant to say is, you’re not normal. What I see is whatever a GOD wants. Everything is possible.”


    “True.”


    “Now, I know you’re a bit rattled, but you’re needed elsewhere.”


    “Where?”


    She shuddered again. “To be honest, I’d prefer not to think about it. I like my life, such as it is.”


    Slowly, she faded away, and he felt himself being picked up and accelerated. Not up and down, but rather moving to a new location within… within the space he found himself.