As Dane's eyes opened, the forge's heat was gone. Where once stood the doors that led him on his path, now only a skeleton of ruin remained. Then came the chime. Soft. Familiar. A sound he hadn't realized he'd missed.

  System Notification: Level 226 reached. Please select a new race.

  He blinked at the prompt, half-expecting it to vanish. He'd gained so little experience gathering the divine artifacts that the jump made no sense. But then he remembered the fragments he'd absorbed. What amount of EXP could be put on the pieces of the gods? Perhaps it was the only way for his System to quantify his strength gains. After forming the core, he realized that the System was only a stopgap for mortals to gain power. With the Ascendant core, he was something else entirely.

  The list of races appeared briefly on his screen, lines of text shimmering like a mirage, then flickered out like someone had blown out a candle.

  Error… Error…

  Blood of Aeon detected.

  Before he could react, the world cracked like glass that had been shattered. The forge, the stone, even the air folded inward and hurled him into the void.

  He stood in an ocean of nothing. And before him, something impossible stared back.

  The being was a vast silhouette of stars and gravity, its edges bleeding into infinity. Just looking at it made Dane's nostrils bleed. His thoughts disintegrated under the pressure, yet still, he refused to look away.

  Then the void laughed.

  "HAHAHAHA! I could not believe it when I felt a shard of my power so far away, but here you are." The voice sounded as if a mountain had gained the ability to talk. "I even sense Khronos on you. How is my old pet these days?"

  Dane's knees trembled. He couldn't answer. His mind clawed for focus, but the sheer weight of the entity pressed down on every thought until he could only exist in its presence.

  "Oh, it might help if I suppress my aura a little, huh?"

  It snapped its fingers.

  Blackness swallowed everything. When vision returned, the pressure was mostly gone now. Dane gasped, lungs shaking out small breaths, and instinctively activated Huntsman.

  Target Identified: ???

  Designation: Unknown Entity

  Recommended course of action: [CLASSIFIED]

  The screen glitched. Even his System refused to define it.

  The being tilted its head, amused. "You intrigue me. Not only do you stand in my presence without your brain turning to soup, but your scrying skill nearly slipped through my defenses."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  The creature's grin widened, carved from the fabric of night itself.

  "Curious little thing," it murmured. "A mortal with a core forged from sparks of divinity, carrying pieces of minor gods. Tell me, Dane of Earth, did you steal their fire, or did they give it to you?"

  The sound wasn't quite laughter this time. It was the slow fracture of worlds.

  Dane straightened, blood running down his lip. "I didn't steal anything," he rasped. "I earned it."

  For a moment, the void fell silent. Then the stars in the being's form shifted, a million eyes blinking in unison. "Earned," it repeated, the word tasting foreign. "You speak as if the divine were a wage."

  It took a single step forward. Or perhaps reality shifted to accommodate him. "Do you know what that phrase means, Blood of Aeon?" it asked.

  Dane shook his head.

  The creature's gaze burned through him. "Aeon was the first concept, the axis around which everything spun. Without his stream moving forward, the world would still be nothing but the void. You are the last Chronite, but all who came before you carried a spark of that primeval current, but you…" It leaned closer, and Dane's vision dimmed at the edges. "You hold more of a resemblance to him."

  The Void shifted until Dane was looking at his mirror reflection.

  "Resemblance?" Dane managed, his voice a whisper against the pressure.

  "Of course. Why do you think time bends for you? Why do you think your soul refuses to end? You are not merely his descendant, Dane, you are his reincarnation in miniature, a drop of his eternity condensed into flesh."

  Dane's pulse thundered in his ears. "Then what are you? You said that you felt a shard of your power. Does that mean your Aeon?"

  "Not Exactly. I am what came after." The void king's smile stretched until it became a crescent of stars. "When Aeon's body fractured into the timelines, I was born from the shroud that disguises it. A protector that keeps those without his blessing from meddling."

  It raised a single hand, and galaxies swirled between its fingers. " Before we go any further with your race selection, I must make certain that you are aware of the rules."

  "First, the use of rewinding is forbidden. I sense it in you. But time is only meant to flow one way, and that is forward. I have cleaned up the disturbances that you have made, but you are only to observe if you do shift the flow."

  "Second, I have no problem with your Chrono Anchor ability. But I do not think you understand what you are doing. Each timeline you create does not stop when you die; it continues. By design, there can only be one river after you have completed whatever quest drives you. You will need to close the loop on those branches that you have created."

  "And last, after our discussion, should you be found guilty of any of these transgressions. I will be your judge and executioner."

  A tendril of starlight drifted from its palm and touched Dane's forehead. Pain lanced through him, cold and sharp. Images exploded behind his eyes: dying suns, shattered systems, gods screaming as their timelines collapsed into singularity.

  Then the voice again, softer now, almost reverent.

  "It is an interesting timeline you are pursuing, but one I think Aeon approves of."

  Light flared, blinding. The connection severed with a sound like thunder reversed.

  Dane hit the ground hard. The forge was back, cracked and smoking, molten channels cooling to black glass. He coughed, vision swimming. His HUD flickered erratically, new text crawling across the interface in crimson-gold letters.

  System Update:

  Contact with [Unknown Celestial Entity] recorded.

  Designation: The Shroud.

  Genetic Resonance confirmed, Aeonic Lineage recognized.

  New racial evolution unlocked: [Eternal Warden].

  Beneath it, another line pulsed faintly.

  Warning: External Mark detected. Source: Unknown. Function: Observational.

  He could still feel the brand burning just beneath the skin of his brow. His heartbeat echoed like a ticking clock.

  The chime sounded again.

  System Notification: Do you except the race. Y/N

  "Yes."

  Dane stared at the prompt, still tasting stars in the back of his throat.

  He whispered, "Eternal Warden, huh?"

  Then, quieter, almost to himself: "Why do I feel like my new race isn't a race so much as a bad job I can't get out of."