The next two days follow the exact same pattern. Max wakes up and trains before anyone is awake. Grabs something quick to eat and then walks to school and jogs around the football field until other people start to arrive.

  Using the locker room to clean up and change into his school clothes, Max stores his gym clothing, which he has started taking home with him daily to use in his morning runs. He then heads to either the computer room or the library to look for information about qi, qigong, dantian, and the meridian system.

  Once school starts, he forces himself to stay awake and pay attention to his morning classes before thoroughly enjoying gym class. During lunch period, he eats quickly and then heads off to the library or computer room to continue his research.

  Once he runs out of time, he would go to his afternoon classes, which he enjoys far more than his morning ones. Then he walks back home to do his homework and meditate before starting the cycle again.

  Friday, the fourth day after returning from Rosalee’s world, Max wakes up and treats it like any other day of the week. After he gets done with his morning jog and heads into the empty locker room, the day takes a sudden, unexpected change.

  Max sets his backpack on the bench in the locker room and grabs a towel about to shower before he changes into his school clothes when his chest explodes with a sudden searing pain. Screaming out, Max falls to his knees, immediately pulling his shirt off, and looks in the mirror across the room at his chest.

  Before his very eyes, he watches as the Ω that was upon his chest in Rosalee’s world burns itself into his chest in this world. Max shakes slightly from the pain as indigo light radiates out from the completed symbol.

  Soon, the light expands out from him, and much like when he summons his enchanted sword, the light takes the form of three objects in front of him.

  ? ? ?

  In a dark temple, a man is on his hands and knees, praying before a large indigo crystal. The crystal pulses with energy, and images flash through his mind, accompanied by a large amount of pain.

  The man shakes at the sensation and lets out a low moan even as he focuses on the images, trying to find the meaning behind them. After a time, the pain passes, and the information is absorbed.

  The man thanks his god before standing and leaving the prayer chamber. He makes his way through the compound with haste.

  None of the guards or people address him; they all simply move out of the way and show him the utmost respect. Climbing a large staircase, he makes his way to a meeting room that has a table and twelve chairs.

  In the center of the table and on the back of each chair is a large indigo crystal. He takes his seat at the head of the table and points his hand at the crystal in the center of the table.

  Speaking ancient words, the crystal glows brightly, and the man lowers his hand, waiting for the others. Soon, indigo mist pours out of the crystals on the back of the chairs and takes the form of different people.

  William Sinclair, Connor Healy, and Cassandra are among the indigo mist forms sitting at the table. The man looks around at the group of people before speaking.

  “Now that everyone is here, you all must be informed of the latest news that our god has shown me. Elizabeth Grey, the Imítheos that both Cassandra and William failed to capture, has been slain along with the servant of our lord that she had summoned.”

  Sinclair and Cassandra both shift uncomfortably in their seats as everyone stirs at this news.

  “Was it the Echthrós that is interfering with all our plans?” Sinclair is the first to speak up. He is not satisfied with how things ended between him and the boy. He continues to hear tales about him and wishes that he had finished him off back when they met outside Briargate.

  Shaking his head, the man replies. “No, it was not Echthrós this time. It was a Pséftikos Theós that interfered and killed the girl this time.”

  Everyone in the room tenses when they hear this. They had all expected that it had simply been Echthrós again, or at least the boy whom they couldn’t agree whether he was the Echthrós or not.

  A masked man further down the table speaks, “Which Pséftikos Theós dare interfere?”

  “While I am not completely certain, our god suggests that it was most likely Kagututi or at least a piece of him.”

  “A piece of him!? How can it be a piece of a Pséftikos Theós? It should either be him or not be him!” A fat man slams his fist on the table, spraying spittle as he speaks.

  A dark-haired woman shakes her head, looking at the disgusting man. “Kagututi was slain by his father after he killed his mother in childbirth. He was split into eight pieces and scattered to the winds.”

  She pauses before looking away from the man. “The interloper most likely holds the essence of one of these pieces. A true Pséftikos Theós would not be able to step into this world without inciting the wrath of the others.”

  “So he is a fake?” Rolling his eyes, the fat man leans back in the chair and sneers.

  “Not a fake but a piece of a true Pséftikos Theós. This isn’t some Imítheos or Margrave we are talking about.” Sighing, the masked man turns to the fat man.

  “He will be a danger moving forward that we must always consider and be alert of. Outside of Mehmed, there are few amongst us who would be able to stand against such a force.” The masked man looks from the fat fool to Mehmed, their leader, who gathered them here today.

  Mehmed clears his throat before the fat man can speak again. “That is why I suggest that Lucian begins to train each of you in the use of qi. Between this Echthrós running about disrupting our operations and now a piece of Kagututi getting involved, our strength must grow.”

  He looks to the Margrave sitting at the other end of the table from himself. Lucian stares into Mehmed's dark eyes before slowly looking at each person one at a time, weighing their worth.

  “Not all will be able to learn. Not all should even be given the chance. I will do as you ask, Lord Mehmed, but if this power is used openly, it will bring down the wrath of the other margraves, and unlike the kingdoms, they will not simply push you into the shadows but seek out and destroy all of you.”

  “I understand the risks that are involved. Cassandra has informed us that a member of your Order has already gotten involved with one of the other Imítheos. We doubt that it was anything more than luck on her part, but it still happened.” Turning and looking at each of the bishops present, Mehmed speaks slowly so they will understand.

  “We will keep the power among only the bishops for now, and they will only use it in the most dire of situations.” Mehmed's eyes pause on each of the bishops in turn, making them avert their eyes.

  “No one who witnesses you using this power can survive. Not even if they are one of our own. If you use this power, all who see it must die.” Still observing the bishops, Mehmed can see them all digesting this news in different ways.

  Everyone nods that they understand. Lucian moves as if he is about to stand, but Mehmed raises his hand.

  “There is another piece of news that has been shared with me. The Echthrós has left our world.”

  “What!?” Sinclair shouts out, forgetting where he is before quickly settling back down. Cassandra raises an eyebrow at this news and looks to Mehmed.

  “It seems that the theory that the Echthrós is not fully developed might be correct. I believe that whenever one of the Imítheos is in danger, they can sense it and cross over to try and assist them.”

  Mehmed sighs, “It seems that their power, while growing still, appears to be limited. They do not just appear next to the Imítheos that is in danger, but have to make their way to them.”

  Glancing at Cassandra, he continues. “On top of this, from what Cassandra said, Echthrós is not aware of why he is brought across or which of the Imítheos is in danger. For the time being, it is in our best interest to halt any and all operations targeting any Imítheos.”

  Mehmed pauses to let that settle in before motioning toward Lucian. “Learn what Lucian has to teach you, and we will solidify the three latest holdings while biding our time. If we continue to bring Echthrós across, we will only quicken the rate at which he grows.”

  His attention focuses on an individual who has been silent so far. “Stavros, I need you to begin making an altar to target the Echthrós in his own world. Use the curse placed upon him and link it to the altar.”

  “Once that is done, we will be able to send forces directly to him, even in his own world. Even if they fail to kill him, it should disrupt any plans he might have and should work toward weakening him.”

  “Right away, my lord.” A long-haired blonde man bows in his chair toward Mehmed.

  “That is all, this meeting is adjourned. Remember to learn from Lucian, leave Imítheos, and solidify your holdings. We have come a long way, but there is much we still must do.”

  “If one of the parts of Kagututi appear, flee with all your might. Now is not the time to face him. We will wait until we have grown in strength and number, and then we will stomp his flames out once and for all.”

  ? ? ?

  Three creatures stand before Max in the locker room. Looking up at them from his knees, Max tries to figure out what they are.

  They look kind of like a four and a half foot tall ant-human hybrid. It has a stinger and four legs, but the waist turns from a normal ant into a person, almost like a centaur, except it still has the ant coloring and exoskeleton.

  It has the creepy ant head and pincers, as well as two clawed fingers with a clawed opposable thumb. They all have spears, but look kind of stunned. Maybe it is from being sent to this world because they clearly are not from here.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  If the symbol Eschaton placed on me helped them reach me, they cannot be here for any good reason. I'd best kill them before they draw any unwanted attention or anyone comes into the locker room.

  Damn, this is bad. How will I explain ant monsters?

  Not waiting until they recover from the shock of moving between worlds, Max reaches his right arm out to the side of him, and a lime green light fills the locker room as his bastard sword appears.

  The light seems to bring the creatures back to their senses, and they start making clicking noises at each other while looking around. Max rushes the middle one that is closest to him and swings down with his sword using both of his hands.

  The creature blocks the blow with its spear and shoves Max back hard. Shit, that thing is very strong.

  The creatures react to his attack and try to spread out, but the locker room isn’t big enough to easily accommodate their bulky size. One of the creatures tries to move around the gym equipment so it can circle around to Max’s back or side, while the other one is blocked by the one Max attacked from approaching him.

  Not good, with their strength, if they surround me, I will be done for. Luckily, this room is small, so at most I should only have to fight two, but even that will be more than enough to kill me.

  Dammit, why is this happening?

  Max rushes forward at the creature that shoved him back and feints a slash before stabbing at one of its legs. The creature tries to block the slash but ignores the stab and swings the spear at Max.

  The sword smacks into the creature's leg, but its exoskeleton is too hard, and it just glances off the side. Off balance from his attack, the spear cuts over Max’s right shoulder, drawing blood.

  Too hard. I won’t be able to pierce it with a stab.

  How the hell can I kill these things?

  Parrying the spear's next strike, Max brings down the sword on the creature's wrist. The blade cuts between some of the plates and draws some blood, making the creature shriek out and back up into the creature behind it.

  Max unsummons his sword, then grabs a nearby plate and shoves it onto a bar nearby and secures it with a clamp. With a little effort, he brings it up onto his shoulder and dodges the spear from the angered creature that he wounded, and heads around the weight machines.

  That one has far too much room to maneuver, but this guy just had to squeeze himself over here.

  Using the seat of one of the machines as a step, Max jumps upon it and brings the weighted bar down over his head with all his might on the ant creature that is trying to get past the equipment and circle around him.

  It gets its spear up in a position to block, but it is hitting both the machines and the wall; there is not enough space for it to maneuver both its large body and spear.

  The heavy bar and weight slam into the spear that isn’t in the proper position. Even with its strength, the creature fails to block the move, and the weight slams into its head. The creature bends in an unnatural way, slamming its head into the nearby machine, and a loud crack is heard.

  Not waiting to see if he killed it or not, Max hauls the bar off the creature, squeezes the clamp pulling it off, and throws it to the side before removing the weight plate. Wielding the plate the best he can, Max slams the edge of it down repeatedly onto the downed creature's head until it is clearly dead.

  Max climbs over the creature before the wounded one can finish circling behind him and rushes at the one he hasn’t fought that is in front of him.

  Max uses the plate as a shield to block the spear and then drops into a baseball slide between the creature's four legs. He almost gets stung by its stinger as he passes under it, but gets the plate up in time to block.

  The stringer strikes the plate with enough force to knock it from his hands, but Max doesn’t care and resummons his sword.

  One down.

  The wounded one won’t be able to engage me right away; it cannot get past the machines and the one I just killed, so it will have to come back at me from where it originally was, but this one should now be in its way. The edge of my sword might be sharp enough to cut or at least crack their natural armor if I can hit it just right, but they are faster and stronger than they look.

  Using the weights would be easier, but they are now on the other side of the room. I also have to look out for that stinger; some sort of liquid came out of it when it struck the weight. It probably was some kind of poison.

  The creature turns to face Max and wastes no time in rushing forward, jabbing with its spear wildly. Max dodges and parries the best that he can, ensuring that the blows only cause minor cuts and scrapes, if any at all, while backing up slowly towards the showers.

  There is a wall with sinks and mirrors that separates the showers from the rest of the locker room. There are two entrances to the showers, one on either side of the sink wall.

  Unless the creature enters the shower area, the other one will not be able to get around it. After getting a feel for its attack pattern, Max waits for it to jab before parrying it into the doorway of the shower area with his shoulder as he slashes at the creature's face. The creature pulls back and uses one of its mandibles to try to block the blow, but the force from it seems to have wounded it.

  Max draws the sword only slightly back before jabbing it into the creature's exposed eye, using its own mandible to guide the sword up into it.

  Dropping its spear, the creature grabs its wounded eye and backs away from Max and around the equipment to its fallen ally, allowing the one Max first attacked a chance to charge forward at him.

  Max copies the creature and charges forward as well. The creature stabs at him with the spear, but he parries it upward while ducking down.

  Using both of their momentums, he stabs the sword with all of his strength into its abdomen right between the plates where the human half joins to the more ant portion. Together, they are able to drive the sword through the small gap and into the creature.

  The creature shrieks and backhands Max after dropping its spear. The claws cut Max’s face, and the force of the blow sends him skidding across the shower area.

  The creature reaches down with both arms and pulls the sword out of itself. The wound appears to be more than just superficial, as the creature seems off balance and far weaker than before. It tosses Max’s sword to the side and approaches him as Max tries to stand back up.

  Seeing the creature approach, Max stands up and tries to figure out what to do next.

  Damn, that hurt.

  It is way stronger than I gave it credit for. I think I might have a concussion.

  Even with both of our momentum and using all my strength, I was barely able to get the sword a third of the way into it. While it isn’t using the spear anymore, it will just have to get closer before mauling me to death with its claws. The sword isn’t working out against these guys, that’s for sure.

  Max dives to the side and quickly exits the shower area through the other exit. The creature tries to follow him, but the slippery tiles don’t give its legs enough traction to make a sudden change of direction, and it slams into the wall of the shower area, cracking a lot of the tiles.

  Max rushes back to the main area of the locker room and grabs two of the heaviest dumbbells that he dares lift. The creature with one eye charges at him while the other one is still trying to recover in the shower area.

  Max waits for the creature to close the distance and slash at him before dodging to the side of it. He lifts his left arm, grunting with exertion, and brings it down like a hammer on the weird, joined ant leg. The leg joint shatters from the impact, making the creature lose balance.

  Before it can recover, Max punches out with the weight in his other hand and shatters another leg.

  “I. Will. Not. Die. Here.” Max shouts, smashing the creature in its shoulder as it falls with his left hand before hammering its head into mush with his right.

  Dropping the heavy weights, Max turns just in time to see the last creature exiting the shower area and heading straight at him. They seem to have trouble turning quickly.

  Max moves toward the creature and dodge rolls to the side, trying to go around the creature and back into the shower area. There is an extremely loud bang and a pop.

  Max comes out of his dodge roll and cannot see anything at first. It takes a second for the fire to illuminate the corpse of the now-burning creature in the newly darkened locker room.

  Hah.

  It killed itself.

  I knew they were strong, but damn. Max looks at the large hole in the wall where he had just been standing.

  The creature had tried to hit Max as he dodged and drove its sharp, clawed arm clean through a large portion of the wall, severing a large electrical conduit. The shock appears to have killed the creature and set both the creature and the wall on fire.

  Well, I guess I am pretty lucky. Should I put the fire out or let it burn? I feel kind of bad setting the school on fire, but how the hell am I going to explain all of this?

  Max grabs the back of his head and looks at the mess him and the creatures have created. Sighing, Max retrieves his sword and heads over to the lockers.

  Opening a couple of the ones unlocked, he finds someone's book and some used gym clothes. He uses the fire on the wall to ignite them and spreads the fire out to the other creatures and around the entire locker room.

  I don’t know if they are natural or corrupted. I don’t have any salt, so the fire will have to do. I actually don’t see any sprinklers in here, so the fire should get hot enough to remove most of their corpses.

  Unsummoning his sword, Max grabs his backpack and heads back out to the football field. Looking around to see if anyone notices him, he hurries away from the gym.

  I am bleeding pretty badly for this world. I will be seen if I try to head into the main area or into one of the two stores that are nearby. Dammit all to hell.

  Max stops and looks back around before cursing and heading back to the locker room.

  I have to be crazy.

  Dipping his backpack into one of the fires, Max waits for it to ignite before stomping it out. The room is getting extremely hot and filled with smoke, but Max just picks up his backpack and slings it back onto his back before taking several deep breaths of the smoky air and coughing.

  Just do it already.

  Max sticks his left arm into one of the fires and grinds his teeth hard, letting himself get a decent burn. Once he is satisfied with the wound, he makes his way around the burning creatures and out of the locker room into the main gym.

  The gym teacher notices the smoke billowing out of the locker room, and one of them goes and pulls the fire alarm. Another is about to go and check to see how bad the fire is when Max comes stumbling out of the locker room and falls to his knees.

  He looks up at the teachers before falling down. How the hell am I going to talk my way out of this?

  There is no way they will believe I didn’t have something to do with this fire, especially after I vanished on Monday.

  Just play unconscious again and buy time to think.

  Think Max, think.

  They will find the damaged wall of the locker room and the destroyed tile, unless the building burns completely to the ground, which I think is pretty unlikely.

  I’m wounded with two cuts on my face, one on my shoulder, and a burned arm, along with probably several bruises. The doctors will be able to tell it wasn’t falling debris or something that caused them.

  The corpses will be discovered along with the spears that they used and the weights that I used to kill them.

  Crap.

  I really should have cleaned those off and put them back where they belonged before spreading the fire.

  Max coughs and cracks his eyes open, looking at the teacher who is shouting and trying to wake him up. He looks at the teacher and smiles before rolling his eyes back into his head and letting his neck go limp, his head rolling as the teacher is holding him up.

  So I have to say I was attacked; there is no other option. Any fool should be able to see that those things, even burnt to a crisp, aren’t human, but if I say that before they have the bodies, no one will believe me, and they will just think I am crazy.

  Hell, even after finding the bodies, they will probably believe that anyway. So, do I just say it was a person then?

  No, I can claim it was dark.

  It doesn’t matter what the switches say; it was dark, and someone attacked me. Yes, that makes the most sense.

  I grabbed the weights and fought back as hard as I could because I thought they were trying to kidnap me. Other than the one that I killed against the weight machine, it is believable enough.

  They won’t question my story once they realize that those things weren’t human. They will probably approach me and try to find out if I saw what they were and what actually happened, but that will be done privately behind closed doors.

  Even if I insist they were human and not monsters, it won’t be much of a jump for them to understand that I’m lying. That I saw what they were, and that is why I killed them the way that I did.

  The teacher picks Max up and carries him out of the gym. They follow the evacuation plans, and the staff and students all move to the predetermined safe areas while the fire spreads from the locker room.

  So it was dark, and I fought back against the kidnappers; they had spears because… well, shit, I don’t know why, but they did that is how I got cut.

  One of them must have damaged the wall because that is where the fire started. I was still struggling against them, and that is how I got burned, and my backpack was set on fire.

  It will make very little sense to the police, but the school should be able to buy the story until after the scene is released. At that point, as long as they determine that the creatures are not human but something else, the police will most likely be told by someone in the government to back the story that I have already supplied and let the entire thing drop.

  God, this is such a mess.

  My mom is going to kill me.