Chapter 2 God's Eye!!!

CHAPTER 2

Welcome, creature of Chaos! You will soon enter the world of Telos!

This is an old world that is on the cusp of a new   beginning. The Cataclysm that   destroyed its civilizations, plunged it into anarchy and laid low its old   gods has passed from regret, to myth, to legend, and now almost beyond any   memory. Be warned; forgotten or not,   the sins of the past will always haunt both the present and the future. As is always true of Labyrinth worlds,   however, danger and reward are close bedfellows.

Wait, what? Remy thought to himself. He’d been eaten by the giant face and now he was here, wherever here was. All he could see was an unrelieved blackness and the words that scrolled across his vision. Did the prompt just call him a “creature of Chaos?” He had a vague memory of someone else calling him a god, but as he reached for the memory, it dissipated like smoke in the night. More words blazed across his gaze.

Ages past, the Lattice, a unique   and interconnected series of worlds and realities, was consumed by the Labyrinth. For immeasurable time the mana of the   Labyrinth has flooded the Lattice, sinking ever deeper into it, until finally   reaching the jewel at its center. This   jewel is the world of Telos.

Dungeons have now appeared across the face of the   planet. Locations of magic are   reawakening as the ambient mana levels of this world increase. Like water on dry sand, the first drops of   magic may be quickly absorbed, but in a short time this world shall create a   magic system both akin to all Labyrinth worlds and unique unto itself.

At this pivotal time, you are one of an unknown   number of creatures that have been seeded with Power. Demons, monsters, gods and more shall vie   for survival in this new world. Each   Being of Power shall have their own strengths and weaknesses.

You are a god!

A great number of rudimentary tribes have been   brought to this new and dangerous world. They call out for aid!

Your first task as a Tier 0 deity is to choose a   people to worship you. As you have a Sponsor,   you have been granted a short amount of time in which to prepare. Your primary senses will now be   restored. You may customize this space   to ease your transition into this new phase of being.

And just like that, Remy could see, hear and touch again. He took for granted that taste was back as well, but he couldn’t smell anything. He stood in a featureless white room with curved walls. There were no doors or furniture. After pinching his skin and confirming that he once again physically existed, he checked the walls. Minutes later, he came to three conclusions:

One, it looked like he’d been reincarnated into the same body he’d had before.

Two, he was in an empty white room.

Three, it’d be nice to have a place to sit.

No sooner had that thought occurred to him than a short white stool appeared. It didn’t slowly morph into existence. One moment the room was empty, the next, it was there.

Remy frowned at it. It was about two feet tall and had three legs. Just your average wooden stool. Not exactly comfy, he noticed. That thought triggered another change, and it became a plush recliner. It even had a console on one arm for shiatsu. Just like the stool, the entire thing was pure white. He tried to change the color with his mind, and the leather turned a rich chocolate color.

After poking it a couple times, he sat down and turned on the massage function. A slight buzz filled the air and pure pleasure spread through his naked body. He let out a faint croon of pleasure. This was amazing.

As he lay there in his birthday suit, he thought back on how crazy everything was. He’d died and been brought back to life. Now he was in a sterile lab environment, and he could manifest his thoughts. A normal reaction would be to freak out about all of this, but Remy had never been normal. There was a reason he’d gained the nickname Zero. When most people panicked, he stayed calm. It wasn’t that he had nerves of steel, it was just that he gave zero fucks.

He enjoyed the massage a bit longer before standing up and turning the chair off. Pursing his mouth, he thought about his situation. If nothing else, it was always a good idea to gather information. Testing out his new “power,” he summoned a mirror and examined himself.

The most obvious thing was that he was completely naked. He’d noticed that before, but after coming back from the dead, it just hadn’t seemed like a big priority. The lack of temperature, either hot or cold, had made it even easier to ignore. Looking in the mirror now though, he checked to make sure his oldest friend had made it through his reincarnation without injury. That act made him chuckle as he remembered a talk with an old ICU nurse.

She’d told him that after thirty years in the long-term recovery wing, she’d seen a great number of men and women wake up from comas. With a dismissive shake of her head, she’d then told him that every time a woman woke up, the patient would immediately ask if her husband and children were okay. A woman’s first thoughts were of the well-being of their loved ones. Every single man who woke up though, the first thing they did was frantically reach down to grab their package and make sure it was still there. That was usually followed by a huge sigh of relief, asking for some water, and maybe then asking about their loved ones.

Remy had always thought that story was a bit ridiculous, but now, seeing that the monster was still home and hanging, he understood the profound relief those men had felt. He chuckled again but the levity quickly fled. Thinking about that old nurse had triggered another memory, this one about his favorite nephew. Other than his sister, the brilliant boy had been one of his last living family even before the Forsaking.

James had been a medical student with a bright future, but sadly he had also been one of the first victims of The Land Effect. To the government, he’d been just one of millions of lost souls. To Remy, it had been like losing a son. James had even followed in his footsteps, pursuing a career in medicine, but all of that had been lost when the boy slipped into a coma.

The only comforting thought was that his nephew’s condition had kept him from experiencing the monster-infested hell that Earth had become after the Forsaking. The boy was probably dead now, but at least he’d been spared the horrors the rest of the human race had lived through. Remy shook himself free of such dark thoughts and examined the rest of his body.

He didn’t look any different. He had the same dark brown skin bedecked with an unhealthy number of scars thanks to his years of military service. His eyes were what many women had thought to be a distracting shade of hazel, something he’d taken advantage of as often as he humanly could. He was only lacking the eyeglasses that he’d gained from years of studying in med school and residency.

His eyes sat above a crooked nose, broken and reset one too many times, full lips, and a strong jaw. His hair was in the simple fade style he always sported, short cut, thick and black. He had the same six feet of height he’d had back on Earth, and even the osteochondroma in his left knee was still there.

Seeing that everything essential was where it should be, he thought about some clothes. Just like with the stool, they immediately phased into existence. Without having to move, he was suddenly wearing a perfectly snug pair of boxer briefs, some perfectly broken-in jeans and a two-hundred-wash-softened t-shirt.

The clothes weren’t random. They were exactly what he’d been imagining. His favorite outfit. The shirt had originally been black, but long ago it had faded to its current dark mist-grey. A faded three-stripe Atari symbol could barely be made out on the chest. It even had the same stains and small rips. There was something comforting about being in these clothes, and another faint smile graced his face.

Clothing and shelter were taken care of and he didn’t have any hunger or thirst, so he decided to sit back down in the recliner chair. The shiatsu turned back on. Oh god, he thought, shutting his eyes in bliss. This feels like heaven.

That thought made his eyes pop back open. Is this heaven? A white room where you could summon anything you thought about? Could be worse, he realized. Closing his eyes again, his fingers wandered over to the control console. Using his imagination, he created a “young Betty White” option. The sensation of the massage changed in a wonderful way. Oh god, he thought, just how I always imagined it.

He didn’t know how long that went on, but after a time he heard a distinctly feminine voice greet him.

“Hello.”

He opened his eyes, but didn’t see anyone. A lesser man might have looked around wildly and shouted, ‘Who said that?’ but he was Zero. Besides, he’d always prided himself on being a bit less on the nose. He’d already been reborn in a weird white room, been given the power of transmogrification (thank you DnD vocabulary) and in the past hour had felt the wonderfully dry fingers of all four Golden Girls on his body at once. Compared to all of that, a disembodied voice was some JV stuff. A disembodied, sexy voice wanted to talk to him? Sure, why not?

That was why instead of freaking out he stood up, dismissed the recliner, and summoned a table and a pair of comfy high-backed chairs. A pitcher of sweet tea and two glasses appeared as well.  There were even beads of cool condensation slowly creeping down the outside of the glass jug. That done, he pulled out one of the chairs and asked, “Will you join me, please?” in a respectful tone. As his granny had always told him, ‘Manners cost nothing.’

There was a pause, then a shimmer appeared in the air. It solidified into a woman garbed in diaphanous blue silk. It was so sheer that it hid nothing, but this was not what immediately captured Remy’s attention. It was that her skin was the pale blue of a spring morning. That, and she was about eight feet tall.

Her body was thin with no curves to speak of and her arms and legs were overly long. Despite that, she possessed an inhuman grace as she walked. The supple giant met his gaze with her own sea-green pupils as she effortlessly settled back into the chair he had created for her.

Remy helped move her chair in and sat across from her. She looked at him and the tea inquisitively, so he poured a glass for them both. With a delicate hand, she picked it up and brought it to her mouth. Rather than drink though, a long white tongue extended past her lips, and she lapped some of the tea from the top of the glass. A look of surprised delight crossed her face. She finally raised it to her mouth and took a full drink.

A strange sound emanated from her chest, half purr and half the trill of a bird. “Thank you,” her voice chimed. Her words had the faintest of echoes even though she sat right across from him. “Few Beings of Power show respect and consideration for any creature other than themselves. Such efforts do not go unnoticed. You may call me Sariel. I am an Ethereal.”

Your polite   invitation and welcome has impressed Sariel and   distinguished you from other “Beings of Power.” You have gained +300 Relationship Points. Total Relationship Points with Sariel: +300

Congratulations! Your relationship with Sariel has improved from Neutral   (0) to Pleased (+250). “I am pleased   to see you.”

Despite his decision to just “roll with it,” the appearance of an eight-foot-tall alien supermodel had definitely thrown Remy off his game. He just stared back for a few seconds before shaking himself slightly and coming back to the moment. He collected himself enough to say, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He leaned forward and extended his hand.

Sariel smiled faintly, amused at the quaintness of his human custom, but still extended her hand as well. As he took it in his own, he marveled at the smooth coolness of her skin, like whipped cream fresh out of the fridge. After they had both settled back into their chairs, he started to introduce himself, but she held up a hand.

“I am-”

“You should never speak your True Name again. Those with enough power and the proper magics could use that information to cause you great harm. You will need to choose a new name to be called by.” She paused a moment and took another sip of tea.

She made the same trill-purr noise and closed her anime-large eyes in pleasure before speaking again, “You should know that I was not required to tell you to guard your True Name, but you, and this marvelous drink from your memory, have pleased me.

You have been provided extra   knowledge due to having  reached Relationship Rank 1, Pleased,   with Sariel.

Remy thought over what she had said. The whole “True Name” thing sounded strange, but only when you didn’t take into account that you’d just been reborn and were talking to the opera singer from the 5thElement. He decided to take her advice about keeping his name close to his chest.

He also sent a silent thank you to Granny for teaching him the secret of true sweet tea. Anyone that thought you just added sugar was failing an intelligence test as far as he was concerned. He was also grateful that he’d taken the time to greet Sariel properly. In any world, knowledge was power.

He’d become familiar with the importance of “relationships” since Earth had been connected to the Labyrinth. In his opinion, this had been one of the weirdest things that had happened: being informed of when people did or did not like you. Reaching certain relationship levels also triggered certain events or behaviors. It was almost like a self-reinforcing prophecy. Having a pleased rank relationship with Sariel meant she was actually pleased to see him.

Of course, you couldn’t follow the rankings blindly. It didn’t tell you about the person’s character. It was just an indication of how people felt about you. Even if you reached a “Friendship” level with someone, if that person was a no-good, untrustworthy bastard, they’d be the type of person to betray you no matter what relationship rank you reached. That phrase, “he’d sell out his own mama” was actually true for some people, so a relationship rank did not mean you were safe from treachery. Everyone had their own nature, after all.

The men and women he’d led to the bunker had reached the eighth relationship rank with him, Trusted. That was why they had followed his directions almost without question. His mood darkened somewhat at remembering how many of the people who had trusted him had died, but the feeling quickly passed. Those men and women were just the latest in a long line of bodies he’d left behind.

Remy turned his attention back to his new life. Namely, that his improved relationship with Sariel had already shown dividends. She had shared info that she normally wouldn’t have. Information was worth more than gold.

Seeing as how sweet tea and a smile had earned him some points, he figured he might as well really pour it on. After all, you can never have too much butter on bread. At least, that was what his uncle always said.

“Thank you very much for the information, miss,” he responded with a pleasant tone. “I will wait a bit before deciding on a new name if that’s alright.”

She gracefully nodded her head, “Of course. Part of my purpose is to tell you of your new world and to provide you with the opportunity to ask questions. I make no guarantees that I can or will answer, however. Knowing that, do you have any questions before we begin?”

*******************

What up wonderful Mist Villagers!

I hope you're enjoying these early chapters lol

I plan on getting them to you every couple of days.

If you'd like to preorder God's Eye, you can do it here:

https://smile.amazon.com/Gods-Eye-Awakening-Labyrinth-World-ebook/dp/B08JJGYZJM

As always, please use Smile.amazon.com, instead of just amazon.com.  It's the same for you, but part of your purchase goes to a charity of your choice :)

And if you're up to help, trolls have already left fake reviews on Goodreads for God's Eye.  I messaged Goodreads and they said that even though it's obviously fake, they can't take any reviews down.  They said it was fine if my fans left honest reviews though to balance it out :)

So please take just one minute and leave a review on Goodreads if you've been enjoying the chapters! 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55740170-god-s-eye?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=C3hkN59UOr&rank=3#other_reviews

GNOMES RULE!