"'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,'" Tritan quoted. "When God did this, he created a singular universe. A single time. The events of the Bible happened, all the way until Revelation was written, and then it was finished, all had the Word and time was allowed its freedoms. Splits occurred. Creating what you would know as a multiverse."
"So there is such a thing?" I asked.
"Indeed. But there is so much more than you could possibly imagine. Eventually, different realities became so large, that they became their own multiverses. And thus, the multiverse of multiverses was born."
"How long did it take for humanity to learn about it?"
"That is difficult to explain," Tritan said. "As I said: time was allowed its freedoms. This created branches, but also differences in it flow appeared as well. For instance, your world moves at a much slower pace than some others. Others will progress from the stone age to the postmodern before you can make the back door. So I could not tell you accurately when humanity discovered this multiverse of multiverses. I could tell you that as long as humanity has lived within it, people have begun to emerge with exceptional power. Power beyond your wildest dreams."
"But who is Caelis Ultima?"
The air went cold again.
"I told you not to speak his name," Tritan growled. "But I was getting to that. I have to cover the major points in history for your lessons anyway. People often use the term "Rift" to refer to the Multiverse of Multiverses, however, technically the term refers to the space between dimensions. The infinite space that surrounds and confines the infinite dimensions. At some point, something happened, no one really knows what, but whatever it was ended what we call the Pre-Originate Era, and began the Post-Originate Ages. Within the First Age, a series of events led to a man rising to power over the strongest organization in the Rift called the Holy Order of Golden Knights, more commonly referred to as Holy Knights. He was powerful, very powerful. The most powerful person to ever live, even now. He's thought to be dead, but the upper echelon knows better. He couldn't be killed by anyone in that age, nor any subsequent ones so far. He is the man of whom you speak. The Final Sky. His power was split into pieces and are held by the Caelian Council. Unfortunately, even some of them have inherited his evil mindset. The Final Sky was powerful enough that he was viewed as a god, and worshipped as such. He himself already had such an ego. He thinks that he is the strongest. He lives guided by his whims. He is a tyrant of a king. He was so terrible, that during his revolt, with a mere snap of his fingers, tens of trillions if not hundreds of trillions - honestly, likely more - were killed. The number has never been confirmed, but he was the only individual who, with this slaughter, stained the Rift which is usually white - red. Some of it is still red to this day."
"Oh," was all I said.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Well, he was kind of, sort of - um, in. . .in my head."
"How?"
"I'm not sure. But he took over my body temporarily and killed that creature," I explained.
"What did he say? Did he say anything?" Tritan asked.
"He said that he was only saving me so that he could kill me himself later," I explained.
"But did he say how he got to you?"
"He said something about his vessel being nearby, and a surge of power that woke him up."
"I see," Tritan said thoughtfully. "One of the Caelian Council must have been in the area."
"Who?"
Tritan looked up at me. "We have much to cover," he told me. "And I cannot teach you here." He waved his tail across my grandparent's living room.
"He can't learn here?" My mom asked. "He could do the information learning here."
"True, but I believe it would be better for him to have free access to the knowledge directly," he told her. "My manor has a library full of information not found anywhere else in the Rift."
"Designed for training people like me?" I asked.
"No," Tritan cut off my hopes quickly. "Designed for my entertainment and the entertainment of my guests. There has never been anyone 'like you.' Every other Chosen has had to figure everything out on their own."
"Oh," was my only response.
"Where is your manor?" My dad asked.
"It is within a town in the Rift."
"Very specific," my dad muttered.
"The town exists on its own Mr. Tyler. Independent of any other dimension," Tritan explained.
"How does that work?" I asked, curious.
"There are many things I have to teach you, young Chosen," Tritan told me. "That is one of them."
He stood and started toward the stairs. "Our time here is spent. We must leave now, our time before your first trial commences is short."
"How long will I be gone?" I asked.
"Right now, I will take you for two weeks, then I will bring you back for a few days while I prepare a test for you."
"That's not too bad," I replied, standing up to follow.
"That is just the beginning."
My shoulders slumped.
"Take heart, young Chosen," Tritan said. "From here things will only get better."
I don't think that Tritan knew it at the time, I definitely didn't, but that was the biggest lie I had ever been told.
-
He led me outside and into the woods.
"I should probably tell you this now so I don't have to later," Tritan said over his shoulder. "Now that you have been 'awakened,' if you will, to the existence of worlds beyond your own, I would warn against going out into the wilderness by yourself."
"Why?" I asked.
"I hope you don't think that the beasts and animals you are able to see with your primary level of vision are the only ones to exist."
I didn't answer. Why would I?
We trudged through the fallen leaves as we passed through the heart of the woods.
The stench of rotting leaves filled the air because of our disturbing the forest floor. The breeze was chilly, especially considering the time of year.
Tritan froze. "It seems you will be meeting one of them now."
I looked around.
"Use your eyes, boy."
"I don't know how to use them on command yet," I told him.
"Well, then I shall teach you now," he said. "There is a creature to your left, do you see it?"
I looked to my left expecting to see a monster. And I did. Kind of.
It was a two faced monkey. One side of the head had a blue face and the other had a red face. The monkey was bigger than I was, and it did not look like it liked me.
I stumbled back in shock.
"Good. Good," Tritan said, sitting down calmly. "Now pick something up. Rock, stick, whatever you find is your weapon."
I reached down and picked up a good sized rock. It felt heavy and like it would hurt if I threw it hard enough, but I doubted its effectiveness against something like that monkey.
"Do not doubt, Corbin," Tritan said firmly. "That rock will be your weapon in this fight. Look at it Corbin, it is your sword."
I looked at the rock. It was just a rock. I grit my teeth.
"No," I thought to myself. "This is my rock. My sword."
As I thought this, the rock did something incredible, yet strange. It morphed into a stone sword.
"Good," Tritan said. "Now kill the monkey."
"Why, it hasn't attacked."
"I have been holding it back," Tritan said. "But I am going to release it now."
Sure enough, the monkey came flying at me.
I leapt to the side, landing on my belly and then scrambling to get back to my feet. By the time I had done so, it was already in the air again, leaping right at my face.
I jumped backward and landed awkwardly on my feet, avoiding being killed.
"You are going to have to fight back, Corbin," Tritan told me.
I watched the monkey get up and turn to me again, growling. Then it did something I was not expecting. Its head flipped one-hundred and eighty degrees, like an owl, so that the red face was facing me, and then it breathed fire.
Of course it did. Why wouldn't it?
The flames were moving too fast for me to get out of the way, so I braced for it, throwing my free hand in front of me out of instinct. When I did, I saw that the flames had been thrown upwards.
I took the opportunity and moved in. The monkey stepped back as I brought the sword down.
I learned. I took one more step forward and brought the sword in an uppercut. It sidestepped, narrowly avoiding death.
I chained it into a sweeping slash, which it dodged again, but then I used the momentum of the sweeping slash, spun with the sword and brought it down on the creature's head, successfully splitting its skull.*
I lifted the stone sword, out of breath.
"Well done," Tritan told me.
I would've answered but I was worn. I didn't feel like I had done well. I felt like an amateur.
"Fear not," Tritan told me. "You will improve over time." He leapt up onto my shoulder. "You can drop the sword now."
I dropped the sword.
"Walk forward," Tritan ordered.
I started forward, and as I did, the air in front of me cracked, and then shattered like glass. On the other side was a town. Or the ruins of one at least.
I kept my stride and passed through the hole in the air.
"Welcome," Tritan told me. "To Boleria. Trade Center of the Thirteen Cities."