Chapter 40
Leo immediately took a defensive stance and pulled his knife from his inventory, scanning the area.
[You can relax, my knight, I do not seek to harm you.]
"Yeah, that's not going to happen. Who are you and what do you want?"
[My name is Chronos, and I am the God of Time.
Please, relax.
I only seek a conversation and nothing more.]
"If you really want to have a conversation, then show yourself. I'm not a huge fan of talking to the air in front of me."
[As you wish.] said the voice before an old man suddenly started to materialize a few feet in front of Leo.
The old man looked to be in his later 70's or 80's, with long white hair hanging down his back and a full beard covering most of his face.
The old man was chiseled to perfection the same as Leo and only appeared old due to the wrinkles in his face.
"Can you possibly put some clothes on?"
[Ah, my apologies. Sometimes I forget the customs of you humans since its been so long since I interacted with you.
Better?]
The man who had been standing there stark naked was suddenly draped in an elegant yet plain robe.
"Much appreciated. Now Mr. Chronos, how can I help you?"
[Ah, but it's not how you can help me but rather how I can help you, young man.]
"Why would you want to help me?"
[I said it earlier, did I not? You are my knight, and it is the duty of the leader to assist his subordinates, is it not?]
'This makes no sense.. if any of my previous lives had met Chronos then they would have no doubt passed the information along to me somehow. This would be a monumental meeting and not something that could be ignored, right?' Leo thought to himself.
[I've never taken the opportunity to meet with any of them.] said the old man.
"You can read my mind?"
[No, I can't.
But I am the God of Time, and you are my knight.
Do you think that I would not have watched over my knight's as they struggled to survive?
I have watched you and your predecessors fight and struggle for survival millions of times.
I can understand your thoughts even without being able to read them.]
"Why meet with me now if you have avoided it in the past?"
[Why indeed.
You are the first of my knights to survive this long in the cycle of death and rebirth.
All but you have conceded defeat at some point along the way long before reaching the point where you now find yourself.]
"Should I be proud of myself then? That I have managed to endure the torture that you gods have forced upon us?"
[I understand your hatred for the gods, and I sympathize with your plight.
You must have understood that I can see the past, present, and future all at once, yes?
I know you experienced a small iota of my power when you received the right to be a Chronoknight.
Well, I have seen you and your companions struggle and die more times than you could possibly imagine.
I have watched you refuse to give up no matter how hard things become.
I have come to respect your tenacity and will to survive regardless of how stacked the odds are against you.]
"Well geez, thank you so much! I will cherish your compliments for generations to come! I'm so glad my struggle to survive is so entertaining for you, sir!" Leo snapped back frustrated and annoyed.
[Your impudence is forgiven just this one.
Do not forget that you are my knight, and I can snatch your right to wield its power away at any moment.
If you had a modicum of decorum, then you would pay me the respect I deserve for what I am about to do for you.]
When he finished chastising Leo for his behavior, Chronos snapped his fingers and a mace appeared out of thin air, hovering in front of Leo.
At the end of an intracity crafted handle, hovered a ball of what Leo assumed to be condensed temporal power with three pentagonal plates rotating around its surface.
Each pentagonal plate was adorned with a large jewel at the center with identical designs carved into the rest of the plate.
[This is the Mace of Aeons.
My personal weapon.
I cannot guarantee that it will change your fate, but I have decided to support you in this, your one millionth attempt.]
"You do know what my end goal is, yes?"
[I am aware.
And should you manage to slay the rest of the gods, then you and I shall face off in a fair fight to the death to see which of us is worthy to continue on.
I do not fear death for I have seen much of it.
Should you prove worthy enough to take my life, then that is all there is too it.]
"But if you can see all of time simultaneously, then you already know what will happen, right?"
[Just because I can see all of time does not mean that I know what will happen.
There are millions of possibilities that are ever changing and ever evolving.]
"Interesting.. I guess I still have much to learn..."
[That you do boy.
But alas, the Rebirth is coming to an end, and I must depart.
If I were to linger much longer the rest of the gods would become curious and that would make your task that much more difficult.
I will await you at the end of your journey.
I wish you luck, my knight.]
And with those words, the man slowly faded away.
Leo watched until the last particles of the man were no longer visible before he looked down at the weapon hanging at his side.
[Item: Mace of Aeons
Quality: Divine
Damage: 1-2
Description: A thousand blows strike in a single moment stretched across the expanse of time, a death stroke that consumes eternity.
Note: The Mace of Aeons deals damage based on the users' abilities to wield Time. Due to the current users lacking knowledge and power the damage of the weapon is extremely limited. Work hard young man!]
'So aside from looking awesome, this thing isn't very useful..' Leo thought as he laughed at himself for getting excited at the prospect of wielding a godlike weapon immediately following Earth's Rebirth.
'Well, whatever. It just means that I am not worthy to wield its power just yet. But if Chronos uses this as his personal weapon then it's bound to become a weapon I can't even imagine.
Maybe Chronos is one of the good ones.. thanks old man for the assist.'
After a few moments, a loud scream jolted Leo from his revery of the mace.
Rushing towards the sound of the screaming, Leo saw a group of goblins charging towards the sisters and their friends.
'Shit! Where did they come from?! Brian never told me anything about a goblin hideout here in the clearing!'
Leo sprinted at full speed towards the charging goblins in a bid to intercept them before they could harm the girls.
With little time and even less forethought, Leo flew past the group and raised the Mace of Aeons into the air before striking down at the foremost goblin.
As the mace made contact with the goblins head, the pathetically low damage barely made a dent on the goblins head.
Before Leo could raise the weapon or switch it out for something else, he felt a fluctuation in his surroundings before what appeared to be an afterimage of himself suddenly materialized and slammed into the goblin once more.
The damage caused by the after image far outstripped Leo's first attack and the goblins head exploded into a fountain of blood.
[Congratulations! You have learned the passive skill: Time lock!]
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If anyone's curious, you can look up what the Mace looks like on Google by searching Mace of Aeons DOTA 2.
And before anyone asks, yes some of Leo's skills are and will be ripped from Faceless Void in DOTA 2. I have north of 5k hours playtime in DOTA 2 and it is by far my favorite game of all time, so I want to integrate some of those heroes and skills into this story.
Of course, Leo will not be limited to the same abilities/skills as Faceless Void, and I will add much of my own flare too his class but that's where I got my inspiration for it.