I waited until everyone else had fallen asleep. Angelica wrapped in my hoodie hadn't stolen the blankets tonight. I almost backed away from this idea, but I couldn't sleep. That was for a lot of reasons. At first it was to finish the crafting, but I had run out of pelts a while ago. I wasn't that good at switching off. Even with sleep being one prompt away.

I knew part of it was choice paralysis. There was so much to do and the stakes were literally life and death. So while it was true I should rest, choosing to rest could mean I was sleeping while something terrible happened. Maybe it was anxiety. That is probably more accurate.

Angelica had pointed out that was a logical fallacy. She was right too.

The other bit was, I knew what I was going to do. I was going to goad the Titan. I felt the nail on my pinky. It wasn't the stump that remained after my psycho biological father chopped the tip off. He had been trying to kill me.

I am not the Titan.

I had his memories up to the system starting. All that really meant is he had nearly three centuries of divergence from the man we were. I had less than a month but it isn't the years it is the mileage. I also strongly suspected I had been altered, in ways subtle but profound. My mind was able to brute force mathematical function, especially things involving three dimensional space much easier. I used to love games, RPG in particular and would crunch the numbers to figure out wacky builds for characters. When I was younger, Mark and I would waste whole weekends trying stupid things in Morrowind. After work Marnie would sit on the couch with me as I played Bloodborne. She would mostly read, but she loved the fashion and theory crafting builds. …Kate and I were playing through the Dragonquest games after she finished her homework… My point is now when crunching numbers and optimizing meant life and death I should be able to lock in and munchkin hard.

The reality was the only reason I could focus on such things was that allowed me to help and protect others. I did not care about the power this system gave me. Most of that was, the system clearly never would give me what I wanted, the time I lost with my loved ones and peaceful life. That still didn't feel exactly right though. I could jump small buildings in a single bound. I was faster than a speeding bullet. Not sure how I stacked up against a locomotive, but pound for pound I was up there. …I wasn't superman, I should feel more excitement than responsibility.

Yet all that power… it weighed on me.

I needed to know who did this to me and why.

Expend Free Action? Yes/No

Note: You must select the total number of seconds spent before activating.

I selected three seconds and mentally clicked the yes button. The stillness settled over everything with the thrum of time stopping. I got out of bed and walked outside the tent. I then sprinted into the dark. If you were to ask me if I was afraid of the Titan? The answer to that would be: oh yeah. It wasn't just that he was overtly more powerful than me. From what I can tell he could take over my body, mental resistance be damned. That was a near existential threat. The other thing was, and this is silly, he was mean. Every word he spoke whether to Zach, Cole, Grond or the world was either a taunt or a threat. I could feel the contempt radiate off of him like heat from a star. When faced with him and literal devils he somehow felt like the bigger threat.

Then there was the fight with Grond. Who am I kidding? That wasn't a fight. That was a powerful man beating the hell out of a defenseless child. Given our history, actions like that should be beyond taboo. He went one step further. He left Grond, crippled and defenseless, at my feet, right after Grond had seemingly killed my friends. He had set me up to kill the bastard. Don't get me wrong I caved Grond's head in. I am a violent man. Also gods don't die so easily. Still though he set me up to become a god killer.

Please select an action…

I stopped. I wasn't all that far from the Convoy. I doubted being continent away would really matter. I was banking on trying this stunt in a moment between moments being the best screen I could provide everyone.

"Hey Titan! We need to talk!" I shouted at the horizon. I waited for a response.

Please select an action…

I figured there would be some attempt at apathy but I did have a counter point.

You have activated Voice of the Titan

"Titan! I said get down here! If you don't I will shout your true name to the world!" I thundered at the timeless sky.

I felt it first. A creeping sense of dread surrounded me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as the stillness of stopped time solidified. Now things were frozen by the will of something cosmic. Then things darkened. In front me the stars in the sky winked out of view. A great black void ascended up from the horizon into the sky. Two beacons of power opened like eyes and gazed at me. I could see them despite the distance and through the veil separating life and death.

The Eyes of the Titan are upon you

The Titan glared at me. Mental resistance bore the weight of his stare. The trait could handle the manipulations of Adora and Elijah. It took some doing, and I could feel it working to keep my mind free of influence, but it could resist them. Just a glance of the Titan though… Mental Resistance fought the force head on and bent under the weight. It was close, less than a paper thin margin but it did not break, and the titan was really trying.

A droplet of cold sweat ran down the side of my face. When I spoke it was just my voice, "Now that I got your attention, you are gonna answer my questions. "

Things were impossibly silent for a very long time. The Titan spoke using my voice. His response still rattled reality, "Neat trick. Ask your questions?"

Alright no dicking around, "Did you make me?"

"Yes," the Titan answered using my voice, "I built you from the ground up using the system."

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

That tracked and made sense, "Does that mean the Narrators were involved?"

"Minimally," The Titan admitted.

That was not a useful answer, "Did you or they alter my mind?"

"I did," He answered.

I forgot I would do that shit. Minimal answers for minimal risk of setting people off. Growing up in house that punished noise force a 'yes, sir; no, sir' diction. I also used to just not like talking to people all that much. I am sure now that he was all powerful and junk, this bit came across as mysterious and ominous. I knew though it was just social awkwardness.

He didn't want to talk.

I met the Titan's gaze, "Why?"

"You needed to focus on the right things," The Titan answered.

I hated that answer, but I could see the logic in it. If I had spawned into the world, half drowned in grief for Marnie and then spent all my time panicking until I knew what happened to Kate and the others, I would have gotten eaten by a mob. Even if that didn't happen I would have made a line straight to Colorado to find them… Colorado… Foothill. That is where we had lived. Mark moved out there first… It had been nearly three centuries. I doubt they were still there, but that was a place to start looking.

When I had time. Fuck

Things at the tower weren't going to be done until long after the fight was finished. Hell, I could see myself staying with the goblins indefinitely. Building a home is the work of years and this when you are talking about just one house.

And again the logic of my mind being altered was observable. It was still abhorrent.

"You think you had the right?" I demanded. That was a bit more poke the bear than I wanted. The Narrators had worn out my patience for this specific indignity. Fuck Narrators.

"Yeah, I do," The Titan responded. He waited, daring me to argue.

Honestly, I didn't care to argue. This was mostly a fact finding mission. I also chose to ignore that there was a non-zero chance I was built to think that way. That was the existential equivalent to doom scrolling. Besides there was a more pressing question, "Why?"

"You need to stay on target. Take the tower, amass power, rise to my side," the Titan ordered.

"That sounds like a goddamn Batman villain there. Why would I do that?" Oops, that was too honest.

The Titan didn't take it well. The Titan wasn't used to direct disrespect. Odd for a man who had graduated high school, worked in the service industry, and raised a child.

Basically all he did was lean forward in his chair to glare at me. The thing is this was the Titan. I felt time creak as the force stopping it increased. The mechanisms strained. The veil between life and death shuddered. My view of the world shifted slightly. I could see unbelievable power held within him. It was an impossible darkness, it was the magical -no system- equivalent of a black hole. Being so 'close' to it caused all the background energies to fade away. In this twilight of the Titan's shadow a few things became much more apparent, the red baleful light of the tower shown to the northwest of me.

I turned slowly scanning the horizon. I could also see the demonic light of the devils to the East and South. Again the hellish energies shown almost like light pollution above the skies of cities. To the Southeast was another darkness, Zach. The profound void of his power rested on the divine spark and shining light of dozens of gods. The scope and scale of his power dwarfed the devils. The Devil on the East Coast in particular seemed dim and almost shadowed in comparison.

Then to the Southwest was another lesser void of power, Aella. At the core of her darkness were small mote-like sparks of divine energy. She was caged by a vast interconnected array of bars made of divine power. Even as I looked at this, I felt both my titanic resistance to the influence of other spawn, and Mental Resistance stamp out a longing to go to her, to obey. Aella's power was observably lesser than Zach's but there was a subtle and spiritually dangerous effect to it.

Then I saw it to the West.

Nadia… Holy Shit… their power was almost indistinguishable from that of the Titan's. They were watching us. Thankfully Nadia's gaze on me was impassive and uncaring. They watched me the way someone would watch a life carried by the wind drift along a sidewalk. Nadia's attention drifted to the Titan. The Titan's power always had a faint cold edge to it. Nadia's had simmering hatred laced throughout it. I almost expected them to lash against the Titan. Instead Nadia reached up and up and up. Their shadowy had reached behind the moon, which now that I looked at it was radiating a vast corona of multicolored energies. Whatever was there Nadia crushed it the colors fading, before focusing their gaze back to me-

The Titan receded slightly and my ability to see faded. The Titan spoke using my mouth again, "Nadia is currently the obvious and only candidate to become the next Titan. They will then try to kill me. Even if I simply allowed them to end me, the backlash will cause destruction on a fundamental scale. The world will break and it will be the end of everyone."

"So the world is ending, and it's our fault?" I asked.

"My fault," The Titan corrected. "But you will fix it."

I scoffed, "No pressure then. Just take the weight of the world on my shoulders, and save the day all by myself?"

"This isn't some story about a young hero self actualizing. Forget the fucking monomyth and other tropes. You don't need a call to action. Now you know the stakes. Don't pretend anything will stop you from acting. This is a job and you have work to do." The Titan condescended.

The galling thing was the Titan was right. I wasn't going to stop now. I was not the Titan. Thank God. "Funny how none of the other Titanspawn can help."

"They are failures," The Titan dismissed.

"You made them!" I shouted back. My voice had been normal until that point. Those words thundered with the cosmic power of the Titan.

We were both very quiet for a long time.

Eventually the Titan spoke, "I think we are done here."

There wasn't any value in picking at him anymore, I could sense he was considering withdrawing all together, "Where's Kate."

"I can't tell you that," The titan said. I felt his grip on time loosen. "You will need to speak to Nadia, after the tower."

"I have more questions!" I shouted at him.

"Tough," The Titan replied, receding. He paused, "You're not alone. Talk to the Hero and the Angel. Ask them about their plans beyond the tower." He faded beyond my sight.

Please select an action…

Time was back to only being stopped by Titanic Speed. I walked back to the tent. It was close but I was back in bed as time sped back up. Sunit's snoring started back up. I closed my eyes, preparing to fall asleep. I didn't want to stew over the Titan's words. I couldn't relax enough.

"Whered did you go?" Angelica asked. She turned and threw the blanket back over me.

"I went for a walk, I needed to run some things by myself," I said. I didn't want to hold things back, but talking would undo everything I just did to hide my conversation with the Titan.

"I get that," Angelic said through a yawn.

I just laid there for a moment, "Can I ask you something?".

Angelica rolled over and stole the blanket. "You just did. Wanna go for two?"

"What's the plan for you and Celeste after the tower?" I asked. goddamn manipulative Titan.

Angelica stiffened like a board. For a long time, I mean like at least five whole minutes she was silent. The only noise was Sunit's wood chipper-like snoring.

Finally she said, "I'll tell you, but only if you go to sleep tonight and rest. We can talk about it tomorrow."

"Okay," I opened the prompt.

Sleep? Yes/No

I selected yes.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.