A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Ryan opened his eyes as he found himself in a similar place as he looked around what he has begun calling his 'Mental Sanctum', as he wandered through his 'Mental Sanctum' a scowl slowly managed to form on his face.

'This is frustrating why am I here again, I should be able to choose when I can enter this place and when I cannot, I wanted to have a good nights sleeps with good dreams but now I will be stuck here, so not fai….eh?!'

His scowl disappeared as a look of surprise appeared on his face, as a look of shock appeared which quickly turned to panic, 'Why am I sinking through the floor? But more importantly, why did the floor liquefy? '

Before he could react he went drowned, many things flashed through his minds about the horrible fate from drowning but what greeted him was not water or anything but complete and utter dark void.

Ryan could not help but panic, 'Where am I? Where is this place?'

He tried desperately to wake up but failed, he tried to move and failed again and then all of a sudden he saw a light, he once again tried to move towards it but failed yet again, but then all of sudden the light started to slowly move towards him before it suddenly began moving towards him at a fast pace.

'What is this light? And why is it moving towards me so fast, please do not tell me it is some sort of creature.'

His hunch proved to be right as a huge gigantic angler fish lookalike appeared in front of him, but no matter how much he all he could do was watch out with fear and helplessness at the creature as its opened its mouth wide, its large glistening teeth which were taller than him which swallowed him promptly.

'So this is how I die.', with the thought in mind, he closed his eyes as the jaw closed swallowing him whole.

"Hahaha, the look on your face is hilarious."

A mocking voice came to his ears as he opened his eyes he was surprised to see a campfire burning brightly with a couple of empty chairs surrounding it, except one which he himself occupied, a large tree was by his side, as he looked up his eyes widen with amazement as he gawked at the sight, "Wow.", was all he said at the scenic beauty in front of him, never had he ever seen such a vibrant night sky so full of stars, even with his naked eyes he could spot a few galaxies and nebulas.

His thoughts came to a screeching halt as he realized something, 'Wait a minute where am I? What is this place? I know for sure that such a place does not appear on earth, so am I dreaming? But it felt so real! Do not tell me am I going insane?'

"Ahem", a coughing sound drew his attention as he searched around for a moment for any sign of any person present only to fail spectacularly as such could not help but shout out loud, "Where are you hiding you bastard?"

"My how rude of you, I am sitting right in front of you yet you not only fail to spot me but also has the audacity to call me a bastard."

Ryan finally found the source of the voice, a small flickering flame that seemed to float atop the chair.

"Are you the small flickering flame?"

"' A small flickering flame' you say?!", the voice suddenly seemed disappointed as it continued to speak, "I waited till you reach the Tier 10, yet you still perceive me as a 'small flickering flame ', such a disappointment."

Ryan growled towards the flame as he spoke with anger in his tone, "Who are you? And what gives you the right to judge, but most importantly, how did you bring me to this place and where is this place?"

"Ah forgive me for not introducing myself, I was distracted upon meeting such a rude child after all.", Ryan glowered at the flickering flames, which continued to speak nonchalant manner, "My name is Avtis the God of Creation and Destruction, and you, my dear Ryan is my Apostle."

Ryan gained a dumbfounded look on his face as he began to speak slowly, "So why was I brought to this place in such a manner, first drowning me and then feeding me to a fish only to wake up in this place, but I will say the sky is nice."

"So true the sky is nice, and it can become even better."

With an eager look Ryan looked up only for his vision to be assaulted by a myriad of colours making him suffer from a bout of nausea, he somehow managed to push the bile rising down his throat as he spoke, "The hell is this better it is nausea-inducing and horrendous."

"Tch, like a plebian uncultured child would ever understand the joys of modern art."

Ryan glowered at him as he spoke, "Oh then oh so great master please enlighten me on why you thought it would be great to drown me and feed me to a fish."

"Is that not how the hackers of your world work, send something to steal information from someone, what is that called again? Ah, yes phishing is it not? I used similar tactics."

Ryan's brow twitched as he spoke, "First of all phishing is like luring the victim into the trap, and when the victim is taken the bait the hacker simply reels in the information from the victim, nowhere does he actively attacks like what you did, instead of baiting me you attacked me directly so no it is not phishing."

"Meh, semantics since my goal was to bring you here and to have a pleasant chat with you, though the chat portion is sorely lacking due because of you, otherwise I am quite successful."

Ryan took a deep breath to calm him down before he spoke, "So why do you want to speak with me."

Avtis was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, "You are stand in front of a God yet you are, ~sigh~ I have no words for such insolence, for example, should you not kneel before me."

No sooner did those words escaped his mouth Ryan found himself headfirst on the ground as Avtis kept on speaking, "There was it so difficult, there are a few decorums that you have to know, like asking for permission before speaking and the likes of those, clearly you lack manners, the first few minutes I can forgive for being in shock but you should have reigned in yourself but now."

Ryan tried to speak but no words escaped his mouth nor could he move a muscle, 'The hell is this, how dare he force me to bend my knee.'

"Ah I see you do not like being forced, hmm how troublesome I am oldest amongst all the Deities of my pantheon yet I never had any Apostle until now, and I am stuck with you until you die."

Ryan glowered in anger as he lay in that position without Avtis saying anything for a moment, although Ryan did not stop cursing inside his head.

"Wow, I never knew your mind was such a gutter what would your mother Ciara say if she heard you speaking such language."

Ryan's thoughts came to a grinding halt at his words, 'No way, he cannot hear what I am thinking.'

A snorting sound came from the flickering flame as Avtis spoke with mirth in his voice, "Please reading your thoughts is as easy for me as it is breathing for you, now raise your head and speak with your mouth."

Ryan looked up with a scowl as he spoke, "I do not like being forced to do something against my wish."

"As you should, my Apostle should not be someone that can be forced to do someone else's bidding except mine."

"I do not wish to be your Apostle."

"Why?"

"You are forcing me against my will secondly I follow a different religion."

"So what you are now mine and if you are so against it slit your throat and die choking in your blood, and as for religion I never asked you to worship me, never asked anyone to do so even before and I will not start it now, but you will not worship anyone else anymore."

Ryan growled visibly upon hearing he wanted to give a piece of his mind to Avtis but he knew at the end of the day he was at Avtis's mercy.

"Why me, why am I your apostle, there are billions of people on my planet but why me?"

"Well, you got hit by a part of the asteroid they send to your planet."

Ryan narrowed his eyes as he spoke with disbelief, "For someone who is the oldest in the pantheon selecting someone so randomly I do not believe you."

Avtis did not reply to his words as Ryan began to speak after a minute, "Wait a minute, about that asteroid, who was it that send it to our planet and what happened to our world?"

"Something like that you do not need to know for now as it will not help you, but what I can say is that it was not good."

Ryan's frown deepened as he spoke, "I was hit by its part and at the end of the day if it was bad then why did you choose someone who was tainted by something that is not good, you are lying."

"Why do you think so?"

"Because it is common sense if the asteroid was bad and if I had a part of that in me I would be under its influence, and it does not make any sense."

"Hahaha, so true no you were not hit by the asteroid but a part of the weapon of yours truly, the asteroid was meant to do something awful but I intervened on behest of a friend though I was still late, and that thing still managed to explode and you know the rest, and then a part of my weapon broke and hit you."

So many questions swam in Ryan's head he could not think of what to ask, for a moment the duo was silent before Ryan spoke again, "But why me?"

"A part of my weapon merged with you and as such, it was easier to claim you as my Apostle."

"You said you never had an Apostle before so why now? And most importantly why did our world merge."

"Why I needed an Apostle now or why our world merged is something you will learn much later along with the identity of who send you the asteroid."

Ryan sighed at that as he mused inwardly, 'Maybe I should consult with Ylerias.'

"Consulting with your fellow Apostle will yield nothing as she knows nothing but tells you what when you reach the fifth circle we will talk."

Ryan nodded before he spoke with a frown, "I see though I wanted to know since Ylerias and I would be running around in the world am I going to have problem with Gods of our world."

"How are you sure that Gods really exist in your world?"

"If Gods were not present how would miracles work in our world, but more importantly you said you were doing work for a friend of yours and if I am not wrong that person must be a God as well."

"Hahaha, you are right child Gods do exist in your world though you will not have any problem with them until and unless you try to pick a fight with them so you have nothing to worry, as for why and how I told you to reach the fifth circle you will many things."

"So what should I do now?"

"What else other than trying to reach the fifth circle as fast as possible though I would also advise you to make advance your world as much as possible beyond the technological achievements your world had reached, after all a pesky meteor of that size could have been easily dealt by the various military forces of your world, yet they failed to detect its presence let alone deal with it."

Ryan gulped hard upon hearing that as Avtis continued, "But enough of that, I am busy and next time we meet I hope you will be strong enough to see a simple flicker as well as more manner but now for the real reason I wanted to meet you."

"I hope you have seen Ylerias's bow?"

Ryan nodded at that as he spoke, "Yes I have seen it, a bow without string that also does not need any arrows."

"Cool is it not?"

Ryan nodded as he replied, "Yes it is, as a weapon with an unlimited number of arrows is always cool."

"A God or Goddess is required by our law to arm their respective Apostles with weapons, armours or any other items that they would require while serving their respective deities, just like your fellow Apostle she had been armed with a bow by her patron Goddess. But, no God or Goddess just hand them over for free, Ylerias had to make a pilgrimage to her patron Goddess's temple while trying to overcome various tests thrown against her."

"Unfortunately for us, the current you have no means to reach my temple when you do not know its location, and…"

"But you said you have not asked anyone to worship you then how come you have a temple."

"Did no one teach you not to interrupt someone who is speaking, such insolence and as for my temple, even if I told there is no need for anyone to worship me, people built my temple to honour me, and not shut up and listen."

With a small pause, Avtis began again, "It would be foolishly wasting precious time by making you wander throughout the world as such I will grant you your weapon here and now."

As he spoke those words the campfire suddenly flared up as two platinum rings appeared, as Avtis spoke again, "Now go and wear those tow and you will know everything there is to know about them."

Ryan cast a wary glance towards Avtis as he went towards the campfire as raised his right hand Avtis spoke again, "Wear them on each of your hands or it will not work."

With a nod Ryan raised his hands as he fingers approached the rings it suddenly moved while increasing in size becoming big enough that his hand could pass though it, then it multiplied as two became four, Ryan watched as one of the rings stopped just below the wrist whereas other stopped just below the elbow.

"Well since you have received the weapon I will take my leave, and next time learn to be a bit polite and courteous and so that you do not forget, the bonding process with your weapon will be your incentive to remember to learn manners before meeting with me again."

A bright flash of light forced Ryan's eyes to close and as he opened them he found himself standing inside his 'Mental Sanctum'.

The rings might have yet to shrunk in size and was lazily rotating on their respective places, 'Why would he give me rings? But more importantly, what will I do with these rings?'

As the thought passed his mind the rings suddenly stopped rotating and it shrunk suddenly, a searing pain erupted in his hands to him it felt as if someone was drilling holes through his bones, as well as setting his hands on fire, and it did not just stop there as the agonizing feeling of bones being drilled while being burned alive spread throughout his entire body, every inch of his body screamed from pain as such he opened his mouth while he screaming out aloud at the top of his lungs.

Nikita looked at the various tattoos adorning Ryan's hands which were disappearing fast, but what drew her attention were the rings that were on his hands, one of the pair beneath his elbow and another just above his wrist, but what really drew her attention and concern was the fact the rings seemed to have been growing from his hands, as such she could not help but shout out at the top of her voice drawing everyone's attention, "What the hell is this?"