Beyond Gods 56 Inter-time Array

"What is its purpose?," asked Miss Obama, "my apprentice had soul stones ripped out of her upon entering the array, and so far, as we followed the nodes, it took us to periods of instability. From what Rey told me, this array formation is meant to test those who enter it. But no information was given on how to break out of it."

"Hmmm," said Kwan thoughtfully, "All I have studied up until his point was this node, and another in the earth realm, and a few of the nodes that exist outside. My skills lie in array formations. My abilities were stagnated by the machine, so I was unable to follow the nodes that point to different eras. For me to get to this node, I simply waited until it appeared. In a sense the machine has me stranded here."

"If you help us," said Miss Obama, "I can help you leave, since my strength even when stagnated allows me to follow the nodes."

"I have no wish to leave," said Kwan sighing, "upon being stranded here for several years, I met a beautiful and kind women, I had children. I am happy and have been living a peaceful life with them. My life is coming to an end. This place has shortened it. But I have lived with no regrets."

Miss Obama smiled softly.

"The great array master Blood Bath Kwan," said Miss Obama, "one of the most feared warriors and strategists during the Junko war ... a feared tyrant and enemy of Junko. Who would have thought that same man would have had a family? No one but his close friends would have imagined this."

"Junko, what a nasty memory," sighed Kwan, "We are old, most people outside of our group don't even remember those days. They don't understand the sacrifices and lost lives. The people who remembered have all died from old age. The new kids are causing new problems. They have it much easier than we did because of our sacrifice."

"Yes," said Miss Obama, "they repeat the same mistakes. We made our mark, helped many and hurt quite a few more."

"Sacrifices had to be made," said Kwan reminiscing, "But it gave way to the era of peace. How are the others?"

"I haven't seen them in billions of years," said Miss Obama. "Most grew weary of fighting and withdrew quietly from visibility."

Kwan turned and looked at Johan and said, "Does he know about the things we did?"

Johan looked back and forth from Miss Obama to Kwan curiously. When Miss Obama mentioned billions of years, he realised that he was standing in front of people who had seen and lived through a lot.

"No," said Miss Obama, "it is the past. A memory that should and will die with us. Lets get back to talking about the array, it is urgent. My apprentices life may rely on it. Time moves slower in here than outside."

Kwan nodded.

"Here is my current standing theory," said Kwan, "I believe that the Athelions were in contact with or worked in conjunction with the builders of the machine that contains Yggdrasil. Perhaps a powerful god. These array nodes, feed off freed up mana that comes from people being murdered during times of battle. It's sole purpose seems to be to force people into madness and cause instability, misunderstandings and anger in vulnerable people's minds. It often resulting in blood filled battles. Then the nodes feeds off of the energy released from the corpses."

"Will gathering all of my apprentices soul stones lead us out?," asked Miss Obama.

"I doubt that very much," said Kwan. "However, when I first got here, I had a good friend who entered the array of his own strength through a trial array much like you and chose to stay here willingly. I did not enter through the trial, rather I enterered through the portal maintained by the army in Looking Glass City."

"Who was this friend?," asked Johan.

"He was called," said Kwan melancholy leaning back in his chair and folding his arms, "... Genghis Khan. Those were good times. Men knew loyalty when he was around."

Johan's mouth dropped.

"Genghis Khan!," muttered Johan, "womanizer, pillager, mass murderer, tyrant and most of all conqueror. He conquered more of the world than any other conqueror that came before or after him. I learnt about him in history class. His name was feared throughout the world in Asia, the Middle east and even Europe. My classmate from Kazakhstan said that Kazakhstan had a lot of blond hair blue eyed people before him and his men conquered that area. Today, everyone has black hair and brown eyes ..."

"But most of all a good friend," said Kwan, "he setup the first civilization composed of many races and religions. Setup the majority of trade routes between large societies that would have otherwise never communicated. He gave honor and promotions to people with skill and strength, rather than to relatives. A great man and forward thinker. Even so, if you were to meet him, the women should take a back seat and hide. His appetite for girls was ... more than healthy. If you want to leave, he is the one that will aid you."

"You think I should meet with Genghis Khan alone?," said Johan.

"Yes," said Kwan, "just swear your loyalty to his followers, they shouldn't give you too much of an issue."

"You're a man," said Miss Obama, "you will be fine."

"Yeah," whispered Johan to himself feeling queasy with unease, "I am a man."

"Thank you Kwan," said Miss Obama, "we will make our leave now."

Kwan nodded and got up from his seat.

Miss Obama and Johan also stood up.

"Thanks for the information," said Johan.

Kwan smiled and said, "I would hate for friends to leave empty handed."

He reached into his pocket and took out two inter-spatial ring.

He threw one to Johan and said, "In there are my scrolls, scrolls of array formations I came up with myself.Feel free to read the scrolls, perhaps, you will garner something from them if you gain a taste for array formations. My understanding was rare, and during your journey say hi to Genghis for me. The seals I put in the ring will gain you safe passage if you show it to the men and Genghis."

"Thanks," said Johan, "I will send him your regards."

"... and for you Voodoo Queen," said Kwan, "something special."

Kwan then threw the next ring to Miss Obama.

"In there," said Kwan, " are also things that might benefit your apprentice."

Miss Obama looked down at the ring in her hand and smiled, "Thank you Kwan."

Kwan walked to the door and held it open for Miss Obama and Johan.

"It has been nice seeing you," said Miss Obama.

"Likewise," said Kwan bowing, "good bye Voodoo Queen. I sense that I only have another thirty years left, this machine truly makes powerful figures into a shadow of their former self. This will probably be the last time we meet. We had good times, didn't we?"

"We did," whispered Miss Obama as a tear quietly down her cheek. "Goodbye old friend."

"Bye," said Johan glancing back at Kwan curiously.

Johan didn't quiet understand everything that had happened. However, deep down his gut told him that these two people had been influential figures who had had monumental effects on the multiverse.

He had just witness a conversation between two unfathomable figures.

Chapter end