The boss scowled and rushed over to the computer, I followed closely behind. Luckily, at the Arcane Syndicate, we have the highest class magic research system, so we have technology in preparation for times like these. All important members are given a magic blocker. A magic blocker is as small as a marble, so it can blend in very easily with casual accessories. For example, I keep mine on a necklace I always wear. Magic block whatever magic effect goes on. If time gets frozen, I'm immune, someone rewinds time, I keep my memories when time gets wound back, someone goes invisible, I can see them. You get the idea. However, there is a limit. Right now, mine is using 90% of its capacity to keep me unfrozen. So, if someone were to rewind time right now, I would be affected like anyone else.
Another cool perk is that our computers are also magic proof. The boss quickly moves the cursor across the screen. Our computers have advanced magic sensors, since all magic items give us some sort of signal when they are used. The computers sense this and ping the location they go off at. This time, the location was…
Virginia!?
The boss noticed this as well and gave a smirk.
"Well, well, well. Fredrick, isn't there where we just pulled you out of? Seems like Mr. Thorne is doing his job well, unlike you." The boss said as he turned to me and frowned. In his eyes, any failure immediately lowers your worth. Of course, I knew what he was doing. He was trying to demoralize me since he loves to see people squirm, luckily, I always have the perfect counter to the boss.
"Seems like it." I started with a completely straight face. "Since I'm sure Mr. Thorne is more than capable of dealing with this problem, why don't you go ahead and visit him yourself. I'm sure he'd be able to happily hand the watch over to you in person."
The boss's frown deepened, if that was even possible. He appeared to be lost in thought, trying to decipher my intent. In reality, my intent relied on a big gamble. If Mr. Thorne is able to collect the watch, then I know who the watch carrier is, assuming Mr. Thorne listened to me when I told him to book it to the IT room. If he didn't, then all hope would be lost. However, another possibility is that Mr. Thorne gets defeated. This outcome is highly unlikely, however if it happens, then it means the boss will put me back on the case.
"Alright, but you stay here." The boss said, this is what he figured would be the safest option, since he assumed my intention is to get back on the case, so I can get in his good graces. Fortunately, no one can read me. My goal is to get back on the mission, but what I want to do is find the person with the watch, and prove my superiority. Although my intelligence may have been engineered, I was still able to amass it. To me, results are everything. I have to win.
"Fine by me, but if you come back empty-handed, feel free to send me back, and I'll capture the watch bearer with ease."
The boss smiled a wicked smile.
"Sure, but it won't need to come to that."
He turned towards the guards that accompanied him and pointed to the screen.
"You know what to do," he growled. "Go!"
The guards all nodded in unison and left the room, the boss followed closely.
…
You know all this time frozen stuff, I thought it'd be fun like you see in the movies, but in reality it's really boring. The boss left me alone in the room with nothing to do, and since I didn't know when he'd be back, I didn't really wanna leave. At first, I was fine with leaving the room to go and venture out for a bit since he wouldn't be back immediately, but I quickly got bored. All the instructors were frozen, so I couldn't talk to them. The gym room was locked, and I didn't have a key. I found a tennis ball right outside the gym door, which was strange due to how perfection-oriented the entire facility was. I picked up the tennis ball and went back to the room the boss brought me to earlier. I was bouncing the ball off the wall like you'd see a prisoner do in movies when the computer suddenly made another noise.
ALERT! TIME IS NO LONGER FROZEN.
Finally, I could get back to doing things. My mind raced with a million strategies I could employ while the boss was gone, I could start a revolution that would eventually lead to me becoming the leader, I could rig a trap to kill the boss and explode the facility, among other things, but I ultimately concluded the boss was useful for the final part of my plan.
Well, at least I could exercise for a bit now.
…
After working out for a bit, I returned to the computer room to start research on the Ruins of Babylon. My plan was not foolproof, and I know how the boss works. If Mr. Thorne does succeed, the boss will likely send him to the Ruins of Babylon and send me back to my studies. I have a plan I could try, but for now I'll bank on that not happening. If Mr. Thorne is defeated, there is still a chance that the boss just hides that fact from me and sends me to the Ruins of Babylon, or my studies, anyway. That's why I'm doing research now, so I can be equipped later, when I need to prove my knowledge to the boss or use it myself when I'm there.
As I scrolled through several articles detailing the history of the ruins, my thoughts continued to race. I knew the boss better than anyone, thanks to my advanced education in psychology and ability to profile people. So, I know that he's not one to hand out second chances, and I know myself, I cannot stand to rely on luck alone. I had to prepare myself perfectly, so that way everything fell on Mr. Thorne's ability.
I continued to search through restricted government articles, finding information about a supposed "Maze of Archon" that was rumored to exist, but never confirmed. If this did exist, the legends say there was a hidden power deep within the maze, however it was a test of not only physical abilities, but also an insane intellectual test. This had to be where the Glass of Time was located, but now I have to figure out how to get there.
I continued scrolling through articles and information pages, when suddenly the door flew open. My head snapped towards the door as my hand flew to my side where I keep my knife handy in case of dangerous situations, but it was just one of the guards from earlier, although dressed completely in black now.
"Fredrick, I have bad news, worse news, and good news," The guard said, my stomach churning in a knot. "First, the bad news. Mr. Thorne failed and will now be returning to the facilities. The good news, you are being sent to the Ruins of Babylon. The worse news, your 'brother' is on his way to Virginia to do what you and Mr. Thorne couldn't, and he will succeed."
At that last part, my heart dropped. No, it can't be… I thought in despair. If Mr. Thorne was a demon, my "brother" was the devil. He is not my actual brother, but we are essentially brothers, since we were the only two who survived the last generation of the Helix Project before they began again. The only man who I believe can currently match my genius, Viktor Hale. Viktor was an emotionless, stone-cold human. He was the other person with me, but he didn't get the human affection experiment I got, so he walks around near emotionless. He was an absolute master in terms of manipulating and deceiving people, since it's impossible to get a read on him.
"Thanks for the information, I'll get prepared straight away. But one thing, where's the boss?" As I said that, I nearly choked on my own saliva as I saw the boss push the guard aside.
"Right here, Fredrick, best get a move on."
…
The Ruins of Babylon are located in modern-day Iraq. They are a popular tourist attraction due to the historical significance behind the ruins. I remember reading many articles stating that if magic was real, it started here. It's really funny how advanced magic is now, and most people still don't know anything about it, they think it's just a myth. Of course, we aren't supposed to tell people, but it still amuses me.
Once I arrived in Iraq, I was quickly escorted to the ruins, then left completely alone, good to know how much the boss cares for me. As I continued to creep through the ruins, a sense of dread loomed over me. I knew that the boss was watching my every move, waiting for me to mess up. Viktor was on his way down to Virginia to find the watch holder, and now I still don't know if my hunch about Jeffrey was correct or not. The information of the Maze of Archon echoed in my head.
The ruins were vast, they spread out all around me, the sun beating down on my neck. Lots of stone buildings were broken down and had plants growing around inside of them, covered in moss. In the distance, I could see a large mountain where the abandoned city ended. I slowly crept through the ruins, but something felt off, I wasn't alone. My magic blocker was starting to go off, about 10% usage for now, which is weird since it shouldn't be needed here at all. Then, a genius idea hit me.
I continued walking forward, which was south, looking at its usage. It slowly crept up for a few minutes until suddenly starting to go down. After that, I back tracked where it was at its highest, being 25% right now, then went in a more southeast direction.
My idea was that the Maze of Archon had to be extremely well hidden with magic, probably lots of traps that bleed out of the maze too. So, wherever my magic blocker was in its highest effect would be the maze. Essentially, I would use my magic blocker to triangulate the maze, using the maze's hiding system against it.
I continued on my journey for about 30 more minutes until I walked up the steps of a building that probably used to be a temple. Its steps were large and steep, lots of exotic greenery and shrubs growing out of it at every angle, and moss was covering the floor. The building was barely intact, with only a few pillars holding up a couple pieces of what used to be the roof. Its stone was bright gray, likely bleached from all the time in the sun over the years.
I stepped inside, and my magic blocker went into full effect, this was both a good and bad thing. Good thing, I knew the maze had to be somewhere in this building. Bad news, I had now had no other way to protect myself if the maze's entrance itself was also trapped. That didn't matter if I couldn't find the entrance, though. So, I went to work. I looked around the entire room for any potential clues that would lead me to the entrance. I searched the room from top to bottom, unable to find any clues. A frown started to form on my face, I'm better than this.
Just then, I felt something change inside of me. My brain began operating at a faster speed, all of my memories filled my mind at once. I looked around the room one more time, and suddenly, I noticed things I hadn't before. I started noticing patterns on the walls, tiny carvings in the stone that seemed too deliberate to be random. They formed intricate designs, almost like ancient glyphs. My mind, now racing faster than ever, pieced the puzzle together. The carvings were directional, like a map guiding me toward something.
But the path wasn't clear, meaning I'd have to trace it out in my brain. Suddenly, I noticed that the ground had changed once I reached deeper into the temple. The ground was split into squares, kind of like a chess board, but a little different. The squares were all the same color, but had dark outlines. What made them so interesting is that they all had a symbol inside of them. There were 3 distinct symbols that I could make out. A sun, a star, and the moon. However, there was something else. The suns were all smiling, the stars frowning, and the moons were all neutral.
This doesn't match the norms, the sun smiling makes sense, but stars are supposed to shine, and the moon is more associated with being sad. The stars being neutral and moons frowning would make more sense, since stars are supposed to shine their face isn't emphasized. At first, I didn't see what this had to do with the puzzle, but then it clicked. I looked at the suns ahead of me and I saw they all connected perfectly, almost as if they were a path. So, seeing no other option, I walked forward onto the path of the suns.
After a bit of walking, I made it to a dead end, but when I stepped on the last sun before the floor turned back to normal, the ground started to shake, and the floor beneath me opened up.
I fell, screaming at the top of my lungs, down a long, dark chute. How could I be so stupid? I knew there'd be a trap! I thought, internally scolding myself. But then I landed flat on my back on something surprisingly light and fluffy that broke my fall. I slowly picked myself back up to see eight different paths in all directions, each so dark I couldn't see more than a couple feet into.
Then, a voice rumbled in the distance.
"Welcome challenger! I am the almighty Aion! You are now the…" It paused to do what I can only assume is mental calculations. "4,999th challenger! Congrats, that means you will be the 5,000th person to die here, you should feel honored!"
Honored is not what I'm feeling at the moment, mostly a mixture of fear and excitement. Nothing could prepare me for this challenge, but that's what's fun. I will never have this opportunity again.
"Alright, Aion!" I shouted into the distance. "I accept your challenge! Let us begin!"