I walked down the hallways and looked through the various paths of power that were opened to me. I still had a bunch left over from when I first decided on my paths on top of a few new ones that were popping up now that a slot was free. There were so many good choices, though I want to be careful and not rush this time. This is my one chance to get it right, and I really don’t want to throw it away. I filtered through the Paths and eventually just decided to check out the two given to me. I kept Malek's words close to my heart and ignored the Path of the Archon.

The Soul path looks like a solid choice, but the one that was more interesting to me was the path of the Divine Celestial. I clicked on it to see if I could view its description.

Celestial Nephilim, eh? I haven’t really given my race much thought lately. Maybe it's because I was stuck in the past and haven’t accepted my new species. It was time to accept that and work on myself. I confirmed that this was the path that I wanted, and I felt power rush through me. Heart coursed through my veins and a bucket of ice filled my soul, leaving my body locked in a strange limbo as the power settled.

My health bar grew by a flat one thousand points, along with my mana pool. That was such a massive power increase. I rolled my head and focused on the residual power that was leftover. Once the feeling passed, I kept walking while my head was buried in my menus. I knew that my race had some unique affinities, along with some being amplified by this path. Cosmic magic, gravity magic, and a new one called cosmic manipulation were some, to name a few. Though I never heard of cosmic manipulation, I clicked on it.

I stopped in my tracks at reading that. This was insane! The only thing was that I wasn’t sure how to use it. I had three days to get ready for the guild war; I want to spend some time in a training sim for it since I have absolutely no idea what to expect. It would also allow me to learn how to use this new path. I closed the menus and started to walk down the seemingly endless hall and was lost in thoughts as I tried to plan out the next few days. As I mindlessly walked, I happened to pass by a window into space, and a few things caught my attention. I stopped and took a moment to study the view.

There were hundreds of ships that were coasting through space. Brilliant blue portals were opening up all around the area, allowing more to come, while others were exiting in tight-knit formations. Some of the ships looked roughly patched together and blocky. This was to be expected; some of the guild members here must have just gotten to the space-age, which makes me wonder where the ones that haven't made it to space-age were. Maybe on a station like this or planetside. There were so many other variants of ships arriving and leaving that it was almost mind-boggling to watch and easily tore me away from the thoughts about the others. Some were symmetrical and streamlined and stretched for kilometers, while others were small enough to be barely visible in the backdrop. However, a fleet tore through the blue hole in space composed of sleek and perfectly symmetrical ships. Each one cut through space like a knife. Their golden colored metal glittered brilliantly in the darkness of space, and I saw faint traces of mana that pulse across its metal. Its thrusters seemed to use pure mana as its power source. Once I got the chance, I needed to dive in and see what mana could actually do. The uses seem almost limitless.

The formation of golden spacecraft shifted directions and slowly started to head towards the hundreds of massive space stations surrounding the large planet. Some of the stations had a long strip of metal that ascended from the exposed center and arched backward and were connected by a long glimmering field of power. Large platforms circled the visible core of the space station, which was composed of a light violet ball of power that pulsed in a rhythmic motion. Other space stations had massive barrels that extended from the center and a few buildings connected to the rest of the station. The rest looked like massive space stations I have seen in some sci-fi novels and had many ships docked to them. I could see small sparks of light coming from some of the docking bays on the ships' closest, though I couldn't quite see what was going on. The sight was awe-inspiring. So this was what a fortress world looked like. I wonder if I will long enough to see something like this. Actually, no if. I will live. I refuse to die.

I stared at the depths of space and was happy that I got to watch such a magnificent sight. It was peaceful in a way, watching the space ships dock and set up or leave with another fleet. In fact, I lost track of time until a voice tore me from my thoughts. “Hello, Kairos.” I glanced over and saw that Cassius was standing next to me. He was wearing a brown cap that looked a lot like the ones the militaries on Earth wore and was standing at ease with his hands crossed behind his back. His cigar was sitting in between his lips, and a small bit of smoke was coming from the tip, filling the air between us with the soft stench of a vanilla coffee.

“Hello, Cassius. What can I do for you?” I asked as I turned my attention back to the depths of space.

He pulled the cigar from his lips and stared out into space with me. “I just saw you standing here. Thought I would drop by and collect you for a small training exercise.” His voice was gravely and rough, probably from the years of smoking.

“Ah. I was just enjoying the scenery. I have never seen anything like this before. This is something out of a science fiction movie for me.” I told him as another portal opened up. This time an even larger formation of ships cut through space. All of them were of various sizes though some looked no smaller than five kilometers in length. Though what came out next dwarfed them. The pointed tip of a massive ship cut through the portal. Each passing second the slate grey hull grew larger and larger. The bow spanned almost two and a half kilometers before it narrowed back down and started to expand once more. More of the ship exited whatever that portal was, and I was staggered by the sheer size of it. “Cassius, what the hell is that ship?”

“That is a titan-class capital ship. Her captain is fleet admiral Belisarius, and he will be the one in charge of all the fleets present for this war.” A tint of pride coated his words as we watched the ship finally appear in its full glory. It easily spanned over seventeen kilometers from aft to bow. The entire ship was smooth other than the occasional bump or rise, which I assumed was a weapon placement. A faint blue haze covered the ship, and the massive thrusters were firing in a controlled motion on all points on the ship.

“She is beautiful,” I replied in awe as the dozens of ships escorting it broke off in a loose formation and started heading towards where we were.

“She is. She is one of the most venerable ships in all of Eden’s battlefleets. She has served for many years and in many conflicts.” He pulled his hat off and placed it under the crook of his arm, and stared at the ship for a few moments longer.

“What's her name?" The ship fired off another line of thrusters and started a slow meander towards the largest station that I could see in the distance.

“Her name is the Vengeful Storm.” He flicked his hat out and placed it on his head, and motioned for me to follow him.

I had to tear my gaze away from the massive battle fleet and quickly scampered over to catch up to him. “By the way, what were the golden ships that I saw earlier?”

“Those were fleets from some Seraphim orders. They do have some beautiful ships as well. It's a real pleasure to see them in action.” He swiped an I.D card through a machine and walked through the door.

“I’m sorry to be bothering you with all of these questions. I’ve just never seen anything like this before. Earth had nothing like this, and my planet is still fighting with swords and bows.”

“Don’t worry about it. Questions now mean less later.” He shrugged and started to speak again after he opened another door .”I haven’t been to Earth in a while. Where are you from?”

“Los Angeles. I lived there for nineteen years before I became an Administrator.” I left out the fact that I died because it was self-explanatory.

“Oh, I haven’t been there since the city was founded. How is it doing?” I didn't realize he was around for that. That city was founded in the late seventeen hundreds if I remember correctly.

“One of the largest cities in the United States. At least it was when I died, though I am not sure how much Earth has changed since that point." Maybe that was a Malek question. I wonder just how much time has passed since I left.

He nodded his head and opened a final door, revealing a large bland white chamber. ‘That's good to know. I will have to stop by at some point and see how everything is doing.” He walked over to a smooth piece of metal that was jutting out of the wall. A hologram emitted from the wall, and he typed something in.

“Where are we, Cassius?” I asked as the room started to melt away, revealing a large sprawling plane. A large sandlike substance rained from the sky, and the foundation of a large city was being formed.

‘A realistic training simulator. Here you will gain levels and experience freely though if you die, that's it. I figured you would like it, and it also gives you a chance to get acquainted with the other Administrators on your command team.” As he said that, three other people walked into the room.