I cleared my throat to get rid of the awkward silence that was building. This was some thin ice I was threading on, I didn't want to end up like Mr. Broke-into-million-pieces-of-light Osiris.

"So... Is he dead?", I asked cautiously, it was obviously a stupid question, but I didn't want a death penalty anytime soon.

"Not exactly", replied my benefactor, I looked up at him in surprise.

"But... but he went 'whoosh' ", I mimicked a balloon popping with my hand.

I am guessing that made the Higher Deity smile a bit, there was a bit of amusement in his voice as he said, "Indeed he went 'woosh' as you say, but no he is not dead, he has been simply banned from this system".

"Oh", I managed to say.

"We will replace him with another Higher Deity for this system, truth be told none of the the other Higher Deities particularly liked him. He was famous for being a manipulative bastard". He said

"Yeah that is true", and we chuckled. Again an awkward silence fell between us.

"So, I wanted to ask you this for some time sir, but what is your name?" I asked after a few seconds of contemplation.

The light surrounding him dissipated a bit.

"You want to know my name?" The Higher Being asked, there was an emotion in his voice which I could not quite place.

"Er... Yes sir, if you possibly can tell me", I replied in a feeble voice.

"You want to know the name of a person who was murdered by his own son?" There was a hint of sadness in his voice, "I will give you this piece of advice young one, never try to cheat fate".

It took a moment for me to process the information. It suddenly came to me. The puzzle pieces were all there - murdered by his own son, betrayed by the fates and his control over time.

I took a step backward and saw my benefactor in a new light, "Don't tell me you... you are the legendary Titan God...?" I stumbled.

"Indeed my dear apprentice, I am the Titan God of time - Kronos!", the walls of the labyrinth shook as the veil of light surrounding him completely scattered.

The Greek Titan God of Time was handsome - this was the first thought that crossed my mind. He had a marvelously chiseled face, with high cheekbones, golden eyes and a beautiful smile. For a 2000 year old man he looked surprisingly young - around 30. He had flowing black hair which was tied behind and the strands which escaped fell on to his forehead. He radiated an aura of power and authority which was on a completely different level as compared to Osiris.

He smiled at me, then suddenly his smile wavered a little, "Surely you would have heard of my er... violent past?" He looked a bit concerned like I might flip out any second. For a Titan God he looked and behaved quite mildly.

I nodded my head, in fact I was well accustomed with his history and dark past. He had murdered his own father The God Of Sky Ouranos before swallowing his children because of a prophecy which stated that one of his children would murder him, but his wife Rhea protected one of his sons - Zeus, who would later go on to murder Kronos.

"And you do not judge me?" He asked. I shook my head, he had his reasons for the various crimes he committed and his children were no different but since they were the victors, history was rewritten in their favour.

Kronos looked at me and tilted his head in appreciation. He looked at me for a moment more. I remembered something.

"Dear, um... Kronos sir-", I started.

"Just call me General", he smiled.

"Ah... ok", I smiled back at him, "So, General why... why did I get transported 12 years into the future?" I asked, this question had been rolling around in my head ever since I had discovered the fact.

"It was not exactly within my control, child, it was simply the will of the Fates", he mused.

"Oh... Okay', it didn't exactly quench my doubt but I guessed there was nothing more to be said about that anymore.

He looked on for some more time, then he said, "Ah, I almost forgot, you have been upgraded to the Supreme System haven't you?".

I nodded my head and threw a questioning glance at him.

"Well..." He swept his right hand in a gentle flourish, "I have a surprise for you", he smiled again.

CONGRATULATIONS

YOU HAVE BEEN CLEARED FOR HIGHER ACCESS TO THE SUPREME SYSTEM

PROCESSING BACKLOG OF REWARDS.

"Scout, what does this mean?" I asked.

"Well... seems like you can access even more features of the Supreme System." He replied.

"Like what?" I again asked.

"I am not sure myself". He replied in an uncertain tone.

YOU HAVE BEEN PROVIDED WITH 200 ATTRIBUTE POINTS.

YOU HAVE UNLOCKED SPECIAL FEATURES: TECHNIQUES.

"Well, that's useful", remarked Kronos.

"What do you mean General?" I looked at him expectantly for an answer.

"Techniques, they are like the upgraded form of skills, but they do not have cooldown, instead they draw upon your Magix points." He explained, "Here I will present you one of my techniques", He said.

YOU HAVE OBTAINED THE TECHNIQUE: ILLUSION OF SHADOWS

"Wow..." I muttered, this all seemed too good to be true, it was nice having an all-powerful God acting as your sponsor.

"Scout, check details of this technique", I commanded.

ILLUSION OF SHADOWS

RANK: LEGENDARY TECHNIQUE

CREATED PERSONALLY BY KRONOS - ONE OF THE 5 HIGHER DEITIES. GIVES USER A TREMENDOUS BOOST IN SPEED AND AGILITY WHICH WOULD HELP CREATE AN ILLUSION OF HAVING MULTIPLE ALLIES.

"My God, that is on a whole different level!" I exclaimed.

"You can say that again", a literal God grinned next to me.

I was about to ask him some more questions, but we started to hear a ruckus around the corner. Kronos looked around with sudden urgency.

"They are the other contenders, my time is almost up, we will speak some other time Axel", he raised his hand in farewell.

I nodded and raised my hand as well. He smiled one last time and disappeared in a flash of light. As soon as he disappeared a large crowd emerged through the doorway, they charged in like they were about to battle a whole army but at the sight of me they looked a bit confused.

Soon some of then saw the huge body of the Minotaur lying next to me.

One of them asked, "Holy smokes kid you killed the boss all by yourself!?"

I looked at him and smiled, "I really like roasted beef".