The countdown in Ethan's mind had nothing to do with Empress Kara's ultimatum. While the station descended into barely controlled panic around him, another timer materialized in his vision—translucent text that overlaid reality itself.
**[FIRST QUEST ACTIVATED]**
**[SURVIVE 24 HOURS WITHOUT BEING CLAIMED]**
**[REWARD: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT TECHNIQUE]**
**[FAILURE: UNKNOWN]**
**[TIME REMAINING: 23:59:47]**
Ethan's brain kept thinking zig zag, because this wasn't his imagination. The text was real, or at least as real as anything could be in his current situation.
He focused on the words, and more information bloomed across his vision like a HUD powering up.
**[IMMORTAL PATH SYSTEM - INITIALIZED]**
**[HOST: ETHAN REID]**
**[SPECIES: HUMAN (ENDANGERED - LAST MALE SPECIMEN)]**
**[CULTIVATION REALM: MORTAL]**
**[BLOODLINE COMPATIBILITY: UNIVERSAL]**
**[SPECIAL TRAIT: GENETIC CATALYST]**
Seris's voice ruined his concentration. "The human is experiencing something. Look at his eyes."
Ethan blinked, refocusing on the physical world. Every alien in the immediate vicinity was staring at him with renewed intensity. Whatever this system was doing, it was apparently visible somehow.
"His pupils are dilating asymmetrically," Dr. Senna pushed through the crowd, her medical scanner in her hand.
"Neural activity is spiking. This could be a delayed reaction to the extraction trauma. I need to get him back to…"
"No one is taking him anywhere," Lady Nyx interrupted, her obsidian skin beginning to shimmer with dark energy. "Not until we understand what's happening."
The flame-haired woman from before drifted closer, her expression calculating. "I've seen this before. In the old texts.
The ancient ones called it the Awakening—when a being's latent potential suddenly manifests." Her burning eyes were fixed on Ethan.
"Tell me, human. Can you see things others cannot? Like feel power stirring in your blood?"
Ethan's military training screamed at him to stay silent, give nothing away. But the timer in his vision continued its countdown, and he had a feeling that playing dumb wouldn't help him survive the next twenty-four hours.
"I see text," he admitted. "Information. Like a... a computer interface, but directly in my mind."
The reaction was immediate, as half the gathered aliens stepped back in shock. The other half leaned forward with hungry interest.
"Impossible," Seris breathed. "The Immortal Path system was lost millennia ago when the Primordial civilization fell. No one has successfully bonded with one in over ten thousand cycles."
"Until now, apparently," Ethan said, watching another message scroll across his vision.
**[ALERT: HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED]**
**[MULTIPLE ENTITIES ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH DOMINANCE CLAIM]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: ESCAPE OR ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES]**
"What else does it tell you?" The flame woman's voice was barely a whisper. "Does it show cultivation techniques? Realm progression? Power levels? Blah blah blah"
Before Ethan could answer, the station shuddered violently. Empress Kara's patience had apparently run out. Red warning lights flooded the concourse as boarding pods began attaching to the outer hull with their clangs that echoed through the structure.
"She's actually doing it," someone gasped. "She's boarding Sanctuary Prime."
Seris's crystalline barriers flared brighter. "This is an act of war against the Coalition. Empress Kara will answer for…"
"The Coalition is toothless bureaucracy," Kara's voice boomed through the speakers.
"My warriors are breaching the station as we speak. Surrender the human, or I will personally reduce this entire platform to a molten slag."
The sound of energy weapons charging filled the concourse. Ethan saw Seris's warriors taking defensive positions, Lady Nyx's shadows coalescing into blade-like appendages, the insectoid species from earlier secreting something that looked disturbingly acidic.
They were going to start killing each other. OVER HIM. Ethan screamed in his head.
**[QUEST UPDATE: HOSTILE ENGAGEMENT IMMINENT]**
**[NEW OBJECTIVE: ESCAPE THE COMBAT ZONE]**
**[RECOMMENDED PATH: MAINTENANCE TUNNEL - SECTION 7-B]**
**[WARNING: CURRENT POWER LEVEL INSUFFICIENT FOR DIRECT COMBAT]**
A map overlaid Ethan's vision, highlighting a service door twenty meters to his left. The path was marked in glowing blue, weaving between cover points and away from the highest concentrations of hostile forces.
"I'm getting out of here," Ethan announced.
Seris's head snapped toward him. "You are under protective custody. You cannot…"
"Your custody almost got me blown up twice in the last hour." Ethan started moving toward the marked door, and immediately a dozen hands reached for him. "I'll take my chances alone."
"Foolish human!" Lady Nyx's shadow tendrils lashed out, but Ethan's new system highlighted them half a second before they struck. He ducked, then rolled, and came up running.
The station rocked again, harder this time. An entire section of the viewport shattered, emergency force fields snapping into place to maintain atmosphere.
Through the chaos, Ethan saw armored figures pouring through the breach—warriors clad in red and gold armor that seemed to be made of solidified flame.
"There!" one of them shouted, pointing directly at Ethan. "The Empress wants him alive! Kill anyone who interferes!"
Plasma fire erupted across the concourse. Ethan's combat instincts took over, the system's guidance overlaying the battlefield like a tactical HUD from his fighter days.
He weaved between energy blasts, using panicking civilians as cover, hating himself for it but knowing hesitation meant capture or death.
*****
Yeah, I hate using those skills, but if you are me… uuhmm, I think you won't choose death when you can literally save yourself right?
Well continue, and I hope you don't judge me wrongly.
*****
A Pyros warrior landed in front of him, raising her war hammer on him.
Ethan could see the blow coming in slow motion, the system calculating trajectory and impact point. He twisted at the last second, and the hammer crashed into the deck plating where he'd been standing.
**[COMBAT ANALYSIS: ENEMY SUPERIOR STRENGTH]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: EXPLOIT SPEED DIFFERENTIAL]**
The warrior was strong but committed to the heavy swing. Ethan used the opening to slide between her legs, coming up behind her and sprinting for the maintenance door.
"Stop him!" Seris's voice echoed out, but her warriors were engaged with Kara's forces. The concourse had become a war zone.
Ethan reached the door, slapping the emergency release. It hissed open, revealing a dark corridor that was smelling but of course, he plunged through, and the door sealed behind him with a magnetic clang.
The sounds of battle became muffled. Ethan leaned against the wall, gasping for breath, the adrenaline making his hands shake.
**[CONGRATULATIONS: ESCAPED IMMEDIATE THREAT]**
**[QUEST PROGRESS: 23:47:12 REMAINING]**
**[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: BASIC COMBAT AWARENESS]**
**[WARNING: PURSUERS DETECTED - MULTIPLE SIGNATURES]**
Ethan pushed off the wall and started running deeper into the maintenance tunnels.
Behind him, he heard the door being forced open, followed by angry shouts in multiple languages.
Twenty-three hours and change. He just had to stay free for twenty-three hours and change.
No pressure right? But he was literally sweating already.
The system highlighted another junction ahead, and Ethan took the left path without slowing. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear the continued sounds of battle, punctuated by Empress Kara's enraged voice demanding his location.
What had his life become? Many hours ago, he'd been defending Earth. Now he was running through alien maintenance tunnels while empires fought over his genetics.
**[DETECTED: ENERGY SIGNATURE APPROACHING]**
**[ANALYSIS: SINGLE ENTITY - POWER LEVEL UNKNOWN]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: HIDE]**
Ethan ducked into a side alcove just as someone rounded the corner ahead. His heart beat increased as he pressed himself against the wall, praying whoever it was wouldn't notice him in the shadows.
The figure moved with slow steps, and when she passed under one of the emergency lights, Ethan's almost pee on himself.
*****
Don't blame me
*****
It was Dr. Senna, her iridescent scales catching the light. She was alone, and she was following his trail with the focused intensity of a hunter.
Or maybe a rescuer.
Ethan had about three seconds to decide which one she was before she spotted him.
The countdown in his vision continued its relentless march toward zero.