Limitless by John Gold (best e reader for android txt) 📕

of tourists from around the world started to show up. The area around the Lone Tree featured dozens of entertainment venues and taverns.

Groups of ten guards stood watch around the tree every minute of every day. Nobody was permitted to climb it or collect crafting ingredients there. Between the living and dead parts of the tree, there was a meter-wide passage running from the east, where the sun rises, to the west, where it sets.

A stable, one-way portal opened at the eastern end of the passage. A young man holding a one-year-old girl tumbled out, nobody else with him. Nobody recognized his bone armor or his magic shield. The people had forgotten who it was that had grown and then destroyed the tree.

New world structure: 4th level

Fourth Sequence Limiter activated

Current location: Lone Tree Field

 

The world was seeing the return of one who had twice overturned Olympus.

End of Part One

Part TwoThe Keeper’s Game

The other players thought I was a Lunar stooge; the gods wanted to kill me or throw me in jail; I just wanted a peaceful life. The only break I’ve caught is grabbing the books on dark magic from the basement of Teurus’ temple. Sure, I’ve met lots of people who have treated me well, but I earned their trust with hard work. Victories, gifts, deals, and reciprocation have bought me everything—nobody’s ever handed me anything on a plate. This is my last letter, and it contains my recollection of everything that happened in the last two and a half years. They’re the most colorful, interesting years of my life.

I had no idea where I would end up when I was thrown into the portal, but my Lone Tree ended up being my path out of the world of the dead. The one-way portal is stable and stays open after I step through it. You can’t use it to go the other way, however.

One-way portal from the Gray Lands

 

It’s a lovely little title that makes the blood freeze in my veins. What if Tiamat invades the world with his countless hordes? He alone would be enough to chop up the continent in less than a day. The world might as well start counting down to the end of time.

Death realized that it might take years for me to complete my side of the deal, so he gave me an advance.

“I’ll resurrect one member of your family right now. You have five minutes to decide who will go with you.”

Tiamat is still sitting on his throne, but three people teleport into the room right then. They’re wearing the same clothes as the rest of the locals.

“Sagie!”

Do I really need that much to be happy? All it takes is to see my parents after they died eight years ago. For five whole minutes, I can enjoy being next to them, knowing that they’re all right. They weren’t thrown into hell. Father was able to get them through two trials. We just missed each other in one of the cities I passed through. Both of them say I should take Rosie with me which is actually what I was expecting—my little sister has no business being in the world of the dead.

I promise to come back for them as soon as I hold up my end of the deal with death. When my father hears these words, he hugs me and says what any son wants to hear.

“You’re so grown-up, my boy. You’re a man, taking responsibility for the whole family. I’m proud of you, what you’ve done, and everything you’ve accomplished.”

This isn’t just praise or a tight hug. Father is calling me a man, and it’s only now that I start feeling like one. I’m already twenty-three! It’s what you do and the recognition of the people you trust that tell you whether you’re a boy or a man. Today is the day I grew up. It’s a proud moment.

As soon as I pick up Rosie, I’m thrown through the portal. Tiamat strips me of my meeting deferred gift, figuring that it’s an equivalent deposit, though I get to keep my bone armor and everything else I’ve collected on my travels through the world of the dead.

I show up in Kurg, and the guards barely have time to catch a glimpse of me before I’m hidden under a lesser canopy of invisibility. Their perception isn’t high enough to see me, which is what I need to leave the field without killing anyone. I clutch my sister to my chest, the person I care about most in the world.

As I leap into the tree and climb the trunk, the canopy drops, and the one-minute recharge time starts. The guards raise the alarm as I scamper higher. But there should be a magic space portal near the top, and that’s how I’m going to get into the astral.

Rosie cries, though she doesn’t let go of me. Two teleports later, one into and one out of the astral, we’re on a remote island in the River of Life. That morning, eight hours after I arrived in the big world, I’m standing at the monster-hunter guild in Sural. There’s a different administrator there at night, so I’m able to grab Nela as she walks in. My old acquaintance steps up with the girl I saw the last time.

“Hi, Nela. I really need to talk with you.”

The girl smiles and looks down, her gaze falling on the boots I gave her.

“Every time you stop by, I have to deal with endless questions. The time you came with that red thing, I had a week straight of them. I almost got fired—the crowd scared away all the low-level players. But here you are again. What do you need this time?”

“In four hours at most, the whole world will be looking for me. And they’ll all be trying to hurt or kill me.” Rosie peeks out from where she’s been hiding behind my bone greaves to look at the strange lady. “This is my sister Rosie.