Limitless, John Gold [best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

Project Chrysalis

#4

Limitless

By John Gold

Translated by Jared Firth

Copyright © 2018 LitHunters Ltd. (http://lithunters.com)

All rights reserved.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase another copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Contents:

Part One

There and Back

Part Two

The Keeper’s Game

Part Three

Golden Age

Epilogue

Book Recommendations:

∞ ∞ ∞

Part OneThere and Back

Sagie, remember, no matter what happens, you will always remain human. What you do, what you think, and the decisions you make are built on the experience you have and the situation you’re in. Don’t fault yourself for your mistakes or let bitterness creep into your view of what you’ve done. Don’t think yourself perfect either. Seeing and understanding more than other people doesn’t mean you’re smarter or better than them. It’s going to be scary for you to look out over a world you understand better and better—villainy, flattery, lust, greed, stupidity, and an inability to understand one’s own actions are just a fraction of what you will see in everybody around you. I’m closer to understanding truth, absolute truth, and the order of the world. My mind recognizes what Femida, Leon, and Bernard can’t. I understand more than the clans and the shadowy alliance leaders. You and I have walked a path that makes us something more than a normal person. Sure, I’m not perfect. My motives, the reasons I react the way I do, my dreams, my desires, my goals…there’s room for criticism in all of it. And I get what’s behind everything. You aren’t ready to hear that though, and that’s okay. The rest of the world is right there with you.

∞ ∞ ∞

There’s nothing but gray fields of lifeless ash around me. A whitish fog hangs over it all, also slowly infected by the gray, though with no wind to drive it away. Take a single step, and it’s right there to greet you. Even with my advanced perception, I can’t see what’s on the other side. I activate synesthesia, my senses all jumble together, and it starts to feel like the world is spinning. Earth and sky trade places. The fog takes on form. Everywhere, there are little ghosts of unknown creatures, my enemies, my only friends, my family, the old gods, and the new gods. It takes me five minutes to get my bearings, fear and rage mixing inside my soul. The rage comes from within me, from the darkest corners of my consciousness; I don’t know where the fear is coming from. My first encounter with Hell taught me to hide, but I’m lying here out in the open like an idiot, knowing that there’s an assailant somewhere out there.

The effect of the synesthesia wears off. Thirty seconds later, I’ve used a telekinetic shovel to dig myself in so that only my eyes are visible. A few Air Magic spells brush my tracks out of the ash. A minute goes by, two minutes, three minutes… Nobody shows up to check out the newcomer to the Gray Lands. My perception strains to the limit, and I sense every little tremor in the air and glimmer in the gray fog. For ten long minutes, I wait, listen, smell, and sense. But nobody is out there besides the lifeless ash spreading in all directions. My body smells of nothing, though my pounding heart thunders in my sensitive ears. Of course, my imp eye catches movement but it’s my own. I can feel the grains of sand around me quiver with my pulse. There aren’t any enemies, however. There isn’t anyone.

No! Deeper! I need to study everything better and make doubly sure before I move out and take my first steps. A deep breath calms my whole body. Relax even more! I need to get so close to being dead that my heart almost stops beating.

My perception heightens, my heart beats once every six seconds, and my thoughts flow more slowly. I see, hear, feel, and smell better. Still, I don’t sense anyone. It’s like I’m in a sensory deprivation capsule, with even the temperature of the air and the general atmosphere remaining the same. My eyes strain, and I send a meteor crashing down right at the limit of my perception.

I feel the distant strike with my whole body, after which a wave of ash and the sound of the explosion both reach me. Again, silence… Five… Ten minutes, and still no change. My magic vision shows me the same gray tones without a hint of magic.

Regardless of the fact that I appear to be safe, I continue lying there thinking. Why aren’t my map and minimap working? At least, they’re showing that I’m staying in one spot, with none of the area around me explored—it’s all a gray fog. Why aren’t there any direction indicators? Which way is north? The minimap is telling me I’m in the House of Rage, but there aren’t any buildings nearby.

My streams of consciousness merge, but I still can’t understand what’s going on. With no clear navigation, I should be using some kind of clue to tell me where to go. But there’s nothing like that.

I lie there for a long six hours waiting for something to happen, but nothing does.

Thinking back to Femida, I remember the show we put on and the scheme we hatched. I knew from the very beginning that she wasn’t going to come with me to the Gray Lands, so I asked Ekron to take care of her while I was gone. Our meeting in Katain felt more like a betrothal ceremony. How Femida blushed when Ekron said, “Get over here, my precious!” Both girls were happy to be together, and I am sure Femida is in good