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Chapter 1 - Kr’Tall the Second Keeper
🕑 Added 2023-04-07 07:06:07 +0000 UTCDisclaimer: I don’t own the characters or the world appearing in this story, they are creations and property of the fantastic George R. R. Martin. I’m not sure if I can claim my OCs as my own, so I’ll play it safe and dedicate them to GRRM.
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Author’s Note: Hello, and welcome! Thanks a lot for picking this up. This is my first attempt at writing a good-length story, hence things might be a little rough. I hope we can keep our comments constructive and reviews positive. Now, let's get on with it.
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[Year - Undefined]
“Gasp!” Harry sucked in a long breath as he woke abruptly. It was a unique sensation for him to experience, the suddenness with which his consciousness returned.
Getting ahold of his condition, he found himself sitting slack at the visitor's end of a very nice walnut-epoxy table. The room around him was extremely posh – checking almost all of his interior design needs. It was a small but cosy room; the wallpaper and carpet giving it a sort of British look. His mom was very consistent at pestering his father to replace his home office table for a while now. Dad was making do with an old plastic table, something which had been in the family since before Harry was born. His mom would have liked this table.
Gathering his wandering thoughts, Harry returned his attention to the situation at hand. It was a unique affair, to say the least, and Harry wondered why he was regaining consciousness; because he did not recall losing it at all, to begin with. However, at that moment, he guided his scrutiny towards the opposite end of the table, for there was a man sitting on the other side with a very charming smile. Harry could swear that he’d never met this man before in his life, but even more importantly he had no recollection of how he’d ended up in this place either.
“I would have been very surprised if you’d known how you’d gotten here, my friend. I designed this room just a minute ago, with the sole purpose of hosting you, after all,” the man said with an arch look.
Harry was understandably brought out of his musings. The fact that this man had read his mind did not surprise him for some reason. Also, any confusion, anxiety or fear he might have had with the situation seemed to get pushed back to the recesses of his mind.
“That’s Gamer’s Mind at work,” the man explained. “It pushes back overwhelming emotions to protect Keepers from harsh effects on their psyche. But don’t you worry, you’ll have complete control over it and nothing I give you will ever be detrimental. Unless I preface it as such of course,” the man continued, having read his mind yet again.
Harry grasped the chair he was perched on and pushed himself to sit upright. Meeting the man’s eyes, he spoke for the first time since waking up in the nice room.
“Who are you and where am I?”
The man chuckled, his entire countenance shaking with humour.
“Right!” the man exclaimed. Clearing his throat to set the mood for the conversation, he began his explanation. “So, Harry, you’ve been removed from your world to be provided with a purpose,” he said.
“A purpose?” Harry repeated.
“Yes, A higher purpose,” said the man, “although, I suppose I should have introduced myself by now.”
Leaning back into his chair, the man straightened his back whilst also smoothening his outfit; a really classy outfit, Harry noted. “I am Kr'Tall,” he said, “the Second Keeper of the multiverses.”
Harry raised an eyebrow, not impressed with the declaration. However, the man – or the God, if what he said was true – just continued on with an amused glint in his eye.
“I was chosen hundreds of million years ago by Alan, the First Keeper, to join his rank and become the Second Keeper,” said Kr’Tall, “and now, I’m giving you the same opportunity that I was provided with, all those years ago.”
Harry did not let loose a peep in response and Kr’Tall continued on without losing momentum.
“We, the Keepers, have been monitoring anything and everything for a long– long time, and now we believe that the time has come for another to join our ranks,” he finished rather simply in contrast to his awe-inspiring tale.
Harry had gone through a multitude of emotions through the explanation – from disbelief to panic to being overwhelmed. Whatever he’d been expecting, this had not been it. He was caught flatfooted and it took him a moment to digest the overload of information. Kr'Tall waited patiently with a small smile on his face; waiting for Harry to ask his questions.
“Alright,” Harry declared, “I’m going to take… everything that you just said for granted. So, let’s start with what a Keeper is, and why you chose me for– for– whatever this is…”
Kr’Tall had a kind smile on his face throughout.
“A Keeper,” began the man, “is the most powerful being in all of time, in every multiverse.”
Harry nodded. Simple, so far.
“Apart from us, there are always other entities trying to gain power in every multiverse,” said Kr’Tall.
Harry nodded yet again.
“While that in itself is not something that we condone – after all, we Keepers ourselves were mundane powerless entities at some point – some of these entities do it in ways that alter the code of the universe. We, Keepers, make sure that these people are taken care of before they do any lasting damage,” Kr’Tall explained.
“Right,” Harry said.
“As for why you were chosen,” Kr’Tall looked at him with some expectation. “It’s because you are a perfect candidate for immortality. Your mind is even better suited for it than Alan's.”
Harry couldn’t really understand what that meant for him, but it seemed to be a good thing from how Kr’Tall phrased it. So, he just went with it.
“Immortality is a very volatile state,” Kr’Tall stated, “it is something that hardly one person in a billion can handle.”
He moved his hand and gestured towards his right. Suddenly two people materialised at the place he’d pointed his hand towards. A man and a woman.
“These are two of my spouses. Enit is a little more than a million years old while Ka’rim is just over sixty-six thousand years old.”
Ka’rim and Enit smiled at Harry, while Kr’Tall continued on. “While there are some entities, like Enit, who are capable of handling immortality for a long time, only a rare few can continue forever. I myself have lost six spouses to the passage of time over my lifetime, and now Enit has–”
Enit cut in before Kr’Tall could finish.
“–decided to pass on,” she said as she sent a soft smile towards Kr’Tall. He returned a sad smile at the gesture.
“I wanted you to witness her passing on,” Kr’Tall said turning back to Harry.
He vacated his chair, only for the table and chair to dematerialise. Harry followed, only idly noticing that his own chair had vanished as well.
Enit kissed both Kr’Tall and Ka’Rim, one last time, before sending a small smile towards Harry, bidding him goodbye. Kr’Tall moved forward and tapped her chest and she – just – disappeared. There was nothing left over, no fanfare, no tears, nothing at all. One moment she was there and then suddenly she wasn’t.
Harry only idly noticed as Ka’Rim bid him before vanishing. He did notice some glistening at the edge of his eyes, however.
“Ahem…” Kr’Tall cleared his throat.
Only then did Harry notice that he was gaping in shock.
“What the fuck was that!?” Harry yelled. Even Gamer’s Mind’s currently high tuning couldn’t sort him out.
Kr’Tall brightened significantly; seemingly taking comfort in his confusion. “You just saw what happens to a person when they choose to pass on, Harry,” he said.
Harry breathed in for a long moment and exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself.
Somewhat pulling himself together, he lifted up his head and locked eyes with Kr’Tall. “I’m going to ask you simple questions and you are going to keep answering me in simple sentences. Is – that – clear?”
“Crystal,” Kr’Tall nodded. “Although, there might be some questions that I am just not able to answer at this point.”
“I can allow that,” Harry nodded, “so, you are Kr’Tall and you rule the universe?”
“I monitor and remove dangerous individuals from the multiverses,” said Kr’Tall, correcting him.
“What do you mean by multiverses?” Harry asked in turn.
“Each multiverse has multiple universes and there are multiple multiverses,” Kr’Tall said as if that cleared everything up.
Harry shook his head in exasperation; even his simple sentences were unclear. “How many multiverses and universes are there?” he questioned.
“You cannot put a number on it, Harry, there are new planes of reality created all the time,” Kr’Tall said, his face showing a little pity; as if he did understand that the concept could be hard to get his mind around.
“Uggh!” Harry clenched his hand, irritated enough to sock the man. Then just as suddenly as it appeared, all his irritation was pushed back. With a sigh, he relaxed his hand and looked up at Kr’Tall, who seemed unaffected by his entire display.
“Are you saying that I have to take care of these multiverses now? Am I all-powerful and immortal?”
“Not exactly,” Kr’Tall said as he sat down. His chair materialised as he lowered himself. “You’ve been chosen and given a chance to join our ranks as the next Keeper. While this does give you immortality – it doesn’t mean that you’re all-powerful. You will have to amass power slowly by working for it or taking it from other entities,” Kr’Tall answered.
“How do I take power from other entities?” Harry asked thoughtfully.
“By killing them of course,” Kr’Tall answered smoothly.
Harry was shocked for just a second before his emotions were smoothed out.
“I thought that’s what you prevented – people gathering power through untoward means?” Harry questioned with a scowl.
Kr’Tall laughed at that. A genuine hearty laugh.
“Ha! Killing is not what alters the code of the universe, Harry. Death is just a part of life,” Kr’Tall said with a small smile.
“So I’ll have to kill people?” asked Harry.
“Yes I’m afraid so... you can do without it, of course – It’ll just take more time. Although, we both know you don’t have a high aversion towards the deed, don’t we?” Kr’Tall said simply.
Harry just glossed over it to the next question. “So what happens now? I go home and start killing people?”
Kr’Tall stilled for a second before chuckling. “Oh, by the Old Ones! Not at all! You are not going back to your home universe. At least not until you obtain the power to freely travel the multiverse without aid.”
“What about my life back home? And my parents?” Harry asked.
“The moment you were brought here, you were wiped from the multiverse. There is no trace of you left. Your parents don’t remember you anymore,” said Kr’Tall.
“So I can’t say no?” Harry asked with an oddly blank look.
“Come now, we both know it – we both know how much this excites you,” Kr’Tall replied with the same blank look.
For the first time since this whole ordeal, Harry’s face displayed a positive emotion. The grin on his face was wide and feral. Because what Kr’Tall had said was true. Harry’s life had lost all charm since he got his college acceptance letter. There was simply nothing that excited him anymore.
“Yes, I suppose I won’t.”
Kr’Tall’s face morphed into a similar grin as well. It was a bit unsettling. His handsome face was not suited for such a grin. “I knew you wouldn’t already.”
“So how might we go about this?” Harry questioned, rubbing his hands together.
“Well, I’ll drop you off on a planet and you’ll slowly start amassing power. You’ll get an AI companion to help consolidate and categorise power. Any gifts that we Keepers wish to share with you will be sent through your companion,” Kr’Tall explained.
Harry sighed. This seemed like it would take a long time. “This is going to take millions of years, isn’t it?”
“Depends on how you go about it. You’re intelligent enough to figure out that this isn’t my first attempt at choosing the next Keeper. I’ve made six attempts so far and well – the fact that you are here makes their fates pretty self-explanatory,” Kr’Tall said shaking his head. “Just because you are immortal doesn't mean that you can’t be killed. You’ll have advantages, of course, but it depends on how you capitalise on them.”
Harry took some time to internalise the information. He had gone through quite a lot this day. Then finally –
“Alright, let’s begin,” Harry said.
“Hmm... I was thinking of sending you to Kuoh, just to start things off. Shall we start wit–”
“Wait what?” Harry interrupted, “Kuoh? Are you talking about the same Kuoh I’m thinking of?”
“Fictional worlds are just echoes of other universes, Harry,” Kr’Tall explained calmly. “They are sparked through interference from multiversal travellers. Alan himself is from one of the Wizarding worlds.”
“Okay…” Harry said, his mind working at a furious pace. “Alright… Then I don’t think Kuoh is a very good starting point. It has some very powerful people and if I start at the bottom, they’ll be thousands if not hundreds of thousands of times more powerful than me.”
“Is that why all six of them met such untimely ends?” Kr’Tall muttered thoughtfully. “But it really just is a suggestion – you can ask for something else if you’d prefer it. Though if the world has nothing to do with the supernatural your gains might be very slow.”
“Hmm… What about the ‘Game of Thrones’ universe? The power scaling shouldn’t be too much to handle,” Harry suggested.
“Yes, that is a decent enough option. If you are sure then we can move on to any appearance change you might wish for.”
Harry was a huge fan of the medieval-sword-and-kings-genre. His choices had been deviating between GoT and The Witcher but ultimately he chose GoT. At least he won’t face any actual monsters in the former.
“Yeah, let’s move on. How do I change my appearance?” Harry asked.
A mirror materialised to his side. “Just think about it and adjust it to your liking,” Kr’Tall said.
Harry had decent enough genetics already. An oval face, brown hair, black eyes and a slim body. At the age of seventeen, he measured 5’10. But like any living person, he had some insecurities about his appearance.
He started with his body type. He preferred a fairly muscled body to a swimmer’s. Also, it made a lot of sense for the world he’d chosen. He would need power and strength to use a sword.
He started with a swimmer's body type and kept increasing the muscle mass till he reached a decent middle ground – a body type of someone who lifts but also does cardio. He especially made sure that his shoulders were nice and wide. He was a bit self-conscious about his slim body.
For his face, he already knew what he wanted. A jawline like Superman himself, ‘And Witcher too’ he thought to himself. ‘That dude is in all the cool stuff.’
His current face shape was oval with a sharp chin like one of those boy band members and it made him look girlish. He definitely won’t be keeping that. His hair colour was changed to black. He put more effort into his eyes, however. He really liked heterochromia so he decided to go with two colours. A nice purple for the left and grey with amber-golden specks near the pupil for the right eye.
For some reason, his complexion was set to a pale skin tone with what seemed like a healthy tan the moment he picked his hair and eye colour. He had definitely gotten the feeling of being able to change it when he’d started customising.
Finally, he took a step back and took everything in at once. Although he was tall enough in his current life he would need to be a lot taller in a world where people fought with swords. He played with his height for a bit, a little bit with his arms and then his face. Before long, he reached something where everything just seemed to fit. He could afford to be a little vain when it was handed to him on a silver platter. Looking at himself in the mirror, Harry could confidently say that he had never seen a more handsome man in his life. And that's saying something since Kr’Tall’s looks weren’t anything to scoff at. Although Kr’Tall’s charm seemed to lean towards a sexy professor rather than a knight or a warrior.
“Seems like you’re all done,” Kr’Tall said, looking him over.
“I think so, I keep feeling like I’ve forgotten something… but I don’t know why,” Harry said.
“I wouldn’t know, I’m afraid,” Kr’Tall said a little evasively, “But let’s move on to the final part of it! Your companion and blessing!”
Kr’Tall moved closer to Harry and touched his chest, just like he did with Enit. There was no change to what he was feeling at all, but he could suddenly see words floating in front of him. He intuitively knew what the words were and their meaning.
[ Status
Name: Undecided
LVL: 1
STR: 1
END: 1
DEX: 1
CHA: 1
INT: 1
WIS: 1
Points: 0
Perks
Gamer’s Mind
Gamer’s Body
Skill
Mind Reading ]
It seemed like his companion system would help him consolidate his abilities through the use of points and also keep track of the abilities that he gains.
He had also been granted a blessing, as a starting advantage. In this case, he had gotten Mind Reading!
“This is… too useful, what are the drawbacks?” Harry asked suspiciously.
“None at all! When the power comes from Keepers, it is always the most powerful variant, at least until we develop a better variant. You should be able to read anyone’s mind unless they have Gamer’s mind. Which doesn’t really matter, since only Keepers have Gamer’s mind,” said Kr’Tall.
Harry was pensive for a moment. “How are you able to read my mind then, don’t I have Gamer’s Mind?” he asked.
“You haven’t consciously reached out to Gamer’s mind yet. When you do that – ah, see, now that you’ve done it, even Alan and I won’t be able to read your mind unless you allow it,” Kr’Tall replied with a proud look.
Harry took a moment to think everything over and focused on looking at the system a bit more.
“You don’t seem very upset over losing your wife,” Harry stated sometime later, with more than a little trepidation. Even though the man had been very accommodating, he still was an all-powerful being, after all.
Kr’Tall eyed him, without showing any emotion. Then with a sigh, he allowed a sad smile on his face. “We had already made our peace with it, Harry. However, I wanted to show you and delayed it until I felt you were ready. I want you to know that in the next hundreds, thousands, millions or even billions of years that you might live for, people are going to die, and you have to live with it. Just like I am now.”
They were both silent for a while.
“Okay!” Harry said, trying to cheer himself, “I think I’m ready… Unless there is anything else you might want to tell me?”
“Not at the moment, no. Good luck on your journey Harry!” Kr’Tall said with a soft smile. He moved forward to touch his chest.
“Wait a second!” Harry exclaimed at the last moment. Kr’Tall paused and raised an eye.
“Can you clear my parents’ debt? Pay off the loan for our house and car and –” he spluttered quickly.
Kr’Tall nodded at him with a chuckle. “Yes – yes, I can.”
Harry’s eyes widened. “Also make them the richest people in the world?” he tried.
Kr’Tall glared at him, but Harry could see some amusement in it as well.
“No,” he heard before everything went black.
