When the system teleport ended he found himself in a round hall made from white and red marble. While he stood in the middle on the marbled floor there were rows upon rows of seats around him filled with white figures, each of them wearing an identical mask that lacked any definition. Ethan turned around and nearly jumped when he saw Liliane stand behind him looking perplexed at her surroundings.

  “Why are you here?!” Ethan asked shocked only for him to sigh and rub his temples with pale fingers. “Alright, alright…damn what a shitshow.” He focused on his surroundings, Liliane looked completely lost anyway and wasn’t even responding to his question. But before he could walk off and explore the space he was in another person appeared on the far site of the marble hall. He wore fine looking chainmail made from red metal with two rapiers attached to his belt, one rapier was black the other red. He had long gray hair bound into a ponytail, a well-groomed beard gave him a manly appearance. His eyes were a deep crimson and seemed to burn from the inside.

  Behind the man in red stood three figures, a woman dressed in green, a man dressed in yellow and another man in brown. They looked rather smug with themselves, all of them carried themselves with the confidence of someone better than the rest of the world. Ethan gave all four a hard look, his [Identify] not working on them but if it was because of their difference in strength or because of this place was unknown to him.

  Still the surprises didn’t stop as another featureless figure appeared in the middle of them, this one wearing a white and red mask on its face. The figure was tall, towering over them while radiating a specific kind of power, the power of the system.

  *Update* Arbiter created…personality set…

  The figure took a deep breath like it suddenly came to life right in front of their eyes and turned his head left and right. “Alright, here we go again it seems. Another one of those affairs.” His voice was deep and infused with the same gravitas the system had. He sounded like a man even if he didn’t have the obvious features that would identify him as one. The arbiter turned to both sides before tilting his head for a moment and opening his arms in an inviting gesture.

  “Welcome to my hall, today we will discuss the upcoming system event. This event is a special one especially for a newly integrated universe and was sanctioned by the heavenly court. Please check your notifications.”

  He fell silent, a sign that he would only talk further after they read the notification that appeared for them when he mentioned it. Ethan looked at the Arbiter again before opening the waiting notification.

  *Update* The progenitor war!

  War is on the horizon for two progenitors who were chosen to fight to the death.

  This war will be fought by…

  Ethan Delaney, Progenitor of Winter Elves

  Jacques Allard, Progenitor of Bloodfire Hellborn

  The rules of this war are simple…

  There will be a one year preparation period for both sides, if one side attacks before that period is over the other side wins by default.

  The war can last a maximum time of five years, after that the system will decide the winner based on certain factors.

  Each side can surrender which will prevent further combat between both factions, but will end in the death of the losing party.

  Gods can grant their supported side benefits but only after the one year preparation period.

  The Arbiter’s word is absolute in all decisions during preparation and war time. The system is the truth of the multiverse.

  Ethan finished reading and turned his attention back to the Arbiter, at some point Liliane came closer, hiding behind him while also reading the notification. She shouldn’t even be here but there was nothing he could do, in here he had no power.

  The other side seemed to be finished too with their notification, the smug look never vanishing from their faces.

  The man in front, wearing the red armor, smiled even more, showing his sharp teeth. On closer inspection Ethan could even see two small horns hidden in his hair, he would have missed them but with him being his seemingly assigned arch enemy he studied everything he could about the man, which wasn’t a lot. His appearance wasn’t that special in the grand scheme of things and because he couldn’t fight him he wouldn’t see any abilities from him…at least today.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  His eye twitched, the man annoyed him just being this overly confident in himself. Ethan might not be as good as most people when it comes to confidence and being comfortable around other people but he was strong in other ways. Before he could ask the Arbiter something about the man, Jacques asked a question. “What about civilians? Are they also limited in such a way?” It was a good question and Ethan was a bit shocked by the answer.

  “There are no civilians, the only people protected by the one year long truce are the people in your faction, the rest can be interacted with in any way you choose. In the wider multiverse nobody will care about civilian casualties, only the strong people count, the rest are just stepping stones to the pinnacle because this is the way of the system, try to remember it. Any other questions?”

  Ethan stepped forward, tapping his staff on the marble floor which produced a bright clear note. “Is it possible to request a drop of location after this meeting ends?” He was curious how generous the system would be, it allowed this war to happen as a system event so maybe Ethan could return to earth and arrive at a more favorable spot.

  The Arbiter answered without delay. “Yes…it’s possible though we can guarantee that you will find many followers for your war if you end up in a remote location. But there is no limitation set in general.” Ethan smiled and stepped back Liliane looking up to him, raising an eyebrow. He leaned down and whispered. “I can’t go back to that forest, it’s an area where I have no advantage, hell, I’m at a constant disadvantage with all those mushrooms.”

  “You’re right, as you obviously use ice and stuff so…yeah I know what you mean but for me it was perfect.” she pouted and crossed her arms, possibly worried what those little flower fucks were doing in her absence, probably nothing if he was right.

  “Well the meeting should be over anyway, look two of them are already gone.” The moment he said it the other two vanished and they were alone with the Arbiter. The faceless man turned to them.

  “The woman will be returned to the forest…” Liliane vanished when their last word was spoken. “...where will you go now progenitor?" He tilted his head, the question sounding more ominous than it should have. Still Ethan needed to prepare, he didn’t understand why a war was even necessary but he knew he wanted to win and stay alive through all of it, there were things he had to take care of.

  A smile spread over his face, the beast hiding inside of him shining through for a moment. The cold that kept a lock on him receded for a moment as he looked up to the Arbiter and his faceless head. “I want the deepest north, the coldest region in the darkest valley. I want…winter incarnate.”

  The Arbiter looked at him, at his face, the human who killed so many and still behaved sometimes like a broken teenager despite his knowledge and his backing. He smiled too even if Ethan couldn’t see it. His artificial mind is infused with amusement. “Your wish will be granted, I hope you find your new neighbors as delightful as they think of you.”

  Suddenly Ethan stood in a dark valley, strong winds were pulling on his robes and hat, he had to brace himself against the wind as he looked around. But there was nothing around, just darkness and heavy snowfall. His soldiers had appeared with him and formed a wall around him, the larger one was just waiting for something to appear from the dark.

  But what Ethan didn’t expect was the sounds of gunfire and the large soldier was stumbling back, cracks forming inside of his body as it moved. On its chest was a rough circle, shrapnel or maybe pellets of a shotgun were stuck in the ice. More shots rang out and his soldier fell backwards, breaking apart when it hit the ground.

  Ethan tried to ready his magic but with no visible target he was kind of lost on what to do, he wanted to create a few shields to defend himself from more incoming fire. But before he could even spend his first point of mana he stopped because something dug into his back. He let go of his staff which got stuck in the deep snow.

  He raised his hands and a sigh escaped him, carried away by the storm. “Alright you got me, I won’t resist but at least let me talk to whoever is in charge because the last thing I want is trouble.”

  He heard a grunt behind him and was pushed forward, he started walking forward, grabbing his staff before it was out of reach. His captor kept pushing him until they reached what looked like a cave entrance. It seems there was no easy solution to this problem. Ethan took a deep breath and stepped into the dark entrance.

  Thank you for reading the chapter! If you can't and want to read more maybe give this a try, it's only five chapters so far.

  Also don't worry The Winter Wizard stays my priority!