Rise of the Omnimage

Chris "Sage" Shephard was reading the latest path report from the research division of the US government when the call came in from a very unexpected person he hadn't heard from in years.

"Mrs. Ekart! It's great to hear from you!" He said over the phone.

"Chris, it's good to hear from you. I hope you and Elena have been well as always." Brittanie said.

"We have! We have! What is the reason for this very pleasant suprise?" Chris said eager to know what the Seraph and wife of one of his good friends could need from him.

"Kyrain developed a skill that quite frankly is baffling and we could use your help in figuring out how it works completely and we figured you would have a genuine curiosity about it as you had when we first contacted you over his path those years ago." Brittanie explained.

When Kyrain was ten and got his path nobody knew what to do. It was so outside of the norm and it sent Kyrain down in absolute agony going through the transformation from matter to antimatter with almost no change in his appearance or the way his body functioned. For the first few months Chris had taken Kyrain under his wing and helped him through figuring out the basics.

"I'm intrigued. Are you guys able to make a trip out sometime in the near future?" He asked.

"As a matter of fact, we are working that out. We can get you an answer hopefully by the end of the week. We have some testing to do. We think this is big. I'll send you the details over text." Brittanie said and a moment the system read out of what the skill said hit his phone.

The line was quiet for the period it took Chris to read the message and then stayed quiet for a good 15 seconds after where Brittanie checked to see if they were still connected.

"Yes, I'm here. This is huge. In two primary ways. One of those ways is terrifying to imagine and the second way is impressive." Chris responded.

"Chris, I'm hopeful that we can develop this skill to be able to get Sorin back. Yes it's good for Kyrain to master this, but it would be better for the family to have Sorin back. He has been abused and has been miserable in every single use of my skill. The last years he has been in some underground facility with this white and red collar on. A few times I saw him in chains." Brittanie explained emotion leaking through her tone.

"I know Brit. I wish I could offer more as always and will do what I can. It does say when Kyrain reaches tier 10 there is a bonus and it could be distance travel multiplier or even a way to travel into another world altogether, there is just no way to know. See if you can get that skill running then come on over. Elena and I would love to have you guys over." Chris responded in a solemn tone.

"Thank you guys. It means a lot to us. We will be in touch when we are ready to "walk over" as he calls it now." She said wrapping up the conversion.

He hung up the phone and looked back up and his lovely bride Elena, the woman of his dreams, her path is Canticle of War. Her every movent is a final song for her opponents or she can add enjoyment to her every day tasks as life always has a musical rhythm to it if you listen.

"Everything ok?" Elena asked.

Chris smiled at her. "It is and hopefully we can get even more good news in the future if this works like we want it to. That was Brittanie Ekart." He replied.

"The Seraph. I've heard of her exploits and the mother of the child who we helped out years ago, with the unique path." She said.

"Well he developed a very peculiar travel skill, which comes with some terrifying system text. It said that this skill called "Rift Walk" is shared by dragons."

Elena looked up quickly woth her eyebrows going up in suprise.

"Dragons....mythical creatures that breathe fire and fly dragons?" She asked

She continued. "Do you think these dragons could come through the rifts like other monsters?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't be suprised, but from what it sounds like, dragons don't need to. They existence of this skill and the text suggests dragons not only do not require rifts, but might explain why we have dragons in our legends dating back thousands of years." Chris explained.

Elena nodded. "So are they coming here? If so, don't forget to take some time from the academy. You took that trip a few months ago and forgot to let any of your staff know. There were a few classes you were supposed appear in and left hanging." She said.

Chris hunched his shoulders in embarrassment. "Yes that was uncomfortable when I came back. Thank you for reminding me. The other thing I have to wonder now is how much of the mythical legends are actually true. What about a Phoenix, fairies, elves, dwarves, excalibur, etc. If dragons are real then what about giants? We have legends all throughout human history that have stories of these creatures. Some were even worshiped as dieties."

Elena knew how her husband became when it came to knowing things and his passions. She had watched his video gaming days where every single loading screen, he was doing burpees. He was always quirky as was that gaming group he was in. She did have a question for him that might help.

"Couldn't you just ask the Seraph if she could use her vision skill to confirm if those creatures were real?"

Chris paused for a second, then shook his head.

"Unfortunately not. It would have to be someone she has seen that is still alive. She was as suprised as I was about the dragon piece, so she hasn't seen a dragon. Plus we haven't heard any of those other creatures save for giants coming through the rift."

Elena shrugged. "It was worth asking. Hopefully you can figure things out concerning this rift walking ability for them. I think it could help you with a lot of questions. If you can get Sorin back, I'm sure he will be able to answer a TON of questions."