The emergency game-saver and I stood there, staring into the darkness and the large blue sphere that hung in the air, broken in half by some dark magic. There wasn't anything there- no seven-foot demon with horns and drooling fangs, no tentacled thing from the depths, no soul-destroying Gynoug-esque horror. I could feel its presence though- on the other side of an invisible void, a wall of pixels crawling like ants. It was behind me, in front of me, everywhere. It was a ragged double helix of chaotic data spiralling upwards to a fallen heaven. Loud beeping escaped from the game-saver's fault sensor radar and it shattered in his hand.

"OW! What the Didros is this?" he yelled at me.

"It's Valmar." I whispered.

"It's going wild."

"I want you to help me repair the corrupted data."

"Ye've got to be joking! I'm an adept from Capel Datei. I've fought viruses bare-handed. What ye're asking is impossible. That... will never be repaired."

"The Wings of Valmar will help you." I told him. I fished my mobile phone out of my pocket and dialled Millennia's number. "Hello? It's Zera. I need your help."

"There's been a mistake, Zera. Leave the Cathedral now. Evacuate everyone." she ordered. I've never heard her sound so serious before. She normally turns everything into a game.

"It's too late for that. My own data is reacting to the Core of Valmar. I'm turning into a final guardian. If I leave now, the process will be disrupted and I'll die. Millennia... I'm going to try and contain the data. I have a technician with me."

"I'll be over as soon as possible."

She switched off her mobile and teleported into the room. I jumped. The technician didn't seem fazed. Those emergency game-savers must see all sorts of things in the line of duty. They began to talk to each other in a technical language I didn't understand a word of. Then they got straight down to work. I'm now sure exactly what they did but it involved lots of pressing buttons on gadgets that went beep, lots of chanting and waving a record book around, lots of eldritch black flames crackling around Millennia as she wove dark enchantments. Finally, half an hour later, they stopped.

"The data is safe to use." said Millennia, "However, it isn't entirely safe. You'll need a strong will to channel so much raw statistical power."

"I'm a final guardian. We're designed to have high stats."

"Your evolution hasn't quite finished." the technician told me, "You'll become a final guardian as you become the Core of Valmar. You have to control the power so that you only level up one as you level up the other. The most important thing is not to let your emotions become chaotic and don't get too greedy for higher stats."

"Show me how to level up safely and I'll do it." I didn't want to lose my one chance to become something other than a boring old cleric.

The evolution ceremony began.

I stood under the broken seal, my hat firmly on my head and my hands clasped together. An invisible wind pulled at me but I stood my ground. I felt the power of Valmar flow through every cell, every chromosome, every data partition in my body. I closed my eyes and saw the pixels consuming my old, obsolete identity and leaving behind a shiny new character class, that of a final guardian and a receptacle of the Core of Valmar. My stats suddenly rocketed upwards- it felt like a strong jolt of electricity. It wasn't bad as Granas' little personal introduction to the papacy but it was almost as bad. I endured the pain and concentrated on maintaining my grip on my personality. I am myself, I thought. I have always been myself. When I was a child playing in the field. When I was a young adult in a pub trying to drink Rundorig under the table and failing miserably. When I was an old man with a beautiful but psychopathic girlfriend. My personality- that eternal flame in the center of my consciousness- will never be extinguished.

I am Zera Innocentius.

The technician stopped chanting and closed the record book. Millennia hid behind a pillar just in case. The roaring sound in my head died down and it was over at last.

"I am Zera Innocentius." I said, "I am the Pope of Granas and I am the Core of Valmar."

It suddenly struck me what I'd just done.

"Now I have two religions to look after."

Millennia laughed.

"I don't think so."

"What do you mean?"

"I wouldn't tell Selene you're the Core of Valmar, sweetie. She'd burn you at the stake."

"You're right." I sighed. I hated keeping secrets from Selene. "Is it okay if I tell her my new stats come from Granas?"

"You can tell her they come from the Easter Bunny for all I care, sweetie."

See what I mean about Millennia?