Chapter 77: A Mortal Problem
🕑 Added 2024-03-24 21:46:39 +0000 UTCAuthors note: Super fun chapter. Enjoy!
P.s. we're now 2 months ahead in chapters.
Virgil had come immediately after hearing from a Founder that Symphony's Creator had punched the god of crafting. Carrying Walker to his bed in the cabin, he continued to speak while Walker's head bobbed to the motion of his large steps.
"...Cresendo is complete. You never placed a return portal in the center, but that can be done when you have time. The second planet, Melody, requires a great amount of Water. That means we will have to make sure it is trenched and designed from the ground up quite fluidly, if you do not mind my pun."
"Ugghhh, Virgil. I'm not exactly feeling my best here, pal."
The huge squirrel shrugged, causing Walker to shift up and down, "I apologize. I was attempting to create some levity for the situation."
"There is no levity," Walker grumped at him as they entered the cabin, Athena already in a nearby chair. "I hurt Heph for no reason, and I don't even know why."
"Indeed. That is not a logical act, and from what the smith has said, you were not in your right mind while doing it. I currently find no mental issues besides the normal with you, so I have asked Elder Athena to speak with you."
The goddess of wisdom stood up, "And I've asked a more knowledgeable person to speak with you as well. One whom you should have spoken to before going back to work."
"Don't tell me," Walker said in despair.
"WHY DID YOU HURT MY SON?" Zeus thundered when he entered the premises. Walker looked over as Virgil deposited him on the bed and found a small bit of lightning curled in the palm of Zeus's hand. He felt the burning in his chest return. A small tick, as if his body was constantly flinching, began to appear on his face as his eyes started to cloud over.
"YOU MUST PAY FOR WHAT-"
"STOP!" Athena screamed, finally noticing the look that was coming over Walker's face. She boldly stepped in front of Zeus, blocking Walker's vision of his hand, "IF YOU DON'T STOP HE MAY KILL YOU!"
"I'D LIKE TO SEE HIM-"
Virgil stepped over, easily lifting Zeus and throwing him through the door and out of the room.
He looked down at Walker just as his vision was beginning to return, "One moment please, Creator."
Walker's face showed only confusion, "Huh? What's happening now?"
As Virgil stepped out to deal with an obviously angry Zeus, they could hear bits and pieces of what was said, including a loud slap, "Ow! Don't slap me Elder Virgil, come now. How long-"
The rest of it was cut off as Athena sat down next to him, "Did you feel it that time?"
"Feel what?"
She rubbed her hands in her hair, "Your face, Walker. It was changing."
"It was?" Thoroughly befuddled, "What was it changing to? And from what?"
"Look, you need to speak to Zeus, but, I don't think he can control himself either. He is rather upset about you hurting Heph."
Walker sighed, "I didn't mean to hurt him."
Athena held up a hand, "I know, and I'll explain it to him as well, but it's too raw and only happened a moment ago. Give it a little bit of time."
Walker nodded, "I'll do that." Athena gave him a smile, but he felt something other than joy at seeing it. Just the barest of her teeth showed, and he felt like his chest was lighting on fire. As if from nowhere, he found he could visually see the golden glow of her soul covering her body. Just the thinnest of layers was around her right now, but that was enough for him to feel something dreadful begin to wake up inside of him.
Hunger.
This time he recognized what was happening. Holding it at bay by thinking of anyone, anything that didn't have to do with souls and the Awakened, Walker screamed at her, "Get out!"
Her face shifted from happiness to a hurt expression he had difficulty describing. When she noticed his face starting to twitch, she understood and quickly ran out of the room, calling on Virgil.
The large black squirrel entered just after he regained control of himself. Although Walker knew something had happened during his speech, he saw no soul-aspected imagery attached. His assistant put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you feeling okay, Walker?"
Feeling something bubble up in his chest, Walker hiccuped, "I don't know what's happening to me."
"Are you angry right now?"
Walker shook his head, "It wasn't anger, it was hunger. I wanted, no...needed, their power. It's like...."
Virgil tried interpreting the feeling, "Like you have a two-thousand-pound weight on your chest, and the only way to remove it is to take someone's soul. Is that correct?"
"Close, yes. But more consuming than that."
"Mmmm, yes. I have been perusing the Godeater program, which is similar to what you have described. Of course, that hunger never truly goes away, however it is mitigated by feeding the Origin within you."
"You got access to the Godeater program?"
"Indeed. Only pieces of it thus far, as they did not believe assistants needed to know everything that is contained within it. However, some of the testimonies from the former Godeaters spoke of an insatiable hunger that fed purely on the Awakened."
"How did they solve it?" Walker asked with a little hope in his eyes as he sat up.
"They sent them into battles with Awakened souls, of course. However, I do not suggest you begin to feed on the Primigenials."
Walker collapsed back onto the bed, feeling his energy dissipate. He pulled up the monitor and looked around Sonata. It felt a little creepy, but what else could he do right now? Even leaving the room could endanger his people. He watched as a few of the newest Founders laughed in the ping-pong room, then zoomed over to the cafeteria. They were serving some strange form of pasta, Demeter handing over a bowl to Dion with a smile he didn't return.
Walker moved it over to the Smithy, checking in on Heph. He found a few dents in the walls. Apparently, when he had lost control and hit him, he'd done it more than once. That made him feel even worse. Luckily, the man was nowhere to be found, even though he shifted the monitor. But, each time he found a smiling face or someone burning with ambition and curiosity, he began to feel the hunger. It grew so strong that he could even begin to see the weak Founder's souls through the monitor. His sensitivity to the Awakened must be going through the roof.
Needing a breather, he moved the monitor over to Romulus, intent on seeing what had happened to his big temporal error. Strange creatures still walked the land. He did spy a few of Rimi and Virgil's experiments, dutifully eating the Inhabitor beetles in slow motion. Watching it was akin to watching paint dry as the movements were so slow. Moving on, he looked at different locations and how they had changed since the uncontrolled portals had appeared. He found one area where a series of walking trees were fighting a series of winged creatures, laughing as they attacked, their faces held by time in a rictus.
"Those are a problem," Walker mumbled to himself.
Virgil looked over from his own screen, "Indeed. Something else we'll need to worry about."
Nodding, Walker moved the image around some more. He found creatures made of a fine silver mist, gliding throughout the world without a care. Behind them, they left a trail of vegetation and creatures shriveled up and burned. Just beyond those were huge monsters, five-legged and running in a pack. They had a trio of horns on their heads, each a different color, and multiple were stuck in time hooting at something in the distance. One of them was in the midst of being dissolved by the mist creatures, but the rest of the pack must have felt it was the smart play to leave one body behind rather than all of them, as they were moving away from the location.
While he still didn't feel great about everything, Walker spent a good bit of time looking around Romulus. He moved the monitor into the air and found thousands of Inhabitor beetles slowly flying back down to Romulus, likely because of the monster Rimi had created. But he also found some true beauty: flocks of multi-colored birds with four wings zooming from place to place, creatures that resembled ribbons, and even a giant eagle that would put Raganoth to shame with its size and grandeur. He smiled as he watched them, free in his accidentally created environment.
Moving the monitor again, he found a large group of creatures made of crystal. Some were pink and rose, others were green, blue, and even black. The huge ones were clear, with a throbbing light pulse shining within. Quite a few of the creatures had just stepped out of a dark brown portal, with many taking their time looking around. There were hundreds more already within the area, some sitting while others appeared to be scouts, watching from the edges of the group. Their organizational skills were somewhat surprising, implying either a higher form of instinct or at least basic intelligence. But, what really shocked him was that each of them had an aura similar to an Awakened.
"Hey, Virgil," he said, his breath picking up a little at the thought of satisfying his hunger.
"Yes, Walker." The Black squirrel said, turning to look at the screen with him.
"What do you think those are?" He replied, pointing at them.
"What does your identity say?"
"It's just a bunch of question marks..."
"I see....hrmm....I do not know if I am being honest with you, Walker. Those portals could open to anything and anywhere. Potentially even beyond the Origin itself, not to mention the Center. Based on my best guess, I would say those are collections of energy formed within a crystalline matrix. Whatever place they have come from would likely be rather uninhabitable for any non-silica-based lifeforms. Should you decide to enter that portal, I believe there is a very good chance that you might die even with your strength."
"Maybe... but what if I could bring them here?" Walker said, getting an idea and considering how best to complete a task that had weighed on him for a very long time. "What if I could find a way to get them to go through a portal?"
"Why would you ever want to do that?"
"Because," Walker said with a tight smile, "They're Awakened."
"I....ah, I see." Virgil looked at his screens for a moment, "Not Sonata. Too great of a chance for things to go wrong. Instead, let us place them on Fortis, the snow and mountain planet. You have already given orders for it to be a harder planet for the Founders to survive, but I believe those lifeforms would fit in quite well. Those who live, that is."
"You don't hate me a little bit for considering...I don't know, eating them?" Walker asked in some confusion.
"No, Walker. If you do not satisfy it this way, the only other option I was considering was to inundate yourself with primordial energy in the hope that some of the raw origin was contained within. However, if we did that, there was a very good chance we could worsen your situation. Without you, there is no point in everything else, and killing Founders and Primigenials on Sonata would only destroy your best chance of creating a harmonious world, as you once said. This is the best of a bad situation."
Walker sighed, "I agree, but, still. It feels....wrong. Very, very wrong."
"You already killed and absorbed Triton, did you not?"
Walker nodded, "You know I did, but that situation was different. I mean, I could take down Poseidon, but that would only confirm some of the Primigenials fears of me. It's just, I don't know...."
"I see. Would it help if those creatures were similar to the Devil from your bible? Heinous creatures who destroy everything in their path?"
Walker looked at the image, noting some smaller and some larger creatures—likely children. None of them had attacked anything yet; they had just come out of the portal and were settling down in the area. He couldn't view them as devils, devastating hunger or not. However, the longer he looked at the image, the greater his drive to consume grew. It was powerful, and only growing stronger.
He turned off the monitor, although he knew that he could instantly find the group again with one quick action.
Virgil noted how heavy his breathing had become, and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Ketchup Popsicle."
"I'm okay," Walker said, putting his hand over his and gently squeezing it.
He nodded, "So, what do you want to do."
"Either I meet these creatures and potentially destroy them, or I destroy Poseidon. There aren't many options here." Walker said in a grim voice.
Virgil nodded again, "You also cannot speed up Romulus without being ready to step in yourself and destroy all of the creatures currently nesting there. The potential for them to drift to another world and continue drifting is too high. We also don't have any portals on Fortis yet. We'll need to establish portals on both the mountain planet and Romulus so that it can be done without a problem. But still."
"But still," Walker said, picking it up for him, "I have to make a choice."
"Yes."
Walker nodded, "Lets set up the portals and go from there."
"One moment. Fortis, as the largest planet, is the furthest behind in construction. I will need to spend quite a few resources to make it at least partially inhabitable for the silica-based lifeforms you will attempt to communicate with. Do I have your permission?"
"You do."
"Then please stay here for a time while I complete the planet. Normally, I would not advise spending resources so heavily, but we are on a strict deadline, and I believe this potentially has great value for us. Give me a moment to confer with Rimi, and I will be back."
"Thank you, Virgil."
The black squirrel stood up and headed towards the door. "You have no need to thank me, Creator. It is my pleasure to assist you."
After he left, Walker tortured himself for a time as he stared at the images on the monitor. He couldn't help but imagine those kids playing, and laughing in whatever form of communication they might have. Joyously bouncing from one moment to the next as if life wasn't about to throw them through a portal and to their ultimate doom. How bad must their planet be for them to need to escape it so badly that they'd enter into a completely unknown location with their families? He shuddered to think of it.
While he waited, Walker used up some of their space resources to create a portal in the center of Crescendo, as he'd forgotten to do so. He also placed a portal just at the edge of the crystalline creatures so they couldn't miss it. He wasn't a fan of calling things that he may one day murder, creatures, so in his mind, he started calling them Crystal Nomads. To solidify the thought and attempt to still hold onto some form of his humanity, he entered it into the question marks when they appeared so future explorers of Fortis or even Romulus would have a name for them as well.
Now, he just had to solve the temporal problem. Walker pulled up the old task he'd been given what felt like a lifetime ago when he'd first caused this mess.
Temporal task given: Create a static temporal zone: Part 2
You've built a localized temporal anomaly and grasped just the beginning of what the temporal subsystem can do. Now, create a temporal zone that constantly slows down time, or speeds it up, without heavily draining your resources.
Localized temporal zone built: 0
Resources allocated for completion: 100 years
Reward for completion: Temporal subsystem Upgrade
Easier said than done, he thought to himself.
In hindsight, it wasn't Kwaya who had set up this trap, but the council. She was already hiding by the time the Temporal strand had been found, so there was no way this was her work.
"Bunch of assholes." He muttered to himself. He wasn't quite as angry with them as the former System Administrator, but he wouldn't mind putting them through a few walls. Looking back at the task, the how of it was difficult.
There were no instructions, notes, or instructions. He'd fill his eyes with darkness, but that didn't seem like a smart move given how low he already was. His chest heated up in agreement. Walker looked at the task and did something he hadn't done since entering the protocol. He rolled to his knees uncomfortably and prayed.
"Hello.....whoever. I need to figure this out. I need to isolate a very small area and fast-forward them without creating more portals. It's gotta be done right, and well, and right." He said, looking at the ceiling. "I don't know who might hear me, but if you could give me a little luck, a little favor, I would appreciate it."
Nothing answered him of course, but he felt a little better. Walker pulled the monitor back over to the Nomads. The portal sat just beyond them in all of its glory, waiting for them to take the trip to a new world. But they were all still in slow motion. Walker clicked on Time. He zoomed out a little so everything from their portal to his was within it.
Then...nothing. No ideas. He stared at the screen for what felt like hours, trying to conceive of every possibility. But nothing came up, still. Eventually, he screamed, leaping off of the bed and pounding the ground. A tinkling sound came from behind him. He turned around and watched as a dark liquid dripped from a glass Athena had set next to her chair on a small brown table. The brown liquid condensed on the edge, colors mixing until they were just a shade off of black, then dribbled down the table leg before ultimately meeting the floor.
Walker sighed, stepped into the World Editor, and prepared to delete only the liquid from the world. Sure, it was a lazy way to remove things, but it worked for him; plus, what was the point of nearly endless power if you didn't use it occasionally? Just before he confirmed the deletion, he looked at the liquid again and tried to think of when he'd last seen something like that.
Then it hit him. It was the same view he'd seen when the quiver he'd shrunk had turned into gunk in John's room. Of course, the viscosity was different, but the view was very similar. Making the quiver had been easy compared to a tier six. All he'd done was take the quiver's material and condense it into a smaller formation of cells. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, but with a properly formed motivation, the only limits were a person's soul.
"Condense it down...." He said to himself quietly.
Leaving the black liquid there, which he was sure to hear about from Athena later, Walker stepped up to the door. Just beyond it, he spied a pink chair, Cagna sitting in it and looking at her screens.
"Cagna.....CAGNA!"
"Huh? Oh, hey Creator!" She said with a happy wave, "Virgil asked me to tell you to stay in your room for the time being. He seemed very sure that you should stay here."
Walker waved her off, then dropped to a knee with a grimace, spitting out a bit of blood. He was growing more used to the feeling of desperate hunger, but something was still damaging his insides.
"Walker!" Cagna yelled out. When he looked up, a bit of blood smeared on his lips, she recoiled, "Are you okay?"
He shook his head, "Not even close. Please tell Virgil to have all Founders and Primigenials clear a path from the cabin to the Portal. I need to go now or I won't have enough time."
With a nod and promise of swiftness, the pink squirrel ran towards wherever Virgil was right now. Walker seated himself on his rear to wait, testing out his idea while doing so. After he had confirmed that things would work, he looked at Fortis and made a quick portal. Virgil came loping over just as he finished.
"All is prepared, Walker. Please follow me."
Walker felt another burn echo from his chest to his body, "Fast please."
"Certainly."
They jogged over to the portal. All the sites that they passed, normally grouped with people, were now empty. It felt like a ghost town and he didn't like it. If this didn't work, he was truly fucked.
When he reached the portal, Walker hit the destination for Romulus one, the designation he'd given it when it was created. The light powered up, and Walker stepped onto the stage. The screen showed a huge group of crystalline creatures standing in front of him.
Virgil coughed, "Fortis will not be fully prepared when you arrive. I worked as fast as possible, but I only had a limited amount of time. Please forgive me, Creator."
Walker put a hand on his shoulder, "Nothing to forgive friend." The stage powered up and started to pull him toward the screen, pulling his hand away from the large assistant. Just before he touched and went through, he covered his body in Temporal energy.
"Walker! You don't know how they'll interact!"
"Sure I do!" he called back, although Virgil was already frozen in place by his vision.
Virgil didn't know that the portal system already had some Temporal energy within it. It had popped into his head when he stared at the liquid pooling on the table. In order to create a portal, the system punched a hole using the time strand. Time was the activator, and space was the fuel. He had tested mixing strands while waiting for Virgil at the cabin. They blended together as if they'd always meant to do so.
Walker moved through the portal and exited out the other side.
"Fucckkkk"
Hundreds of Awakened sat right in front of him, frozen in place. They were weak and helpless. Food for him to eat......delicious.......one wouldn't hurt-
"NO! I AM WHO I CHOOSE TO BE! I WILL NOT MURDER THOSE WHO HAVE DONE NO WRONG!" He screamed to the sky.
The burning in his chest almost caused him to black out, but he persevered through the eclectic mixture of pain and ravenous hunger.
Walker grabbed the transparent strand of time in one hand, filtering over twenty years. In his other hand, he grabbed the blue of space, taking twenty strands there as well. Leaping high into the sky while still, just barely, controlling his strength, he combined his hands together. A mile over the Nomads a meteor of blue wavering in and out of view appeared. Walker pressed on the portion of space, demanding it open up. When it wouldn't, he tapped into the last touch of his darkness, the smallest piece he could. Instead of black falling to his hands, orange appeared.
In the back of his mind, a perfect pair of glistening teeth smiled.
Walker mentally shook it away. Using the Alma in his hands, he pushed the intent at the space strand, demanding it spread and cover this area in time, speeding it up to the same allotment it had previously been slowed. A moment later, a blue flash rang out, a dome of time speeding itself from him as the nexus of time and space. Once it grew to cover a large part of the planet, Walker twisted, and space condensed the twenty-year strand into just this small part of Romulus. He could feel the time strand straining against his abuse, but his intent, fueled by the rage of what he was forced to do, won out. A moment later, a notification chimed in his overlay, and he guided some Alma to his feet, pushing him toward the platform. Just as he landed, he pushed the rest of the strands into the dome around him. It willingly accepted the offer, straining for more, but he had none to give.
Keying in the pad for Fortis one, the platform moved him forward.
Just as he entered, a series of chimes rang out behind him as time re-asserted itself to its standard speed.
Walker stepped off the platform and fell to his knees on barren ground. Small flurries of snow dropped down, but the world around him was still mostly flat and uninhabited. It was just him and the portal in front of him. Now, it was just a matter of whether they stepped in and what kind of reaction he could expect. His sides platform reset, and he watched as it reset for the crystalline people as well.
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By the time Virgil turned on the monitor and moved it over to Fortis, Walker had already fallen to the ground.
"What's he doing?" Cagna asked just behind him.
"Probably wondering how Fortis is so boring," Rimi replied beside her.
A small crunch sounded out from behind Virgil, causing him to turn away from the impending event. He spied Rimi, eating something out of a leather bag.
"What is that, Rimi?"
"Oh, it's popcorn. Would you like some?"
Virgil ignored that, "Why put it in your mouth? You know we do not process food like living creatures."
Rimi shrugged, "I don't know. I saw the Founders doing it and I was curious."
Virgil sighed and turned back to the monitor. As he did so, he noticed a few dozen crystalline creatures of varying sizes and colors upon it. Walker was still sitting on the ground, likely too weak to stand, and he was speaking to them, but they couldn't hear. Virgil turned on the monitors sound, forgetting that it was an option as Walker had always done it in the past.
"Do you have names?"
A series of chimes and jingles were their only response. One medium-sized blue creature stepped forward, the light inside of it glowing brightly.
Walker crawled back a few steps, attempting to keep his distance, "Please, I....I do not...wish to fight...you." He said in an angry tone of voice. "Please keep your distance." The Creator put a hand out as if to warn them to stay away, but the blue one stepped forward again. It turned to those behind it, a series of chimes echoing out.
One large red creature stepped forward. It reached down and lifted one of the smallest creatures, a bright yellow, and cocked its arm back.
"I do not want to KILL YOU!" Walker screamed.
The yellow creature tucked itself into a ball, then the red one made a loud gonging sound before throwing it directly at Walker's body.
Walker stood up so fast that he was hard to see. He easily caught the catapulted projectile in one hand. When Walker grabbed it, the yellow creature unballed itself, lifting one crystalline arm in the air to club him with.
"FINE. IF YOU WANT TO FIGHT, I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU ALL." He screamed out. He grabbed both sides of the creature and tore it in half. A yellow light escaped from within, floating into the air, and the three assistants watched as Walker sucked it in with a breath. A shot of orange flared from him before it was quickly overcome by his standard darkness. Looking down at the body on the ground, his head arched up and he was suddenly surrounded by the power of his soul. Another group of crystalline creatures could be seen through the screen as they got on the platform in Romulus.
'YOU ASKED FOR IT MOTHERFUCKERS!"
"Motherfuckers?" A quiet voice said behind them, "Is that Walker?'
Virgil turned around and turned off the monitor at the same time. Athena stood there, confused.
Virgil looked at the two assistants, who looked back at him as if waiting for what he would say. He cleared his throat, "No, that was a, uh, recording. Walker figured out how to record things and play them back."
"Really? That's amazing," she said, clapping her hands together. "I wonder if I can watch his favorite shows now. I've seen a few of his memories about Rick and Morty; it looks quite funny."
"Indeed. Indeed it is. Now, I wanted to speak to you about training the Founders....."
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On Fortis, Walker tore dozens of Nomads to pieces. He wasn't blacking out, and they kept coming.
Nobody ever turns down a good meal when they're this hungry.
Comments
Joshua David Mullenary
That's 2. I'll look at editing it.
Lerati
It’s a bit strange and I don’t fully understand what happened. I do read Ar’Kendrithyst though, so I’m used to Time Magic wackiness.
Joshua David Mullenary
Yeah, I worry I have too many arcs and fluff hitting at once. It would've been interesting to have a section just for them, but instead, they get to colonize Fortis. It'll work out. Thanks for the love of my design! Did the manipulation of time seem a bit confusing?
Lerati
I’m kind of sad they ended up attacking first. I feel like that could’ve added an additional conflict for Walker. Then again, it might conflict with or add clutter to future arcs. I’m no writer, so you shouldn’t give too much weight to this comment. Love the designs for the Crystal Nomads btw.
Joshua David Mullenary
I'll note it down. If anyone else agrees, please let me know.
Jeremy Young
A little confusing when he started manipulating time but other than that,TFTC
