Edited: Journal #4, Chapters 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 (Patreon)

Journal #4

I don't understand. Why do people like Tea? It's just a glass of water that you threw some stuff in. Dirty water mixed with vegetation nobody should eat. Virgil was trying to figure out how to make some, but I don't know how he would. He seems to believe that it would help me relax in our down moments, but we only have a little over 60 hours when my break ends. He's being nice but I've never been a tea drinker.

Neways, I found The Slicer. Well, that is to say, I found out what it has been doing all this time. Apparently, it was trapped on a planet by a Creator named Jolive. She has a metal over there that is quite sophisticated. She said in the chat....well she wasn't very kind, but then again I do deserve it. I’m going to put it here so I can remember what was said. Sometimes I feel like I need these reminders in the back of my mind for what not to do in the future. I just wish my memory was better. 

Jolive: Why the fuck would you make something like this?

Dante: Dude, I didn't make it like that. I made a basic worm and the fucker evolved during the first battle. I was happy to just let it blow up fish for the rest of its life.

Mirail: See thats what happens when you call people dicks asshole

Dante: Hey, fuck you and your poor grammar.

Mirail: Whats grammar

Jolive: Regardless, you created a fuckin awful thing here. Did you know its identify calls it a "Universal Terror"?

Dante: Shit, it upgraded again.

Jolive: Yah, no kidding. The little bastard keeps hissing at me like it's laughing. Honestly, it's terrifying. I have a standard assistant and it just keeps repeating the same thing over and over, saying I have to kill it or keep it trapped forever. I tried squeezing the box down and crushing it, but that did nothing. I tried pouring acid in, and it evolved again! At this rate, it'll be unkillable if I keep trying. I'm afraid it's going to break out and destroy my planet. I'd probably be paralyzed in fear if I didn't know the Alpha protocol was protecting me.

Blitzburg22: Have you considered speaking with it in a calm tone of voice and explaining the problem? Our collective has found that few interpersonal issues cannot be solved without first accepting that we are at part in the blame.

Mirail: ahahahahahahahahaha

Dante: Don't you have things to do Mirail?

Jolive: Are you kidding me? Fucking Blitzburgs are always the same. The shithead exploded into my atmosphere and murdered half of my entities in less than five minutes. If I didn't work so much with metal I'd already be done here.

Dante: Ummm, would you mind explaining how you built its cage with that metal?

Jolive: Go fuck yourself.

Yeah, it was a long shot, but I had to try. Anyways, the Slicer is contained for now, and even Virgil thinks it'll take a while before it breaks out based on what the Creator said. I feel bad for Jolive, but at the same time, she's very much a rude person. As my mother says, you trap more flies with honey than vinegar. 

Wait, I'm at fault here..............am I really the asshole? No, no spirals. No depression. 

Moving right along.

I'm excited for all of the systems we get to build. I feel like it will be a cornerstone for my world, something upon which the world spins, metaphorically, as it doesn't really spin. Cornerstone....cornerstone. Well, there's another idea I have to backseat—something to consider, though.

Oh don't worry, I'm sure if someone else is reading this I'm totally alive and Symphony is doing well. Yep, everything's going great, no problems here.

Chapter 19: Moving Forward

Walker put his journal down by The Tree of the Gods and stood up, looking the mysterious plant over. 

Is it a plant? Or something else...

He found the tree had only grown a small amount since the last time he'd analyzed it. It made him wonder if it would slow down in growth the taller it grew. Remembering that Grand rewards had a chance of increasing its growth rate, he would need to work hard to push the envelope of his upcoming creations. 

Next up was a simple idea. Making monsters. And as excited as he was, he knew they first had to solve a big problem. The bottom of Symphony. He checked his time.

Time remaining until next battle: 57+ hours.

With his remaining time in mind, Walker moved at a trot to his relatively old computer. The combined monitor and desktop seemed dull in their monochrome coloring and boxed shape. Sitting down, he clicked on the landmass option. While he started to plan things out, selecting the rectangle shape and increasing its size, he kept an ear on Virgil and Rimi while they planned out the kernel. 

They were talking about how to make it physically present within the monsters without negatively impeding their internal organs. Walker had no clue about that and was rather happy to be able just to do something simple for a moment. He created a few boxes in a triangle to represent metal, placed them throughout the shape with his copy ability, and called Virgil to him as he clicked print and heard the chuffing of ink onto paper.

"What are you working on, Walker?" The large squirrel called out as he had stopped speaking mid-sentence with the smaller squirrel and made his way over to him. Walker saw Rimi from the corner of his eye performing a small shrug, not unlike the kind Virgil liked to do when he's confused by something. The blue squirrel moved back to his screens, nonplussed.

Walker felt a small smile tug his face as Virgil approached, "I told you before, remember? I'm going to put a bunch of metal at the bottom of Symphony so nothing else can break through. I figure we can drop it in, delete it with the world editor, and then place it near the roots so it can gain density over the years. With enough time and magical reinforcement from the leylines, it'll be impossible to break, and we won't have another planetary destruction on our hands."

Virgil tilted his head, "You know I can have no true input on this."

"I know; I just need you to associate the symbol with Steel."

Virgil nodded, "Done."

"Sweet!"

Walker opened up his monitor and focused on the edge of the desert, then realized he didn't know what to do with the paper. He zoomed in the monitor to the edge of the Symphony's dry corner, just outside of the planet, and tried placing the paper on it. The paper dissolved into motes of small golden light as a large silver-gray block appeared. It was just as he had drawn it but twice the size of the other landmasses he'd placed before. Without needing to be told, he realized that with each upgrade to the Creation Instrument, the scope and size of what it could do would also increase. 

Slowly, a gargantuan block of steel floated in space just above his small, grassy planet. Walker smiled until his overlay lit up. 

"Fuck, I forgot about that."

He'd received an F on the grade.

"Mmm, yes." Virgil replied.

Rimi walked over and asked, "What happened?"

"Walker made an entirely monotonous landmass, and the system punished him for it. It says you lost half of the creation materials you placed into it. That should be half a page out of the printer," He finished, nodding to himself.

Walker crossed his arms, still looking at the lowest grade he’d received in years, "Well, it's already happened, and it needed to be done."

"I agree, and I understand your thought process; I am just a little shocked. It is rare to see F grades in the protocol."

A sigh escaped his lips, "We all fail sometimes, Virgil. Can you complete your work on the atmosphere? We're going to need it soon."

"Indeed."

As Virgil walked away, Walker stepped into the world editor and moved to the edge of Symphony. He got started by removing all of the steel back into his resources, grabbing every little piece so none would randomly drop to the planet. As he quickly worked, he got a front-row seat to the atmosphere show as Virgil went about his business. Slowly, Walker could tell the atmosphere was being repaired, only with one new addition. The cyan color of pure magic started to become more present as the Mana Trees expanded their domain. 

Deleting the last of the steel he could find, Walker clicked on resources and reviewed the results. It was a shitload of metal, causing a few ideas to pop up. Ones that had to do with creating a massive statue of Virgi with the word Indeed written on it. He laughed to himself before shaking it out of his head and zooming into the bedrock of Symphony.

The monitor changed views, Symphony becoming transparent on the screen. Walker appreciated its adaptability, with the change allowing him to see where the Mana Tree roots had settled deep in the world. They connected throughout the land, deep cyan pulses far beneath the surface. He started to delete a dozen feet below the roots, adding steel in the gaps he had now created. It was a test of his own control, as he didn’t want to make a mistake here.

If he deleted too much, the granite could detach and float into space, separating from the cube-shaped world. Too little, and he wouldn’t be able to add enough steel to make this whole project worthwhile.  Thus, he was very careful with his movements and the volume of his deletions. It took him about an hour to delete the granite and add the stored-up steel, and when he finished, his resources still showed quite a bit of steel within. That would give him further options later on when he began shaping Symphony to his whims again.

Walker stepped out of the World Editor, "Hey, shouldn't the granite have been reinforced over fifty years from the roots as well?" He asked Virgil.

Virgil mumbled to himself as he had been pulled out of his work for the second time before saying, "Yes, it is. If you are questioning why you were still able to delete it, you need to keep something in mind. You own the planet, Walker, and the World Editor is one of your greatest tools. That early B grade saved you much more time than you think. It can instantly dematerialize any resources that do not have life. That is why I suggested not adding any grass or vegetation early on."

"Right, if I had made plain old grass with no modifications, we would have been screwed in the first battle," Walker said.

"Mmm, grass monster." Rimi whispered to himself near the evolution chamber.

"Okay," Walker said with a clap, startling the blue squirrel from his dreams of vegetation domination. "We need something to eat those Muys! What do you think? Another water-based entity, or should we do something amphibious? I don't think we should start with flyers for our first monster system update."

"Damn," Rimi whispered again.

Virgil turned away from his work, the lure of creating a new monster too powerful for him, "You are right, Walker. A flying entity could be very bad. If we made a single error in its modifications, it might become impossible to kill after the fact. Also, remember that whatever you make and update to The Monster System would conceivably be the oldest on Symphony as they will be the first.” He shrugged, “The new first, that is. Without another monster or potential Classer killing them, they would become quite powerful if left in a habitat undisturbed."

"Good point. Hrmmm…” He tapped his chin, “Amphibians...Large frogs? I know I don't want to make any snakes right at the start." He said with a shudder. He had no idea how others viewed them as cute. They were slimy and cold-blooded in more ways than one. Plus, they attacked annoyances. In his experience, they’d done so without any provocation.

He knew it was a simple bias. Something that wasn’t an innocent snakes fault.But, when he was younger, he was attacked by a rattlesnake and developed, with total justification, whipped archaeologist syndrome. Now, he couldn’t help but see all snakes as malevolent, even if he logically understood it was an unfair stance to take. It was one of the few fears he had left—that and spiders.

"Frogs would do well for our first attempt," Virgil said, breaking Walker from his dark thoughts. "I spent some time on your recent convalescence to peruse some of your memories. Please go into the Entity subsystem and pull up the African Clawed Frog. I believe that will suit your needs."

Walker agreed and clicked Entity, pulling up the frog Virgil mentioned. He clicked on it and watched the computer screen fill in the details. Looking at it, the frog seemed....small.

"That might not be big enough," Walker said. "It needs to be much larger to catch and eat the Muys. There's no point in making these if they can't even survive in that habitat."

Virgil agreed, "Yes, I had planned on modifying it, of course. We would not want sixteen-foot-tall frogs,” a small gasp broke out from Rimi while Virgil continued, “So I cannot modify it with gigantism as we did with The Mana Trees.” His eyes moved across his overlay before saying, “ We could do four feet tall. Once you put in the Classers, this would be an excellent first area for them to train in, and the African Clawed Frog does not need to eat as often, so it should balance out the predator and prey cycle."

"Okay, that's a plan." Walker pushed the monitor over to The Crater and zoomed in on one spot. He printed out the page and stuck it to the monitor, watching as the frog materialized on a small beach, ignoring the notification pinging the corner of his vision. He was sure it was a D grade anyway. 

The frog was less than half a foot in size and had small claws attached to its feet. Walker dug a hole below it and dropped it in with the World Editor, filling in the top after. He still didn’t like the feeling of having to kill innocent creatures. But, without his Monster system having a hold on it, it could evolve in an out of control fashion. He didn’t have a choice. 

Pushing through the mental fatigue of his choice, Walker didn't even wait for the frog to die before selecting the evolution chamber in his overlay and placing one in there. He did, however, feel a bit bad about it.

"How long is that thing going to take to die?" He asked Virgil.

"Oh, several minutes. That is a novel way to kill them quickly, though, so they do not needlessly suffer."

"I wish I didn't have to kill everything for us to modify it though." Walker said with a sigh.

Walker watched as Virgil aged the frog by two years and then started to...he didn't know how to describe it. Stretch? He was grabbing parts of the frog in the evolution chamber and pulling its skin like rubber. Rather than how Walker worked with his hands, Virgil did everything through his screens in a much faster and more economical manner. 

It made Walker once again realize how lucky he was to have an advanced assistant. None of the changes looked complicated, but he knew that was because of just how competent his friend was at his work. After he stretched the body out to around four feet tall, he did the same to its organs and claws, finishing on the brain, which he left just a little larger than it was previously. Virgil left an odd gap near its stomach, like it was waiting for something.

The large squirrel stopped his work and responded to Walker's previous statement, "The Alpha Protocol has to first recognize a new entity in your world before you can connect them to the Evolution Chamber. You could almost say that when you first materialize them, it is like downloading their data to the system."

"Well, that’s unnecessarily stupid. It should already have access to the Entity subsystem in my overlay, right? I mean, every time I click it, I can see a huge list of options, all the way from aardvark to zonkey." Walker protested.

"So what do you want to do? Produce everything at once and let it all instantly die?" Virgil asked.

Walker's eyes grew round, and Virgil realized his mistake. "No, no, that....that.....hrmm."

"We have to kill them anyway, right? And we always get D's which only replenishes our materials. Why not just make EVERYTHING on the list? Just, bam, bam, bam. Click, die, click, die. I’d rather feel terrible once, across the span of one horrible hour, then feel terrible for five minutes every single time we make something new."

"Okay, but how would you kill them?"

"You could put the monitor on a spot in space," Rimi suggested, joining the conversation. Walker remembered the steel and how he’d produced it just outside of Symphony. He gave Rimi a smile and a nod before turning back to Virgil.

"How many creatures are on there?" Walker asked.

"There are over eight thousand just for Frogs, Walker," Virgil said with a head shake. "It would take a very, very long time with your current Creation Instrument."

"Hrmm.....so not something to do right away, but definitely something to think about.” A horrible thought entered his mind, “Wait…if I have to do that with every creature, doesn’t that mean I’d have to do it with a human being? A-a baby?"

Virgil looked at him directly, "What do you suggest as an alternative? Release it into what is essentially a primordial world soon to be filled with four-foot monsters that have metallic claws?"

"Wait, when did its claws become metallic?"

"Focus, Walker. Bander Sotfam, the creator of the Evolution Chamber, went through something similar to what you are now. He, too, did not enjoy the killing of unmodified entities; however, he still did his duty for his world. Perhaps we should wait on humanity until you have a chance to find your own way to quote "download" your entities without needing to sacrifice them afterward. There are possibilities. However, they must be earned."

Walker didn’t like that answer. If Humanity wanted a chance, they’d have to ride the wave with him, growing stronger and adapting to the world as it became more and more realized. He looked over at the blue squirrel, "Rimi?" Walker asked. "Do you have any ideas?"

"No, Walker. I am sorry." He plied with a downcast look.

"Okay, it's fine. It’s…fine. It’s fine,” He said a third time, trying to equalize everything in his mind. “So, we wait on humans and hopefully find a better way to do this. If I’m forced to make everything at once…I’ll find a way. But for now, let’s just shelve the idea and work on our new frogs. I already know what to name them."

"Outstanding," Virgil said as he pointed at the chamber in front of them. "All we have left is placing the kernel." He pointed at what Walker what noticed before, a small empty space within the body of the frog, then explained that each monster they created would have to have the same. If they made it too large to start, and it continued to double in size, it would become overly powerful. He also mentioned that with The Monster System built the way that it is, the larger a creature became, the longer it would take to increase in tiers as the magic had to fully fuse to their body in Tier three. Walker felt that was the perfect balance for what they were creating.

Virgil finalized the new Monster with his approval, allowing Walker to place his first new entity on Symphony in some time. After a moment, his overlay lit up.

.....Scanning.....

- - -

As your entity is modified from its original form, please name it.

Naming it hadn’t been difficult. Walker had his favorite books and games neatly organized in his head. He was sure that Virgil would understand.

Entity: Battlefrog is named.

.....Analyzing.....

Entity named Battlefrog analyzed.

Size: Medium.

Entity category: Animal

Organism type: (Predator) System Monster.

Modification: High.

Ability to evolve: Yes, system-bound.

Age: 2 Years.

Extra marks earned for being the 5th creator to build a system and use it to create an entity within the 4AA alpha protocol: Grand reward earned.

Grade: B

Rewards calculated.

- - -

Moderate reward for completion of a B-grade entity:

Congratulations Dante! You've earned a second evolution chamber!

Building a better entity in the Alpha Protocol is about drive and innovation. Use the second evolution chamber to continue your work and build a more diverse world.

Upgradeable.

Grand reward for being the 5th Creator to build a system and use it to create an entity within the 4AA alpha protocol:

Congratulations Dante! You've advanced the Tree of the Gods!

It's fruit, unimaginable. It's seed, pure power. You have taken the first step.

Unknown changes occurring.

The Tree of the Gods is maturing!

.....Scanning.....

.....

The Tree of the Gods has borne fruit.

Walker smiled to himself. That was quite a nice surprise. He turned around, and was shocked to see three people running towards him from the Tree of the God’s location. Quickly, they ate up the distance between them in such a short amount of time Walker thought he must be dreaming. 

Stopping before him and his two assistants, they looked at each other while Walker and the two squirrels did the same. It was an odd standoff of perspectives, as none of them spoke first. Finally, the large, muscular man in clean white robes and a long flowing beard frowned before saying, "You are the Creator?"

Mr. Harrison, as Walker called him, was not his name. But even had someone called him that, it wouldn't bother him, as one name was as good as any other. They were hats to wear. Clothes. Mislabeling the soul with words that could never express what was truly at the core of someone.

His core was blacker than the darkest parts of space. He knew it and was content with his place in the multiverse.

The large man strolled through broken streets that had once held smiles, cars, and all the facets of life. Now, they only held the forgotten memories of a society that didn't understand what kind of creature had appeared among them. His over seven-foot frame seemed graceful once viewed, but it was an illusion to the eyes. A passerby might think he was an extraordinarily coordinated giant, maybe a professional basketball player on their best day, but really, his walk was that of a predator. Long stretches with minute alterations in his movement.

His target at the moment was a bar on the backside of San Francisco simply named "Johnnys." That’s where he felt he would find it. 

He quickly made the trek, reaching a set of swing doors that looked to be barricaded as heavy breathing and hushed conversations made their way to his ears. He pulled his robes inward with the flick of a wrist so they wouldn't catch on anything, then pushed on the doors with great pressure as a series of loud banging sounds and light screaming occurred on the other side. 

As the blockage stopped blocking his entrance, he squeezed under a low-hanging beam, bending his way into the entrance. There was a shallow resistance here, one who had tried to fight and survive for several days against waves of unspeakable monsters. They didn’t know that fighting was useless. That there was no way for them to overcome the horrors of the night. 

These were creatures who never snarled, hissed, or growled, but walked quietly and carefully in their natural environment, blending as needed. During the day wasn't much better, as rumors said that even viewing these creatures was enough to drive a person mad.

The massive man looked at the inhabitants, filthy after only a few days, and a sneer was adopted by his face before he could stop it. He didn't intend to have that reaction, but it had come nonetheless. His expression caused many within to step back with gasps, but he didn’t care about them. They deserved this, with their soft lives and simple world. With their paradise that never knew the strife of where he had come from, the constant war and battle its so-called Creator had made. 

If he could've chosen another to make his world rather than that damnable failure, he would have, but fate would have its due, and even he couldn't fight the Alpha Protocol. While the rest of the survivors in the bar had stepped back with audible gasps and furtive glances, a little girl had stepped forward. She met his eyes with her own, unbowed by the terrors of the recent days, and his sneer transformed into a guileless smile. 

His target had been found. 

The tall man bent down and offered something from within the deep confines of his robe as he spoke, "A candy dear?" 

"Oh, thank you, mister." She said with a grin as she reached her hands out, stepping further away from the others.

"Now, what is your name, little girl?"

"Elsie, like my grandma." She said, taking the large candy and unwrapping a pink lollipop before quickly slipping it into her mouth with a sound of delight. The crowd stayed silent during the exchange, too numb to react to the strange giant entering their territory and still in shock from the recent disruption to their new standard of living.

"What a wonderful name." He said slowly, savoring the words that dripped from his mouth.

"Thank you." She responded with a smile and a smack as she pulled the lollipop out of her mouth. "What's your name?"

He stood to his full height, and as he did so, one local finally grew some courage, "Who are you!" He screamed. "What do you want!"

"Oh, me?" He asked, placing his hand against his chest, right where his heart should be. He appreciated that at least one person here had some courage, but it was already too late for all of that. "I'm Nobody, and I want everything here to....end."

He stooped down and lifted up the little girl from where she’d just collapsed. The paralyzing agent on the candy had always had a quick effect, and he smiled as her yellow pigtails swam against his arms. Once she was secure, a cracking sound rang out as he snapped his fingers. 

The sun had gone down as he’d made his entrance, allowing his Shadows to rove once again. They spread themselves and slipped past his body without even brushing his clothes. Darkness leaked into the bar that night like blood seeping into a bandage, and quiet desperation had no place here as screams and the sound of running began and ended quickly. 

Stepping away quickly, he transferred the little girl to his shoulder. Time was, as ever, a deciding factor in regards to the protocol. He moved his freed up arms in unnatural patterns, and with a pop, they both disappeared. 

Deep underwater off of the coast of Ireland, two bodies came into existence. With a snap, he, still holding the girl, was covered in a bubble that kept the water and pressure at bay. He moved toward a set of ruins lying forgotten in the dark water. As he crossed an unseen threshold, his overlay lit up.

...

...Scanning…

Omega protocol candidate recognized

Hello Nobody

Temporal system activated

Chapter 20: Control

The Battlefrog came into existence. It did not know of its purpose nor where it currently found itself. All it could rely upon were its basest instincts, further empowered by trickery through the Alpha Protocol. Its body informed it that food and water were necessary for its survival. And that a mate wouldn’t be so bad, either.

But....there was something else, something at the edge of its primitive understanding. Some strange thing fed into it at a slow rate, right towards the middle of its body......and the only thing it truly understood at the moment was....it wanted more of it.

Its kernel was hungry for more.

Walker stared at the bearded man, still confused about where he had come from. The man had spoken to him with an oddly powerful timbre in his voice, but the tone of it rankled him, "Why do you say it like I'm some piece of bacon, rotting and left on the floor?" He asked while looking the three newcomers over as they stared right back at him.

"Hrmmph, an odd way to speak." The original speaker grunted at him. Upon hearing it again, Walker’s thoughts still turned to his voice. Making a mental comparison, it sounded like gravel being laid upon new pavement. He looked over the speaker again, noting just how tall he was. 

Walker was a tall man by all accounts, but this guy took it to a new level. He was almost as tall as Mr. Harrison, standing just shy of seven feet, and had rippling tan muscles coating the entirety of his body. A long white beard seemed like the only fashion to fit the strong angles of his jawline, with complimentary white hair sprouting from his head and long eyebrows to complete the look. His face had a standard resting state that looked like the word seriousness was stamped upon it at the age of six and it had never let him go since.

The other two recently arrived visitors were a tall, beautiful woman with angular eyes containing shockingly yellow irises and a man who looked like a powerlifter, with hair shaped into tips that resembled two horns stabbing the air. The woman wore a very nice golden sash around a green dress, while the large man wore what looked like bronze armor if Walker knew his history right.

He knew he should be, correctly, freaking out at the appearance of random strangers. They could be violent. They could be perverts. They could be insurance salesmen, who knew. But after watching a small world be destroyed, or giant squirrels throwing up smaller blue versions of themselves, at some point, he had become immune to the strangeness of this place. He internally chuckled at his earlier anxiety when first arriving here. It was amazing how much a person could change across the time of just a few days.

The woman took a step closer to him, "What is this bacon you speak of? Is it delicious?" 

The bearded man heaved a great sigh, pectoral muscles bulging like balloons with the intake and exhalation of his breath. "You are the Creator, are you not? Time is not a friend."

The third visitor spoke up right after, "What is this place?" Walker noted his high-pitched voice, seeming at odds with such a powerful body, but smartly chose not to comment. 

He was about to answer when the golden-sashed woman spoke instead, “Yes, where are we?" She continued to look around, but there was something off about it. It was a stuttering movement, forced, like she’d been there before and was pretending that she hadn't.

The bearded man turned to the other two, roaring out, "DO NOT SPEAK."

"He is," Virgil said as he pointed at Walker. 

Walker noticed Rimi had appeared near the trio, poking the horn-haired man in the leg for some reason while whispering, “Firmmmm” to himself. The horned man politely pretended not to nice. 

Finally, Walker got a word in, “What’s going on here? It said the Tree of the…”

“Yes?” Echidna asked. 

“The Tree of the...Gods…”

“Uhuh?” Echidna replied with a smile. 

“Fuck,” Walker said, slapping his forehead, “You guys are totally gods, aren’t you?”

"Of course we are." Said the bearded man, placing his hands on his hips and striking a classic heroic pose as he turned his head away.

"Lies." The woman replied, taping one foot impatiently as she watched the large man deflate.

"Castoffs." The bronze man said as well, looking down at the ground.

"I WILL SPEAK FOR US." He thundered at the other two. He seemed unnaturally overbearing. Walker likened that immediately to his need to overcompensate for something.. 

He tried to speak again, to explain that he didn’t want people yelling at each other here, when the Bearded man struck his pose for a second time, "We are the Gods and Goddesses of Earth, of course. That should have been apparent by the Tree of....where are my powers?”

“What?” Walker said in confusion. 

“Did you steal my lightning? You thief!”

Walker shrugged, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The man laughed, “Likely story, human.” he said the last word with a snarl, “and I’m sure that you have nothing to do with the reason we’re not on Earth anymore, right?” He looked over at his two companions, “Don’t trust a word that comes out of this runts mouth. He lies.”

Walker gave him a glare, but nothing more. Ever since the Slicer, he’d been more emotionally disjointed than ever before. He’d decided that he needed to have better control of his emotions going forward. Allowing the bearded man to tip him over an emotional ledge wouldn’t do him any favors. Rather than respond in kind, he walked over to the Tree of the Gods to see what kind of changes had happened. 

For the first time, when he walked over to the tree, the distance felt appropriate. After arriving he looked over the now thirty-foot-tall tree. It had changed again. Several branches had flowered, strange growths pushing out of the whorled wood. 

Looking at the growths, he found the same symbols he’d seen before, only instead of on leaves, they were now shaped from seeds. As he looked closer, he noted a few hanging lower than the others. One in particular, shaped like an owl, looked like it might drop next. Nodding to himself, he turned around and walked back to the visitors, making a quick and easy logical leap from the badge he’d seen on the bearded man’s robe. 

"Looks like I'll have more company soon." He said quietly to himself as he thought quickly about what that might mean. He noted the bearded man whispering to his fellows and didn’t like the look of it. "Hey, Zeus!" He yelled.

"What!" Zeus thundered back. “Fuck!” He yelled out as he realized he’d confirmed his identity so easily.

"This is a tiny planet, dude. There’s no lightning here. I mean, do you see any?" Walker spread his hands out, showcasing the entirety of his small living space. 

Zeus looked around, hanging his head, "NO............no I do not."

"Okay, then assume you didn't come with it, and it was left behind." Walker stopped walking as he got close to Virgil, who gave him a brief smile.

Meanwhile, Zeus looked like he was going to cry, "You do not understand, that lightning is the source of my power."

"More lies." The woman said again. "I apologize as I've never told you my name, Creator. I go by Echidna." She reached out a hand in greeting. 

Walker took it, noting how smooth her grip was. He knew that name from mythology as well, "You mean the mother of monsters?" 

“That is not factual. Do I look like a monster to you?” She let go of his hand and did a quick spin, her dress flaring out around her before coming to a graceful stop, "I did not give birth to monsters; I gave birth to powerhouses who shook the world. For that, they were called monsters. It is the weak memories of humanity that have painted us in the light from which you know us to be. We were all shaped by our Creator with different purposes, just like Minos here." She finished, patting the large metal-covered man. 

He nodded once without speaking. "He doesn't often like to speak, as he feels his given voice is beneath the dignity of the feats he has performed in his life. Please forgive him." Minos just nodded again.

Zeus finally gave up the ghost with his next words, "It’s true, I'm afraid. The only god that could be found on Earth is just a pale imitation of the awesome power your stories tell of us."

"How do you know about those stories?" Virgil asked, for once just as in the dark as Walker was.

"This tree," Zeus said, pointing his hand at it. "Is ancient. You can call it the tree of life, or ages, or gods. It has existed for multiple millennia and houses all of the ancient creations from Earth's time in the Alpha Protocol. Each of those leaves is another of our fellow Primigenials, as you can call us."

"I don't know that word," Walker asked with a confused look on his face.

"It means we've been around since the beginning." Echidna supplied. "I don't mean the beginning, beginning. But the beginning of Earth. When the Alpha Protocol closed out, our Creator, the bastard that she is, trapped us in the tree and placed it at the bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean. She even left us guardians that would destroy anything that came close. And there we sat for thousands of years in the deepest pit of a planet we had once protected and cherished."

As crazy as that sounded to Walker, there was something else bothering him. "That still doesn't explain how you know so much. You knew there was a Creator. How could you know that?" 

"We're God's child! We know all!" Zeus yelled to the sky. But Walker knew it was a feeble attempt to remain powerful and mysterious. They weren’t off to a good start with him so far. 

Echidna, who hadn’t taken her eyes off of him, saw the squinted look in his eyes. She slowly shook her head as if coming to a decision. In a harsh voice, she said, "He'll figure it out when Athena is released, you dolt! You know how she is. We need to tell him now, before things go along too far. You know his history!" 

She looked at Minos, who nodded. "Well...We have a few with us who can…taste memories. They don't take them away, but they do experience them, and as we're all connected within the tree, we have a rudimentary form of communication. Since you've arrived-"

"You've been experiencing my life," Walker said in a dead voice. It was bad enough that the Alpha Protocol and Virgil could see everything he'd done, good and bad, but now a tree full of powerful Primigenial beings also knew of his most embarrassing and sadly human moments. 

That time he'd been pantsed at a party. The first time he'd had sex. Everything was up for grabs. It was an all-Walker buffet, first come, everybody served.

"Yes." She finished.

"We are sorry, Walker," Minos said, placing a large, callused hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off with a quick twitch of his body.

"Then why ask who the fuckin Creator is?" He yelled as he started to pace back and forth in front of them.

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW!" Zeus roared at him.

"What do you mean you did not want us to know?" Virgil asked.

"Because you.....don't.....matter.....creature," Zeus said, stepping up to the squirrel and towering over him.

That put a crick in Walker's neck, like a pinched muscle that pulsed deeply, and he had to turn the side of his head with a grimace as the feeling became almost physical. He’d been trying to hold back on his emotions, but in less than five minutes since getting out of their mini-prison, this bastard was trying to control things. To bully them. 

It didn't matter that Earth's mythology called him the King of the Gods. No, there was a bigger problem. What if the rest of those in the tree were just the same? They weren’t gods. Not really. They were like the Creator’s rejects. Castoffs. 

What if the tree was slowly letting all of the undesirables from his home planet take over and fuck everything up. There had to be a reason they were imprisoned, and other creatures or entities weren't. He couldn't let this happen. 

The crick in his neck did end up becoming physical. Like a punch in the muscle. 

No, no, no no no no no 

Walker wouldn't be controlled. No. He was already shunted to this world without a real choice or understanding; he wouldn't also be forced to listen to this son of a bitch if he didn't have to. He would have to take control with gusto, or things were already done. He couldn’t allow them to mistreat the one person who had helped him in all of his time here. 

He said the words that previously sat in his heart, unattended and unnoticed. They were always a hidden voice that he forced to keep silent, but now, he had to let it out. 

Turning to Zeus, he said what was in the back of his mind, yearning for freedom, "Shut the fuck up, you limp-dick piece of shit. You get a taste of my memories and think you can then push me around on my own world? My world? Push around my friend?" He took a deep breath but he already felt it. Felt like that control he was trying to gain back, was gone, and with it, his emotional management ran out the door.

"I'LL THROW YOUR ASS INTO SPACE AND FORGET YOU FIVE MINUTES LATER MOTHERFUCKER. I'LL BURN YOUR GODDAMN TREE DOWN BEFORE I LET YOU FUCK WITH WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO HERE." Walker stepped into the World Editor while still belting the three with his voice. "YOU'VE FUCKED UP IF YOU THINK YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT. I'M THE CREATOR AND I. WILL. NOT. HAVE. THIS. THIS IS MY WORLD. SYMPHONY DOESN'T NEED MORE DESTROYERS.”

"No! Please!" Echidna begged, dropping to her knees in front of him. "Please! My children are in there. Zeus, apologize!" She said pointing at him with a glare.

"GODS DO NOT APOLOGIZE!" He said, spreading his arms wide. "IF YOU WANT TO TAKE ME DOWN, DO SO LIKE A TRUE GOD. FIGHT ME COWARD!"

"We're not gods you horny bastard.” Echidna yelled at him from the grass, “Gods wouldn't let themselves be trapped inside of a tree for thousands of years! You have more children in there than anyone!"

"I DO NOT CAREEE!" He screamed at space. "THEY CREATED ME, US, THEN IMPRISONED US ONLY TO BE USED AGAIN! I SAY NO! I SAY WE FIGHT!"

"You will lose." Virgil replied calmly.

"THEN WE LOSE ON OUR TERMS!" he responded back with the fury of something once powerful, beautiful in its purpose, being forced into a cage for a long period of time. Walker hadn’t noticed before, but he had tears streaming down his face. It seemed that time in the Tree was not the most pleasant, and after sitting in there for millenia, it had done a real shitty job on the King of the God’s psyche.

Walker knew one thing from his time dealing with the Slicer. He knew he was protected, that the alpha protocol wouldn't let him come to harm. He also wasn’t so emotionally turmoiled that he didn’t understand Echidna's feelings. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to potentially lose your children. But, lately, Walker had been toughening himself up. 

Lessons from his rougher childhood and time in the military rose to the fore of his thoughts. He couldn't allow worry or sympathy to affect him. Regarding those in the Tree of the Gods, they might have some importance, certainly. But he also had to weigh their importance with the potentially billions of lives Symphony may have in the future. He knew that they could help him succeed, that they might even be the only way for him to succeed in the alpha protocol. 

But he couldn't let them fuck everything up. If he placed Zeus in the world somehow, he needed him to do what he asked and told, not to run off and start smiting anything he didn’t like the look of. He was still viscerally angry, and his body shook from the adrenaline pumping through his veins. But, unlike the time with Nicholas, he had at least a modicum of self-control. He looked at Echidna, his finger close to the World Editor button.

"Why should I let you live?" He asked Echidna, knowing Zeus would just give another suicidal answer. But it was Minos who answered first.

"Because we're here to help you."

"Because we can assist you in your world." Echidna supplied right after.

"Virgil?" Walker asked his only friend here. Rimi was a friend, true, and he shouldn't forget that, but Virgil knew everything about him and wouldn't steer him wrong.

The large squirrel placed a paw against his chin in thought, then said, "Perhaps if you can find it in yourself to understand...this person here,” he waved a hand at Zeus. “Then, perhaps they can also understand that you are not their former Creator and had no choice in being selected for the Alpha Protocol."

Zeus listened to Virgil with a thunderous expression. Based on the redness encapsulating his neck, he was refusing to release his hold on his rage. Snorting, he tried to walk away by pushing through Virgil, but the elastic barrier appeared and knocked him down onto his ass instead. His face looked like pure shock incarnate.

"Z...can't you just...do it this once. Can't you let go of whatever...what's the word?" Echidna asked.

"Limp-dick?" Rimi tried.

"No, small one. That is never something I would associate with Zeus."

"Superiority complex." Minos offered, showing a surprising vocabulary.

"Yes,” She stood up from the grass, quickly stepping over and putting a hand on the large man’s arm, “can't you let go of your complex? We are not Gods, Zeus. We never were. We were just given power, unearned, and once the Creator knew of what they had made and the influence we had on Earth, they put us away. They had good reason to do so.” She pointed each of them, ”Our history was filled with chaos. We did not rule well, and now, it is time for another to try. A child born from the world we once nurtured. Can you not see that? See that this is the result, the fruits of your work."

Zeus sighed in the grass, not a great suffering sigh, but a small one, with a quick inhalation that followed.

"Zeus....we need this. We need to be part of something. Something that Walker, here, can provide. Purpose....again. The new Creator, who hasn't mistreated his denizens no matter what Hades may say of the Slicer, is not a bad mortal. He could do that for us. He could give us a new shot."

Minos dropped into the grass next to him, "Please." 

That was all he said, but that seemed to do the trick. Zeus stood up and brushed at imaginary dirt, which made Walker think that this wasn't really grass, but he had to move on as the large man started speaking.

"For you Echidna, and the children. I will.....try"

"Thank you."

"Okay, mortal, you wanted us, so you have us."

Walker held up a finger, "Technically, I didn't know what was in the Tree." His rage wasn’t done with him. He couldn’t turn it off on a dime, but he knew it would fade as time went. However, while he could forgive Zeus and his attempted bullying, he would never forget it. No matter his emotional growth, that just wasn’t a part of who he was.

"As you like to say, what-whatever," Zeus replied as he tried to seem nonplussed. "We already know what the first step is." He nodded at the other two, who nodded back. They each put out a wrist and, with a nail on their hands, dug into their skin, forcing blood to pool.

"Jesus Christ. You could have just spit or something," Walker said.

"I never knew that one. Also, if you are going to do something, do not do it with weak intent." Echidna said with calm, as her red blood dripped into the green grass.

"One moment," Virgil said as he went to each and gathered a small amount in the palm of his hand. Walker's overlay lit up.

...

...Scanning…

Foreign entities have presented Dante with new genetic material!

New modifications can now be used

New evolutions are now available

A new entity type is now available: Primigenial

A new entity type is now available: Mythological

---

Optional tasks available

...

Special circumstances found

...

Tasks may now be assigned by those who donate genetic material for use

Knowing Virgil could see his updates, Walker asked, "What does that mean?" 

He apparently had an answer as he pulled Walker aside and out of their hearing range, whispering. "They can give you tasks that can unlock abilities that the previous Creator, the one from your homeworld, had. But, you need to stop trying to delete the Tree of the Gods. You cannot."

Walker ran a hand down his face, feeling drained from all of the events since placing the battlefrog. "Why can't I?"

"Because, once it matured, it connected deep with this small world. Have you not noticed?"

Walker looked around but it still looked the same. "Noticed what?"

"The size of it Walker, the size! It's two percent larger than it was."

"How the fuck am I supposed to notice that. I'm not a squirrel robot like you."

"Either way, if you remove it, there is a chance it will destabilize this world, and expel us into space. We would not die, but we also would have great difficulty doing anything with Symphony in the future."

"At some point, I'm going to have some agency here and get to stop asking questions, right?"

"Of course." Virgil said, but he didn't sound very enthused.

Maybe all of my memories affected his personality more than I think. He keeps taking on the teacher role whenever he can, Walker thought.

"Ah, I see." Zeus's voice landed like a landslide.

"What do you see?" Walker asked.

"I see that we can now shape this world just as much as you...Creator. Wouldn’t you like to know how to empower your entities? Wouldn’t that be just the ticket to succeed? All we would need is-"

"Wait, wait!" Echidna said as she glared at Zeus, "It doesn’t have to be like that.” She looked over at Walker, “I understand. You didn't ask for us, just like we didn't ask for imprisonment. We're all a part of this; it is kismet, fate."

"Fate's an asshole," Walker said, seeing a reluctant nod from Zeus.

"Yes, they are. You have no idea there." Another nod from Zeus. "Creator, this is special. You have magic, and that is wonderful, but our power never worked through magic. It worked through the soul. We, the Primigenials of Earth, gained power from souls and faith. We can give you that, but its dangerous."

"How?" Walker asked. He didn’t know much about the power of the soul, but he’d loved Mythology as a kid. It had been like crack to him. But, as he knew, when a story was retold over and over, exchanged by human minds, things had a tendency to go sideways. Original meanings and facts disappear. 

The thing is, right now, he only had some fish, moss, and one large frog. While empowering his entities was important, it would take time, and he didn’t have a lot of that right now. While he was thinking of all this, Zeus looked over at Echidna, who nodded. 

"We'll walk you through it bits at a time, as it can be overwhelming to mortals." She said with a large amount of sympathy laced into her voice.

"I am not mortal," Virgil said.

"You also do not have a soul, as you were created directly by the Protocol," Zeus said. "Souls can only be interacted with, changed, by other souls. We need to build and train Walkers to withstand what is coming, as we are not allowed to alter the system directly."

Walker gave a sympathetic look to Virgil before looking back at Zeus, "That sounds amazing. It really does. But, we don’t have a lot of time until the next battle. While I appreciate you being willing to help me with a new scale of power, it may be something that has to wait."

Minos nodded and stepped forward. "The first step is always the longest, but with three of us, we can get you through it quickly."

"You’re sure?" He nodded with confidence, making Walker feel better about things. “Great! Then break it down for me, what’s the first step?"

Echidna grimaced, "We need you to open your soul to us."

"Open my soul?"

"Yes....and it will be very painful for you. Walker, you will have to perform great introspection and look deeper within than you ever have before."

"Greattttttt."

 Chapter 21: What Lies in the Darkness (1)

Echidna stepped over, putting her hands on his shoulders, “I understand that tone to be sarcasm. But Walker, you don’t have to worry. We’ll be with you the whole time.”

He looked at her and then noticed everyone else staring at him. He tried not to be uncomfortable, as standing in front of people waiting for you to do something is what teachers did from one day to the next. But there was a key difference between high school kids and literal gods. 

With kids, you have the power to pass or fail them, getting a measure of control simply by holding the teaching position. Sure, you have to act as they call it. Make it seem like everything is perfect, and you're just a happy-go-lucky type of person. This was not that kind of situation. 

Walker decided to stall while his brain caught up with what was about to happen, "At some point, we need to look in on the Battlefrog, you know." 

"It will be fine on its own, Walker. Was that not the purpose of creating The Monster System in the first place? So that the monsters became manageable?" Virgil asked. The traitor. He was looking at his screens fairly hard and didn't seem like he understood what he was seeing.

"Fair, but let me identify it real quick," Walker said, moving his hand toward the monitor ability.

Minos made a high-pitched humming sound, causing Echidna to laugh, and even Zeus cracked a slight smile.

"What?" Walker asked.

"He makes that sound when he feels someone is scared, although I do not blame you," Echidna said with another deep-throated laugh. He tried not to hate her at that moment.

"I'm not scared!" Walker protested, the pitch of his voice telling the lie. "I fought in a war, god damn it. Screaming, terror, grammar lessons. That classroom was no joke, and you know, I fought in Afghanistan too."

"Sure," Echidna said with a broad smile Walker could only associate with motherlyness. It was the type that said, "I know you're scared, small baby child, but you're being so strong!"

Another traitor appeared, "I can watch over the Battlefrog." Rimi said with a hand raised.

Echidna turned to him, "Thank you, little one."

"My name is Rimi."

"That's nice," she said, granting him a smile. Then, with a gentle touch, she patted him on the head. "So, are you ready, Walker?"

He blew air through his lips. It couldn't be much worse than the American education system. "Yah,” he scratched the back of his head. “I guess I am. How do I start?"

"Please sit down." She said as she entered a seated position on the grass.

So Walker sat in the grass, crossing his legs. Echidna moved closer, so she sat beside him, two long, well-shaped legs sticking out of her thigh-split dress.

"Okay, my soul is open....ahhhhh the breeze is so fresh." Walker joked.

"Very funny Mortal. Take this seriously. This is only the first movement towards soul manipulation." Zeus admonished.

"It's okay, Walker.” Echidna said with another soft smile, “I hope you contain your humor when this is over. Now, close your eyes."

"That's how I access my soul? I close my eyes and....and what? Meditate?"

"Yes, and also no. Please allow me to explain the process to you.” Echidna sat up straight, Walker unconsciously doing the same, “Our Creator did this with the original inhabitants of Earth, who you know as the Titans, and they did the same with us. We continued this tradition with the great heroes of our time, increasing the power of their souls exponentially. The Titans themselves were inconceivably powerful, as their souls were so grand that they touched upon the fabric of reality and gained the ability to shape it at will.” 

She pointed over to the bearded man with his arms crossed, “Only Zeus here is even close to that power. While magic is wonderful, and can allow for many things, astounding things even, it cannot touch upon the soul. It cannot strengthen the core of a being, but instead only reaches the surface. With the addition of the power of the soul to magical beings, you will have creatures that other Creators cannot come close to reaching.”

“But?” Walker asked. There was always a but.

Echidna smiled, “But, the biggest hurdle for any Creator to gain the power of the soul for their world is to find one who can spread the power themselves. The entity with the ability to train others. We call them the Progenitor, and it is quite difficult to reach that point for many people."

"Correct," Virgil added. "The first records of soul power, as the Alpha Protocol registered it, were in the 8th rendition of the 2nd Alpha Protocol, or 2AH. From there, it spread from Creators throughout different planets in the renditions to follow. It is not common to find a planet with soul power, and extremely uncommon to find both soul power and magic.” Virgil was still looking at his screens while he said everything.

"So, are evolutions caused by soul power, or magic?" Walker asked, thoroughly confused.

Virgil bounced on his toes, "Neither. This is not a simple explanation, but I will try. According to my information from the Alpha Protocol, the accelerated evolutions you see here, which should take hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years, are because each world is implanted with Primordial energy leftover from the creation of the new universe. Rather than allow billions to trillions of worlds to form, the Alpha Protocol gathers it into the one million worlds you see before you." He said, pointing at the sky without taking his eyes off of his screens. "That is a great amount of energy brought into specific and localized areas. Once each rendition is complete, the winners have the option of remaining with their worlds, or they can be brought to the Center or even get sent back to their original rendition. Sometimes this means broken planets will float through space, and sometimes this means Galactic Planeteaters will form."

"I swear I've seen that mentioned before," Walker pointed out.

"Regardless, that is the circumstances of the Alpha Protocol and seeding new worlds into universes begun from nothing. It is the energy of Creation, filtered through the systems of the protocol. You have assigned your evolutionary scale, or loose Primordial energy, to directly interact with magic. Magic has a tendency to allow for immediate changes, like gaining abilities or heat-resistant skin, which is an ability in itself. It also allows for the strengthening of materials, such as the roots and the metal beneath Symphony. Magic allows for great variation, and without a guiding hand like the systems you are building, it is mostly randomized. As you prefer to think through examples, I will provide one.” 

Walker leaned forward, noticing the confused Primigenials around him doing the same. Virgil still hadn’t looked away from his screens, “Let us say that you have a medium to high evolutionary potential entity. Well, should you place said entity within a cold environment for a lengthy period of time, it might gain cold-resistant skin or even a cold-specific ability. A hot environment will do the same. Magic enhances, but it doesn't necessarily build upon itself. Thankfully, your system will balance that out quite a bit, which is why I fully supported it. Magic can help you win the Alpha Protocol overall, but it is terrible for a world over time without constant nurturing and pruning.”

Walker nodded, “Okay, I think I’m following you. So, controlled magic is good, and it’ll help focus loose Primordial energy leftover from making the rendition, right?”

He saw the corner of a smile on Virgil’s face, “Excellent. Yes, Walker.”

Walker didn’t know why, but he felt like someone had figuratively patted his head for a moment. He listened back in as Virgil started to speak again. 

“Soul power, also known as chi or qi, is entirely different. If magic is what applies to the outside of an entity, soul power applies to the inside. Allowing entities to gain greater strength, speed, and variations of that. Making a larger entity and filling it with bulging muscles will certainly give it strength, but enhancing its soul on top of that, which will then filter to the rest of the body as it adapts...that is something else."

"Can there be soul evolutions? Like magic does?" Walker asked.

Zeus answered for him, "It can evolve, as I am sure you will soon experience, but it cannot evolve from the outside. It’s internal only. It’s blasphemous to even think of affecting souls externally.“

Zeus sighed and said, “We have all experienced what you are about to go through. You will find that although the experience is painful, it is necessary. It will strengthen your sense of self and how you came to be who you are now and allow you to further define your idol." He finished, pointing at the small lightning bolt emblem pinned to his robe.

"That just makes me think even more questions man." Walker lamented. "But we'll get there when we get there. Rather than just going with more questions, I’d like to get some answers.” He looked over at the yellow-eyed woman, “Echidna, let's do this."

She nodded and started to speak in a soothing voice: "Eyes closed like we spoke of, and I want you to picture a black wall. There are no bricks, no images, just darkness—pure darkness. Do you see it?"

"I don't see anything." Walker joked.

"Good. Now, I want you to imagine a large jar in the forefront of the darkness. It is impossible to fill, but you're going to try anyway. Put every bit of emotion, thought, and instinct you can into the jar. Feed it. Visualize it as taking in everything about you. You are empty; you are the darkness that surrounds the jar. Listen to my words: you are empty, you are the darkness that surrounds the jar. You are empty; you are the darkness that surrounds the jar. You are empty....."

Walker began to tune out her words as he fell deeper and deeper into a trance-like state, focusing only on the jar in his mind. It took a long time, hours even, for him to get to a point where no more scraps of thought and emotion could flow through him. 

As he settled into a meditative calm, unbeknownst to him, Echidna started to glow softly as she continued to repeat the words. It wasn't the cyan of magic or the golden glow of creation, but rather the same yellow color of her eyes. It started to drain away from the rest of her body and settle onto a single hand. She placed it against Walker's chest, who was so deep within himself, that he couldn't tell someone was touching his body. As she pressed her hand against his chest, the yellow glow began to drain into him and fade away beneath his skin. Echidna's eyes slowly lost some of their luster as she continued to funnel her power into Walker. 

As she began to sag in her seated position, she felt Minos place a hand on her shoulder. A bronze color erupted around him, much more powerful than what she had shown, and began draining into her as well. She couldn't look at him and express her gratitude as this was the hardest part, the first mind-to-soul connection, and she needed to focus entirely on Walker. The transfer of power from Minos, to Echidna, to Walker took quite some time as he continued to sit quietly amongst them.

There were dangers here, extreme dangers, but she was quite ancient by Walker's concept of time and had developed powerful control over the process. This was why her students and progeny of the past had been called monsters. She had granted them the connection when they were all just small children, so the power could develop and grow as their bodies did. 

That wasn’t what was happening here. Instead, this was effectively a soul shock treatment and should only be completed on those who didn't have the benefits of a teacher early on in life. She felt Walker's body begin to push back on her and withdrew her power. If she’d continued to infuse him, she might have overburdened his soul, causing a complete internal collapse as her own power completely took over his body. The rest was on him now.

For the longest time, he saw only darkness. It was....comforting. Unlighted rooms had never bothered him. He had always slept best when lights were a non-factor, and he could fully relish in the feeling of being one with his surroundings. He had placed blackout curtains in his old apartment because his insomnia would kick his ass once every few months, and it helped him knock out on those rare days he was allowed to call in sick. 

There was joy here—something profound and on the edge of his mind. But as much as he relished in the purity of this feeling, it was due to end, as a yellow light began to creep into his peaceful solitude from the outside.

The light encroached on his dark surroundings, blending into a gradient of yellow and black until it reached the center of his vision. Once it hit, everything flashed white, and suddenly, his perspective changed. It was like instead of looking at a dark room, he was now standing directly in it. 

He looked around, and the darkness changed to a sea of yellow. The only details to be found were creases in the edges of the environment that made it seem like he was in a three-dimensional box. While he continued to inspect the changes, one of the sides lit up, and a screen flickered into his vision. It was from the view of a short man walking around a living room that for some reason seemed quite familiar. 

A yellow dog zoomed by, running toward the tingling of his food hitting a bowl. The short man watched it for a moment, laughed delightfully, and chased after it. Walker realized what this was—a memory—a memory from his childhood.

The screen zipped time forward, and he saw his father reading the paper at a smallish round and scuffed table. It was the morning, and he was drinking coffee while Walker's mom sat next to him, speaking of what was new in her over-bloated family. Hundreds of cousins. A relic of the boomer times when people got freaky after not having freakyness for so long. Following his extended and womanless time in Afghanistan, Walker could certainly relate. His father looked at him, sitting at the table with some half-eaten pancakes on a plate in front of him, and said something that had stuck in his mind for a long time.

"You need to eat all of your food, Walker." He said with a stern expression.

"Why?" memory-Walker asked in a childish voice.

His father put his mug down and looked at him. "I've said this before, but you apparently do not remember, so I'll say it again. If you take on something, you have a responsibility to finish it, no matter what it is. Be it food, a job, or even something silly, like a movie or book."

"But why does that matter Daddy?"

"He doesn't understand, Gene." His mother said, looking at her hands as she sat across from them.

Looking at her, he said, "He needs to.” Before turning back to Walker. “You're probably still too young to get it, but I've always found that who you are is defined early in life. I've met plenty of children at work who have integrity and are downright honest people, and I've met others who are thieving pukes who don't deserve what they have. Entitlement is a plague, Walker. You picked up that many pancakes from the tray, meaning your mother and I have less for ourselves. You take, and others do not receive. That is why you always finish what you've started, Walker, as each action you take has ramifications for others. Be wise with your words and careful with your actions. That's the Reed way."

"Finish up your pancakes, dearest." His mother said with encouragement.

So, although Walker was already full, he ate the last three pancakes on his plate and waddled back to his room to get ready for school, a bloated stomach making him uncomfortable.

The screen flickered again, and judging by the height of the view, Walker could tell this was a few years later. He’d hit a small growth spurt in elementary school, and if he guessed correctly, this was fourth grade. The screen showed him walking out of Mrs. Jorgenson's class and toward the lunch line. Nobody around him spoke to Walker, as he recalled having few to no friends, his personality not perfectly meshing with the kids around him. 

His father had received a promotion and they'd just moved there, better pay equaling better housing and schools according to the tenets of capitalism. To put a cherry on top of being the new kid, his head was shaved bald. His old school had a lice outbreak right before they'd moved, and his mother felt shaving his head was the best option. He knew now how fucked up it was, that she could've just combed his hair with a special kind of shampoo, but she chose to shave him. He was born with blonde hair and brown eyes, but after the shave, his hair grew to a light brown color. Now, everything about him was brown, from hair to eyes and skin. It was not a pleasant time for him. 

He was toward the front end of the middle of the line, when someone shoved him from behind. Falling to his knees, he felt them scrap badly on the old striated concrete and tried his best to keep the tears in his eyes when laughter broke out around him. They said things like, "Stupid new kid", and "Baldy fall down." while he stayed there. Young Walker stood up to his feet and felt the burn from the scrapes on his knees as his skin stretched. A warm liquid feeling ran down the edges of his shin bones as he reached his full and unimpressive height. 

Walker turned around and looked at his attacker, already knowing who it was. Joey Vade. He was the kid who always blamed him whenever someone farted in the class, and kept saying mean things to him and bumping him in the hallways. He was a bully, and Walker had finally had enough overt threats and physical punishment to take action. Everyone had a barrier for when they would fight back, and he had moved past his.

He pulled his leg back and swung it hard, kicking Joey in the balls hard enough that he could feel the bounce as they pushed into the undercarriage where his hips met. Joey fell to the ground with a gasp while the kids moved back from the both of them. What should've been a funny incident in their minds, nothing other than picking on a new kid again, had now become a fight. But Walker wasn't done. 

He calmly walked over and tilted Joey's head up from his kneed position, then punched him right in the eye, hurting his own hand in the process. His dad's boxing lessons had kicked in, so he’d made sure to rotate his wrist and turn his should for just the right amount of power. The mistake most people make is not punching THROUGH what you're trying to hit. If you just punched at something, it was a weak hit and didn't do much damage. But through them? It was a different scale entirely. Joey fell back to the ground and started to cry as Walker stood over him victoriously.

The yard duties, as they were called back then, finally arrived and grabbed them both. Joey got a one-day suspension and Walker two, which his mother futilely protested. The yard duties only saw him doing the attacking and suspended Joey just because of Walker's word. He had rarely lied since arriving, and Mrs. Jorgenson had reported seeing Joey pick on him before. When his father asked him why he did it, he simply said, "A Reed always finishes what they start." His father clapped him on the back a few times and nothing more was said. It was a fond memory of his, and Joey never messed with him again.

Walker reflected on that for a moment before the screen stopped flickering and a different one lit up. Was this all just memories? What was happening here?

Chapter 22: What Lies in the Darkness (II)

The screen updated again before Walker could really understand what he was seeing. This time, Walker saw himself as an early teenager trying to talk to a girl in class. 

She was pretty, in that high school acne kind of way, but he remembered liking her for her laugh. So he told as many jokes as he could, good and bad. The young never knew when to stop with that kind of thing, beating a horse so dead it may as well be dog food and glue. 

Apparently, his most recent attempt was a success as she laughed, a delightful tinkling echoing around the room. One of the girls sitting nearby turned at her desk, "Why are you talking to him? He's ugly." She gave teenage Walker a glare as if blaming him for his own acne and general dumpiness.

"I think he's funny," the laughing girl replied, backing him up. She switched over to a bright smile and he returned it, feeling better about himself. It was a swift return to the overembellished jokes while the mean girl, whose name was Allison, turned back to the front of the class with a flick of her dirty blonde hair. Walker never went on any dates with the smiling girl and her laugh, but funnily enough, he did date the girl who called him ugly. 

They dated for over a year, which, in high school terms, was a lifetime. She had been cruel in a sort of way, like yelling at fast food workers who were just doing their best for a buck, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and Walker was no Adonis. The real reason they had broken up wasn't, in fact, how cruel she could be with other people. Instead, it was because she had cheated on him with a friend of his, and in some fucked up kind of way, had tried to somehow make it his fault. He watched the end of their relationship and felt better that he hadn't fallen for her any deeper than he had. Walker had never cheated on a girl and never would.

The screen flickered, and Valerie appeared. 

He felt his heart freeze up. He didn't know how he was having a physical reaction inside of his own mind, but it was there, and it was painful. He watched as they had their first conversation at a pizza hut, of all places. She smiled, her green eyes lighting up with something..special. Something only she had. 

The memories flashed by, and he couldn't do anything but watch as they went out on dates, to movies, and danced a few times, although that was never Walker's strength. She, however, was a phenomenal dancer. They moved in together and, eventually, got out of the military together. It all lined up like it was perfect. 

Walker went to college, graduated, and got a job. Teaching. But that's when he saw things turn downward. He came home each day tired, burned out mentally, and just didn't make time for her. It was a dark mirror to his thoughts from not too long ago. He hadn't prioritized her enough. 

He watched the last few weeks flash by with a heavy pit in his stomach. It was all recent in his mind, happening just before he quit his job and got sent to the protocol. He watched as she tried to make overtures, to reestablish their connection, but they fell on ears that didn't want to listen. By now, the pit was a cold burn deep in his chest. The scenes on the screen ended on their last night together, with him begging, holding a ring, and her closing a door.

The screen changed again, and Walker watched, in a deep spiral of darkness, as he saw a girl he hadn't thought of for a long time. Jessica. She had Down syndrome and was a neighbor of his before his father's promotion and their subsequent move. She had always been very kind to him, and they would play, laughing all the way, with different toys throughout her house. She lived in a manor while Walker had to share a room with his aunt. It just made sense to always go to her house. He hadn't seen her since he was around eight and had always remembered her as the kindest person he'd ever met.

At this moment, she was explaining why the Colorado Rockies were her favorite baseball team, "They're the best; you just don't know."

"But why?" Walker asked. His dad had taken him to a few L.A. Dodger games, and he'd picked them as his favorite team out of strict loyalty to the family. That and their all-star player Darryl Strawberry.

"Try on my hat," she said, grabbing it from where it was hanging on the wall. Walker put it on and didn't notice anything special, but he didn't say that because he knew she was sensitive about them. Each was always kept in pristine condition.

"Okay, now what?" He asked her.

"You don't feel it?" She asked with a confused look. "That hat is from my daddy. My mom says he's away on a business trip, and I haven't seen him for a while. It's the best hat I have, though. You can feel him through it."

Walker didn't understand, but he agreed it was a very nice hat with her.

"You're nice." She said, smiling.

The screen shifted, and he got a view of him and his mother walking away from their big house. Walker had an odd look on his face as he spoke, “Mom, where's Jessica's dad?"

They got into their new car, a blue Dodge Durango his mother loved, before she said, "Oh honey, he left when she was born. Some men just can't....deal with it....when their children don't turn out the way they want them to. It's no fault of the child's, though, and Jessica is such a sweet girl." She turned the key in the ignition and they were headed home as Walker thought it over. He came to a decision that burned in his chest.

"When I have kids, I'll always take care of them."

"That's why you're my favorite." His mother said without looking at him, a smile on her face.

The screen flickered, and his oldest friend, Matt, appeared. They had met their sophomore year in high school English, striking up a friendship over how stupid the class seemed to be. In hindsight, that was one of the best English classes he'd ever taken, as Mr. Lenner had let them focus on their own writing and not what the state prescribed. He had started to love writing and the breakdown of words from that class.

Matt was not a tall man but had always worked out consistently, even in his early teen years. Between his fitness and those sharp blue eyes, he had always seemed to win over the girls. There were more than a few times that one of Walker's suitors had grown close to him, only for him to find out they were just trying to get closer to Matt. Matt always rejected them, though. He was a good friend and stand-up guy who he never truly felt he deserved. They made a few jokes, showing their camaraderie developing over time before the screen flickered again. 

Walker knew this moment with full clarity. It was the last time they'd spoken in person and it was an old argument, at that. Matt had moved to San Diego and he and his wife were trying to have a kid. They were going to have a baby whether Matt wanted to or not; at least, that's what his wife said, but that wasn’t what they were talking about right now.

"Just quit," Matt said for the second time. "You're not actually happy there, and I spoke to Valerie last week. Dude, she's not happy either."

"You know I can't just quit, a Reed-"

"Finishes what they start, yah, I know genius." Matt interrupted. "But, if it's killing you, why the fuck would you stay."

"Think of the children, Matthew!" Walker joked.

"It's not a joking matter, man. You're all fucked up. Valerie said you're hardly sleeping anymore and you have no time for yourself, always working every weekend. It's not good, dude." Matt ran a hand through his thin and further thinning blonde hair. They were at a coffee shop in Santa Barbara, near where the Borders used to be. "Look, I'm going to be a dad one day, which means you're going to have a pseudo-nephew one day as well. You need to be alive to be a terrible uncle to them. And that may not happen as I honestly think this job may be killing you."

"I'm fine, Matt, really. Valerie and I can figure it out and what am I going to do otherwise? California's not cheap, and we barely make rent even with Val's higher salary."

He took a sip of too-hot coffee with a grimace, "I don't know, but you're smart enough to figure it out, as long as you have the right people around you." 

"I have no idea why you drink it when it's that hot. Cold coffee or nothing."

"Stop changing the subject. You do that, you know. When you're uncomfortable with something."

Walker sighed. "I know. Wanna see something?"

"As long as it's not your tiny limp-dick, sure," Matt said with a smile.

Walker pulled out his phone and showed a picture of a ring. The stone matched the color of Valerie's eyes, as he never much liked diamonds or the inflated pricetag that came with them. 

Matt looked at it and Walker burst out, "Whatcha think."

"Oh, man! I had no idea, although it's about time. Where are you gonna get the money for this? It's too nice for the likes of you and your shitty teacher paycheck."

"I've been tutoring after school for the last few weeks to save up. That's why I haven't been home as much. Plus, even when I am home, good tutoring pay requires good tutoring lesson plans. Sure, I'm exhausted a lot, but it'll be worth it in the end. I figure it'll take me a few years."

"Dude, that's great man. I'm happy for you."

"Thank you," Walker said with a smile. Matt roughly patted his shoulder, and they kept talking throughout the day as they walked down State Street toward the beach.

"When are you coming to San Diego?" Matt asked as they were both getting ready to part ways. "I can't always be driving up here; at some point, it's your turn."

"I'll get there after I propose to Valerie, promise."

"You better. You're one of the best guys I know, if not the best, but you're entirely too focused on your work at times." He said with a small shake of his head.

"True. But as the wise say, Work worth doing, is work done right." He replied with two thumbs up.

"You're an asshole," Matt said as he turned and walked away.

"True!" Walker yelled at his back.

The last screen flickered as the current one died away, along with a piece of Walker's heart. 

That was the last time he'd talked to Matt, and he missed him dearly. It was rare to find a friend like that in any world. He wasn't disparaging Virgil, but his bond with Matt was powerful. He hoped he and his family were okay.

The final screen popped up, and it wasn't like the previous ones. It showed Walker just sitting and drawing. Before his Dysgraphia had really reared its head, he remembered drawing all the time. Fantastical creatures had bounded across the page. Mysterious worlds would pop into his imagination, and with his mother’s friendly encouragement, he’d draw and draw until he ran out of the good paper. Then, he’d steal from his dad’s old printer and draw some more. 

Now, as he watched his young self sit in his room and draw, he realized just how shit of an artist he had been. It's unfair, he understood, to judge a child's artwork, but that was still terrible. What was he drawing? His young self got up and ran to the kitchen to show his mother. She took it with the ooh's and ah's that any mother would for their child, then put it on the refrigerator.

"You didn't name it?" His mother asked.

"It's just a squirrel." Young Walker replied, and ran back to his room to draw some more artwork for his mother. He created art the world had never, and probably should never, see. Fifty-foot tall spiders with acid dripping from their fangs running at a city with their army of children. A small family holding hands beside a great big tree as a squirrel overlord pointed at them with a sword. A man in a cape with a W on the back, flying in and saving people with outrageous powers.

The flicker moved forward to a time when Walker, at the age of seventeen, pulled someone out of a car accident and got them away to safety, only moments before a small explosion occurred in a formerly quiet intersection. The man thanked him once before passing out, and he stayed by their side while waiting for the ambulance he had called after checking on him.

Flicker. 

Walker in an elevator at a hospital, waiting on test results for his knees. He had grown a full foot in a year, and it was causing him a lot of pain. A man starts to choke in the elevator on a part of a sandwich he had been eating when Walker entered. He performs the Heimlich maneuver his dad said could save somebody's life someday, and got the man's airway clear. Two weeks later, the man found Walker and gave him a walking stick he had made in Scotland called a Shaleighleigh. Walker thought it was a pretty funny story and would sometimes tell it to his students.

Flicker. 

It showed a woman on a motorcycle being run over by a bus Walker was sitting on. Eighteen people sat on that bus, but he was the only one to get off of it and help the woman. She had broken both her arms and legs, and her chest was caved in. He was in the military and had gone through just enough training to know she wasn't going to make it, so he instead held her hand and spoke softly to her as she died only a few moments later. A few minutes after her expiration, the rest of the people on the bus got off. They tried to give Walker an award and a ceremony, but he rejected both. He told them they should be ashamed of those eighteen people on the bus, as they'd had the same training he did. There was no further talk of awards.

Flicker. 

Walker was in Afghanistan, and one of his sergeants took a round to the outside of his leg. The man was completely lucid and carrying a Pepsi soda for some reason, as Walker carried him to the helicopter under gunfire and mortar rounds impacting the ground around him. The moment he gets the Sergeant into the helicopter, he drops the can, and subsequently passes out. Walker calls it a magical can and keeps it. He never sees the Sergeant again.

Flicker. 

Walker jumps out of the way of a mortar strike in his last few weeks in the military and falls into a ditch. He tears all the ligaments in one of his ankles and has to crawl to his barracks through a garbage-filled latrine. He doesn't tell anyone about how bad the injury is, and tries to pretend he just twisted his ankle. If they find out, they'll keep him there longer, and he was ready to leave. He'd done his duty. He'd finished what he'd started.

Flicker. 

Walker is at the laundromat and sees a child put a Tidepod in its mouth. He rushes over and rips it out of the small boy's mouth while his mother screams at him. He tells her they need to go to the hospital, and they rush off, leaving their clothes forgotten in the machines. Two hours later the doctor says the child is going to be fine, and Walker breathes a sigh of relief. When he returns to the laundromat, he smiles in relief. No one took his clothes.

There were other moments, but those were the ones that stuck out the most to him. That time, he put out a fire in the school bathroom twice in one day. That time, he got between a kid and his parents, who he knew were abusive. All the school fights he stopped and the soft conversations that followed. 

When you're living in the present, you don't really analyze what you're doing and how you're doing it. You just...do. When Walker was speaking with people, he had a tendency to tell jokes and take the solemnity of whatever was happening away. But, when action called, he was always ready. He knew what to do, how to do it, and what the best course was to take. It's who he was.

The screens all flickered away, and the yellow coloring began to bleed into black again. Walker thought over what he'd seen and what he was supposed to get from this. It was like those times when people say they can see their whole life flash before their eyes, right before they die. It made him consider everything he’d seen. What had he learned from this?

He had a strict family, but one who cared about him and wanted him to always do his best. They taught him to always finish what he'd started.

He was a fuckup with relationships, but he always tried to make things better, and he loved hard. His relationships taught him that you couldn't ignore the smallest things as they can become larger problems later on.

He was an okay friend, but they always knew he cared about them, and he hoped they still cared about him even now. His friends taught him that it was okay to self-care and that being a good person wasn't anything to look down upon.

He was great in moments of crisis, and wouldn't hesitate to help someone in need, even if they didn't know they needed that same help. He learned from his own experiences that he wasn't a superhero, but no one was, and all you can do is your best in any given situation. Often, just trying to do your best was enough to succeed.

The yellow receded further, and in its place, a deep forest green grew. The more Walker thought over what he had seen, the more the Green color grew, soon overtaking the black and only leaving the yellow in its place. 

In the end, he knew who he was and who he wasn't. He was Walker Reed, and while he certainly wouldn't call himself a hero, he did find in himself heroic-like tendencies. He would always strive to be better. He would always grow to build a better future for himself and those around him. And, he would always help those in need. That was Walker Reed.

The last of the yellow shattered, and the green took over. He was still within his mind, so he mentally pushed and found himself back on his tiny planet with the pseudo-gods and squirrels. 

Immediately, Walker felt a sense of change in himself. His mind felt more clear than he'd ever experienced before, like his thoughts had been damp and had finally dried out. He stretched his arms out to his sides and felt his body move differently. It was as if heavy weights had been holding him down all of his life, and they were finally lifted. 

Finally, he opened his eyes, and a green wave pushed itself away from his body, buffeting those around him. It didn't have a physical presence, just a forest green color spreading out from him as a central point. Echidna tracked the wave with her yellow eyes and nodded once.

"Twenty-five feet, or thereabouts."

"Twenty-five and 4 inches." Virgil corrected.

"Indeed. How far did your first breakthrough go, Z?" She asked the bearded man.

"Around fifteen feet, but remember, I was there for your own. Six feet, was it?" He asked with a bit of cheekiness. Echidna blushed.

"Well, congratulations, Walker."

Walker was still adjusting to the changes in his body and just picked up on what they were saying. "Congratulations on what?" he asked.

"You have a very powerful soul," she said without a smile. “Let's see just how far you can go."

Chapter 23: A Green, Green World

Walker stretched his back, still marveling at how good his close-to-middle-aged body felt. 

Physically, he was better than ever, but his emotional state was another thing. It still felt like his innermost feelings had been curb-stomped by an elephant wearing stilettos. In retrospect, call it luck or call it good living, but most of those memories seemed sad with a tinge of...goodness. Is goodness a word? Doesn't matter, he just made it one.

 Walker was always pushing himself to be a better person. Better than the day before, at least. That was why he wanted to build Symphony to be a planet of persistent growth. Where each day might contain a brighter sunrise. He cracked his neck and looked over at the yellow-eyed woman who seemed to be waiting for him.

"How are you feeling?" Echidna asked with some concern.

"Like a tractor just ran over my emotional balls," Walker said. "Physically, I feel outstanding. The protocol already healed my old ankle injury, but this is different. It's like I just drank ten red bulls, only without the shakes and existential dread that normally follows."

"I did not know the world continued with animal sacrifices, Walker.”

“What?”

Echidna gave a confused smile, “You said it was as if you had drank ten red bulls.”

“Huh…Oh! No, no. Sorry.” Walker smiled, “That’s just their name. They’re energy drinks. Terrible for your body, but pretty great at putting a big pep in your step.”

Echidna nodded, “Ah, I see. That's generally how it is, and it never truly fades." She smiled before it quickly fell away. "The first stage can be quite painful for those who don't accept themselves as they are."

"What happens then?" Walker couldn't help but ask. The great bearded one answered for him.

"They emotionally implode into a quivering mess of uncertainty. Eventually, they become a,” He had to think for a moment, before saying, “potato.”

"Oh...that's cool, I guess." He said, trying not to think of what he could've potentially experienced. Then remembered what Echidna had mentioned before, "Wait, what did you mean I have a powerful soul?"

"What color are your eyes?" Zeus questioned him from the side.

What a stupid question. 

"Brown, of course, like most people from our world."

"Wrong," Zeus said with a shake of his head. "Your eyes are now a striking green."

What? Oh, wait, I didn’t say that out loud.

"What?" 

"Walker," Echidna said, placing a soft hand on the side of his arm. "The first step to gaining soul power is to face yourself and the choices you've made throughout your life. The sooner you set yourself on a path or a code to live by, the stronger your sense of self becomes.”

“A code? Like what?”

Zeus stepped forward, “That is for you to decide.”

Echidna made a shushing motion at him before turning back to Walker, “The more you live by your code, the more powerful your soul becomes. It doesn't matter what path you choose, only that you stick to it, and that it is a reflection of the person you are choosing to be."

"Look," Minos said as he stepped forward. He got uncomfortably close to Walker’s face and pointed at his eyes. Initially, Walker thought they were a light shade of brown, but as he looked a little closer, he realized they were actually a bronze coloring, just like the armor around his body. 

Walker turned his head and looked at Zeus, who obligingly stepped forward and found that his eyes, too, were different. What he had thought was a light shade of blue, were in fact white with small streaks of blue around the edges, like lightning held within puffy clouds.

"Physical changes are a part of the process, Walker," Zeus rumbled, "It is like a warning to the rest of the universe, saying, This one has power." He raised his fist and clenched it. "The greater the power, the more the changes as your soul seeks to imprint upon your physical self. No one can go through the dynamic shift of actively using their soul without changes becoming apparent."

"Why are you being nicer to me?" Walker asked of the bearded man. "Before, you always gave a vibe that said MORTAL I WILL SMITE YOU. Now you're actually being helpful, and I don't get it."

"That is a simple enough answer....you are one of us." He said with a grand spread of his muscled arms. "Let me explain this to you. The first step or stage appears as a slight change to the color of an Awakened's eyes, representing that a being has experienced the internal stage. The moment you experience said stage, your soul begins to show itself in a physical way, creating changes to how your body and mind work. You'll find yourself stronger, faster, and will age slower as time has less of an effect on you. A great boon to the eternal effect of the soul directly impacting the physical body. The more you pull from your soul, the more you stretch it and strengthen it over time, the greater the physical changes that become apparent."

Walker thought it over, "So you're saying you don't spend twenty hours of every day in the gym, while drinking protein shakes and staring at girl's asses as you pretend not to."

"I don’t understand what you’re saying," Zeus said, looking at Echidna with confusion.

She redirected Walker with a wave of her arm, "As you progress through the second stage, you will find those physical changes reflected in the strength and speed of your muscles and tendons. The greater the soul's connection to the body, the more control an awakened has over it. We call it the physical stage. As you learn to sheathe your body in the power of your soul, your physical strength and speed will naturally grow.

“Sweet! Can we get started now?” Walker said as he bounced on his toes. 

Echidna shook her head, “It takes time, which you’ve stated you do not have. Also, your soul has not yet acclimated to its new form. When it does, we will continue if you are willing to further walk down the road of the Awakened."

Walker canted his head at that, "So that's what I am now? An Awakened?"

"Yes, it is a term we use for ourselves, although throughout time, there have been different words. Gods, angels, djinn, and so on. Those who reach the third stage change even further, depending upon their Icon. Some even begin to modify their body and move away from the standard form of humanity. I've seen Awakened who grow wings, horns, and even plated armor for skin. Our Creator tried to replicate these modifications in her monsterology, or study of monsters. She experimented with them, trying to develop those that could be Awakened at birth."

Echidna paused for a moment in thought, "Did she ever find a way to do so?" She asked Zeus, who just shook his head. "Either way, she created entities which you would know to be myths and legends, but are standard from her world in the first rendition. Dragons, the minotaurs who were developed to look after Minos here. Entities with unique characteristics and bodies."

"Walker," Virgil said, interrupting for the first time in a while. "You now have two new genetic lines to work from, mythological and primigenial."

"Oh shit," Walker said, slapping a hand to the top of his head. "With all of the crap I just went through, I'd completely forgotten about that."

"That is only natural," Virgil replied. "The Primigenial genetic lines are directly connected to your new optional tasks from our...visitors...here. While the mythological lines are open for use."

"Good looking out, Virgil. Okay. Status check, everyone. Rimi, how is our big boy doing?"

Rimi squared his shoulders, "The Battlefrog is eating well, Walker. But, as I watch him, I can't help but feel that he is lonely."

"Noted, we'll give him some friends in a moment. Virgil, how is the ecology system looking? Did you figure out how to get the weather to siphon from Symphony's Mana Trees?"

"Yes, although it is not perfect. If we tie the weather to magic, and the magical density overwhelms an area, it can have a detrimental effect."

"What would that look like?" Walker asked.

"Tornadoes, hurricanes, and powerful hailstorms can spontaneously manifest with too much magical saturation."

"Sooooo..." Walker said without a clue. An errant thought wormed its way into his mind. Awakening his soul had surely empowered his body, but now he knew that it did nothing for his mind. He was still a dumbass. Thankfully, he had assistants to help him out in times like these. 

Virgil continued speaking, "Any large battles that do not already destroy the land through their magical abilities are likely to also produce deleterious effects on the weather."

"Mmmm, I'll be honest, that also sounds like a positive. It's similar to what we wanted from the Territory system, a warning system for anyone still in the area."

Virgil nodded slowly with a paw on his chin, "Yes, I had not thought of that."

"Why do you care for these mortals?" Zeus asked from the side as Walker froze in place. "You’re an Awakened now, and will live for at least several hundred years. The welfare of lesser beings is beneath you. Create your world, place your servants, and gain enough power to control any sector of this universe you choose."

Walker turned his head slowly and looked at him with a steely gaze. He recalled his oath, and after filtering it through the visions and experiences that he had just gone through, he found it fell in line with who he was as a person. 

Who he was choosing to be. 

That surety bolstered his soul, and while it didn't tell him the next words to say, he did feel a nudge in his mind, like a mental guideline. He thought that over for a moment, just to make sure something other wasn't controlling him. No, it was his thoughts, but now he had something pushing him to follow through. The nudge was closer to seeing the lights turn on for an airplane rather than something forcing him to think a certain way. Sure in his purpose, Walker spoke.

"It isn't enough to have power or to live for ages. Not when power is used with ill intent, and life is for nothing but the accumulation of even more power. Calling others mortal, as you seem to enjoy doing so much, shows your hand to the listener. Do you not recall I was only just another mortal not long ago? Based upon what I've learned about the Awakened, at some point, so were you. The more you point out your own strength, the more you point out just how much you've come to rely on it to the detriment of everything else, including your understanding of others' needs and wants. Remind me, where is your power, your lightning now?"

"You know it is lost," Zeus responded with some heat in his voice.

"Yes, I do, but you don't seem to get it. I hold the cards here....brother. I am, technically, still mortal. But by your own words, I am also an Awakened much like yourself. So as a representative of both worlds, I have to say, fuck you and that superior bullshit." Walker finished.

"He's right, you know," Echidna said from the side. "We asked you not too long ago to stop with the ummm."

"Superiority Complex." Minos provided in a small voice.

Echidna smiled at him, “Thank you, Dear. Yes, your superiority complex. It has never shown a good side to others. In our time on Earth, you would swoop in on women and charm them with your looks and your powers. Then, after you get the deed done, you start talking down to them.” She gave him a disgusted look, “It’s horrible, Z. After you mistreated those poor women, they’d get mad and spread rumors about you, affecting all of us by association. Saying you did something strange and horrible, like turn into a bull and molest them."

"Or a swan." Minos helped.

"Or a swan. Right. Or that one time they said you were a horse? You can't do anything like that, but they spread rumors that you're some weird...animal molester. Is that right?" She asked Minos, who shrugged. Echidna continued regardless, "Then your followers left you because they were worried they'd be next, and other immortals lost theirs as well in a vicious cycle of lost power and prestige. Just stop already."

"I never did anything like that," Zeus said with a red face. "That was all....slander. Yes, it was fully satisfied women slandering my name."

"Not what I heard," Walker said with a smile, happy to see Zeus feeling the squeeze. He decided to join in, "I heard you turned into an eagle to bang another gorgeous and lonely eagle once."

"NEVER!" Zeus yelled with a thunderous voice. Echidna laughed with a full-throated sound while even Minos tittered. Walker was about to continue poking the King of the Gods when Virgil interrupted with a light cough.

"Walker, please look at your time remaining until the next battle," Virgil said.

Walker looked at his overlay.

Time remaining until next battle: 38 hours.

"Oh crap, we're running out." He said in shock. "How long was I in my weird mind-place."

"Quite a long time, Walker," Virgil replied. "That is why I felt it was prudent to remind you. We can use some of our Temporal resources, but we're running a little low. The Protocol will help with that after the next battle."

"Okay,” Walker slammed his hands together, trying to refocus his mind, “So what do you need for the weather system to go online."

"We would need more Mana Trees, but I hesitate.”

“Why?”

“Because of your forthcoming Territory System and the requirements established by the Monster System. The drain on the magical atmosphere would require more Mana Trees per landmass. That means we will need to add as we go."

Walker nodded, “True. Rimi said our Battlefrog buddy needs some friends, so I’m gonna knock that out real quick. Afterward, we can look at adding some landmasses with more Mana Trees and move on from there."

"That sounds good."

Echidna waved at Walker for his attention, "We'll be by the Tree of the Gods while you work. Call over to us if you need anything. And don’t worry. Minos and I’ll talk to Zeus about how to counter his -uh,” Her face brightened a little, “thousand-year-old problem."

"You got it, and thank you." He said as the three walked over and started to look at the branches and leaves on the large green prison.

Walker pulled up his monitor and identified the Battlefrog.

Name: Battlefrog

Genus: Battlefrog

Organism type: Animal

Modifications: Supersized, System-bound, Steel claws

Monster System Power Level: Tier 1

He noticed that evolution was gone, and in its place, it showed that the Battlefrog was only Tier one. He tried zooming into its body so he could view the Kernelj. The monitor adjusted, showing a light blue coloring in the center of its chest. He hated to do it, but Walker called Virgil over, asking, "How long until it hits tier two, do you think?"

"It is difficult to tell as this is an entirely new frontier for the Alpha Protocol. I think, and this is a guess, that it will take about a month to gain Tier Two for each monster. But, as you add more monsters to the area and the attuned magic is depleted, it will likely begin to take longer. The greater the population, the less there is to go around, at least until we add more Mana Trees."

"Okay, that's in line with what I was hoping. Rimi! How many friends should I give it?" Walker yelled out.

"I would suggest no more than five at a time."

"Why just five?"

"Because they will reproduce on their own when given enough time."

"Okay, sounds good," Walker said as he walked over to the Creation Instrument. He pulled up his overlay and looked at the battlefrog, which was in a new category labeled Monster System entities. Walker clicked it and waited as the diagram appeared on the computer screen. There was an option at the bottom he hadn't noticed before, which allowed him to choose the frog's sex.

Do you two know if we should limit the Battlefrog’s sex at all?" Walker asked.

“Sex?” Rimi asked. But Virgil never let Walker answer as he knew they would get sidetracked. 

"For this entity, I would suggest starting out with four males and two females overall. They were not known to be territorial with each other. However, after the modifications, what we know may no longer be accurate." 

"Yep, I agree." Rimi pipped in.

"Okay, then, here we go," Walker said as he moved his monitor to The Crater. He quickly printed out five images and dropped them in one at a time with little separation. 

After they all materialized, Walker started to grow worried. They didn’t move or hop around as he expected. Instead, they simply stood still. That is until the original Battlefrog noticed their appearance and hopped over. 

The slightly older frog looked at his colleagues with squinted eyes and just sat there for a moment. Suddenly, a tapping sound, deep in its throat, came out of it. Walker was sure, at its size, it would sound like beating drums if he were nearby. The other four finally moved, looking at it. There was a long pause, and then each made a similar sound before hopping around a few times. Walker breathed a sigh of relief as they continued to communicate without attacking each other.  

"Alright, that seemed to go well." He said.

Virgil nodded as he looked at the monitor beside him, "I agree." 

"I think I'm going to make some landmasses and drop them in. This way, we can finish the ecology task and get the weather system online at the same time. What do you think?"

"Sounds good," Rimi said with a thumbs up, looking at his screen.

"What are you going to do?" Walker asked the larger squirrel.

"I am going to look through the new genetic lines again and see if we are able to seed one without destroying Symphony before the next battle. You know what happens if we lose."

"That I do, but you may have to just ignore me. This may take me a while."

"I will be here if you need me," Virgil said, staring at his screen.

Walker looked at the smaller blue squirrel staring at his screen, then at the larger brown one doing the same. "Just like my old classroom," He said with a sigh before changing the creation instruments option from entity to landmass. 

He'd had an idea about what he should do, and he was determined not to make any more large mistakes. Walker knew, when he first designed Symphony, that he hadn't been thinking big enough. One landmass centralized with four points wouldn't work for an entire world. He would need to change all of his plans moving forward. 

The idea had come to him not long after his transformative soul experience. His thoughts felt clearer. Like his mind’s eye could see better. Although it wasn't a purely physical experience, his improved perspective felt like the clouds parting on a sunny day. He had been going about all of this just...wrong. 

The best way forward wasn't to create one large mass that connected to everything. Instead, he needed to create a hundred, a thousand individual locations interconnected throughout Symphony. Places where the sand of the desert can be a step away from an ancient forest. Where each portion and its Mana Trees were free to change over time as the citizens of Symphony interacted with them. 

He selected the shapes option and chose the almighty hexagon. A hexagon provides six sides and would let him place the pieces of land in any connection he chose, allowing greater creative freedom over time and always syncing with each other by shape. He wouldn’t have to worry any longer about perfectly designing every inch. Instead, he’d just have a singular shape that fit. 

After the hexagon appeared on the screen, he looked a little closer at all of the options that he hadn't seen when making the giant piece of steel. He didn't know why he hadn't looked over his options before, but he figured it was better late than never. Scanning through, he found an option to rotate the landmass's shape so he could see every side, including the top and bottom. 

Rotating it back, he continued to inspect every aspect of the future landmass, moving the object around the screen as he did so. As he continued to grow familiar with the changes, he found a terraforming button, which, after selecting it, allowed him to depress the ground or raise it up as he chose. That provided some new options that he would help as he gained further mastery over the system.

He placed soil on top of the hexagon and copied it over the entire surface, not making the same mistakes as he had in the past. Pushing the terraforming button, Walker built a few hills into different locations, then placed the rock icon on them, copying that to each as well. He dug a winding trench through the soil and replaced it with the water icon so he could connect it to Symphony's primary river. Logically, he knew that having one water source for his whole world was a bad plan, but this was just the beginning of the planet. The further he expanded, the more sources he would add.

He clicked the rotation tool and put granite on the bottom so he'd have a uniform design throughout the world. He wanted to add the steel early, so it wouldn't be an issue, but he wasn't sure exactly where to line it up with the future Mana Tree roots, making it a moot point. Walker looked it over and nodded to himself, then printed out the landmass, pulled up the monitor, and put it near the swamp corner.

Again, the landmass was larger than his previous additions, and it slotted in with a click. The hexagon was perfect for his landmasses, one side facing the current Symphony, and another against the mountains of The Crater. This allowed four other connection areas for later expansion. 

Walker's overlay lit up and gave him a C+, giving him a little more paper to work with in the future, so he went again, this time adding to the water at the bottom with small islands holding sand, small rocky areas, and a little bit of soil for future vegetation. He did it a second time to really expand the surface area of Symphony with water. Both gave him C's, which he was fine with.

After placing the three new landmasses, he called Virgil over for advice. Following a quick discussion on which would work best in a given area, Walker started placing seeds all across the world. As he worked, Symphony stayed the same, but under the surface, he knew life was just waiting for something to happen. C and D grades were unleashed as trees exploded in space and new forms of magic-deficient vegetation spread across the world. There was a slight delay with each genus as they had to place them in the evolution chamber to apply the deficiency modification, but it was worth it, and having two chambers instead of one sped them up at an appreciable rate.

Walker never stopped, placing seed after seed, envisioning how it would all turn out when he was done. Each would be their own specific sphere of nature. Sand met water, water would meet trees, and across Walker's world, he finally added grass. 

As he backed out of the monitor, he noticed that the structure of Symphony was a little catty-wompus, as the saying goes. He had added one landmass next to the swamp in the top left of the world and another two greatly expanding the bottom left. Eventually, he'd have to talk to Virgil to see what it would take to create a real salt-filled ocean. He knew from his earliest memories that the salinity of the ocean was vitally important to a planet's climate, but that may only have been with Earth. Designing worlds was a genius man’s game, and he was just getting started.

Looking at his time, he found a little over thirty-three hours remaining. but he also felt like he finally had enough focus to really do what he should've been doing all along. Building a world that can change and evolve with time. He nodded once at the still drab planet, then explained to Virgil what he was doing next. Walker pulled up his entity subsystem and started to mass-drop small, fuzzy, and feathered animals into space. Eventually, pieces of them were floating in all directions as the vacuum took its due.

"Wow." Zeus said from near the Tree of the Gods, where he and the other two had been sitting all this time. "Even I do not treat my people in such a way."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Walker said. "But we still haven't figured out how to get the alpha protocol to download everything we want to make, so this is the fastest and most merciful way to do this.” He threw another animal into space, then informed Virgil it could be added to the chambers. “We've already substantially changed Symphony with all of the vegetation; now we're putting in basic, unevolvable animals. Speaking of which, no task update, huh?" He asked Virgil.

"No, we are only adding the mana deficiency modification. As they are originally from Earth and never had mana in the first place, it is not a large enough modification to consider it a new entity.” 

"Fuck me."

"For what purpose did you just murder all of those innocent creatures?" Echidna asked as she stood up and placed her hands on her hips.

"Simple." Walker said, "And please don't be angry. We need things for our monsters, and eventually people, to eat. I don't want every rabbit in the world to have a chance to drain the magic in Symphony, as it's not limitless. So, instead, we kill each genus once and modify them to stop any chance of evolutionary independence. Oh, that reminds me."

Walker added his water-adapted Mana Trees to the islands in the sea, one on each corner, then another two to his new forest with the original modified version. Stepping into the World Editor, he took his leftover steel, and had just enough left to fill in the gaps he was cutting into the granite. 

He had eyeballed where the old roots were so he could line them up as precisely as possible. All across his life, working with his hands had always been a large problem for him. But ever since his little soul adventure, they were steady as a rock.

After looking it over and making sure that everything was as it should be, he started to add rabbits, birds, foxes, and an assortment of other animals to the world. Walker blew some seeds that would grow into fruit bushes and trees, as well as standard fare for prey animals, and placed them as well.

Of course, everything dropped in so far were babies and seeds, but he had a solution for that forthcoming. 

He wiped his dry hands on each other, the sound a fitting conclusion to his work for the day. Walker looked at his clock and found another five hours gone, leaving him with only twenty-eight remaining.

"Okay, I feel like this is, finally, going to be a habitable world," Walker said.

"I agree; you have made more progress in the last ten hours than you have since first entering the Protocol," Virgil said.

"Is that pride in your voice?" Walker asked.

"Certainly not. I just approve of efficiency."

"So do I," Walker said with a smile. "Now, let's get to really pumping out some monsters."

Jolive had taken a different route with the Slicer....ignoring it. Was it the best plan? No. Was it an actual plan? No again. But she felt it was the only path remaining to her. 

She'd dropped acid on it, burned it, electrocuted it, tried to cut it in half, and once she'd even given it a bath, not understanding that the Slicer thoroughly enjoyed the water. 

Jolive became so enraged at the fact that she couldn't kill the Universal Terror, that she even tried asking in the chatroom about what to do in this type of situation. The only thing responses she received were laughter and ridicule. They lacked the understanding of what this creature and all of its power meant to them.

It was the end of their time in the Alpha Protocol.

Identifying the monster only returned the name and Universal Terror title, as it had so many evolutions, that the Alpha Protocol had entirely given up on attempting to quantify it.

At this current moment, she was focusing on working with her entities. She had massively expanded her landmass, not unlike Walker himself, and now the cage and its relatively remote area...directly in the center of her world...was a forgotten monument to her failure as a Creator. 

She didn't know what else to do and only felt relief that the remainder of her work could continue uninterrupted.

"I need to somehow find a way to....combine these two if I want a chance at the next battle." She said to herself, the countdown in her overlay a constant reminder of how little time she had remaining. When you were counting every minute, your mind had a tendency to see time as moving both too quickly and not quickly enough. 

It bothered her. 

"Maybe the trick is to just make them larger." She said, pulling out a small notebook her guide had given her. While she was writing, Jolive reflected on how helpful her guide was at the start of everything. As she knew they were an entity taken from the image of her future world, it spelled out just how great Dilania would be in the end. 

The guide had explained everything, from top to bottom, of what to expect in the tutorial. The notebook even held ideas and suppositions of what the battles would be like and how she could best prepare her world based on their own memories.

The myths and legends that had continued into the future. 

She couldn't imagine how others, with less helpful guides, could succeed without these notes.

"Now, let's see here." She said as she activated her mental Creation Instrument and projected the image in front of her. She made slight changes to them, as anything too drastic could have unforeseen consequences. Small change, seed the entity. Small change, seed the entity. 

Slow and steady was the best way to move forward, according to her secret journal. Jolive looked at her assistant, a pole with a totem on top, always smiling with its huge teeth, and was about to ask it about the first rendition again. She had done so multiple times in the past to understand what the original Creators had invented in their renditions. It was more than curiosity. It was a plan for success. But that was also when a loud crashing noise came from her world.

The Slicer was out.

It undulated from the cage, which she knew from experience should be impervious.

Apparently, that information was wrong.

"FUCK" She screamed at it, clicking on her broadcast ability. "YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT. LEAVE DILANIA ALONE."

The Slicer hissed at her once, then arced its back and flung its head forward, spitting something onto the ground. The soil bubbled and boiled as the Universal Terror moved its pincers back and forth. Then she heard something that chilled her to her metal-sheathed bones.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA, I'M FINALLY FREE!". The Slicer screamed, its words rebounding inside her mind.

"You can talk?" She asked it, flabbergasted.

"Oh yessssss. When you fail the next battle, asss you've talked of ssso ssso often, remember me." And with that, The Slicer began zipping around Jolivia's world at a blistering speed, cutting every entity it found to pieces. It didn't outright destroy her planet but instead left a trail of acid anywhere it could. Dilania wasn’t destroyed; it was being boiled. 

The atmosphere grew cloudy as the fumes rose, and Jolive had trouble seeing what was happening. When every last entity on the planet was dead, hundreds of lives sliced apart, it zoomed out of the atmosphere and stopped right in front of her tiny planet. The Slicer moved its tail in a wave, laughed again, and flew out into the reaches of space.

"FUCK YOU DANTE!" She screamed at the night sky, looking at the shambles she was left with. She immediately turned to the chatroom to let everyone know how big of a piece of shit he was.