Edited: Chapters 13, 14, 15

Chapter 13: The Wall

Symphony was.....destroyed. Cracked into pieces. 

The assistance timer had run out, and it didn't even matter anymore. Parts of The Crater floated out, Muys, now floating into space…freezing in the vacuum…dying. The initial atmosphere was gone, most of his new Java Moss no longer alive.

He didn’t take it well.

It took quite a bit of time for Walker to calm down, for the tears to stop, and for the dry heaves to begin and stop as well. When he did, the emotional exhaustion that settled onto his shoulders pushed him further into the ground, metaphorically and literally. He laid on the ground like that for some time, trying to think of ways he could've stopped this from happening. To self-analyze the problem. 

At one point, He decided that the alpha protocol was fucked up and had placed him in this position. At another, he blamed Virgil, who could have warned that something like this could happen. 

Walker still believed that it was largely the alpha protocol's fault. They had modified the Slicer in ways they shouldn’t have. They had placed restrictions on Virgil, who wasn't at fault in the end, and couldn't help him. They put Walker, an average human being, on this tiny planet and told him to create life. To modify life. To create.

But, eventually, the mental spinning stopped, and he only had himself to blame. 

"Virgil," Walker said in a raspy voice, the roughness in his throat mirroring the turmoil he had just experienced. "Can you tell what the Slicer is doing now?"

"Yes, but I am not sure you want to know." He was standing by the evolution chamber, seemingly in thought.

"Please."

Virgil turned and looked at Walker on the ground. "It has just destroyed another Creator's world."

Walker tried to move his tongue around his mouth, but it was too dry. He felt numb, like everything was happening to someone else, but one thing stuck to him. He'd created a greater monster than he had ever imagined.

"How?" he asked.

"While the protocol protects the Creators, it does not and cannot protect their worlds. You are meant to expand and evolve, to make something greater than where you originally come from. Adversity is required."

"Fucckk!" He swore to the sky as he pounded a fist into the ground. Because of him and his monster, others were suffering. Each world snuffed out was a robbed possibility. A chance for something wonderful and magnificent to be created, not to mention a Creator failing in their tasks because of someone they'd never even met. He felt the weight further dig in. 

He didn't want to look at the chatroom. Didn't want to see the messages that he was sure were popping up in confusion and terror. Of creatures from space coming for them, and fiery explosions destroying their dreams. He asked for advice from the one person who could give it.

"So what do I do, Virgil? What do I do now? How do I fix this?"

"If you are speaking of the Slicer specifically, it cannot be fixed. The Cosmic Destroyer is gone; it is out there. All of the assistants in the protocol are now aware of it, a warning has been sent to all Creators, and the system is moving forward. The only positive I can tell you is that it is moving further and further away from here. The only deviations in its path occur when it finds a new world to destroy. It is done with you. The best thing you can do is focus on your tasks, fix Symphony with the World Editor, and move forward with the knowledge that you have now gained."

"A learning experience!" Walker yelled at Virgil with a flush staining his face. "You're giving me a teachable moment! I should just walk away from this and-and what? Go back to things like normal! I made a fucking world destroyer, an abomination that consistently grows from being attacked! In my first try, no less!" Walker could feel his heartbeat speed up and begin pounding against his chest. He was having trouble taking deeper breaths, like there wasn't enough oxygen in this tiny world to support him. He felt a tingle at the tips of his fingers while the darkness closed in. 

He fell back further to the ground, his vision so bad that he could barely make out Virgil. He felt like his thoughts were squeezing themselves in so fast that he couldn’t focus on any one thing at a time. A new one would appear, and his mind would try to track it, but as it gained a grasp, another would push for dominance. He felt paralyzed.

Virgil recognized what was happening and moved quickly to him. Placing a hand on his shoulder, he said, "Walker, you are having a panic attack. You need to calm down."

His breaths wouldn’t come, "I....I.....I can't."

"Yes, you can; stop thinking about it."

"I....I....I" Walker tried talking, but he could only say the one letter.

"You have seen this in your students, Walker. You know a way to take control back. Focus on your breathing; do not think, just breathe."

Walker tried to do as Virgil asked, tried not to think and just pay attention to his breathing, but instead of thoughts, memories began lashing his psyche. It was like a greatest hits reel of his failures, and he was just a member of the audience.

He saw old friends and the moments of their parting. He watched old girlfriends and the myriad of problems, how things didn't work out. The anger, sadness, and crushed hopes of a true union of body and soul. A mountain of rejections when he tried to show people his truth, the sense of who he was deep inside that he had trouble expressing externally, only coming out in his writing and the odd emotional moment. 

The pinnacle of his memories glowed softly, with Valerie standing atop the mountain. But she wasn't the mountain upon which she stood. That was his oldest friend, Matt. He saw all the times that Matt had reached out, and he had rebuffed him for one reason or another. His love for his friend wasn't romantic, but brotherly, and he had never truly expressed his appreciation of him. Walker now realized that if he completed the protocol, and chose to stay, he'd never get to meet Matt's child. To share his experiences and grow old with him. He had been so caught up in the idea of creation and what he would get to do, that he'd forgotten all the things he would lose—his humanity, or more specifically, his right to be human.

His memories and thoughts slowed down as Walker began to accept them as a part of himself, as a part of who he was and who he chose to be. After all, he could just stop his work and go back to his world, Mr. Harrison or not. But he knew he wouldn’t. He needed to use this time to build something better than himself. 

He saw his exes for what they were, roadblocks toward realizing who he could become. He saw his departed friendships and accepted that they had moved on, lived their lives, and didn't need him. His world needed him. HIS world. A world that he hadn't even really created yet. He could do better than where he came from. He could make something that truly mattered, that allowed those who wanted to grow into a better version of themselves to have the ability to do so.

He looked at his memories of Valerie and saw the warning signs he hadn't recognized before. The deep nights where she worked extra long hours. She wanted him to go somewhere with her to do something fun, and he was too tired from work or lying and just needed to be alone for the night. He hadn't thought of her needs. Her wants. Everything was about Walker, just like with Matt. 

Matt, who just wanted to talk every so often. But it took a lot of work to find time. Walker always felt a need to be around his friends, but then when they wanted to go out and be around other people, people he didn't know, he just wanted to go home and be away from the stress. From the unknown. Walker was constantly pulled in two directions. The need to be around people who cared about him, and the fear of being overwhelmed by strangers and situations he couldn't expect. It was why quitting his job had felt like such a relief. 

No more acting with his students or being surrounded by moody teenagers who lashed out because no one had taught them how to express themselves. He'd tried, but he had trouble with it himself. Walker had always hoped that taking on a job where he had to speak to a group consistently would fix his anxiety issues. Burn it away through repeated exposure, as his father taught him. Face your fears, Walker, he used to say.

Now he was on a tiny planet with Virgil, who had already seen all of his memories and his life. If he chose it, right now.....he could always be home—a home he had built. But to get there, mistakes would happen, and terrible things were always in the distance. He realized that now. The road to Creation will be mixed with potholes. His mistakes, which could lead to destruction, must be mitigated, restrained, and watched. It would be hard, but somewhere within, he knew he could do it. He could succeed.

Walker's breathing slowly deepened as he internally processed everything, enough so that he could hesitatingly ask Virgil a question: "Virgil, you saw the memories of my parents, right?"

His Assistant waited a moment before saying, "Yes. I saw them in their totality."

Walker nodded from the ground before sitting up. His face felt hot, and his lungs still felt like something was squeezing them, but he needed to talk this out, to express what was happening deep inside of him. It felt like the only way to recover, to find some semblance of internal balance.

"What do you think of my memories with my father?" He asked.

"Mmmh." He said in thought. "I think he was a hard man."

"Yeah, haha, yeah," he replied, his false laugh tinged with bitterness. "He was a hard man. He grew up in a different time than me. You know. Old school, y-you'd call it. He taught me that real men didn't show their emotions. Crying, depression, and basically, any kind of emotions....were for the weak. The infirm. If you were strong, then you were stoic, a wall that emotions broke upon and found no way in. "Speak only when you have something to actually say." That's what he'd always say to me."

"Indeed."

"I know it's not normal. But......when you're raised a certain way, it-it becomes a part of you. That internal need to satisfy the standards of your parents, regardless of how messed up they are. And it worked, too. I got through my deployment and got into teaching kids with these horror stories from their lives. But....I don't know how--how to turn it off." He finished, his breathing growing shorter as he spoke. "It's....It's not easy to just....change. To decide one day that expressing feelings...putting it out there...is normal. That the wall can come down. So I-I-I." He paused to regulate his breathing before continuing, "I took everything in. Being here, creation, the Slicer.....and it just....it hit me, you know. I felt like a cup that was overfilling. When it blew up the planet...I just. I couldn't...."

"I understand, Walker, and it is okay. It was a series of circumstances that were out of your control."

"But it wasn't though. I did that. I made it. Now, others have to suffer because of me."

"Walker, we have already spoken of your why. You have already stated that you will make entities who are villainous."

"Yeah, but I planned on making them limited. Making it so that they couldn't destroy a fucking planet."

"Then you have to be prepared, mentally and emotionally, for things to go out of control again. If this happens again, in a key moment where you need to do something, then your time may be over." Virgil said with a sympathetic voice. "I understand. I have seen what you have seen, but you must learn to grow from it, not be knocked down by it."

"I thought of that, heh, you-you're right." He breathed out slowly. "It's just....I don't think I can change man."

"And I am not asking you to. I am just asking you to regulate it and try to find a balance."

"Yeah, that's what I was using my journal for."

"Indeed. But, if you need to talk, I am here. And unlike those from your past.....I am not going anywhere."

Walker wiped the snot from under his nose with the back of his hand before rubbing it into the grass, "Thanks, man."

"You are very welcome, Walker. Now, instead of spreading your genetic material into the grass, how about we work on Symphony."

Walker looked at the pieces of his world floating into space before saying, "I'm not sure if we can call it that in its current state."

"Then we will just have to fix it and make it that way. Your way." Virgil said before stepping over and patting Walker's back gently. "We will figure it out."

The Slicer traveled through space, gaining more power as it destroyed each unique world and further evolved.

Upon entering one world, it found itself trapped inside a cage of impervious metal while it was destroying the creatures it found. Because of the distance, Walker couldn't see the evolutionary notifications anymore, but The Slicer had changed. At a certain point, its overlay had activated.

Evolution Occurring.
The Slicer is evolving!
.....Scanning.....
.....
The Slicer has gained logical reasoning.

What? 

Chapter 14: The Killing Plan

"Walker, are you better now?" Virgil asked after looking him over.

He waved a hand in the air, not having moved from the ground since his Symphony had been destroyed. "No. No, not even close. But I'll-I'll get there."

"Well, that is all that I can ask." The large squirrel said. "In the good news department, I have not seen another Creator's world destroyed in some time. Perhaps one of them learned how to contain The Slicer."

Walker looked up from the grass, "That is good news. Maybe they found a way to manage it."

"We can only hope. Now, here is the real question…are you ready to get started on rebuilding Symphony?"

"I may as well." He looked at his timer and saw that he had 96+ hours remaining. "We only have so much time to fix all of this before we're fucked."

"Indeed. I suggest you go into the World Editor and fix things as best as possible. There are still a few living entities. I will need to create a localized event so they can sustain themselves and not perish."

Walker stood up on shaky legs, "Okay."

He clicked on the World Editor, and his overlay lit up.

Welcome to the World Editor!

...Upgrade detected...

As you have upgraded your World Editor, you can now add and modify land directly. You will not be able to add direct landmass, but you can make minor changes to your world. To begin, please name your world.

"Woops."

"What?" Virgil asked as he watched the pieces of their small planet floating in space.

"I named the second landmass Symphony. Now the World Editor is asking me to name the planet."

“That is not a problem. Many worlds have continents, cities, and entire planets sharing the same name. You are not the only one who has trouble with naming things."

Walker’s difficulty with names was becoming legendary in his own mind. But still, at least he wasn’t human10.

"What about Blitzburg7 and how it never changed its identity?"

"That is actually a cultural choice. The Blitzburgs are populous throughout the multiverse due to their high intelligence and aptitude for magic. They take pride in how many are selected in the Alpha Protocol and leave their numbers as identifiers of such."

"Strange."

"Walker," Virgil said with emphasis. "Many cultures would consider Earth and your fellow humans as strange. Your need for individuality, especially in your newest generations....it is prolific."

"Yeah, yeah, we're all special snowflakes. Nothing new there, by the way. The real question is, why do they know about the alpha protocol and Earth doesn't?"

"Because they have a member on the council and have been a part of the protocol since the first initialization. You would almost call them....tuned, to it."

"So they're guaranteed to succeed, whereas I blew up my planet?" Walker asked as he felt his heartache shift to resentment.

"They have no more a guarantee of success than you. The protocol does not necessarily disallow Creators from sharing their time within it. It is more along the lines of…gauche, to speak of your success. The most that many of the successful Creators do is let their worlds have an idea of what they went through rather than a full-blown discussion about it. When you gain the Disciple subsystem, you can speak directly with a few chosen entities and become a form of guide. But you should not tell them the specifics of the Creator wars or give them any hints about the protocol. To them, you must seem as if a God."

"So I'll be making a religion. That seems fucked up, if I'm honest.” He moved a hand up and down his body, “For a human I'm above average intelligence-”

“Most humans believe that,” Virgil interrupted. 

Walker just continued talking like he hadn’t heard him, “-butttt, I'm not omniscient or omnipotent or any other omni-thing. I'm a failed teacher and friend.” He rubbed the back of his head, “Plus, as you know, my planet has a history of religion and planetary warfare going hand in hand. I'm not so sure that developing a Walker religion is the best idea."

"Technically, it would likely be a Dante religion as that is how they will know you, but I understand your point. However, your entities will see land connect to their world, see themselves evolve, and see new species often arriving out of nowhere. To think that they would not form some kind of belief system or organization centered around this phenomenon is naive at best and dangerous at worst. You need to plan for this and, if possible, harness it."

"So lean into the God complex. Stop caring about how others feel and live, but whatever is best for my goals, my aspirations as what matters most."

"Your morality will see you fail."

Walker put his hands on his hips, "My morality is what makes me a better person than those who would kill for their ambitions."

Virgil held his hands up in a calming gesture, "Yes, but you are also the Creator of their world, and thus, you have a responsibility to that same world as a whole and not to just a few individuals who live upon it. What is the quote you have often said, have to break a few eggs to make an omelette. Your favorite food is meat-lovers pizza, did you say a prayer for the cow who became your sausage, or the chicken? They are all degrees of the benefits of killing."

Walker loved meat-lovers pizza, "Fair enough., but we are not done with this conversation."

Virgil nodded.

After a moment of thought, Walker moved back into the World Editor to take a big step. The first thing he did was name the pseudo-planet.

World: Symphony is named.

Congratulations Dante! You've named your world!

The World Editor will now allow you to remove resources you no longer need and store them in your resources section for future use. There are no limits on how much may be removed or stored

Due to your upgrade, you can now add material from your resources section directly to your world

Modification is limited to the use of adding standard resources, combining resources, and shaping resources

Further upgradeable

Current status: Splintered

Please reconnect the broken sections of your world before you can access your systems

Once Walker read through the text, he clicked back to the main screen and saw that the landmass, entity, and temporal systems were greyed out. He clicked on World Editor again, and a small 3D projection of Symphony appeared, depressing him even further. There were SO MANY PIECES... EVERYWHERE!

"How in the hell am I going to do this?" He asked the air.

"One step at a time," Virgil said over his shoulder.

Walker nodded without saying anything and placed his hands on the 3D projection. Once he clicked a small portion of water floating into space, a series of icons appeared next to it, telling him he could remove, add, or modify it. He clicked remove and watched the floating water disappear. After he clicked it, some text appeared showing it had been added to his resources. He clicked on a small piece of land before Virgil coughed.

"Some people have learned to....take large steps, Walker. A smart Creator would see if there is a remove button outside of clicking on every piece floating in space."

Walker caught on immediately. "A smart Creator would thank their friend."

"Is that what we are now, Walker?" Virgil asked with a tilt of his head.

"Only one I have out here." He responded seriously without looking at him as he returned to his work. He didn’t see Virgil give him a long stare before the Assistant moved back to his overlay. 

He found the remove button when he clicked on the edge of Symphony and discovered that he could just swipe his hand and delete anything he wanted, except the Muys and Moss. It seemed they were destined to slowly float out toward other worlds, not unlike The Slicer.

 As he was deleting, numbers appeared next to what he was working on. Walker looked at his resources and found that he already had a lot of material, and he'd have some work ahead of him to fix what was broken. Carefully, He expanded the size of the 3D image, making it easier to see the smaller areas, and began to work on the outside of the landmass. The moment he completed the outside, he expanded the image again and cleaned up the areas in the middle. Anything that wasn't perfectly connected to a large mass was removed.

He committed himself fully to his work, making slow movements that gained precision the longer he progressed until, finally, he finished. According to his timer, it had taken him two hours to clean up all the problems, even with the mass deleting option to remove everything he touched. 

Walker looked at what he had left. Symphony was broken into multiple pieces, with only a few large fragments sticking together. A thought, a plan really, blew up in his mind. Walker let it percolate in the background of his thoughts as he pulled up his resources. He had a lot of water and granite, as well as a smattering of soil, as the mid-portion had survived mostly intact well off. But it did have one long hole straight down the middle, and the bottom of the planet fractured from The Slicer's impact. 

Seeing the Landmass system was no longer grayed out, he still chose to continue working within the World Editor. Controlling his movements, he started to add things back to the way they were. When he reached the bottom of the planet, another idea struck him. Walker was currently building a world from nothing using what seemed like magic. Who said he had to follow the rules? 

Rather than the roundness of the planets he’d grown up seeing, he created edges. This would leave the bottom of his planet in more of a square shape, and the reasoning for doing so was simple. It would be easier to add more landmass over time with flat planes. Incrementally, he placed the resources back where they belonged, further improving the waterway he’d added as a last-minute thought previously. 

He left the pass through the mountains that The Slicer had cut away, as now there was no longer any need to separate The Crater from the rest of Symphony. The top of the planet was no longer a perfect disc, as his control wasn't good enough when working on such a large scale, but it was put back together at least, albeit a little haphazardly. He took his leftover granite and edged all around the top of the world, not wanting his future entities to....basically fall off of the planet. That would be embarrassing and, frankly, horrifying.

"Done," He announced to Virgil, who walked over to see it. Walker clicked the monitor button and looked around, finding the last living Muys now placidly living in their habitat with the moss. They still had about thirty of them, which Virgil said was enough for repopulation. It could have been better, but for now, the bandaid would work.

A bandaid for a wound in his world. One caused by a seriously sadistic son of a bitch. Walker mentally went back to the Slicer’s hissing. He was sure now that it had been laughter. Considering it, he thought of something.

“Couldn’t I have just rewound time with the Temporal subsystem? Gone back to before the Slicer blew everything up?”

Virgil shook his head, “No. The Alpha Protocol disallows Creators from doing anything with their systems when their landmasses are in great peril. This has been a rule within the Protocol since its inception. The Temporal subsystem is just the newest system to be added.”

“Why? That seems dumb as fuck. If I make a big mistake, I can just rewind it and fix my issue. Problem solved…”

“Therein lies the problem, if you will forgive my wordplay. The Alpha Protocol Council has stated, and I quote, Creators need to learn to solve their problems before they make them. Resiliency and adaptability are necessary for success. Their firm belief is that no Creator should have a get-out-of-jail-free card. Similar to your mental, emotional, and genetic issues, the protocol believes you will be more creative if you are placed into a figurative corner, trying to find your way out of it.”

Walker didn’t like that answer, he looked at Virgil from the corner of his eye, “Did you really have to point out my emotional issues?”

Virgil nodded, “Indeed.”

He sighed, "Now what?"

"Well....do you still want to make killer Canadian geese?"

Walker shuddered, "God no, and we need to limit our creations. If we make another high-potential raging monster, it has to die immediately."

Virgil nodded, "I agree. We have time to create a new predator and prey cycle, and we have leftover temporal resources as we have not used much of our stock. That leaves a lot of room for additions and improvement."

"Right. So, spitball with me here. I have a plan." He said, checking and ensuring he had enough time left before the next battle.

"Go ahead," Virgil said.

"This is what I'm thinking. We have 94 hours plus some change before the next battle. The Muys should still have enough food to maintain themselves between their cannibalism and the moss. So, I want to straight ignore them. We need some skin in the game, which means getting rolling on our entities. We need to finish the entity task, so a new one updates, and then we can grab whatever the rewards are. I think we need to go for the spirit tree."

Virgil began hopping up and down, "You are ready for the Spirit Tree!"

Walker raised his hands and patted the air until he stopped jumping, "Calm down, calm down. Yes, I think we need to get some magic into Symphony, but I don't want it to evolve."

Virgil tilted his head at that, "Then what do you want it for? Historically, Spirit Trees have been used as a building block for great entities. Ones that help push their Creators to the finals, no less."

"Be that as it may, I'm worried that one will be born with high potential and just take over all of our other ideas. I want to make one, materialize it, kill it while it's young, and then throw it into the evolution chamber. This way, we can make it without the ability to evolve. As soon as we have the tree in the right place, we put them throughout Symphony and modify them for the environment."

"To what end?" Virgil asked.

"I want them to be magical batteries. Magic has to exist inside of the creature for it to use it, correct?"

"Very much so. Magic is a catalyst for, of course, magical evolution. The moment The Slicer gained its advanced adaptive properties from destroying the Spirit Tree, it gained access to magic and thus could do amazing things....like blow up Symphony."

"Yeah, less happy ending there with its-" Walker made air quotes, "-amazing things. But think about this. We place the trees throughout Symphony, create a world that is filled with magic so heavy it can be found in the atmosphere; then, we build a system that harnesses the magic and allows the entities who use it to have controlled evolutions."

"So you want to create entities that do not allow for evolution, fill the world with the spark for magical evolution, then control how it is allowed to interact on Symphony?"

"Exactly!" Walker said, giving Virgil two thumbs up. "You nailed it. What do you think? I know we'll have to make a lot of unmodified entities and then kill them...but I feel like this is the only way we keep from having another Slicer incident."

"The Slicer," Virgil reminded him, "It unintentionally changed its name."

"Whatever".

Virgil thought on that a moment before saying, "That is possible with the System Designer Walker, but also a bit dark for your morality. You said you were not a murderer, but that seems like it would be murder. Spirit Trees, for example, are living creatures."

"Do they think for themselves?"

"Well, no, but when they evolve.....ah. I see your point."

"Look...it...I feel like I'm going to have to...kill things here." Walker said with a grimace. He hadn't been sure if it was possible, but now that it was, the consequences of his idea shook him. Saying he wouldn’t murder was one thing, but what he was planning now, a killing plan, was pretty awful in its way. It had a purpose and was necessary for his ideas going forward, but it still didn’t sit right in his stomach. 

"It's just...I'm not saying I haven't killed before." 

Walker had fought in Operation Enduring Freedom, but that was under orders and in defense of himself or others. He’d gone hunting, but the purpose there had been food. This was a different situation altogether. 

While Walker tried to mentally justify his plan, Virgil said, “I know. But this is different, is it not?” 

“How so?”

“The instance you spoke of earlier, killing to satisfy ambition, is not quite the same. I will not say there are not similarities between that idea and your current plan, but I believe there is one key difference. You are killing, in order to create. I believe that should make the difference for you.”

Walker thought about that. He wasn't sure about how to bridge the divide between the need to control things and make sure Symphony didn't spiral out of control and the idea of murdering breathing lifeforms that he created.

"I don’t have much of a choice, do I?" He said in realization.

"No."

Walker shook his head hard, not in denial of Virgil's agreement with him but in denial of his own self-image. Sure, he wasn't the best boyfriend, friend, or, at times, person. The world was a grey watercolor painting, constantly mixing, and nothing was ever truly clean. But he wasn't a murderer.

The more he thought about it, the more inevitable it seemed. For his plan to work, he was going to have to kill things....to murder things. What would that do to him? What would he become? If he succeeded in the protocol, he would not only be a murderer but an immortal murderer. 

What was the alternative? Let Virgil die, go back to Earth, and not have the chance to make his world? No. No way. He just might have to crack a few eggs.

"Are there other options?"

Virgil shrugged, "Not really, unless you suddenly became great at modifying entities. When you consider that most of creation is done immediately after destruction, you begin to see the cycle. Your famous pianist, Elton John, sang a song about it. It is a circle, Walker; the only difference is you will have direct input into how and why that circle will work. You removed the floating landmass and gained materials back for your world. You seeded an alpha predator with high evolutionary potential and received a cosmic destroyer. There is a form of balance within the Protocol, of fairness for give and take, and you are attempting to make Symphony with a similar framework."

"Does that make me evil?"

"Does being human make you evil?" Virgil countered. "You are working within the confines of your limitations, and as far as ideas go, I believe this to be a winner." He gave Walker his two thumbs back.

"Okay, okay.” Walker repeated to himself, trying to come to terms with what he needed to do, “So we have a plan," he pressed the bottom of his fist into his other hand. "First, we make the tree; then, I find a way to kill it. After that, we modify them for no evolutionary potential....just simple dumb space magic trees. No more modifying on the whiteboard unless it's a landmass, we’ll only use the Evolution Chamber."

"Yes," Virgil said with approval.

"Then, we get into the ecology and make sure the atmosphere is balanced out, which will be your focus the moment the first trees are done."

"I will be on it," he replied, being a good hype man.

"Indeed," Walker said with the first smile he'd shown since The Slicer's flaming hit-and-run.

"You are not as funny as you think you are, Walker." 

"Whatever. As soon as the atmosphere can support it, we start the predator-prey cycle, basic stuff, and start our monsters right after."

"I am unsure if we have enough time for that, Walker."

"Always time,” He said with a shake of his head, “We’ll just…make time. We can recover from this; we can get through the protocol. We just need to put in the time, literally, and work together. You with me!" Walker finished, throwing his hands in the air.

"I do not have a choice."

"I'll take that as a hell yes. Now, where the fuck do I find the Spirit Tree in the entity system, because I have no idea."

Virgil slapped a hand to his face.

Chapter 15: Building a Leyline

Virgil sounded annoyed as he explained how to find the magical tab in the Entity subsystem.

There was only one entry right now, the Spirit Tree. He watched as it sketched itself into the whiteboard, complicated whorls and lines stretching across its bark. Looking at Virgil, he noticed the large squirrel was bouncing on the pads of his feet.

Guess he’s ready

He pressed the materialize button.

No update came. Walker rightly believed that the system didn't recognize it as a unique lifeform as he was just using the basic and unmodified form. He sniffed at the D-grade, but at least his materials came back to him. No loss there. But there was a bigger problem than his grade and materials.

They couldn't find it.

"Ummmm, where is it?" Walker asked.

Virgil stood beside him as they both looked down at Symphony, "Indeed. I was so excited I did not think about this. It is a Spirit Tree; its life begins as a seed.”

“Wait, but the Slicer came out fully grown; why is this a seed?”

“Because the Alpha Protocol’s assistance, specifically the modifications it presented, could only work on an adult Bobbit Worm. Thus, it was advanced to prime adulthood at no temporal charge.”

“Fuck,” Walker said as he realized what that meant, “You mean that thing, the thing we can’t allow to evolve, is planted in the soil below, and we have no idea where?”

“That is correct,” Virgil said with a calm nod. 

Walker didn’t know why Virgil was taking this so well, as he felt like this was the potential beginning of another Slicer. They needed to find it, and fast. Hopefully, Virgil had a clue about how to do that. 

The large squirrel’s eyes roamed across the landmass, “It has been planted randomly by the protocol. In the future, we can use the Evolution Chamber, linked to the temporal subsystem, to make them materialize fully grown. But, for now, we do not know where it is."

Walker looked out at the small planet, with all of the soil put back where it belonged, and had a single thought, Fuck

"So we have a super-powered magic tree growing and we don't know where it is, or if it's already evolving and fucking everything up."

Virgil hummed before saying, "Yes, that is correct."

Walker tilted his head, "That’s the second time. Are you saying that just so you won't say the word indeed?"

Virgil looked at him for a second before looking away, "I do not know what you are talking about Walker."

"Hah!" Walker said, pointing a finger at him, completely ignoring the fact that he might soon lose control of things again. He knew he was still distracting himself from what had happened only hours ago, but he was learning that; when things go wrong, you can let it take you down or you can take it in and not let it happen again. It was something he needed to keep in mind.

Walker looked back at the world, palmed his chin, and tried to think of what to do. After several minutes passed by, he had two solutions. One, he could remove all of the soil and find it somewhere on the planet to deal with it then, or he could accelerate time, find it as it grows, and take care of it with the hope that it wouldn't randomly evolve. He mentioned both to Virgil.

"One uses temporal resources, the other does not. I also do not believe that removing the soil around it will cause an evolution. Evolutions have a tendency to be caused by one of three things. Great agitation, a powerful focus on said evolution by a determined entity, or with the addition of magic...blind chance."

"So taking away the soil wouldn't cause it to be agitated? And what do you mean by chance?"

"It should not, as it is not directly causing any form of damage. For chance, you would call it luck. With magical evolution, agitation and focus can force it to occur, but luck is always a factor. Use the Slicer as an example. It destroyed the tree and was not trying to evolve....yet it was...uh...lucky."

"Gravy," Walker replied. So soil removal was the only way to go, as, if he just pushed forward in time, there was a greater chance that the tree could evolve into something else. He felt like fate was riding his shoulders again, but this was what being a Creator was all about. As the old saying went, no risk, no reward. 

He made his choice. 

Walker stepped into the World Editor and zoomed in deeply. With slow movements, he began to remove all of the soil. When he had taken away over a fifth of what soil Symphony had left, he found a small brown dot sitting on a pale gray slab of granite. He looked at Virgil.

"Do you know how you want to do this?" Virgil asked.

"Yep," Walker confirmed. "But it isn't how I want to do it in the future. It'll work for now, but it may not later."

"Okay, I trust you."

Walker clicked remove, and in a straight line a little larger than the seed, he began deleting from the bottom of the planet moving up. Once he reached the seed, it dropped straight through the planet and floated out into the darkness. He made a mental note to ask why there was no gravity on the bottom of the planet like there was on the top. Walker clicked the monitor ability and they watched as a seed floated into space. 

It had a series of whorls carved in circles throughout a deep brown-colored shell. The harsh cold immediately went to work on it, the shell beginning to crack as a cyan light grew progressively brighter from the inside. The further the cracks went, the more the light bled out of the seed until it started to pulse in small waves. Walker's overlay lit up.

Evolution Occurring
The Seed of the Spirit Tree is evolving!
...Scanning…
Error!
...

Walker felt like his stomach was turning, but relief came as the cracks widened in the seed before it ultimately imploded, releasing a wave of cyan-colored particles out into empty, dark space.

...

...Scanning...

The Seed of the Spirit Tree will no longer evolve as its life force cannot be found

"I guess that is one way to say it's dead." Walker commented.

"Indeed. But, now we can make modified Spirit Trees in the Evolution Chamber." He rubbed the palms of his paws together. "We are going to make some magic....literally. Do you still want to have different environments extending from the center of Symphony to its periphery? As you had before the incident with the Slicer?"

"So we're calling it the incident now?"

"It seemed appropriate."

Walker considered it. He’d already fixed most of the landmass. Really, it was just missing the smaller parts that made an environment…environmental. Trees and the like. He waved his hand, "Fine."

"Understood.“

"Before you do anything. Was there anything missing that should still be added?" Walker asked.

Virgil sighed, feeling frustrated that he wasn’t moving forward with his magic trees. "You could add more mountains," he said grumpily.

"Okay, we'll get to that with the...next, next, landmass. So there won’t be a lot of delays for the Spirit…Trees” He said, stumbling on the wordage, “….is there a better name?” He waved a hand again, “No, don’t answer. The plan is still to have different environments in each corner—ones we can build up and out from, thereby extending the environmental habitat. But I also want to leave spaces between the corners of each attached landmass. That way, we can create grassland and soil like we did with the center of Symphony."

"Why?"

"Simple, the expansion of food. We don't know what our populations will look like as we go, so why not be smart and plan for an easier area to farm? Plus, I already have the next landmass figured out.” He rubbed his hands together, “I'm going to make a very thick, very durable, huge block of metal. Then, I'm going to merge it into the stone of Symphony deep underneath the top half. That way, no more stupid, asshole monsters can cut our burgeoning planet in half."

Walker paused, giving the empty space above him a glare, willing The Slicer to feel it.

Virgil just nodded, knowing nothing else on the matter needed to be said. He understood that it was best to just move on from the incident before he allowed it to affect Walker's psyche any more than necessary. "So, if you are going to make potentially extreme environments, we will need to modify each Spirit Tree with exacting specifications, thereby allowing them to grow and survive in those environments."

"Makes sense. So a form of heat resistance AND cold resistance for the Desert. Too many people from my homeworld don't understand just how cold it is in a desert at night. Then, modified Spirit Trees for the mountains that can weather oxygen deprivation. Stuff like that."

"Almost. Mana Trees do not survive from oxygen or water as the trees in your original world do. Their sustenance is found internally as they harness their energy and breakthrough to a denser form, or grow.

"So....they're cultivators?"

"You could say that, but we are getting sidetracked. First, we will want to plant somewhere in the center of the grasslands as that will be the most temperate environment possible. We need to see what interactions the modified spirit tree has with Symphony to gain an understanding of whether or not this plan works. Also, do not worry; I will copy the modifications for future use as I did with the Muys and Moss."

"Cool. I'd like to work with you if possible, so I can see how it's done."

Virgil nodded with agreement, "Absolutely." 

Together, they moved toward the Evolution Chamber at a quick hop, excited to get started. Pulling up the seed of the Spirit Tree, each talked about what they would need to build into it before first planting it in Symphony’s soil. 

Virgil had the system put a seed into the Evolution Chamber, then explained how to make entities that cannot evolve, magically or not. The first step was to modify the Spirit Tree so it couldn't reproduce; that way, they never had to worry about genetic variation. The next step was to make sure that there weren't any instincts for self-preservation, and if there were, to take them away so that it wouldn't feel any form of agitation. To counter magical evolution, Walker learned that you had to make its cells unable to maintain any kind of magical or spiritual power, which seemed like a misnomer as magic was what they were after. When he asked about it, Virgil responded with a question.

"When an electric eel attacks something, does it shock itself?"

Walker shut up after that as he was not a scientist, and Virgil was a Universal advanced robotic assistant shaped like a giant squirrel. Sometimes....he'd just have to say Wizard shit. Virgil further explained, however, that extreme magical variance, like a bomb of some kind, could override the changes they were making to the Spirit Tree's cells, but the odds of it happening were small. 

Even if a Spirit Tree did evolve, it wouldn't be anywhere near the level of the Slicer, more along the lines of gaining sapience or toughening its bark. With those three modifications, the base form of the Spirit Tree was now unable to gain anything from the system Walker planned on putting into place. 

They moved on to how it was going to spread magic across Symphony, or as Walker liked to say, the why of its purpose.

In his mind, Walker saw the Spirit Trees spreading magic like an umbrella across the surface of his world. It would be another manner of atmosphere, no different to the planet than air or the indefinite magnetic field he’d gained from his rewards. When it was needed, it would be there.

Virgil asked a few questions, such as: did he want the magic attuned to anything in particular, like elements or ideas? Another was if he wanted the Spirit Trees to have interconnected roots. Walker said no to the former and yes to the latter. The tree had to be pure and free of any kind of magical attunement or, as Virgil said, magical variance. While a fire-mana-attuned tree sounded cool, its output would also only be fire-attuned magic. It was something to consider but not something he wanted to start out with. It also wouldn’t work with his idea of having all of the Spirit Trees connected through a root system, balancing out the world's magic. He was worried, based on how Virgil explained magical attunement, that they would corrupt each other as their roots intertwined. To stomp on that problem before it occurred, purity was a necessity.  

With that, Virgil asked to spend a year’s worth of temporal resources. Walker hemmed and hawed about the cost but eventually agreed that there wasn’t much they could do about it. Walker watched as the tiny seed quickly sprung up into a healthy sapling. As it grew, its coloring became more vibrant, taking on the same bluish hues of the Spirit Tree he’d seen in the first battle. 

Nodding his head, Virgil then demonstrated to Walker how he was grafting funnels into its roots. The tree would be planted partially grown, where its roots could stretch out, carrying magic toward any of its fellow trees it could find. Then he told Walker, after a heavy explanation of what to do, to get used to working with the Evolution Chamber. 

It was ingeniously made. It worked by connecting to the hands of the closest person and was incredibly intuitive. As he pinched his fingers together, portions would shrink. Moving his hands from close to far, larger portions would expand. The person who had made it had to be some kind of Universal master of technology. He’d never seen anything like it. He started to make jokes about being Tom Cruise until Virgil yelled at him to be careful. Wisely, he acceded to his warnings. 

After practicing with the controls for a few moments, learning how to select different options and tweak things to his preference, Virgil told him to start working on the roots. First, he selected the mana grafts Virgil had created while Walker was busy feeling sorry for himself, and then Virgil showed him how to place the graft’s image onto the entity. Starting at the most distant tip, he began to layer what the system recognized as blue lines across each part of the tree. As he finished the most distant parts, he kept up the movements until he reached the magic production area in the tree's center. 

When they connected, the grafts lit up momentarily, but Walker knew his work wasn’t done. 

He continued from the center, making more that reached toward the leaves, while also extending the length that the branches would grow. Virgil gave him a fun fact while he continued to work on it. Apparently, Spirit Trees originally didn’t have leaves. The original Spirit Tree was basically a tall stick that looked swollen, like it had eaten a baguette and ignored its gluten intolerance. The modifications had made it a much more popular find, although only a few species, like the Blitzburgs, had access to it. Virgil also told him that once the Spirit Tree was fully grown, he had modified it to be over 100 feet tall.

"That's ten stories tall," Walker said as he looked at the baby tree in the chamber. "That is a tall ass tree."

"Mmm, yes. But it also means that you can produce fewer of them, as they will be magic factories rather than batteries. Based upon what I project its magical production rate to be, you should only need two in each territory for magic to sufficiently encompass Symphony. With each new landmass, you will want to build a Spirit Tree immediately, meaning they will have a lower magical output until the tree has grown and connected to the rest of the root system. We will allow this one only to be a few years old so that it has time to sink its roots appropriately, and I will modify it to search for others like itself, thereby creating a magical network, or leyline, as your world likes to call them."

"So, with the four corners, The Crater, and Symphony's center, that's twelve spirit trees. At two years a piece, you're talking about spending twenty-four years out of our time resources." 

"Not necessarily. The Evolution Chamber truly is a great boon to our modifications. With it, we can finish our design, complete its temporal shift to two years of age, and establish that as the new base model. Then, it is simple to scan it, put a new copy into the chamber, and do environmental modifications from there. That is why I wanted to start with the center; it is a blank slate for the remainder of the necessary locations. That is also why we must gain a perfect design for our first rendition."

"Smart, smart. Okay. So, just so I understand. We’re making a perfect version that all of our copies will be based on, right? I mean, how long will these live?"

"Even without modifications, Spirit Trees gain their full size at one hundred years of age and then age no longer. It will shed its bark from time to time, which is a potent magical resource on its own, by the way, and it will need to reproduce damaged leaves, but otherwise, it is an evergreen. It will always have leaves and will always produce magic. That is why I became so excited when I saw it. There are other kinds of magical trees across the Protocol, but few are evergreens, and very few produce magic at the rate that the Spirit Tree does."

"How will the magic reach the atmosphere and spread?" Walker asked.

"There is a certain Je Ne Sais Quoi to magic it-."

"English pleeeassee." Walker complained.

Virgil put his hands on his hips, "I recall your feelings on the French, but you need to move past it."

"It really isn't all of the French.", Walker said in defense of his character. "It's just the French people I have met have been.....assholes."

"Whatever. You are not exactly Mary Poppins, Walker. And that attitude toward a Nationality of your species is beneath you."

"Fair."

"As I was saying." He paused and gave Walker some side-eye, daring him to interrupt his magical speech again before continuing. "There is a certain Je Ne Sais Quoi to magic. Once it enters a world, it wants to spread. It needs to spread.”

“So…is magic alive?”

“No, there is no mind to it, but there is an instinct found within all magic to move and interact with anything it can, similar to air filling in a vacuum. The Spirit Tree will create an aura around it that will be filled with magic, concentrating it in that location. By connecting the roots and increasing its size dramatically, we are also increasing its production and area of effect, thereby filling the entirety of the world with magic. As long as we place each in the right location, that is."

"Okay, I think I’ve got it now.” He looked down at his landmass, trying to picture how it would all look, “This really seems like it will work."

"Yes, I do believe it will. We have done a great work here. Everything should work out just fine."

Walker grimaced, shook his head, then glared at Virgil. "You never say things like that. Ever."

"Do not be superstitious, Walker."

"I'd just rather not have Fate punch me in the dick again." He said soberly as he looked around himself dramatically. "She's always waiting."

Virgil ignored him and advanced the basic model of their Spirit Tree within the Evolution Chamber until it reached two years of age.

"Please materialize it, Walker, but I have one suggestion."

"What's that?"

"Link your monitor ability to the Evolution Chamber. That way it will be planted where you are currently viewing rather than anywhere on Symphony."

"...why didn’t you say that before!”

“I will be honest with you. I was so excited to see the Seed, I did not think of it.”

Walker shook his head, “Squirrels.”

"Yes…Indeed."

Virgil showed Walker how to link the monitor with the Evolution Chamber. He simply had to drag the ability over to the Evolution Chamber in his vision, accept a prompt that appeared, and they were good to go. Walker pulled up the monitor, zoomed in to an area on the left side of the center, and after getting confirmation of that being the spot they want, clicked materialize. His overlay lit up.

.....Scanning....

Task updated!

- - -

Entity task complete: Create three new unique entities: Part 1

New unique entities created: 3/3

Reward upgraded due to the presence and advanced use of an Evolution Chamber

Reward given: Diverse

…

New entity task: Create ten more unique entities: Part 2

Diversification allows for growth. The further down a genetic line that organisms move unchanged, the greater the loss of potential genetic resources. You have made three unique entities, now make ten more.

New unique entities: 0/10

Reward for completion: Diverse

.....Scanning.....

- - -

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

Naming it wasn't difficult. Walker had his favorite books and games all wrapped up neatly in his head. He was sure that Virgil would understand.

Entity: The Mana Tree is named.

.....Analyzing.....

Entity named The Mana Tree analyzed

Size: Medium (High growth potential)

Entity category: Magical Producer

Organism type: Plant

Modification: Extreme

Ability to evolve: No (Restricted)

Age: 2 Years

Extra marks earned for being within the first 100 Creators (91st) to make an extreme modification of another Creator’s work in the 4AA Alpha Protocol: Modest Reward earned

Grade: B+

Rewards calculated

- - -

Reward for completing the first entity task:

Congratulations Dante! You've unlocked the Combiner ability!

Not all entities can be built from one strain of genus, and the Alpha Protocol recognizes this. The combiner ability allows the creator to combine elements of already produced entities in order to form something new.

Limit: Use of the combiner ability is restricted to once per day regardless of results.

Upgradeable.

Considerable reward for completion of a B+ grade entity:

Congratulations Dante! Your creation instrument has upgraded twice!

As evolution is the key to a powerful entity, technology is the key to a vibrant and dynamic landmass.

Modest reward for being within the first 100 Creators to extremely modify another Creator’s work:

Congratulations Dante! You've gained a subsystem assistant!

Although your primary assistant should be all the help that is necessary to complete the Alpha Protocol, experience has shown that gaining a second assistant that has a specific focus can be a positive turn for any Areator. This Assistant, unlike the original, will not have the memories of its Creator to look upon. Training a subsystem assistant can show increased gains over time as they gain more system autonomy and knowledge. Further subsystem assistants can be gained.

- - -

.....Scanning....

Optional tasks updated!

Optional tasks assigned to creator Dante:

Subsystem Assistant Task: Train the assistant: Series 1

A subsystem assistant can be difficult to work with. If they are not allocated a Creator's memories, they come as a blank slate with only the Universal Translator applied and a low amount of general knowledge. To gain the most from your assistant, train them in how to use their specific subsystem and encourage them to gain their own autonomy so you may focus on other things as needed.

Subsystem assistant requirements:

Assistant is assigned to a subsystem: No

Assistant is autonomous: No

Assistant completes work continously without calamity: 0/7 Days

Reward for completion: Gain a second subsystem assistant

- - -

Time remaining until next battle: 90 hours.

"I don't understand," Virgil said immediately.

Location: Earth Time: The moment of Walker's translocation

He was caught completely. While the Creators were immersed in the Alpha Protocol, all of time had stopped across the multitude of universes. There was no talking, no movement, no time at all. An ordinary-seeming stick pulsed in a homeless man's hand, and he suddenly took a deep breath before coughing.

Time slowly started to move again near him, spreading out to the world in a disjointed pulse. It was regaining dominion over the Earth, but doing so at different levels of speed. Because of the disjointed reassertion of time, catastrophe was also spreading. 

Walker's world was being shocked to life as people were unfreezing in a chaotic and unorganized way, often with only one leg being released at once, while the rest of their body was still held in stasis. They could feel as time slowly lost its vice grip on them, and it caused a series of cascading problems planet-wide. 

Cars were driving off of bridges, surgeons were making mistakes in critical moments at the operating table, and the more nefarious of the population were taking advantage of this boon suddenly given to them.

Chaos reigned, and it all centered on one man.

Mr. Harrison, as Walker called him, drew in another deep breath and pounded his staff into the ground, his robes reapplying to his body and his formerly filthy body now the pristine image his Creator had seen on his small grassy planet. 

"Finally." He said with a pearlescent smile. As he knew it would, his overlay lit up.

...Scanning...

...

Omega Protocol Initialized

…

Welcome Candidate