“What?” Ulysses responded after hearing Walker’s comment. But the Creator hardly heard him. He was too busy looking him up and down. This wasn’t like the reflections. Each David had looked like a perfect physical copy of his current self. No, this other version of Walker was, for lack of a better term, fuckey.
Stronger chin with no hint of jowls, he thought with a mental scoff. None of those weird large freckles at the top of his head. Perfect hairline that I’ve never had, regardless of my personal timeline. No wrinkles…prettier…prettier lips
Wait? Where did the lips thing come from? He didn’t dwell on it long, instead, he gave a healthy dose of glare with his second scan; this motherfucker built a better me.
He should be flattered that the personality of an entire Universe had chosen him to base its look on. Walker didn’t yet know if it had a choice in its looks, but knowing just how powerful Ulysses had likely become, it wasn’t a crazy thought to consider he could’ve chosen any other likeness. Yet the personality had chosen his…almost.
If Walker were a different man, several things could have happened.
He could have congratulated Ulysses on accessing a new level of power. This was likely some form of Avatar ability, similar to what Walker had unlocked when working with the alpha protocol council.
He could have gone the direct route and asked him why he looked like that when there were infinite options the personality could’ve chosen.
He could even have tried to lighten his first encounter, joking at his own expense, like, “So this is what I would look like if I’d landed on the handsome branch instead of the mediocre one.”
Instead, he went with his tried and true Walker method, “You need to unfuck your face.”
The avatar tilted his head, “You don’t like it?”
“It’s less about like and more about uncomfortable. You’re like a younger, better me, man. It’s weird. You’re giving me a complex right now.”
Ulysses smiled stiltedly as if it had no foundational purpose for the reaction. One moment, they were still in space; the next, they were in a large, white, seamless room that reminded Walker of Kwaya’s metaphysical realm.
Ulysses reached a leg out as he prepared to take a step, his body blurring. As he came back into focus, his foot finalizing its action, he looked like the actor who played the terrifying robot in Terminator 2: a clean buzzcut with clear glass-like eyes dressed up in a policeman’s outfit.
The rictus smile returned, “My mission is to protect you.”
A normal person might panic at this moment. However, just like how Walker didn’t respond appropriately when seeing his perfected reflection, he again was true to himself. “That was from the T-800, not the T-100.”
Ulysses sighed as he took another step, blurring into a translucent-skinned borg from Star Trek, “I am the beginning, the end, the one who is many. I am-”
Walker caught on quickly, waving a hand, “The Borg. Look, cut the shit, Ulysses. I get it; you can change how you want to look and make illusions or something. You’re showing me these images to let me know that there’s still a piece of Walker in you. Whatever, whatever.”
“You’re no fun.” He said with another step, changing into a non-descript man with light brown hair in a two-piece black suit that looked tailored to fit him. Nothing about him would seem special to Walker. He was just…another human being standing before him, albeit one with unimaginable power and control over the entire universe. He stretched his arms up in the air, “This is much better anyway.”
“You didn’t want to be liquid metal? That would’ve been pretty cool, dude. Even if it was an illusion or hologram.”
He shook his head with a laugh, “No. As interesting as that experience would seem, this is not a mere illusion.” Walker blinked, and Ulysses was directly in front of him. He put a hand on Walker’s shoulder, who was shocked to feel a physical touch pressing on his body. He blinked, and Ulysses was gone again, right back where he’d been standing a moment ago.
“Whoa! Holy shit, it’s real? Plus, you’re very fast, man. Like, superhero fast.”
Ulysses nodded while looking at his nails, “Yes. Instant, you might say. Once you really start to gain a hold of the Space strand, it becomes natural to see how everything interplays together. All of the strands, making up everything around us.”
Walker nodded, “So that upgrade was serious then?”
“Check your contacts, Walker, and you’ll see.”
With a raised eyebrow, he pulled up the screen.
Ulysses: Symphony’s Aria
“What does that mean?” Walker said as he looked up.
“The Conductor of a Symphony directs the ongoing processes, while the Aria is a powerful voice that lifts the music to its greatest height. Something that brings a bit of flair, elevating everything around it. I believe that is my role in your vision, Walker. After all, we are partners, are we not?”
“Of course,” Walker said with a nod, “But how’d you get that title?”
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“When I evolved for the third time, certain…things changed for me. The Omniversal system recognized that, and allowed me to choose my own title.”
“Oh…Oh!” Walker pulled out the guide token again. Selecting the expanded mind option, a plain silver coin appeared before him; Walker quickly snatched it out of the air. Turning it over, he didn’t find anything special about it. It had no aura, nor was there anything etched into it. To any outside observer, it would seem like just a plain coin. Walker shrugged before saying, “Catch,” as he lightly tossed it over to Ulysses.
Ulysses's hand snapped out, and he held it up as a light shined down from nowhere. “Fascinating. So much contained in such a small amount of space.” A second Ulysses appeared beside him with its hand out, clearly waiting for it. Ulysses gave them the coin, and they disappeared right after. “That will be very helpful, Walker. Thank you.”
Walker gave a thumbs-up, “You’re welcome. I figured it would help you understand how everything’s going to work for us.”
“Yes, I can see that.” A few more Ulysses clones popped up here and there. Each of them was wearing different clothing, with one even holding what looked like a highly advanced weapon with multiple lights casting a glow in the area. They continued to appear for seconds before disappearing again.
Ulysses looked straight at Walker the entire time, particularly focused on where Walker’s eyes were moving. “We’re already testing out the guide token, by the way. Those images you’re seeing are a part of the whole—parts, that is.” He waved a hand, and a few dozen popped up waving at him, each a carbon copy of the original standing before him. They faded just as quickly.
“How many can you make?”
Ulysses shook his head, “That’s the wrong question.”
“And the right one?”
“Ask me how much of my attention I’m giving you right now.”
Walker smiled, “Okay, how much attention are you giving me right now?’
“A fraction, of a fraction, of a fraction of a percentage.”
“Fuck me.”
Ulysses smiled, and a nude clone popped up, walking toward him with a serious look on his face.
Walker waved his hands in a panic, “I was just kidding! Don’t fuck me!”
Ulysses laughed as the naked man smiled before disappearing, “That’s one of the great things about you, Walker. You have an excellent sense of humor. I feel like your ability to shrug off the authority of others and make jokes is a real asset. You just have to continue to find the joy of your work.”
“And you? Have you found joy in what you’re doing?”
“I’m starting to Walker. I’m starting to. Before the evolutions, there was a great rush of knowledge. Now, with all of my parts working together, I have been reborn into something better.”
He disappeared, reappearing right next to Walker. “I told you before that I was giving you a minuscule amount of my attention right now. But I don’t think you quite understand what that means. I recall you once saying you learn best visually, so why don’t I accommodate you?”
A section of the white tile floor broke off, lifting them into the air, “You see, Walker, this is my metaphysical space.”
Walker nodded, “I’d assumed you had found a way of bringing me here.”
“Yes, I have. The Metaphysical space of an entity is as large as the soul of that entity. The Tree of the Gods, as you call it, is one large Metaphysical space built by Kwaya. It’s an artificial soul, a construct. One that’s purpose is to imprison all of the Primordials as it slowly siphons away the power of their Origin. Funny how their names were so close, Primordial and Primigenial. So close, yet still they got it so wrong.”
The elevator kept rising into the air while Ulysses continued to speak. No breeze or sudden sense of descending pressure told Walker how high up they were, but the further they moved, the more he could see of the white space around them. There weren’t just hundreds of “parts” walking around, as Ulysses called them. There were thousands, maybe even more. Each tried out something different as they popped in and out of reality. Some with swords, riding in cars, spaceships soaring overhead. It was total mayhem.
“I see you are starting to get a sense of how things have changed, Walker.”
“What are they all doing?”
“We’re testing out the knowledge of the guide token, of course. Once that’s complete, this group of parts will be focused on your systems.”
“What are you, the god of ADHD?”
“Hah!” Ulysses laughed, “Perhaps I should change my title? But again, you don’t quite understand how all of this works. The total of what you are currently seeing is still only fractions of fractions. How about this: I’ll up it for you.”
The entire space below Walker quickly became filled with parts of Ulysses. There were so many Ulysses across the space that Walker knew he’d have to spend hours just counting them all. Rather than attempting to do so, in a strangled voice, he said, “How many are down there?”
“Four hundred and twenty-seven thousand, five hundred and fifteen. Now, let's try to fill up the space some more.”
More parts popped in, standing on the shoulders of those below them.
“No, no. There’s a better way to do this.”
All of them poofed out, Walker almost stumbling on his floating platform at the suddenness of it. Then, parts began to show up again; only this time, they were bent over on hands and knees as more poofed in on top of them. Dozens of Ulysses human pyramids began to appear, building up in theoretical numbers so high that his mind couldn’t compute.
“That’s better, although I will say, doing this just for the imagery is a waste of my attention. Still, do you have a better understanding now?”
“How…How many?”
“A couple million, I should think.”
“And the percentage?”
Ulysses looked him dead in the eyes, “A fraction of a fraction, my friend.”
Walker had to sit down on the platform. Slowly, it started to drop again as Ulysses spoke, “I feel like you have a better understanding now, so I suppose that wasn’t a waste after all. I told you before that the Spirit strands you so generously gifted me. No,” He shook his head, “that’s not true. Traded me.” He nodded, “Yes. Traded.” He continued, “Those strands which you traded me had a multiplicative effect. Using smaller strands in large bunches was ingenious, as they gave me parts that could focus on lesser attentions. In fact, as a frame of reference, the part currently controlling what you see in front of you is no more than one of the five strands. The original, in fact.“
When the platform stopped, Walker felt like his heart stopped with it. A five-resource Spirit strand was controlling millions of physical representations. Millions of Ulysses. That was impossible, right? Ulysses stepped away as a blank screen appeared before him.
He grinned at Walker just before it morphed into a blackboard with a circle on it, skills written in the middle. “Now. You want to build a skill system, and I’m the part to do it. So, what are you looking for?”
Walker stood up on unstable legs as he stared at the god-like creature. Ulysses stared right back.
God-like wasn’t right. It created an implication that this being was beyond him. But he’d made him, right? It was Walker who found a way to create a universe. Walker, who found a way to build the Spirit strand. And it was Walker standing here now.
His brain was firing on full cylinder as he tried to repattern his thoughts. No, Ulysses wasn’t just a god-like creature. He was also his partner, and exactly who he needed to get this to work.
“I want everything.”