Blood continued to drip from the corner of Walker's mouth as he looked at the results of his efforts. He couldn't help but show a bloody rictus to David's face as the reflection asked again about the rewards.

"I have to name it," was all Walker gave him as he looked again.

... Analyzing ...

...

... Analyzing ...

...

Error..

Results are not possible ...

...

Adjusting information

... Analyzing …

…

Database connected...

... Searching Database ...

New information gained from Original source ...

... Analyzing ...

Designated Evolution Multiverse recognized

Adjusting future rewards

...

...

...

Rewards adjusted ...

Congratulations Dante!

As the first to discover a new strand, any future combinations, per your agreement with the Alpha Protocol Council, will automatically be siphoned to your resources.

Would you like to name your discovery?

Yes/No

Walker didn’t know what was happening, but he was in too much pain to think about what it was asking. He simply selected no.

Strand will remain unnamed until you make a decision.

...

Master Portal Key Detected ...

...

Rewards updated ...

...

Congratulations Dante!

Due to your grand discovery, You've unlocked access to the Third Gate.

Travel to the Third Gate is now unrestricted.

...

Congratulations Dante!

As you are the first member of the Evolution Multiverse to synthesize everlasting strands into a collectible resource, you've achieved a Grand Discovery! Extra rewards gained.

…

Special rewards have been given to those who contributed to this achievement

…

Due to your Grand discovery, You’ve unlocked the Inherent Encryption Ability!

Due to your Grand discovery, You’ve gained a Guide token!

Due to your Grand discovery, You’ve unlocked the Dimensional Anchoring ability!

You've been granted a bonus reward for your finding!

- - -

Reward for discovering a non-standard use of unnamed Everlasting strand energy:

Congratulations Dante! You've been granted bonus resources!

You’ve gained the Remote Access System!

10,000 Primordial resources.

An amount of equal value in unnamed strand resources.

… Error …

Unnamed Everlasting strand does not have an equal value

Compensation required …

…

Compensation found …

All discovered strands have gained 10,000 resources

… Error …

Unable to provide resources to strand labeled: Entropy

…

Compensation adjusted further …

“What in the fucking fuck?” Walker said after reading everything.

“What?”

“Dude…just…” Walker ran a hand down his face as the system continued attempting to find a proper compensation. His screen filled itself with errors and further adjustments as time moved on.

When it finally stopped its attempts, a single question appeared.

Compensation unable to be found.

Direct command issued …

… Analyzing …

…

Complete

Query: Would you like to choose from a set of curated rewards?

Walker didn’t even think as he selected yes.

Command recognized

Options presented:

* The Extract Upgrade

* The Hero Paradigm

* The Safe Haven ability

* The Nemesis system

* The Oppression ability

* One Supreme A.I.

* One Reincarnation Tablet

Walker read each reward option out loud so David could provide his own input. David scratched his chin as he listened, “What do each of them do?”

Walker shrugged, even though he felt a pinch in his shoulder, “You don’t have much time left. Are you sure you want to blink out when I’m still describing everything?”

David gave him a lopsided smile, “good point. Well, based purely on the wording, my vote would probably go towards the Safe Haven ability or maybe the Hero Paradigm, depending on what it brings to the table. You have to think about what’s best for Symphony as a whole..”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

That surprised Walker momentarily, “You don’t think we should go for the Supreme A.I.?”

His reflection shook his head slowly. “No, because you don’t know what restrictions may be placed on it. For all you know, it’s a trap, and it will be forced to repeat back to whoever controls the system about what we’re doing here.”

“Like Virgil was’

David nodded, “Like Virgil was.” He looked around wistfully, “I think my time has just about run out. Do you have anything else you wanted to ask?”

Walker considered it momentarily, taking a breath from his bag, then said, “Do you think I should pop up more reflections?”

David smiled, “Even if it’s just more of us, it couldn’t hurt to have another voice speaking back to you, right?”

Walker smiled in return, “Right. Plus, it makes me a little less crazy-sounding.”

“Well, you are a little crazy. By the way, your face is still covered in blood.”

With a wink, David popped and disappeared, leaving Walker alone in the vastness of space yet again.

Now that he didn’t have as much of a time deadline, he looked at the reward options again, clicking on each for a short description.

The Extract upgrade:

The Universal translator is a wonder, which many across the Omniverse wish to obtain at almost any cost. It’s abilities allow the average citizens commerce and communications to expand to untold heights as they find options they didn’t even know existed.

Freely given to the Colonists of barren verses across the Cosmos, it provides a surety that the (redacted) care for their people, no matter how far away they are from each other.

The Extract upgrade allows the Universal Translator to gain a new option: the ability to scan documents and extract information in its entirety.

Warning: May cause pain

The Hero Paradigm:

The Paradigms are a series of frameworks designed by the (redacted) to empower the people of the cosmos in their travels.

Should a member of the Omniverse show the traits of being a hero, the Paradigm will connect them with the strength to match their personality. This includes unique abilities as they continue their heroic journey, access to the overarching Paradigm framework created by the (redacted), and the potential to enter the Hall of Chronicles.

The Safe Haven ability:

Interstellar combat is fraught with dangerous creatures, worlds, and natural calamities. Designed by the (redacted), this ability ensures that every armada and army has a chance against overwhelming force.

By infusing strands into the ability, the Strandbinder can empower a defensive shield that protects them from all physical attacks for as long as their resources can supply.

The Safe Haven ability is restricted only to those with access to the Omniverse's strands.

The Nemesis system:

A system designed by the (redacted) in their battles against the Hoploi, a species known for its highly elusive talents.

This system allows the user to designate a target, enabling them to share their information across all other user profiles. Once the designation is complete, the target’s information will be updated to the (redacted) for future scenarios and strategic planning.

The Oppression ability:

Gravity. The elusive force that governs key aspects of Universal functions.

The control of gravity was one of the most powerful discoveries in the history of the Omniverse. As (redacted) learned of the mechanisms involved in its uses, the powers of the Omniverse were able to reach out and finally grasp their dreams of true expansion.

The Oppression ability connects the user directly to the power of gravity, allowing them to increase the field around them with multiplicative effects.

One Supreme A.I.

No information is presented with this reward.

One Reincarnation Tablet

Congratulations, Binder, on receiving the option to select this reward!

Reserved as a reward only for those whom the Omniverse deems deserving, the Reincarnation Table, when used upon the death of its holder, will bring the Strandbinder back to life moments before their death.

The Reincarnation Tablet is restricted only to those with access to the Omniverse's strands.

A large headache was building in the back of Walker’s mind after he stepped out of the reward descriptions. Each was presented from the system that came before the Origin.

Images cascaded within him, implicit feelings of history and oddities bouncing around his mind. A wet feeling dribbled down his nose, and for the second time in a very short time span, Walker was in great pain.

His body still wasn’t right, slowly recovering from the damage he’d faced after forcibly combining the Trinity strand to his overlay. It felt wrung out, like he’d been stepped on by a heavy person wearing high heels.

But it was nothing compared to the vice-grip clenching down oh so tightly on his brain at this moment.

After enough time had passed, of which Walker had no ability to count in that moment, the pain began to abate. His nose ceased to bleed and he felt the pressure slowly release from the top of his skull.

Gently looking around, he found droplets of red splashing across the previously empty space in his vicinity—a testament to the pain his own rewards had brought him.

Walker blearily grabbed some of the Reflection strands directly from his resources, taking over one hundred to ensure it would last long enough and have a powerful physical presence. A moment later, a new David popped into space, looking at him worriedly.

“Yeah, it’s as bad as we thought.” He said with a grim expression on his face.

Walker gave a choking laugh, “It’s what we have to deal with. You know what I saw in there, and my brain is too fuzzy to consider the options. So, what do we go with? You know what the previous David said.”

The new David nodded, “Yeah. That Paradigm stuff was interesting. It makes me think that there are other Paradigms out there.”

“Yeah….” Walker grumbled, holding his head between his hands, “Like what?”

“Like a Villain Paradigm, for one. For all we know, it could be based loosely on the archetypes of stories. The Sage or the Innocent, so on and so on. It almost resembles what we’re trying to do with Masteries, but who knows?”

“So…should we go with it?”

“I don’t know, to be honest. The teacher in me wants the first one. Think about it.” David’s voice grew excited, “We could read any books we wanted, instantly. All of those different stories that the Unending Summit is going to produce. BAM!” Walker groaned a little. “We just absorb them right up, instantly.”

“Right now, I’m honestly considering the Reincarnation Tablet.” The Creator said through gritted teeth, “Also, please try not to yell.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry, dude.” David replied amiably, “It’s weird knowing how much pain you're in while I’m not feeling it in the slightest. Would you please rate your pain on a scale of one to AHHHHH!”

Walker glared at his reflection, “I really hate me right now.”

David grinned in return, “I bet you do, bud. Neways, the Reincarnation Tablet wouldn’t work in my opinion. I feel like if we die, everything will disappear even if we came back right away.”

“It stated that …” Walker was forced to take a sharp breath.

David picked up what he was saying when he realized Walker couldn’t finish, “That we go back a few moments in time. I know. But I feel like that’s a cheat. There’s always ramifications to those kinds of things. A double-edged sword, if you will.”

Walker didn’t reply, so David continued to speak, “I don’t think the Nemesis system is a lot of help, and it’s weird that what should almost be an ability is brought forth as an entire system. Because it’s designed like that, I bet it’s for military conquest. They can say it was to get rid of the Hoploi, whatever the fuck those are, but the writing is on the wall with that kind of system. It’s to destroy a civilization, easy as can be.”

“Yeah,” Walker replied heavily as he felt a little more of the pain abate, “no doubt.”

“Feeling better?”

“A little,” Walker said with a heavy sigh, “Just give me a few more minutes before you say anything too loud.”

David gave him an unseen thumbs-up, and they waited for Walker’s body and mind to rebuild.

Walker tried to occupy himself by doing his breathing exercises, but that was designed more for anxiety and stress than general pain. The candle in the darkness refused to accede to his need, and he felt only further frustration from the attempt.

Meanwhile, David spent his time floating around space, attempting to find different ways to call upon their Icon. All his attempts were met with failure, but they were a nice way to pass the time.

Eventually, he just settled on thinking about Athena and how little time they’d really had together throughout the protocol. It inevitably led him to consider her in the grand scope of recent events. What they meant to each other, and what was likely to happen in the future.

Once Walker started to feel a little better, he brought it up.

“So, what are you going to do about Athena?”

Walker looked at him between the fingers covering his face, “In what way?”

“Look, man. I know you’ve been avoiding this, but you can’t.”

“Okay…” Walker said as he looked directly at his reflection, “What precisely is the issue?”

David snorted, “Don’t play dumb. We’re exactly the same, only you don’t necessarily have an expiration point anymore. It’s really simple. You’re a godeater, she’s a goddess. You know it would never work out.” David tsk’d, “You’re really just bidding your time.”

“Dude, we’re literally the same fucking person.”

“Yeah, but it's your conundrum now, not mine.”

Walker rolled bloodshot eyes, “I’ll think about it, alright?”

“That’s all I ask, man.”

Walker looked at him for a moment longer, then broke eye contact, “This is fucking weird. Why do your personalities keep changing so much?”

“Hrmm…you noticed that too,” David said as he scratched his chin, “Maybe it’s just the simple idea that we’re a finite resource for you. Naturally, that would cause us to consider the world, and the events surrounding you, or us, from a different perspective. After all, if you see a rollercoaster about to collapse, you don’t feel what it’s like to be inside it.”

“True…” Walker looked back at him, “So, what do you think about the other options?”

“Oppression seems legit. Think about it, man. You roll into a fight, hit them with some times ten gravity, and watch as they all flatten out, unable to lift themselves. Plus, it’s gotta be amazingly powerful versus large creatures. We did design Fortis to be a giant planet, which would be an easy way to ensure that things don’t get out of hand.”

“True again. I’m also leaning away from the Supreme A.I. The previous David was right; it’s too much of a gamble with too many other, big reward options.”

“So that leaves what? The Universal Translator upgrade and the Oppression ability.”

“Yep.”

They looked at each other for a long moment, then Walker said what David naturally suspected, “The upgrade.”

“Yeah. Other people would probably think we’re crazy, but the ability to just extract and download any book or information we see is too powerful.”

“Plus, we supposedly have a Bounty system manual that popped up not too long ago. For all we know, it could be several thousand pages long, and we just don’t have that kind of time right now.”

“Yeah, time’s a bitch.”

“Right!” Walker said with a smile, “Finally, someone gets it.”

“And it just so happens to be you, times two, Strandbinder” David finished with a smile back.

“Yeah, I saw that. So, I guess we’re not the only ones out there.”

“Yeah. But at least we have a name for it now. Strandbinder,” David said with an open mouth, “Sounds alright.”

“I like it.” Walker agreed, “I just wish some of the things we’d done were original, coming straight from us and no one else.”

David floated over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey man, we’ll get there. Just gotta keep on, keeping on. Who knows, maybe when this is all over, you’ll be in that Hall of Chronicles or whatever.”

“I’m betting you have to die to get there though, and I don’t plan on dying anytime soon.”

“Still,” David replied as he rubbed his shoulder once before backing away, “Now, lets get to it! You know this shit is going to hurt, right?”

“Yep. But what else can I do?”

Walker clicked on the options and avoided choosing the descriptions for a second time. He selected the Extract upgrade and confirmed his choice.

Congratulations Dante!

You’ve unlocked an upgrade to the Universal Translator!

Please prepare yourself as the mental instrument further embeds itself into your person.

Walker’s standard blue screen turned a shade of purple as a countdown appeared in front of him.

3.

2.

1.

The Creator, Strandbinder, and other titles blacked out from the pain as further red spread itself across the empty space around him.