"It's called civilization. Women invented it, and every time you men blow it all to bits, we just invent it again."
― Orson Scott Card, The Folk of the Fringe
“Seven hundred thousand years…” Ven winced. He was closer to a million years old than he was to his birth. “Why did it take so long?”
“I don’t know… but you can ask Older Sister!” Min tapped the Giant’s shoulder and he set off toward the sun. “Let’s go!”
Ven followed, a weight on his shoulders that he’d never imagined. His lifespan was truly endless. His body had only grown stronger, no signs of the weakness of age. Immortality was his goal, but he needed to find something to do with his now infinite time. Something that wasn’t a reaction to some outside threat.
‘Maybe I can start by setting the realm into order…’
He had to solve the cries of misery that echoed into the back of his mind, or he’d never have a good night of sleep. Ven knew the people who suffered within his inner world, better than most knew themselves. He had no regrets, but the knowledge was a burden.
“Older Sister-Older Sister! Ven is awake!” Min jumped from the Giant’s shoulder and dove into the pure white of the star. “Stop being a layabout and come say hello!”
A small chuckle forced its way past his concerns for the future. At least his realm was filled with interesting people. Ven shared a glance with his Giant. It had been the only part of him awake, a dim connection that forced a familiar lens to his view of Min. She was like the little sister he’d never had, an extension of his family he’d never expected.
“I’m not a layabout, you relentless scamp…” his system’s avatar rose to catch the younger woman, a yawn on her lips. “I need my beauty sleep,” She pinched Min’s cheek as they settled next to Ven. “Don’t think I don’t feel it when you syphon off my power to use in your little humanitarian projects, all that energy has to come from somewhere!”
Ven smiled at their antics. It was nice to see his emotionless system a bit more engaged. She was so powerful, yet very mechanical in much of her thinking. Young Min had been a great influence.
“How goes, oh great and powerful system?” Ven smirked a bit and gave a formal bow. He released the bend of his spine and went straight into a full body stretch. “Do you have anything new to report on since I’ve been out?”
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“The Empire has expanded to include a huge area,” Min cut in before the system could answer. “I’ve been working with Mara, but I think we’ve reached over a trillion of the Earths that still have life!”
“That’s pretty impressive, considering how many I dumped in here…” Ven had no doubt that many Earths simply perished on their own, lost to self destruction or time. “I actually want to talk with a specific Earth, the first one I brought into the realm.”
An idle thought tickled at the back of his mind. Something that would make his job of policing his inner worlds much easier.
“That can wait, I think,” the system avatar grabbed Min and gave her a relentless noogie. “Stop interrupting your elders and betters!”
Released from the system’s grasp, Min darted behind Giant and stuck out her tongue.
“He asked what was new and I was telling him,” The Giant placed the tip of his finger on her head with the gentlest care. Min ignored the beast and crossed her arms. “You’re not the only one who can see everything in the realm, you know!”
“I know,” the system rolled her eyes and turned to Ven. “I have two troublemakers locked up for trying to access the core, also…” She tilted her head, almost reluctant. “You’ve built up quite the accumulation of wishes, if you want to use them.”
“The wishes…” Ven paused. He could ask for anything, but he knew from experience that a request could place him in stasis until the system had the power to fulfil it. “I want you to bring Rafe back to life… put him on Avalon, other than that…”
He shook his head. Unless it was an emergency, he would prefer to only use the system to power his own creations. What he really needed was more free access to the vast reservoir of power his system hoarded away.
“I’d like to be able to connect with you like Min does,” Ven met his system’s eyes. “I don’t want to control all of your power, but the ability to self power my larger runes could save my life.”
A smile touched the avatar’s face, a blossom that expanded to a grin. She nodded her head, finger raised as if to snap.
“It’s possible, but it will bind the two of us even more closely together,” She raised an eyebrow, a hint of mockery in her voice. “I’m already a bridge between you and this realm, any closer and even I won’t be able to separate us.”
Ven shrugged and returned an easy smile to match his system. They were linked, and she was as much a victim as he was to the one that installed her into his soul. She was family, someone who had saved him from the dark and given him the boundless future ahead.
“We’re in this together then, until time falls and only the empty holds sway…” A ripple, centred on his heart, echoed his words in a language that predated words. He glanced at his chest, where the formation had begun to spin. “We two are one, a pair since the beginning of it all.”
“Sounds good to me!” A snap of her fingers, and Ven’s perspective tilted sideways.
He was in his body, adrift in the fractured multiverse. He was here, next to the avatar and Min. But he was also between every blade of grass on every Earth. Ven stood at the furthest reaches of his realm, on the surface of every star and in every space in between.
“What…” Ven blinked. This was more than his connections of faith, as if the realm had become a true part of his body. He turned to the two women and rubbed his forehead. “You both experience this all the time?”
“Welcome to the Unity of the Realm!” Min bounded forward and seized his hand. “Listen close and you can hear the realm’s will… it’s like a baby, but Older Sister says one day it will be able to speak!”