Capital World Daemos

Reeve

Jem, Jericho, and Lexi stared at their husband in open shock. Reeve had just explained to them in depth what had happened with the System. While its long-term effects were still unknown, the mage had experienced immediate benefits through testing the various uses of Nex.

“So… just to summarize,” Jem said slowly, “you blew yourself up – again, I might add – to shove every last shred of energy you had into jumpstarting this System concept you’ve been working on for literal decades. And now it’s in its infant stages, but already making you stronger?”

Reeve nodded. “That’s an apt summary, yeah.”

The four-armed woman rubbed her temples as Lexi and Jericho looked on in confusion. Lexi didn’t really understand the concept of technology as a whole; being a fully organic Hive Mind, her realm of knowledge lay more in bioengineering. Jericho, however, not only understood everything that Reeve had explained over the last several hours, but was highly intrigued by it.

“This is, I think, exactly what we were waiting for, Jem,” Jericho said confidently. “A way to track, improve, give opportunity to, and provide assistance to the masses.”

Reeve nodded. “The abilities list is… staggering, to be honest. So is the class list. From what I can tell, they both take an enormous investment of Nex to build up. That can be generated from day-to-day activities as well as System-issued tasks and questions. The issue is that it doesn’t differentiate between good and evil. In any way.”

“Is that a problem?” questioned Lexi curiously. “Good and evil are in the eye of the beholder, after all. The Reeve, you should know this better than most.”

“Yeah, I can’t disagree with you there,” Reeve said, agreeing with her. “But it seems to be locked into an intent-based method of doling out tasks, quests, and rewards. The problem is if someone like, oh, let’s say Zeus, comes along and gets a huge reward for blowing up a planet because they are inferior beings. Or something like that...”

Lexi nodded in thought without responding. They could all see shortcomings in the System as it was. However, they all realized that there was no perfect solution to the issues and problems they faced. If implemented properly, however, this would limit all of the so-called gods and assign them administrative sections to govern within the universe instead of the abstract concepts that the Aspects gave them. It was a far cleaner governing System.

The problem was power.

Reeve reached over to a small box that he had brought with him as his wives looked on curiously. Opening it, he removed a small glasslike orb with swirling gasses inside of it. The moment she saw it, Jem’s eyes went as wide as a small Destroyer.

“Reeve,” she said nervously, “is… that what I think it is?”

Lexi bounced up and down excitedly. “Oh, tell us, The Reeve, please tell us! Is it a gift of some kind?”

“Not exactly, Lex,” chuckled Reeve as he delicately closed the box before cradling the orb in both hands. “This, my lovely ladies, is what everyone calls an Aspect. This particular one is the Aspect of Forgetfulness.”

“Yeah, no thanks,” shuddered Jem. “I know who had that one. Complete airheaded bimbo. Couldn’t even remember to bathe.”

Reeve grinned at that. “They found it on a corpse in a cave on a frozen world. No idea how it got there. Anyway, I plan on giving this one and a dozen more like it to the System. I figure if they could power the divine shit storm that became the gods, then it can empower this new method of management in a similar way.”

Jem sputtered in indignation as Jericho spoke up. “You plan on using the old source of power for the gods as a source of energy for this new System? How does that work?”

“No idea, really. I’m just going to shove them in there and hope I don’t blow up the universe or something,” admitted Reeve. “I mean, my best guess is that the System will break them down into something else. Like… coal?”

Jem threw her arms in the air. “That’s the dumbest thing… Reeve, the Aspects were created by the High Gods. Creation and Entropy. You can’t just… break them down,” she said.

The mage cocked his head to one side and asked, “Why not?”

Jem once again was reduced to a sputtering mess as the other two considered what he had said. It was true that each Aspect had been locked into a specific universal concept. The power behind that concept, however, was eternal and could be used for any other purpose if properly harnessed. Theoretically, at least.

“Maybe Red was right? Maybe you are just insane?” Jem said in exasperation, causing Lexi to giggle.

Reeve shrugged. “My stability was never in question. But at least this has science and magical theory behind it. I am positive I can convert this into System fuel. Better than feeding it souls,” he explained offhand.

Jem and Lexi looked at Reeve in apprehension. He didn’t do it often, but their husband was more than capable of manipulating the very soul itself. They wouldn’t put it past him to turn someone he really despised into fuel for a lantern, or worse.

Jericho, however, had a pensive look on her face. “Why wouldn’t souls work, dear? There are many evil beings within the galaxy that should provide more than adequate energy. After all, I have seen the wonders you can perform with them.”

Jem looked mildly sick while Lexi’s face grew less and less happy. Catching onto the mood, Reeve quickly shook his head. “Nah. It won’t work. It would take way too many. This tiny orb houses more energy than a trillion souls. I think it has a direct connection to the Elemental Sea, but I can’t be sure without further experimentation.”

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Jem looked relieved at that. “That’s good, love. Souls should not be used for anything except the afterlife. Or oblivion in a particularly… evil case,” she said quietly.

Reeve nodded at that. “Actually, I have some thoughts on that. I’ve spoken with a few of the gods that have governed death and the afterlives for their Pantheons. Turns out, there’s no one doing that work right now, so they had a bit of a backlog. I’ve assigned a few of the old gods of death and given them System access to Adjudicate souls. I was hoping to get your feedback on a System for that.”

This day seemed to be full of surprises for his wives. None of them had thought about the afterlife. Jem was a goddess and expected nothing but oblivion. Lexi, being a near-immortal hivemind, never came close to death. And Jericho… well, she was a new soul.

“Perhaps, The Reeve, a joint afterlife would be ideal? From what we have learned from The Hermes and The Hades, there were only three major afterlives to begin with,” Lexi said, happy to be able to weigh in. “Perhaps having all the defeated divines work in tandem to achieve harmony toward one goal would be ideal. Much like we achieve that within our mind.”

“That… that could be possible,” Jem mused. “It hasn’t been done before because the varied Pantheons’ portfolios were so different. Anubis and Ra wondered at one point if they would be able to subsume Zeus’s halls of the dead. But they were just incompatible at every level. However… if there was a single afterlife and all gods working toward that singular goal, it would probably work.”

“Conflict? Like, how so?” Reeve asked, curious.

Jem sighed and leaned back on the couch as Lexi cuddled her from the side. “Think of the Pantheons as being particular elements. Each is distinctly different from one another, unique in almost every way. This makes mixing them nearly impossible. It’s a rough example, but it serves its purpose here.”

“Hmm,” the mage responded, deep in thought. “So, if they are all under me, all under the System, that means they are all working inside of the same element. For lack of a better example.”

Jem nodded her confirmation. Then Jericho spoke up. “My love, it may be best to have the recent conversions from the gods become something else entirely. Leaving them with their old identities will not do you any favors. A new System should beget a new beginning.”

Reeve paused to consider that for a moment. Jericho wasn’t wrong. The gods he had enslaved did retain their prior personalities. It was part of the agreement that he had made with Jem. However… maybe an evolution of some sort was in order. Pushing them to the next stage of existence to better serve the System and everyone who used it.

“You make a good point. I should call a meeting of everyone, pull them in, and get their thoughts,” he admitted. “Not the Council, but the divines I have collared. I should include the ones that joined of their own free will as well. Just to be… you know, thorough. I don’t want anyone getting their feelings hurt and starting an uprising, after all.”

“Too late for that My Lord,” chimed in Alice as she appeared over the table in front of them. “Between Jem, Jericho, and I, we have put down numerous pirate rebellions, uprisings, and violent riots since your assumption of the Throne.”

Reeve rolled his eyes. Yes, there had been issues, but nothing that he or his family and friends couldn’t handle. Alice was exaggerating, as she was likely to do when trying to impress him.

“I get it, you’ve done a lot. And I am super thankful. But maybe next time we don’t crack a moon trying to get to the gooey rebels that have burrowed into the inside of it?” Reeve deadpanned.

Alice’s avatar shrugged. “They certainly were gooey when I finished with them. That is accurate, Your Grace. However, that moon was an excellent source of building materials for fleets and installations.”

Even Jem rolled her eyes at that one. “Stop sucking up. We all worked to make that happen, and I did the actual cracking. That took an enormous amount of Aether, I will have you know. If Reeve didn’t recharge me, I could have withered away into nothing,” she complained.

“Would have been easier that way,” Alice muttered.

Jem was about to go off on the AI when Lexi interceded, “We all love The Reeve in our own ways. We understand this. But perhaps we should focus on the question at hand?”

“Right. Moving on!” the outnumbered mage said quickly as all eyes in the room turned to him. “I am going to be leaving pretty soon to hunt down a lead on Jax. So, I want to spend some quality time with Amy and you all. As much as I can, that is,” he admitted. “I may not be back for some time.”

“Where are you off to now? Have you let Red know? She gets irritated rather quickly when she has to extract you from a situation that is dangerous,” Jericho asked. “I would rather not have her annoyed at us too badly as her counter-operative skills are… formidable.”

Reeve’s eyebrows raised. Jericho was easily the deadliest of his wives and friends by an order of magnitude. To have her admit that she had difficulty with anything left him with a sense of astonishment. That anyone could match her, on any level, when it came to espionage was unthinkable.

“Right. That just happened,” he said with a non-committal wave of his hand. “Where is Amy now? Playing with the Praetors again?”

Jericho nodded in agreement. “She has found recent and new applications for her abilities. They… startle me. I am unable to fully or easily respond to them so she has taken to training with the Praetors.”

Jem cleared her throat, an agitated look on her face. “You let my seven-year-old daughter train with bots that tend to catch fire and explode?” she asked incredulously.

Once again Jericho nodded her head in agreement. “Indeed. More often than not she is the one causing them to catch fire and explode. Again, her abilities are formidable. She will make an immensely powerful operative in time. I doubt I will be able to rival her in a few decades.”

That shocked the group into a stunned silence. Amethyst must have been developing her powers at a startling pace for it to concern their wife to this level. While the young girl was well behaved and listened to her parents closely, she also exhibited an uncanny ability to wield Mana in the oddest of ways in her day-to-day activities.

“Well, it’s not too late now. Did you all want to grab some food and meet us at the apartment? We could watch a movie, get some sleep, and I could meditate for a while. Do some far searching,” asked Reeve hopefully.

The women looked at one another, an unspoken conversation taking place. After a few moments they looked back at him. All three women had a predatory look in their eyes.

“Oh yes, The Reeve, that does sound delightful,” purred Lexi. “However, my Queens have been lacking in affection as of late. I believe you will need to provide us with an abundance of it prior to your departure.”

“Oh yes, love. An abundance of affection is going to be non-negotiable,” growled Jem as she flexed all four arms. “Non-negotiable in every way.”

In a voice that could be construed as begging, Alice too weighed in. “Yes, Your Grace. Please do not forget to lavish your attention on me as well.”

Jem and Lexi huffed. “You do not have a body, The Alice. You will need such a thing prior to your acquiring The Reeve’s affections. It is simply not possible,” chided Lexi. “The Thirsk and The Doc have been working for some time on this issue, but you have not made it easy on them.”

“No one but His Grace or Novu may examine my System!” spat Alice, catching them all off guard with the venomous statement. In a softer tone the AI said, “It is only for maintenance or intimacy that such a… guarded part of myself be revealed.”

“Talking is over. The hunt begins now,” Jericho said, standing up rapidly even as Reeve blinked out of existence. Looking over at the AI, the digital being swore she could feel sweat dripping down her back. “He got away because of you. Now this will be difficult. We will speak later.”

The dangerous woman vanished with a flash in pursuit of her husband. Jem and Lexi giggled. “Oh, you are in for it now. Jericho has a bone to grind with you,” laughed Jem.

“Ugh, don’t… don’t remind me,” groaned the AI. Then she perked up. “Can you help me if I help you? Catch His Grace, I mean. Before Jericho.”

The two wives looked at each other then back at the mischievous AI.

“We’re in,” they said together.