“So this is the portal to the Multiverse, hm?” Arose commented as he stepped into the merged space, Ertemis following along behind him while Andrew stopped at the edge so he wouldn't merge with his other self.
“Yeah. We're just waiting for a few more people to arrive, so we should be getting started soon.” Andrew explained. “I'm going to go explain things to my parents before they yell at me for hiding things again.”
Arose raised an eyebrow at him. “You won't be joining us?”
“I'm already here.” The other Andrew called out, waving at them from a large table surrounded by about a dozen and a half chairs plus the four thrones, which they'd learned could be summoned and dismissed at will, though only within the space. They could also alter their shape, but weirdly not their color for some reason, the throne's refusing to be anything other than white, red, black, and that pale green sickly color, which Andrew weirdly didn't seem to mind. For him, it had that weird feel of something that was so bad it looped right back around to being good again.
Chris had Beth sitting on his right, with David on the other side of her while Belinda and Samuel sat on his left. Tori's group was to the left of him, with Tiffany sitting on her right, and two seats reserved on her left for Albert and Maurice. She would have put Beatrice on her right, but with her father coming, Beatrice didn't think it'd be the best idea. Their relationship was going to have to come out at some point, but this was very much not that point, so Beatrice was sitting in the apartment kitchen making friends with Nadia and Quinn, who had also decided they didn't have much of a place at the table. Then came Greg's group, with Tessa on his right and the Archmage then Narita on his left. Finally there was Andrew's group, taking up a full seven spots at the table, Cathryn on his right with spots for Arose and Ertemis next to her, then a spot for Li Jing on his left along with spots for Elder Barry and Justin.
Arose blinked as he looked between the two copies of Andrew. “Well… have fun then.” He eventually replied, shaking his head as he decided there were more important things to worry about at the moment. He and Ertemis made their way over to the table, Andrew waving them into the seats next to Cathryn. He picked up a piece of paper with ‘A Sovereign’s Guide to the Multiverse’ written across the top. “This is?”
“A pamphlet to help you catch up.” Chris answered.
“The title was Greg's idea.” Tori grumbled.
“It just explains a few of the basics we've already figured out, so we don't have to repeat ourselves every time someone new arrives.” Andrew added before Greg and Tori started arguing again.
“Which, unfortunately, doesn't make any of it any easier to come to terms with.” David commented. “I mean, it was fairly obvious that something was going on with Chris, but I never in my wildest dreams imagined it would lead to him creating a portal to the Multiverse in the middle of the Maze!”
“At least it isn't in the middle of your house.” Arose retorted with a slight grin. “I paid good money for this complex and now it's going to get turned into an interdimensional border crossing!”
Ertemis rolled her eyes. “Dear, we could buy countries and it wouldn't put a dent in our funds.”
“It's the principle of the thing.” Arose huffed, crossing his arms. “Just because we have the money doesn't mean we should waste the money.”
“I'm more concerned with how this will affect the war.” Belinda scowled.
“That's what we're here to figure out.” Chris pointed out. “But again, we still have people to wait for, so there's not much point in discussing things we're just going to have to go over again once everyone is here.”
“Then what can we discuss?” Ertemis asked, raising an eyebrow. “You don't expect us to sit here in silence until everyone arrives, do you?”
“We’ve been discussing the differences in our various power systems.” The Archmage commented. “I have to say, I'm rather jealous of yours. Being able to pursue power so… actively must be nice.”
“I'm not sure you're one to talk considering the mess our reality leaves us in.” Samuel interjected. “We're locked into our power level at birth!”
“Okay, but at least you all have power.” Andrew retorted. “Even with two Bonded parents, only one out of every hundred children will be Bonded as well! Our population only increases by about a hundred per year!”
“Yeah, but you're all immortal, so it doesn't really count.” Greg countered. “Your population is always growing, even with the low birth rate.”
“It also helps that your whole Bond thing makes it difficult for anyone to even kill you.” Tori added. “Seriously, it’s like your species was designed to be overpowered, and literally the only thing limiting you is time, which is pointless because you have all the time in the world.”
“I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying it isn't all upside.” Andrew replied. “Sure, the people with power have it great, but the odds of anyone actually being one of those people are astronomical. So on average, I'd say the people in your realities are better off. Power wise, at least… Beast world is pretty great standard of living wise.”
“I wonder if that's because access to power is so limited.” Chris muttered. “Everyone having abilities seems to cause more harm than good in my reality.”
Tori frowned. “Except in my reality, access to power is also fairly limited and the standard of living is still shit. In fact, it's almost worse because the people with power use it to abuse those without, and those people have no way to actually fight back.”
“And everyone has access to power in system world, and things seem fairly decent there? No worse than Beast world, at least… if you disregard the whole monster thing. And dungeons…” Andrew frowned. “Okay, maybe system world isn't that great.”
“Huh…” Greg grunted thoughtfully, glancing at the Archmage. “How does mage society work?”
“It depends on the planet?” The Archmage offered tentatively. “Every society is brought about by a multitude of different factors, and I don't think you can qualify any single factor as good or bad. All that matters is whether the factor is good or bad for that society.”
“Well said.” Arose agreed. “Even within our society, I've seen the limited access to power shift from boon to bane and back again many times over the years, purely because one reaction to it creates a counter pressure that leads to an entirely different reaction to it which then leads to another and another, on and on. Which means any action you take to change a society has to not only account for the initial reaction, but every subsequent reaction as well. Just because something turns out well initially doesn't mean it will remain that way as things progress.” He paused. “I assume that's the purpose of this discussion, yes? To determine which society is doing the best so you can seek to emulate it elsewhere?”
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“It was more about choosing which reality would be the best to push people towards power system wise, since this space let's people change theirs. We just got side-tracked which… Seems to happen pretty frequently for some reason.” Greg explained. “Your reality is a strong contender, Chris's is right out, and we're still discussing the other three. Personally I think it has to be between mage and system, because as much as the Beast thing gives you immortality and an easy path to power, the fact that it limits you to one power, even with the mutations, just doesn't seem worth it to me. Mage and system both allow for some pretty significant variety, while also granting extended lifespans. And Rune would be right there with them if it didn't require people to depend on getting fucking lucky to advance.”
“The problem with both of those is access to resources.” Chris pointed out. “For mage, you need access to pure mana, while for system, you need access to sources of experience. With Beast, even with limited resources you have all the time you need to progress, even if you are limited to a single type of power.”
“I think it depends on whether or not they're capable of becoming an archmage.” Andrew offered. “If they are, then mage is better, but if they aren't, it'd probably be better to go for Beast.”
“They could always start in mage, try to become an archmage, then switch to Beast if they fail.” Tori commented. “It isn't like they can only switch once.”
“I can agree with that.” Greg shrugged. “You know, out of our current realities, and without considering Tori's system.”
“Of course.” Chris agreed.
“Are you planning on adding further realities to all this?” Arose asked tentatively.
Greg shrugged. “Not particularly, but shit happens, you know? It isn't like Andrew and Tori planned on traveling between realities when they did it.”
“Considering the way things tend to play out around us, the odds of one of us encountering an angry god or something that kicks us into another reality are higher than you might think.” Andrew sighed.
“It wouldn't be the first time.” Tori grumbled. “Also, we're going to need another chair. My father decided to bring the head of the Hunters Guild as well.”
Greg nodded, making another chair next to Tiffany, along with a pamphlet, just in time for Justin Thyme to arrive, knocking on Quinn's door. “I got here as fast as I could!” Justin panted slightly, pushing his way inside as she answered the door. “Where's Drew?!? What's wrong with her!?!”
“I- think it's best if I just show you.” Quinn replied hesitantly, waving for him to follow as she moved towards the kitchen.
Justin frowned slightly, wondering why she was heading towards the kitchen instead of one of the rooms, but he still followed, thinking that maybe one of the girls in the kitchen had something to do with it. Maybe that one of the girls was Drew, though that would be a worst case scenario… Then he crossed the threshold of the space, the world warping around him as he yelped and jumped back out of the space. “What- is this some sort of trap?!?” He demanded angrily, readying his defenses.
“No!” Quinn assured him before he could do something drastic. “No, it's- Drew- sort of made a portal to the Multiverse.” She explained, wincing slightly at how ridiculous that sounded.
Justin blinked. “Pardon?”
“Drew made a portal to the Multiverse?” Quinn repeated. “That's why the space here is warped. Because it's connected to four other spaces. Watch.” Quinn stepped deeper into the space, out of her kitchen, disappearing from Justin's view, then back as she reappeared. “See? Portal.”
Justin stared at her incredulously for a moment, his spatial abilities struggling to make sense of what she'd just done. According to his senses, she'd literally stepped out of reality! But- that should be impossible! Particularly for someone at Quinn's level! He glanced at the other women with her and froze. They had no status! That- even if a status was disguised, it'd still show something, even if it was just question marks. For there to be literally nothing- Justin gulped, glancing at Quinn. “Are they-” Quinn nodded. “Where- where is Drew?”
“Drew is right there.” Quinn replied, pointing deeper into the space as her arm disappeared from Justin's point of view. “He's dealing with the people from the other realities. Or at least he was… he's walking this way now.”
“Hey Justin.” Andrew greeted him as he walked into the kitchen. “It's me.” Justin nods as he confirms it with a glance at Andrew's status. “Turns out I'm some kind of Multiversal… I don't want to say god, but-” He cut off, turning to glare into the space. “Greg, sovereign doesn't mean anything to him! It wouldn't explain anything! God at least sort of gets close to the right meaning, and people will actually understand it!” Andrew shook his head with an exasperated look as he turned back to Justin. “Basically I'm connected to these three other guys in a similar position as me, we somehow drew our realities together, and now we're trying to figure out what to do about it, which involves informing the authorities about the new portal between realities in the middle of their city. Not that you're really the best person to deal with this, but it was between you and the cops, and I figured you'd be less prone to freaking out and trying to shoot someone.”
Justin paused. That was a good point… He shook his head. “This is still way above my paygrade.” He sighed. “If you're telling the truth, you need to talk to… fuck, you should be talking to the freaking Emperor, but the best I can probably do is maybe get you the Mayor… or more likely his secretary, who will then get the Mayor, who might get you to the Emperor. And none of those people are going to get here fast.”
Andrew grimaced slightly. “Well… can you at least listen and tell us what people might be willing to do? There are some kind or urgent situations going on in some of the other realities, and we don't really have time to wait for bureaucracy and politics.”
Justin hesitated for a moment, before nodding. “Yeah, I think I can do that.”
Andrew grinned, waving for him to follow. “Cool, we saved you a seat.”
Justin followed him inside, looking around nervously as he found his seat, focusing on the pamphlet in front of him, hoping it would help him make sense of things, but… “I can't read this.”
“Huh… anyone got an ability for that?” Greg asked, looking around. “Otherwise Andrew is going to have to translate it by hand.” No one spoke up, so Greg made a pen and some paper for Andrew, chuckling slightly. “Good luck, buddy.”
Tori sighed. “I'm going to need some too.” She needed to translate it into Callowan as well. “Stupid language barrier.” She grumbled as she got to work.
“You know, it's honestly pretty lucky we all speak English.” Andrew commented. “Though I'm not sure what to make of the fact that English is apparently a Multiversal language.”
Narita shook her head. “It isn't that English is Multiversal, it's that Earth is a rather… prevalent fixture within the Multiverse. There are few realities I've encountered where it isn't present in at least some form.”
Chris cocked his head. “Why?”
“Because Earth is where the Multiverse began?” Narita offered hesitantly. “That's the current theory at least, since the oldest and strongest reality we know of is entirely focused on Earth. But even if its rise was entirely random, the concept of ‘Earth’ is so ingrained in the Multiverse at this point that it's almost impossible to avoid.”
Chris frowned. “So Earth is everywhere because Earth is everywhere? That's tautological.”
Narita rolled her eyes. “The Multiverse is tautological. Concepts are born in realities, then form into their own realities, which spread that concept to more realities, growing stronger the further their concept is spread, which lets them spread their concept even further. That's just how the Multiverse works, and the concept of Earth has spread far.”
“Wait, so out of all the concepts in existence, Earth is the strongest one?” Greg asked skeptically. “That seems wrong somehow.”
“That's what you're hung up on? Not the fact that the Multiverse is apparently made out of ideas?!?” Tori retorted.
Greg shrugged. “Eh? The concept thing… well, it doesn't particularly make sense but it doesn't not make sense either, you know? I mean, there has to be some reason the Multiverse exists, and that's as good a one as any. But given that, the whole Earth being the strongest concept is just weird. You'd think it'd be something like power, money, or sex, you know?”
“I agree, and so do many others.” Narita commented. “But despite our misgivings, the fact remains that Earth is powerful, even if we don't know why.”
Greg shook his head. “Still freaking weird.”