What separates a good ending from a perfect one?
Both depend on a limited perspective. A man’s perfect ending often comes at someone else’s sorrow. A good ending may bring happiness, but something is left missing. Ultimately, both are simply a matter of human perception.
I am the Ultimate One.
I am the architect of causality, the overseer of all time and space. I pruned countless possibilities across the eons, and they now only exist in my memory. I will be your guide through these aborted realities. These worlds that could have been, these roads not taken.
You have already witnessed the true history written by my observer, Ryan Romano. You have witnessed his perfect ending, which brought happiness to everyone he cared about.
Today, I shall present you a glimpse into a ‘good’ ending. The tale of a family finding happiness in a violent world… at a cost.
In an interconnected universe, the impact of decisions compounds with time. The smallest choice ripples to create shockwaves affecting the fates of many. In the true history, when faced with the Blue and the Violet, Len Sabino picked the former; in her despair, she thought that knowledge would save her mad father from himself.
But in another extinguished possibility, she picked Violet.
For what do humans desire more than turning back the wheel of time?
----------------------------------------
* 2016, Hunting Lodge near the Alps.
Ryan Romano woke up alone on a cold mattress.
A droplet fell on his cheek and thunder struck outside his window. The storm raged outside, with strong winds battering the hunting lodge’s walls. Bloodstream was somewhere outside, probably ransacking trash cans or stalking hobos in his desperate quest for an Elixir fix.
Len was missing.
Ryan knew it the moment he woke up. She always kept her feet close to his own for warmth when they slept. Ryan would have liked that they touch with other body parts, but he was too shy to make the first move.
“Shortie?” Ryan shuddered as he pulled the bedsheet aside. “Shortie?”
Ryan hated to wake up without Len nearby. He always wondered if her psycho father had taken her away or worse.
His eyes scanned the room for his adoptive sister, his gaze settling on his pants left exposed on a chair. A terrible gut feeling made Ryan rise up and check the pockets. His fingers closed on a Blue Elixir syringe and nothing else.
The Violet Elixir was missing.
Like Len.
“No, no, no,” Ryan muttered as he rushed outside the room with the Blue Elixir in hand. He didn’t even put his pants over his pajamas. “Shortie, please tell me you didn’t do it. You didn’t do it!”
She had done it.
Ryan knew the moment he found her in the lodge’s garage. The room was a bazaar of dusty books, rusted tools and broken car parts, a graveyard for amenities. A lamp cast light on a metal workbench and an empty Elixir bottle.
“Len,” Ryan whispered.
She turned to face him with the guilty look of a communist caught defending private property.
“I had to,” Len said, her voice breaking. “I had to.”
Of course you had to, Ryan thought. He knew why she had taken the Violet Elixir, the one meant to give control over spacetime. You wanted to go back to the past and save him, didn’t you?
The look on Len’s face told Ryan that they wouldn’t be driving a Delorean anytime soon.
“Was it worth it?” he asked softly.
Len shook her head in defeat. Whatever power she had received, it wasn’t the one she had hoped for.
Something bothered Ryan. It gave him a good occasion to change the subject. “Wait, the lamps didn’t work yesterday. How did you repair them?”
“That’s my power,” Len replied.
“You repair lamps?” Ryan tried to make a joke to lighten up the mood. He had to do his best to convince Len that they weren’t completely screwed once her father found out. “Best power ever.”
Thankfully, it made Len laugh. She looked so beautiful when she smiled, his Snow White… “Look,” she said while putting a hand on the broken fridge in the room.
A pulse of purple energy coursed through the old device. In an instant, its poor paint became pristine again. The broken door repaired itself, and light shone from within the fridge alongside a cool breath of fresh air.
“Wow.” Ryan had to admit seeing a superpower in action always left him amazed.
“I… I think that I turn back time for items,” Len explained. “I return them to a previous state. Pretty underwhelming, uh?”
She meant it, but a strange, terrifying idea suddenly crossed Ryan’s mind. “Shortie, does it work on people too?”
“I… I don’t know, I haven’t tried.” Len’s eyes widened. She had caught on. “Riri, if it works on Dad—”
“No, absolutely not,” Ryan cut it short. “You need to touch him first. With the Elixir in your blood, he’ll kill you on the spot.”
Len paled. “He won’t.”
“He will.” She knew it too deep down. “We’ve got to ru—”
Ryan heard the lodge’s door open and a shrill voice echo with the thunder. “Len? Cesare?” Bloodstream called to them like dogs. “Where are you? We have to go!”
“Hide,” Ryan asked Len, his fingers tightening on his Blue Elixir bottle. “You have to hide.”
“There’s nowhere to hide,” Len replied sadly. Worse, she was right. “Riri, I… I have to try.”
Damn it, damn it! Ryan moved in front of Len to protect her right as her father barged in the room. He hid the Blue Elixir behind his back.
“We have to leave, the homeless are revolting again!” Bloodstream shrieked while lost in his own little world. “They killed my clone in…”
The Psycho abruptly stopped to move on the garage’s threshold. Ryan did his best to look strong and brave, his heart pounding in his chest. The blood making up Freddie Sabino’s body boiled from his anger as he observed his daughter. He knows, Ryan realized to his horror. He knows.
“Len,” Bloodstream rasped, his fingers turning into claws of crystallized blood. “What am I sensing? What am I sensing in your blood?”
Ryan sensed Len cowering behind him. “Dad, I…”
“You have… you have lied to me…” Bloodstream hunched like a wounded animal. “You lied to your own father!”
“I…” Len gulped and found enough courage to talk back. “I can cure you, Dad. I can heal you—”
But Bloodstream was too deep in his psychotic break to listen. “The power isn’t for you! It was for me! It was always meant for me, you stupid girl!”
I’m a knight in shining armor, defending a princess from a monster, Ryan thought, trying to give himself some bravery. But he needed more than a sword to keep Bloodstream at bay; it would take at least a flaming bazooka of justice.
Wait… his Elixir… Ryan applied the syringe to his wrist behind his back. Something good, he prayed to God, Shiva, Zeus, whoever was listening right now. Something good, something good!
“I took it for you! I took it to protect you!” Bloodstream snarled, his angry voice making his abused daughter cower. “You have to be punished!”
“Dad, please…” Len cowered, too afraid to meet her father’s eyes.
Bloodstream took a step forward, claws out to kill.
Ryan pressed the Blue Elixir syringe and juiced up.
Time slowed down as the liquid traveled up through his body and set his nerves on fire. His blood heated up in his veins. A blue glow spread to his entire field of vision, filling his brain with numbers. A flood of wild thoughts and inspired information spirited away his consciousness. Ryan drowned in a sea of advanced mathematics until he forgot his own body.
The surge lasted a moment. When Ryan regained consciousness, he couldn’t see Bloodstream anymore, nor Len, nor even the garage.
All he could see was the Blue and the screens.
Name
Ryan Romano
Level
5
Stat Points
5
Experience Points
1500/2000
Strength
Agility
Vitality
Perception
13
15
13
14
Synergy
Intelligence
Charisma
Luck
15
15
16
13
What the—
Ryan tried to squint to better look at the words in front of him, but his eyelids refused to obey him. He didn’t even feel them, or his body for that matter. “Where am I?” His voice echoed without his lips moving. “Where’s Len?”
He heard two echoes of his own voice, but the sounds also came up with words writing themselves inside his head.
Synergy: You’re in your Blue Room, Ryan.
Perception: Your pause menu.
“Who’s talking?” Ryan asked. “I thought someone needed to take two Elixirs before going mad!”
Perception: Don’t worry, we’re your friends; your stats. The usual gang with the lame duck of Synergy.
Synergy: My full name is Elixir Synergy Von Parapsychism.
Charisma: In short, she would have been magic if you had been a Yellow.
Synergy: Blue Master Color.
Vitality: The Chad smurf vs the Virgin wizard.
His stats? It took Ryan a few seconds to process these words and link them to the ‘pause menu.’ “Wait, I’ve been teleported inside a game?” he asked. “That’s my superpower?”
Synergy: No, no, this is just in your head. You’re having a conversation with yourself in a brief instant.
Agility: In a fraction of a nanosecond.
Intelligence: Your Blue power doesn’t transport you inside a video game, Ryan. It made your life into a game.
“But… if this is happening in my head, then Bloodstream…”
Agility: Is still in front of you and moving to kill Len.
Another screen opened right in front of Ryan’s eyes.
New Quest: Nightmare at Freddie’s
Objective: Prevent Bloodstream from murdering Len… and you too.
Reward: +3500 EXP / +1 Vitality.
Uh… shit.
Intelligence: Okay, calm down. So long as you keep the pause menu open, we’ve got time to think this through.
“Besides having voices in my head, can this superpower help with saving Len from her dad?” Ryan asked in panic. “Can I get Matrix-reflexes, telepathy, super-strength?”
Agility: Actually, you could do all of that.
Synergy: You win a Stat Point each time you get a level, Ryan. You can then spend them to either raise a stat. 18 is peak human, anything higher will be positively supernatural.
Strength: Wow, like sub-superpowers? We’re doing this shit!
Perception: Don’t get your hopes too high, powerful stats can’t be too good or the Blue Ultimate One wouldn’t allow them.
“The Ultimate One?” Ryan asked in confusion.
Charisma: The universe’s Game Master.
Luck: Also, Ryan, your important actions have a chance of either failing catastrophically or succeeding beyond all expectations.
“What?” Ryan choked in outrage. “Why?”
Luck: Because Einstein was wrong, Ryan. God does play dice with the universe. Come to think of it, you should roll it too.
“Roll what?”
Luck: The dice, Ryan. You must roll the dice to find Jesus.
Perception: He’s lost? Damn, we’ve got to rescue him.
Another pop-up screen opened up.
New Quest: Find RNJesus
Objective: Prove your faith in Random Number God. Find a die… and roll it.
Reward: +100 XP / +1 Luck.
Somehow, Ryan had the feeling he and Len wouldn’t make it out of the garage alive. Was this his punishment for a childhood spent playing games rather than reading books?
Strength: Man up nerd! Dump all your Stat Points in me and let’s beat the tar out of Bloodstream! I know you’ve been itching for it for years!
Agility: No, we’ve got to run! Ryan can’t beat Bloodstream in a fight at his current level! Let’s take Len and bolt out of there.
Intelligence: We won’t run far, Bloodstream probably put a tracker on his daughter.
Strength: We can take Bloodstream on. His body is strong, but his mind is weak.
Charisma: Exactly, we can break Bloodstream with words. He’s a self-hating tankie, ultraliberal verbal attacks will be super effective.
Synergy: He’s a filthy Green halfbreed, he was born to lose.
Intelligence: Here’s what you need to do, Ryan. Most of your stats are too low to beat Bloodstream in a fight, so you should dump all your Stat Points in Charisma and talk it out. It’s your only chance to save Len.
Stolen novel; please report.
“And how do I do that?”
Synergy: Just think about it. I’ll unpause the menu immediately afterward.
With no other option, Ryan dumped everything he had in Charisma and prayed. As his score rose from 16 to 21, he felt a wave of pleasure spread through his brain. His thoughts became more streamlined and bolstered his confidence. He felt smooth enough to talk the moon into falling out of the sky.
When the Blue cleared and he found himself facing Bloodstream again, Ryan didn’t waver. He did succumb to fear. An alien voice told him he had it, that he had the power, that the groove spirit was with him. Numbers and words appeared above Bloodstream’s head like a call to adventure.
Charisma Check: 60% chance of success.
Ryan opened his mouth as Len watched on. He heard the sound of a die rolling in the back of his mind like a death sentence.
Charisma Check Failed!
“You poor fuck!” Ryan shouted.
Bloodstream recoiled as if slapped. For a reason he couldn’t explain, Ryan knew that he had heard that the Psycho had heard these words somewhere else; and they hurt like hell.
“Mom left us because you were too poor!” Ryan continued to speak words that weren’t his own. An alien thought whispered advice to him like a backstage actor. “You couldn’t satisfy her with the power of Marx, and that’s why she left us for the Great Capital!”
“No, no…” Bloodstream shook and held his head with both hands, his claws turning back into normal fingers. “I’m… I’m sorry, I tried to get a better job…”
“And you couldn’t get one because you dropped out of school!” Wait, he did? Ryan wondered, unable to stop his smart mouth. “Donkey Sabino, they called you!”
Bloodstream froze, his shame suddenly turning to fury. His hands moved away from his head, and he lunged at Ryan before the young teen could react.
Wait, wait, don’t I get a chec— Ryan’s thought came to an abrupt stop as Bloodstream’s hands closed on his neck. His breath suddenly stopped halfway through his windpipe.
“Why you little!” Bloodstream snarled as he started to strangle his adoptive son; not hard enough to kill, but tightly enough to make Ryan choke.
“Dad!” Len shouted in panic. She rushed forward and tried to separate her father from Ryan. Her hands touched Bloodstream’s arm with a blinding flash of purple light.
The tight grip on Ryan’s throat instead lessened in strength. Bloodstream’s hands fell off from his neck and hit the floor alongside the rest of his body. Ryan gasped for air as Len moved to his side.
“Riri, are you alright?” she asked while immediately checking up his throat. “Take a deep breath…”
“I’m fine.” Ryan’s eyes looking down at the Psycho who just tried to murder him, half-expecting Bloodstream to try again.
But when the violet light died down, Bloodstream was gone.
A grown human male laid on the ground in his absence, groaning in pain. His hair was black and messy, his face thirty-something. His unwashed Polizia Municipale uniform had dirt all over.
“Ugh,” the man grunted with Bloodstream’s voice. The tone was different though, more monotone, weaker. “Ah…”
Ryan blinked in confusion and turned to Len. His best friend’s hands covered her mouth, her eyes wide with shock and wet with tears.
No way…
“L-Len, is that you?” The man looked up at his daughter with tired brown eyes. “What… what happened?”
“Nothing, Dad.” Len cried. “Nothing at all.”
----------------------------------------
Freddie Sabino looked like shit for a mass murderer.
Len and Ryan moved him on a sofa in the hunting lodge’s main room. The man spent minutes groaning to himself, even after his daughter offered him their remaining Paracetamol to soothe his headache. Ryan remained on his guard, half-expecting him to transform back into Bloodstream at any moment.
But the moment never came.
Quest: Nightmare at Freddie’s completed! You earned 3500 XP and 1 Vitality Point. You reached level 9 and gained 4 Stat Points!
Ryan felt a pleasurable shiver run down his spine, and the phantom pain in his throat lessened somewhat.
Then he heard the voices again.
Charisma: Phew, that was close. Sorry mate, I don’t perform well under stress.
Perception: Why don’t we have an HP bar again?
Vitality: I AM the health!
Synergy: HP would be too difficult to calculate.
Intelligence: I could do it if needed.
Strength: You’re really a bully magnet, you know that?
“Wait, I don’t need to pause to hear you?” Ryan asked out loud.
Synergy: Not with a decent Synergy stat.
“Riri?” Len frowned at him with a confused look. “Who are you hearing?”
“My power’s voices,” Ryan replied. When Len remained silent as a tomb, he realized he had messed up somewhere. “You don’t hear your power talking back to you?”
“No, I… no Riri, I don’t hear voices.” Len looked at Ryan with concern, and a new screen popped up before his eyes.
Len will remember that.
Thankfully, Len was more worried about her father to further doubt Ryan’s sanity. “Dad, do you feel better?”
“I’m alright, sweetie,” Freddie Sabino replied with a tone that implied otherwise. “I took that bottle and all went green… ugh…”
Ryan shuddered. The man’s answer didn’t sit well with him. “Mr. Sabino, could you show us your power?”
“My power?” Freddie Sabino raised his left hand and blood erupted from his fingers’ veins in the form of crystalized claws. The sight made Len flinch and Ryan recoil. “I… I do stuff with my blood. I heal real quick too… usually.”
Ryan waited for the blood to cover every inch of Freddie’s skin and turn him back into Bloodstream. Thankfully, the blood instead receded back into his hand harmlessly.
Intelligence: He’s not a Psycho anymore.
Synergy: But he kept the wrong half!
“Len, what… what happened?” Freddie frowned at his daughter as if struggling to recognize her. “Last I remember, you couldn’t reach my waist. Did you take the Blue potion? Did it give you a growth spurt or somethin’?”
Len bit her lower lip. “Dad, how old am I?”
“Nine,” Freddie replied before frowning. “Am I wrong?”
“I’m…” Len took a deep breath. “I’m sixteen, Dad. You took an Elixir over seven years ago.”
Freddie digested the news in silence. His eyelids closed and snapped back ten times in less than three seconds. “I…” He struggled to find the right words. “I got amnesia?”
Len nodded slowly.
“Damn, I thought it only happened in movies,” Freddie said before turning to Ryan. “And… I’m sorry if this sounds dumb, but who are you?”
At least he isn’t calling me Cesare, Ryan thought. “Ryan, Ryan Romano. I’m friends with your daughter.”
“Oh, that’s great.” Freddie smiled innocently. “Since when?”
Since you mistook me for your dead son. “Four years, mister.”
“So I really got amnesia.” Freddie’s smile turned embarrassed. “Did I hit a door or somethin’?”
“Kinda.” Ryan exchanged a glance with his adoptive sister. “Shortie, can I talk to you for a second?”
Len nodded and followed him outside the hall and onto the next corridor. Freddie watched them walk away without a word, his expression that of a man expecting a cancer diagnosis.
“He doesn’t remember,” Len whispered once out of her father’s earshot. “I… I don’t understand.”
“You said your dad became…” Ryan cleared his throat. “He became Bloodstream after taking a Green and Blue Elixir?”
Len nodded sadly.
“Then I think you brought him back to the moment after he consumed the Green, but before he took the Blue,” Ryan suggested. “It would explain why he can still control blood yet didn’t transform back into a monster. I don’t think he can clone himself anymore either.”
“So he… he doesn’t remember anything in between?”
“Maybe your power works by replacing items and people with an older version of themselves, like a spacetime back-up.” That was the best theory Ryan could come up. “He forgot everything because from his point of view, none of the last decade happened.”
Len bit her lower lip. “Good,” she said. “That’s… that’s good.”
Of course she was happy with it. All Len had ever wanted was to get her beloved father back.
Ryan felt far less happy. A part of him wanted Freddie Sabino to suffer for all his crimes, to beg for forgiveness after the constant abuse he put his daughter and adoptive son through. Bloodstream didn’t deserve to get off cleanly.
Perception: He won’t. People are after Bloodstream and they’ll hunt him down. They won’t believe that he can redeem himself.
Strength: But you can believe, Ryan. You’re strong enough to give him a second chance, to make this right.
Charisma: Do it for Len.
Ryan let out a tired sigh. The voices had a point. Freddie Sabino wouldn’t get off easy, and he was no longer the Psycho who had put his daughter and adoptive son through so much pain. If half of Len’s stories about her father were true, then Freddie was an alright guy who had made a terrible decision.
“I’ll give him a chance, Shortie, for your sake,” Ryan told Len. “But he’s got people after him, Len. Genomes and bounty hunters. We’ve got to move out soon.”
“I know, Riri.” Len smiled. “I, uh… what were you trying to do back then? When you said those awful things?”
“I tried to take the bullet for you,” Ryan replied with a sigh. “The scene sounded way better in my head.”
“It was stupid… but brave.” Len blushed a bit. “Very brave.”
A strange warm sensation filled Ryan’s innards and blood flushed to his cheeks too. His gut told him that now was the time.
Guys, I need help, Ryan thought, his fingers trembling with apprehension.
Synergy: Ask her if she wants to bond.
Strength: Impress her with your strength. Rip off your shirt.
Charisma: No, no, not yet. Use the pick-up line generator first, then rip off your shirt.
Intelligence: You should discuss historical materialism and Marxist theory to build-up chemistry.
Charisma: But whatever you say, do not mention the gulags. Or blame Stalin. Everybody loves to blame Stalin.
Perception: Slow down you horny dogs, they’re sixteen. That’s way too young for anything mature.
Agility: There’s no time, our host has to pass on his genes as soon as possible. For mankind’s sake!
Vitality: Why stop at one girl? I say we aim for the harem ending, he’s got the enduran—
Luck: Damn it Ryan, roll the dice already and kiss her!
Ryan trusted his luck and moved his lips forward. Len saw him coming with wide eyes, but she didn’t make a move to dodge the surprise attack. Numbers and words reflected in her bright blue eyes.
Agility Check: 99% chance of success.
When Ryan’s lips met Len’s, he realized that sometimes, God played with loaded dice.
Agility Check Success!
Ryan pulled Len closer, her hands moving to his hair. It was a raw teenage kiss, glorious in its awkwardness and passion. Len’s lips tasted of the sea, of desire, of home.
“Children, what are you doing?” The oblivious Freddie asked from a room over.
“Nothing, dad,” Len replied as she broke the kiss. She smiled at Ryan while she said it. “Nothing.”
New Quest: Dad Alert.
Objective: Get Daddy Freddie’s blessing to date his daughter.
Reward: +250 EXP / +1 Charisma.
Challenge accepted, Ryan thought.
----------------------------------------
> A few weeks later, Porto Venere, Italy
Did sailors hold funerals for their ships?
Perception: No, but they should.
Smartass, Ryan thought as he examined the ship graveyard along the village’s piers. The remains of more than a dozen broken boats rusted in the waters or on the shore. The locals had long abandoned the area, but no scavenger had come to harvest parts from the husks. We could salvage something from them.
Len, that inveterate ship-lover, had spent the day brushing her hands against every single boat she could find; leaving the hard work of finding food to Freddie and Ryan. His new points in Perception had helped tremendously.
Ryan had completed a few quests over the last few days, to the point of reaching level 11. Finding a gym still standing in Genoa had been a pain, but the Strength point gain had been so worth it.
Ryan had abs now. Abs!
I still don’t get how a Blue power can give me muscles though, Ryan thought. I would have said it was a Green Elixir exclusive feature.
Synergy: We cracked the reality code and rewrote the information of your molecules.
Strength: Don’t think, Ryan; flex.
Vitality: Len loves your abs. You know she does.
Synergy: But don’t expect to manhandle the likes of Wyvern either. Even with maxed Strength you’ll barely have the power to lift a car. We’re not that overpowered.
Strength: Killjoy.
Perception: Ryan, they will reach the region soon.
Ryan froze in place at the news, which Freddie noticed. He clenched his jaw. “It’s our pursuers?”
“Yes, my spider-sense is acting up,” Ryan confirmed. His high Perception had grown sensitive enough to warn him of incoming danger. “Our pursuers are closing up on us.”
Freddie sighed. “I’m sorry, Ryan.”
“It’s alright, we’re used to it,” Ryan brushed it off, though it didn’t ease the man’s mind.
Len never had the heart to tell her father what he had done, but Freddie wasn’t stupid. He had noticed Ryan’s wariness, the fact he and Len rarely mentioned what he did in his ‘missing years,’ and he had to suspect why people were after them. Freddie had stopped drinking his sorrows away when his daughter asked it of him, but Ryan often caught him looking at empty bottles with a guilty look on his face.
Freddie knew he had messed up greatly, and the temptation to bury his guilt in alcohol remained strong.
Ryan had to admit Freddie had somewhat risen in his esteem compared to Bloodstream, though it was a low bar. Len’s father was quite the friendly and helpful guy, if a little shy and slow. Better, his presence made Len happy.
That was all Ryan cared about.
“We’ll find a boat and sail away,” Ryan reassured Freddie. “They won’t follow us across the sea.”
“I suppose. I hope.” Freddie looked at his daughter as she examined boats in the distance. “Ryan, can I talk to you?”
Now that Len can’t hear us, was left unsaid. “You’re going to come out as a liberal?”
“Never,” Freddie said with a grin. Ryan was sure Len had inherited her political leanings from him. “I’ve got something to give you.”
He searched in his pocket and handed it to Ryan. The teen recognized the contents before a screen even popped-up.
Condom Box
Type: Consumable.
The poor man’s birth protection.
“I found it in Genoa,” Freddie said. “They’re clean, but I couldn’t find pills for Len.”
Ryan didn’t have the courage to tell him that Len had already found pills on her own. He glanced at the box, then at Len’s dad, then at Shortie, and then back at her father. “Why are you giving me this?” he dared to ask.
Freddie gave him a knowing look. “I’m a little slow, not blind. I know what’s up between you and Len. It’s okay. I support it.”
Ryan never expected to hear these words from his mouth. “You aren’t going to shoot me? Not even a gunfire duel at sunset?”
Strength: You should duel him for his daughter’s hand with your fists in the mud, the macho way. Guns are for wimps.
“No, I won’t.” Freddie straightened up, his face all serious. “I’ll never regret having Len, but… her mom wasn’t ready. We weren’t ready. We made sacrifices we could hardly afford and eventually, it destroyed us. I don’t want that to happen between you and my daughter, that’s what I’m saying? So…”
Freddie Sabino locked eyes with his future son-in-law.
“Please wear protection, Ryan. Do it responsibly.”
“Yes, Commie Dad.”
“And if you need advice on how to do the thing… I’ll be happy to give you an ear.”
Quest: Dad Alert completed! You won 250 EXP and 1 Charisma Point!
“You know,” Ryan said. “I think I’m starting to like you against my better judgment.”
Freddie smiled sadly. “Thank you, Ryan. I’m glad Len found you. You’re making her happier than you think.”
Freddie patted Ryan on the back, which the teen took as a seal of approval.
The two joined Len before the husk of a small yacht laying on the shore. The boat had a rift in its hull, its posture reminding Ryan of a dying whale.
“How about this one?” Shortie asked.
“Da, we take the biggest one like true oligarchs,” Ryan quipped. He squinted to see if he could repair it.
Intelligence Check: 53% chance of success.
Information filled up Ryan’s mind to the tune of rolling dice.
Intelligence Check Success!
Ryan knew he could repair it, somehow. He understood how the yacht worked, which parts he could salvage from the other boats to fill the gap and put it up to speed. In fact, he even guessed how to improve its engine speed.
Somehow.
Synergy: The higher your intelligence stat, the more information you’ll receive from the Blue. You won’t build a spaceship anytime soon, but you should make that ship better than new.
Perception: Wait, wait, so he’s like a Genius? Is he limited to a specialty?
Synergy: Nope, only by his Intelligence stat.
Intelligence: Yeah baby, Mechron II here we go!
Synergy: But you can’t gain knowledge already inherited by another Genius, that’s one of the rules.
Intelligence: What? But the robots! What about robots?
Synergy: No robots, no power armor, no hyper botany, no arcology city. Just normal human science.
Intelligence: I feel intellectually castrated.
“I could repair it,” Ryan declared with pride. “Give me the parts and—”
Len put a hand on the destroyed yacht. A flash of violet light and a second later, the ship was as good as new.
“Show-off,” Ryan sulked while his lady laughed.
Strength: Quick, reassert your authority with a flex! Show your meat-grinder!
“I don’t know how to make it work though,” Len admitted. “Unless it works like in my novels.”
Her father was less modest. “I think I can.”
“You can?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t want to boast, but I know a few things about boats,” Freddie said with a hint of pride. “But where should we go? That baby could carry us across the Mediterranean Sea and beyond with enough fuel.”
Perception: Anywhere but Europe. They will find you otherwise.
Luck: With some luck, you’ll lose them forever soon.
Intelligence: How about the Canary Islands along the African coast? It’s far enough and the war didn’t hit the region too harshly.
“How about the Canaries?” Ryan asked.
“The Canaries?” Len beamed at the suggestion. “Sounds great, yes. I would love to visit them.”
“We could also convert the locals to communism,” Ryan suggested jokingly. “Make our own Marxist island.”
Freddie smiled and Len chuckled. “I’ll take you up on that suggestion, Riri.”
To Ryan’s shame, a Quest pop-up showed up.
New Quest: Lenin’s Revenge
Objective: Help Len rebuild communism by creating a Marxist-Leninist island utopia (or a gulag, both work).
Reward: +3500 EXP / +1 Vitality.
“Why would I gain a Vitality point from this quest?” Ryan asked. Len didn’t even raise an eyebrow; by now she was used to her boyfriend talking to himself.
Vitality: Because communism means pain, depression, and cheap vodka.
Intelligence: Fun fact, the sun’s temperature on the surface reaches up to two million degrees. It’s more than a thousand times the warmth needed to burn a human corpse.
Perception: How are the sun’s temperature and vodka related?
Intelligence: I dunno, it sounded appropriate.
“Well, you know what?” Ryan grinned as he pulled up his sleeves. “Canaries, here we go.”
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Leo Hargraves surveyed the Italian coast one last time as night threatened to fall.
The sunset vanished beyond the horizon, depriving the Mediterranean Sea of its radiance. The waves slowly battered the rocky shore and the ruins of the old world. Leo found the sight soothing, if somewhat depressing.
Ashes and dust, the Living Sun thought as he returned to his companions waiting in Genoa. No Bloodstream anywhere.
“So?” Ace asked. Mr. Wave had returned to the meeting spot already alongside the Cossack, Mathias, and Dr. Stitch.
“Nothing,” Leo replied as he landed among his teammates. “I suppose you weren’t any luckier?”
“Mr. Wave could find a needle in a haystack, but he couldn’t find our target. Mr. Wave is disappointed in himself.”
“Same,” said the Cossack with laconism. “No one has seen Bloodstream for weeks.”
We’re hunting a ghost, Leo thought grimly. “What about the samples, Stitch? Could you recover anything?”
“They’re all missing, Sir,” Stitch replied. “Dynamis lost their own too. Oddly, it happened on the same date when our own vanished.”
“The clones weren’t seen since that day either,” Mathias pointed out.
Stitch nodded. “The suicide hypothesis seems more and more likely.”
“You think Bloodstream finally killed himself?” Leo frowned. This would be the best scenario for the world, but something in his gut told him that mankind wouldn’t be so lucky. “What about the children?”
“Missing too,” Mathias said. “Maybe they went underground after he died?”
“You forget the obvious possibility.” The Cossack crossed his arms. “That Bloodstream killed himself because his children died first.”
A heavy silence fell upon the group. Leo knew some of his comrades had entertained the thought, but feared to discuss it out loud.
“My mother predicted that Bloodstream would destroy the world if his daughter perished,” Mathias said grimly.
“Pythia has been wrong before,” Stitch said. “Her predictions use probabilities. We must consider the possibility that she was in the error margin.”
Ace turned to her leader. “Leo, what do we do?”
“We’ll check the coast one last time and keep an open eye in case Bloodstream and his children reappear. Otherwise…” Leo took a deep breath. “Otherwise, we’ll stop the search. I’ll consider Bloodstream alive until we find his remains, but we can’t spend our lives hunting in the dark when people need us now.”
Only Mr. Wave voiced his disapproval. “Mr. Wave would like to continue the hunt on his own. For the children.”
“I’ll help too,” Mathias said with determination. “My mother sacrificed her mind to warn us. I have to close this case… for her sake and mankind’s.”
Leonard didn’t have the heart to deny their request. “Very well. The rest of us will move to New Rome in the meantime.”
There was another child Leo Hargraves couldn’t save in the past.
He would not fail again.
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But Leo Hargraves will fail to save Narcinia. She will spend the rest of her short life making drugs and then perish to the Bahamut’s fire.
For a man’s happiness is someone else’s sorrow.
Freddie Sabino will find his redemption. His daughter Len has won her father back at last. And Ryan Romano will have people ready to fight the world for his sake. The Sabino family will enjoy many adventures across the world and live happily ever after.
But Quicksave will be missed.
Simon will die a prisoner in Monaco.
The Carnival will fail to defeat Augustus.
No one will prevent Adam the Ogre from firing the Bahamut on New Rome.
The Augusti and Dynamis will fight for control of the city’s ruins.
Although the world will keep turning, millions of lives will be lost when they could have been saved. For a man’s choice is like opening a door into the darkness. Humans never understand what awaits them on the other side.
The privilege of turning back the clock, of optimizing the course of time to save the most people is a rare gift. In this timeline, no one will erase humans’ mistakes.
By becoming my observer, Ryan Romano extinguished this possibility alongside so many others. Len Sabino will watch her father die but receive closure, and Freddie Sabino will find a measure of peace. The true history is not their perfect ending… but it was Ryan Romano’s, and New Rome's.
The tale of the Sabino Family only exists in my memory now… and yours.