Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

"Walker!" A voice called out in the near distance, "Wallkkerrr!"

He turned around to find who was calling, his book closing in front of him automatically. Coming over the rise, as there was now a small hill pushing itself out of Sonata, a young woman came running over still yelling his name. He raised a single hand in the air to wave her down.

She moved into a dead sprint upon sighting him, showing an impressive amount of speed for a non-awakened. As she grew closer, something curious began to happen. Images started to show up, cascading behind her. Like watching a disjointed movie, Walker watched as he saw her test firing a bow, the arrow limply falling in the distance. Another scene showed her and the woman Walker had healed sitting on a bench, talking. Many more continued to show themselves, and he grew caught up in watching her life. He snapped out of it just before she arrived in front of him.

"There you are," Runner said with a smile, "We've been looking for you."

Walker spread his hands, giving the energetic woman a smile in return, "Well, here I am!"

She looked him up and down, "I think that's the first time I've seen you do that."

"What?"

"Smile."

He shrugged, "Life's not as bad as it seems, Runner."

"I guess. Did you know you shrunk though?"

"I shrunk?" He replied in confusion.

"Yeah, you used to be huge, but now you're just a few inches taller than me, look." She walked closer so they were only a few feet apart, highlighting the noticeable difference for him.

"Huh....huh." He said, truly stumped. In the long run, he thought that was a good thing. They didn't need giant humans running around Symphony or Sonata. He had other plans for that. His growth had started when gaining the piece of Origin, but back then he was still in the second stage. Maybe filling in the holes in his soul had compressed everything, bringing him back to his usual self. It was something to think about.

While he was scratching his chin, Runner spoke again, "Did you know you're naked too?"

"WHAT?" Walker yelled out, realizing she was right. He'd never grabbed any new clothes after hitting the third stage and had run out of his office fully in the buff.

"What was it Ares said," She spoke to the air, "Does his carpet match his drapes? Do you know what that means?"

But Walker wasn't listening. He immediately started sprinting, heading back to his office at the maximum speed he could reach in a short frame of time. Nudity shouldn't be a big deal, especially to the Founders who had always been around each other. But, Walker's prudish parents had instilled in him a need to keep the bits and pieces of his privates...private.

He ran close to a grouping of crop fields, large wheat stalks gently sitting in place until he passed them. A great wind followed behind the naked Creator. The stalks, once at peace, cracked and were picked up, following in the wake of his turbulent movement. A moment later, he passed a small quarry, a great boulder with smaller boulders broken up around them. They too joined the nude man's wind. Everywhere he passed, small things on the ground involuntarily joined the strange procession. A board with small checkers in place, a few strange chicken creatures, his newest subsystem assistant he'd never spoken to, all were lifted in the wind of Walker's movement as he ran to his office.

He spied the smallish stone building and had a mental pause as he noticed just how many people were on Sonata now. The Territory System hadn't lied, there were hundreds of people encircling his office. It made him curious about why his Civilization tasks hadn't been updated, but he had no time for such thoughts. He slowed down a little, attempting to streak through the crowd, and scanned around, beginning to consider just leaping over all of them. That's when he noticed the large group of objects and a single screaming squirrel coming up behind him.

"Pleeeasseee Creattorrrr, I'lll doooo bettterrr." The Squirrel was saying as it flew through the air. Walker, knowing the subsystem assistant might be in danger, tried his best to not laugh at the sound of its high-pitched voice screaming in slow motion. Then he saw everything else flying his way, and the large and unaware crowd gathered in front of him.

"Shit."

Walker stepped forward and sped back up again, attempting to make his mind reach the same level of speed that his body could. His book voluntarily pulled itself out of his chest as he ran around in circles, his hands a blur as he caught or stopped any objects from coming farther forward. When the majority began to arrive, hundreds of different-sized objects and creatures blowing toward him at a high speed, he knew he was in trouble. Walker looked at his book and yelled out, "Do something!"

The book sent a warm feeling and darkness spread out of it, taking hold of everything around him and arresting their momentum in a moment. He looked with big eyes as everything in front of him stopped at once, tendrils of midnight with colorful streaks holding them in place.

The Book of Souls seemed to shudder a little, and without warning pulled itself quickly back inside of him.

"Okayy..."

"Creator I'm sorry!" The yellow subsystem assistant yelled out the moment it touched the ground, Walker's soul releasing its grip and fading in the air. It looked around, noticing it was no longer flying through the air at a high speed. "Huh?"

"Ummmm..." He said, scratching the back of his head as he looked at a field full of broken pieces of food, rocks, and mutilated creatures on the grass. "My bad."

"Look!" Someone yelled out behind him, "It's the Creator!"

"Why is he naked?" Another asked.

"Don't question him! Quick, take off your clothes so we match!"

"Great idea!"

Clothing all around Walker began to fall to the ground, while they still stared at him. Walker was so shocked he'd barely moved, bare ass in front of everyone.

"What was it Ares told us before?" someone said from nearby.

Walker's face turned bright red, and he slowly sped up, moving toward his office and dodging between questing eyes attempting to track his nude form.

He dodged past more than a few nude founders, and slipped into the building, closing the door behind him and leaning against it.

"Well well." A feminine voice said right in front of him, "Ares was right after all."

Walker slapped a hand to his forehead, partially covering his eyes. "Goddamnit," he sighed, "Why is Ares asking everyone what my pubic hair looks like?"

Walker heard bare footsteps inching closer, "Call it a fascination with our only local celebrity. Well, that's not true. Our biggest local celebrity. Although, you're smaller than you were before."

"There's someone more interesting than me here?" Walker asked, sidestepping her last comment.

"Have you met Runner?"

Walker nodded, eyes still closed, "True. She's unique"

"Oh yes," Athena laughed, "The clothes I made, a month ago by the way, are not going to fit you." Walker heard the sound of cloth lightly falling to the ground, "No matter."

He felt a hand press into his chest, "You were gone a long time again."

Walker moved his hand, opening his eyes so he could look into her own, "I know, I'm sorry." Images began to coalesce behind her, scenes from her own life. He saw a ruddy-haired and powerfully built man walking purposefully in one, a large club on his shoulder, before it disappeared. He shook his head and tried not to look at them.

Athena stepped back, bringing his focus to what she said next, "Was it intentional? Is all of this," She spread her hands out, encompassing all of Symphony, "Is it too much?"

He shook his head, "No, it's not that. I made a mistake, kind of, and we lost a month together."

She nodded, "I'll go get you some new clothes...again. Please just stay there," She pointed at his chair, "Right there, and do not move."

He smiled at her, "You got it."

Walking past her, he felt a light slap on his rear, but when he turned to look at her, the door was already closing. Walker smiled, "Things are definitely looking up."

She returned quickly, Virgil walking in behind her and he could hear the Supreme Assistant tell the others to stay out. In her hands, Athena held a white robe, causing Walker to snort loudly.

"What?" She asked.

"I'm not wearing that. An all-white robe, are you kidding?"

"Ah," Virgil said in realization.

"I'm not Jesus, or a prophet, and I'm only a pseudo-god. That's not for me."

"What would you like instead?" She asked.

Walker thought it over, scratching his chin, "Black and Green."

"Alright, I'll let Samuel know your preferred colors, but for now, can you please wear this so you're not quite so...distracting?"

Walker blushed, "S-sure. Yeah, why not." He quickly threw the thin robe on. It slipped over his skin like silk, "That's very nice. You said Samuel made this?"

"Yes, Samuel, whom you originally knew as Three. He's quite talented in making clothing."

"Very nice." He shrugged, letting it settle on his shoulders, then sat back down in his uncomfortable chair, "See if he's able to make a butt pillow as this is just a little too hard."

Virgil snorted, mimicking Walker from earlier, "Let us get down to the important things. You need to form a council."

That threw Walker for a loop, "Why?"

Athena looked at Virgil, who nodded, "Because there are too many things to do, and as shocking as it may be to hear this, you have too many responsibilities that only you, the Creator, can perform. Virgil entrusted me with your secret-"

"The System Administrator role you recently acquired." He clarified, "I understood you and Athena to be quite close, thus felt it was apt to inform her of the new development."

Walker smiled, "Good."

"-And," Athena said, continuing her previous discourse, "you're going to be quite busy soon. You've already given the monsters to Rimi and the Milestones to Cagna, it's time for you to step into big-picture planning and push the boundaries of what you can do."

"How much time do we have left?"

"We're about six months from the dilation ending."

"Holy shit, already?" Walker looked at the plain stone table in front of him, then reached under and grabbed one of his smaller vaults, throwing it to the large squirrel, "Get me more Temporal resources, in fact," Walker pulled out four more, "Give me as much as you can. I'll have an upgraded version for you soon."

"I will do my best," Virgil replied, easily palming the five leather bags, "But you need to think about who you would like on the council."

Walker stepped into the item system and produced a chair like Cagnas, planting a golden one in front of Athena who smiled in thanks, "Indeed, Virgil." Walker said with a smile, "How many do you think we should have on it?"

Athena spoke up, "The problem with large groups running things is when there are too many voices talking over each other during the meetings. Your time is precious, as is my own nowadays, regarding my work with the Founders. There's a lot to do, and our schedules are very busy." She looked at Virgil, then back to Walker, "Your assistant here and I spoke about having a small council, one that holds the leaders of larger councils below them."

"Like the mafia?" Walker asked, curious now.

Athena looked confused, while Virgil shook his head, "Not quite. It is less designed as having a boss of bosses, and more along the line of efficiently using our time. I have written down several options for you to peruse, please take your time as once this is set, you will not want to change it again."

"Why?"

"Public perception mostly," Athena put in, "If you seem fickle and uncaring in your actions, it will directly affect the people of Sonata."

"Fuck, public perception is already here," Walker said, scratching the back of his head until Virgil handed him a notebook.

He opened it and his two advisors stayed quiet while the Creator perused the contents.

Council Options

1. Form a very small council by Symphonic roles:

One seat for all Assistants, held by Virgil.

One seat for all Primigenials, held by Zeus.

One seat for all Founders, held by Dion as a neutral party.

"Dion? The guy with the puppy?"

"Small dog now," Virgil stated, "and it is growing smarter by the day, worrying some of us. But, Dion has shown himself to be a decidedly neutral entity, and would do well in his role for the first option."

"Why don't I see your name here Athena?" Walker asked.

"Zeus is my Prime, it is only right that he represents all Primigenials," She said with a shake of her head.

Walker gave a slow nod and looked at the second option.

2. Form a small council with advisable roles focusing on growth and stability:

One seat for all construction, held by Hephaestus.

One seat for all Elders (instructors), focusing on those being trained on Sonata, held by Athena.

One seat for all Elders (instructors), focusing on those being trained on Planet One, held by Ares.

One seat for the head of all systems, held by Virgil.

One seat for Assistant management, held by Luna.

"Who's Luna?"

"That would be your yellow subsystem assistant," Virgil commented.

"They named themself Luna?"

"Indeed."

Walker shrugged his shoulders, "Okay. So it focuses on growth and stability, I can get behind that, but what's Planet One?"

"That would be the training planet you've been building. It is ready for seeding at this time, and thus, we are ready to begin placement of the original fifty founders."

"Already?" Walker said in surprise, expecting it to take longer for the planet to finalize its formation and cooling. "Yeah, we're going to have to jump on that then. Does Rimi have all of those tier-capped monsters ready?"

Virgil nodded, "He does. Everything is ready for the last steps before the final seeding."

"Except for our Class system, which means it's finally time I start working on that."

"Certainly," Virgil said with a nod.

"Do you know how you're going to do it?" Athena asked, a strange look on her face.

Walker called on his book, and it slowly, slowly, exited his chest. He left it floating in front of himself as Athena squealed in excitement.

"Your Icon is a book! Oh my! Oh yes! I knew we were meant to be!" She ran out of her chair and hugged him, giving the Book of Souls a wide amount of space as she did so. The goddess of wisdom pulled back, a stain of red on her cheeks as she looked at it, "What can it do?"

"I was just touching on that when Runner found me."

"I sent her," Virgil stated.

"Well, when she did she also pointed out my own nudity."

"Oh that's quite funny," Athena said lightly with a giggle, "So, what's it do?"

"So far, it lets me look at the souls of any Awakened who..I...um..."

"Kill?" Athena asked, her expression shifting.

Walker coughed, "Yes."

"I see....well, let's hope you don't have to do that too often." She said in a colder voice, stepping back to her chair.

"I hope so as well," Walker said lightly, trying to not focus on how his Book of Souls, and thus himself, gained power. "It's part of the Godeater program."

"Godeater...program?" Athena asked.

"I had not told her about that yet, Walker." Virgil pointed out.

"Oh."

She gripped the sides of her chair, "So, you what, kill and eat the souls of awakened?" sitting in her relatively cruddy golden chair, she somehow made it seem like a throne. He also got the distinct feeling that she was staring down at him, even though she was several inches shorter than him while sitting.

"I didn't choose to become-"

"A Godeater?" She interrupted.

"Right," Walker said, putting his hands in the air, hoping she'd calm down, "I didn't choose to become a Godeater. It was built into the system, the original one, that came before the Evolvers version."

"So you're involuntarily a slayer of the Awakened."

"Well-"

"And I suppose you had no other options with Triton, my cousin?"

"It isn't that simple."

"Of course." She said, leaning back and crossing her legs, "It should never be simple to take a life."

"He attacked me, and he planned on-

This time, she held a hand up, "I know. I know what he was. We've had to watch Poseidon all this time because we can't trust him around the Founders. Word got out about what happened and everyone knows. Don't trust Apollo with secrets." She sighed, leaning back even further in her seat and resting her head on the back of it, "I'm not angry that you had to kill Triton, not exactly. I'm worried that the instinct to kill Awakened for self-empowerment may come again. That you now have a system at least partially controlling you."

"I wouldn't say it's controlling me."

"Did you kill Morgan as well?" She asked, Virgil still quiet in his chair.

"Yes, but she was trying to sabotage me, to-."

"Look, Walker," Athena said as she stood up, stepping forward and putting a hand on his knee as she kneeled beside him, "You're the Creator, and you have responsibilities to not only the Founders but the Awakened under your care as well."

"I know."

"Good, then, you need to come up with a way to make sure more deaths aren't necessary. Otherwise, you may suddenly find that the empowerment you gain from killing my siblings, regardless of their crimes, is too heady of a cocktail for you to forego."

Walker looked into her eyes and thought on that for a moment, he nodded. "I understand. I'll do my best. Plus, I have you both watching me."

"I do not believe we could stop you," Virgil remarked.

Walker shook his head, "Probably not, but if I start going nuts, I'll need you to say something. A codeword only we know."

"I approve of this as the only option that may work," Virgil said with a nod, "What word would you like to use?"

"Ketchup popsicle," Walker said immediately.

"What is that and why... never mind," Athena said, still kneeling before him. She gave him a peck on the cheek and then moved back to her chair. She waved a hand at the journal in front of him, "Please continue, I'm sorry we got sidetracked."

Walker smiled, "It's okay, I think that was needed. Okay, option three."

"Three, four, and five," Virgil corrected while Walker blew air out of the side of his cheeks.

The third option focused on a medium council made up of specialties that Symphony's future could potentially hold. One for the Classers, one for the Professionals, and so on. Overall there were ten seats at the table, with Walker being over them all. The fourth option was another smaller council and allowed for only four members aside from himself. Virgil explained that it was about who he trusted more than anything else. It held Rimi, Cagna, Virgil, and Athena. The last option was a large council, which Walker didn't need to read. He remembered his training days with his teaching group. Twenty talking heads, all with their own opinion about what was best for the students. No, it didn't work.

"How would the second option work?"

"That is the one I thought you most likely to choose," Virgil said, "I provided the others as it is my job to always provide you with an assortment of options." He stood up and lifted the journal, turning it to one of the last pages. It showed a diagram with crisscrossing lines. "Each of the assistants, particularly the new ones, would report directly to Luna. They would mainly speak to her about any interpersonal issues that crop up, or with any questions they may have about Symphony and its sibling planets. I would focus on answering and helping with new systems, as well as old ones, meaning you would have to grant me future access to all systems that now come online. The removal of all assistant restrictions is a much greater boon than you think, as anything you put into place, I can learn to manage with the subsystem assistants over time. It would allow me to develop all of them together with the organization matrix you've made."

Walker nodded, "And you?" He asked of Athena.

"I'd be in charge of the Primigenials on Sonata, while Ares would take over the Primigenials on Planet One."

He stretched in his chair for a moment, "Alright, that makes sense. Although I'm not sure about Ares."

"He is most effective in training the Founders, surprisingly so. Not as harsh as Hades, not as gentle as Echidna or Minos were. It is a good balance." Virgil commented.

"Well, how many founders are there now?"

"We kept them in groups of fifty, as more than that and they may find themselves lost in a crowd."

Walker nodded, "Why did you bring more in?"

"Well, we lost John, who you knew as forty-four, in a training accident during swordplay. Dion has no interest in starting a Territory on Symphony-"

"I already have that worked out."

He nodded, "So I have been told. We also had Diana, thirty-eight, kill herself."

"We don't know if that's what happened," Athena stated with some heat in her voice.

"it was the most likely conclusion I could come to."

Walker shook his head, "That's a shame. I'm sorry you had to deal with it without me."

"Yes. But, we decided that we needed more Founders or we wouldn't be able to populate territories upon Symphony correctly. Call it insurance for accidents and calamities. The more Founders we start with, the better the odds of success. Thus, five groups of fifty to allow for problems in the future."

"I see," Walker stood up, placing his arms behind his back. He took a few steps, thinking. Processing the deaths wasn't too difficult, as he hadn't known them well, but it still hit him in the gut as they were his people. He needed to keep them safe, while still exposing them to danger. He needed to assure that they would at least have a chance to step foot onto Symphony and take their futures in hand. He needed....

"The Conservatory." Walker said in a quiet voice.

"What's that?" Athena asked in confusion.

"A series of training planets. Together, they'll be called The Conservatory. We're going to have multiple in a row, scaling up in difficulty and with different biome types, that way the Founders are fully prepared for any scenario. The first will be a forest. The second an Archipelago. The third a series of snowy mountains, and the fourth and last, a desert. Each will have their names, but The Conservatory will encompass them all."

"I see. How long are they to be on each planet?"

Walker paced a few steps, "I'm thinking a month, we don't have a lot of time left. That should give me enough time to get each group down there and separate. I don't want the fifty...the fifty.."

"Cohort," Athena helped.

"Right, I don't want the Cohorts to rely on each other too much. They need to be inclusive with each other, but separate from the other sets of fifty, otherwise they won't learn to adapt, always relying on a more dependable or powerful cohort over time. No, we need a bit of tough love, but managed with fairness in mind."

He took a few more steps, "What would Heph's job be in all this?"

Athena spoke up again, "The second and fourth cohorts had excellent crafters in them, and he's been putting them to use, teaching them multiple ways to create and design different buildings. The Territory system already has all of the blueprints, cataloged by Neus in different tiers."

Walker punched a fist into his palm, "Excellent. So Heph keeps going with his designs, the new guys keep building as they go....it's all coming together." He looked at the hole in his ceiling, "It's all coming together."

"Is this the council you want to use?" Virgil asked, always one for the final commitment.

Walker nodded, "Yes I do. When it comes time for Ares to report in for our meetings, we'll just put him on the Monitor. Okay, what else?"

Athena looked at Virgil then back at him, "You need to address them."

"Address them? What do you mean?" Walker asked.

"You need to speak to the Founders and the new Primigenials. The last of the Nordic branch came out while you were gone, and they're anxious to meet you."

Walker sighed, "I just did all of this. Plus, I'd have to name...what. Two hundred people?"

"That is the burden of Leadership," Virgil commented in a bored voice.

"Noooo, no. I'm not doing it like that." He tapped his chin, "How's the arena looking?" He asked the large squirrel.

"It's much larger than before. I would say," He looked at the sky for a moment, "It is about five times bigger than you remember."

"Does it still amplify your voice when you stand in the middle?"

"It does, why?"

Walker looked at them both, then said, "Get a large podium on there, I've got a speech to make."