Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

Initially, he didn't open his eyes. Due to his military training, each time Walker awakened, he'd hop out of bed immediately, his mind firing on all cylinders and ready to go. It used to annoy the hell out of whoever was in the bed next to him. This time, instead of waking up on a bed of stone, he awoke on a semi-comfortable mesh.

It was a pleasant surprise.

His body didn't feel worn out, but there was a strange soreness located just below his chest. An easy guess told him what that was. He explored the feeling, attempting to mentally connect to The Book of Souls rather than speaking to it as he'd done in the past. There was certainly something there, just beyond his reach. He shifted in the bed a little, finding a better position, then continued his dive, picturing the metaphysical space he'd been transported to during the third stage bridge. Even though his eyes were physically closed, he found himself looking at a plain white room with no adornment or extra description.

Looking around, he noticed The Book of Souls absent and himself all alone. Walker spoke out in the semi-dream space, "You here?"

No reaction.

"Hello?"

...

Going by instinct he said, "Show me Triton."

Images appeared all across the space, screens similar to what he'd seen of himself during the first stage, only they showed scenes from Triton's life instead. Walker smiled to himself, "So, this is you, huh?" He said, trying to put his hands in his pockets but realizing he was still wearing a robe. When he thought that, his clothes changed to fit his old purple suit, pockets reappearing. He smiled to himself as he looked around, "What is this? Some kind of big theater?" The empty room didn't answer, "Wait a second, does that mean the Tree of the Gods was essentially Morgan's soul?"

That made him a little nervous, as it, and the supposed explosion button, were still on Sonata. While he was thinking of that, the images became grainy, like he was watching television on one of those old 1950s black and white screens. Eventually, it winked out, and Walker felt himself mentally shoved out of the space. The soreness in his chest increased, causing him to open his eyes and rub it without thinking.

That kind of stings, he thought to himself, still rubbing his chest.

Looking around, he spotted Athena sitting not far away from his reclined position. He watched as she turned the page of a book he had read a long long time ago.

Oh The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss showed itself, its usual artistic quality missing as it had a simple brown cover that was written on in a precise hand.

Walker continued to lay there without moving, staring at the goddess of wisdom as she tittered at something particularly amusing in the children's book. He didn't remember it as a funny book, but then again who knew what kind of sense of humor a woman from before the common era had?

She closed the book, seemingly done with her reading time, and looked over at him, "Oh, you're awake."

He nodded, "How'd they do?"

"Straight to business, I see." She said, placing the book down on a small brown side table. "I am also fine, thank you. A little warning can make a girl happy you know."

Walker kicked his feet a little on the bed, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you haven't been a girl, in several thousand years."

She padded over barefoot to his bed, slipping in beside him, "How uncouth to point out a lady's age."

"I'm an uncouth kind of guy," He gave as a rejoinder, then noticed her dress was still on under the covers, "A dress....in bed?"

"Walker....we need to be slow....although," She pulled her special lace, lifting the dress off of herself and placing it gently on the floor beside the bed, "I can be a little daring."

He looked at the gym-like outfit she always wore underneath, "How daring," he replied in a dry tone.

She softly punched him in the arm and then leaned into his body. It felt nice.

They lay like that for several minutes, staring at the ceiling and not speaking as they enjoyed each other's company. It was a unique moment in his life within the alpha protocol. No putting out metaphorical fires, no stress and personnel management. Just a gentle moment with a woman he was growing to care for, maybe even love.

He felt lips touch his cheek and turned to meet her, sharing their first kiss.

Of course, that was when a knock came to the door.

"I can hear you moving around in there," Virgil's unmistakably resonant voice said from beyond Walker's white door.

Cockblocker Walker thought to himself.

A sigh could be heard next to him, "I suppose that's the end of our little vacation."

"I suppose so," Walker replied with a grimace, "But, when the protocol is over....maybe we can just, you know, stay in sometimes. I'm sure Symphony can run itself for a few days without my oversight."

Looking at her, she gave him a lopsided smile and patted his cheek, then got up and reapplied her dress while he walked over to a well-carved closet he hadn't noticed before. Several sets of robes in the style he preferred were awaiting him, but he pushed past them to grab a standard pair of slacks and a t-shirt instead.

Athena tsked when she saw what he was doing, "You need more grandeur for your position."

Walker shook his head with a smile, then disrobed, ass in the open air while she giggled, and quickly pulled on his pants. "That isn't me. I think Symphony's citizens can do without an all-knowing Creator. Better that I stick to who I am than lose myself in power and position."

Throwing on his shirt, he turned around and she strolled over, taking his hand in hers, "You're right, and that's very wise to say."

"You would know," He said, opening the door and seeing Virgil and his newest subsystem assistant Luna standing outside.

"I believe we should hold our first council meeting," Virgil stated with no change in expression at seeing him no longer robed, "We need to get started on seeding our first cohort."

Walker nodded, "I agree, lead the way."

Virgil started walking, while Luna fell back to travel with Walker and Athena, holding out a single yellow paw, "I'm Luna."

Walker took it in his own, awkwardly walking while shaking her hand, "I'm Walker, it's nice to meet you."

The small squirrel gave a smile, "Yes it is. I'm sorry for what I was saying...when...um...."

"You were flying through the air because of my naked mile?" Walker supplied.

"Yes," Luna had an odd look on her face, "I don't think you're evil or anything, but-"

"You don't really know me?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Well, don't worry cupcake, that'll get solved very quickly as I'm going to lean on you in the future for some help I'll need."

Luna gave a large smile, "Really?"

Walker nodded, "Really really. Come on, Virgil has a long stride."

They quickly caught up, meeting the massive black squirrel outside of a building that wouldn't look out of place on Earth. It had large stone columns holding up a stone roof with carved motifs throughout. Walker spied squirrels, giants, and fairly close depictions of himself across it. He also found many of the Greek and Norse icons carved in, as well as more than a few newly carved books, the stone still holding a light coloring for lack of dirt and debris settling in.

"When did you make this?"

"A few weeks ago," Virgil commented, holding the door open for everyone. Luna and Athena slipped in quietly, "The books were added only last night. One of the third Cohort members was inspired by what he saw in the arena."

"Neat," Walker said, quickly entering and finding a single room with a round table waiting for him. There was one larger chair, in his now standard colors of green and black, while four others held a light yellow, gold, blood red, and an off-orange. Heph and Ares were already seated, while Virgil closed the door behind his Creator.

Walker looked around, "Where's your seat, Virgil?"

He didn't reply, simply strode over to Walker's chair and stood behind it. Walker gave a wan smile and sat down himself. The table was plain, with no adornments. A stack of papers sat in front of each seat, and as he quickly looked through it, he found each page contained a Founder's name with a description of their preferences as well as their conduct in training. He looked through the stack quickly, moving to the next one right after. Each was organized by Cohort, the first holding similar papers to what he'd seen when naming everyone in his office, with the addition of small drawings accompanying the descriptions. That would be supremely helpful for him when he met each of them for the first time. He scanned each one, with the last stack holding the names and descriptions of the newest Primigenials to step out of the Tree of the Gods.

"Who named them?"

"They did." Athena commented, "We didn't want to keep calling them numbers, like we did with the first Cohort, so we offered them a large list of names and they each selected their own."

"Excellent." Walker put the papers down, making sure to keep the edges even, "I'm just guessing about who did this, but thank you, Virgil. Organized as always."

"Indeed. I find it speeds things up quite a bit."

"Question for you, Athena."

"Yes, dear?" She replied automatically, causing Ares to raise an eyebrow and Heph to start choking.

"Do I really need to read this? Isn't this more of Ares and your own domain now?"

She nodded while Heph tried to get control of himself, "Yes, but I felt that being able to see them would at least let you start to memorize who they are."

He nodded, "Good thinking. Okay, what's the first order of business."

"Seeding the original Founders upon the Conservatory," Virgil commented.

Ares seemed confused, "Conservatory?"

"The training planets," Athena chimed in.

"Ah."

Walker nodded, "Let's name them real quick. Virgil, who were the first four composers on Earth?"

Virgil spoke up behind him, "You haven't created the three other planets yet, Walker."

"Humor me."

"Certainly. Johann Stamitz, Carl Bach, Johann Bach, and Joseph Haydn."

Walker shook his head, "That won't work. Okay, what would be four symphonic elements of music that would work as names."

Virgil was quiet for a moment before saying, "Crescendo, Melodia, Fortissimo, and Cadence."

Luna raised her hand, asking, "What do they mean?"

"Build-up, Melody, Intensity, and flow although often it also means closure."

Walker snapped his fingers, "That works, although let's rename them a little. Crescendo, Melody, Fortis, and Cadence. That way it has more of a natural rhythm to it." Walker looked around, "What do you think?"

Nobody spoke against the new names, with Ares seeming to not care at all as he just stared at a stack of papers in his hand. Luna gave him the standard assistant thumbs up.

Walker clapped his hands, a tiny boom echoing in the council chamber, "Great. The first planet in the Conservatory is Crescendo, which will be nature-focused. Virgil tells me it's done forming and ready for seeding. Wait, did you trade the vaults for Temporal resources like I asked?"

"I did," His voice sounded out, "I know you have not had time to look in on your notifications recently, but we gained over one thousand Temporal resources from the trade."

"Yes!" Walker said excitedly, "That's more than enough to get the next three planets finished up. Okay. As soon as this meeting is over, I'll start seeding the planet in preparation for our Founders."

Virgil coughed once, but it was Athena who spoke up, "Why don't you leave that to Rimi and Virgil, Walker."

"Oh....yeah. Okay."

She gave him a gentle smile, "Just tell them what you want, and watch it get done, okay?"

Walker waved her away, "Yeah, I get it. Big-picture stuff. Okay. The planet should be mostly flat with a healthy amount of spots to find water. We'll need Mana Trees placed throughout, the standard ones, in a weaving fashion that allows for all monsters on the planet to grow. You'll need to give one foundation stone to Dion and his dog-"

"Jacoby." Ares supplied with a shudder.

Walker chose to ignore that, "Sure, Jacoby. And I'll want four starter areas. Use the starter-tier monsters Rimi already created, and activate the monster system and milestone system on the planet. There should also be an assortment of more difficult monsters up to and no higher than Tier five deeper into the planet."

Ares posed a good question, "What is the end goal of the training program?"

"I'm going to place a Portal in the center of the planet, equidistant from all of the Starter zones. Their goal is to reach it within thirty days or risk being run out of the program entirely. Once they reach it, they'll move here for a few days of downtime, then it's off to the second in the series, Melody."

"Won't that allow for a great amount of failures?" Athena asked with some concern in her voice.

"Yes, but we're doing this to make them work together, to build lasting bonds. They need to be independently resilient while also having the ability to socialize and build with others. If we don't allow for that, it could create a cascading problem. I see a world where, after they are seeded on Symphony, wars break out left and right as they attempt to destroy each other because of hypothetical weaknesses and long-held grudges." He shook his head, "It's inevitable unless we show them that working together means they can go further than alone. Civilization works only when people build upon what was left for them from the prior generation. This is the first generation, ever, and I'll not allow them to throw their future generations into a meat-grinder."

"So what happens to the failures?"

"That's a good question." Walker couldn't do his normal pacing as he was sitting down, so instead he just tapped his fingers on the table. "Those who pass the Conservatory....will end up earning the title of Founder. They'll....hrmm."

Heph spoke up, "Make it a resource rush."

Walker turned to him in his chair, "What do you mean?"

The blacksmith took a drink of something, the smell foul enough that as he breathed out Walker could pick it up from across the table, then spoke again, "Give them ranks. The better they do in the Conservatory, and its related tasks, the more resources they get to start. Weapons, clothes, choice of starter locations, special milestones. It'll breed a competitive nature in each, which we'll have to temper by making many of their objectives group-related. Assign points and make it real."

"Make it real, huh." Walker said thoughtfully.

"That is quite a logical process," Virgil said, "Due to the nature of a point system, it is fair and objective only. I approve."

Walker nodded, "So...it'd be like an event system. Each planet would be a focused and centralized event, where rewards would be given and points accrued. Whoever has the most points by the end of the Conservatory, would receive the best overall start on Symphony."

Athena looked around the table, "I agree that this is the best course of action as well, do we have any who would like to speak out against it?"

Luna raised her hand, "For the Event system, would you need a new subsystem assistant?"

Walker scratched his chin, "Yes, I think so."

"Indeed." Virgil agreed.

"Okay, thank you," She put her hand back down.

"Anyone else?" Athena asked, and after a moment they had a course of action.

"Alright, so the Event system is on my personal list of things to do. We also need to decide when the other four cohorts will be ready to go."

"Around forty days as we've grown more adept at preparing them for training." Ares stated in a bright mood, "The newer cohorts are much more focused than the original, who we trained with soft gloves on."

Walker didn't know what soft gloves were like in Ares's eyes, but he imagined the newest Founders had quite a rough upbringing. "Alright, so not long after the first cohort moves to Melody, the other four will drop in on Crescendo, do I have this right?"

Everyone nodded, "Moving on. The second planet will be a water, or archipelago type. I'd like to bring in a few mythical creatures, such as the mini-manticores, to prepare the Founders for what they'll eventually face on Sonata. I also believe we should start creating larger-scale monsters."

"Boss monsters?" Virgil asked.

"Yes, to use the term gamers use from my home world. Something that they have to challenge in order to move on to the third planet. They'll have to work together and have pre-defined roles in a group to bring them down. I don't want to use tanks and damage or any of that garbage as it relates to their classes. That's for video games and it's not logical-"

"Oh my, yes," Virgil commented breathlessly behind him.

Walker again chose to ignore someone being weird, "But, they can work in parties to develop themselves into an elite fighting unit. I'll be working with the system splitter and creating a party system, as well as developing a grouping system that can be used for war, should it be necessary."

"Yes!" Ares shouted out.

Walker put his hands up to calm them down, "These systems will come online in phases, building upon themselves to further stabilize the development of our Founders for the future of Symphony. War is inevitable-"

"Fuck yeah it is."

"....and allowing for proper organization may lead to a reduction in lost lives. So, I have my work cut out for me."

Walker spied Luna raising her hand, "I'm going to need one assistant to manage all of the lesser grouping systems, yes, although they'll be tasked with multiple systems at once as it won't be as much work for them to do."

Luna nodded her head as her hand fell.

"Virgil."

"Yes, Walker."

"You're in charge of getting all of the Conservatory planets online. I'm giving you access to every system I have, and I'll give you access to any systems I have forthcoming. We'll discuss the planets as needed, and make sure they're fully prepared for our Founders before the seeding. Please seed Crescendo the way I've asked, and make sure it's challenging, but not overly difficult. We want to scale up the difficulty as time goes on. The third planet, Fortis, will be much larger than the others and covered in mountains and snow, while the last planet, Cadence, will be desert-focused. Do you have any questions about what I'm tasking you with?"

"I do not," said the voice behind him.

"Excellent. Ares and Heph, you are to prepare the first cohort for immediate seeding upon the planet Crescendo. They will need to know the basics of fire-starting, basic building, combat, groupwork, communication, and the standard leadership roles that are entailed. I'd also like you to explain what life was like on an archipelago without going into too much detail about the second conservatory. Before they ship out, they'll need to hold a small vote to decide who is in charge, as well as two subordinates who will work directly underneath them"

"An election?" Athena asked, growing a little excited herself.

"Very much so."

Ares and Heph both nodded.

"Athena. When the first cohort drops, you'll have forty days to prepare the other four for Crescendo as well, while also giving them some background information about how to survive on the other three. Please place an extra focus on teamwork. Once they drop, you'll be working with Ares to manage all of the teams with Echidna and two other Elders of your choice. Do you have any questions?"

"I do not Creator."

Walker nodded again, "Is there anything else we need to speak of at this time?"

Ares raised his hand, "Do you know what happened to us when you superceded our Origin?"

Walker shook his head, "No, sorry. It's a bit of a rush right now."

He nodded, his gruff face seeming deadly serious, "Before we were taken into that prison out there," He said with a hooked thumb to the Tree of the Gods, "We had...well, powers. They related directly to our Icons and oaths. My father had the power to throw lightning, fly, do all kinds of things. Myself, I grew more powerful the longer any wars were fought....it was....a heady thing." A single tear fell down his face, "When you replaced our origin, I felt...IT....coming back."

"It what?"

"Our powers," Heph said simply. He snapped his fingers and a single flame lit up on the tip of one digit, "We're still very weak, but it's something."

"Huh.....Huuuhhh." Walker said, looking at the orange fire just sitting on the tip of the god's finger, "Are all of the Primigenials powers coming back?"

"Of course," Athena said as she waved a hand.

Words appeared in the air,

And when things start to happen,

Don't worry. Don't stew.

Just go right along.

You'll start happening too.

"Isn't that from?" Walker asked as he pointed at it.

"Dr. Seuss, yes." She confirmed.

"I'll be honest, I didn't know that was going to happen."

"You didn't plan for it?" Athena asked.

"Well, kind of. I just knew that the origin currently within you, dubbed Alma, was created by someone who I expect to be a corrupt individual. For instance, you couldn't even talk about what would happen during the first stage, so all of us had to go in completely blind to the event. That was one of the rules Alma imposed on you through their piece of Origin. Why would I ever want that."

"I see..." Athena replied, thinking deeply herself.

The room grew very quiet, each of the Primigenials lost in their own thoughts, before Walker spoke out again, "So if all of you are gaining your powers back, wouldn't that mean Poseidon is as well?"

Ares jumped out of his chair and bolted for the door. A moment later, everyone but Luna did as well.

She continued to sit, looking around, "Where did everyone go?"