Creation: Book 3: Strandbinder Complete!

"Come on...." Walker said, looking at the timer. He'd already lost twenty minutes and wasn't looking forward to what could happen if he failed.

"Stupid Morgan with her stupid bullshit....come on....", But, there was no response from the Book of Souls. He guessed that the last time he'd used it had pushed it into some form of stasis while it recovered. Walker looked at the list again.

Program 1:

1. Use your soul to attune with and connect to the system

2. Merge your soul with the metaphysical space, allowing for alterations to occur.

...The second program will begin upon completion...

"I can't use it though!" He yelled out, "This is worthless!"

Nothing answered him. He still stood in a plain white room with only a screen in front of him for company.

"There has to be something I can do...."

Walker lost an hour while he tried to think of what he could do to overcome the problem. He tried touching the screen, but his hand passed right through it. He went for a run, pushing his speed to the max, but all that happened was he discovered that the room was endless and the screen wouldn't leave his vision. It just followed along as he ran for what must have been dozens of miles. Walker tried leaping out of the metaphysical space, but he only floated in the air for a moment, seeing an endless white ceiling far above him, before crashing down. Standing up, he found the floor was still spotless and completely unmarked.

"Fuck!" He screamed to the sky. Walker punched the ground, but it was impervious to any damage he tried to cause. Even empowered by the Origin, he couldn't hurt this place. A stray thought came through, that this was likely the center of his soul, and that somehow Morgan had tapped into him. But his mind was too jumbled to consider it.

Breathing heavily as a pinch of panic began to settle in for the ride, he tried to pull out his soul again. It had been an hour, so surely that was enough time for him to recover a little. However, it was still unwilling to come out.

He began to pace, thinking. While he paced, he tried to consider any other paths he might take. Asking the Book of Souls didn't help, but that was a new feature he'd received when he hit the third stage. Coming to a decision, he lay on the plain white floor, the temperature perfectly neutral.

Walker closed his eyes, focusing on his body. He tried to envision that spot just below his chest, where everything began. Flexing his recently unused invisible muscles, he tried to push and knead his soul to come out. But instead of progress, the burning in his chest only grew more unbearable. Painful. A knife driving into his-

Walker stopped and opened his eyes as he sat up. Feeling something strange, he looked down at the hand placed over his heart and found a surprise. Colors were floating around his fingers. Blue, green, purple, white, a huge amount of them. They weren't powerful, simply small colors floating around him, but it was still something he hadn't seen before. He gasped as he started to realize what he was looking at, and a white one shot into his mouth from the sudden intake of breath. The glow spread from his mouth to his eyes as the world became white for a moment, then faded into a different person's perspective.

Runner was pushing herself as she dove over the side of the table. Athena's serve was incredible, constantly forcing her to dive forward and back, side to side, and everything else in between. Ping pong was no longer just a game, as it had been when they'd first started. Now, it was a true challenge the likes of which were normally only found within the arena. Panting from the constant movements and adjustments the game required, she twisted and threw herself to the other end of the table. She felt the wind get knocked out of her as she plunged her midsection into the corner of the table, her eyes fastened on the returned serve she'd barely grabbed a piece of. It was the first she'd ever hit a return before. The ball slowly rotated over the net, lightly touching the flat green table. Athena's paddle arced to meet it, her face held in an intense look of focus when the unthinkable happened. It rotated left instead of right. The paddle swished through the air, missing its mark, and Runner scored her first-ever point on a return serve. Athena looked at her paddle for a moment, the ball tapping on the floor the only sound in the room as those around them stopped to look.

The goddess of wisdom looked over and caught the eyes of Runner, her lungs finally letting her catch a breath, "Nice return. Let's go again."

Runner smiled to herself, positioning her body and readying herself for the next serve.

I Can Do This, She thought to herself.

The memory faded away, a feeling of glory still in Walker's mind as Runner's emotions were still riling through him.

Looking at his hand, he found the colors were now absent. "What the fuck was that?" He looked at the timer, noticing a few minutes had ticked by.

Walker pushed on his soul again, more gently this time. For some reason, it felt less sore as he pushed the small flickering souls of other Founders out of his chest. Another set of colors appeared. Moving on instinct, he quickly swept his hand toward his mouth and breathed in. A blue glow surrounded him as he was sucked into another moment.

Lucy had battled Ares a hundred times before this. Maybe more. Even though she no longer had a shield directly attached to her arm, she still held it like it was a part of herself. Ares had taken to calling her the Shieldmaiden, a name others took up out of respect for her. Just a few weeks ago, she'd disposed of her old sword in favor of something new. Now, two shields sat on the ends of her arms, each sharpened on one side, while the other was duller and had small metallic frames applied. This allowed her to easily attack as well as defend, giving her a unique weapon that forced others to adjust to her tactics and unique fighting style. Heph had said it was the first custom job he'd ever made for a Founder, and she relished in the opportunity to put her training to the task.

It was time an Elder fell to a Founder. She spread her feet, bending her knees slightly, and made a come hither motion to the god of war.

"You sure you're ready?" He asked in a contemptuous voice, "All you've ever done is take a beating from me."

"The Creators Scripture states that the oldest tradition is change. Why don't we change this one as well." She replied in a calm voice, before sprinting straight at him.

Ares grinned, "I like it."

...

Hank had trained for this for the last few days. Every break, every breath, he'd focused on the words and actions that accompanied his one-act-show, as Elder Athena called it. He stood in front of his fellow Founders, as well as a smattering of Elders, and acted out the play for all to see.

"Sclaww!!" He said, his arms forming a great worm as he wiggled them in as lifelike a fashion as he could make. "The Slicer cut straight through the planet which would be known as Symphony, driving a divet directly into the great Creator's heart at the same time. Walker, the man and god himself fell to his knees. His only friend and assistant behind him, he screamed to the heavens in defiance of this hateful act. "Damn you, you detestable cosmic worm! Damn you to Tartarus!"" Hank put his arms down, "But it was already too late. Symphony was in pieces, and the Creator knew not what to do...." Hank looked out at the crowd and found them all spellbound by his story, many sitting upright and staring at him with big eyes. This is why he did it. The story is always what matters most.

So, the Creator stepped into his mighty system, and rebuilt Symphony from nothing. Using his amazing dexterity....

...

"Jacoby! Where are you?" Dion's voice called out to the wind, unable to find his four-legged companion.

But, to Dion's eyes, the monstrous dog was nowhere to be found. He was currently hiding within the shadow of a large building, working on his survival instincts as he continued his self-created program. Already he had worked on his sneaking skills, continuously frightening Elder Neus who made such funny sounds. Together, they played such a fun fun game. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen the green squirrel in forever since their last playtime. The big Elder, Zeus, had been quite wroth with him. Wroth was a funny word.

Dion didn't know any of this of course. Jacoby hadn't learned how to physically their language yet, so he was relegated to tongue lolling and tail wags still. But, he was already mindful of what they would face on the planet his god had recently created. Just the other day he'd seen a Founder take to their knees and say something strange.

"I pledge myself to the religion of Dante."

Then, just like that, a book had fallen from the sky. The man had nodded, picked it up, and moved away, confusing the dog greatly. When Jacoby had tried to do the same thing, nothing had happened. The system tried to help but was also having issues interpreting what he wanted. It was quite irritating.

"Jacoby, come out here right now!" Dion said, his voice taking on a new tone that the dog hadn't heard before. Just before he came out, he soaked in a little more of the weird stuff he found so often on Sonata. The system called it Temporal, and it was truly delicious. After a moment, he decided enough time had passed, and stepped one foot out of the shadow, bumping his companion in the back of the knee with his cold nose. Dion jumped back.

"Wow! Where'd you come from?"

Jacoby let his tongue hang out.

...

More scenes and moments from his Founder's lives passed through him. By the time it was done, he found himself back on the ground and noticed something unusual had occurred.

"What the fuck, Jacoby?"

His chest was no longer sore.

"Okay then...." He said to himself. "Come out?"

The Book of Souls slowly exited his chest, the black book still only holding the three colors he remembered. Morgan's purple, Triton's blue, and Walker's forest green. So where did the other souls come from? His Icon heard him and a flash of images appeared in his mind. He watched as he implanted his own origin into the souls of the Founders and Primigenials in the stands of the Arena. As he did so, Walker viewed the origin connections draining a small piece of each Founder's soul, quickly coming back to the book floating behind him.

"Okay...but...." He said, as he noticed all of the orange being drained out of the Primordials, "Where did the orange stuff go?"

The book hopped up and down, which Walker took to mean a shrug.

He scratched his chin, "Where's the-the Alma? That's what it was, right?"

The Book of Souls gave no response, just continued to float happily in front of him. If he had to guess based on how his chest felt and the warmth coming from it, his Icon was mostly restored.

"That's...disconcerting..." He said as he continued to rub his chin. Walker's eyes found the timer on the screen in front of him saying Twenty-five hours to go. "Shit, I'll have to figure it out after this."

Walker snapped his fingers and darkness spread across his right arm, his Icon inherently knowing what he wanted. He pointed at the screen and watched as the darkness mixed with purple, green, and blue flew at the screen not dissimilar to a flamethrower, only using soulpower instead of fire. He connected it directly with the number one from the list and watched as it winked out on first contact.

A small empty bar appeared in its place, the background showing a similar hue to the darkness of his soul, while the bar was made up of his three primary colors. Walker felt a pull on the arm connected to his soul and watched as the darkness of his soul flared, changing from its standard mostly transparent to an opaque coloring. The bar filled up a small amount before he cut it off, feeling an inherent need to ensure it was possible. As he did so, the bar winked out and the screen reappeared in its place.

Program 1:

1. Use your soul to attune with and connect to the system (Complete)

2. Merge your soul with the system, allowing for the alteration of the metaphysical space (10% complete)

...The second program will begin upon completion...

"I see." He said as he reconnected his soul to it, watching the bar reappear with no loss in supply. It rose another small amount when he directed his soul to output even more of his origin. It moved from empty to full in a matter of minutes. He guessed that a normal Awakened would've taken a long time to fill this up, but due to Walker's naturally overpowered Origin, it was done quickly. The moment the bar touched the top, neatly filling the last sliver of required resources, it turned off. In the blink of an eye, Walker found himself in a forest filled with trees and natural sounds around him.

"Ah," He said as he looked around, noticing that he was in a plain grassy area not dissimilar to Sonata, "This is where they got the ideas for the AI systems. I get it."

Looking behind himself, a flare of black appeared. When it faded away, he found his trusty chair from the AI rooms waiting for him.

"Neat."

Sitting down, he looked forward and found the second screen waiting for him.

Program 2:

1. Create a soulbound construct

2. Bond with the construct

...The third program will begin upon completion...

"A soulbound construct? What the fuck?" Walker said as he looked at it, "Do you have any other information to go on?"

The screen of course didn't say anything, only continued to give him the most basic information that it possibly could.

"What wouldn't I give for a little more information," Walker said as he leaned back in his chair, "Why couldn't you just use, like, a computer for this shit? Or some multiversal internet? Why does everything have to be a goddamn mystery."

A flare of black appeared. When it faded away, a decently high-end computer from Walker's memories sat in front of him. It was settled on a sturdy desk with a monitor and the basic peripherals needed for use. It instantly reminded him of his Creation Instrument when it upgraded the last time.

"Huh," Walker said reflexively. Feeling the Book of Souls cool down a little, he spoke out loud, "I'm not dissatisfied, I just thought things would be a bit...more?"

In the next blink, a second and a third monitor appeared next to the first, the desk stretching to accommodate them. His chair also shifted from a plush seat to a smooth leather chair on wheels with wide arms, which was a rare experience as he was still sitting in it.

Walker bounced up and down on it for a moment, "Nice." His soul warmed up, although it already seemed to be slightly weaker than it had been a moment ago.

"This really takes it out of you huh?" He asked. The book warmed up a little, agreeing with him.

Walker stood up and tried to turn everything on. Of course, there was no electricity, so nothing worked. "No power...." He said to himself. Walker felt the Book of Souls start to warm up but stopped it, "No, making something like that will probably drain you, then we'll really be screwed. Let's just...let's just leave this for now. We'll look at it another time."

The book agreed, so Walker stood up.

He began to pace again, glancing at the timer every so often. The minutes drifted away as Walker continued to consider what needed to be done next. He spoke his frustrations out loud at each pass of the desk.

"There has to be a way...."

"Morgan really sucks man..."

"Why do I keep running into situations like this?"

Walker looked at the screen, then the book floating in front of him. He then looked at his clothes. For a moment a dark shroud covered him, weaving patterns of clothes onto him. It shifted from a white robe, to a purple suit, then back to his new black and green set he'd had made. When it tried to shift to him in an astronaut's uniform, Walker asked the book to stop. But it did give him an idea.

Walker pulled on that hidden muscle within, forcing the Founder's small soul particles to drift out. Using a hand covered in Origin, he caught them and held them in place. Thinking on it, he shifted a bit of origin to his eyes.

"Son of a bitch." He said when he locked them onto the particles. The Book of Souls opened its pages, and his overlay began to receive updates whenever he looked at a new one.

Founder: #89

Chosen name: Brentely

"Who would pick that name willingly?"

Particle memory: A moment in time with Founder #204, Jessica.

Brief description: Brentely and Jessica convinced Hades to give them a moment in his room alone. They began to carefully touch each other...

Walker looked away, "That's enough, thank you."

The text disappeared, along with the origin covering his eyes. Walker reapplied it and this time looked at the second program. There was more text written within the spaces that he couldn't see without first applying the technique.

"Only Awakened huh....."

Program 2:

1. Create a soulbound construct

A soulbound construct is an immaterial entity, created by repurposing the power of a soul and placing it within a material item. The evolvers have created abilities that can do something similar, but sadly cannot grow in strength over time, as the soulbound can.

2. Bond with the construct

A construct can survive from an available reservoir of soulpower, however, without bonding the construct to the Awakened, it may one day turn against them. The bond links the two souls directly with one another, feeding the construct from the Alma of its Creator. The greater the amount of Alma sacrificed to the construct, the greater the bond and potential growth of the subject.

...The third program will begin upon completion...

"Well...." Walker said, tapping the side of his face with one finger, "That gives a lot more information than I had before." He looked at the purple, blue and green pages in his book. He didn't want to sacrifice the souls he had collected thus far, not to mention his own. That wouldn't work. No, there had to be a simpler solution and the small particles he'd siphoned from the Founders were the answer.

Walker pushed on his soul while making the same request out loud, "Let them all out at once."

The Book of Souls acceded, and hundreds of small and different colors popped out of his chest. They lazily floated into the space right in front of him, slowly falling towards the ground. Just as he did when he first built his Icon, Walker stretched his hands forth, calling on all of the darkness of the origin within himself. Two great hands superceded his own, layering on top of them. Arcing his hands out, Walker slowly closed them toward the particles, walling them off from escaping. Slowly, he pressed the power in, forcing the particles into a smaller and smaller enclosed space. Like pop rocks when first introduced to a liquid, small crackling, and snapping noises came from within his two darkness-covered hands. Walker didn't stop. Souls were tough things, and he knew this was his only shot at making one from scratch. Otherwise, he'd have to deal with Triton for a long period of time, and that he didn't want to do.

Summoning more origin, to the point that the Book pulled itself back into his chest to keep from falling, Walker used the pressure and power of his soul to crush the space between his metaphysical fingers. There was no sense of touch with the souls, which might be a blessing as the sounds shifted from the crackle of candy to the booms of explosions. His Origin protected the space he was in, but it did start to make him a little nervous. A moment later, his screen updated. He looked upon it with normal eyes, as the origin used on them previously had been drained to his hands.

Program 2:

1. Create a soulbound construct (Complete)

2. Bond with the construct

...The third program will begin upon completion...

"Yes!" Walker said, overjoyed that it had worked as he'd hoped. Walker gently withdrew most of his origin back into himself, noticing he'd only lost a little from creating the construct. In front of him was a pure white light, floating in the air. Walker didn't speak and neither did the new soul in front of him. Instead, it floated towards him, slowly at first then rushing all out. The Book of Souls took matters into its own hands, literally, as a large black hand shot out of his chest and slapped the newly created soul away. It flew a few feet away before swiftly coming back and stopping in front of him again.

"Whoa guy, not cool," Walker admonished.

His Icon disagreed with him apparently, as his chest heated up quite a bit. Walker chose to ignore his own soul.

"You okay?" he asked the new soul in front of him. It kept trying to inch towards him, before stopping and backing up again as his Icon continuously flared origin anytime it came close. Walker looked at it, thinking about what it needed. Some TLC? Some more soul-power like the program stated?

"Look man, or...whatever....I'm just trying to help you out. I...kind of made you? And I'd like you to be able to work with me in the future here." He said, spreading his arms out to include the metaphysical space. "This is...my world. A visual representation of my soul, I guess you'd say. Even though I'm standing here and....there's a book inside of me...look." He said, confusing himself with his own speech, "What do you need?"

The newly made soul floated around, not saying anything or trying to communicate, just constantly moving from one space to another. Eventually, Walker placed origin onto his eyes and looked at it.

Soulbound Construct: ???

He sighed.

Walker turned around, trying to think about what to do as he was worried about just splashing Origin onto the small thing. However, when he turned, his body stopped blocking the souls view of his newly created computer made of Origin. Faster than even he could react, it shot toward the setup and pushed its ethereal form into it. A moment later Walker had to close his eyes as the machine turned a blindingly white light. When he opened them again, the soul was gone, and the previously black computer was now a pristine white.

"You're kidding me."

Walker stepped over.

As he grew closer, the computer monitor turned on of its own accord. Walker rounded the corner and looked at the screen.

Hello, Walker the Creator.

What am I?

"Fuck me, man."

No