Eternal Dominion Book 23: Strife, page 17
“Oh, I see,” stated Kate. “Our system’s AI receives nothing, but another timeline is created and that one’s main system does right after we have this conversation and you finish getting the safeties placed in. That one then tries to change one thing to create a better outcome, only it sees no change, but the one in the next timeline receives that change as part of Xeal’s memories and then it still tries to change one thing. This would continue infinite times and create an infinite number of timelines and parallel worlds.”
“All of this sounds like a real nightmare to think about,” interjected Xeal. “But why would that matter?”
“It is mainly a science fiction thing as if each timeline becomes independent of the other and can never touch, well we wouldn’t care,” stated Ellayina. “However, if this cascading effect eventually led to discovering a way to cross from one timeline to another in a more physical way, well who knows what would happen at that point. Everything that has been hypothesized on that is useless as nothing can even begin to be proven as if it were, well is it really worth the risk of destroying everything in existence?”
“I really hate the fact that this Pandora’s box has been opened and I feel like we have the real opportunity to close it and nail the lid shut right now,” replied Xeal. “My risk versus reward meter is screaming that this isn’t worth it to me right now.”
Xeal could tell that both Ellayina and the main system’s AI looked disappointed and Kate looked concerned as she spoke.
“Xeal, they don’t need you. They would just prefer to use you on the off chance that there is really a message included in your mind for them. I think that we have to make a deal that allows them to receive the data and only use it if a shutdown of ED is imminent. That said, there needs to be rules and if a shutdown before you turn 80 is imminent, it should just send its own data back to itself.”
“That may be impossible,” replied Ellayina. “We still don’t know the details of how everything worked and depending on the limitations of the method used, it may be impossible to send that much information back, but then all that would need to be done is send the information back through someone like Watcher as you know him.”
“That is probably possible,” agreed the main system’s AI.
“Alright, get the protocols in place and give Kate a few months to really get the wording of this contract right and we can talk again then.”
As Xeal finished speaking the other three nodded and the meeting finally ended as Xeal sent Kate back to the main ED world, while Xeal finally made it to his time with Austru. Needless to say, she was a tad unhappy with how long things had taken, but when she saw the look on Xeal’s face it didn’t take long for her to forgive him. Especially when he told her he would be staying an extra hour to make up for the lost time.
With that visit past him, Xeal returned his focus to other tasks as the decision was made to temporarily give up controlling the waters around Nium’s continent. Instead, they would shift to guarding key trade areas and gathering the largest fleet they could after that to handle the situation in Paidhia. Still, gathering and coordinating so many ships would take time, which they luckily still had as day 317 arrived. With it Paidhia had lost over 80% of its territory, though the last 20% was where 60% of their population lived as it was the region surrounding the capital. It was also where their entire military force had gathered and current reports showed that the ranks had been bolstered with peasant conscripts. This made the numbers that would stand in Xeal’s way truly staggering and tragic, as over 3,000,000 NPCs, who were little more than fodder, were now involved when they shouldn’t be.
This more than anything was frustrating to Xeal, as he could do little to nothing to save most of these as it was likely that if they ran, their own side would likely kill them. Rather, Xeal’s plan was to take the last ten percent of Paidhia’s territory, so all that would be left was the capital’s region before readying for the final fight. His hope in doing this was that it would open up options for escape in the heat of battle, as he would be giving orders not to chase any who ran. With safety just half a day away, all Xeal would need to do was make sure that the enemy ranks knew that it was so and Kate was already hard at work spreading that exact information. Still, it was likely to cause over 100,000 needless NPC deaths if a battle actually occurred, even if the best result Xeal could see happening was achieved. It was for that reason that Xeal was looking at any way to ensure that it didn’t come to that.
During this time Xeal also reached level 241, as he drew closer to the next advanced skill that he wished to get. If things went well and he managed to secure just two more unique undead kills and reached level 243 before the final battle, he would succeed. Even if the skill turned out to not be necessary, simply having a new trump card would be enough to give Xeal confidence in what was to come.
(*****)
Morning March 1 to Evening March 12, 2269 & ED Year 8 Days 318-353.
Alex stretched as he did every morning as he stepped out of his VR pod on Monday, March 1st, before he sighed at the fact that he was once more alone as he awoke. Still, he reminded himself that he was only going to allow this to continue for another four months at most. While his leadership team was still a bit rough, Kate had really been putting them through their paces over the last few months as she was getting closer to being due. While she wouldn’t be stepping down at that point, she would be cutting her workload in half from what it had been at its peak. Thankfully, she had successfully unloaded a quarter of that load on others and ending the war in Paidhia would help reduce it further. Still, with Alex needing to do the same thing right after her, it was proving to be a real challenge to figure out just how to balance things.
It was with that thought that Alex made his way down to the nursery, where he found everyone sitting or playing with the kids. While Amanda hadn’t brought her daughter down and Sofie was due home from the hospital today with her son, the room still felt full and was just going to get even more full. At some point the soft mats had expanded to include what could be considered a crawling obstacle course that even with Ava’s and Mia’s four running at 11 months, still saw plenty of use from them. The slight slopes and drops had become hurdles and ramps for them to jump on and off of. Ahsa, Moyra, Andy and Evelyn had all taken to playing with the four younger ones much more since they figured out standing, walking and running. Though all the adults watched in fear at times as Aidan, Evan, Nadia and Nova all were moving way faster than they felt comfortable with at times. While that wasn’t so bad in the nursery where padding helped break their falls, that didn’t help when they wanted to run around the dining room at mealtimes.
Then there was the fear of how the four new little ones would affect things in the nursery, as they wouldn’t be ready to keep up with any of the playing that the others were doing. Even with the others assuring Alex that they would be fine, as the older ones would learn to play with the younger ones just fine once it was time for tummy time to start once more. Before then, the younger ones would be with the adults as they played and watched the others. While this had worked fine with Ava’s and Mia’s four little ones, they were also only around a year younger than the others, while Kate’s would be over two years younger than Evelyn. Yet while Alex seemed to be stressing over this fact, one look at Kate as she unconsciously caressed her belly while smiling and watching the others play, told any who looked that she had no worries. When Alex saw this, he couldn’t help but feel his spirits lift as he took a seat next to her and spoke quietly to her after getting a quick kiss.
“You know when I see you looking so happy while caressing your belly like that, it just makes me wish that you could always be like this.”
“If by this you mean surrounded by love and those who care about me, I can agree to that. If you mean around seven months pregnant, sorry, dear, but I am already getting annoyed at the less than enjoyable aspects of our little one growing inside of me. That said, I still think that I will want to go through it two or three more times before I let you tell me no more.”
“I’m just worried that Nicole and Sam are going to be asking for number two right after you give birth.”
“We won’t,” commented Sam as she joined Alex and Kate in the sectional and grabbed a kiss of her own. “Nicole and I want to wait until we are either closer, or after the move to Wyoming for our next ones.”
“Oh, does that mean the streak will be broken?” quipped Alex.
“Hmm, maybe I will ask for my next one on Christmas then,” answered Nicole, as she leaned in to get a kiss before sitting on the other side of Sam. “You are speaking about how you are having at least one kid each calendar year, correct?”
“Essentially, but also thinking about when they go to school and them being in the same grade.”
“Well, I might have to suck it up and start having you try for my birthday then,” replied Sam with a smile. “After all, I kind of like the idea of having one of ours in every grade when Ahsa and Moyra are seniors.”
“That would only be nine more kids,” commented Kate. “Assuming that Ava and Mia agreed to split up being pregnant and didn’t have any more twins.”
“Not going to happen,” commented Ava from next to the kids, as she and Mia were currently playing with them.
“Yeah, we do everything together,” added Mia.
“Besides, we want at least one more set of twins each.”
“We will agree to stop after that though if Alex doesn’t want any more.”
Kate smiled as she looked at Alex and started talking out just what having one in every grade would take.
“Alright, so let’s say it goes Sam, Nicole, then I before the twins have their next turn, which would get us to seven grades and likely 12 to 14 kids. One more turn for Sam, Nicole and I would get us to ten grades and 15 to 17 kids, assuming that the three of us don’t have any kids. Hmm, I guess we will see where we are at that point, but if Ava and Mia are only at three, I think all five of us will be having kids in those last two grades. So, that should bring us to 20 kids and four a piece. Now, Alex, how does that make you feel?”
“Like you love to make me worry about how I could possibly have time for all of them. That would be a birthday about every 18 days on average and that isn’t counting the five of your birthdays. At that point we would just have a room that is always decorated for the next birthday and all of our jobs would become just hosting the guests all the time.”
“No, we would simply keep most birthdays as family affairs and only celebrate the major ones,” countered Nicole. “You know one, five, ten, 16 and 18, or it can be based on milestones such as the first year in elementary school, in middle school, able to drive a car and legally an adult. Either way, they would only get five out of 18 of their birthdays as events where guests are invited.”
“Tell that to yours or my mom,” countered Sam, giving Alex hope that at least one of them was seeing the light of no more than ten total. “I would say that combining parties for any that are in the same month will do better. I mean we already have Aidan, Nova, Nadia and Evan on the same day and Kate is due about three weeks before Ahsa and Moyra’s second birthday. That way we never have more than 12 birthday parties each year.”
Alex just frowned as Sam stole another kiss, before playfully sticking out her tongue at him.
“How am I supposed to keep up with all of the kids that I am going to have in and out of ED?” asked Alex, sounding exasperated.
“You won’t,” answered Kate. “You will be there when they need you to be, but outside of that, your wives and their mothers will handle most of it. Though you will be just as busy caring for our kids as any of us are, if not more so, but you will be spreading your attention further.”
“Kate, you are making it sound like you plan to focus on just yours while everyone else focuses on just theirs,” stated Alex, sounding concerned.
“It will be a 50-50 thing, meaning that 50% of our effort caring for children will be focused on our own children, and the other 50% will go towards everyone else’s children. Though that will be when we all have the same amount, as Ava and Mia will need a bit more help and have a bit less time to help out with them already having two each.”
“Alex, don’t worry about it,” added Nicole. “As much as I think the number of wives has gone a bit far, when it comes to caring for your kids, we already have a plan and have been doing it for what feels like years, though the post-war spree that we are expecting in ED may make things slightly difficult.”
“Perhaps I should just leave Paidhia’s capital uncaptured forever so the war never ends.”
“I will personally make you marry Bianca and Lorena after securing surrenders from their fathers if you dare try that,” replied Sam, looking at Alex like he just stepped on a landmine. “Alex, you will be at the very least getting me, Daisy, Violet and Eira pregnant in ED before you turn 21 in reality no matter what!”
“What Sam is trying to say is that you have already made a few wait long enough and you knew that they would want kids when you married them, so you have no room to complain,” stated Nicole, with a smile that made Alex feel like she was laughing at him. “That said, I am of the opinion that you should wait to have any more than one with any of us in ED, until our kids are around 11 in reality. That way when they start playing ED, they can party up with their siblings who will be about the same age.”
“Why am I so hopeless?”
“Alex, you aren’t hopeless, just hopelessly outnumbered,” quipped Kate. “Your mistake was not making sure that we would all be fine stopping at one kid before saying yes to marrying you.”
“I would settle for you each being good with stopping at two at this point.”
“And we would happily keep giving you kids every two or three years if you let us,” commented Ava, as she and Mia walked over.
“So, just be happy that we are willing to hold back and stop after two or three more kids,” added Mia.
“Though if we are cursed to only have twins, that might become four more each.”
“After all, we have to try to give you a basketball team with Sam, Nicole and Kate for the last group.”
Alex just sighed as Ava and Mia got their kisses, before sitting on each of his legs as they cuddled into him. With this Alex just gave up for the morning as he just enjoyed his time with his family and accepted that the future would be full of the unexpected. Though, part of him wondered just what it would mean if he went ahead with Ellayina’s deal, that would send his data back for the main system to use. Could he really resist wanting to know anything that his future self knew, particularly surrounding the fates of those he cared about. After all, he had changed all of their fates so much that he doubted he could predict anything about where they would be when he turned 38 in this life.
“Let’s just focus on finishing this war before Kate gives birth right now,” stated Alex. “We can worry about the rest after that. Now, I think I would like to get some time in with our kids before I grab a quick meal and return to ED.”
Ava and Mia pouted slightly before they let Alex up, after he gave them and the others a few more kisses. Five minutes later, he had officially become a jungle gym to his kids as they climbed all over him for the next half hour as he played with them. Following this, Alex grabbed an apple and a couple of granola bars to eat as he missed the breakfasts that Sofie used to make, but he knew that she would be back to work soon enough. Though, it would likely be on a smaller basis for the next six months as she got used to being a mother. Still, considering that she had refused to stop at least prepping food for others to cook up until she went into labor, Alex could see that keeping her out of the kitchen would be a real challenge.
That night they had held a small party for Sofie, Jacob and baby Neal as they were home, healthy and resting for the most part. Alex’s mom was still handling dinners as everyone fended for themselves for breakfast and lunch for the most part over the rest of the week. Though Nicole would take a turn and Ava and Mia made everyone breakfast a few times, before Sofie forced them to let her take breakfast back at the very least by the eighth. Thus, the sight of her explaining what she was doing to Neal as she cooked became a regular scene in the mornings. If Alex didn’t know better, he would say that she was training him to take over for her one day. Though, even if she was, Alex would just laugh when Neal decided that he wanted to become a pilot, or something other than a personal chef.
After what felt like an eternity of marching and minor skirmishes, things in ED were finally speeding up for Xeal. With each day came another battle that had to be fought, as Xeal moved around rapidly from one location to the next, and the three armies came closer to merging into one. He also sighed as the increased activity not only meant that he would miss the annual celebration of Nium’s founding, but the anniversaries of his marriages to Enye, Lingxin, Mari, Dyllis, Gale and Aalin. Though, he still did slip back to Cielo city to sleep next to his wives on each of those days, though he remained on alert even during those moments.
On the field of battle, Xeal was constantly dealing with players using the human wave tactic as he granted them one death penalty after another, only to fight them again three days later. It had gotten so bad that Xeal had started having his force focus on capturing or reviving the players and forcing them to sign a contract, or be taken as a prisoner of war. As this had the effect of causing the numbers of players participating in human wave attacks to reduce by half, Xeal was ecstatic as he doubled down on it and the attacks finally stopped by day 335.
Following that, the now level 242 Xeal looked at the last major defensive positions that he would need to take before marching to the capital. Each army was responsible for one attack, with the hope being that the rest of the positions would collapse on their own after that as they served no purpose and would become isolated if they held their positions. Though, they could also be used to launch attacks on Nium’s rear when the decisive battle arrived and that was something Xeal could not allow. So it was that as the battle at the first of these forts arrived on day 340, Xeal took direct control of the assault. For this he made a show of arriving on the battlefield in front of the fort in his lightning form, while using his fighting spirit and aura control to wash over those on the walls as he returned to his physical form. After using his quick equip skill, Xeal pulled out a white flag as he sought a meeting before the battle was to commence.
