Neophyte World Builder

SENA

At first, Sena had no idea what Kenta—or “Crown” as everyone seemed to call him when he was performing his duties—was doing. He stared off into space while she watched, her eyes starting to wander once again to the translucent tapestry of the world laid out before her. She’d known a few cartographers in her life that would have killed to see a vista like this.

“Oh, sorry,” Crown abruptly said. “I forgot you can’t see what I’m doing. Duck had her own window into the interface so… she’d have been commenting the entire time.”

She caught the hesitation there. His missing partner had hit him worse than he liked to admit, but she wasn’t sure she understood the relationship well enough to comment. Instead, Sena took a deep breath despite feeling no need to do so, intending to ask some questions.

For once, Crown answered before she asked. A translucent glowing sphere popped into existence directly in front of him, his eyes settled upon it with a thoughtful gaze. A square window with text appeared next to it, but Sena couldn’t read it, so she ignored it.

“This is the default shape of a new universe,” he explained. “Obviously, your own is very different. I didn’t use the default shape, because that would be boring and the more interesting things that happen in a universe, the better. That’s a very vague explanation, but close enough for now.”

“Can you just make a universe at any time?” Sena questioned quietly. Was this Crown’s true scope? He had frightened her once… then she had thought she grasped some of what he could do. Now he was throwing concepts at her without any reprieve once again.

He shook his head. “No, I have limits. Making one is not difficult… but making one that is able to succeed and thrive is the trick. Yours was my first, and I tried to make it a good universe to simply live in, while also providing meaning for those that lived within it. This one…”

Crown trailed off as he stared at the empty sphere. His eyes grew distant once more, and Sena waited a few more seconds before she tapped a claw on the floor, reminding him of her presence. He jerked his head up once again with a start.

“Yes, sorry,” he apologized. “This one is intended to be… a weapon of sorts. The people living within won’t even realize it, and that makes me uncomfortable. Even if they have their own free will, their lives are structured to be something I use to attack. I’m not sure I want to do that even if it’s the only way.”

Sena watched as Crown gestured while he talked. The sphere flattened out to become a disc-like ellipse, or more like a convex lens with rounded edges. The entire structure became iridescent, as if filled with some luminous metal or liquid.

“What, exactly, are you doing to make this place a weapon,” Sena asked. “Do you just… bash two universes against one another? That seems crude.”

“It’s more like a game of strategy,” Crown explained. “The dungeons are a defense against other realms attacking your own. They do so by introducing… concepts, I suppose you could say. Concepts that don’t work normally. It’s hard to explain clearly in a short time, but the dungeons effectively surround, quarantine, and provide a way to eliminate these invasions.”

Sena’s tail paused mid-swing. “You created dungeons because we were being invaded? All that time, I could have been defending the world?”

“Yes and no,” he countered. “The actual invasions did not happen until after your death. The dungeons I created were tests to see if they would work properly against an attack. And you did help… Downside’s Dungeoneering Academy provided an organized and reliable force to quickly resolve dungeons. As usual, I had to prod the elves into doing something similar for Upside.”

Eyes flicking to the odd shape again, Sena frowned. “And you are going to do that to other realms?”

Crown sighed. “Something like that. I’m trying something very new… or at least I am pretty sure it is new. But to do it, I need to be careful how I design this world. I’m not sure I like this, because I’m reasonably certain the denizens of the universes attacking us have no idea what’s happening. They’re… well, as innocent as anyone else is. I don’t want to hurt them, but…”

Seeing the conflicted crease of his brow, Sena dipped her tail sympathetically. “No, I understand. This isn’t my sort of conflict, but I do understand the logic. You don’t want to hurt them, and that reluctance is part of why I trust you, you know.” She reached out and lightly touched his shoulder. “However, you have to, because simply defending forever will fail. Eventually, you’ll make a mistake and lose more ground… and you don’t have a way to regain it without an offense. Is that it?”

“Yes, exactly,” he muttered. “I was never trained for this. My predecessor handled all the universes in our… uh… alliance. She handled the defense, but she never spoke of how to attack. I’m figuring this out as I go. And now I am not sure I can even get this started. Switchboard, what’s going on with the time dilation?”

For a moment, Sena was confused, but she quickly understood that he was talking to someone else… and from Crown’s frown of concern and his habit of rubbing the bridge of his nose, she knew it was bad news. As much as she understood his personality, he was now operating on a level above what she could comprehend… and he seemed to be doing it casually, without even noticing the multitasking he was doing. She’d already watched him turn aside and glance at something Downside, as if his look could correct it.

“What is the problem?” she asked softly.

He shook his head. “Normally I can adjust the relative time flow of my universe. That’s how I skipped most of the waiting between our meetings… I skip from event to event, and the rest of the time it may be decades in your world while only minutes pass here. I’ve never made a second universe, so I presumed I could do the same with it, but… I can’t.”

Sena didn’t quite understand, but Crown stepped back and dismissed the image of his new universe before continuing. “If I accelerate time for one, it does it for the other as well. I can change the ratio depending on the epoch at least… your world is in the fifth epoch, which helps. But I can’t do it with you in here, and even if I do it when you leave it will be years in your world before the new one can host intelligent life.”

Eyes wandering to the empty space that had the universe in it, Sena scratched at her chin in thought. “Then I may not be much use to you here. Is there a way you can change the rules to allow me to help more directly? Or did you just want someone to talk to in order to help yourself think? How are you planning on making a universe of heroes anyway? I’m a little unclear on your plan here, though I understand your reluctance to use lives as game pieces.”

Crown slumped into a chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah… I need someone to second guess the things I’m doing, and you were… are very good at that, but this is operating on a level you aren’t familiar with. And I could just promote you like I did to Duck, but then you’d be stuck working on your own world, and I don’t have the time right now to teach you how to do that. Not to mention you’d be unable to have another mortal life in your world.”

“I had a fulfilling life, that part I can live with,” Sena murmured.

Glancing up at her, Crown frowned. “Don’t be so quick to think that. My existence is… full. I don’t really have a concept of time off or retirement, and everything I do is responsible for countless lives. It’s a lot of pressure, and I don’t think I’d ever ask for it knowing what I know now. The only person actually interested in becoming an administrator like me who seems to understand what it involves is Akasha, and she… well I guess she isn’t young any more.”

Sena curled her tail around her leg, opened her mouth… then shut it. “Then I will wait to make that decision,” she murmured. “You should take me back to the afterlife if I’m making your task here more difficult. But if you worry about ‘using’ the inhabitants, then perhaps giving them some reward would be best. It is more an apology than evening the debt entirely, but this is necessary, and you shouldn’t feel guilt about that.”

“Shouldn’t I?” he countered. “It’s easy to say something is the only way, or that it has to be done, isn’t it? But does it really? What if there is another way that doesn’t involve me making an entire universe full of thinking, feeling beings that aren’t even aware they’re my weapons? If I go through with this, it’s not something I can just reverse. It’s something I have to live with for the as long as I’m building universes. Which as far as I can tell is forever.”

The tail around her leg squeezed again as Sena considered her old friend. After just a few moments of thought, she shrugged.

“I’m sure there is another way,” she pointed out. “You need this soon, though, and you can’t think of a better way right now. You’re the one who told me that it only mattered that we made our decisions. Don’t rush into a decision… that is good advice. But don’t delay one because there might be a better solution. Try to think of one, and if you can’t, then pick the one you think will work. You of all people don’t have the luxury of ignoring the choice, do you?”

Crown rubbed his face, then sat up again. “Yeah. I know that in my head, but in case you hadn’t noticed, I don’t want to end up assuming I can do whatever I want to mortals with no consequences. Even if I technically can, it just feels wrong. I’ve already done it often enough, but never with an entire universe. Though I suppose most of the universe will never be used as a weapon.”

Sena just sighed and shook her head. “You should take me back, I’m holding you back. I’d like to help you, but I think you need someone who can connect on this level, and I’m not there yet. I haven’t decided if I want to live again yet… but if you need to visit me in the afterlife, you know where to find me, Kenta.”

The administrator frowned at her, then nodded as he stood up. “Yeah… I guess I should. Maybe Ember would be willing to listen, or Trent. They’re busy with their own worlds, though. I shouldn’t bother them without a good reason. It’s important they keep their own worlds running.”

“Careful saying that sort of thing out loud,” Sena warned. “Wanderer will want to pop over to see other worlds if you let him know they exist.”

Crown’s smirk was much more worrying than the laugh she’d expected. He took her hand and chuckled, preparing to take her back.

“I might just let him.”