Neophyte World Builder

EMBER

If there was one thing Ember thought she had done right, it was how she’d made her creatures competitive.

She flipped her journal to the front again, scowling at her steadily dropping energy. The first page was less than one quarter blacked out, putting her at far less than her initial allotment. The facing page contained the slope of her income, which was gentle but upward. She hadn’t actually lost energy due to maintenance in a long time—as she reckoned time—but she kept needing to spend it to adjust or add things. Saving up was hard, and she still hadn’t even come close to paying off her debt.

“Gotta spend money to make money, Ember,” she sighed as she lounged back in her sofa. She’d made it leather, and her sanctuary was currently decorated like an old-time cabin with a warm, crackling fireplace nearby. She didn’t need the heat, considering her body wasn’t real, but the atmosphere put her at ease.

It’s funny, she reflected to herself, how I cling to the human decor even though I’ve long since given up my human form.

Ember looked down at herself, taking in the obsidian skin and glowing joints. It wasn’t actual obsidian, of course. The species she usually took the form of, the agneons, had actual skin that was hard but not brittle. One of these days she should switch to a cryeon just for flavor. Their delicate-looking icy hair was eye-catching, at least.

Or…

With a thought, Ember watched her form shift. It was basically instant, and then she was nestled into the sofa with her feet dangling off the floor. Even if she didn’t remember her life on Earth, she knew she was short. Some things just clung to her soul. One of those had apparently been her form as a human, and to call her petite would be a good start to the description.

After so long in the other form, it felt odd to be human again. She lacked the actual biology, but the length of limbs, the way the body felt… it had been wrong when she’d awakened in this weird afterlife, and at first she’d wondered if she’d been some kind of freak of nature in her last life. Her limbs were mismatched, with some slender and delicate while others—including her right hand—were bulky and almost bestial.

Apparently she’d had some kind of soul mismatch in life, where her soul had become attached to one kind of body, but had recycled into something very unlike its nature. The result was a jumble of features that were misshapen and looked nothing like either her self or her last life, but a mixture of dozens of previous lives. The discomfort she’d felt had been disorienting enough for her to abandon human form as soon as she’d made an intelligent species.

The feeling lessened as soon as she hopped off of the sofa to land neatly on the floor. It bothered her less now to take this shape, since it felt more like a temporary one, and she’d been told she could shape it into what she wanted eventually. She was clothed, at least… the agneons didn’t wear clothing, so normally she didn’t either. She’d almost forgotten that, until she’d stood watch with Duck.

Speaking of Duck…

Ember flipped through her journal, the book as usual landing on the page she wanted. She hadn’t been entirely sure how that worked when she had started, but she was no longer completely green at being an administrator. She’d figured it out since. The pages were just imaginary, and the book was just how she saw things. That was easy enough to grasp, after a while.

Switchboard, is Regalia busy? I’d like to talk about his System. — Ember

I can connect you to Regalia and Akasha. — Switchboard (Regalia Terminal)

If that’s useful. — Ember

She’d never gotten a chance to ask who Akasha was, really. The name tickled at her faded human memories, but the parenthetical beside the name was much more curious. She’d made several guesses during idle moments in her world, but if Switchboard thought Akasha would be helpful she presumed they were some specialized subterminal for maintaining this weird System he was using.

Akasha definitely worked for Regalia, though.

Abruptly Ember remembered she was still in human form. The journal shrunk to accommodate, so she hadn’t noticed until she’d moved to lounge on her sofa again and her back had hit the edge. Hurriedly, she shifted back to her normal agnean body. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed by her old body, exactly… it just didn’t seem right to use it when her own world didn’t even have any humans. It wasn’t like Regalia could see her anyway… could he?

The new High Administrator did not seem entirely cognizant of others and their peculiarities. She wouldn’t put it past him to pop into her sanctuary to ask her what she wanted. Normally, she wouldn’t mind that, but it would be nice to have some warning, and she didn’t want to try to explain her appearance.

Fortunately, no such strangeness occurred, and her journal flipped the page instead.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you, Ember. I just got back from a proxy. Did you need something? — Regalia

Ember twitched. She’d noticed this before during her visit, but Regalia didn’t know yet. Either he hadn’t observed the effect, or he was just too scatterbrained. Regalia operated considerably faster than every other administrator she knew… even the previous High Administrator. Somehow, he crammed ten times as much activity into each cycle. He probably thought she was slow to respond.

No wonder they used this weird pager-like system instead of having something like a telephone. At least she didn’t have to remember a phone number or something for this. Switchboard handled everything, like a telephone switchboard. That was probably why Regalia had named the Terminal that.

I’d like to add a system to my world, if you can show me how to do it. — Ember

You can’t just create a system, Ember. Well you can, but you need to think about it, and it can have unexpected side effects. — Regalia

We do need to test the extension ability. If she wants, I could just handle the integration. If it doesn’t work I’m sure I could just pull out. — Akasha (System Derivative)

Maybe. I’m a little hesitant because you’re meant to be an invasion, and I don’t want to hurt her. — Regalia

We have to test my ability to adapt to a world that isn’t one of yours. If she doesn’t mind me controlling her System, this is as good a test as any. Maybe I can even learn to make Terminals of my own and give her control. — Akasha (System Derivative)

Fine. I’ll go over there and explain what I’m about to do, see if she wants it. — Regalia

No, bring her to your place, and tug her into the afterlife. We can meet there in person. — Akasha (System Derivative)

Meet in person? Ember frowned and flipped to her world map, looking down at the pages that somehow conveyed a three-dimensional image of her world. Nothing that needed immediate attention leapt out at her, and she wasn’t going to be gone that long. Regalia might not be aware of his time differential, but she’d experienced it more than once.

Ember dismissed her journal, sighed, and walked toward the door just as the knock came.

---

An afterlife was something Ember was aware of, naturally… but she’d never been in one. It wasn’t quite what she expected.

“You need to stop bringing in strange creatures,” the bird nearby complained immediately. “I know you are the Creator and responsible for all of us, but try to have some understanding of our tasks, Crown. I cannot find a place for every little stray you bring in from another realm.”

Regalia—or Crown, as he was still going by here—just laughed. “Relax, Muerve. This is Ember, and she is just visiting, and she’s something like me. Treat her more as a visiting god, not a soul you need to work with. You should be able to tell.”

Muerve hopped over and squinted. The bird—Ember couldn’t tell if they were supposed to be male or female—looked her over briefly, then clacked their beak. “I see. Yes, that soul is far too much for me to handle, even for a dragon. My apologies, Lady Ember. As the God of Death, I am constantly distracted.”

“No offense taken,” Ember replied with a laugh. “I can see how it can be grueling.”

The crystalline forest around them was pretty, but the clearing was obviously meant as a meeting spot. Stone walkways, benches, a fountain… it was pretty. She wondered how many gods Regalia had ended up creating.

“Muerve is very good at their job, but can be blunt,” the High Administrator explained. “Don’t let them bother you. We argue a lot, but they usually have a point and are often right, so they’re just a little annoyed that I keep giving them more work.”

“Your actions did lead to a war among a species that isn’t known for wars,” Muerve grumbled, but the bird was more relaxed now. They bobbed their head to Ember, then turned about to wander off, muttering, “We may have to just keep Wanderer away from elves, he’s started a war every time he’s gotten involved with them…”

Regalia winced, then turned to face Ember. “Sorry about that. I wanted you to meet my daughter and consider my proposal.”

Things were moving too fast. Ember shouldn’t have been surprised, the man had bragged about how good he was at breaking things. All she could do was sigh, “I’m not going to ask how you have a daughter, just try to keep it simple.”

Off to the side, three elves stepped aside to let a fourth through, who gave a small wave with her tail… then repeated it with her hand, showing a familiarity with the gesture that Ember hadn’t expected. She could translate the body language on a basic level, so she knew the elf was “smiling” in her own way.

“Nice to meet you,” the elf said, almost chirping the words. “I’m Akasha, and I’m the System here. I should probably try to explain things, because father tends to get ahead of himself and forget that not everyone knows what he’s been pondering.”

“Fair,” Regalia grumbled.

Ember nodded. “So you’re like a subterminal? You show up as System Derivative in the messages, I’m not sure what that means. I wouldn’t think a subterminal could use them.”

Akasha raised a finger, her ears still lifted high. “Something like that. I’m special, not like a subterminal. I’m actually the System for two worlds right now… this one and Versus, the new one that’s just getting started. I can’t leave these worlds, but I can operate between them. He’d like for me to handle the System in your world as well.”

Suddenly, everything fell together. Ember wasn’t the smartest person she knew, but she wasn’t slow either. All that they’d said, combined with the problems, made it all clear. She looked at Regalia, then back at Akasha.

“You’re… going to do an incursion into my own world to test that you can invade with the System?” she asked. “Is that the crazy plan you have?”

Regalia shrugged. “Yes. It’s dangerous, I know… you could start to lose control of your world. I’ll make it worth your while, though. And I have some ideas for how to hand over control of the System to one of your own subterminals if we need to.”

Ember let out a long, suffering sigh.

“Why don’t we start at the beginning?”