“Jellies?” Ulysses replied without looking at the small planet.

  “Yeah, they’re these cute little guys who I helped out in the third battle. I don’t want to brag,” Walker said with a slight grin, brushing imaginary dirt off his shoulder, ”but I totally destroyed the other guy.”

  The part nodded, “I see. And is that all that has happened? You won the third battle and received these Jellies?”

  Walker rolled his eyes, then went into a shortened breakdown of the last week-it didn’t take too long. Ulysses made a game of it, gasping and ooh’ing at all the right moments, showing a wild grin when he broke down his attempts to incite a revolution. As Walker completed telling the tale, he found that there was a blinking light in his notifications.

  Remote system active…

  “Huh,” Walker said as Ulysses was still processing everything.

  “What now?”

  “The Remote system is active. I’d kinda forgotten that it would go live not long after the third battle.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “No,” Walker said with a shake of his head. He thought momentarily, then shrugged, “It was a big deal back when we were working on Skills and everything. But now, it isn’t so pressing. I guess it’s just strange that something I really needed to work on when we were first getting started has turned into a footnote for my day.”

  “Is that not the way of crises? What seems dire and desperate today is an afterthought tomorrow. I’m only surprised you spoke to all those people on Luck’s Haven with a message written in less than an hour. You do know that for those who don’t cross over to Symphony, your message will be told and re-told over and over again for generations. It’s going to have a profound effect on billions of people. In particular, I find it interesting when you consider the trajectory your life has taken. Think about this; only a year ago, you were freaking out in the teacher breakroom because some kid tore up your paperwork.”

  Walker arched an eyebrow, “I mean, yeah. I guess one of the few nice things about the protocol is it slowly scales up in complexity.”

  Ulysses gave his weird grin, “If you can adjust strands on the fly and create your own universe, you mean.”

  “I mean, it’s not that strange. These jellies can do something like that.”

  Before he knew it, Walker felt Ulysses grab both of his shoulders, a crazed look in his eyes as a stray thought filtered through Walker’s mind.

  Why is everyone grabbing my shoulder today?

  “What do you mean the Jellies can adjust strands?”

  Walker attempted not to shrug, “I mean, when I put strands into their world, they absorbed it. In fact, when the battle ended, there were more Jellies that had elements from the strands than there should be. I thought that was pretty weird. Like they were passing the strands on to their kids.”

  “And you were able to put them into your inventory?” Ulysses said as he released Walker’s shoulders. Instantly, a dozen parts surrounded the globe, each looking at different areas. One even stood on a set of stairs, a pair of binoculars glued to his eyes.

  “Yeah. No, wait. That’s weird, isn’t it.”

  Thirteen slaps could be heard as all the parts palmed their foreheads.

  “You’re an idiot. Do you know what you can do with this? You can create self-replicating strands. This small, beautiful little planet will solve our resource issues far beyond the eventual disconnection from the Evolvers. The reason you could place it in your inventory is probably because they’re protected by whatever this apparatus is. Which is another boon once I can figure out how it works.”

  Walker shook his head, “But they can only really absorb a single strand. The one time I put a double strand in there, it tried to murder the overpowered Jelly who absorbed it.”

  “So?” Ulysses replied, “That’s still a way of getting an infinite supply of single strands! Why are you not more shocked by this?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I understood their potential when the first Jelly absorbed a strand. But it just feels a bit…wrong? I mean, I wouldn’t have won the third battle without these guys. Like at all. Setting them up to be fuel for us doesn’t feel right.”

  “Okay, so you want them to live long, happy lives, I take it?”

  “Yeah,” Walker nodded with a smile, “That sounds nice.”

  “Fine, then give me a Temporal increase, and I’ll make sure they live long and fruitful lives.”

  Walker gave him a hit of the stink eye, “Why is it whenever I’m ready to trade something with you, you find a way to finagle more resources out of me?”

  “Is that what this is,” He said with a gesture to the planet, multiple parts still examining it, “a part of a trade? Have you never once considered giving me a gift? I’ve had several birthdays you’ve missed, you know.”

  Walker’s stink eye intensified, “Look, man, I know time moves quickly here and all that, but I still have things to do. Can we just get down to the trade and call it fair?”

  “Fine,” a portal appeared, nothing but darkness on the other side, “That’s far enough in the reaches of my body that it would take quite the event to reach anything that mattered. However, if you want me to keep the jellies alive and kicking while still farming their strands, I’m still going to need some Temporal resources.”

  Walker reached back into his memories for the last time he’d bumped up the Symphony universe.

  The Symphony Universe has exchanged Space resources to increase its current expansion rate by 40%

  Current rate:

  +340%

  The Symphony Universe has exchanged Life resources to increase its organic growth rate by 260%

  Current rate:

  2460%

  The Symphony Universe has exchanged Temporal resources to increase its current speed by 20%

  Current rate:

  342%

  “How much are you thinking? We’re already at almost three-fifty.”

  “Yes, but by this time, most of my lifeforms have already adjusted to the acceleration. I believe getting us to five-hundred is optimal with minimal loss of life. And since I know Virgil has recently gathered quite a few resources from the Auction, I also know you have plenty in your resources.”

  Walker scratched the back of his head, “Is that why you pushed me to tell you the story?”

  “Of course not,” Ulysses said with a grin, “Just a happy circumstance.”

  After checking the current Omniversal conversion rate, Walker handed over enough resources to make an Evolver lord go blind.

  Ulysses nodded, then gestured at the portal as the Jelly Planet disappeared, but Walker had one more question.

  “You said the token was showing you weird Omniversal systems, right? What were you seeing?”

  “It’s interesting,” After pausing to think, he said, “A few of the ones you’ve created in the past have synergistic systems I’m locating, but there are also some that are wildly unexpected. I believe I am starting to see systems that deal with some form of inherent magical abilities.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Like bloodlines?” Walker asked, now very interested. “As in, systems that encourage magical dynasties?”

  “Yes. I even found a few notes from a scholar who spoke of a multiverse in which physical attributes can be increased, such as strength, agility, and endurance. It’s very strand-based, but I believe I can create something similar here using Dimensionality. It will take me some time, and I will need to understand a few strand combinations better, but it seems plausible.”

  “Do you need more from me to test it out?” Walker said with a wince.

  “No. As this is my test, I’ll fund it with the allocation you lovingly granted me.”

  Walker sighed, happy not to have to spend more. “Please keep me up-to-date.”

  Ulysses nodded, “I will.”

  Walker stepped over to the portal and stepped through. The moment he did, Ulysses' voice softly sounded out.

  “When you need a portal, please let me know.”

  Walker snorted, “Show off.” Still, he couldn’t help but be further impressed by Ulysses’s control over space. The more time that passed, the more powerful the Universal Personality had become. Now, it was Walker’s turn to figure some things out for an upgrade.

  Before he began, he went over a checklist of what he was hoping to accomplish out here.

  Naturally, he made a reflection to help him process it.

  “David,” He said to the hazy image of himself.

  “Walker,” The reflection nodded, “So, a checklist.”

  “Yep, a checklist.” Walker cracked his fingers before pausing and looking up. “Ulysses, can I get an aerated environment.” He waited for a moment as the area around him changed to a life-supporting balance, “Thanks!” Looking over at the reflection, he said, “We need to see what the combinations are for the Cyclical categories, Life, Death, and Karma.”

  “And we’re thinking about a Trinity strand, correct?”

  “Yes, with all of the difficulties those come with,” Walker sighed, “You know, we still have a golem resource, and we haven’t tested it on a reflection yet.”

  “That may be a good thing.” David laughed, “Somewhere in the Ulysses-verse, there’s a very angry asteroid yelling obscenities as it rockets around.”

  The voice from the heavens descended, “Currently, it is having an argument with a very large tree in one of my nearby quadrants. If you’d like to speak with it, I can-”

  “No!” David and Walker said reflexively, before Walker spoke again, “Thank you, though.”

  “As you wish.”

  Walker shuddered. Some of the things that creature had said to him were truly, truly foul. “So, I figure we start with life and death, then start mixing karma in and see what we get. I have no idea what combining the three cyclical strands together will produce, but-”

  “But we’re hoping it will allow us to do something with the afterlife.”

  “Exactly,” Walker nodded, “It can’t be a coincidence that both Hades and Osiris gave us tasks having to do with it. There has to be something driving us towards creating one.”

  “Maybe it’s just an innate Primordial thing. Something we don’t sense because of the parasite.”

  “Maybe, but I’m very hopeful that my theory is right. That by combining the three strands from the cyclical category, we will create an afterlife for those who haven’t entered the stages of the soul. And if I am right, I just hope I can control it well enough not to die while combining the Trinity strand.”

  “Yeah, it’d super suck to create an afterlife only to find yourself stuck there since you’re dead.”

  “Ye-yeah, it would,” Walker said with seriousness. Knowing it was time and that any further talk would only delay the action, he nodded at the David, who wiped the grin off his face in time to nod back with solemnity.

  Walker flared his darkness, small shoots of green bouncing within it. He reached into his resources and pucked out a single life strand. As always, the strand looked like nothing less than a small series of green lights cascading around his palm. Naturally, the strand had always felt alive in a way that the others didn’t, its movements haphazard and random as it traveled over the darkness covering his skin. Unlike the last few times he’d pulled out the strand, this time, he looked much closer at the lights.

  “Huh,” He said when he realized what he was seeing.

  David came closer to look as well, “Well, would you look at that.”

  The lights weren’t lights; they were tiny shapes. The small green shoots from the life strand danced across his hand, changing shape from one animal or plant to another- Aardvark, some kind of octopus creature, kelp? The shape only lasted long enough to move, and then it became something else.

  Moving it to his other hand, Walker reached into his overlay and grasped a single resource of death. The strand appeared as it had in the past: a black liquid rising and falling in his palm. He still sensed no malice or hint of evil from the thing. If he didn’t know what it was, Walker would just assume it was an odd shadow drifting across his hands- or even a drop of ink interacting with various levels of gravity.

  While life had felt like a creature in graceful movement, enjoying its freedom, the strand of Death was something else. The closest feeling he could attribute to the strand was utter stillness. The sense that as everything continued on to their unstoppable paths, ending in one way or another, this alone would survive. An immutable force. A sense of order to the chaos of the universe.

  Combining them could bring anything. Rebirth. Some kind of Balance strand. He didn’t know. There was one strand type he feared, above all others. He just wouldn’t know if that was what he’d created until it had already happened.

  Looking at the David one last time, Walker flared the darkness of his soul and slowly pressed his hands together. He’d learned from a little trial and error that the fewer resources that were involved, the easier they were to combine. This was not like that.

  As he pushed his hands together, there was no resistance as his palms clasped each other. When he opened them up, only death remained.

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah, that’s not right,” David said when looking at Walker’s empty hands. Moving Death into his non-dominant hand, Walker had an idea. He placed two life strands in his right while keeping the sole-remaining strand of death in his left.

  The process repeated a second time, his hands instantly closing together.

  “Well, fuck me.”

  “No, no,” David said, looking at the remaining strand in his hand, “Look at it. Doesn’t it seem different to you?”

  Walker looked and saw the reflection was right. The Death strand wasn’t just floating up and down anymore. Now, it was moving across Walker’s palm a small amount, strange dark green spikes pressing against the dark liquid.

  “So…we’re essentially feeding death, right?”

  David shrugged, ‘I guess.”

  Walker pulled a few more resources and repeated the process, watching the spikes grow more volatile as life was sacrificed to death. It was at nine life resources that a qualitative change occurred. The liquid strand of death seemed to peel, and what came out of it felt immediately wrong to Walker.

  “What the fuck is that?” David commented as it pulsed on Walker’s palm.

  On Walker’s hand was a dark, twisted mass of interconnected green veins. Within the tubes was a dark pulsing coloration, flowing around in an erratic and unnatural way that made him uncomfortable to even look at. The best idea Walker had about what he was holding was corruption. A violation of the natural order of the universe. Something that should not, and should never, exist.

  Before something truly terrible happened, Walker pressed it towards his overlay. As it grew closer and just before it touched, the veins unlatched from one another and quickly stretched towards his eyes, a loud, high-pitched screech erupting from the strand as its tips sharpened into dagger-like appendages.

  The moment it touched his darkness, it seemed to hiss further, increasing then decreasing as Walker, perhaps foolishly, shoved it toward his overlay. A small amount of black smoke erupted from the strand as it was pressed against the elements of his soul, and after a moment, his overlay took it in.

  His notifications exploded.

  All potential discovery rewards are in holding…

  Warning: The Omniverse does not condone the creation of the Undeath strand.

  Warning: Further creations of the Undeath strand will result in potential punishment without limits.

  This includes:

  Removal of the offending citizen

  Stripping of Rank, Titles, and Omniversal rights for the offending citizen.

  Great offenses can include the immediate termination of the offending citizen's existence.

  You are warned.

  …

  Your regional governor has been contacted regarding your creation of the Undeath strand.

  …Connecting you now…

  Walker’s overlay expanded to cover the entirety of his vision. On it, a lobster-like creature in a bath filled with bubbles was drinking from an exquisitely crafted glass. Apparently, his overlay updated to show Walker as well, because he immediately began coughing as the liquid went down the wrong way.

  “Danfk-pschh, flak” He yelled out, placing the glass down on a nearby table.

  Walker pointed at his ears, “What was that, I didn’t understand?”

  He fiddled with his screen for a moment before speaking again, “Sorry, I had my Translator turned off. Now, lets see what you did for the system to impose a screen call like this. Uh-huh, uh-huuuh. Ah, the Undeath strand.” He looked directly at Walker, “First time?”

  “Yeah. You’re umm..Xandar, right?”

  “That I am. Hello, Walker.” He looked him up and down, “The last time I saw you, you were naked and injured. Did you not like the clothing I gave you? It’s a standard robe set for any Strandbinder.”

  “No, no, I really enjoyed it, thank you Xandar. But my, um, people made this for me. I like to wear it when I’m out and about because I feel like it’s a nice way of showing my appreciation.”

  “Ah, I see. That’s very good. I wish half of my Territory Lords were that deft with local politics.” He fiddled with his screen for another moment, causing Walker’s notifications to begin blinking, “There you go, I sent off a message to HQ that a young Strandbinder was just experimenting. You should be fine now. However, I highly suggest you do not mess around with that particular strand again. At least not without a license.”

  “Umm, thank you?”

  “You’re perfectly welcome. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was attempting to learn a romance language in its native tongue. It takes quite a long time to understand how to speak Ney’vi, and I know just the woman who would enjoy hearing me say a few words. Ta-ta! And say hello to that strange personality you have there.”

  “I will?”

  “Bye!”

  …Communication has ceased…

  Walker’s overlay shrank back down, the notifications still blinking. He looked up at the sky, “Xandar says hi.”

  “Oh, that’s nice.”

  “So,” David said, still floating nearby, “What happened?”

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

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