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Chapter 248: Epilogue
🕑 Added 2024-11-09 23:42:55 +0000 UTC“So what do you think?” The old man from between places sipped his tea. He was a different sort of thing from the System, which meant he didn’t have to do centuries of study to understand tea in order to drink it in a way that made sense for him. He wasn’t entirely physical, but that was a matter of proportions compared to the amount of non-physical he was. There was plenty of both forms of existence to go around and more than enough to enjoy a nice hot drink from time to time. “Pretty good job, right?”
“Oh, yes. I like both of them very much.” The System poured her own tea, kind of, and drank a sip, sort of. “This new one will be easier as well. He’s a much simpler kind of thing. Especially with Arthur there to help him. You’ve done well, Sam.”
Sam laughed and clapped his leg. “You heard that, did you? I’ve been doing this job for… well, you know about how long. And nobody has ever named a child after me before.”
“Well, I think you deserve it.” The system smiled. “You are the best at what you do after all. Even if you are the only one who does it.”
The System and the old man had always been friendly, although she didn’t know if that was because they were a good fit together, or if he was simply social enough to fit in with all the different types of Systems. Certainly, she didn’t mind if he was a bit different in other places. He was perfectly pleasant when he visited her. Which was seldom, now that she thought about it.
“So,” she said. “You must be here for a reason.”
“Oh, of course.” He set down his cup of tea and looped one of his ankles up to rest on his thigh as he sat. “If you’re in a hurry, I’d understand and can come back later.”
“It’s not that. Please continue.”
“Glad to. The reason I’ve come is something you’ve likely already noticed. Both your bear and that new boy came from the same universe. From different times, of course, and I tweaked that a bit. But two is quite the coincidence, considering how many system universes there are to draw from.”
“Granted. So am I to take it that you are closing the door between my universe and that one?”
“No! Far from it. It’s more of a warning situation. You trust my judgment, right?”
“Of course. If not yours, I don’t know whose I’d trust.”
The man coughed a bit on his tea. “Quite the compliment. Thank you. But if I’ve judged the situation correctly, the upheaval that sent those two your way is not a simple thing. There’s an instability in that universe. Something’s gone wrong.”
“Oh, no. Is there anything I can do?” the System asked. “I’m always glad to help another System, if I can.”
“You can’t. And you likely wouldn’t want to, if you knew what kind of System it was. If I my guess is correct, it’s the kind of chaos that will get much worse before it rights itself. And do you know what that means?”
“Refugees?”
“Of a sort. Not only from that universe, mind you. That kind of stone casts a wide ripple.”
“Hmm.” The System sipped her tea and considered that. Sam’s task was one that had to do with redirecting energy. The fact that the greatest sources of traveling energy between universes were people meant that he was built to understand those people and the way they traveled in a way the System just couldn’t match. But it also meant that he needed something from her. “So you are asking if you can send more of them my way?”
“Eventually, yes. And only if necessary. I know you had quite the job getting the last few settled, even if I’m judging correctly in thinking the exciting parts of their stories is mainly over now.”
“You are correct. In both ways. They were a lot of work. And I do hope both of them are on to nicer parts of their tale now.”
“That’s part of why I’m here, really. It’s to give you an opportunity to say no.”
“To more visitors?”
“To more chaos. More change. You are very good at wrangling that kind of turbulence, of course. Maybe the best I know.”
“Thank you.”
“But even you must have limits.”
He wasn’t wrong. Eventually, given enough visitors, things would start to move in a way the System couldn’t control. The people of the Demon World had freedom, of course, but her guidance was a part of things. At this point, they were so far from even the contemplation of war that it was hard to imagine a force great enough to shift them back in that direction.
Unless, of course, it was a series of visitors, each dragging their own unique chaos with them. She’d been lucky so far, but the wrong combination of things at just the wrong time might change that.
She sighed and put down her cup. It might be dangerous, but she knew her heart in this matter. And she knew what the residents of the Demon World would tell her if she asked them whether or not the risk was worth it.
“Of course I’ll take them,” she said. “As many as you need.”
“No, no.” Sam waved his hands in front of his chest. “It’s not like that. Not entirely. There might be some, but you aren’t the only friendly universe I know. I’ll distribute them as much as I can. And as always, I’ll try to sort them. People who either want a nice world, or who need it.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
Sam finished his tea, waved his hand, and was suddenly standing in an empty space. “Well, I’ve enjoyed our visit, but I should probably be on my way now. Work to be done, souls to be redirected, and all that. I did have one last question though.”
“Oh?” The System perked up. This sounded interesting. “Please ask.”
“Well, it’s just the fact that you guided that boy towards those boba drinks. It wasn’t his very favorite thing on Earth, you know. You almost certainly at least put the idea in his head, even if he ran with it later.”
The System hesitated. She still wasn’t entirely sure she had made a good choice there, even if things had turned out very well. But this was Sam. If she couldn’t tell him, she couldn’t tell anyone.
“Would you believe me that it was just a hunch?”
“A hunch?” Sam shook his head. “You don’t have those.”
“I didn’t have those. But that day, I did. Something spoke to me. And maybe it was just my imagination, but I realized it wasn’t wrong. He wasn’t a fighter. He didn’t have the patience to do art. He just wanted to make people happy in the quickest way, and that was a fast way to get him there. Whatever that hunch was, it was right.”
“Hmm.” Sam squinted a bit. “Well, I suppose if it’s something that’s able to talk to a System unobserved, it’s probably above my paygrade anyway. It’s a nice trick, though. Do you think you will send the next one in the same kind of direction?”
“Oh, no, likely not.” The System sipped her tea. It really was getting better, these days.
“If you really do send me someone new, I’ll do my best to let them guide me.” She smiled, as nice as she could. “There’s no shortage of choices. Mine’s a big world. And there’s still plenty of adventure to have in it.”
