Walker stared at the unbroken line running through his arm. His eyes traced it up to his shoulder, across his chest, and down the other arm. Throughout his body it reached, legs, waist, stomach, and chest. Everywhere he looked, the line appeared.

  But there were other things, too. Words, numbers, and a basic understanding came along with their viewing. One set of writing interconnected throughout his soul gave off the feeling of Milestones. Another felt like Territories, the writing large and bold, describing growth and a location built from the world, not just upon it.

  The voice in his head spoke up, “There’s a lot more happening near your head.”

  “You can see it?” Walker said aloud, though he knew the Book of Souls could hear his thoughts.

  “Yes.” The book exited his chest, opening up to a page highlighting Walker’s body. “You shouldn’t be so surprised that reading your soul is part of my job description.”

  Walker let that go as he looked at the picture on the pages. The illustration appeared in the style of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, something he was sure his Icon had done intentionally to be funny.

  A funny Icon was not what he had on his bingo card for the Alpha Protocol.

  Several areas highlighted themselves as his eyes found them, words appearing beside their locations and describing what the Book of Souls thought they meant. They were systems. Each and every one of them was a system that he had built during his time in the Alpha Protocol, etched onto his very soul. Each was in a self-contained part of his body, and the size of its space corresponded with the many options selected and connections it provided.

  As he considered that and the previously un-upgraded System Viewer skill, it made a certain sense. Systems built into the protocol were etching into the very soul of the universe. Considering that, his mind made a natural leap of logic. If large, overarching programs like the Communication system were built into the soul of the universe, then…did that mean what he thought it meant?

  Could he find a way to etch a system into the soul of a person?

  It opened up a whole new realm of possibilities, and for the man who had just created a realm for the soul, it was more than appealing. His reflection not long ago had said he needed new targets for those who reached higher in their power progression. Was this it? Or, instead, should he simply attach the system of the soul to his other systems? Couldn’t he, using this and the Conduction system, create dozens, hundreds of individualized systems that allow a person to pick and choose their own progression?

  That would allow for an entirely new method of providing agency to his people. An Evolver wouldn’t know what to do with this. They’d write it off as they wrote off anything at all to do with souls. They’d ignore it.

  He didn’t know what the Awakened would think of this. Did Kwaya know? He didn’t think so, though he still hadn’t finished all her memories, even with the time he’d spent in the rings.

  Walker continued to scout his soul for new insights. As he looked, he spotted dozens of lights near the top of his skull. Putting his finger on the page to point them out, he asked, ‘What are these?”

  “That I don’t know. They almost look like a communication port, connecting you to something else.”

  As he was about to respond, a voice rang out in the area, “Talking to yourself now?”

  He looked up at the sky, “No. The Book of Souls had some kind of qualitative upgrade when it entered the arch. It can hold a conversation now.”

  “That’s not weird at all. I hope it doesn’t go crazy and decide to murder everyone in the universe.”

  Walker looked sharply at the Book of Souls, hearing back a quickly worded, “Of course not.”

  He sighed, then went back to his viewing. The black line throughout his body was worrying. His Icon didn’t know what to make of it either, providing no input on what it might be. Instead of only thinking about the problem, he decided to search for the solution.

  Working together, the Primordial and his Icon counted every system out, with Walker calling out a system found in his overlay, while the Book of Souls found the corresponding location in his soul. They moved through each location until Walker finally called out a system not located in his body thus far.

  “The Follower system.”

  “Umm…”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I uh, don’t see it.”

  Walker looked back at the page, staring at the black line running through his body. The one who refused to be identified. The one that permeated the entirety of his being, while the others were located in clusters.

  Thinking on it further, his finger traced its path around his body, touching every part of him…

  No…

  “Motherfucker…” He whispered. “That’s the Godeater.”

  It made sense. The Godeater hadn’t activated until just before he’d reached the third stage, not long after the Primordial Collider and his incidental absorption of Origin. It forced him to question the process.

  What if it was embedded in the Follower system, waiting for someone to reach a certain point of power? A level of the soul that would be hard to contain, and had the ability to continue reaching further. Soul systems were obviously something real, as he’d already built one from scratch, so why couldn’t it ascertain when to activate? When to turn the parasite on? How long had they been doing this?

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Walker reached back into his memories, diving deep into a partition he’d created specifically for the unexplained. Taking several moments in time to put it all together, he felt like he had it. The writing had always been on the wall. Speaking out loud for both his Icon and Ulysses, Walker took a stab at what he thought had happened.

  “So, let’s say you’re a faction named the Evolvers, and you hate people with soul powers, in particular the Awakened who kicked you out of your seat of power. So what do you do? You run away, right?”

  “Right,” Ulysses repeated back.

  “Seems only logical when you’re losing,” His Icon said.

  “But that’s the problem. The Awakened are smart, they’re fast, they’ve got ways of getting back at you. So you do some crazy shit. You steal one of their people, you get her to do some fucked up things, and somehow, in the midst of that, you create a system that infests people with a parasite. One that will straight fuck you up unless you’re willing to kill the people around you. Your friends, your family, your faction even. And it only turns on when you get to a level that would be hard for many others to stop. One that keeps you from ever growing in power again.” Walker clenched a hard fist, watching as the veins in his hand bulged beneath the skin, “Is that what happened to you Alma? Is that why I never hear about you anymore? The godeater got you?” He laughed to himself, “In the end, the Evolvers did come up with one good name.”

  The Book of Souls understood inherently what he wanted to do, but Ulysses still asked out loud, “Walker, do you think you might need another lucidity moment? A few movies to get your mind right?”

  “No,” Walker pointed at his skull, “My mind is fine. I just need to see if I can do something about this. I refuse to absorb souls just to satisfy my needs. Survival will never be enough of a reason. Perhaps…” He paused as the picture in the Book of Souls highlighted a small area near his stomach, criss-crossed by multiple black lines.

  “The only way to remove the parasite is to absorb souls, right? And even then, there’s no guarantee it’ll remove the thing. It could just go dormant, sitting in me forever and staining me, staining my soul. But what if I can just get rid of it? Death is in the same category as the Soul strand, right? So, what if I light the fucker on fire? I mean, it’s a system, but it’s not really one at the same time, right?”

  Not knowing the answer, he decided to take a risk. Covering only his hand in darkness, Walker reached into his resources and gathered several strands of Death. Gripping the flowing liquid tightly and following the Book of Souls guide, he placed it directly upon the intersection of the Godeater parasite.

  The scream erupting from his mouth was raw, guttural, sounding like nothing else than a wild animal being torn apart. It went on and on, seeming to vibrate his very bones as what started out a throaty roar of pain became a high-pitched wail. Even after he released the strand and curled up around the wound on his previously unmarked flesh, the collection of pain and desperation to no longer feel anything in this world remained.

  “I suggest you do not do that again,” Ulysses said, but Walker wasn’t listening; nothing mattered but the wound on his side and the terrible simmering in the furthest reaches of his soul.

  He didn’t know how long he lay there. Time didn’t matter much to those in true pain. Eventually, as the clock continued ticking, Walker regained control over his mind. He rolled to his back, a groan escaping him as the movement stretched the skin of his wound.

  The Book of Souls opened up in front of him, a large black and red mark now located on his abdomen. And beneath it, two criss-crossed black lines.

  “It had no effect; the parasite is still whole.”

  Walker listlessly stared at the wound before giving a brief nod. Death had an opposite, something he’d considered before placing it against his bare skin. Walker reached into his resources, grabbing a handful of life strands and placing them against the black, festering wound in his side. It felt like a cooling balm had struck him, a sigh of relief leaving his mouth before he could stop it. Knowing it likely wouldn’t be enough, he removed several Enhancement strands and gently added them to the mix. The coloration marking his skin was still there, a deep black on an otherwise unmarked flesh, but it was better than it had been.

  “Walker, you may want to upgrade the Communications system.”

  He stood up, his legs shaky and knees buckling as he gained a standing position, “Why?”

  “Just trust me. Specifically, look at the status section.”

  Walker followed his suggestion. Looking into upgrades, he found the status area, in particular, one that explained why the Universal Personality wanted him to upgrade the Communications system.

  Omniversal Status upgrade:

  Purchase of this upgrade will enable the status screen for all selected citizens of the designated versi. Status screens present citizens with a comprehensive breakdown of any ill effects they may be suffering.

  Cost for each new universal upgrade: 3000 Primordial resources

  Walker had the funding; there was no doubt about that, so he didn’t hem and haw at the price. Selecting the option and finalizing it, he felt a slight loss as enough resources left his metaphorical pocket to enable the upgrade in both the Multiverse and his own.

  His screen winked out, only to turn back on with a small symbol of his body in the bottom corner slowly fading in. There was a large red mark on the abdomen and a series of lines slashing throughout the figure.

  As the update was finalized, text splashed across his overlay.

  Warning: You’re suffering damage from a soul burn

  Warning: You’re infected with an unknown soul affliction

  Walker sighed as a call came in from Xandar.

  The portal closed behind him as Walker re-entered the tower. A smiling Athena sat on the bed, welcoming him with open arms and a quick butt squeeze. Walker didn’t tell her about burning himself with the Death strand, only that the afterlife was now established in the other universe and would be managed by the two Primigenials and a new, old friend he’d made.

  After informing her he had to continue on with some of his plans, she accompanied him as he walked to the largest room in the Tower.

  Stepping quickly now that he was back in normal time, Walker sent a few messages to his assistants, needing all hands on deck for his next set of plans. As he arrived, the Tower began to modify itself, closing in sections that weren’t being used and repurposing them to increase the size of the now-established meeting room.

  “Good boy,” Walker said as he patted the wall, entering through an already open doorway.

  Standing before him were over one hundred assistants, the three Supremes in the back. The remaining Primigenials stood to the right, away from the group, as they, too, wanted to see what was about to happen.

  Walker looked around, making eye contact with as many as he could, but he wasn’t just looking at them. He was looking through the eyes of his Soul Vision. Standing in front of him were hundreds of blinking golden lights, long lines connecting them to a point just above Walker’s vision. The antenna’s his Icon had pointed out were connectors between himself and his assistants. And more than that, he found a second antenna attached to each assistant below supreme, connecting them to a point he could see in a white, thin line.

  Walker shifted his ability-enhanced eyes to Virgil, his first assistant, and the first Supreme he’d ever met. The large black squirrel gazed back with a blank expression, a small black flame roiling within his body.

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