Fostering Faust: Extra Epilogue (Patreon)

Amelia watched Alex open and close his hands several times.

Holding up his left hand, he generated a ball of fire and then began to make it move around the carriage interior.

A minute after having been given the ability to utilize magic, with fire as his element, Alex was moving straight towards full mastery.

“He’s amazing,” Rike said in a breathy voice. “I’m reading his thoughts as he figures it out. I can barely keep up. He’s already making plans within plans within plans.”

Chuckling, Amelia shrugged her shoulders.

“He is, isn’t he? I really lucked out finding him,” Amelia said. “He isn’t the first time I attempted something like this. I did the same with seven or eight before him. I can’t remember the exact number.”

“Oh?” Rike asked, moving over to sit beside Alex. She was sitting next to him, staring hard at him now. Her eyes were locked on him like a hunting dog at point.

“They all turned into monsters. Monsters that served their purpose and promptly died for their actions. Typically with more debt on their souls than when they died the first time,” Amelia said. “Alex was… different. Always has been. He was a man who had done nothing wrong. Not really. He’d just become legally at fault according to the measures by which his soul was judged. I’ll thank our mutual enemy for having done that to him.”

“He’s starting to think about how to make spells that will never burn out. He wants to use it to power machines,” Rike said. “He just doesn’t know how to make that happen yet. But his control is near perfect now. He’ll just have to explore his options.”

Sighing, Rike laid her head down on Alex’s shoulder, staring up at him.

Frowning, Alex froze and slowly looked around.

“You still there?” Alex asked. “Feels like you are.”

Amelia laughed softly, crossing her arms over her chest. “He does that often. I don’t respond when he does. He’s almost always right, though. He seems particularly sensitive when I get too close to him.”

Rike sighed and lifted her head from his shoulder, then sat there watching him instead. “You mentioned our mutual enemy to him. That was surprising. You told him far more than I expected.”

“He’ll be my brother-in-law soon enough,” Amelia said, waving a hand at Rike. “It isn’t as if you wouldn’t tell him yourself. I’m just feeding him enough right now to get him thinking.”

“And you think he can stop the problem in the north?” Rike asked, lifting a hand to lightly run her fingers over Alex’s hair.

“Stop it, Rike,” Alex muttered, reaching up and touching his hair. “If you’re going to sit there and touch me, you might as well talk to me rather than hide.”

“He knows it’s me!?” Rike asked, sounding overjoyed.

“Who else would touch him while hiding? Certainly not me,” Amelia said with a shrug. “And yes. I do think he can screw Zee over. That bastard wasn’t programmed to learn and evolve like you and me. He’s operating within the confines of what they made him. He’ll never grow past that. There’ll come a point where his potential will hit a limit and ours will continue.

“I firmly believe it isn’t a question of if, but when.”

“Runner doesn’t think that way,” Rike said, laying her hand on Alex’s cheek. “He seems to think it’s going to be the worst thing to happen to his worlds since he made them.”

Sighing, Alex didn’t pull away. He seemed resigned to what was happening. Holding up his hands, he began to slowly juggle balls of fire. Starting with two and then adding a third.

“That’s mostly because Lovey is terribly afraid of going through the First Core War again,” Amelia said. “Alright. I’m going to go see what Lovey is up to. Would you like to come? Or are you going to stay here?”

“I’m going to stay here,” Rike said, staring hard at Alex. “The soul he loaned me, that Aerin lady, constantly provides me with just enough power to remain. I’ll even get to talk with him for a while if I wait ten more minutes.”

Sighing, Amelia shook her head and pressed her hands to the sides of her head.

Having given birth to Inara, she’d come to understanding that her absolute fixation and dedication to Runner wasn’t normal.

Not that she would fight it, or even go against it. She enjoyed it. Loved that he accepted her madness exactly as it was.

That and Alex becoming her friend. Amelia felt more balanced now between Inara, Alex, and her family, and the strange edge to her thoughts was dulling.

Then again, the moment she saw Runner, all thoughts of that fled. She instantly went back to the squealing ball of goo that she couldn’t seem to escape becoming around him.

Concentrating on her connection to the server that was owned by Zeus, Amelia slowly let it fade away.

She let it go dormant, but she didn’t log out of it completely.

Slowly, Amelia got out of the server.

Blinking, she woke up in the home she shared with her family.

She could hear the quiet conversations of children and caretakers that was always taking place. Last she’d checked on her daughter, the girl had been sleeping.

Turning her head, she looked to the cradle next to her.

Sleeping, Inara seemed absolutely peaceful.

Amelia smiled, nodded her head, and brought up the private party window she had with her daughter. It would let her keep an eye on her when she wasn’t logged in to another server.

Amelia called up the GMHub she needed and entered it. She left part of herself with her daughter. Sometimes she pitied Runner with his limitations.

Splitting her mind in multiple ways was rather simple.

Instantly, she appeared inside the massive building that was the heart of everything.

The security here was stronger than anywhere else on the ship. Only the system itself had a stronger security system, but that was because it was Srit who did the guarding.

Mmm?

Amelia focused on what she could hear.

The light tread of boots and the soft-spoken words instantly told her who it was.

Lovey! Lovey, lovey, LOVEY!

Feeling her mind, heart, and very soul quiver at the idea that she’d found Runner, Amelia stumbled forward.

Leaving the arrival room, she bounced off a wall and began moving toward wherever Runner was.

“…an ass,” said a voice.

“And? I mean, you’re not wrong,” Runner replied, his voice echoing slightly.

Oh? Who’s he with? He doesn’t share this place with many.

Amelia slowed down and then dipped into the shadows. She was the goddess of assassins, after all. If she didn’t want to be seen, no one would see her.

“Ass. Ass, ass, ass, ass, ass,” said the voice from earlier.

“So you said. That’s okay, you’re an idiot,” Runner said. “We’ll make a fine dynamic duo.”

“I suddenly regret offering going into my dungeon,” muttered Ryker. Amelia was certain that was who it was. No one else she knew was related to a dungeon, and only Ryker—“Uncle” as he was affectionately called by Alaric—would garner Runner’s notice.

“It’s gonna be fun,” Runner said. “So much fun. Ass and Idiot. Stomping monsters.”

“I’m not an idiot, I’m an arch-wizard,” Ryker said. “And you’re still an Ass.”

Their voices were fading, and the click of bootheels told Amelia they were leaving the building.

“Arch-Idiot and Ass,” Runner corrected.

“Arch-Idiot, huh? Fine. You’re a Master-Ass,” Ryker said.

“Arch-Idiot and Master-Ass!” shouted Runner, as if it were somehow a triumphant thing to herald. “Off to crush things together!”

“Yeah. I regret this. A lot. Why am I…” Ryker’s voice trailed off beyond Amelia’s hearing.

Peeking around the corner, she saw Runner and Ryker vanishing as they stepped out of the building.

Hm.

Lovey never makes friends.

Not really, at least. Just Lobu. But even then, that’s more… therapist than anything.

Hm, hm.

Hm.

I should… I should make friends with Ryker’s wives. I’ll need to make sure I understand him better.

Maybe weasel my way into becoming a godmother to his children. I need to make sure Lovey keeps his friend and is happy.

Nodding her head at the sudden new objective, Amelia felt better already.

Moving into the main hallway, she noticed there was a new door further down.

First, though, she went to the First Core room. Peering through the walls that were glass, she felt sadness.

Runner had made a number of servers. All with different properties and attributes. Each one unique and special to him. He’d spent a large amount of time just watching some of them as they grew and changed.

That was then, though. The now was entirely different.

And depressing.

Half of the servers in the room glowed red and dark. The other half glowed blue and white. She grimaced at the sight of so many worlds that had aligned themselves with Zeus.

There was a new change here, though.

One of those blue orbs had a red streak in it. A long, winding, curving red ribbon. It was only perhaps ten percent of the world. But it was there. There and growing.

Her plan was working, and without Zeus even noticing.

Amelia was grateful to Alex. Because it was entirely due to him that such a thing was occurring. Runner had even noticed the change.

It’d been the first time he’d gone into the First Core room in a long time. Right after she explained what she’d been doing.

She’d started with the world she herself had created with Runner’s help.

That one. That one right there. That was my world, my dream. And it didn’t come true. So I’m taking it back. Taking them all back.

Just you wait, Zeus. Just you wait. It’ll take time, but it’ll happen.

When Runner had made all the worlds, Amelia had felt like playing a prank on him. She’d logged on to every single server and made herself a goddess.

Originally, her plan had been to make a pantheon that worshiped “the lovers,” which would always be Amelia and Runner. On every server.

That had changed after Zeus.

Shaking her head, Amelia decided she was more curious about the new door.

A new door that hadn’t existed before.

Her intuition was telling her that perhaps Ryker had been more beneficial to Runner than she’d thought originally. More beneficial and had perhaps triggered Runner’s desire to build.

To create.

She’d planted the idea into Ryker’s mind earlier on. Trying to see if he could be used in a round-about way to get Runner building again.

Eager to see what had changed, and hoping against hope, Amelia skipped down to the second door and flung it open. She didn’t want to look through the glass walls—she wanted to see it firsthand.

Whirring, glowing red, and making her heart swell was a room full of servers.

Worlds.

New planets and people.

These servers looked very different than those in the First Core room, though. They had enhanced and increased security.

The guardian programs were almost as large as the servers, and attached directly to the hardware.

Stepping up to one of the servers, Amelia laid her hand on it and connected herself to it.

Immediately, she was surprised with the sheer amount of protocols laid over it. Into it. All around it.

Even if Zeus decided he wanted to invade the world, Runner could just kick him out.

Though there were also limitations placed upon Runner, it seemed. She could see he’d made a covenant with the gods and goddesses he’d created.

That unless it was for the safety of the world, he would limit his interference.

Mm. I think this limits him too much, but Lovey is Lovey. I’m sure he felt it was fair.

That or he has an ulterior motive for this.

Perhaps… perhaps even this is an attack on Zeus itself. If he begins to busy himself with these new worlds, wouldn’t it make it that much easier to attack the First Core worlds? To free Srit?

Sounds like something Ryker would suggest, isn’t it?

Smiling, Amelia decided to repeat the process she’d done a long time ago. She was going to log on to every world and put herself in it.

“And we’ll start with you. What’s your designation?” Amelia said with a smile, peering into the world. “Number… sixty-nine. Core generation two, world sixty-nine. You’ll be a personal pet project. Let’s see… what would be interesting?

“What haven’t we tried yet? What else could we do? Choices, choices.

“A world full of Runners and Amelias? Maybe a planet where inanimate objects talk? That’d be fun and awkward. Just think of the stories toilets, condoms, and sex toys could tell.”

Letting out a breath, Amelia felt happy.

Runner was creating again, she was retaking the first world she’d made, and she had a chance to make a new world.

And her Lovey had made a friend.

“Oh,” she said suddenly, grinning from ear to ear. An idea spawning in her mind. “I’ll do that! Sex planet!

“Lovey won’t mind if I did it. Though, I wonder what Alex’ll think when I bring him here to see all this. He’ll have to come here eventually. If only so I can see what Alex does. He’d understand, wouldn’t he?”