Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 2) - Chapter 3 – What Ifs And Could Have Beens (Patreon)

Xavier sat on the parapet wall of Queen Alastea’s castle. Behind him, the ranks upon ranks of the Endless Horde waited for the next wave to begin. In front, Queen Alastea and her Adviser, Karlon, stood. He ran a hand through his hair.

These people are real. There were so many things he didn’t understand about that.

“What confuses you?” Karlon asked in the tone of a tutor.

Xavier released a sigh. “I was led to believe that the Tower of Champions had been around for as long as the universe itself—since the very beginning of the System.”

Karlon bowed his head in a nod. “That is correct.”

Xavier blinked. “Then… the floors in the tower do change? The manual we read said they remained static…”

“No.” Karlon shook his head. “They do not change. They do, in fact, remain static for all eternity. Each Denizen who enters the tower and becomes a Champion faces the same challenges. And they always have, since the very first Denizen.”

Xavier shut his eyes and put his head in his hands. He thought he felt a headache coming along. “Then what is it? Time travel? Did… did the System pull things out of time, out of… the future? Because clearly you know what the Tower of Champions is andyou’re a part of it and it’s always been around, but you can’t have…”

“Ah,” Karlon uttered. “I see where the issue is.”

“Well, I’m glad someone does.”

“You are under the false assumption that there is only one universe.”

Xavier opened his eyes, dropping his hands. He raised his head and looked at the adviser. “Multiverse. I had thought of that.”

Karlon walked over to the parapet and leant against it beside Xavier. Where before he had been the epitome of seriousness, now he was a little less reserved. “When you first came here, you thought we weren’t real, didn’t you?”

“This is actually the second time I’ve been on this floor.”

Karlon nodded. “Indeed. Indeed, that is common.”

“And yes… I didn’t know. I still don’t really understand.”

“That is fair, considering you came from a newly integrated world. Our world has been a part of the System for longer than our memories can reach. The people of this queendom—those who still remain—do not know of a time before it, so it is difficult for me to put myself in your shoes.”

“So this”—Xavier waved a hand—“is an alternate universe?”

“Indeed. One of an infinite number, in fact. But I assure you, it is very real.”

If not for Xavier’s Intelligence attribute, it would probably have taken him a lot longer to wrap his head around what was going on. Even then, it simply went against everything that he believed couldbe true. “And this… this universe is now different to the universe I was in the last time I stepped onto this floor. It’s changed, because of my actions.” His forehead creased, becoming heavily lined as he pieced the implications of that together. “Which means… you are the same people we met, but you aren’t the samepeople we met.”

“Ah, well, at least you catch on fast,” Karlon said. “The multiverse is a difficult concept for people to digest, even those born in societies with the knowledge of it. It purports an infinite number of universes. Ones that diverge with every single decision. Summoning a Champion of the Void made this universe branch off perhaps… trillions of times.”

The adviser let out a breath. “It is a lot to swallow. A lot to imagine. Surely, we have died many, many times. But wecannot concern ourselves with the goings on of other universes, ones we are not in direct contact with, can we? We would get lost in all of the what ifs and could have beens. All we’d do is sit there and contemplate possibility without doing a single thing. There might be universes out there were the System never spread, as blasphemous as that is to say, it is simple truth. The System is eternal, but it may not be omnipresent.”

“If this is true…” Xavier felt like he’d never frowned so much in his life, his face scrunched up in what Siobhan would call stink-face. “Then each floor of the tower is connected with a different universe—a different starting point in a thousand different universes.” He licked his lips, his thoughts coming together. “They couldn’t be connected to just one universe, because everything that happens on each floor, with every Denizen that enters it, would change that universe…” He clutched his head again.

Karlon chuckled. “As I said, it is a lot to swallow.” He clapped Xavier on the back with more familiarity than he would have expected. “I’m glad you are the Champion of the Void that ended up here. You are clearly strong enough to deal with these waves. And the fact that we are real people—even if we do not share the same universe—seems to be important to you.”

Xavier looked at Karlon. “Why wouldn’t it be important?”

“Denizens enter the Tower of Champions in search of power. Most Denizens do not care how they acquire that power. In an instance such as this, they might perform their task, but they would not care about the casualties to our number.”

“Many of my soldiers would lose their lives, were someone less strong or less caring to have arrived,” Queen Alastea said. “I am sure that… that has happened many times.” She got a faraway look, no doubt contemplating the what ifsand could have beens.

Xavier, selfishly, wondered if this knowledge actually changed anything for him. Then he remembered the army he had killed. No, the twoarmies he had killed. On the third floor, he had destroyed both the elven army and the human army in different instances.

Those were all real people, fighting for a real cause, somewhere. And I don’t even know which side was in the right—if either of them even were.

Should he feel guilt for that? Had he been wrong to fight? He neededto fight. Needed this strength to protect and save Earth. It wasn’t as though he could simply turn away from it. Was the fact that the people he’d faced in these places real something that needed to change the way he approached each floor?

For the most part, the enemies he’d faced hadn’t been humans, or sentient Denizens from other races. Then again, that Rat King he’d faced had been able to talk…

This doesn’t change anything for me. It can’t.

But in a way, it expanded things. He looked at Karlon, at Queen Alastea and her guards, at all the soldiers standing on the wall, in an entirely new light. He’d wondered what it would be like to travel to different worlds. And here he was, already doing it. These aren’t set pieces. Aren’t fabrications made by the System. They’re real people, just… from somewhere far, far away.

Xavier raised his chin. He was now even more glad that he’d told the queen he didn’t want her soldiers fighting in this conflict. He wouldn’t have to worry about getting real people killed. That will happen, when I return to Earth. I won’t be able to save everyone. But it’s not something that needs to happen now. Of course, there were real people in the Endless Horde.

But they… they were on the wrong side of this conflict.

He stood. Looked at Queen Alastea. “Your people will be safe.” Now that he knew she was real, there was another question he had to ask. “Why will you remain here when the portal opens? Why do you think your fate is sealed?”

Queen Alastea peered over the parapet at the enemy Denizens and beasts. “It was my family who angered the Endless Horde. They will follow the blood that runs through my veins to the ends of the universe. If I go with my people, I will doom them to this fate.” She motioned to the horde. “Whether in ten years, a hundred, or a thousand. The Endless Horde does not stop.”

The waves are never ending. He remembered reading that, from the System notification about this floor. He turned and looked at the ranks. “The notification I received said the waves will never stop. If this is real, how can that be possible? And why… why do they wait? Why do they come in waves? Not that I want them all to move at once.”

Karlon, his hands folded behind him, spoke, “The System has told you a half-truth.”

Xavier’s eyes widened. “The System lies?”

“The System does what it wishes,” Queen Alastea muttered under her breath. “In this case it only seems like a lie. The Endless Horde has an army that spreads through half of the sector, and the ability to connect different worlds with portals. Portals they can afford to keep open for as long as they wish. In theory, there is an end to their waves, but it isn’t an end you or I will ever see.”

“As for why they do not attack all at once…” Karlon began. “As a stronger force, they are constricted by the rules of engagement within this sector. I do not know if these rules hold true in your universe, or even in other sectors. But in this instance, they cannot simply send their strongest Denizen after us. And if they did, the System would punish them greatly. It is shameful for those of a higher Grade to eradicate those of a lower one. That does not mean it doesn’t happen, of course.”

Xavier latched onto this idea. He knew the System put restrictions on which Denizens could travel to Earth while it was being integrated. Only allowing them to be a single level higher than the highest level Denizen from Earth. Perhaps that also meant there were other restrictions he didn’t know about.

“The System wants to give you a fighting chance. Or… or a way to escape?”

“Indeed,” Karlon replied. “Even if the odds are against us.”

“But you.” Xavier looked at Queen Alastea. “You’re sure you cannot leave?”

“I have accepted my fate. I only wish my ancestors had done the same.” She raised her chin. “Had they made such a sacrifice, many lives would have been spared.”

Xavier didn’t have to ask her to understand what she meant. If the Endless Horde pursued her blood wherever it went… someone in her family’s past had taken their ire and escaped from the horde, only to doom one of their descendants later down the line.

It made him wonder what choice he would make, were he in Queen Alastea’s shoes. He supposed he could understand her sacrifice now. I think I would fight. I think I would escape, hide, become strong, and then come back and fight.

Xavier wasn’t sure how long it would be until the next wave came, but he was more eager than ever for it. These people were real, and he had the power save them. To destroy these waves until their portal was created.

And I abandoned them last time… those were real people I just left after defeating the fourth wave…

He couldn’t think on that. As Karlon had said, he should not lose himself in the what ifs and could have beens, nor concern himself with universes he was no longer connected to.

Xavier cleared his throat. “You say these waves are near infinite. That the Endless Horde covers half your sector… I do not see how I could defeat them all. But I do promise you, Queen Alastea, that I will remain here for as long as I possibly can. Your people will survive. They will pass through the portal. And I will remain, taking down as many waves as I can until fighting for a moment longer would mean losing my life. Though I know that will not save you, it will at least give you a chance to live a little longer than you would have otherwise. I do not ask for anything in return. However, I am new to this… System. To all of it. I have many questions that people such as yourselves might be able to answer, if you’re willing.”

Queen Alastea still looked as poised as ever, but there was something new in her gaze as she looked at him, as though she were appraising him. “I will answer whatever I can.”

Xavier was almost surprised by how much Karlon and the queen had been able to tell him. When he spoke to Sam, there were all sorts of restrictions imposed upon the bartender—the caretaker. But here, it had been different. He and his party had hoped they’d found a loophole to learning new information about the System and the Greater Universe, and so far it seemed as though he had.

I’m going to learn as much as possible from this floor. He looked out at the Endless Horde. And I’m going to eradicate as many of their number as I can.

That was something he wouldn’t feel any guilt for.