Save State Hero 2 -ch 2- (Patreon)

Loading into Alina’s world Edmund took a breath and held it.

He realized he needed to tell Alina what he was going to do before he did it. Just to make sure she didn’t panic over him.

“Going to do something now,” Edmund mumbled. “Might knock me out. Or just make me woozy. Nothing’s wrong. It’s intended.”

“What?” Alina asked, her arms tightening around him.

Then saved the save-state over itself. The results were nominal and nothing really seemed to change at all. Edmund felt perfectly fine.

He saved a second time.

Immediately he felt a pressure inside of his skull. One that was building up behind his eyes. A constant push against the inside of his head that reminded him of a pressure change in the weather.

Only to drop a third save-state on top of the same file. Causing his heart to flutter and his body to go weak.

Unable to hold himself upright he ended up fully collapsing against Alina.

“Eddy?” whispered Alina.

Apparently three wasn’t enough to put him into the tunnel anymore.

Regretfully, Edmund threw down a fourth save-state.

And was promptly ejected into the white-room of nothing.

“Oh, there we go. Alright,” Edmund said with a nod of his head.

The intensely sick feeling he’d been experiencing fled instantly as he stood there looking around. He knew as soon as he went back to his body it’d be coming back for him with a vengeance.

For now, at least he wasn’t feeling it.

“Oz, I need to dig up some Save-states,” Edmund proclaimed as he moved over to the door. He jerked it open and went straight into the tunnel. “Also, please confirm that you’re alone here.”

The endless save-state twilight zone looking visual looked exactly the same as the one he had been in only minutes ago.

Though a ball of light was looping endlessly around the area now.

He’d seen it before though it hadn’t been in the previous tunnel surprisingly. In fact he hadn’t even remembered it existed until this very moment.

Circling around a save-state several times it looked to have lost interest in it and fluttered off.

Moving to another save-state only to begin circling it slowly.

“I’m here, Edmund,” Oz stated. “I’m also here alone. Srit is unable to truly be in this space.

“Such a bold plan is a deviation from—”

“Anyways. Save-states. I need some,” Edmund stated before Oz could start taking footnotes. Watching the ball of light he considered what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. “We’ve tried every which-way of trying to save Ryker.

“I don’t think it’s possible with what the save-states I have at the moment. They’re limited in scope and… time.”

“Yes, I would concur, Edmund,” Oz confirmed.

“So we need to break into other save-states. Ones preferably where I exist so I can just… go into my own body,” Edmund offered. “I’d say… let’s pull up all the save-states that I’m a part of in this continuum.”

“Compliance,” Oz stated a second before the world became an utterly black void.

Other than the ball of light which shot toward Edmund and began orbiting around him. Apparently the absence of save-states was enough to spook it.

“Completed. I have further organized the save-states by origin, then time,” Oz reported.

A number of save-states were now around Edmund, though they seemed to number less than twenty at a glance.

Moving to the nearest one, Edmund reached out and touched it.

As he stared into it a kaledioscope of save-states began to flood out of it.

In seconds he knew that this was the save-state for his Mother.

All of the save-states were of him as little more than a baby.

Grimacing, he reached out and put his hand to the center and rotated his wrist. As if her were turning the knob on a combination lock.

Spinning clockwise, the save-states moved away from him being a baby and towards growing up.

Unsurprisingly, the number of save-states rapidly decreased.

Whatever special moments he shared with his mother had more or less ceased by the time he was old enough to go to elementary school.

There had been what looked like one “first day of kindergarten” and then a smattering of others.

Only to not have a similar “first day” save-state ever again.

In fact, most of the save-states that he was a part of after that, was his mother trying different drugs with Edmund only existing in the background.

An object in the periphery.

Even those save-states quickly vanished, to the point that they abruptly ended with what looked like the day Edmund was well and truly kicked out.

Having been forced to leave the trailer one day when his mother got angry for him accidentally crushing one of her pipes after coming home from middle-school.

After that, there wasn’t another single save-state.

Shaking his head, Edmund really wasn’t surprised by that. This lined up with what his thoughts about his mother had been really.

Outside of birthing him and providing him with a chance at life, she hadn’t done much of anything for him.

“I imagine my father would be much the same,” Edmund grumbled.

“Yes, Edmund,” confirmed Oz. “They are even fewer in number. It is unfortunate, but your parents didn’t share a love for you, or each other.

“Their lives are punctuated by brief highs and extreme lows. I have made many footnotes in regards to your resilience in this. Both in spirit, emotional aptitude, and endurance.”

“Great,” Edmund hissed. “Though… what would happen if I went back to that early in my life? Could I reasonably assume I could do a do-over?”

“Your mind wouldn’t be able to comprehend what you’ve done and you would likely lose some of your faculties,” warned Oz. “Especially the younger versions of yourself where your mind isn’t fully formed.

“It’s quite possible you would lose yourself and forget everything if you went back early enough.

“Though such… an action would cause a great deal of data loss. Not to mention, there is the distinct possibility time and history could take a different path.

“Perhaps there’s an edge case somewhere in your history that allowed any of this to happen. You could effectively be ending your future before it began.”

Clicking his tongue, Edmund couldn’t argue that point.

This wasn’t exactly time-travel which meant there wouldn’t be a paradox. He could quite literally wipe out his current future without ever meaning to.

“How deeply have you explored the current situation?” Oz inquired.

“Deeply. There isn’t another angle I can take that’d give me anything to work with,” Edmund answered immediately. He closed his mother’s save-states and then moved to the next closest orb.

All the while the ball of light remained near him. Buzzing around him for several seconds before nearly settling atop his head.

“The only thing I can think of is trying to-to get other save-states and start earlier,” Edmund continued as he sorted through the very limited number of save-states his father had for him. “That or just… give up and do an evil route run.

“Chase after Dot and join her where-ever she ends up and fight Runner from her own point of view.”

“That could provide some clarity to the situation,” Oz remarked. “If you did do this, I would caution you against killing Runner. Regardless of the route, run, or save-state.

“Unfortunately his death would be permanent. Much in the same way Andrea’s seems to be, but much more final than even that.”

“Wait, what? Why?!”

“Because he has put himself in a position of extreme vulnerability to insure that Zeus is eliminated,” Oz offered as an answer. “Runner has wrestled with this situation for… an indescribable amount of time.

“As they’ve been working through Ryker’s plan Runner has had many doubts and moments of anxiety.”

Wait.

Wait, wait.

Ryker’s plan.

Ryker’s… plan. This was always stated as Ryker’s plan.

Always.

Ryker was never dragged into this. He was the one who made all this happen, isn’t he.

“Any chance Runner would be willing to chat with me?” Edmund asked.

“He’s currently occupied with attempting to bring Ryker back,” said Oz. “He will not succeed but… he cannot seem to break from his current disposition.”

Sighing, Edmund chewed at his lower lip.

A single idea had formed inside his head. It felt like the right save-state to take, but it also left him feeling quite strange.

Up to this juncture, he had been living completely for and with everyone in Runner’s camp.

“Bring me Dot’s save-states,” he ordered coming to a conclusion. “We’re going to do an evil route run. Maybe being on the other side for a time will give me some clarity to the situation.

“Or at least, an idea on how to get Dot back. Even though I think that really just comes down to saving Ryker. If I can’t save Ryker, I dont think I can save Dot.

“One somewhat precludes the other and that’s just… how it is.”

“That does make sense. Dot’s reason for helping was Ryker,” confirmed Oz. “Therefore it’s easy to assume that it’s rather straightforward that Ryker’s death is the reason she switches fully to the other side.

“To prevent her switch, one would need to make sure Ryker doesn’t die.”

That… or figure out how to talk her into coming back with as few words as possible. That’d require truly understanding her and her reasoning.

Wouldn’t it?

When I chased after her to try and talk her back on the spot, she would just attack me.

Or… errr… wait.

Wait, wait.

Grimacing, looking down to his feet, Edmund suddenly had an answer. One he really didn’t like, but one he could at least try.

Romancing Dot so hard and with such ferocity, that even Ryker’s death would bring her up short on leaving. That even if Ryker died, Edmund would be enough of a pull to keep her there.

But to do that, I’d have to go back to the beginning of when I met her.

And… Andrea’s dead.

I’m back to the cart, horse, and the asshole who put them in those positions.

Growling, shivering with rage, Edmund leaned his head back and yelled at nothing in particular.

After he got it out of his system, he realized that he needed to start with the fulcrum. The problem that was undeniable.

“If I’m going to even get a chance at the second route, I need to make it actually viable. Without Andrea, there is no… there’s nothing possible after her death,” Edmund muttered. “I can’t go to any points before that because everything collapses without her. Because without her, there isn’t a reasonable Felix. Without a reasonable Felix, everyone leaves, dies, or gets driven away.

“I mean… how many people are left at Legion anymore? Didn’t Gaia leave just yesterday?”

“Yes. She did. Felix signed several contracts that would create the possibility of natural disasters,” acknowledged Oz.

“Alright… then… Andrea. I need to solve Andrea,” Edmund hissed. “If I solve Andrea, I can go back to an earlier point and do other things.”

“That seems like a reasonable conclusion,” Oz asserted. “Though I’m unsure how to proceed as Andrea is irrecoverable.”

“You’ve said that a number of times,” whispered Edmund, a sudden and clear thought spiking through him.

There were other entities that defied logic.

Edmund could think of two in fact right off the top of his head.

One of them had already helped him.

They seemed like a great starting point.

“Oz. Before the big battle with everyone, where was Claire?” Edmuned asked.

“Claire… Claire was… on her home plane As she often is. Just talking to… to corpses,” Oz answered.

“Right. There it is then,” Edmund said with a small nod of his head,” then he snorted. “I’m going to go to the think-tank save-state, then go run down Claire.

“I think I could get Dot to help me if I tell her why I’m going. Couldn’t I?”

“She despises Claire. This is due to her fear of Claire harming Ryker.”

“Ah… yeah. That… that makes sense. Alina wouldn’t go either, would she?”

“She would be likely to attack Claire.”

Clicking his tongue, Edmund thought about who he could take with him that’d be helpful.

Romina would come, but she’s about as combat useful as I am.

Which is to say she isn’t.

“Ellie would be advisable as a companion. Claire is not someone you could bother physically, or magically, anyways,” Oz advised. “Taking along Ellie, who is a very non-combatant Dryad, might work in your favor.”

“Take Aenor Yew with me,” mused Edmund aloud. He hadn’t even realized he used her true name until her seed responded at his words.

Laying a hand atop his chest he tried to calm it. That he didn’t need any help at the moment.

With a loud sigh, Edmund dropped a new save-state on top of his Alina save. He would likely need to come back here at some point he imagined.

Whether for the tunnel or to just spend time with Alina, this would be a save-state he’d like to keep.

“Any other suggestions Oz?” Edmund asked.

“To reach Claire, you’ll need to be able to fly.”

“Fly? Fly.”

Edmund’s brows slammed together at that.

He hated being airborne.

His thoughts immediately turned to the friendly Dragon who had carried him down for the super registration mission.

Her name came to him a beat later.

Iren.

***

Standing up from the table, Ryker nodded his head at everyone there, and immediately began walking for the door.

Just about staring at his shoes as he did so.

“New strategy. I need to go talk to Claire,” Edmund said, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

There wasn’t a single person in this room, that trusted him implicitly to save Andrea, that he could meet the eyes of.

He didn’t want to meet anyone’s gaze because he was certain they’d know he was a failure.

On top of that, the last thing he wanted to do was give a full explanation. That up to this point, there hadn’t been a single inch of progress.

“Claire is Ryker’s ex-wife. She helped me out earlier with some spellwork, I think she can help me out further with figuring out how to get Andrea back,” Edmund offered as a brief summary. “I’ll write more out later in an email but I need to get going quickly.”

There was the sound of several chairs turning and one scraping across the ground.

“Ah? I don’t… alright,” Felix murmured. “We’ll be around if you need us. Just send an email or a text if there’s something you need.

“In the meanwhile, I’ll see if we can dig anything up as well and send it your way. Maybe we have some contacts or thoughts you haven’t reached yet.”

“Thanks,” Edmund got out in a croak. He couldn’t bear to look at Felix right now. Regardless of the promise he’d given his boss, he hadn’t made any progress at all.

Opening the door he walked out of it and froze there in the hallway.

He needed Ellie and she was inside the very meeting room he’d scurried out of.

Turning around he resolved himself to go back into the room.

“— see if you can’t run down anything about it,” Felix ordered as Edmund re-entered the room.

Only to be pushed right out of it by Ellie.

The beautiful Dryad’s eyes going wide as she just about ran him over.

“Oo!” she squeaked and wrapped her arms around him as they collided. Causing Edmund to grab her in return and stumble backward.

Sticking his right heel he let his momentum carry them backward until Edmund ended up with his back pressed to the wall.

Ellie in turn was smeared across the front of him.

The beautiful woman was gazing up at him in a way that made it hard to not lean in and kiss her.

A flood of memories rampaging about in his head of spending eons with this kind and warmhearted creature.

Her Dryad-green eyes were so pale in color that they more often than not looked to be an incredibly light turquoise.

The finely featured and delicate appearance, with it’s perfect amount of makeup was hovering directly in front of him.

“Teddy?” she asked in a husky whisper. A name he had only ever heard from her and no one else. “It felt like you needed me. I don’t know why, but it felt like it. Is everything okay?”

Reaching up with her left hand, she laid it to his cheek and continued to gaze up into his eyes. Her black wavy hair hung down behind her with a hair-band that ran along the top of her head, just behind her hairline.

In that moment, Edmund lost himself in the absolute torrent of memories, lives, and events that he shared with Ellie.

His Aenor Yew.

Before he could move his head more than an inch in an attempt to kiss her, Ellie had stopped him. The hand on his face keeping him right where he was.

Displaying more strength than he expected from her.

At the exact same time her seed flared to life and battled back all of echoes. Forcing them back into place behind the walled off section of his mind.

“Oooh, Teddy,” whispered Ellie, her eyes beginning to glow from the inside. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but you don’t feel right. Normal.

“I’m eager to kiss you. Very… very eager. But something isn’t right… right now. Next time I’ll-I’ll let you do what you wanted.”

Ellie’s eye-glow had gone up several degrees, then promptly went out. As if the light-switch in her head had flipped to the off position.

“Okay, Teddy? If you really want to, I’ll let you. I just… you don’t seem okay,” Ellie whispered. “I’d hate for our first kiss to be something you regret later.”

Blinking several times Edmund felt better already.

Ellie’s seed had run all the echoes off by now. Curtained them away and made sure he was safe. Only to settle back down and seemingly go dormant.

“Thanks. Uhm… I need you,” Edmund whispered thickly.

“I could tell,” she replied with a smile.

“I need your help,” he interjected quickly. “I need to go see Claire and I don’t think I could take anyone else with me, but you.

“We’d also need Iren I think. We need to be able to fly to the location I guess. Oz said flight would be required.”

“I did not realize I had spoken of this in an alternate save-state, but that is correct,” Oz muttered. “A curious footnote. I find myself not being able to fully keep up any longer.

“Ellie is planning to self-actuate at least seven times already given how close Edmund came to kissing her. Her romantic inclination doesn’t match to the expectation.

“A footnote has been generate to deeper inspect Ellie and her differences between other Dryads.”

“I can make that happen for you,” Ellie promised, her eyes searching his face.

“Fourteen times,” amended Oz.