Chapter 33: Thistlebush Manor, Nicholas POV (Patreon)

This is the last chapter in the book, and I hope you've enjoyed it, but I would love to hear people's thoughts on it. I don't mind if you don't like it, but I would love to know why if that's the case. The same applies to if you like it.

I'm going to have a break for a week and then work on the end of Magic, Academies, and Vampires.

Chapter 33

Thistlebush Manor

Nicholas POV

It was late, and I wasn’t expecting anyone to stop by, so the knock at the front door surprised me. The authorities were still too afraid to arrest me, which was why I felt comfortable returning to Thistlebush Manor with my children. Half expecting to see the army, I projected my weaker Domain through the manor to see who had come visiting at this hour.

My mother and Clair’s mother, Judith, were upstairs, going from room to room, tucking the children into bed. I had spent most of the day running around trying to organise and outfit the spare rooms for bedtime, even cleaning out the old nursery to make it liveable for the kids until we could redecorate properly.

Years of being unable to face what had happened had let the room corrode into an unrecognisable mess, but facing that pain was easier now than in the past. I still broke down in tears several times as I cleared out the ruined furniture and dust, seeing the remnants of all Clair and I built together. But the daughter and wife that I lost and never got over had to be put to rest. My children needed the space, in both my home and my heart.

Like my mother said, I’d been too caught up with living in the past. Now, it was time to live in the present and put the past to rest.

Neither my mother or mother-in-law had batted an eye at what I’d done. Judith had three grandchildren through her son Mark, and now that she was young again, she was excited to have more, learning all their names and favourite colours and foods. While Judith took to the children like a duck to water, my mother was overwhelmed by the change. She was trying to take it in her stride, happy to see how happy I was, but she was out of her depth.

Clair’s father, Barry, wasn’t so open-minded. He thought what I did was wrong and had taken me aside to tell me so. He wasn’t sure if he could forgive me for having his daughter's children without her, but he had been nothing but kind and considerate to his grandchildren. Teasing them and playing with them, never growing bored or showing his anger to them. He’d burst into tears when he met Amelia because she was the spitting image of my wife at her age.

My Domain reached the front door.

Melody and Morgan stood outside, holding hands and chatting quietly. I lowered the shield that was protecting the building as I walked to the front door to let them in.

I gave Melody an elaborate bow that would have made Pan proud. “Welcome to my humble abode, Your Highness. I’m afraid the children are in bed.”

Melody gave me a playful shove followed by a warm hug before walking inside to kick off her shoes. “I thought we were past the whole Your Highness thing?”

“We are. I was referring to the other, your highness. Now, don’t go waking my children. I just managed to get them all to go to bed.”

As usual, Melody ignored me. “I’ll just be a second.”

I sighed and turned to Morgan. “Would you like a beer?”

Morgan grinned. “A beer would be great.”

“This way, and mind your head, some of the doorways are very low,” I said, heading for the kitchen. “What brings you to England? I thought you were supposed to be at the international summit.”

This morning, New Zealand announced they were holding a referendum. Their government was putting forward a nationwide vote on whether their citizens thought they, the government, should have the power to make decisions within the Game. There was no debate between political parties. They were going straight to their people. The original plan had been to have votes tallied by the time everyone went back into the Game. They hadn’t expected the largest voter turnout in the country's history. 90% of the population had voted within four hours of the announcement, and 95% of those votes were against their government having any involvement in the Game. When their government realised they didn’t need to wait for an answer, they immediately announced that they were going to put forward twenty more referendums over the next month.

New Zealand’s actions concerned the rest of the political world, creating an emergency international summit in less than eight hours. Every nation’s leader was now on their way to that summit, and Melody had been asked to be the first speaker.

“We are on our way, but Melody wanted to check on your kids, and I convinced her we could spare a few hours.”

I opened the fridge and pulled out three lagers. I removed the bottle caps with a flick of Power and handed one to Morgan before taking one to Barry in the TV room. He was watching football and didn’t notice as I replaced his empty. I stepped back into the kitchen and waved for Morgan to follow me to the backyard.

The outdoor lights came on as we stepped outside and took a seat on the raw iron patio furniture. I rested my bottle on the table while through my Domain, I watched my children all start to climb out of bed to say hi to their Aunty Melody.

I turned to Morgan as he sat down. “Did Melody share my intentions?”

Morgan sipped his lager and then rested it on his knee. “She said you’re willing to commit yourself and your resources to Mars so long as she is in charge.”

“I am. I’ve already declared Titan independent and have a trillion Tokens I’m ready to transfer over as an endowment.”

Morgan sighed. “I’m not turning down your support. I just want to know why you’re willing to give up so much?”

“My children need their home. It’s as simple as that.”

Morgan leaned back and took a long drink. “Was her world really that wonderful?”

I paused, thinking through the question. “Mars is difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t been there. It isn’t another Earth. It isn’t an improvement on Earth, either.” I mentally stumbled around for the right thing to say so I could explain the life I’d been living for the last eleven years. “Mars is a world with only one agenda: to inspire her students to greatness and make them more willing to sacrifice their time and money to improve themselves.”

Morgan sipped his lager.

“Mars is a world built on the idea of being a university that inspires mankind. It wants us to be more than we are, and because it shows us all its glory, we want to be more than what we are, too. Mars isn’t just a place where people learn. It is a culture, and becoming a part of it will make us bicultural. People who can’t otherwise connect will connect through the shared culture of Mars.”

“Sort of like strangers who go to the same university,” Morgan extrapolated. “They might not have much in common, but they will cheer for the same football team and know all the same headaches of going to school there.”

“Exactly. Mars is like that. It will never represent a nation. But it will represent humanity. It will give us a framework to coexist. It will not involve us in politics. It will involve us in people. The lessons people take from Mars will help them to see things differently and inspire them. It will improve humanity. It will become our heart.”

“You describe Mars differently than Melody.”

“That’s because Melody is a Martian. To her, Mars is mother, sister, and child. It is a place to learn from, grow with, protect, and teach. I can recognise this passion when I see it in others, but it is not something I claim to understand. My children have it, but I don’t.”

“Not even after spending all that time there?”

“It takes a certain sort of person and that person.” I lifted my bottle to take a large drink. “There’s a saying on Mars. Mars only cares about Mars.”

“And Melody only cares about Mars.”

I shook my head. “That saying is about what Mars represents, not Melody. Melody cares about my kids. She cares about you. And she cares about me. Mars only cares about Mars. Even the Mars faction in the Game is a separate entity from Mars because Mars couldn’t exist as a neutral world if it weren’t.”

Morgan paused and then gave me the same look Pan had. “You’ve changed. Melody said you had, but I didn’t understand how much until right now.”

I nodded and raised my lager in a salute. “Being immersed in another culture for eleven years does tend to have that effect.”

“How long was Melody there for?”

I paused. “Are you jealous?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know what our relationship is yet, but it’s not something I’m getting jealous over anytime soon. This is more a question of how much she might have changed.”

“She loves you.”

Morgan scowled at me. “She was conditioned to love me.”

“We’re all conditioned to love people. Why do you think so many men marry women like their mothers and so many women marry men like their fathers?”

“It’s not the same thing.”

I took a sip of lager to buy myself sometime and let him think about what he’d said. “I’m not so sure. Everything I have seen tells me Melody is human and that she can change. Right now, she is infatuated and in love with the idea of you. But in the time I’ve known her, she’s become less delusional. The small amount of time she has spent with you has forced her to give truth to the romantic fantasies she created. She knows that the fantasy she is in love with and the person you are aren’t the same man. And I think there is a strong chance you will lose her.”

Morgan frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I experienced years of therapy while I was in there. They gave me the tools I needed to help my children leave, along with what I needed to cope with my abilities, but they also gave me the tools I needed to understand what they did to Melody. Her infatuation and love for you is how they pulled her away from Mars without her losing her mind, but that infatuation is just a catalyst for change. By the time she gives up on you, Mars will be in the process of becoming real. It will give her a goal to keep her grounded and mentally stable. So, I’m almost entirely certain her love for you is supposed to be fleeting.”

Morgan took another sip. “Does she know?”

“I think she worked it out while we were in there, but that doesn’t stop her from feeling how she feels. Right now, she’s content and not interested in borrowing trouble.”

“But if she won’t love me in a year, why not end the relationship now?”

“Who said she won’t love you in a year? Melody is human. A year from now, she might have found a reason to love you for you. Her infatuation could be gone, and she might only see and love the real you.”

Morgan continued to frown.

I decided to change the subject before I caused him too much distress. “I got Tee’s text message. I think you should reconsider kicking me out of the First Line of Defence.”

Morgan paused. “Did Tee kick you out via text?”

He had.

“I take it you didn’t know.”

Morgan sighed. “No, I didn’t, and I’m sorry about that. I intended to do it in person.”

“He probably thought that was too risky considering my behaviour the last time he saw me. I did destroy several buildings with my mind.”

“It’s still rude.”

“So, you’ll reinstate me?”

Morgan shook his head. “Now that you’ve ascended, it doesn’t make sense for you to be a member. You can’t influence the Game anymore.”

“My Domain can-”

“Which is something everyone on Earth will spend the next fifty years thanking you for. But just because your actions are passively improving the entire faction, it doesn’t mean you get to be an active member. You have to be able to influence change to stay a part of the team.”

“I understand that.”

“Then why fight moving on. Melody said you wanted to live a peaceful life.”

“I do, but the Game has other ideas. Did Melody tell you about Lark?”

Morgan nodded.

“It turns out that he wasn’t as benevolent as I thought. He didn’t show me why I should raise the Transcendent host to stop me from going insane. He did it so that when we ascended, we would return to the Game as members of our Transcendent host.”

He’d spent the end of the Cycle trying to convince me that it would be fun and educational if we built a privateer faction that could ally with humanity.

Morgan raised an eyebrow. “You're still a god?”

I made a so-so motion with my hand. “More like demigods. My children and I are as powerful as a newborn god but can’t die or gather followers to grow stronger. My Domain still influences us, though, so we’re peak F-10 grade demigods as long as we remain in our branch of the galaxy.”

Morgan scratched the back of his neck. “This is embarrassing, but I still don’t understand what the grades mean.”

“Nargus told me to think of them like the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Steam Age, and Computer Age. Each grade is separated by a shift in technology that redefines that period of the Game. I can’t explain any more than that. I never raised my Wisdom beyond F-grade.”

“That kind of makes it easier to understand.”

“But it doesn't tell you anything useful.”

He nodded. “So, what else can you do to help us?”

“I can’t do anything that directly helps humanity anymore. Humanity is protected from all Transcendent beings due to the achievement reward I received upon ascending. That includes me and my pantheon. What I can do is build a privateer faction that considers your faction a trade port. They wouldn’t be an army, but they could harass and weaken your enemies while you grow.”

Morgan folded his arms and nodded. “That would help. Our alliance with the Kilocksin is just waiting for Melody to arrive in their sector. After that, we’ll begin our joint expansion.”

“That was fast.”

“The timing of your ascension couldn’t have been more perfect. You transformed their sector less than an hour after I beat their vassal challenge and began our alliance. The Kilocksin War Council is going absolutely nuts with excitement over the ascension reward you gave them.”

I frowned, wondering what he was talking about. It took a second to click. “Their sector didn’t transform because I ascended.”

“It didn’t?”

“No. The transformation occurred because, for a brief moment between nanoseconds, I existed outside of time while wielding enough power to rearrange the cosmos.”

Morgan frowned. “What does that mean?”

I smiled and refilled our empty lager bottle with my Power. “The changes you saw to Sector 13 and the Kilocksin sector where changes I personally made. The weren’t rewards from the Game.”

“But Tee said the changes happened instantly.”

“They did from your perspective. From my perspective, it took nearly a week.”

Morgan ran is hand through his hair and scratched his head. “How’s that possible?”

“It’s possible because for a fraction of a second, I caught a glimpse of God.”

The End