Buttopia
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Chapter 217: Perspectives of Change
🕑 Added 2025-08-02 20:08:26 +0000 UTCLaura had managed to delay her trip by another week. With that addition, it had made those three weeks the longest time she and Alex had spent together in years, and I was glad to see some of the bond they had shared when Alex was younger returning. I only caught Laura talking about future colleges for William a couple of times, but Alex shut down each attempt with a laugh about how little they knew what the future would be like by the time that even mattered.
By the time Laura had to leave, Alex was fully recovered from her ordeal and had even managed to register herself with the System. Surprisingly, she had a few quests, but she didn’t want to talk about them, and wouldn’t say why. I had no interest in pressuring her, but I had no idea why she was keeping it secret. Even though the potential contents worried me, it was her life, and she was entitled to her own privacy.
The moose had been sticking to the baby like glue, and I wondered just how much he had to do with William gaining his core in the womb. Doctor Scalestone hadn’t been able to answer that question, beyond also assuming the primal had something to do with it. The problem was without the moose being able to talk yet, there was no easy way to look into exactly what it had done. So for now, we choose not to look a gift moose in the mouth.
With the winter fully settling in around us, Alex had moved into the meeting hall. She didn’t like exposing William to the temperatures every time she went for meals. It also had the benefit of keeping her closer to where the doctor came for her weekly check-ins. So far, each and every one had painted both baby and mother as a picture of health.
As always, though, along with the good news came some bad news as well. Something was happening with the traveler’s gate. I was worried about what that meant for the paladins on the otherside of it, but both Travelers were strongly against unsealing it to find out. Karlinovo backed them after a several-day examination.
The new energies that had started radiating from the gate were similar to those found in chaotic spatial tears. Once I learned that, I had entirely agreed. We just couldn’t risk opening it and letting loose whatever was building on the otherside here.
There was a problem with trying to ignore it, though. The energy wasn’t decreasing, and we were now being forced to use some of our mana flow to contain it and redirect it. We just didn’t have the output on our mana resources to handle this added drain now, especially not with the crops’ needs during the winter. With the energy levels reaching a new high, I had called a meeting over tonight’s meal. We had to find a way to deal with this.
“So I understand it’s energy similar to when chaotic space eats into a universe, but how similar?” I asked, as I ate dinner.
“I no longer think it’s just similar. I think it is exactly the same, and how it is possibly coming through a traveler’s gate like this, and what it means for the paladins who went through it, I don’t know. And that worries me more than anything. I’ve never heard of anything like this,” Karlinovo answered.
“I’ve already let my mentor know, and he will attempt to contact the Order of the Roads, but that won’t be easy. They are one of the more elusive paladin orders,” Elody added, sounding nervous.
“It’s not tied to William somehow, is it?” Alex asked as the baby sat on her lap calmly, giggling lightly as he fiddled with a colored key ring baby toy.
I was amazed at how calm William always seemed to be. Alex and John had thrown tantrums all the time at that age, which was entirely normal. William, on the other hand, only seemed to get overwhelmed if we didn’t include him in things. He always seemed to be watching and listening. The doctor’s words on his brain echoed in my head every time I saw him doing this.
“No, core babies aren’t so rare as to have effects on chaotic space. This likely has far more to do with the siren we fought during our return,” Elody replied.
“Assuming it’s the siren, then, what do we do? What does this mean for Matthew and Bass?” I asked, looking around the table.
“Bass Harmony is one of the most skilled musicians to ever live. So even if something happened to them, I believe she’d be able to hold a lot of the horrors at bay, at least until they got somewhere to hide out. Gramps could probably hold his own against just the siren, so that alone couldn’t be what stopped them,” Connie answered in between bites of grilled fish.
“Connie’s right. While the siren was a bit overwhelming for us, a lot of that had to do with just how unprepared we were to fight it. Those two paladins should have been entirely ready. They likely unleashed an ass ton of carnage. It’s possible that whatever we have at the door is just the aftermath after they moved deep into whatever the real problem is.” Yorela’s words didn’t match her face. She looked as worried as everyone else did.
“Is it going to be able to come through the gate?” I asked the room.
Ultimately, that was all that really mattered. If we stopped diverting the energy and the gate just destroyed itself, it was a loss I could live with. I wouldn’t be happy, but it was something we could move past. If it came through the gate, though, that was a whole other mess that I wasn’t sure we even had the strength ready to handle.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Corey, Traveler-Thirty-Two, and Yorela had all said yes. At the same time, Traveler Twenty-Nine, Karlinovo, and Gamma had said no. I sighed.
“Okay, Ivan, why don’t you think so?” I asked, wanting his answer first.
“Oh, I may have answered poorly. As things stand, it can’t come through. But if the energy output required to hold the gate as is, outgrows our ability to do so, it will very much break through. I don’t know when that will happen, but I am very sure it will,” he replied.
“How much energy can we throw at it safely, before it becomes an issue we can’t maintain?” It looked like we were going to have to fight this thing eventually, and I hoped we had time to get ready.
As fate loved to do, I quickly learned I should not have asked that question. The room went dark around us. That could only have happened if the mana transformer had blown. And that was likely to have only happened if we overloaded the system holding the gate shut.
“We need eyes on the gate now!” Pryte yelled as I was already pulling up a chat window.
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>Dave: Alpha, Beta, what’s going on?
>Beta: There was a huge power surge a second ago, and then all the lights went out. The gate is turning on.
>Karlinovo: Dammit. We should have had longer. That siren shouldn’t have been strong enough to do this. Either it’s gotten more powerful, or it has help.
>Apollyon: I am routing more dungeon energy to the city. It won’t hold it back for long. I am already struggling to control the flow as it is. Whatever is on the otherside of that gate is furious!
>Corey: Do not route much more. We do not have a choice anymore. It will have to be opened.
>Dave: Gamma get to Alpha and Beta. If it comes through before we are ready, do what you can, but stay safe.
>Gamma: On my way.
>Beta: For the Empire!
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“Apollyon is doing what they can to hold the gate closed a little longer, but we won’t be able to buy much time this way, it’s too dangerous for our mana flow,” I said after closing the chat window.
“Ivan, sound the city alarm. We are probably going to need every fighter we have for this,” Pryte said with no sign of his usual excitement in his voice.
“Alex, I want you and William to get to Timon, and start heading away from the city center. Connie grab Rabyn and get to the gate. Maud find the brothers and Glorp and get them filled in on the way your way to join us for the defense,” I said as I stood up.
The room had been illuminated by several different people’s magical effects at this point, amplifying the unnerving fear we were all likely feeling. The city alarm was now going off loudly. While we had the idea in place for fighting invaders, we still weren’t really trained for it. Grant had done what he could with the Reltleons, most willing to join his defense force, but I didn’t know if it was going to be enough. We hadn’t beaten that thing before. We had only slowed it down while we escaped. Now we had to find a way to kill it.
“Elody, Yorela, go meet up with Grant, make sure he understands what we are about to fight,” I continued as I felt the dungeon core’s mana draw increase. “And we are out of time to prepare, everyone go now!”
Gamma hadn’t even reached them yet, and I could already feel Alpha and Beta fighting something. I ran from the room, not bothering to pull up the chat window for fear of distracting them. I wasn’t about to leave them there fighting alone.
I got outside just in time to see the building that housed the traveler’s gate explode in the moonlight. I spotted the cores in the flying rubble, both having managed to escape the destruction. Where the building used to be now stood the siren we had fought on the highways. It looked far angrier than it had before. Its gaze fell on me, and for a moment I felt it try to pierce into my mind the same way it had the last time.
“Absolutely not!” I roared in defiance as I charged it. I needed to buy as much time as I possibly could.
The real secret ingredient is a mixture of tree sap from the common rock pine with a molten iridium coin. Once you get that to the proper temperature, you can then mix in the space salt needed to help tenderize it. This is the legendary recipe for how the Celestial Hobo Faction freed themselves from their overlords. With each course, it is proper to recite a single phrase before beginning the feast. Eat the rich.
Dangerous, Secret, and Lost Foods by Tony Dainour
