Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 3

Myrina seemed to sense my mood. She bumped my shoulder as soon as I was dressed and smiled at me.

“Guess what? We found one room over from here? Treasure!”

Seeing her grin from ear to ear made me smile too, and soon, we went off in search of this treasure. It was in the room Cyra and I planned to visit next. Had we visited it first, we probably would have bumped into Myrina, Reluna, and Mimiko on the way.

The treasury was loaded to the brim with ancient gold coins of unknown design. Myrina dove head first in the pile, sinking into it like going for a swim as she splashed it in all directions.

It was a lot of gold, but if that had been all I would have been disappointed. Gold was something I had plenty of.

But it seemed like these were a people after my own heart, since half their treasury was stocked full of metals far more exotic than gold. They were stamped and rolled into sheets, perfect for inscribing enchantments on. I spotted platinum and palladium among their number, along with a few magical metals like mythril, orichalcum, elysium, fairy-blessed iron, and adamantium. Besides them were some similarly exotic silks and woods I could experiment with.

Next to those were a few spell books. These were skill books, and so had been preserved through the ages thanks to the power of the System and the magic flowing through them. Reluna would appreciate those.

There was also a hefty collection of remains from powerful monsters, including cores, scales, horns, feathers, and lots of other bits and pieces. These people had been wiped out by the monsters plaguing their world, but they hadn’t gone down quietly. Mimiko would no doubt find a use for them.

Cyra went straight for the armory, which was the room next door. There were quite a few well-crafted weapons there, and when Myrina finished swimming through the piles of gold, she joined her sister in poking through the armory.

There was no need to spend long picking over what to bring since we planned on taking everything and sorting through it later. It took an hour to get it all tucked away into bags of holding, at which point we left the fortress behind, though not before I put up a big warning sign on the fortress.

“Let’s finish up with the golems, then meet back up with Herius. He should know how dangerous the sea monsters are on his new world,” I said.

“Dangerous for now! Just you wait, we’ll kick their asses sooner or later. Just like we did for the last one!” Myrina held her hand up for a high-five, which I obliged.

As I did so, I realized the back of my hand had some faint traces of dragon scales on them. Strange, I thought the potion of absolution had gotten rid of those things entirely and made me fully human again. Maybe the stress had brought them to the surface despite that.

As soon as I looked at the scales, they faded, and soon they vanished entirely. I shrugged, then joined the girls who were already off golem-wrangling. But the next time I saw either Ted or the Goddess in Jade, I'd have to ask them how effective that potion of absolution really was.

***

We spent a few hours finishing the task we’d actually come out here for, which was making sure the golems were working on the infrastructure that would support this planet’s population in the near term.

While we worked, a few ideas flowed through my mind. I let the girls work with the golems while I experimented with a few of the metals. A couple of them were radioactive, and with a bit of fiddling, I was certain I could cook up something deadly and poisonous.

When we reunited with Prince Herius, I had a proposal for him.

“You want to put this metal in the ocean?” Prince Herius said with a frown.

“To wipe out all aquatic life, yes.” I nodded.

“Our people will need fish to survive,” Prince Herius said.

That was when I told Prince Herius of all the horrific monsters in the ocean, and after a brief trip out to sea, where I made sure he also encountered a Tentacled Broodmaker, he soon agreed to help me exterminate all sea life. With his permission, we began poisoning the oceans with homemade plutonium.

It was an intensive process that would take several months to complete, but when we were done the monsters would hopefully drop dead. It was such an indirect way of killing that I doubted it would produce any experience points, but unless the monsters in the oceans were wiped out, nobody could hope to live along the coast.

From there, the colonization process seemed to go relatively smoothly. And thanks to all the people I had working for me, Kindling Architect levels were rolling in. Pretty soon, my job would catch up with my race and class. That was a big part of why I was staying here even though the battle had won. All the colonists' hard work translated into passive experience for me.

Farms, buildings, and cities went up slowly at first, then more rapidly later. Prince Herius made several trips to Glacia for hand tools, rations, and all the things I wasn’t making in my assembly lines. As more golems came online, our work progressed faster.

While we waited, I wrote home to Bridget and Sakura again and worked on my gear, all of which needed to be repaired after the battle. My staff, Doomseeker, was in especially bad shape and might need to be rebuilt entirely. Thankfully, I now had plenty of new exotic materials to play with.

Time passed quickly, as it often did when I was deeply engaged in a project. Before long, the people in Mucaria started running out of rations, and being cooped up with strangers was causing issues. Few of Prince Herius’ refugees spoke the same language or shared similar cultures, which caused no end of conflicts.

The Goddess in Jade’s group seemed to be the only batch of people getting along alright with one another. They were, however, making new converts at a ferocious rate. The fact that the Goddess in Jade had seen to her people’s safety while so many other gods or objects of worship on other worlds had done nothing was a hefty point in her favor. Separating them later on might be difficult, but I still very much planned to turn in this last batch of people for rewards.

Originally, I planned to stick around with Prince Herius and his people until this project was completed, but when I finally got another letter from home, I ended my trip early.

It was from Bridget, and it was short and simple.

Dear Carter,

I hope this letter finds you well. There are no urgent disasters, so no need to hurry back, but I am eager to see you again. I have something important to tell you. Also, I’m trying a few new things in the kitchen I’d like you to taste.

With love, Bridget.

I put the letter away, but it was too late. My stomach rumbled. Given I was a peak B-Grade, it wasn’t really possible for me to starve. Or if it was, it would take a long, long time without food.

I’d been on a prolonged fast to avoid taking food from the mouths of the refugees, who would die without it. Recently, the only thing I’d eaten was a few wild herbs I was testing for the locals to see if they were poisonous. I’d been able to ignore the feeling easily enough until the thought of Bridget’s home cooking crossed my mind.

It was a persistent mental tick that I knew wouldn’t go away for as long as I was thinking of a response to Bridget’s letter. The only thing that would cure it would be a trip back home.

So I set about doing just that.

***

Now that Ted, the God-King of Glacia, had moved this planet somewhere closer to civilization, the commute back home was fairly quick. A standard teleportation array could handle the jump to Glacia, which was on the other side of the solar system. From there, I took my usual route back to Themyscira, and then back to Crownhill.

The others stayed behind, Cyra especially. Getting her onto Crownhill might prove tricky now that she was B-Grade, but I was reasonably certain it could be done by opening a portal through Sanctum, my mystic realm. Once all my ladies were home, Crownhill’s forces would be stacked with powerful people. No matter what the other shards had in hiding, they wouldn’t stand a chance against us. And that was just how I liked things.

“Hey girls, I’m back!” I said as soon as I stepped off the teleportation array. They must have heard it activating because they were waiting for me when I materialized.

“Welcome home!” Bridget said, then wrapped me up in a tight embrace.

I responded by scooping her up into a carry and planting a kiss on her lips. She wrapped her legs around my back and arms around my shoulders. She smelled like freshly baked cookies and kitchen herbs, and I held her for a long moment. It probably would have been a few minutes, at least, if not for the fact that Sakura wanted the same treatment, and I happily obliged.

I took the two of them under either arm, one on my left and the other on my right. Sakura filled me in on what had been happening in town, while Bridget told me what had been happening around the house and about her latest kitchen experiments.

“Those army guys still haven’t tried anything? You’re certain?” I asked Sakura.

Sakura poked me in the nose. “You’re a paranoid guy sometimes. No Carter, they haven’t tried anything. In fact, they’ve mostly kept to themselves.”

“Still, that bothers me on its own. I expected them to try to take over or something.”

I shook my head. I’d probably have felt a lot better if I’d returned home to find General Marshall and his men holding the town hostage and declaring it a military dictatorship. That, at least, would be easy to solve in just a few hours of throwing spells. But I couldn't exactly wipe them out if they hadn't done anything wrong.

I let them lead me around while we talked. Bridget showed me her herb garden, which seemed extremely lush. The fact that it was outside of Mimiko’s bedroom probably helped since I had concentrated so much ambient mana there.

Eventually, Bridget heard my stomach rumble again, and she brought me in for dinner. She had quite a bit in the oven already, though she hadn’t known I’d be returning. Now that I was here, she threw in even more and turned our little reunion into something of a feast. I knew I was always eating good when Bridget was cooking, but tonight seemed oddly intense for some reason.

Sakura and I were in the middle of talking about how best to organize the workers currently colonizing a planet for Prince Herius when Bridget abruptly changed the subject.

“Carter, remember back after that big battle outside of Valkyrie’s Watch when we talked about having kids?” Bridget asked.

“I remember. And I remember you said you wanted some. It’s a worthy goal, and once the integration is done and things are stable, we’ll talk about it again,” I said, nodding along.

“About that...” Bridget looked suddenly embarrassed.

A strange tingle ran up my spine. It was that instinctual nervousness that came from my fate bloodline, though I wasn’t sure what it could be. Out of instinct, I cut another slice from the pie Bridget had cooked.

“Oh, by the way, this stuff is really great! Well done as always, Bridget.” I scooped off another slice for myself, then right after, cut one for Sakura.

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly have another slice...” Sakura said, though even as she spoke, she was already in the middle of scooping it up with her fork.

“This is important.” Bridget said, and that nervous feeling I had increased.

I stood abruptly and started stacking up dirty plates.

“I’ll take care of the dishes, don’t worry!” I stacked up plates and cups like I was about to go to the kitchen, though I’m pretty sure everyone knew I could clean all these in a heartbeat with a spell and a bit of telekinesis.

“Carter,” Bridget said with a heavy tone. I wasn’t certain I hadn’t ever heard from her before. “This is important.”

I put the plates down, though I already had a hunch at what she was going to say.

“Carter, I’m pregnant,” Bridget said.

She stood, wringing her fingers together as she awaited my response. And I planned to give it to her.

Later.

To her eyes, I vanished into the shadow realm.

***

I stayed in the shadow realm for longer than was probably safe. When I emerged, I was deep in the wilderness outside of Crownhill.

I stumbled across several monsters. One was a big tiger-looking thing. Another was some sort of snake. Both died to a sudden barrage of spells without me paying much attention.

I wished they’d been stronger. Maybe then they could have taken my mind off things. As it was, far too many thoughts were running through my head.

Did I want to be a father? Truthfully, yes. It sounded like a good idea. Just one I planned to explore a long, long time in the future.

It was one of those projects that I thought I’d get to put off again and again. Like buying an antique car and fixing it up. Or building that unique keyboard design I’d had back in college.

It was never something I was going to do tomorrow, or even next month or next year. Just on the distant horizon. The sort of thing I’d get to when I stopped looking in the mirror and seeing a kid in way over his head and started seeing the grown man other people seemed to think I was.

Hell, I’d turned down being king and emperor more than once, all because I didn’t want the responsibility. But thinking back, I’d rather have either of those titles than have someone call me father.

The worst I could do as a ruler was collapse a nation and be chased out with pitchforks and torches. Messing up as a father would be far worse.

Maybe things would feel different if my parents were still alive. Maybe I could have turned to them for guidance. At the very least, talking to my own father man-to-man might have cleared some things up. But they’d died when I was barely an adult, and I was all alone.

I tried to distract myself, or at least calm the frantic beating of my heart. I got started on turning that dragon bone into a proper sword. I did more work bringing my Doomblade Armor up to par with my current abilities. When that wasn't enough, I drew up new designs for my Mark Three power armor.

And most of all, I carved a swath of destruction across the wilderness a mile wide and five hundred miles long. The sound of spells detonating across the wilderness could probably be heard all the way back in Crownhill.

But the world waits for no man, and this wasn’t the sort of problem I could fight my way out of. By the time I circled back around to return home, I realized things were already out of my hands.

I returned to find the lights still on in the castle, though it was nighttime outside. Sakura had gone to bed, but Bridget was sitting by the fireplace. She had a book in her hands, but it lay open on her lap, hardly past the first page as she rolled back and forth on a rocking chair I didn’t remember ever building or buying. It was a big, plush thing, like the sort a mother might use to help rock a baby to sleep.

I slid the door open with a quiet creek. Bridget’s eyes immediately locked on mine, and I hated how nervous she looked.

I instantly felt like an arse for running off as I had. In the future, I would be better, not for her, but for whoever else might come along.

“Hi.” My words failed me. I’d just been here hours ago, but now I felt like I was returning from a years-long trip.

“You came back.” Bridget’s lips creased up in a forced smile.

“I... uh... bought some groceries. I know you like that magic milk they make on Glacia.”

Truthfully, I’d done my grocery shopping before returning, but I’d kept it all in a bag of holding until now for lack of time to move it into the refrigerator. Milk was something I needed to pick up on other worlds since Crownhill didn’t have any cows, and a lot of Bridget’s recipes called for it.

Bridget set her book aside and stood, joining me in the kitchen as we unloaded my bags of holding together in silence.

Eventually, she broke the tension with an admission.

“It wasn’t random chance. I deactivated the System’s anti-pregnancy toggle. I know you didn’t want me to, but I did it anyway. I’m sorry.”

Bridget wrung her hands, wetness in the corners of her eyes. Seeing her about to cry kindled similar feelings in my own eyes and heart.

I grabbed both her hands in one of mine and held them. When that wasn’t enough, I dropped the pitcher of expensive Glacian milk on the floor, where it shattered and spilled. With my newly freed hand, I wrapped Bridget up in a tight embrace.

“I should have listened to you better. You told me you wanted this, but I kept putting it off. This is earlier than I expected, but I’m told you’re never ready for something like this.” I held her, and she sniffled in my arms.

“S-so, we’re keeping him?” Bridget asked.

I pinched her cheek. “Yes, Bridget. I promise to be the best dad I can be.”

I turned, though I still held Bridget with one arm. I used telekinesis to clean the kitchen floor. Luckily, I’d bought more than one pitcher of the fancy magical milk, so there was no need to cry over what I’d spilled. I wasn’t sure I could handle any of Bridget’s tears right now.

Eventually, we made our way back to the living room, where I picked up the book Bridget had been reading. It was a guide on setting up a nursery. The first page was filled with baby names, with a dozen already either crossed out or highlighted.

I sat down and settled Bridget into my lap while I leafed through the pages. I pointed to the first name Bridget had highlighted. “That one sounds nice.”

<Note>

Alright, so I lied about having a few more chapters on Prince Herius' colony world. I was working on those all week and they just didn't feel right. After a bit of introspection and analysis, I realized they felt wrong because they weren't really adding anything to the story. Going through them, honestly, they were filler, so I'm chopping them and jumping right into the main plot. The second half of this is what I consider to be the real first scene.

There is still some stuff I want to do elsewhere, namely a conversation with Ted and one with the Goddess in Jade, but what I was writing didn't seem to be leading to that, so I'll just have to cover both those later.

Still no schedule yet, unfortunately. Things are going slower than I'd like, but hopefully I can reach previous speeds sometime next month.