With all the necessary meetings out of the way, and the Blood Ancestor's arrival taking longer than expected, Arthur was left with nothing to do for the first time in months. Since the System's arrival, it had just been one crisis after another, a constant battle for survival, hiding his identity, fixing his soul, and now, after months of struggle, he was finally free to simply exist as The Perfect Homunculus.

  Yes, he’d had to make concessions, and people would argue that he wasn’t truly free, but Arthur was happy with what he’d managed to achieve. He recalled a quote he’d heard a long time ago, something about true freedom being impossible, so long as you continued to care about things, be it people, a place, or the rule of law. Now, Arthur didn't much care about what people said he could or couldn’t do, but so long as he continued to care about Earth, about certain people within it, he realised he would never be entirely free.

  It was a realisation he found he was perfectly fine with. Arthur shook his head in amusement. The first bit of free time he’d gotten in months, and it made him philosophical. There were several things Arthur could have been doing right now, working on his magic, improving his alchemy, strategising for his upcoming battles, but for once, he wanted to take a step back and relax. Iris said the voidling hunt coming up in two days would be fun; she’d gotten them hired as a scout and secondary tanker, respectively, positions that shouldn’t demand too much out of them, but would still require a little fighting.

  Until then, Arthur just wanted to rest.

  Iris had wandered off with Ayesha somewhere, which didn’t leave him much in the way of company. Alyssia was great, but her personality didn’t match well with the relaxation he had in mind. That just left one person, and Arthur had been planning to spend some time with her. Arthur walked out of his office, the room reverting back to a bedroom the second the door closed and tracked Gaia down.

  True to his predictions, the Avatar of Earth was hanging out with the Queen of Crows. She’d taken to the terrifying guardian like a fish to water, and it seemed she had no problem with the fact that her new friend didn’t speak. Gaia had more than enough words for both of them. Arthur walked into her playroom, his presence immediately disrupting whatever game she’d been involved in.

  Gaia stood up, dusting off… was that sand all over her dress? How the hell did she manage to get sand on her clothes? On second thought, The House of the End could take on the properties of whatever its inhabitants wanted and could be as large as it needed to be. It dawned on Arthur that giving a five-year-old girl unfettered access to such power probably wasn’t the smartest idea in the world, irrespective of the fact that she was the world in question. Imagine if she'd summoned lava instead.

  Gaia tried to hide something behind her back and then huffed in displeasure when the octopus made from blood dissolved in her hands. Arthur chuckled. As if anyone could hide something from him while inside his Soul Splinter. Okay, scratch that. A guy with a mythical stealth skill probably could. I'm not trying to tempt fate. Please don't fuck me over.

  “I’m gonna head out for a bit,” Arthur said, interrupting Gaia’s scolding of the blood crow. “Do you want to come along?”

  Gaia bounded over to him, all thoughts of her friend's betrayal forgotten. She nodded enthusiastically before her tongue managed to catch up with the rest of her. “Yeah, I wanna go. Where are we going?”

  Arthur shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. Wherever the winds take us, I guess.” With anyone else, Arthur would have cringed at saying such a line, but the greatest thing about kids was that you could say the darndest things without them calling you weird.

  Gaia frowned. “You’re too heavy for the wind to take you anywhere, though,” she said, bursting his bubble. “Should we take a car instead. Auntie Alyssia said we could take a car next time we went out. Please, please, please.”

  “I don’t think your auntie knows how to drive,” Arthur replied, “and I’m not very good at it either. We’re gonna go for a walk first, and if we want to go really far, Wovan will teleport us.”

  Gaia pouted and kicked a small pebble that suddenly appeared for that express purpose. “Boring,” she mumbled.

  Arthur felt a wave of nostalgia rush through him as he remembered Rize. She'd been exactly the same at her age, always finding fault with whatever Arthur considered fun. As much as he didn’t want to draw parallels between the two of them—they were entirely different people—their eerily similar appearances made that almost impossible.

  Arthur swallowed the lump in his throat. “C’mon, Gaia. I promise we’ll have fun.”

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  The girl followed him out of the house, though with far less enthusiasm than she’d initially displayed. There was only a sliver of sun left in the sky, but the low light wasn’t a problem for either of them. Arthur pulled the Faceless Mask out of his storage space. Using his ring to create his Soul Splinter had the wonderful effect of incorporating its storage functions into his house. He kept all of the benefits and now had a free ring slot for a new soulbound item.

  Arthur hadn't used the epic mask for almost three weeks now, but it was essential if he wanted some peace in public. His face had been plastered across every screen on the planet and beyond, and though the bounty on his head had been removed, he doubted that would stop unscrupulous bastards from going after him. Arthur adopted the disguise he’d used in England and summoned a mirror to see Aaron White's face looking back at him.

  Gaia didn't comment on his disguise; she didn't even seem to register that he'd applied one at all. "So where are we going then?" she asked.

  "It's a surprise," Arthur said.

  Wovan teleported them past the throngs of people swarming outside his Territory and deposited them a few minutes' walk away from their destination. It was getting late in the evening, though the crowds of people still rushing about revealed one of the changes the System's descent had brought about. With ether-reinforced bodies and higher stats, people didn't need to rest as much, and that was reflected in the sleepless society most of humanity had become.

  A few people started at their sudden appearance, but they just went on with their day. Space mages were rare, but the System store meant such displacements were far more common than they should have been. Arthur navigated through the familiar streets, keeping a firm grip on Gaia's hand to ensure she wasn't left behind. A few of the surrounding houses looked like they'd been rebuilt recently, but for the most part, everything was exactly as he remembered it.

  Arthur had checked the System bulletin before coming here, but he sighed in relief when he saw the familiar entrance in the distance. Althea's Theme Park was still in operation. He joined the line at the ticket booth, even as Gaia began to jump up and down beside him.

  "A theme park!" She squealed. "You should have told me we're going to a theme park.

  Arthur grinned at the girl's excitement. "Telling you would have ruined the surprise."

  People were looking at them a little strangely. Gaia's antics tended to draw attention, and while the System had changed things, it was a little strange to see such a young child entering a theme park so late in the evening. Normal kids didn't have the stats to forgo sleep. Arthur ruffled Gaia's hair, just as he'd used to do to Rize's, and was surprised when the Avatar didn't throw his hand off.

  The queue thankfully wasn't too long, and before he knew it, he was standing before a ticket booth. The girl behind the counter gave them a small smile. Susan, her name tag read.

  "Can we please get tickets for two, please, Susan?" Arthur asked. "A family deal if you offer them, for my sister and me."

  "Is this your first time coming here?" Susan asked.

  "Our first time since the System's arrival. I used to be a regular before the world went crazy."

  "In that case, I'm going to have to give you a small introduction. We've partnered with an alien franchise, so the whole park has had a makeover. It's been spatially expanded to be far larger than it's supposed to be, and rides have been segregated depending on your stats. Our craziest rides will cater to those who have over 1,000 constitution, though I sincerely doubt you'll be going on those tonight."

  "Since it's after 9pm, our little miss over here will have to wear some magical contacts. The 18+ fun comes out after dark, and these lenses will make sure everything she sees is family-friendly."

  Gaia tugged at his hand. "What's 18+ fun.

  "Nothing you have to worry about," Arthur replied. "Is that everything?" he asked Susan.

  "Yeah, that's basically it. Just make sure you have fun and stay safe."

  Arthur purchased the tickets, which cost an eye-watering 2,000 credits each. He was a wealthy man, but that was almost enough to buy some enchanted common rank equipment. Turned out theme parks cost a premium in the post-system world. They walked over to a teleportation pad with their tickets in hand, which instantly teleported them into the theme park.

  It was an extravagant waste of magic, but when you were charging 2,000 credits a ticket, you had the money to burn. The theme park was entirely different from what he remembered, though many of the rides had kept the same names. Arthur instantly understood why Gaia needed the special contacts. There was a lot of semi-nudity on display, and some of the rides were very clearly linked to certain fetishes. Besides that, though, everything else was completely fine.

  Arthur took Gaia to one of the slower rides first, just to give her a taste of things. There was no queuing for the ride, and they practically had the entire thing to themselves. Compared to what Arthur's body was capable of now, the rollercoaster was practically moving in slow motion. Gaia still screamed with joy for every second of it. Arthur decided there and then that sound was worth all the shitty rides in the world.

  Over the course of the next few hours, they progressively worked their way up through the harsher rides, avoiding anything that involved any ghosts or jump scares. With magic in the mix, Arthur wasn't sure if the special effects were fake or not. By the time it was midnight, Gaia was well and truly knackered, and he was forced to carry her around. She insisted that they carry on going on more rides, but by the time they reached the next one, she'd fallen fast asleep.

  Arthur sat down on a bench and looked up at the night sky. The stars were especially bright, and his perception let him see a slight variance in colour between each one. Somewhere out there, the Lich Queen was conquering more land, the Weaver was plotting her next nefarious plan, and The Council was doing its best job at being useless. Who knows what lies on the horizon?

  For tonight, though, Arthur Ward got to be an older brother once more.

  Links to the audiobooks.

  Etherious: Originator

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  Here

  Here

  Here

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