He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Six - Time Gives And Takes Away

Yang had returned with him, morphing into his bulbous shape and floating off listlessly as he came to report to the Master. Aidan followed him after a moment and noticed that the Master had his chessboard ready. Aidan endulged him one game. He still lost, but... was he becoming so used to the white of this space that he was beginning to differentiate between the white pieces that were meant to be white and the white pieces that were meant to be black? He shook his head and waited for the Master to prepare another game.

Although it may have been years passing in the world that Owen resided in, Adam felt like only a few days had past. That was more than enough as far as he was concerned, but he tried to fill his time by reading the books upon the Master's white shelves. He had picked one at random and studied farming techniques for a while, before yawning and switching to a book on first aid. He couldn't say that he learned much from either book, studying was never really his strong point, but it killed some time until the small body of Kyan suddenly appeared upon the floor nearby.

Barely being able to contain himself, he gathered the boy into his arms and kissed him soundly on the face several times. Kyan gave a small giggle, which melted his heart even more than normal. He'd never heard the cute chiming sound from his love's true form before. "I missed you," Aidan told him.

"I missed you too," Kyan smiled and blushed as Aidan stared at him intently. He was much shyer in this form, Aidan wasn't sure why as some of his other selves had been so much bolder and more brash. To be honest, Aidan liked this side of him as well, he loved everyone he had been and believed he would love everyone that Kyan would become.

"So did Lily Ann succumb to her husband's wishes," Aidan asked, "and bare him children?" He knew the girl had regretted not getting pregnant before one of her fathers passed away, but he also knew that she had not been ready. He had tried to reassure her that he would rather she be happy than force herself, just so he could once see his grandchild, but he suspected she still wondered whether she had done the right thing.

Owen nodded. "Two grandsons, Adam and Charles." The later had been named after their son-in-law's father. "Naturally, very cute and grew up to be very handsome. I saw Adam get wed, but I was terribly lonely, couldn't live without you any longer to see Charles chose a partner."

"I wish I could have seen them," Aidan sighed and buried his head into Kyan's neck.

"Yin will show you," the small black ball hovered before them before zipping over to the large screen. Aidan and Kyan followed curiously only to watch as images flickered in screen of two cute, chubby boys with their mother and father. They grew up in small shots before his eyes and Aidan watched as Adam said his vows to a cute brunette, who blushed the colour of a rose as he kissed her.

"Thank you," Aidan said to Yin with a slightly cracked voice.

"You are welcome."

*****

"It is a shame that the System got away," the Master said with a slight grumble. "But the female is safe and sound in her physical body."

"What should we do?" Kyan asked. "How can we stop it?"

"You can't for now," the Master mused. "Especially as it has gone into hiding. Yin cannot find trace of it, so clearly it is... how do you put it...? Laying low." The Master did not seem to concerned about it, more interested in setting up the pieces of a shogi board. Naturally, Aidan had to squint to see the carvings on the all white pieces as the etches were not coloured in.

"Can I ask," Aidan said, suddenly. "How come you did not ask us to stop the protagonists from coming together?" This had been his mission in many earlier worlds as part of protecting Kyan.

The Master did not look up, but there seemed to be a hint of colour on his pale face. "Ah that," the Master said.

"The Master noticed that when a Golden Child or something else brought major change to a file, the corruption ceased," Yang interrupted.

"But we do not know why," Yin added, abruptly.

"It will be discovered," the Master told the two spheres. "We have also learnt that if we create copies of the files, the copied creation has no sentient data. Thus there is no longer a reason to prevent the files containing sentient data from evolving and preventing destructive corruption."

"What about our last world?" Kyan asked him. "If the golden child program was not activated, will it not be at risk of corruption?" Naturally he was worried for his daughter and her offspring. They might no longer be able to be a part of their lives, but it did not stop them from caring.

"The corruption had actually already affected that world briefly," Yin told them. "Two sets of protagonists were born instead of one in your generation. The others were Jordan Potter and Alexandria Hamilton."

"Ah, did they not have a daughter, who managed to write a best selling novel?" Adam mentioned.

Kyan chuckled. "Actually, she wrote three in the end," he told him. Although it was only three, each one had the potential of becoming a major classic of their time. They perhaps would only create small waves of change, but if her words were sufficient to stabilise the world, what did it matter?

"Quite. Her life successfully altered the world and the corruption of the file ceased," the Master informed them.

"Still, what do we do now," Kyan mused, moving a shogi piece and challenging the Master. "I am not used to sitting around too long."

"Well there is one thing," the Master told them. "We've located a couple of old friends of yours."

"What do you mean?" Aidan asked. The Master simply smiled.

Author's notes; Okay, this story will take a very short break. It will recommence next week. In the meantime "Learning to Be a Cultivator" will have it's usual two updates (just two chapters this week, the Friday double updates were because those chapters were very short). Plus "The Omega is a Novelist" will be updated on Saturday.  Definitely look forward to it! I also have a short chapter for my YA book "Hell's Game" will be released Sunday. TTFN!