Master of Time

Antigone hasn\'t really done anything to warrant any form of ill-treatments from me.

And from what I understand from my clone and the life that he had lived for thousands of years, Adria was a relatively normal baby girl before her brain develops sufficiently enough to comprehend all that foreign memories and advance knowledges.

When Adria finally becomes aware of what and who she is, her demeanor changes greatly, frightening her mother more than a little with her newfound maturity and mannerism.

My clone truly believes that what happened to Adria is because of the will of the Ori, and it didn\'t help when Adria basically lies to him and tells him that she is the Orici, meaning that she is the Child of the Ori. It is all part of the fiction that I built into his mind.

I brainwashed my clone into thinking the Ori is real and all powerful. It is to make sure that he doesn\'t become one of those megalomaniacs. Without everything I know and have been through, I am certain that my clone would play God.

I certainly will if the chance presents itself.

In any case, Adria never considered my clone as her real father, as I am the only father that she has. I suppose that is true, and if I was my clone… I mean to say if I didn\'t let my clone takes over the job of ensuring the future and prosperity of the human race, things would have turned out a lot differently.

Not only that, a lot of people would have been killed outright because I don\'t compromise on anything, especially things that I am more than certain will not work out in the long run.

And what happened to humanity of that reality in the end just tells me to abolish every country in the world and unify all religions into one without giving any compromises. The religion part is new to me, as it never plays that much of a role in the violent destruction of mankind in the 31st century.

It does play some role, as people always question the morality of their actions, especially when it sends million of people to their deaths. It is natural for a human to ponder such implication. All life would, I believe.

While there are no Holy Wars in the future of the prime-reality asides from the crusades of extinction against alien species due to xenophobia, it didn\'t mean there won\'t be any forever, as demonstrated by the alternate reality.

It is really a bad idea to introduce a major religion such as Origin into the modern world. Doing so only brings forth many unforeseeable consequences.

Honestly, despite worshipping the same God, Christianity and Islam do not play well together. Adding Origin into the mix, you get yourself some sort of holy shitstorm that is just waiting to happen. It does happen sooner or latter despite my clone being there as the prophet of the Ori.

Sadly, my clone couldn\'t dissuade the masses because his power and ability are based solely on science instead magic. But even if I give him magical powers, I don\'t think it would make that much different in the end.

Fanatics are called fanatics because they aren\'t willing to listen to reasons. It is good when those kinds of crazies are on my side but fucking annoying when they are against me.

Actually, scratch that. They are also generally fucking annoying.

Origin did fractures into multiple branches over time, and despite my clone\'s effort of reunification, it isn\'t possible due to the fanaticism of the leaderships.

I could feel the frustration my clone had felt in the memory.

How fucking annoying, but I suppose I will have to do something about religion and making sure none will emerge afterwards.

I never did pay any attention to religion since it was never a problem, not even in the Galactic Empire timeline. This is because a thousand or so years is too short. Religion only become a problem in tens of thousands of years, especially when everyone has their own interpretation because God is not really around to tell them otherwise.

I was not around to fortify Origin as the Ori.

Woops.

But what\'s done is done.

In the end, my clone chooses my mother over the world and just lets it heads towards its ends. I think I would have done the same in his stead.

Yes. I rather watch the world burns to ashes than to alienate those who are important to me, especially when they love me with all their body, mind and soul.

Sounds super cheesy, and how could you love anyone that much?

There is a reason why marriage vows are for until death, but then death really means nothing to those who transcends the mortal realm.

Adria has transcended with my help.

"Would you also do the same if you are Adria, Antigone?"

I question as I poke my daughter\'s cheek again, making her slowly open her eyes.

Antigone blinks several times before turning around to look up at me. Instead of crying like she always does when being awoken abruptly, she giggles while her tiny arms reach upwards and towards me.

Her tiny legs too, jerkily.

Her small palms open and close, demanding me to pick her up for a warm hug.

It seems that Antigone fully comprehends the question, but she is unable to express her answer vocally or similar. She could only do so through what she can do as a baby.

I have half a mind to age her, so she could speak to me normally, but I stop myself. I want her to grow normally and have a proper childhood with a loving father like I never did.

And as much as I want to take her into my arms because she is so damn cute, I am refusing to because I am relatively sure that she is only acting cute.

I narrow my eyes suspiciously at Antigone, matching her gaze and entering a staring contest.

Unfortunately, I lost the moment when tears begin to pool in her crystal-clear eyes. Her lips trembles as she starts to pout.

Shit.

If it is all an act, it is damn convincing.

Or maybe I just have a really soft spot for my daughter. This is usually what happens when you spend so much time with a person. I guess that my heart isn\'t made of ice after all.

And before Antigone actually cries, I pick her up and hug her tightly like I always have before.

"Alright, Anti, you win this round, but just you wait, daddy will not give in so easily when you are a bit older, huh."

I make a vow to Antigone, who narrows her eyes ever so slightly at me, as if she is challenging me. She then sucks onto one of my ears, trying to nibble it without any teeth.

And I just smile at that.

Damn, she is cute, but then again, babies are always cute.

I immediately lift Antigone up above my head and give her a spin, making her gurgles with joy. I then take her into my arms once more before heading out of the room.

It will be morning soon, and Antigone has a date with her grandmother.

As I enter the living room with my daughter, Legion tells me that he is unable to download Antigone\'s memory. Not unable to, but rather it is blank.

I have thought so, but I have Legion checked to make sure.

Legion did spend about a million years perfecting the mind-reading technology.

It isn\'t the only thing that I have the virtual intelligence works on during all that time.

I did fear that Legion becomes self-aware while I am not around, and it really gave me a scare when I saw the state of the solar system with metal constructs everywhere.

Even planets and moons are turned into metal worlds.

Luckily, to become an artificial intelligence requires a bit of human ingenuity. Machines cannot simply become artificial intelligence over time by themselves.

Of course, the more Legion knows, the more smarter Legion is, but that just make him a highly advance virtual intelligence instead of a real artificial intelligence let alone a cybernetic lifeform.

Legion still cannot think outside the box as he is now.

Despite the advancements in mind-reading technology, Legion still couldn\'t read Adria\'s mind for the same reason as Antigone.

It seems that Antigone has already achieve separations of mind, body and soul.

Did she cultivate when I am not around? That seems implausible.

She would be genius amongst geniuses otherwise.

It is more likely that her mind, body and soul have already been separated from the moment she was born, being the Avatar of Time after all.

I am calling all my real children that, considering without my approval or acknowledgement, they will not be able to become the aspect of time.

Not the Aspect of Time, but just an aspect of time.

"Are you going to leave daddy as well when you grow up, Anti?"

I question as I take a seat on the couch. I really don\'t want to say farewell to another child of mine if I can help it, but it is hard with the all of reality at stake.

Antigone responses to my question by patting me lightly while giggling. She then tries to climb up onto my shoulder, which she manages to do after a while.

She then sits on my shoulders, bouncing and having fun while grabbing hold of my hair for support.

I just chuckle at that before turning on the television to catch the morning news. I pay some attention to that while thinking about recalling all Hydra teams off world.

Honestly, if I continue to explore the multiverse, I am certain that I will have to say goodbye to another child of mine. I rather not do that since it is quite painful deep inside.

Even though I do not know Adria personally since I was never there, seeing her grows up, but knowing that she sacrifices her freedom for me makes me care for her than most people.

Having said that, I actually need to continue exploring the multiverse and figuring out ways to defend myself against all of those threats out there.

While I do enjoy being a big fish in a small pond, rains will eventually come, disturbing the small pond that is the prime-reality. Then the floods, depositing sharks.

What should I do?

I make up my mind when Antigone stumbles off my shoulders and into my waiting arms while giggling playfully. She then tries to climb up my body and back onto my shoulder, but I stop her since it is time to eat.

A can of baby food appears in my hands, taken straight out of the spatial dimension. Having a storage ring feels super handy for such things, especially when within that storage ring is a massive fabricator, capable of fabricating any kind of foods that I ever want.

And If I ever run out of raw materials, the basic elements that makes up the universe, I could duplicate them with my power. Foods or materialistic things are never a problem to me.

In fact, I have everything that I have ever needed at my fingertips, whether it is things or pleasures.

If I don\'t, I will have it soon enough.

It is only the matter of time.

But I fully understand the under lying issue of having everything. This issue is clearly demonstrated by the people of the alternate-reality.

It appears that when people have everything that they ever needed to live in completely comfort, they have nothing.

And more than that, they are not really living.

This dilemma extends to goals and achievements. Achieving a goal will lead to instability, where as the state of striving towards that goal lead to stability.

This is because once you achieve all your goals in life, you will naturally become directionless, swaying towards chaos and self-destruction.

And that is a paradox.

In effect, having a goal actually makes me continues onwards, striving for it. But I do fear the day when I have accomplished all of my goals.

In any case, that day will be a very long way away since it is not exact science to make people do what I want them to do without stripping away their freewill.

"Selene. Recall all Hydra teams and scrap all scouting missions. Establish new priorities."

I then outline new priorities regarding the reality beyond the temporal rifts. All scouting should be left to the drones now.

There is no need for any Hydra members to sacrifice themselves pointlessly, especially when there are some power individuals like Zeus and Zephyr running around the multiverse.

Speaking of Zeus and Zephyr, I probably need a place for them to stay.

They cannot really stay in the spatial dimension forever.

And I think I have just the right place for them. I am sure they both can handle a bit of haunting, with one of them being a God after all. They might even give me some insights into the supernatural stuff.

But before that, I have a date with Allison at the hospital.

Once Antigone finishes eating, I give her a bath and then take her to the Connors next door to basically dump her there.

Mrs. Connors is still there despite winning the lottery. She obviously hasn\'t mention anything about it to the family, considering it is a normal Sunday morning for everyone.

I chat to everyone, especially to my little mother. It isn\'t weird at all talking to my mother considering I bang her in another reality.

Yup. Totally not weird at all.

Alright. It is fucking weird, and I couldn\'t help but remember that moment whenever I see Stephanie. I will eventually get over it.

And when I return home, I take the car out for a drive to pick up Allison at the apartment. Since she is in California and I am in New York, it will be one hell of a long drive.

Or I could teleport there with my car. I will do that after having a long leisure drive, but I didn\'t expect getting T-bone by four-wheel vehicle at the emptied fourways intersection.

And I was having such a nice day too.

"Fuck! That asshole just comes out of nowhere!"

The teenager shouts when my car goes spinning out of control due to the impact.

The curb eventually stops the momentum.

I exhale deeply before exiting my smashed sedan and then look at the four teenagers inside their four-wheel drive.

I smile faintly at them on my approach.

"I think we suppose to exchange insurance information now, but from your ages, I don\'t think any of you have a license."

They immediately reverse their vehicle trying to get away, as expected.

"Fucking teenagers. Mind bringing them back here to have a little chat, Legion? Don\'t worry about any witnesses, no one will remember anything anyway."

My smashed car behind me immediately morphs into a titanic red and blue robot to give chase, shattering the pavement with each step.

I chuckle at the terror on their faces, seeing a real-life Transformer grabs their car and lift it high above the sky.

"Oh my god! What the hell is that thing!?"

The teenagers scream in fear within their vehicle, not getting the reference.

Oh wait. Transformer isn\'t out yet.

"I am Legion."

Pratically Optimus Prime responses and sends their car flying.