White Flower, Black Feather

Interlude 10 – Second Choice

As Miriam was looking at the cave, the gods and the Guardian were waiting

“What would have happen if Miriam picked the other choice…?” when De asked that

“What…?” confusing her elder

“Your other choice…” she glared at him

The silence that followed, was filled with interest from all the instances reunited there

“I don’t know… she is impossible for me to predict, remember?”

“Then~ how about our jailer~?” she was smiling, but still glared at the Guardian present there “Can you figure it out~?”

They glanced at De for a moment

…

“Jailer…? I’m just waiting for an explosion to happen. If I were a jailer I would have stopped her outburst” one of their eyes stared at Lulu, but she crossed her arms and challenged that stare

The Guardian’s four moving eyes, stared at Miriam for a moment each, before one looked at Mordauntless, while the rest returned to look at different directions

“I suppose that I can try…” it would be an opportunity to relax the mood between the gods and themselves “Was she always supposed to born from those two?” Aufiea was the one to answer

“No, I was the one that suggested that, once she made her choice”

“I accepted, because giving her access to that affinity seemed… taking into account her personality, a good idea…”

“That was also a way to maintain that ‘Useful’ sword active…” the Guardian said “Or is ‘Convenient’ more appropriated in this case…?”

Aufiea grinned, while Mordauntless didn’t showed any emotion

“Assuming that she was born of the same woman, and circumstances… as a human?” Mordauntless nodded “Then I can’t see another outcome, other than her taking the Helper” the Guardian calculated “When did your plan was made?” they looked at the Triad

“When she got it by herself…” Ruby answered “I liked how… they… interacted, and agreed with it”

“Then I’ll assume that the plan would have occurred anyways” after a moment of silence they continued “The first big problem is… her early survival against the machinations of her father, but you already are protecting her siblings with those humans”

The Guardian looked at Aufiea and she nodded

“Currently only the women are visiting them, but with one more baby, I can see them dragging their husband there…” another moment of silence “I don’t see that necromancer complaining about it…” one of the eyes looked at the gods “Please tell me you have a good plan for dealing with those…”

Mordauntless nodded, but didn’t said anything

“Very well, returning to the topic… there is a ten percent chance for the father, being too scared to do anything, in this scenario”

“Assuming the same intervention from us?” De asked, honestly surprised at such a ridiculously high number, considering that both Ruby and her had tried to warn him and failed

“Correct. The only way to increase that number, would be for Miriam to have positive interactions with that human, but…” they didn’t needed to say anything else

Emerald rolled her eye, and the rest of the gods either chuckled, or, shook their heads. The gods all knew that Miriam killing him, was inevitable…

If Maxwell didn’t killed him for contacting with that group first…

“The wife would be another threat, but only if her growth were as absurd, as it is now”

“I would have told her to hide it” Aufiea offered

De turned towards her with a sad look on her ancient face

“Remember that she might not have done the things, that let us send her so many messages…” Aufiea begrudgingly nodded

“And I’m not taking Absorb into account” that comment, froze the gods “Even without it, the knowledge from Yvni would be enough, for her to be the focus of many others…” they gave the gods time to think after that

Onyx frowned, and used that time to use the information she had on Absorb, to calculate how a human would interact with it, but her data was incomplete… in multiple ways…

“Miriam hasn't eaten cooked food” and she informed the others, once the Guardian’s focus was back with them “We only know how Absorb has interacted with raw materials, so far… and…”

“Since she is planning to boil stuff, you’ll have that data soon” the Guardian said “But seeing how she acquired thumbs with just two blood samples, the answer seems obvious” Onyx grimaced at that and nodded

Miriam wasn't using Absorb at full power… they all knew that…

“Would the adaptation coming from Absorb, to the items that it gives to her, turn them into snake related items on this case?” Mordauntless asked while looking at the Triad

“Unknown…” Ruby answered, and Emerald lifted a finger, sending her information “Yes… Absorb wasn't active until she ‘Purchased’ it… and all the ‘Nails’ we have made…” she chuckled “She is ridiculous”

Emerald sent more information to her sisters

“Going back to her as a human. We would need to send messages to the temples if she get Absorb early on this example, but there is a dish on the cities that uses reptile meat…” Ruby started

“So, eating that, and her affinities, would be an explanation for reptilian characteristics on her…” Onyx continued, and the three of them exchanged more information with each other before-

““But as a human she would have a good chance to be closer to a chimera””

“A chimera that would have a seventy percent chance of being dysphoric, about the non-reptile and non-human related body parts on her body” the Guardian completed

And the gods were inclined to agree with that statement

“But assuming that even if humans aren’t pressuring her into purchasing Absorb, Brenna would made her unlock it” the Guardian said “Humans with affinities related to creatures, tend to become tamers, correct?” the Triad confirmed that “And I wouldn’t have allowed her soul to wait until Miriam was independent. It’s likely that she would have been given a pet lizard, and that Miriam would have used the food to feed both, this pet, and Brenna…”

The next moment of silence stretched for a whole minute, Mordauntless was listening and trying to produce his own predictions, but even if he was the strongest god of both worlds, the attempts left him tired…

“There is a sixty-five percent chance, that the wife would still get pregnant, to pretend that both of their houses are connected. With the intention of using this child’s sex, with either Miriam or her brother, to be brainwashed into producing an actual heir between the two houses”

Mentioning the ability of that woman made the gods angry. The loophole that she had found was too insidious, for them to warn the humans… they needed to wait until she made a mistake, or died on an accident… but she was level sixty, which complicated things…

And telling Miriam about it was out of the question… they didn’t wanted her to die trying to stop lady Arrow…

Or worse…

The Triad had already used a lot, of the little power they had left, to stop the System for generating support for her abilities… all what the gods could do, was wait and see with that situation …

“Taking that into consideration, I can calculate Miriam escaping the city with Brenna at five years old. Not to the forest, or to another city, but the glaciers to north make accurate calculations difficult”

“You can calculate five years into the future…?” De was surprised at that

“I’m just calculating what he…” one eye looked at Mordauntless “Should have been capable of doing”

That comment made De turn into an old woman in a mourning dress, while her brother patted her back

“That is assuming she was born as a girl…” they said that in a way that asked if her biological sex was intentional

“Not doing that would be cruel to her” Aufiea answered

…

[Simulation completed. 65% chance of improving relationship with present gods. 30% of no change. 5% others]

The Guardian finished thinking the most likely possibility after De’s jab. But instead of executing it, they moved their head to look on the direction of the planet they had on their focus, and keep quiet

“Something wrong…?” Mordauntless wasn't able to see that far away, or had an idea of what planet they were looking at, but interpreted the gesture as the Guardian calculated

“Nothing that requires my presence…” they looked at De again, while returning to their normal posture “Why do you ask…?”

“I’m bored~!” the baby pouted “And while Miriam is funny, the System doesn’t let me mess with her as much as I want~!”

“Do you actually want an answer?”

“Ugh…” the black dressed teenager rolled her eyes “Whatever…”

The room went back to the usual silence, as all of them waited…

To the Guardian, that was the best outcome. Once Miriam’s body exploded, they were going to kill at least four gods, the idea of improving relationship with any of them, was pointless…

[Probability of subject Miriam dying in the next 3 days: 100%]

[Cause of Death: 20% Nameless Fell Destroyer ‘Porkus’ – 80% Nameless Ruler of Death ‘Screeching Idiot’]

‘May you cross the mist to your next life without pain’ one of their eyes looked at Miriam’s soul ‘I really hope you can have a peaceful life this time…’