Universe's End

Chapter 201: Daughter of Design

Sometimes, time passing in the blink of an eye was a blessing. Spending decades exploring with Zoey, time feeling almost incorporeal, had been a boon because the entire adventure had remained exciting.

But being a parent?

That shit was hard. One moment, your kid is running around, all happy, cheerily clinging to "Dad," and just being a regular old child.

The next thing you know, they're eighteen, or about to turn eighteen, and you're left pacing in the kitchen, wondering where all the time went.

That was precisely what Rory was doing.

"Where did all the time go?" Rory muttered, arms crossed.

Seven years. Seven years since tier eight, but more importantly, eight years since he'd first found Roxy.

Oh sure, lots of other important stuff had happened, Rory supposed. Ehkorrus had continued to expand; their walls had been entirely transformed thanks to Tsarina, and things in general looked good.

But all of that paled to the fact that Roxy was turning eighteen.

Okay, well, Apostolos and Violet welcoming in another child was probably also up there as well.

Had it not been for Roxy, Rory would have left Ehkorrus quite some time ago, just as bored as when he'd first left off the back of tier seven, but fortunately, with a kid around, that hadn't been the case.

Holding up a small picture, made using a clever application of light magic, Rory found his eyes fluttering, forcing himself to wipe them.

Dust. I swear.

It was a picture of him and Roxy, just after her thirteenth birthday, her third 'birthday' since she'd been with Rory. She was giggling in the picture as he'd been purposely dressed up like a clown, something quite novel in Ehkorrus, given clowns didn't exist anymore. Seeing the smile on her face, Rory felt his eyes twitch and water some more.

Since when was this room so dusty!

Her horns had only just started really developing further at that point, the looming sign that dreaded puberty was beginning.

Or whatever the Sensen equivalent was.

"Dad?" A voice called from up the stairs.

"Yeah?" Rory called out.

"Do we have to go to this stupid thing?"

"Not my idea," Rory sighed. "Birthday for the birthday girl, it was Apostolos's idea."

"Yeah, but Uncle Apostolos is always like this," The voice groaned. "I just think it's a bit excessive. No one else gets a citywide party."

"Not my idea," Rory laughed.

"Ugh," Roxy groaned as she finally made her appearance, making her way down the stairs.

Stupid dust, I am not tearing up!

Long gone was the little girl he'd first found. Standing before him was the proud woman his daughter had become. Standing as tall as he, technically taller if you counted her horns, which she made a point always to do, it was the horns atop her head that had seen the most change. Whereas when she was young, they had a relatively straight appearance, like the antlers of an oryx, they'd since thickened and scaled over, with a slight bend. It was less the appearance of the antlers of the prey animals of Africa, and now far closer to the fantastical horns found in draconic fantasy. It was her ram horns framing the side of her head that had, at the very least, remained the same.

Rory was at least a little relieved at the changes to her upper horns, alongside her mismatched eyes. As much as he'd racked his brain, Rory could find no memory of a Sensen with horns quite like hers or with the same heterochromatic eyes.

Which still left the question of why, but those were answers he was unlikely ever to receive, her origin, a mystery belonging to a time and place long since lost to history.

Aside from her horns, she'd decided to grow her 'hair' out longer. If one didn't know better, they would assume it was ordinary black hair with an utterly stupid amount of tiny ornamental black beads adorning it. Except they weren't beads, and her hair was probably closer in nature to malleable and shifting keratin.

Rory's inner biologist, or wannabe biologist, given he hadn't ever gotten more than his associate's degree, had been quite curious. Still, the few times she'd gotten a 'haircut,' Rory had never discovered anything interesting about her 'hair' other than it had some liquid filtering traits, likely some vestigial trait derived from an early history on an ocean planet.

Her skin still appeared, at first glance, like the bronzed tan of a California surfer or Mediterranean fisher. One notable change was that, as she'd grown older, even without a proper tier, her skin had strengthened itself, a degree of both physical durability and heat tolerance that the average human lacked. Her bones themselves were still more fragile than those of a human, something they'd unfortunately discovered in a forge accident at fifteen years old when her arm had snapped from a wayward swinging pole.

I still remember her keeping a brave face even as she forced back tears.

Her tail had also changed; its patterning was still reminiscent of a koi, but its appearance was longer and flatter, almost like a paddle. Perhaps the strangest thing, in Rory's opinion, was that it was prehensile.

Lastly, there were the other changes that, as a biologist or a doctor, he would have felt no issue commenting on, but as a father, he would break a boy over his knee for even thinking about.

"Well?" Roxy asked, hands on her hips.

"Why do you look like you're about to wage a war?"

"Bah!" Roxy groaned, grabbing the top of her head and shaking. "It was Aunty Violet's idea!"

She was dressed in what on Earth might have been considered some form of elf cosplay. On her legs were a combo of form-fitting pants made of a material as durable as leather but as flexible as spandex. Over the pants, to Rory's approval, was a skirt or dress garment, less of the "first day at High School" variety and more of the "Roman Legionaries wore these" fashion.

As for her top, she wore a jerkin-and-blouse combination, the blouse dark black and the jerkin adorned with blood-red crystals.

"You look fine. I was messing with you."

"Says you!" Roxy bemoaned. "It's always just regular black pants and an otherwise ordinary shirt!"

"I don't see the problem there," Rory muttered. Fashion in Ehkorrus was slowly reversing, like a neo-Renaissance period, where clothes were designed for practical use rather than any form of Larping. There were some 'modern' aspects in the appearance, but that was probably due to Rory himself, as he still preferred the Earth standard of regular shirt and pants combo, and the rest of Ehkorrus had the habit of drawing inspiration from him.

Zoey would have a ball with all of this…. Ehh, well, I'll be seeing her soon anyway.

"I'm honestly surprised you dressed up at all," Roxy said as she inspected her father.

"It's your eighteenth birthday; I wasn't going to treat it like every other day."

Rory was wearing something George Washington probably would have been proud of, just in the autumnal palette that had been de facto adopted as the colors of Ehkorrus. His pants were, thankfully, less restrictive than the true version from the lost history of their old universe, but otherwise, Rory felt he looked the part of a dashing leader.

Plus, the coat is fucking snazzy.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"And you've got to play the part of Leader for once."

"I'm not the leader, I'm just sort of the face of the company," Rory retorted.

Unlike most others, Roxy didn't even bat an eye at the old-universe phrasing, having become well accustomed to Rory's 'oddities' over the years.

"Well, enough talking, c'mon or we're going to be late," Rory said, offering his arm to his daughter.

Rolling her eyes, Roxy walked next to him, linking her arm around his own. Focusing for several moments, suddenly, space seemed to peel away around them, and an instant later, they found themselves in an entirely different room.

"Bleh," Roxy said, sticking her tongue out, slightly forked compared to a human's. "Why do we have to get around like that?"

"Because it lets me avoid people," Rory said with a grin. With years of downtime, Rory had spent a considerable amount of time working with his new 'Coordinate' affinity. Taking a page out of the Khans of the Maw's third-floor book, Rory had 'mapped' the entirety of Ehkorrus within his Mind Palace and could, at this point, tap into any mapped 'point' within Ehkorrus and step through space.

Or, in layman's terms, teleportation. It was only usable in its current form within Ehkorrus, and it still took a second or two, but it was extremely convenient.

Flaring his aura for an instant, several seconds later, Apostolos appeared, pushing a flap of fabric aside as he entered their space.

"Figured you wouldn't walk here like a normal person. Oh, happy birthday, Roxy!"

"Thanks, Uncle 'Los," Roxy said as she walked up and threw her arms around Apostolos. "I still think this is a bit too much."

"Well, if I'm honest," Apostolos rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "It's also for the city itself."

"Huh?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, I mean, the daughter of the Lord Founder, turning eighteen, receiving her first tier and vocation. That's got a lot of symbolic weight. Even without a real tier or vocation, you've been a massive boon to the city. Forging, alchemy, inscription, gem crafting, doesn't matter what it is, you've got it covered. You're like your father, but actually approachable, and not constantly head-in-the-clouds."

"You do realize I'm right here, right?" Rory asked, glaring daggers at Apostolos. "I do plenty to help."

"Big stuff, sure, but otherwise you keep to yourself. You know, Ms. Roxy here just last week was helping with regular old-fashioned maintenance with some of the inscription work at the Adventurers' guild? In fact, I heard they were trying to get early recruitment for our little Roxy."

"Seriously?" Rory turned to Roxy. "They were trying to recruit you? And you didn't mention anything to me?"

"Didn't want you to come down on them," Roxy sighed.

"She's not even tier one. Why would they be trying to recruit her outright?" Rory growled.

"C'mon, Rory, don't be daft. Not even tier one, but pneuma manipulation on par with some of our higher tiers. Everyone is betting she's your second coming."

"Yeah, no pressure," Roxy muttered.

"Anyway, that's the point, you're an enigma, she's a known, and she's beloved by basically everyone. Hell, you could learn a thing or two from her."

"All I hear is whining," Rory sighed. "But alright, that aside, fine, I can understand why the entire city feels the need to celebrate."

I mean, I wanted to keep it small, but even Irene overrode me.

Technically, he could have still entirely ignored them if he wanted to, but it was Roxy who had convinced him otherwise, even if she'd had second thoughts since.

"So, here is the plan," Apostolos said. "There is going to be some speeches and the like, you know, the stuff you hate," Apostolos pointed out to Rory. "After that, you can make your appearance and give a quick speech of your own."

No one had told Rory he would have to make a speech. Still, in truth, Rory wasn't all that shocked either; it was almost expected whenever appearances like this happened, such as the yearly tournament, which had exploded in popularity since the year in which Kai Rong took her place as the fourth member of the Elite Four.

"After you've said your share, you'll usher in Roxy. Roxy, I don't expect any big speech out of you or anything, maybe just a simple 'the city is my family, happy to share this moment with you all, blah, blah, blah." Apostolos said. "You feel comfortable with that."

"More comfortable than Dad, at least."

"See, you're already better than his crusty bum."

Rory chose to ignore Apostolos's provocation, that is, except to quickly flip him off.

"Alright then, folks, let's get this show on the road."

What passed was almost precisely what Apostolos had planned, one of those occasions in which nothing actually went wrong. Starting with Apostolos, then moving on to Gil, Mariah, and Sasha, the short woman Rory had met years ago in the city under depths within the Maw, and the acting 'lead' of the Gem Crafters artisans. Finally, there had been Jed, who was on yet another term as the elected head of the formerly known Guild of Arts, which had formerly been the Craft's Guild, and had been rebranded yet again, as the Artisan's Union.

They really do love to rename themselves. Whatever, not my problem.

The speeches had all pretty much revolved around the same core principles if one put aside the overly flowery stuff about the 'Lord Founder's daughter' and the importance of legacy and all that hubbub.

They all really wanted to keep Roxy to their own particular professions. Jed, as the elected head of all artisans, didn't pick any sides, but knowing the man had once been Viviann's apprentice, Rory could guess that if he had his choice, he'd have Roxy with an inscription stylus in hand at all times.

Meanwhile, Rory had hung out in the offshoot area with Roxy, one mental thread dedicated to listening in, another to paying attention and spending time with Roxy. Had he wanted to, he could have spooled off a total of five more mental threads ever since he'd broken through tier eight, but Rory saw no reason why he wouldn't want to give as much of his full focus to his daughter as he could spare.

Thus, eventually his cue came up, and with only a second or two of focus, Rory suddenly appeared as sounds of surprise traveled through the gathered crowd. They were gathered on a raised platform overlooking the clearing in front of the city hall, which had, thankfully, been designed with a large clearing, now decorated with what were essentially festival stalls, games, and other fun things that the citizens of Ehkorrus had been enjoying for the last day.

Alright, speech time. Cognition, do your thing.

Unfurling his cognition to its full extent, what seemed like a poignant pause as Rory overlooked the city, the critical eye of its leader, was actually Rory properly planning out everything he was going to say; seconds for most people could be minutes worth of thinking on his own.

"Once, there was one." Rory began, resealing his cognition once he'd finished plotting his speech. "Eventually, there were two. Then, ten."

Eleven, technically, but most people here don't realize Eia wasn't just some tamed monster.

"Now? Thousands. A city of thousands. As I overlook you all today, I see the pride of my hands, the product of relentless drive and ambition. I built this city to start, yes, but it is you all who shape it, live it, and breathe it—you, who are the blood of Ehkorrus, its heart and soul—my only pride and joy. Or so I had once presumed. Then came a little girl. Curious, silly, and always hungry. Hungry for food, yes, but more importantly, hungry for experiences, for learning. No matter what I did, how I did it, or why, she was always interested. In many ways, she is much like myself. Yet where I have my eyes turned far ahead to a horizon always just out of reach, she has walked amongst you, laughed amongst you, been a part of being amongst you. She takes the very best of me and turns it into the very best of her and of everyone. Kind but ambitious, where Ehkorrus was once the only jewel in my eye, now I have two. Welcome, the Daughter of Design, my daughter, Roxy."

Sure, a lot of that speech had been over-the-top and at least a little disingenuous. Ehkorrus was important to Rory, but between Ehkorrus and Roxy, Rory knew who he'd be picking any day of the week.

But they don't need to hear that truth. Anyway, that's why I'm not the real leader; Apostolos and Irene are.

While Rory would have loved the theatrics of teleporting Roxy next to him, sadly, he could only teleport someone when they were teleporting with him. Instead, Roxy stepped out from the staging area just a bit behind the main stage. As she stood for all to see, Rory was surprised at just how loud the excitement was.

"Marry me!"

Eyes darting, Rory instantly locked onto the young man who'd screamed that particularity.

Hmm. I'll keep that face in mind.

Rory watched as Roxy waved for a moment before she took a deep breath, steadying herself. Projection magic, as in sound projection, had been woven into the stage, something of Rory's own ingenuity. So, when Roxy opened her mouth to speak, her voice was heard all the way to the furthest citizen.

"I am not my father. No one is my father, for worse or better," Roxy said with a chuckle, as some of the gathered crowd also spared a weak chuckle, not wishing even playfully to mock the Lord Founder. "My name is Roxy, and I am my own person. Some days, I work alongside those in the foundry, scorching myself on hot metal slag or breaking an arm when I'm careless. Sometimes I'm under the watchful gaze of Lady Mariah, making sure not to mess up the balance of a brew and choke myself out on poison gas. At other times, I'm working alongside the gem crafters, ensuring our city is always well prepared for anything the world may throw at us."

Err, maybe don't tempt Aelia to test those words.

"My point is, while I am my father's daughter, I am very much my own person, and I follow my own heart. My father described me as one of the jewels of his eye, yet I am not the only one. I may not be my father, one of the deified Founders, but that does not mean I cannot still do something great, and it is with that thought that I find myself looking out at you all, and seeing people whom I've worked alongside, laughed alongside, and struggled alongside. Perhaps it is presumptuous of a mere soon-to-be tier one, but if there is any wish in my heart, it is to take this city I love, the people I've grown up around, and help it reach heights that even my father may have never dreamt of."

It's kind of bullshit that an eighteen-year-old girl is better at this than I am, but since it's my kid, I can accept it.

"So, thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for today isn't just a celebration of my birthday, but of my commitment not as daughter of the Lord Founder, but as Roxy, the Daughter of Design-"

Did she take up that title I made up for her a moment ago and incorporate it on the fly? Damn, she really is better than me at this.

"-to uplifting everyone, together!"

And with that, the air around Roxy shimmered, a static, crackling energy of potential as reality shifted and Eon entirely relinquished the restraints placed upon her. No longer was she an untiered, born of another universe. Over the years, she had grown and matured, becoming one with their existence.

And the payoff was finally here—tier one, the start of a long journey.

Seeing the minute movements of her eyes, Rory figured she was reading through some interfaces that had appeared only for her. Casting a glance in his direction, Rory gave his daughter a quick nod of affirmation, guessing as to what that look said.

Vocation gained

Daughter of Design – First Architect Born of an Ushered Era.