James's Descent

***

Author's note: This section will have a far different structure from what we have seen so far, yet it is still the story of James, even as his story is now intertwined with that of the empire. The parts where we will witness moments in the growth of this nation have only the purpose to show its development and do not follow a dynasty or a particular plot. One could write a much longer tale or a thousand in those years, but what is important here is the big picture.

***

James was pretty sure he was dead. He remembered that part well, the pain in his chest, the fading out of everything... like that time he almost fainted at the dentist's when they applied too much painkiller. No, he was dead. This was not New Astoria. He was somewhere else.

The soul was in a place as much as in a state, somewhere beyond human comprehension and memory, above and beyond what a plate of jelly capable of logic could understand. What is here consists of merely an approximation, a comprehensible form of a secondhand story told by an unreliable narrator. He saw light.

Before him was a desk, in a big, bright room with a grand door right behind that desk, a woman appeared twenty years old and dressed in a revealing outfit right behind that desk. It made him think of a hotel reception if lacking in the mass of people milling about. Just the two of them here... and soon it would be something else. He walked forward, curiosity spurring him.

"James Masters?" She asked, so sure of it. "Good to have you. We have a few here eager to see you."

"I'll bet. Uh... just to be sure, I'm not hallucinating or something, right?"

"That would require you to have a brain to not work right. But you don't. No, you are certainly dead. But, welcome to what awaits you at the end."

"Hm. Didn't expect to end up here. Though it doesn't look like what most expect."

"Only for a few. It looks as if you want it to. But... unless you have any pressing questions, feel free to proceed. Others can answer more such questions within. And you will wish to seek out a few souls here."

A shrug came from the man. He took a moment to look himself over. He was dressed... in what he might consider that iconic outfit. He made that coat look good and it made him look good. His body resembled what he might remember from being thirty, an age of strength and wisdom. With a nod, he'd circle the desk to let that huge gate open before him. So much light.

On the other side, he saw a garden stretching into infinity, ordered paths leading through it, pleasant greenery shaped into aesthetic forms, tables set under an open sky, the smell of the endless treats upon them almost tangible even from so far away, dozens of people happily set at each table and feasting. Further along, he saw others crowding around people performing... familiar songs he knew and others he did not. Paths led out of the garden and towards other doors, leading to other places... any place one could imagine as pleasant and more. A deep breath. This was... nice.

His thoughts were interrupted as a shower of confetti came over him, a party horn blowing to the man's left. The sound drew him to seek its source, and what a strange source it was. He saw a girl, perhaps no older than fourteen, dressed as one expects of a schoolgirl, fluffy pompoms in her hands as she skipped and blew on the horn in her mouth. She had long, black hair, a tanned look, and a delicate frame, and those eyes were a bit too big for her face, like someone tried to make an anime character real without going into the uncanny valley. James wondered who was this sassy, lost child who seemed to be cheering for him. That whistle fell and went... nowhere... to be replaced by more vocal cheers.

"Woohoo! Well done! Great run! Gotta be one of the best."

"Eh..." He was at a loss for words. "I mean, I guess I did something pretty epic. Wait, did that actually happen or was I hallucinating as well?"

"NOPE! All happened, and what an AMAZING show! You don't much get people getting that much power and coming out clean. It's like seeing a fuchsia unicorn!"

It's much rarer than pink or any other color of unicorn, presumably.

"Well, thanks. I guess power does corrupt most people."

"Try absolutely. You're getting the royal treatment. And you mind if I tag along to just... see you? Mmmm... gotta see how they made one like you."

"As long as your presence isn't too unpleasant. But, I assume you know my name. Mind saying yours... even if... well, something to call you. Rude to call you what I thought about."

"Oh, but I am a sassy, lost child." She smirked to his surprise. "You can't separate thought from words here. But, you can call me Hikari."

There was a very long pause as James pondered what that name meant. He knew enough Japanese to know what that meant. It meant light. It might mean someone to do with light. And what would it mean if he was right. And if he was right, where this was... and as he came to consider that this made much more sense, he also remembered that this entire train of thought was him essentially saying it out loud. But there came a summation.

"This isn't Heaven."

"Nobody said it was." She still had that smile.

"Well, hello... Satan... Can I ask why the hell... where apparently I am... are you praising me for not becoming a fucked-up person?"

"Because God is an asshole and heaven is only for the people who would sing his praises right or wrong and everyone else ends up here. The good and the bad. And I LIKE good people. You're all so defiant of what God really is. Of that piece of him inside you all that spurs you to do fucked up things. Yeah, I know, you got a different story. Hey, most people don't even ASK and I don't much care if they think this is heaven. I mean, this part is."

"So... this is you rewarding me because we defied God and didn't become assholes like him?" Made surprising sense. A lot of sense. "And this... praise... is for me becoming a god and not becoming an asshole? Though I thought there'd be more to it."

"Oh, that wasn't a god. Pfft, you just ascended a step. But it's a BIG deal! Most who do that turn into assholes. You're a fragment of a percent in possibility. Plus, he doesn't LET people ascend unless they're exactly like him. Give power to those that spread more pain, that's how you get more pain."

Another look at the verdant view. It did not suddenly morph into some dark-red torture room.

"So, this place will actually be really damn nice. No funny business like the food tasting like the worst stuff we had but being incredibly addictive."

"Nope. We have that on the lower levels for the actual assholes. And more."

For the devil themselves, Lucy, as she would be called... seemed to be rather friendly. And trying to be cute. No doubt this was not a true form and neither was James interested in what that was. Entertaining her notion to follow him around would feel like dealing with an enthusiastic child. But he might understand it. If he saw something perform in such a stellar way, you might want to study every last detail to reproduce that... in a pleasant manner possibly.

"I feel like I'm gonna have some great feeling of pride come over me if you follow me around to... look me over."

"Pride's not so bad. It drives you. Just don't do too much of it. And I can just... do it a bit more stealthily. Won't even know I'm there!"

"A better option. So, can I just ask for... anything?"

"YUP! And nope, no test. If you're here, you passed all of them. Hey if you want me... I'm all yours. For anything..."

The tone she delivered that in filled him with a sense of unease. Not because her body was that of a twelve-year-old, but because that was bloody Lucifer. Of the list of beings that he might tolerate sinking a dick into, this was not one he could accept.

"For now, I could use directions to the people I knew. I assume they're here."

"Everyone's here. Well, okay... almost everyone. Some got taken by the upstairs fucker. But, everyone else... I guess you wanna see the nice ones. You can see the others if you want to."

She invited him to tour this place with the thing in charge as a guide. Tempting, but James would rather see his friends first. Witness evil people being tortured later. Lucy would skip ahead to have the man walk slowly behind her, leading him with an almost mechanical perfection to one of the many tables in this garden. The man noticed that he walked for a while, but at the same time, it felt like barely any time at all had passed. This garden was literally infinite in size and navigation was done more by will alone.

"Yep, you don't move like in the physical world, you just go where you want. Though, that's just what you can do. The bad guys can't get out, no matter how much they want to."

He was never going to get used to the whole "thoughts out loud" thing. No, that was false. He'd probably get used to it before he knew it. He arrived at a table with familiar faces, one of them jumping at his arrival to both offer warmth and far too much heat.

"Where were you?! You died before me!"

"Don't ask me, it felt instant. Maybe more to process."

Of course, Pami was here, as was everyone he remembered back home. She looked young again, the youngest he could remember... just a bit over twenty-three. A warm hug and kiss were offered before the man was dragged to the table. Mugs were raised in his name... and some of these people weren't dressed. As soon as he put the devil out of his mind, he couldn't see her anymore. Maybe practicing that stealth.

"Guess you were right about this place." Nathan still looked like the fine, strong young man who was defending the colony seventy years ago.

"I assure you that it was completely unintentional. This is all new to me. And mother, why don't you look younger? You look barely over fifty."

"This is how I looked when the peak of my life came. And this is how you see me. I've been here a while... waiting. Spent time with some older friends. They were green with envy over what I've been through."

"As long as nobody was wishing to be sold into slavery. Well, guess this is it. We're dead and this is the rest at the end of the universe. Nothing but fun until all the lights go out?"

"Yep!" Phoebe had plenty of her fun here. "You should check some other levels. There's one that's like... all about sex."

"Uh, how are you here? You were still alive when I left."

"We're outside time. Technically, I got here a while earlier."

"Then Pam's question has no bearing."

She felt a bit shy about it, but came clean with the real meaning of the words.

"I just missed you and thought we'd show up at the same time."

"Always you. Missing me. But I think this is the last time we'll be separated."

"Maybe not. When we get tired of this place we can go through the other gate to begin again. Go somewhere else, be someone else." Anna enlightened him to the truth of the universe.

"Any... time limits?"

"No. Go when you want. Or don't. Your choice."

Maybe one day he could get tired of this... and wish for more excitement before coming here again. If he did right by it. But for now... it was time to relax.

He earned it.

*

A wise man once wrote a particularly lengthy essay, one to be ignored despite the pattern he showed being a fundamental reality. He stated that empires last only around 250 years, where an empire could be any uniform group of sufficient size... a country, a kingdom, a caliphate, a horde... even a group of people on a fresh new planet. Such a pattern is merely conclusions of conclusions, consequences of situations that naturally emerge. The Astoria Empire, as it would come to be known, would pass through this lifecycle with a similar fidelity. James might have given them the lessons he learned, but that merely delayed things, as did the lack of other competing factors. The empire would last a bit longer.

The era that James lived through can be named the Age of Pioneers... the outburst, the effort of disillusioned people as they came to fresh new land, aware of past mistakes and unwilling to reproduce them, bearing a hardy soul and diligent bodies. He saw the end of it and the beginning of what can be named the Age of Conquests.

Year 93 After Arrival. 20 years after the outsider's death.

Peter scrutinized the map in this increasingly elaborate office. The overseer, as the great leader of this nation would be known, considered not just the land that was already occupied by communities, but the land around them that they have not claimed. There was nothing but raw nature to stand against them and nature did not have guns. Every month a new community found too little room to develop and picked up their life to move further and further.

They had already spread far enough to be considered a country and quite a big one. The continent they were on, even if it was surprisingly vast, was starting to feel small. Ships were setting out to explore the sea and fully explore this planet, from top to bottom and all around.

His job was starting to feel a bit difficult. A people so eager for sex reproduced like crazy, paired with such good conditions, the population had exploded to the point they needed care to not starve themselves. While some still were eager to do the jobs fitting for manual labor, others were starting to aspire to higher positions, mostly to lead some industry from which one could reap a lot of gains. But that was the minority.

A sigh as the man turned away to rest his eyes, the view from his office giving such an opportunity. The overseer "ruled" from one of the tallest and WIDEST buildings around, the governmental office was an increasing necessity. Laws appeared quickly as people found ways to slip around them, even if it broke the spirit of the rules, it did not break the letter. Thankfully, neither were they so beholden to the letter of the law. Some people sought only what they needed, and conflict formed in trying to make sure both sides came out of it fairly, but others... others seemed to want more.

The man saw the Pathfinder guild from here, an increasingly opulent building housing brave explorers providing a particular service, the one of exploring the land in search of particularly rich deposits... fertile land, precious minerals, and technology caches. From them, that information came at a higher and higher price of silver, well beneath the true value of what they found. Often, any who bought that information would go right next door to the land office and arrange for the initial declaration of ownership. The silver cost was negligible, but for this pioneering program, they wished for merely 10% of what they make out there in the first year. Generous considering the security organization, the roads that would be built in that direction, and the infrastructure that would soon be placed down. And still, some tried to cheat it, as did the guild sometimes lie in their offers. But only sometimes, or their service would lose any appearance of value. That was all that money was. They continued using grams of silver for currency, the miners claiming they might as well be printing their money.

This was a turbulent time, but one filled with promise. Peter considered their resources. They had enough for now... enough food being produced to weigh them over, not enough silver being mined to allow those miners to rob the market. He had to consider economics and such big troubles... more than one might think that the overseer does. So many still thought his job was automatic, but the higher you rise, the more you have to keep in mind.

But those set out were not content with enough. Why? They had plenty of all that their lives might wish to contain... sexual freedom was still the norm and despite this, people were finding life partners easily, homes were obtained for a fair, but relatively low price, and each generation gave the next just a bit more. Perhaps they wished for a challenge? The outsider said that they always needed those, and yet their pursuit was to reduce challenges. Paradoxical. But no, those who set out were not driven by such religious fervor. It was greed that drew them further. The promise of turning their work into a grand payday, one big challenge to walk away from with the need of no others.

It often tempted him to forbid those. They were breaking that tenet. But this was not a question of law... under the law, they were fair. This was a question of family. And only their caretakers could lead them back. But even they might be blinded by what gain this might mean for those communities. So far... nothing terrible happened.

Peter could not help but think that one day they would run out of claims.

*

Year 112 AA.

Gold! Even better than silver, even if that other one gave them money right off the bat. The astorians did not value gold for the same reasons ancient civilizations did... yes, they acknowledged its aesthetic properties, but much more valuable were its conductive properties... gold would lead to components and components led to tech and tech led to easier lives.

The convoy traversed the land at a steady pace, having left the pleasant asphalt roads for the much younger dirt ones, and soon they would have no roads at all. Nicky was just keeping her spot in the order, the woman's hands leisurely manipulating the steering wheel. The sun was hidden behind clouds and yet it was warm enough for her full tits to be on display. She performed better naked. Padding the car did make for an effort, but there was a particular ease of movement that the woman could swear by.

Ever so often they'd need to slow down a bit as they passed through a settlement, plenty of heads up given so the convoy could move as one, the dash-mounted radios letting them all talk to each other, often identifying themselves even if it was a bit useless since their voices were recognizable. But those moments often granted a fun show on the sideline, one to tempt the woman's hand on her cock for a few moments. Gods, she needed to get off the next time they took a break. Actually... it's been two hours. Her free hand reached toward the palm-sized device to pull it closer.

"Hey, Mitch... it's been a couple of hours. Break time? I don't know about you guys, but if I see another couple fucking on the side of the road I'm gonna fuck my dash."

Any prompt for the head of family to speak would often come with everyone else holding on any comment. Usually. But it was one of those occasions. The low tone of the older man would come in through the speaker.

"Feeling frisky, eh? Yeah, my alarm went off a bit earlier. Was just thinking if you guys want to stop in a town or middle of nowhere."

"We're so far off that towns aren't gonna give us much. Middle of nowhere is my vote."

That other voice was of another in their group. Steven was not much of a tough guy, but he sure beat most of them at thinking. He'd mostly been helping Mitchell plan the journey. A few other voices resounded through the channel to agree with him, enough to mark the decision. Their group had twenty people, and ten would be enough to show which way they went, but seven was the more relaxed number if nobody disagreed. Nicole's voice made number five and two more came after... it was called.

"Alright, we'll keep an eye out for a good space. Maybe by a river to have water."

"If I kept our location right, just ten more minutes, but turn right. A bit of a detour."

So it was. Steve was right. The convoy would change direction starting with the first car, others following behind as they veered off the road. All of their cars were fitted for off-road travel, but they liked to use roads as much as possible. They kept you straight. But there was another reason. Twenty more minutes of driving and Nicky was throbbing in anticipation. She won't need anyone to help, just the memory of all those people who passed and were so shamelessly engaging in lewd acts with no stealth. One might say this is a disadvantage of living in the land of New Astoria, where one can see such tantalizing sights far too often, but then came the advantage that you too can take the edge off without having to find somewhere discrete.