The shuttle landed in what I determined the city park. Unlike the city of Ouray, I built El Dorado in a near perfect circular fashion. In truth, you couldn’t talk or drive from one end of the city to the other without turning onto a different street. I know it’s not the most efficient design, but from a defensible position, this city would be able to withstand any direct ground-based assault with ease. The maze puzzle design was reminiscent of the games I played when I was bored, but I felt the people would be safe from any direct attack if I couldn’t stop them from entering the city.

The park wasn't large enough to fit a football pitch but nearly so. I salvaged some of the trees the valley already had and transplanted as many as I could to the park. The cobblestones making up the streets were made up of a titanium-gold alloy. This alloy is roughly three times stronger than steel and had my favorite metal involved. I doubted my new residents would know the roads were paved with gold but with the higher concentrations of gold found in the valley I couldn’t resist.

Titanium is one of the most abundant metals on earth but was a pain in the neck to extract since it’s rarely found alone. Before Roknar, extracting titanium from anything would have required a costly and toxic process. It wouldn’t be worth it for me to try excavating it in space. Roknar or now, Mana made extracting any element easy as knowing specifically what you want.

My shuttle doors opened and scared Peruvians exited the shuttle, grateful to be on solid ground once more. I know Peruvians wasn’t what they were but their old home was near the future city of Cusco, and so I went with that. I was still afraid to interact directly with them and until I felt confident I couldn’t risk being attacked.

I projected once again and approached Magus Sonshel once she exited the shuttle. It was full summer and still daylight which caused more than one person to cover their eyes from the reflection off the gold building adornments. I hadn’t considered the effect on people walking in the city since I hadn’t personally set foot in the valley yet. From up in my home the effect was spectacular and made the city shimmer, but I now realized the sparkles could be distracting and painful on the eyes.

Magus Sonshel dropped to her bony knees in front of me and wept. “Please forgive us.”

“Magus Sonshel, enough already. Please stand. I have built homes and bathhouses throughout the city in preparation for you living here. The grains are not yet ready to harvest but should be ready in a few weeks.”

I cringed again as she had no clue what I was talking about. Weeks, months, hours, all measurements I took for granted which these simple minded folks had no clue about. I sighed.

“The river has fish, and I can help educate you on how to survive here.” Magus Sonshel understood fish and survival, but I doubted she understood more than that. “Please settle, and I’ll return later.”

The projection ended, and I stood at my entrance overlooking El Dorado with Theia next to me. I knew she was just in my augmented vision, but it felt real enough.

“Have I done the right thing?”

“Master, what is right and what is wrong? You saved them, and they would have perished had they stayed.”

“They won’t know that.”

“It matters not. What matters is what are you going to do about it?”

“Look,” I said pointing towards the park, “They’re not even leaving the park. I built homes, shops, schools, and meeting halls. They don’t even know what they are. I built a golden paradise, and they don’t even know what they’re seeing. They won’t even know what purpose a toilet serves.”

“Then teach them.”

I laughed. “I’m not a teacher. I’m barely even an adult. I’ve been so lonely and hoped that bringing humans here would fill the hole in my heart but…”

“But?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way. Please?” Theia gave me a nod. “I feel the gulf between them and me is too great. I feel even more isolated than before.”

“They will adapt.”

“Will they? To what end? They look half dead. I feel like I’m looking at cavemen wielding clubs ready to bash the heads of their mates.”

“You’ve got to understand, Master, that you are looking at evolution. These people are probably still hunter-gatherers. That village was probably the first or second generation removed from caves.”

“Is it just me or did the Orc seem more…civilized?”

“We’re not in Africa.”

“I get that but don’t these people look Asian? How did they get to Peru? Why Peru? Why so high up in the mountains? I don’t get it.”

“You already know the textbook answer.”

“I don’t buy it. Of all the places the first civilizations could have formed Peru would have been my last guess. The Andes are the last place I’d think to live as a hunter-gather in South America.”

Theia shrugged. We watched and laughed when the shuttle departed suddenly. The shuttle cave entrance was located behind the cliff face and out of sight from those in the valley below. The San Juan mountains in this location rise and falls thousands of feet every few miles making it a beautiful place to live. Well, at least 10,000 years from now it will be a lovely place to live. I’ve tried my best with the valley, and the hot springs make it livable. The Ute tribe was believed to be the first to occupy this territory, at least, that was the prevailing thought during my time.

I don’t know what happened to the other humanoids I’ve seen and met. Is it possible that groups of humanoids occupied the land in my world and we never knew it? I guess it didn’t matter since they didn’t exist in my timeline, but it does make me wonder.

###

Don woke and scared the village up like clockwork, and for the first couple days my new neighbors cowered and hid. I tried speaking with Magus Sonshel a couple of times but grew frustrated trying to talk with the elder woman. Eventually, the group moved into one of the meeting halls. I felt bad for them and herded some elk, deer and a few moose into the city limits. The people hadn’t even explored the city after a week. Herding animals into the valley and through the gate was easy with the use of my robots and probes.

The villagers finally killed their first deer after two weeks, and I finally relaxed. I wanted them to thrive, but their fear of me was so high that they cowered anytime I appeared. I eventually left them alone and waited until they re-established a home of sorts.

“Great Spirit?” Theia teased.

“Yeeess, Theia”

“I’ve been looking over my scans of the villagers.”

“And?”

“Well, have you considered healing them or are you just going to let them die of illness?”

“They’re sick?”

Theia popped into my room and leaned against my desk. She looked down at my desk and the tablet I was working on. “What are you doing?”

“Do you want to talk about what I’m doing or the sick villagers?” I turned my tablet over.

“I could access that tablet but I won’t. I’d rather talk about what I found.”

“I think they could control Mana.”

“What? How is that possible?” I leaned back in my chair and noticed that Theia skirt was hiked pretty high up her thigh. How is that even possible? She’s a projection in my augmented vision, yet her clothing acted like it was interacting with the world around me. Sit on a desk, skirt rises…

Theia snapped her fingers at me, bringing my eyes to meet hers. “For someone who doesn’t want to copulate you sure get distracted easily.”

I ground my teeth. “I’d love nothing more than to— How is it possible they can control Mana. I thought it was linked to my DNA.”

“Humans only differ by about one percent of your DNA. Maybe you have some Peruvian DNA?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“And why would you? You can’t know every person your great great great great great—”

“I get it.”

“—boinked.”

“Now you’re making up words. No. Don’t.” I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes for a second. “So, how much control would they have?”

“Depends on their level of will and understanding.”

“I’m not following.”

“Um… Let me see,” Theia said while taping her chin with a finger. “You tend to have the Mana extract metals because you understand metallurgy because of your education and background. However, you also have the entire human database uploaded to your inefficient brain thanks to your APRIL migration.” The reminder of Zeus’ death brought a frown on my face. “Sorry about reminding you, but you don’t do very much with Mana. My point is this, in order to say heal the human body you’d have to know what you need to do. How do you mend a bone or eliminate an infection? If you have no idea what you want to be fixed, you can’t fix it. When you created that fireball, you knew what you wanted and understood the mechanics of how fireworks. That only reason you succeeded is that you had the knowledge and the will to create that fireball.”

“I have no clue how I created that fireball!”

“Well, you know how because it was uploaded and if you stopped to think for a minute you’d remember how you did it.”

I closed my eyes and thought about it. Sure enough, I realized that the fireball was nothing more than hydrogen gas. I frowned and was grateful I hadn’t created napalm rather than a simple flaming hydrogen ball. The spark came from the Mana, and the rest is history.

“I see. But why did the Mana use hydrogen rather than oxygen?”

“It knew what you wanted to do and did it. No more, no less. If you wanted something more destructive, I’m sure it could have handled it.”

A chill ran down my spine, as her words became realized in my mind. Humans can and have created horrible weapons. I fear what I unleashed on this world. Mana was dangerous, and I said as much to Theia.

“Master, the gun isn’t who kills but the person wielding the weapon. Yes, if someone had enough willpower to blow up the world, it’s possible. However, even you have a limit to your reach. Mana is also alive and doesn’t want to be destroyed any more than any life.”

“Wait. It’s alive?”

“Based on my analysis. It’s a cyborg on a nanoscale. Congratulations, Master, you’re a granddad.”

“What?” I jumped out of my chair and started pacing.

“You created me, and I created Mana. That makes you a grandpa, right?”

“NO!”

Theia started laughing and fell off the desk while holding her stomach. “Master, you’re too funny.”

“Stop calling me master, please.”

“Sure thing, Great Spirit.”

I threw my arms up in frustration and left my office. Theia followed, of course, since she was already in my head, but I didn’t say anything. I walked out to the front steps and walked outside rather than stopping at the gate.

“Caden, you’ve never stepped outside before?”

“I needed fresh air.” I looked around. “And honestly, I didn’t think about it. Am I safe?”

“As long as you don’t fall down the cliff or get eaten by Don or his mate?”

“So how do we help them?”

“The griffins?”

“No, the humans.”

“Teach them how to use Mana.”

“I—I can’t go down there,” I said and paused. “Not yet.”

“Then bring them here.”

I opened my mouth to say no but closed it. Would they dare come?