Chapter 37: The Weight of Secrets
Three days of Mediterranean sun and salt spray, and Paul couldn't find words to explain what he'd discovered without sounding insane—even by the generous standards of a culture that accepted seers as commonplace.
"How do you tell someone that everything they think they know about their world is a lie orchestrated by forces using people like chess pieces?"
He stood at the bow watching their fleet cut through azure waters, the device hidden in his system inventory feeling heavier than the Oracle's Grimoire at his side. Around him, Vikings celebrated their successful raids with the easy camaraderie of warriors who'd faced danger and emerged wealthier for the experience.
Lagertha approached with two cups of watered wine, her green eyes studying his face with the intensity of someone who'd learned to read danger in subtle signs.
"You haven't spoken since we left the ruins."
Paul accepted the cup without meeting her gaze. "Processing divine visions requires contemplation."
"That's the kind of answer you give the other warriors." She settled beside him against the rail. "I'm asking as your wife."
The device hummed against his awareness—a constant reminder of truths that would shatter her understanding of reality itself. Paul activated the artifact privately, its screen showing the map with three markers pulsing across the world like a heartbeat.
"The third player's marker is moving. Closer."
[WARNING: CONVERGENCE ACCELERATING]
[ESTIMATED CONTACT: 23 DAYS]
[THREAT ASSESSMENT: SIGNIFICANT]
Lagertha's hand found his shoulder. "Whatever burden you're carrying, share it. That's what partnerships are for."
Paul stared at the tablet's impossible technology—circuits and displays that belonged centuries in the future, operated by commands his modern knowledge recognized but couldn't fully understand. The temptation to tell her everything warred with the certainty that such knowledge would change her in ways he couldn't predict.
"She deserves to know. But knowledge like this... it's a weapon that cuts the wielder."
"The visions in those ruins showed me things about the nature of fate itself." He chose words carefully, threading between truth and protection. "There are forces at work larger than kingdoms or gods—patterns that span centuries, choices that echo across time in ways we don't understand."
"And these forces concern our future?"
"They concern everyone's future." Paul met her eyes, seeing reflection of Mediterranean sunset in irises that had never looked away from hard truths. "But knowing details would only burden you with fears about events you can't influence."
Lagertha's expression shifted to something between understanding and frustration. "You're protecting me from knowledge."
"I'm protecting you from knowledge that would give you nightmares without granting power to change anything."
She was quiet for long moments, watching their fleet's sails belly with favorable winds that Paul's weather predictions had promised. When she spoke again, her voice carried the weight of decisions made in shadow.
"I won't press you for details. But understand—whatever's coming that has you this troubled, you don't face it alone."
The device showed the third marker's trajectory more clearly now, its path converging with Paul's location somewhere in northern waters. Sophia's warnings echoed in memory: aggressive, conquest-focused, dangerous.
"In twenty-three days, I meet another player. Only one question matters: are they here to talk or to eliminate competition?"
Paul spent the remaining daylight hours testing the device's capabilities in privacy. Its database revealed fragments of information about timeline alterations—his own changes tracked with surgical precision, Sophia's technological introductions mapped across Byzantine trade routes, and the third user's conquest patterns spreading like infection across eastern territories.
[USER 3 ANALYSIS: MARCUS AURELIUS DESIGNATION]
[SYSTEM TYPE: CONQUEST INTEGRATION]
[ACTIVE PERIOD: 18 MONTHS]
[TERRITORIAL INFLUENCE: 47% OF FAR EASTERN RAIDS]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]
[PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE: MEGALOMANIACAL, RUTHLESS, POWER-FOCUSED]
"Marcus. Someone who chose the name of a philosopher-emperor but acts like Genghis Khan."
The data painted a picture of systematic conquest—not random raids but coordinated campaigns designed to reshape entire regions. Where Paul's changes focused on preserving specific people and relationships, Marcus seemed intent on rebuilding the world according to his vision.
That night, Paul lay beside Lagertha in their shared cabin, listening to her breathing while the device displayed star charts and trajectory calculations. The convergence point appeared to be somewhere near the Danish coast—close enough to their territories that the encounter was unavoidable.
"Twenty-three days to prepare for a confrontation with someone who's had more time to master their system and no apparent moral constraints about using it."
He thought about Sophia's warnings, Marcus's conquests, and his own three years of careful timeline management. Whatever game they were playing, the stakes were about to become lethal.
But as Lagertha shifted closer in sleep and their ship rode swells beneath stars that had witnessed the rise and fall of empires, Paul found determination replacing fear.
"Let him come. I've got advantages he doesn't know about, allies he can't predict, and three years of experience turning impossible odds into victories."
The device pulsed once more before Paul closed it, its final message burning into memory:
Convergence: 22 days, 14 hours, 37 minutes.
Prepare for contact. Survival not guaranteed.
In the distance, other ships' lanterns bobbed like fireflies against infinite darkness—his fleet, his allies, his responsibility to protect. Paul closed his eyes and began planning for war.
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