William clenched his fist. This isn't going to change anything for me in the short term. I'll still be relying on my instinct and knowledge to make decisions. I'll just have to account for minor changes now...

  William shook his head. There's no use thinking about this. I'll just focus on what's in front of me right now. And that's the release of our VoIP software on May 20th. Thinking about it, we haven't decided on a name for it yet. Should I troll again like TheodosianWalls? Or should I stick to our naming convention? The first would be funny to me. The second would bring us more recognition... Let's just troll. He could almost hear Eve giving him an earful for his decision. He smiled at the thought of that. He sighed. I'm sighing so much these days. I must be under a lot of stress.

  He stopped leaning on the railing as he walked back downstairs. Before he went down the stairs, he looked behind him, towards the city light, towards the moon, towards the stars. My conviction cannot be broken this easily. I will succeed, no matter what. He closed the door behind him and walked downstairs.

  1999, May 17th

  They had decided on a name. Vox. It was a simple name, but there was a reason behind that. He wanted the name to become a verb. Like with Google in the future. To Google something is to search something up on the Internet. To Facetime someone is to video call someone. And the simpler the name, the better chance it had. But longer names can also work for this purpose. One example would be Photoshop.

  While Vox sounds weird to say as a verb, even to him, as more and more people use it, it would become easier and more natural to say it. Skype was an unnatural word, and yet, it still managed to become a verb. His Vox had a meaning, in Latin, at least. It meant voice.

  William smiled. He was currently standing behind Eve, leaning on her chair as she typed into the computer in front of her. "How'd you like the name?"

  She threw him a stink eye, "Hmmph." She returned to her work.

  He chuckled. He stopped teasing her and stayed silent as he observed her work for a minute. "...Do you think this product will succeed?"

  Eve paused for a second, "Hmm? This is strange. You're usually confident."

  He stopped leaning on her chair and paced to the left of her, "I just wanna hear your opinion, that's all."

  She leaned her head on her left hand, staring at him, "I think it'll do well."

  He raised an eyebrow, "Any reasons?"

  "First, it's unique. Second, the quality is high. Third, we have a huge marketing for this."

  He nodded, "True, I guess. What about the profit?"

  "This would have a high profit margin. The main profit wouldn't come from consumers; instead, it would come from corporations and other large organizations. We've decided to charge $30 per user per month for large organizations."

  "That's great."

  Eve continued staring at him, "So what are you doing here today? Are you just bored?"

  He froze. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "W-what? Definitely not."

  "Hmm. Sure." She rolled her eyes, "You're definitely not bored. So you asked questions about things you already knew."

  He sulked, "Seems like you don't want me here. I'm leaving."

  Eve stopped him, "...Wait. Although you might know nothing about business, I still work better with you here."

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  His face brightened, "Really?"

  "No."

  His face darkened, "Truly heartless."

  "I'm not. Otherwise, I wouldn't be with you."

  He stopped sulking and walked over to the sofa and sat down. He pulled out his Game Boy and started playing games. Eve's eyebrows twitched as she heard the sound, but she ignored it. They continued like this for a while, staying silent and minding their own business. Eve's assistant, Ana, brought them coffee. William and Eve said their thanks before going back to their own respective business.

  William's thoughts drifted as he played on his Game Boy. It's been eighteen years since I last saw Raven, Aria, and Hannah. I wonder how they're doing? Do they even exist anymore? He sighed, I'm becoming more and more sentimental... They did take care of me a lot. He felt sadness at the thought. I didn't manage to repay them for their kindness. I couldn't repay Hannah for buying me that laptop out of her own pocket. I couldn't repay Raven for protecting me and taking care of me. I couldn't repay Aria for cooking for me and feeding me.

  He paused the game after losing a life. I wonder if there's any chance I can go back. He looked at Eve. Focus on the present, William. You can't change the past. But you can focus on the present and change the future.

  He looked at the pixelated figure on his Game Boy lying on the ground, dead. Though I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye to you all...

  William steeled his resolve and continued playing the game.

  1999, May 18th

  William read through the books as he learned more about history. This alternative history was truly interesting. One interesting thing was that the cult of Sol Invictus actually survived. He had a phase where he was obsessed with ancient religions, which naturally included Sol Invictus. What was interesting, however, was that the surviving cult of Sol Invictus was more focused on dualism, similar to the Yin-Yang concept from China, but with a greater emphasis on the Sun and the Moon. They depicted the Sun with order, law, and civilization, and the Moon with life, change, and protection.

  It was fascinating, as in most dualistic religions involving the sun and the moon, the sun was usually depicted with life. The religion surviving could be credited to the Emperor(Augustus) Romulus of the 5th century. While the religion was dualistic, most practitioners tried to balance the two aspects to aspire to be like... Vesta? What the fuck? He was confused. What did Vesta have to do with anything? Vesta was the goddess of hearth, home, family, and fire. Then he remembered. The person who promoted the religion was Romulus, who claimed to be the demigod of Vesta. The ego on this guy... He thought to himself. Still, he's quite smart. By unifying the various cults of Roman Paganism, he essentially created a unified religion...

  It was said in the books that the Emperor unified most of the Roman cults into one religion, called Via Aeterna or The Eternal Way. According to a biography, he was abandoned at the steps of the Temple of Vesta and was discovered by the Vestal Virgins at 385AD, wrapped in purple cloth, with no indication of his origin. The Vestals took this as a divine sign. That, Vesta, the virgin goddess, had bestowed upon Rome a virgin-born son. They raised him within the temple precincts, an unprecedented act.

  And just like many Emperors of the Roman Empire, he rose through the military at a young age. And in 405AD, he seized power with his Legion and declared himself Augustus. And he ruled for 72 years straight, a period of stability for Rome and a new Golden Age. Though it didn't last long, as after he, apparently, 'rested' and 'ascended to divinity', Rome split in half a century, and the Western Roman Empire fell in another. The author of the biography noted that he most likely died, and not ascended.

  William scratched his head. Who would think he actually became a god anyway? One interesting thing was by all Roman accounts, Romulus apparently didn't age. He appeared as youthful as if he were 20, even in his 70s. However, this was explained by the author as a likely result of good personal workout, diet, genetics, and simply propaganda.

  William nodded. Even as Christianity still existed, some of the Roman lands were still following Via Aeterna. For example, in the city of Rome, 30% of the population still followed the religion, and the remaining followed Catholicism. In Sicily and Sardinia, almost all of them still followed the old gods. In Greece, 40% of the population followed the old religion, while the rest were Orthodox. The crusades still happened in the Middle Ages, even though Christianity was even more divided than ever. Several pentarchies existed, one in Jerusalem, Carthage(Tunis), Cartagena, Antioch, Constantinople, and of course, Rome. In fact, crusades happened even more so, as Via Aeterna and Christianity temporarily united against Islam, as Jihads were launched. Even though both religions were historic rivals in Europe, they disliked outsiders even more.

  William could see what Romulus tried to do. Romulus knew that Rome would fall, sooner or later, and despite that, Rome would still be the most influential legacy in Europe. Romulus was probably not a very religious person, like most modern people. Instead, he saw the opportunity and took it to further his influence and power. He respected that. He closed the book and put it back into the bookshelves. He took out a new book and started reading again. It was about history during the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.