Chapter 20 - Saga 3, Anything’s Fate
Confrontation
*
Archer blinked again, adjusting to the sheer surgical sterility of the room. A moment later he able to discern shapes, finding that the room was banked with monitors, the walls almost completely adorned with screens. Soon they were all activated, each displaying an unfolding event in Lore.
“You are here because Anything is about to be destroyed, its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated.”
He turned around, to the source of the voice. Sitting in a nifty chair was Todd, remote in hand, grinning like a happy fool.
“Ah, Archer. You’ve been stirring up quite a ruckus lately, haven’t you?”
He slightly extended the remote, pressing a miniscule button, resultantly the monitors displaying scenes of the New Fellowship’s endeavors, from their exploits in the Deverenian Empire to the duel between siege911 and Acid_Flux, even conversations and actions Archer himself had not been aware of.
“An impressive mess you’ve made of late.”
A following click, the screens then showing the battlefield just beyond the outskirts of General. While the current action there was a welcome ease from earlier hectic conflict, the ‘mess’ Todd referred to definitely evident in the thousands of corpses, factional ties all but severed, the inter-forum route vastly marred by scorched craters.
Archer didn’t dare interrupt almighty Todd, biding his time and hoping to glean absolutely any grain of information that’d allow for the restoration of Anything.
“How’d you get into the Mod Lounge, anyway? I’d restricted your- oh, but of course!”
Another quick motion of the thumb and the staggering array of monitors flashed forth innumerable images of Stormcrow, who was working to carve another piece of coding into a shaft, presumably to assist in taking down the Elite Dark Horsemen.
“Hm. A problem easily dealt with.”
Barely a second later, and Stormcrow had become latest victim to the ‘smite’ button, our fearless troglodyte standing resolute even as he watched the elf’s head explode, body ripping apart beneath it. It all seemed so surreal.
“Why are you doing this?” The deity chuckled in forced response before continuing. “Lore is about Game. That is its very foundation, its ultimate purpose, its fostering nature and guideline. A foundational form of conflict practiced by every inhabitant of Lore, involving several Warlords championed about and grandly skirmishing under your proud control. While at any time you may only be subconsciously aware of said Game, its very existence provides meaning for your presence here, and to it you owe your citizenship, even in Anything.”
He allowed a dramatic pause for the words to fully sink in.
“Which brings us to the issue of Anything itself, the only realm within Lore where Game is not the principal governor. You’ve been living a lie, Archer. You’ve been existing within a dream world, a place where purpose is no longer an accepted concept, chaos reigning free amidst a backdrop of absolute meaninglessness. It was initially designed to keep the citizens of Lore in check, to prevent them from burning out on Game while Game itself was still in modification, adapting to its eventual perfection which I now believe is at hand, no longer necessitating the existence of Anything. If Lore is Game, than what is Anything? Certainly not Game, and thus no longer needed.”
Archer furrowed his brow, fists tightening of their own accord.
“The obstacle I faced was erasing Anything in such a way as to cause minimal loss of priority citizens and property. To simply delete it with nary a warning would cause an outcry, providing a source of grievance for the citizens of Lore against my status as almighty, thus defeating the very purpose for which Anything was created, to ease their easily-excited minds. This function no longer needed deal with since the sublimation of Game at hand, a curious pretzel of a puzzle. Besides, even given my skill in the very creation of Lore, I had no guarantee that a sudden deletion of the entire realm wouldn’t permanently damage Lore as a whole. So the prospect was born of a gradual degradation, slow erosion into oblivion, along the way providing an actual purpose as repository for said citizens and property that were strictly due for expenditure as it were. Two birds with one stone, if you will.”
Todd chuckled, basking in his own glory, summoning forth another image across the walls, this one of Archer’s foray into a forest within Anything, back then his Army following, DarkGuardian sprawling upward through the tangled mass of branches. Then the voice piercing Archer’s very brain, Todd’s promise of a higher power, potential to replace him as head of Lore, even if only on substitute basis when needed.
The valiant leader of the New Fellowship stood shocked, not having realized that this dastardly plot had extended so far back in time.
“Even then, I knew a meddling Mod had power to kick up enough trouble to warrant serious concern. And also even then, I knew that Mod would be you, the brash troglodyte. I thought I could convince you of leaving Anything, but your brutish self in all eventuality wouldn’t have it, I having to provide cover for my intentions and insisting you failed a ‘test’ of mine, this statement a half-truth. Certainly, I was evaluating your potential for dangerous response, simultaneously probing the possibility of your desertion of Anything. When it became apparent you were an impossible conquest, your stubborn ways possibly both your greatest strength and greatest weakness, I had to turn to another, one of whose affinity for Game I could be sure of. Someone without such a blinding affiliation for Anything as you possessed.”
“GreenDestiny.”
“Of course. He was all too glad to assist, as I was far too busy keeping Lore running to keep my primary focus on the fall of Anything. The responsibility was cast to him, entrusted to his hands and power. While I could instigate the collapse, he carried it out from there, nurturing the process along the way. All too unfortunate that even before I could finalize his installation as Mod of Anything, you’d already discovered the beginnings of the plot.”
Another click, recalling Archer again in a wooded, hardly-endeavored region of Anything happening upon the first real confirmation to his growing suspicion.
“I was fondly impressed by GreenDestiny’s seeming readiness for such resistance, as even the Fellowship stepping up to the call of Anything’s plight, GD was busy corrupting your ragtag bunch from the inside out. Cue Ter-Soth, the one being we knew would see it our way, the being of reason, of light. In a twist of bitter irony, I believe this transformation was due to another quest of your Fellowship, also set forth into motion by yours truly? The Tornhawk affair, yes. Haplo’s castle contained a great many assets to my cause, I assure you.”
Archer thought back, trying to remember. But he wasn’t there, that still being when he was in opposition to the Fellowship, hounding their every effort. Then the thin resolution, and… was that Todd’s doing, as well? Another check and balance? He had many questions, some of which he feared would never be answered.
“But even then, armed with a snitch fully capable of arranging vicious counterstrikes against your crew, the Fellowship proved a bit more formidable than we had ventured to guess. However, once steered to General by a timely correspondence from a coerced AussieScum, our confidence was finally founded. Now, as you and your rebel scum are conveniently well away, Anything is almost completely gone, its last vestiges being taken care of.”
What followed was an updated streaming image of the final embers of the great skirmish, fury_of_hate dueling with a desperate DarkGuardian, who was finding that his hammer had little power against the mercenary Mod. The dwarf was driven back, stabbed from behind from chaosnake. Archer refused to watch, refusing to believe it as well.
“My offer still stands. You could easily be a Mod in General, we can always use policing efforts there. What do you say, trog?”
Mock consideration. “Anything is my home. I’ll never-”
“Leave completely? Or what? Archer, this is ridiculous, ludicrous! You’re not being reasonable. This isn’t a matter of choosing a realm, that choice is leaving you as we speak. This is about Lore, about Game. You’ll either cooperate with the rising of the golden age of Lore, or suffer the same fate as those lesser imps in your useless reject homeland. I can tell you’re still willing to defend it, but why, for what? What purpose does Anything serve? There is absolutely no justification for its restoration. Game is all that matters, and that’s all I intend for Lore, as always had been.”
“Life.”
“Excuse me?”
“If Lore is about Game, than Anything is about Life. You were right to worry about us all being burned out on Game, to create us a refuge, a comfort, a solace. Admirable, at the time. You say I’ve forgotten, I’m the one who’s mistaken, but it’s you whose mind is clouded. Todd, you’re a fool. You can’t let them get to you like this. Game isn’t absolute. Life came first, and from it was borne Game, and from that Lore. You need Life, we all do, without it there isn’t even Game, a fact that you seem to forget, eagerly convinced that Game is all, Game is-”
“I created Lore, and I am still creating it. And now, I tell you, it is created for Game, and Game alone. What is this Life you speak of? Do we compete in Life? Who wins, who loses? What is its purpose, its meaning, its use? Even providing the answers is a hollow pursuit. Even if you could, even if you have the answers and meaning and enlightenment, such does not belong in Lore, designed purely for the substance of Game! I, we, no longer have need for Life. I wish for no remnant of your so-called ‘Life’ to be present in Lore, as it is a shallow thought, a washed-out idea lost in Game, the true rush, what we live for. There is nothing else, only Game, no-”
His zealous speech was interrupted by a sudden knock from a door Archer had not noticed before.
© Eric Bailey