“Well, birdy, I’ve got to hand it to you, I did not see that one coming.” Maggy told me, a grin on her face. I had been rather surprised when she had asked for a virtual meeting, happily accepting the invite into my capsule-space, where I received her sitting on my throne, using a modified version of my current Avatar. While the white, almost diaphanous clothes I was wearing in Mundus worked well, especially with my black hair, they didn’t quite send the right impression for an audience. They were more fitting for a forest-fairy, maybe with a hint of mist wafting around my form, than they fit the Throne-Room of a Dark Queen.

“I would have been disappointed if you had seen it coming.” I gave her a thin smile, “After all, a girl has got to have her secrets.” I added, waving my hand in a pre-set gesture, causing some of the mist I had placed right under the ceiling to move, revealing hints of something dark hidden in the clouds, but without showing anything. It was the latest addition, an attempt to make the room more atmospheric than a simple ceiling. Sadly, the hidden object was only a rough draft, an attempt to form something looking like a dragon’s skull from Ice, hidden by darkness and mist. It looked somewhat decent and imposing, but I wasn’t quite happy with it yet.

My words had an interesting effect, it had been meant as a seemingly offhand gesture, both a joke and a bit of showmanship, but the serious look on her face, studying and measuring me made me wonder just how she took my words. For a moment, the almost goofy smile she almost constantly wore returned, before, after a moment of hesitation, she shook her head and it faded as quickly as it had appeared.

“Indeed. But never let the mask you wear, become who you are.” she warned, her voice serious in a manner I hadn’t heard from her before. There was nothing I could do, but give an equally serious nod in response and for a few moments, neither of us acted. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she moved again, a smile back on her face, though it didn’t look as goofy.

“But enough of secrets, I’d rather talk about the future.” she suggested, getting a nod in response, while I pulled myself back together, projecting what I wanted to cultivate as my royal aura.

“The future, you say? What sort of time-frame do you have in mind for that future?” I asked in response, curious where she was going.

“If I had anything to say about it, I’d say from now, until the end of time.” she paused for a moment, “Mundus, as it is now, is a wonderful world, filled with life and experiences that can only be had there. But if enough people go there, the world will change. Now, there is a beautiful dichotomy, the wild places and the so-called civilised places, adjacent but never touching, filled with their secrets that just wait for us to uncover them.” she explained, her voice distant

“I want to find out what people hide in their hearts, I want to find what is hidden beneath the sands of the desert, uncovering the ruins of an ancient civilisation, I want to see it all.” she paused for a moment, her eyes staring into the distance before they closed and she took a long, deep breath.

“But how the fuck can I discover shit, if there are people who’d burn the world, just for shits and giggles?!” she snarled, the earlier breath exploding out of her in anger.

“I know it, you know it, everyone who played online for any length of time knows it, there will be some shitface who wants to do nothing but fuck things up for everyone. And if we don’t all pay attention, those shitfaces will manage.” she ranted, swearing with palpable rage, as if she was about to bite those people.

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“That sounds like you have a plan?” I asked, a little amused at her swearing and anger, it was so different from the happy-go-lucky persona she had projected so far. But then, so had the earlier seriousness. “What is it that you propose?”

“Partnership, exchange of information, whatever you are willing to accept. I want everyone who is visible and influential to be on board, not necessarily working together ingame, shit, I don’t care if we murder each other from time to time, but I want everyone to work togehter outside, to make sure Mundus can remain as beautiful as it is. And if some shitheel tries to stir up trouble, or fuck over the world, I want us all to come together and spawn-gank the fucker until they leave the game.” she declared, the earlier anger still in her voice, joined with a fierce determination.

“I see.” I simply replied, considering the implications and potential results of such an idea. “And I can also see many ways that could go horribly wrong, especially if a small group takes control and imposes their definition of ‘stirring up trouble’.” I added with a frown on my face.

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for keeping Mundus in a shape that we can all enjoy, but who would you want to have the power to decide which shape that would be? Personally, I want to get deeper into the magic and the magic-system, though that doesn’t make for particularly interesting content in the long run. I’ll have to see how I play in the long-run.” I shook my head, before continuing.

“But what if someone has their eyes set on being a ruler, taking what Tobiuno does to its ultimate conclusion, trying to either take the throne or make a kingdom of their own? The impact on Mundus would be massive, especially when it comes to those ‘secrets held in peoples’ hearts’. Coups are seldom bloodless after all.” again, I paused, this time for effect.

“Who are you, to enforce your vision of how the game should be played on the world? And even if you did manage to enforce your rules, what would you do if people simply walked away? To put it in the simplest of terms, if Road to Purgatory flops, Pantheon Entertainment will not keep the lights on.” I finished with a warning, curious how she’d reply.

“Not my rules, that’s the whole point of trying to get everyone on board. If all high-level and influential players get together to discuss things, we should be able to keep everyone engaged and interested without causing everything to turn to shit, at least that’s what I hope.” it looked almost as if her earlier fire had run out, the anger burned out of her system, leaving behind a weariness, though she was still smiling.

“Let’s say, I agree in principle that the World of Mundus deserves to be protected, and I certainly don’t want it to get destroyed. At the same time, the more I think about it, the less likely such a scenario appears.” I admitted, as a certain event sprang to mind.

“What do you mean?” she asked, apparently confused.

“A while back, a spellcaster using Fire was conducting some weird experiments and threatened a city. As a result, a seriously powerful being came out of their hermitage and ended the spellcaster, it wasn’t even a fight. You might remember, she called herself my teacher.” Maggy nodded in response, a frown on her face.

“Now, I’d love to claim that she did that because the guy attacked me. Maybe she did, the guy certainly attacked me, it wasn’t pleasant. But she might just have decided to clean up her backyard and take out the trash, so to speak. Frankly, we all have no idea just how powerful the natives really are, I think we barely scratched the surface when it comes to hidden powers. And that’s without taking the Gods into account.” I added, the last thought sending a shiver down my spine, as large, golden eyes sprang to mind.

“I was aware of the incident, but I never really thought about it.” she admitted, looking a little pensive.

“You are right, the native powers that be would likely be able to keep a lid on things for a while, but with undying Travellers, don’t you think that we’d get too powerful at some point? After all, death is merely a setback for us.” she asked, looking like she wanted to pace.

“Certainly, if someone invests countless days, maybe a couple years, in increasing their level and power in Road to Purgatory, they’ll get powerful, no surprise. But think about it like this, if someone invests that much time, that much effort and love, do you think they’d just burn down the world for the hell of it?”