Fate Online...

Surface- Bronze Rock Region

Nation of Duran'thia- City of Dera'kan

Central Market

Even after being here for weeks and grinding dozens of small gain quests for minimal experience and reputation gains, Ava was still treated like crap. She had made leaps and bounds towards being a better Mage and Necromancer, but in the eyes of the High-Elves, she was just Loranan trash no matter what she did. It reflected in the prices of items, the way they spoke to her, and the way other Immortals could act around her without any consequences. For the most part. If they made too big of a seen, the local guards or constables would interfere, but for the most part, they did not care. That's how she ended up cornered in an alley facing off against three other Immortals.

"Come on bitch, just give us a couple of gold and we will leave you alone." the leader, a Warrior said. His Rogue companion chuckled while their Mage friend looked uncomfortable with what they were doing.

"Go away please," Ava replied with respect even though they deserved none.

The Rogue smiled, "Or what happens?' he asked. 'The Locals aren't going to do anything to protect you. Two guards have walked by and they did nothing." The Rogue smiled and grabbed Ava's hair and let it run through his fingers. Ava smiled and activated a new spell she had, Necrotic Shield. The Rogues hand started to wither immediately causing him to scream in pain and jerk away. The Warrior cursed and drew his oversized sword as the Mage pulled the Rogue away. With a shout, the Warrior slammed the sword against her shield.

With a sound like a hammer striking a bell the sword reverberated off Ava's shield causing the Warrior to scream as his hands were jarred badly and he dropped his sword in the street. "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!!" a Constable shouted as he ran up.

"She attacked us and hurt my friend." the Warrior immediately responded with a sneer while the Mage shook his head, too late.

"Really...she attacked you with a defensive spell. So you are lying to authorities now Gallager. You have been in enough trouble as is in this city. Take your friend to go see a Priest and get his hand healed, then I want you to leave this city and not return for at least a week. This is your sentence for lying in an official inquiry. Your punishment has already been lodged with the local Lord and you have until nightfall to leave. After that, you will be arrested and you all will be spending that time in jail. Go!!" The Constable commanded.

Ava immediately dropped her shield, she didn't want to even appear as if she would fight the local law enforcement officer. "Thank you," Ava told him as the three other Immortals walked off.

"As bad as you are Loranan, you still respect the people around you and the laws here. I cannot say the same about the other Immortals that just left. May I ask you a question? This is not official, just a personal inquiry.' the Constable asked. Ava nodded but it was probably a question of why she just didn't leave High-Elf lands if she was treated so badly. 'I noticed just over a day ago, all Immortals left and went back to your world. Some were wondering why that happened."

Ava flinched at both the question and the memory of watching the huge fireball on the news over Rio de Janeiro. Over two million dead and rising so far and scientists believed another two million would die at least, due to radiation sickness within the week. "Yes, we were all recalled to our world because a city there was attacked and destroyed. A lot of people are dead and more are dying because of it. No one has claimed responsibility yet for the attack and the nations of my world have condemned the attack."

The Constable frowned, "Yes...that would hint that whoever is behind it is not done yet and their mission is more important than anything else."

Ava nodded her head, "That is the prevailing theory going around. Most believe since no one is claiming responsibility that they have more weapons that could do the same thing again."

The Constables eyes bulged, "A singular weapon did this...I am glad this sort of weapon is not on our world."

Ava snorted, "Sir, this world has ancient powerful Dragons that could due the same given enough time and motivation. Not to mention the gods themselves. Now if you will excuse me, I must finish up my errands."

The Constable stepped aside. "Be careful, I have banned Gallager and his friends from the city, but he is vindictive and has been known to kill other Immortals." The Constable stated before walking off. Great, now I have some PKers on my ass Ava thought as she walked through the market. 

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Real World...

North American Alliance- Greater New York Conglomerate

Black Spire- BlackRock HQ

Anthony looked at the various world leaders that filled the screens in front of him. The North American Alliance, European Union, Asian Alliance, Russian Federation, African States, someone from the remains of the Middle-East Kingdoms, the Pacific Federation, and someone from the Brazil Union were all present and studying Anthony. "Thank you all for taking time out of your days to be here. I know you are all very busy with what has happened in Rio de Janeiro. As you all know, thirty-five nuclear weapons are still out there. Whoever has them seems more concerned with making sure they detonate then receiving credit for the destruction." Anthony stated the obvious but all the leaders were nodding their heads in agreement.

"Now as you are all also aware, after the end of World War Three, the global average temperature dropped by ten degrees due to previous nuclear detonations. I am sending you the data we have, but if this group succeeds in detonating even half the weapons they have they will succeed in dropping the temperature by another ten degrees. If they detonate all of them, the temperature will drop by twenty at least. This will devastate crops and plant growth worldwide. Any survivors from the detonations and the resulting nuclear fallout will starve to death.' Anthony let the information sink in before going on. Based on some of their reactions, they had not heard of this possibility. 'Climate controlled facilities could support a population of one hundred thousand worldwide. Any more than that, the survivors would face malnutrition." Angry mutters filled the line as the data was sent to the various world leaders. Anthony was sure they would all be triple checked, but facts do not lie. As horrible as the truth is, humanity faced extinction.

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"Now as you are also aware of, I am part of a cabal or alliance of like-minded business leaders and financially independent people. Now, most people believe this alliance is based on business reasons. I would be lying if I said this was untrue, but it's not the main reason why I brought that alliance together. I brought the alliance together because we were all orphans and survivors of that time. Most of you are as well and understand that drive. When our alliance came together, we agreed on one thing above all us, we have to ensure Humanities survival. That has been our mission from day one. That is why we forwarded the Intel on the nuclear weapons being taken from the old Russian Federation base, we were hoping you all could succeed where we failed." Anthony appraised their reactions. These leaders knew of Anthony and his partners probably as soon as they gained their current positions, so that information was not new. The responsibility that they took on would be a surprise as well as the information they forwarded to the various leaders.

"So what steps have you taken to ensure humanity will survive Mr. Mitchels?" the Russian leader asked.

"Over the last twenty years, my alliance had several programs but only two have come to fruition. The first is Project Noah, named after the biblical sense. Genetic materials, DNA scans, and various other materials needed to clone plants, animals and humans have been taken over the years and stored in ships. Three of these Arks were launched about twelve hours ago, a fourth Arc will finish construction and launch by the end of the week. They will never return to Earth or this solar system, but a complete archive of everything we have done in recorded history will accompany each ship. Hopefully, they will find habitable worlds one day and Humanity will go on learning from our mistakes. They will have a fresh start and unbiased by the history dragging this world into oblivion." Anthony finished leaving some of the world leaders stunned while others accepting and maybe even appreciating their efforts.

"You said you had two programs that came to fruition. What was the second program?" The North American President prompted.

"The second program is Project Lazerous and it has to do with digitizing the human mind," Anthony responded. Scoffs and incredulity were the responses from everyone.

"This cannot be done. Not should not, but cannot be done." the Asian Alliance leader butted in causing the Russian leader to study him. Eve's snickers filled the room behind Anthony causing him to frown and shush her.

"I apologize for that interruption ladies and gentlemen. As you can see I have two A.I. with me. You may know them, if not they are Adam and Eve, they have watched over and maintained Fate Online since its inception. With their assistance, we have perfected the method to digitize a human mind where it will be housed in Fate Online. This is why we built so many Quantum Cores and server farms around the world. To house the human minds if we ever succeeded. I am proud to say we succeeded in digitizing the human mind." Anthony informed them and the stony silence was not what he expected.

"You expect humanity to live on in a game world..." The North American Alliance President replied without emotion.

"I understand this is a leap---" Anthony responded but was interrupted immediately by the President.

"You conducted illegal scientific study, you---" the President began but was cut off just as quickly.

Anthony snarled, "Don't insult me. You have your own ongoing experimentations on humans including digitization that have killed far more then I ever have authorized, so do not act as if you are better then me. I will put it plain as day, do you want to live or die? Do you want your children to die? Either these people will succeed or someone else will. Humanity as a whole faces extinction."

"Putting aside the human experimentation, why a world with conflict? Why not a utopia with nothing wrong with it?" the Pacific Alliance leader asked.

Eve let out a full belly laugh at the question and the man got more than one look questioning him. Eve responded before Anthony could, "Humans crave conflict. Humans cannot survive long term without it. You cannot live on the beach, sipping drinks, having sex, and watching the sunset long term. Humans need to be challenged, to explore, to fight, to survive. If we gave you Utopia, humanity would burn it down just to see what would happen. Humanity can survive and thrive in the world of Ithea, a Utopia would spell the end of Humanity." Eve informed them.

"What could our people do there?" The European Leadership asked causing the Russian leader to chuckle.

"I am not laughing at you, just your question. My children love the world you have built. As an answer to your question, anything you want to do. My daughter is an Artisan that makes beautiful sculptures there while my son splits his time-fighting monsters and making armor. I believe the line is 'Fate is what you make'. In other words, you can do anything you want within the laws of the world." the Russian said with a smile.

Anthony, Adam, and Eve smiled and nodded, "Very true sir. People will be challenged daily in their lives, but they don't have to fight monsters or eachother. They can start a farm, run a store, be a politician, whatever people want to do, they can be. The question is will you allow them to survive in this digital world or not?" Anthony asked them causing all the world leaders to frown and look at each other.

"We will discuss this among our people and let you know of our decision Mr. Mitchels. Thank you for enlightening us on your efforts to ensure humanity's survival. We will be in contact soon." The Asian Alliance Leader stated before signing off. The others quickly followed suit leaving just the North American President on.

"Well, you certainly did not disappoint or embarrass me, too much. You really think we face extinction?" the President asked.

Anthony gave him a sad smile, "Its not if, but when we will die out. Mr. President this will happen sooner or later, I just hope you all say yes." Anthony told him before the President cut the line.

"That went better then I expected," Adam stated.

"What do you think the chances are that we succeeded?" Anthony asked the two A.I. Adam winced while Eve just shrugged her shoulders.

"Time will tell Anthony," Eve stated before disappearing with her brother.