Avalon was in utter chaos. Bec couldn’t really believe that. Not really. She couldn’t really wrap her head around the idea that a law that emphasized doing good could… do so much damage. She fled through the streets with a foam egg on her back. Ludo lay dormant inside, and there was no way in hell that Bec was going to just let Ludo get away without resolving the game. Scarlet, Black, and Dorian all lead Bec back up towards the central tree of the City. The sun had fallen, and Bec watched in horror as the once beautifully lit central tree was now lit for a very much different reason. Little motes of lights dotted the tree. The fact that the lights were misshapen made Bec realize those were massive uncontrolled blazes speckling the tree’s boughs.

Debris rained down as they fled far beyond the tree to a lift where they all hopped in along a bunch of other people. The lift, easily fifty meters across, started to shift upwards with no guiding tracks. It just floated upwards. Bec’s hearts raced as she looked at all the people around her. Some looked distraught, but many looked fairly normal. Unconcerned about what was happening. Bec was so anxious that she leaned in towards Black, “Why aren’t they attacking?"

Dorian answered instead with gravitas that drew other’s attention towards Bec and the group, much to her chagrin. “I have a theory. It relies on comprehending the human heart. Not all feel the same way about life in the city.”

Dorian cleared his throat. “A cruel man may walk among us. You all may know him well. He may even be you, after all. Why do we tolerate him?” Dorian clenched his fist. “We tolerated him for he was useful. He may have used a life or two as a stepping stool towards greatness, but we have spent years rewarding that behavior.”

People began to gather around Dorian. “Do not lie to yourselves! We all have done it! We all have hurt others for our own advancement! This is our reckoning! This is the day where those who know no way to grow but with the blood of others grow no more. Come around people and listen to my tale of today. Let me tell you the story of how AmiGo grew a soul by the hands of The Girl... in Gray.”

Bec was mentally fried. She just sat on her foam egg and watched blankly as Dorian danced and sang while the lift rose, the flares of explosions down below were the pyrotechnics to the yarn that he spun. He told about how a girl, new to this city, was robbed blind by the evil Gamester.

“He stripped her of even the clothes on her back,” Dorian bellowed.

“The Girl in Gray devised a brilliant plan to trick the man. He liked games, so games she’d play!” Dorian conveniently left out most of the details… like how Bec started the clothes stealing in the first place. Other things like Al were completely altered.

“You see, The Girl in Gray had but one friend in this world. Al. A strong friend, indeed. Their bond was unbreakable, and The Girl in Gray knew that well. She challenged the Gamester to a bet, return her things if he could not discover why they were so close in three guesses. Not being one to back down from a bet, the Gamester agreed.”

Dorian loomed near a kid in the audience.

“The Gamester’s evils knew no limits! ‘Rawr, is it that he owes you money?’ growled the Gamester.” The kid giggled as Dorian scraped at the air with clawed fingers.

Dorian adopted a maidenly impression of Bec which made a small smile creep on her face. “‘No! Al and I are closer than mere money!”

Dorian hissed. “Well then is it that you are bound by blood!”

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Dorian wobbled and flicked his hair. “No! Al and I are closer than mere family!”

Dorian fell to the floor and writhed in mock pain.

“NO!” He hissed in his Gamester persona. “What else is there? Money and family are everything!”

Dorian popped up to his feet and snarled so viciously that even a few adults on the lift took a step back. “I will take this Al from you! He is clearly of great value!” Dorian grabbed at something in the air. His hands opened up to reveal a small doll.

“NO! Al!” He said in his maidenly voice. “Oh, won’t someone please stop this horrid man!” A kid stepped out from the crown, puffed out his chest, and shouted something about saving the girl before a concerned mother dragged him back by his ear.

“AmiGo please! Hear the cries of the people!” Dorian dramatically posed gesturing to the sky. “Please hear them ask for help for the Girl in Gray!”

Dorian beckoned the audience. “AmiGo can’t hear the cries of the Girl in Gray! Help him hear!”

Quiet murmurs came from the crowd. Dorian placed his hands to his ear, “He can’t hear you!”

“AmiGo! Save her!” The crowd cried out in sparse laments. Dorian beckoned further. Slowly the crowd started to chant, “Save the girl! Save the girl!” Bec even saw Scarlet shouting with the crowd. Black watched with his arms crossed.

Dorian, with a flourish, cried out, “AmiGo came down as a bird.”

He made a little bird with his hand, and it fluttered down. With a booming voice like the one AmiGo adopted when he announced the change in his governance, Dorian shouted, “I hear the cries of the people. Alas, I cannot do anything. The Gamester sought knowledge when I do the same. I cannot hold him to rules that I myself will not follow.” The audience booed. Bec was shocked at how worked up they’ve gotten.

Dorian stomped his foot in protest. “The Gamester sought harm!”

“Knowledge cannot be earned by resting on one’s laurels. Pain is how we grow!”

“Wrong!” The GIrl in Gray exclaimed. “The secret to our closeness? It cannot be learned through pain. You will never learn the secret though hurting him!”

“Impossible. All things can be learned given enough pressure.” Dorian’s impression of AmiGo was blank.

He swapped to his Gamester impression, “Nyeh heh heh, Al,” Dorian spoke to the doll in his hand. “You will tell me the secret to your closeness, or you will lose an arm.”

“Never.” The doll spoke back to Dorian. Bec assumed it was ventriloquism, but, at this point, who knew.

Dorian ripped the arm off to the gasps of the audience members. “Ah ha! Willing to speak now!”

“No. My pain is irrelevant.” The doll spoke with certainty and authority.

Cries of anguish came from the crowd as the Gamester—er—Dorian tore the doll limb from limb. “You will tell me the secret!”

Dorian revealed the shredded doll to the audience. One man looked away and a woman covered her eyes. A kid cried. “Alas, he was dead.”

"Now you see…” Dorian’s high pitch maiden voice wavered, “Now, AmiGo, do you see what a thirst for knowledge above all else brings? Destruction.”

Tears rolled down Dorian’s face. “You and the Gamester cannot understand what made us close… and you may never as long as you pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge.”

Ami—Dorian bellowed, “I now see the folly of the overzealous pursuit of data. The world must change, for this cannot persist.” Dorian waved his hands. “I declare that knowledge has found its sister element in this world. I will let. Please, girl, declare, for all the world to hear, what we must now strive for.”

Dorian then clutched his chest, “Death comes to those who care for merely the matter, and not the bonds that bind them. Knowledge comes to those who care for others. The sister element to knowledge is…” Dorian fished for the audience to reply.

“Love!”

“Friendship?”

“Believing in yourself?”

Dorian closed his hands to silence the crowd. In his Girl in Gray voice, he announced with confidence, “You are all right. And yet still far from the core truth. Love, friendship, and believing in the human race! Solidarity with each other. Welcome to the era of Solidarity.”

The audience cheered. Dorian bowed. A bell rang out. A rain of coins fell in everyone’s ears.

AmiGo flashed onto the great central tree and everyone on the lift turned to it. “The Age of Solidarity? I like it, Dorian. Good job.” The crowd cheered harder as they saw AmiGo give Dorian a nod of approval. This story was soon spreading far and wide. As Dorian’s story would manage to reach Bec’s ears from then on, she’d think how ugly and messy the real events were. Maybe it was better this way. The Girl in Gray would live as a legend far better than herself, and she was totally fine with that.