Sally exchanged a glance with Theo as they sat in the quiet, domed chamber. The question posed by the Architect already had a pang of worry blooming in her stomach, making friends with the pancakes consumed earlier.

“I’m familiar,” Theo offered, and Sally gave a brief nod.

Chuck looked around the room. “For those amongst us who aren’t familiar, the basics of it are that as technology improves in leaps and bounds, any simulation of reality would get more lifelike and frequently created.”

“To the point where it's statistically more likely to be in a simulation rather than being in the real world, but also it's nigh indistinguishable from being real.” Theo rubbed the side of his head and frowned. “Is that what we’re in?”

“Not exactly.” Chuck sighed. “Think of it as something along that path.”

Sally clicked her fingers. “You’re saying there are other System worlds out there?”

He nodded and waited to see what the reaction of the room would be.

Humphrey grunted. “Astute as always.”

A question mark appeared over the Shade’s head, and Edward shuffled uncomfortably, but nobody had anything else to add at this stage.

Sally narrowed her eyes. “There’s more to it than the reveal, though, right? You can… see them?”

“I can, but not all of them.” Chuck held a hand up. “Our world is like a bubble consisting only of this continent. Imagine more bubbles floating in an empty ocean. They aren’t moving, as such, but there’s distance between them.”

Norah tilted her head. “How many are there?”

“At this stage… I can detect around four dozen.” There was a mixture of gasps and murmurs of surprise. “But past that, there could be hundreds. That’s only speculation, however.”

“Are they similar to our world?” Theo asked.

“To varying degrees. It’s unclear as to whether they had Architects like here, or were formed by different entities in different manners. It takes time, but I can gather information about the closest.”

“More importantly,” Sally interjected, “are they all messed up like ours was?”

He shrugged. “Again, it differs.”

They all fell into silence as they considered what this meant. Instead of being some weird lone reality, they were a tiny planet amongst a universe of populated worlds like theirs. All part of a network of… something trying to create new places to live? Were they all the failures?

Chuck cleared his throat. “Thus, we come to my proposal…” He ran his tongue around his teeth as he tried to draw on the speech he had repeated internally dozens of times.

“Whatever it is, I’m in,” Sally said and clapped her hands together. It certainly sounded more interesting than eating the same old brains over and over in the Events she was in charge of.

The Architect deflated. “I knew you would be. Right, so. I want to… bring some of these other worlds in, and absorb them into ours.”

Silence again as they tried to process.

“Ah. Power’s finally gone to your head.” Edward nodded. “About time for your villain arc.”

“It’s not that!” Chuck waved his hands, despite knowing the demon was just prodding. “There are a lot of broken Systems out there. If we bring them on and give them ours, we can start to build an actual expansive world. Save Players suffering under worse Systems than ours.”

“There are other Players out there?” Sally furrowed her brow and looked at Theo.

The Architect nodded.

Humphrey shifted on the chair that was struggling to hold his weight. “This is all well and good, but how are you proposing we actually do this? Merging worlds seems… outlandish.”

“I can understand the trepidation.” Chuck smiled softly. “I thought it beyond possibility at the start as well. But, under the right conditions, I can ‘recode’ the errant Systems. At present, I can transmit only a small amount of data across the 'sea' to another world.”

“Think of it as drawing a line between two puddles,” Dent offered. “A faint bridge that needs widening before they can join.”

The Death Knight narrowed his empty eye sockets. “It sounds like you are working up to saying you need boots on the ground to improve the connection?”

“Oooh!” Sally stood and waved her hand in the air. “Dibs! I have boots!”

Chuck exhaled through his nose. “I knew you’d offer, and of course you were first in mind. You don’t even know the stipulations, however.”

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She pulled a face and sat back down, while the vampire pouted beside her at not getting picked.

“We have a world in mind,” Dent drummed his metallic fingers on the table. “As a way of cutting our teeth and to make sure things go as planned.”

Chuck nodded, and with a gesture, a holographic map edged with blue lights bloomed over the middle of the table. A rough blob, hardly a circle of land, in the middle of sea.

“Looks really small,” Norah said, narrowing her yellow eyes.

“It is.” Chuck caused the map to zoom in a little. “Barely half as big as the Forest here. From what I can tell, it was abandoned before any Players were even summoned there.”

“So it’s just been System-created living there?” Lucius rubbed at his shadowed chin.

“Correct. I've not been able to determine whether they have 'Uniques' such as we do, but it is unlikely given the simplicity of their System.”

Sally tilted her head. This was a lot to take on so early in the morning. An empty world full of nobodies, just existing because someone got bored or gave up. She could see why Chuck wanted to make this the test run for his plans. The worst thing for such a venture would be to completely mess up and cause the death of innocent Players. Despite the trepidation and how overwhelmed with information she felt, there was also a burning passion growing deep within.

That ambition to rise up against the odds and win again. Build something better for those under the heavy shadow of a broken or unfair System. She was hungry for it.

“Alright Chucky, put it on the line. What am I getting myself in for?” She crossed her arms to try to appear dissatisfied with the proposition.

He nodded. “I’ll be straight with you, because it’s important you understand what this is. Plus, you all have terrible memories and I don’t want to repeat myself.”

They all nodded in agreement before he continued.

“We have enough power to send one person to the new world. The more powerful you become in that System, the more control we get, and at some point we can take over and join the two worlds.”

Sally put her hand up. “What happens if I die on the other world?”

“Good news is you’ll come back here. Bad news is that it severs our connection entirely to that world. Becomes inaccessible to us.”

Humphrey tilted his head. “How are you so sure?”

“Anonymous test subject,” Dent said blankly.

Sally rubbed at her forehead. “So… a new world, all alone. Eat and grow until I’m powerful enough for… total takeover?”

Chuck nodded. “It’s likely that as your power increases, we’ll be able to send in assistance if you-”

“Dibs!” Theo said, sitting upright.

“...If you need it,” the Architect finished. “Not totally alone, however.” He gave Dent a nod, and the swordsman brought out a small box to put on the table, before sliding it across toward the zombie.

She furrowed her brow. A simple rectangle of dark wood. She popped it open to reveal an earring inside. The ornament dangling from it was a stained glass cat’s head. Ginger with emerald eyes.

Sally gasped and brought it out.

“So if one of us was going first instead, we’d get the same gift?” Theo narrowed his eyes, knowing that Sally was bound to be the first one into the fray, something that almost went without saying.

As she clipped it to her ear, a swirl of amber energy pooled out onto the table. After a couple of seconds, it solidified into the unmistakable shape of the familiar ginger cat.

“Archie!” She grinned and brought him in for a snuggle. “I wondered why you weren’t sitting in the meeting. You were busy hiding in jewelry.”

“Indeed. The reveal seemed amusing, and I've already helped Chuck with all his work leading up to this decision.”

Sally’s crimson eyes glimmered at the thought. Adventuring in a new world with Archie sounded like a lot of fun. She’d be able too… no, a thought caught her before she got too far ahead of herself. “Chuck? Will I have my current skills and equipment?”

“Ah.” He pulled a face and leaned back in his chair. “See, that’s the other thing. You’d be entering the System as a new Player. So base stats, no equipment… you will, however, remain a zombie and will have a couple of skills based on that.”

“Depending on how that System was set up?” Theo asked, raising an eyebrow.

A nod was the response given. “Sally will have [Eat Brains] and a passive that increases her hardiness in this new world, but you won’t be a ‘zombie class’ like here.”

She worked her jaw. That meant she would be able to choose a proper Class for a change. Like a ranger, or a paladin, or… she shivered in excitement.

“We’ll also be able to be in contact with you,” Dent added. “It’s not as snappy or reliable as it would be here, but it’s something.”

Theo nudged her. “You just have to remember to check them.”

Chuck removed the hologram. “The reason I brought you all here is that no doubt you’ll all have the option of being dropped in to a new world, should you want to, and if Sally needs you. A wider roster would be nice, but I think the Outsiders stand beyond most in this System. Sally is the primary choice for transfer, as her ability to create zombies can be an easy strength boost at the starter stages.”

Sally looked around the room. Most of the Outsiders had gone to living a life of peace. Norah and Lucius especially. She would understand if they didn’t want to get involved in this crazy sounding scheme. In truth, she wasn’t even sure if she believed it herself - or entirely understood the ramifications.

“In a way…” her tongue ran across her sharp teeth and she squeezed the cat tighter. “This world is like our heaven? We get one life on these other worlds, but will return here after. Where we are safe.”

The Architect nodded. “It’s not without hardship, but it’s less of a personal risk. The stakes are more… planetary? That said, I’d hold no grudge against anyone if they didn’t want to be part of this.”

“I want in as soon as possible,” Theo said, raising his eyebrows at Sally.

“As long as my duties here allow it,” Humphrey began, “I would also like to participate. Second if Theo is not.” He narrowed his eyes at the vampire.

Edward groaned. “Might be something to kill the current boredom. Only if Theo is in there, though.”

“Hmm, if needed I will always lend a hand.” Norah smiled at Sally. “Killing adventurers would be preferred.”

Lucius had constant sweat-drops appearing beside his head.

“You don’t have to, Lucy.” Sally shook her head. “You do plenty of good work here, anyway.”

The Shade nodded, but didn’t seem any less nervous. “I will join if you need me? Like if everyone dies and you have no other options?”

Chuck exhaled. “Technically, if we have the capacity for say… three of you, and two died - we would be able to send two different people down. Our connection is only severed once we have no boots on the ground. But yes, you'd each only have one life on a new world.”

“Awesome!” Sally clamped her mouth shut, not meaning to say that out loud. It was almost like how their own System was meant to be, with them returning to their original world after dying here. No doubt Chuck had used part of that… code or magic to arrange his current ploy.

“Any other questions?” He opened up the floor to the gathered Outsiders.

“Only about three dozen,” Sally grinned at him, her hands clutched at the edge of the table in excitement.