They spent a couple of hours going over questions. Food and coffee brought in for those that could actually eat and drink. Most of the points brought up were inane or something Chuck had already gone over, which is why he called the meeting with all of them, knowing that would happen.
Eventually, their murmured banter ran dry. A difficult task, but once everyone was caught up, the Architect took control of the meeting once more.
“Right. I hope that clarifies most things. As things progress, we will keep you all in the loop. We’ll be sending out Guild Invites soon, so that we have a chat channel everyone can view.”
A tired grin across his face, he then lifted his hands up. “All of you are dismissed, aside from Sally and Theo.”
The gathered Outsiders said their goodbyes, leaving the room via the door before teleporting back to their homes. Archie was asleep on Sally’s lap, but it didn’t look like he needed to scoot away as well. The door closed behind the last of the group, leaving the four plus cat alone.
“If this is about the noise complaints…” she began, before Chuck raised his hand up again to quieten her.
“Enough, already. I don’t have the time to make a bottle to spray you with cold water.” He sighed and looked over at the swordsman.
Dent stood, with a nod, and left to a back room - a door opening in the smooth wall that wasn’t visible before.
Sally pouted and waited for the Architect to explain himself.
“The reason why it’s just us three will be clear once I begin.” He wrinkled up his face. “I have some… answers. About how we all got here.”
Theo nodded. “There are a lot of things we’ve just ignored about that whole process.”
“For good reason, though,” Sally counteracted. “We’re not meant to remember the old world.”
Chuck took a deep breath. “That’s why I wanted to check you both wanted to know before continuing?”
They both nodded and gestured for him to go ahead.
“The method for bringing people over was part of the Creator’s design, and unfortunately neither myself nor Archie have been able to access that part of the System. It’s been the elephant in the room for a few months now… but there will be more Player waves. All we’ve managed to do is slow it, so far.”
“Rats,” she said and pulled a face. “And it actually kills people on Earth?”
The Architect drummed his fingers on the table, pausing before he answered. “Short answer… yes?”
Theo tilted his head. “You don’t seem so sure. What’s the long answer?”
“Depends on your definition of ‘Earth’.”
Sally groaned. “You’re not going to tell us that not only are the System worlds a network of simulated realities, but there’s also alternate realities for our real world?”
“You’re right,” Chuck grimaced. “I wasn’t going to tell you that. Hence the short answer. Want the potentially good news, though?”
“Ehhh.” The zombie looked at the vampire. “I’m open to it.”
“We’re the only ones from that version of Earth.” He opened up his arms at the reveal. “The System was taking Players from a different world, and then the ‘beam’ had an error and hit us.”
Sally furrowed her brow. “Theo, didn’t you say a group of your friends came over?”
“Yeah. That was a lie.” He stared at her blankly. “I just didn’t want you to think I was a loner. Or eat me.”
She nodded. That seemed reasonable. Certainly, he hadn’t brought them up since that time in the Forest. She just hadn’t questioned it in case they were already dead and it was a sore spot.
Chuck rubbed at his eyes and yawned. “Normally it just takes a single person here or there. Targeted. But this error-beam killed everyone in the diner, hence the zombies that looked like the patrons, and the diner looking identical enough for your muddled mind.”
“Huh.” Sally thought about it for a moment. “That’s pretty sad then. It just copied their appearance, though? No souls?”
“Correct. Us three only made it in due to being under the right specifications for age. Theo was almost out of the range of the beam. Like I said, it’s usually rather pin-point, targeting one person at a time. Not the wide blast that took over the whole diner area.”
She tried to imagine this whole existence without the dorky vampire. “I thought you had left the diner pretty promptly?”
“Oh,” Theo glanced her direction, before averting his gaze. “No, I stopped to tie my shoelaces.”
Sounded like a reasonable excuse. She shrugged. This was a lot to take in already, what with already overloading her brain with the new directive of absorbing broken Systems from the network.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“So that is part of the reason why we can remember,” Chuck offered. “Also, why our existences here have been pretty odd.”
Imagine just trying to build a little slice of life romance amongst a quaint town and then catching a stray interdimensional bullet, causing her to live among a sea of artificially constructed worlds. And she was a zombie, too.
Eventually, she sighed. “Thank you for telling us, Chuck. I’m not sure if that makes me feel any different, but it’s good to get closure on our previous lives.”
Theo nodded. “Mostly, I just feel bad for those caught up as collateral. I assume the System hasn’t had issues since?”
“None that I can see.” Chuck tilted his head. “Still, we aren’t too fond of it going around killing young adults to abduct them to this world. We’re hoping that getting more power by absorbing the broken Systems will allow us the control to turn off the faucet.”
They were both in full agreement.
“Fantastic.” He smiled back at their nodding heads. “Well, that’ll be all, Theo. If I could borrow Sally for a little, there are some other things to discuss.”
The vampire narrowed his eyes. “Sure, it was great meeting with you, Chuck.”
Sally prodded him as he stood. “I’m hungry, pup. Why not go home and heat the ‘oven’ up ready?”
Chuck sighed. “I can see you doing the air quotes.”
She glared at him. “You’re not the boss of me!”
“I’m literally the Architect, near god of the System.”
Her eyes narrowed further. “And if that’s gone to your head already, I know where that crown’s kept.”
Theo cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll be off.” He gave the zombie a pat on the head before waltzing out of the room with his hands in his pockets. The door shut behind him.
“Just kidding, Chucky. I don’t want to make a habit of killing gods. Sets too much of an expectation.” She grinned and placed the sleeping cat onto Theo’s chair gently.
He rolled his eyes and stood up from the table. “Follow me.”
She did so, looking over his long robes of brilliant blue. Although she had half expected him to be floating, it seemed he was content enough to walk over to the wall where Dent had gone, the door opening and allowing them entrance.
The swordsman was sitting in a chair beside a desk full of glowing blue panels of information. On the right side of the room was a cylindrical chamber with an open front, a bed and straps on the inside.
“I assume that’s for the Quest, Chuck and not-”
He raised a hand to cut her off. “Yes, it’s for the Quest. You are honestly ceaseless sometimes.”
“You know why, though.” She put her hands behind her back and gazed at all the odd devices in the chamber. “All safety and no conflict makes Sally insufferable.”
“I wouldn’t say that, but…” Chuck turned to her before gesturing over to the slanted bed. “That is one of the reasons you were the pick for this.”
She stepped over and gave it a look over. “We’re not going now, are we?”
Dent swiveled in his chair. “No, this is just for calibration. We need to set some ground rules too. Clarify some things.”
"Like how this isn't a problematic colonialism allegory? We're not interfering with established and working Systems?"
“That,” Chuck agreed, pulling a face, “and to fill you in on more exposition that would fall out of the other’s ears.”
Sally nodded and stepped in to lean against the bed. It was comfortable enough, and the bars going over the top and bottom almost reminded her of the vampire’s coffin. Chuck affixed a thick bracelet to her right wrist. Cold to the touch, it felt like it was vibrating.
“We had considered Theo, at first.” Chuck stood by a panel just to the side of the contraption. “He is certainly efficient… but he often can’t see the forest for the trees.”
She couldn’t disagree with that. The guy would meta-game, power level, and grind things non-stop but he didn’t see the big picture. Content enough to exploit the System to the fullness of the rules—or seemingly foresee the impossible and plan for it—but he didn’t have the appetite for change.
“You need my nuanced ambition for changing things for the better?” She smiled at him through a gap in the metalwork.
“I’m not sure I’d call your methods nuanced, but essentially, yes.” He stepped in front of her and leaned against the bars. “How are things going for you?”
“Can’t complain, honestly. Loving relationship with an accepting equal. Firm friends I can see whenever I like. A job slash hobby that fulfills a lot of my needs…”
Chuck smiled, and his eyes went over the cage. “You need this, though, right?”
“I do.” She looked down and flexed her fingers.
The Dungeons and Events had been so much fun. Fighting against Players, eating their brains, falling to them on occasion… with no real stakes. Fun. But it was all an act in a way. She was just playing the Monster. Bad guy for the Event and then sharing stories over ale at the tavern with those she had killed or died to later on. It wasn’t even a bad thing… but something in her core wanted more.
“Nothing will ever compare to the stakes of fixing this world,” Chuck said. “Even on the darkest and most difficult worlds, you’ll return here on death.”
“Now it’s less about me, but the stakes of other Systems, and the growth of our own world.” She accepted that. While she was still the agent of chaos that everything rode on, she didn’t have to worry about her own mortality or losing everything she had already built here.
“There’s something I didn’t mention before, in front of the others…” the Architect turned back to Dent to give him a nod, before looking back at the zombie. “The more of these you do… the more powerful you’ll become.”
“Huh?” She furrowed her brow. “Some kind of meta progression?”
“Best way to explain it is…” Chuck looked up for a moment to gather his thoughts. “There’s a certain amount of ‘you’ that we can transfer to a new world. Like… a bucket-full. Doesn’t matter what gear or skills I give you now, only a certain amount of you is what Systems call ‘data’.”
She nodded slowly.
“At present, other than your core being, what you take from this world is [Eat Brains] and the ability to bring corpses back from the dead with your kills.”
“But when I’ve successfully helped absorb a new System…?”
“Your bucket is a little bigger. You transfer one of your abilities learned there as part of your core being for future worlds.”
“That seems…” her eyes narrowed. “Neat. Reminds me of a browser game I used to play.”
Chuck smiled. “It’s still early days and we’re playing things by ear somewhat. Oh - so Archie is acting as your tether to us here. He’ll be your access to what we’re calling the Universal System… name pending. When you’re in a different world, your STAR will be for accessing that world’s System - so Arch will allow you to tap into chat and such here.”
Sally pulled a face. “What if I lose my ear?”
“You can still get out, even if the earring is destroyed. We have completed testing.”
“More than you’d expect,” Dent mentioned from the other side of the room.
She hadn’t expected any, to be fair, so this was quite the step up. Although it was still a lot of information to absorb, she couldn’t help the amount of nervous excitement bubbling around inside her. Fixing worlds, growing more powerful, eating all sorts of different brains… it was almost a shame she’d need to wait for it.
As if hearing her inner thoughts, the Architect loomed in a little closer.
“Did you want to take the first world now?”