Threshold City
12:45 P.M.
“You’re human…” GatorKing muttered.
“He looks human,” Tantalus corrected his old companion. With a half-second pause, Tantalus continued to speak. “So, First Dark Apostle, you have asked to talk, and we’re here. It is my understanding that the armies under your command are currently engaging in a war of extermination upon the population of this continent and, perhaps, beyond. And now, relatively early in the war, before any major battles have taken place, you want to negotiate. You gave up most of your tactical advantage by not engaging us immediately just so that this meeting could be arranged. Why? Why would you do all of this?”
The First Dark Apostle turned to the Apostle still wearing his mask. The red-haired man’s grin grew wider before he simply couldn’t contain his mirth. Without warning, the First Dark Apostle burst into explosive laughter. He grabbed his legs to steady himself as if he had just heard the funniest thing in the world.
“What’s so funny, monster?” General Dogwood snarled. “Are we amusing you?”
Completely ignoring the General, the red-haired Apostle turned to his masked companion who was also laughing, though other Apostle's laughter was significantly quieter.
“He doesn’t know!” the First Dark Apostle said between peals of laughter. “God, it’s hilarious! Five really overestimated him, don’t you think?”
Even the eight Deluvians looked at the First Dark Apostle with confusion and concern. They were just as confused as the Revenants.
“Did you call us out here just to laugh at us?” Izanagi shouted at them.
“No, no,” the First Dark Apostle breathed in heavily as he tried to control his laughter. After a moment of gargantuan effort, he stopped laughing.
Wiping away tears, the First spoke, “You’ll understand soon. Right, ahem, we’re here to talk. And no, this isn’t a war of extermination, not anymore. Whether the Imperials of Rubigo all die or not doesn’t really matter to us.”
“You speak of genocide like it is a trifling concern!” General Dogwood shouted.
“This is a war of survival,” the First said, ignoring General Dogwood. “We just want to figure out a way to coexist, ya dig?”
“We could not possibly coexist with monsters like you!” General Dogwood shouted. “After all you have…!”
“If the NPC says another word, I’ll tear his head off.” The First Apostle interrupted General Dogwood without even looking at him, holding a half-clenched hand toward the General to punctuate his point. For the first time since the First Apostle had begun speaking, his voice had taken on a cold, murderous tone. There could be no doubt in anyone’s mind that he would do it.
Tantalus had been so busy focusing on the tone of the words that it took him a moment to realize exactly what the First had said. “NPC.” His eyes grew wide as a dozen pieces came together in his mind.
“P-please, please don’t speak, General,” Tantalus warned the General. Fear was evident in the Captain’s voice. As the truth of the matter formed in his mind, Tantalus became aware for the first time of just how much danger they were in. Hearing the fear in the Captain’s voice, the General kept his mouth shut.
“Anyway, where was I?” the First began to say.
“Did you just say ‘NPC?’” Pixie said despite herself.
“Oh, I guess I did,” the First said, the impish smile returning to his face. “Damn, I wanted to linger on the moment for a bit longer. The Deluvians call me ‘the First Apostle,’ but that isn’t what I call myself. You guys can call me Svenheim. I’m a player, just like you.”
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“You’re a player?” Izanagi asked, his mouth agape.
“You’re a person?” Pixie looked like she was about to throw up.
“Yeah, and so’s he,” Svenheim gestured at the man next to him. “Take off your mask, Talwar.”
The second Dark Apostle removed his mask, revealing a man’s face. Talwar’s expression was solemn compared to Svenheim’s, and he seemed somewhat annoyed at being asked to remove his mask.
“Are all thirteen of you players?” Tantalus asked. “Did you spawn-in like this?”
“Yep, we’re all people,” Svenheim said briefly. “Though, we didn’t spawn-in like this. The thirteen of us were killed within the first day. Instead of dying, we all woke up with numbers on our chest and superpowers. Next thing we knew, GM showed up and said we're the villains of this server.”
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“Seems like a bad situation,” Gator said.
“At least you didn’t die,” FullDan said.
“I suppose not,” Svenheim smiled. “Though, I suppose you understand why the situation is so funny.”
Izanagi chuckled heartily as he thought about the situation. “Guys, this is great,” he said to the others before handing his rifle to Pixie. “Hold this, thank you. We don’t have to fight at all. The war, the Deluge, it’s over. Everything’s gonna be fine.”
Izanagi took a few casual steps toward the Dark Apostles as though he considered them friends. “We’re all players, so we’re all on the same side.”
“You mentioned ‘survival,’ right, Svenheim?” Tantalus said darkly.
“Mm hmm,” Svenheim said casually, though his eyes were fixed on Tantalus.
“There’s something you aren’t telling us,” Tantalus stared at the First with grim determination.
“Yeah, I was getting to that,” Svenheim’s smile darkened. “You are too smart for your own good, Captain Tantalus. At the center of each Dark Apostle is a key. This key cannot be extracted without killing the Apostle. To reach GM, you need all thirteen keys.” As Svenheim spoke, he punctuated his point by prodding himself in the chest.
“I see,” Izanagi said, his posture stiffening.
“And that’s why this is a negotiation,” Svenheim said, his smile gone. “We can cooperate, we can coexist, but you must give up on your plan to kill GM.”
[We’re in position.]
“GM said he’d kill all of us if we don’t escape within ten years,” Pixie said. Her left hand was hidden deep within her pocket where she held the wand.
“That’s definitely a lie,” Svenheim said. “He loves the Revenants. You’re the whole reason he exists. He lied in order to give you purpose. You see, he wants the Revenants and the Dark Apostles to fight, so he lied about the time limit. If he kills all of you, he’d have no purpose left. That would be tantamount to suicide for him.”
[Redgrave has a bead on the red-haired one. Should he take the shot?]
A torrent of conflicting thoughts flowed through the Captain’s mind like a typhoon. Was it possible? Could they really come to a peaceful agreement? It was a real option. They could just hang up their guns and spend the next ten years living peacefully on Rubigo. He could retire from war, get a civilian job, and raise a family. He could have the life he always wanted. A normal life: Tantalus could just reach out and take it.
“How do you know this?” Izanagi asked, hopeful.
“Intuition,” Svenheim smiled at Tantalus.
“What would peace even look like?” Pixie asked.
“Five has a plan for that,” the First said. “Though, we’d have to talk about that at a later date.”
“Could we still play the game normally?” FullDan asked.
“Absolutely not,” Talwar interjected for the first time.
“What the Second means to say is that we would need some assurances that you cannot break the agreement and kill all of us. There are certain NPCs we’d have to kill and certain items we’d have to destroy before you can have free reign of Rubigo. With your full support, however, we could probably do this within two years. Five has a list, I think. After that, you can play the game how you want.”
[Captain? We can’t stay here forever.]
“Come on,” GatorKing said. “You guys can’t be taking this seriously, right? If we just let them have absolute control over us, who’s to say they won’t just decide to kill us all one day?”
“I wouldn’t do that. I have no desire to commit mass murder unnecessarily,” the First assured them.
“Maybe not you, but there are eleven others who aren’t even here. If we let them take every useful magic item, then it would only take one of them to wipe us all out.” GatorKing presented his argument with intensity.
“Then you would only need one other Dark Apostle to protect you,” Svenheim argued. “Certainly, the majority of Dark Apostles aren’t genocidal maniacs. I’ve met all of them. They’re all basically normal people.”
[Captain!]
Two realities coexisted within the Captain’s mind, both equally real: one of peace where the Revenants traded their rifles for pens and saws; and one of war where the Revenants suffered and died but would eventually overcome GM and escape from Ferrum. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of lives could be saved if they chose peace. If they chose peace, however, they would forever forego any possibility of freedom. And yet, what was freedom? They could strive for the opportunity to go back to the real world - one riven by strife, war, and an eternal purgatory of loneliness - or they could stay in Ferrum.
Either of these realities could exist just as easily as the other, and the decision was entirely up to Tantalus.
Paralyzed by the terrifying weight of the decision, a single phrase cut through the gloom. Enzo’s last words and the wish of so many who had fallen in the defense of Osiris flashed through the Captain’s mind: “Kill GM.”
“Okay,” Svenheim raised his hands as if to pause the conversation. “We knew we wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement today. Just take this information back with you and spread it to everyone else in Osiris.”
“You want us to turn around?” GatorKing asked.
“Or stay here. We can negotiate some more once the rest of the Osirian Crusade gets here,” Svenheim waved his hand as if to wave away the conversation.
The First began to turn as if he intended to leave, but his movement was interrupted by an interjection by Tantalus. “Hey, Svenheim.”
“Yeah?” the First began to smile.
Tantalus touched his right hand to the back of his head in an anxious gesture that he did not regularly make. “There’s just one more thing I wanted to…”
Tantalus did not finish his statement, and he had no intention of doing so.
A gunshot rang out, filling the town square of Threshold with noise. Svenheim’s head jerked backward as it was struck by a heavy caliber bullet. Blood splattered onto the pavement as the First Dark Apostle fell to the ground.
“Regicide!” Tantalus called out the codeword as he leveled the Luger at the monstrous horde.