Enzo woke up.
When he opened his eyes, he was staring up at an intricate art nouveau ceiling made of gold-trimmed marble. Standing around him were five robed figures each wearing harlequin masks. When Enzo had logged in the first time, a similarly-clothed individual stood over him. The differences were that there was only one the first time and that one’s mask bore the visage of a frown. These robed individuals wore smiling harlequin masks. Enzo vaguely remembered hearing someone refer to these individuals as “sorcerers.”
Enzo bolted up into a sitting position, fear gripping him. The last thing he remembered; he had passed out from blood loss. He pressed his hands to his chest to check for wounds. When he did this, Enzo found that his outfit had changed. Instead of the bloody blue uniform he had been expecting, Enzo was wearing a large black overcoat, black suit pants, and an elaborate white dress shirt with the top five buttons unbuttoned. Most of Enzo’s chest was exposed. Looking down, Enzo could see roman numerals tattooed just under his right collarbone. He had seen the symbol many times before, so he could read it even upside down. It read: XIII. The roman numeral for the number 13.
“What?” Enzo wondered aloud.
He looked around to more fully take in his surroundings. To both of his sides, large lattice-work windows looked out at a stormy night sky. Chandeliers lit with gas lights hung from the vaulted ceiling. The ground was made of polished marble, and the room must have measured about fifty feet by a hundred feet, as far as Enzo could approximate. Enzo realized that he had awoken in a castle ballroom.
Before he could fully get his bearings, the five sorcerers around him suddenly knelt to the ground. They bowed their heads low to the ground, as if in prayer. Then, without warning one said, “He has risen! All hail the Thirteenth Dark Apostle!”
Enzo did not know what a dark apostle was. He took a moment to put some pieces together. One moment, he was dying. The next, he had woken up in a castle surrounded by cultists who were calling him a Dark Apostle. Enzo remembered something. GM was sometimes called the “Dark God.” A terrible sinking feeling filled Enzo’s stomach. He was about to open his mouth to ask a question, but he stopped short. If a mistake had been made, then Enzo didn’t want to tip them off until he was in a good position to run.
“Sorcerers,” Enzo said, trying to speak with authority, “is there anything I should know before I go about my business?”
“Yes, sir,” one of the prostrated figures said, the voice was female. “We were told by the Master to answer any questions you may have. You may speak freely with us, Lord Enzo. The Master taught us of the Old World and that you were born there. We know that the Master created Ferrum for you and your people.”
“Your Master,” Enzo said, trying to control the rising panic. “Is he GM?”
There was a quiet yelp of fear from one of the sorcerers. “Yes, my Lord,” the woman said fearfully. “Please spare us our lives. The Master was your enemy before, but he is your ally now.”
Enzo stood from the marble plinth he had woken up on. The sorcerers scurried away on hands and knees as he stood. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you,” Enzo said, a thousand-yard stare on his face.
“What’s a Dark Apostle?” Enzo asked.
“A Dark Apostle,” began a different sorcerer, this one was male, “is one of the thirteen most powerful followers of the God of Machines. When an Ascension begins, the Nurists summon Revenants to beat back the Deluge. In response, the Master takes fallen Revenants and revives them as Dark Apostles…”
The sorcerer began his next sentence, but Enzo cut him off. “Stand up, please. I’d rather not speak with someone who’s face is pushed against the ground.”
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“Yes, my Lord,” the sorcerer said. All of the robed figures shakily rose to their feet. The sorcerer continued. “The Thirteen Dark Apostles each hold safe a piece of the key necessary to enter the Master’s domain. This is what makes the Dark Apostles fundamental to the Master’s plan. If I could serve the…”
The sorcerer continued speaking, but Enzo stopped paying attention. These sorcerers and GM expected him to be a raid boss. The Revenants would have to kill him and twelve other players to beat the game. Enzo wondered if he could just give the Revenants this “key” the sorcerer was talking about.
Enzo raised his hand, and the sorcerer stopped talking. “What is this key, exactly? Is it physical?” Enzo asked.
“Yes, my lord,” the female sorcerer said. “Your key is safely held behind your mark of office.”
“Mark of office?” Enzo asked.
“The, uh, tattoo on your chest,” she said, worry once again reappearing in her voice.
“So it’s right next to my lung,” Enzo sighed. “Great.”
“It truly…!” one of the other sorcerers began to speak.
“That was sarcasm,” Enzo said. “If you’re gonna be following me around, you’ll have to learn how to pick it up. Also, what’s all of your parts in this? Are you my followers, or will you return to GM’s side after all of this?”
“We are your direct followers, Lord Enzo,” the female sorcerer said. “We live and die by your order.”
“But GM still outranks me, right?” Enzo asked.
“Yes.”
“And you’ll follow his order over mine?”
“I suppose so,” the female sorcerer said. “Though that probably won’t happen. The Master spends most of his time in his domain.”
“Okay,” Enzo said. “I suppose that’s all of my questions for now. Wait, no. What should I call you guys?”
“We, like you and the other Dark Apostles, cast off our names when we entered the service of GM!” This was a new voice. It belonged to an older man.
“Okay,” Enzo said. “I’ll figure that out later. For now, take me to the other Dark Apostles. At least they’ll make some sense.”
The Thirteenth Dark Apostle and his entourage of five sorcerers began their journey out of the marble ballroom. As they reached the entrance, Lord Enzo saw an ornate end table that carried a small hand-sized device and several small containers. The device was a pistol. More specifically, it was a Beretta M9A3 handgun chambered in nine-millimeter. Enzo grabbed the pistol without much thought and saw a small note tied to the trigger guard. “With love: GM.” Enzo clicked his tongue angrily as he checked the pistol’s magazine. The bullets were double-stacked, and the magazine had been made specially sand-resistant. The gun had a capacity of 17+1, a distinct advantage over the 7+1 offered by the 1911. Enzo’s original assumption had been correct: this was an M9A1. Enzo also knew that the M9A1 was created in 2015, more than a hundred years after the 1911. Enzo looked down at the currently-empty holster and pouches at his belt. He slapped a magazine into the holster, racked the slide, and holstered the Beretta. He then filled the three empty pouches on his belt with three high-capacity 9mm magazines.
The group continued its trek. They traveled through a long hallway that eventually exited out to a large staircase. They passed by the staircase, briefly dipping down a few steps before re-ascending, before they reached a long stone bridge. The bridge must have been several hundred feet in the air and about fifty feet wide. When on the bridge, Enzo could see a whole separate collection of towers that was big enough to hold a small village. The castle was split into five separate structures each attached by a number of bridges or pathways. Enzo stopped for a second to marvel at the beautiful architecture before he shook his head to regain his concentration.
They then reached the other tower structure. They went down a flight of stairs and entered a large mostly-empty library. Sitting at one of the desks, however, was a man dressed like the Phantom of the Opera.
Enzo couldn’t believe his eyes at first. He ran forward to get a better look at the dark-skinned man in front of him.
The other Dark Apostle closed the book he was reading and looked up at Enzo, a self-effacing smile appearing on the dark-skinned man’s face. “They got you too, huh?” the man said.
“Dendrite?” Enzo asked. A moment later, Enzo saw the symbol on Dendrite’s chest: XII.
Dendrite, the Twelfth Apostle
https://i.imgur.com/djl79Be.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/djl79Be.jpg]