Gemini had never failed a single quest, throughout the years that had transpired after he was summoned here, along with twelve others. Sure, there were a few close shaves here or there, but to date, he had been one of the three Constellations who had never failed a single quest.
But that achievement had been denied to him just an hour ago. Fortunately for Gemini, his consciousness was residing in his clone when the notification that his first quest had failed had popped up.
Despite the fact that his consciousness was residing elsewhere, Gemini could still feel pain from the main body, as the sensation of being pierced by tens of foot-long needles was transmitted over to his clone. Luckily for Gemini, he wasn’t eating any food when the pain struck, or his clone might have died from choking on food.
That, however, didn’t save him from dropping onto the ground and convulsing madly like his real body did. If Gaius had been at the scene, he might have recognised the symptoms of a seizure, and then lament at the fact that medical services in this world were undeveloped.
Eventually, the pain had subsided and Gemini was once again able to get back up on his feet. After reassuring the popcorn-eating onlookers that it was a hereditary disease, he picked up his broom and staggered over to the shade of a large tree.
His mind was still spinning. Not just from the punishment, but from the fact that his quest target had somehow escaped. Because right now, right in front of him, the instructor was leading a group of trainees in breathing exercises. The quest target was clearly in front of him — in what sort of reality had he escaped? Was his system bugged now? Did he just suffer for absolutely no reason?
Gemini stared at his quest history. There was only one line for the red box: Quest target has escaped.
Escaped…how? The unique powers and skills of the Constellations were granted by Anren, the Human God. It was inconceivable that someone would be able to escape the eye of such a personage. Unless…
No, Gemini didn’t want to go down such a line of reasoning. Quests were generated based on their hosts’ thoughts and the current environment around them. If, for instance, he was in a City of Thieves and he himself was thinking about a valuable treasure said to have been stolen in said city, his system might issue a quest to steal the valuable item back. Of course, he would then have to present it to a designated personage, rather than selling it for his own benefit…
Gemini knew, deep down, that if he thought about the Demon God, and Ark City just so happened to have demons hiding inside, he might very well get a quest of that nature. There were better ways to commit suicide. Gemini had to discipline his thoughts — how else did he get a quest to track down an otherworlder to begin with?
After going through these depressing thoughts, and after fighting back the urge to kill himself in shame, Gemini started to call someone again. He stared at the azure holographic screen, waiting for the person on the other side to pick up.
“Gemini? What happened?” The voice was concerned, anxious even.
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“I failed the quest. The one about killing the otherworlder.”
“You failed that? That’s impossible. Assassination quests have no time limit and no failure condition.”
“You can change the part on ‘no failure condition’ now. Take a look.” Gemini manipulated the holographic screen in front of him. “I’ve no idea what’s going on. My quest target is a couple of metres in front of me, but…”
“Let’s ignore the part about whether you got the right target or not,” the voice replied anxiously. “You probably already have your own ideas, but didn’t want to think about them, right?”
“Correct.”
The line fell silent for a few minutes. The only sound that could be heard from it was someone tapping wood in a regular beat.
“I-impossible. You’re telling me that the Demon G—”
“Yes. It all fits in too. Why else would there be an otherworlder like us, who was not part of us? Furthermore, the Elemental Gods are friendly towards Lord Anren,” replied Gemini. “The only ones that could potentially do such a thing are the non-sentient Presences…or You-know-who.”
“Damnit, now that you’ve laid everything out like this, it all begins to make sense.” The voice pondered for a moment. “That said, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to inform the Human God. After all, Lord Anren must have known about this already.”
“We’re not telling him?”
“We don’t need to. In fact, it’ll be a good idea if you worked on your second quest first. They call you guys the Constellation Heroes, but going against a great god is another ballgame altogether.” The voice hesitated. “Also…the Eastern Territories are mobilising their forces. Do what you must here as soon as possible, before war breaks out again.”
Gemini’s heart skipped a beat. Another war? One was bad enough for him, and it was against a force significantly smaller than theirs. The past few days of idyllic peace was something that he had found himself longing for, after years of fighting other Paragons.
“Gemini? You’re quiet. Anything else?”
“No, not really.”
“Ok, I’ll be hanging up now. Another call’s coming in.”
“See you.”
There was a click, and the line went dead. Gemini stared at the small group of trainees sitting in silence, and he found himself envying them. Everything had been fun and novel for the first year or so, but as the fighting grew more and more intense, he’d been eventually forced to confront the realities of war.
All of the Constellations, had at one point or another, questioned themselves and their purpose. But by then, they had killed too much, so much so that stepping away from their path would seem like a personal betrayal. They had tricked themselves into thinking that it was all a game, their hallucinations helped by the game-like status system the twelve of them had.
Only the thirteenth Summoned didn’t, and saw the reality of their actions the clearest. He alone had seen that the so-called Second Extermination was not a racial war of insolvable hatred, but just another power-grab disguised as justice. He’d attempted to reach out to the others, but none of them listened to him. For them, the glory of basking in success, in front of a crowd of adoring humans, was more than enough.
Until it was too late. Until precedent had been set. Until a new low for morality had been set. If only...
Gemini forced himself away from these thoughts. His job right now was that of a soldier, and nothing more. His conscience had died a long time ago, after all. All he could do was to maintain a facade, until his dying breath, without letting any regrets enter his mind.