Chapter 17 Perspectives
Jackson
It was my dream to enlist in the army and protect my country. A few weeks before high school graduation, the army set up a recruitment booth inside the school. I signed up without hesitation. As part of the onboarding program, I was sent to a training camp a week after signing up. Nobody could have imagined that a gigantic black dome would go up around the city only a few days later.
“Jackson! Report!” My CO is an asshole, but I think that's normal. We are on top of a guard tower of a temporary army base, built to keep an eye on the jungle city. The entire jungle is being monitored and surrounded by thousands of these temporary bases.
“All clear, sir!” Every hour the patrol makes a report on any suspicious activities around the jungle. My CO walks back to his station.
“Why the hell are we doing this? It's just a fucking jungle.” Bret has been my friend since childhood.
“Do you think anyone from the school survived?” We were lucky to be outside the city when it happened.
“If anyone survived, it would be that fucking monster.” Bret gritted his teeth. Yue, a true genius who overshadowed everyone else’s accomplishments. People would never understand why we hate that kid if they have never felt insignificant in front of another person before.
“You are right about that. If he survives, then maybe Miyong survived as well.” I remember that beautiful girl who never looked my way. She only had her eyes on that monster.
“Are you serious? So many hot girls want to jump on your dick and you are hung up on that violent bitch?” Bret slaps my shoulder.
“You only hate her because she broke your nose when you tried to touch her.” This guy was also interested in her. She was a very beautiful girl, also that body…..
“Fuck her-”
BOOM!
“What the?!” Bret melted away in front of me and turned into dust. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.
“Take the base within 2 minutes. Kill all the guards. GO!” A man wearing a white crown said. He stood on top of the tree right in front of the guard tower. People are flying out of the jungle, they move so fast that I couldn't see where they went after they moved. Some type of arrows hit my shoulder and I felt the right half of my body torn apart. I couldn't even scream in pain, my body was already disappearing like Bret. I can hear the voices of people even as my consciousness slips away.
“Your majesty, we have taken the base.”
“How long?”
“.......3 minutes, your grace.”
“One more failure and I will demote everyone in the vanguard.”
“It won't happen again, your grace.”
Fuck, I never should have joined the army…..
—-------------------------
Miyong
The school building became very quiet after everyone left. Jason has also left the school according to plans. It's just us two here now.
It has only been a month but it feels like we have been fighting and struggling for much longer. We haven’t had many chances to speak to each other properly since the flood.
Yue is making rabbit stew with the ingredients from the market. He is cute when he is focused on doing something. Reading, working, or cooking. Maybe I just like men when they are working hard.
“The stew smells good,” I said to him.
“I am testing a recipe I found on the market. This is less of a stew and more like a potion.” He smiled. Am I a test subject?
“Hey, I awakened a new skill.” Now is a good time to tell him, but he shook his head.
“Let's just enjoy our relaxation time after a month of constantly being on edge. Tell me tomorrow.” He said while putting more unknown ingredients into the pot.
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“.........ok. Tell me about yourself.” It has been bothering me since I learned about it.
“You have known me since we were children. What else do you want to know?” He made an exaggerated movement to cover up his own body.
“If I wanted that, would you refuse? Stop stalling, you know what I mean.” I want to know about him, the real him.
“We finally have alone time together and you want to talk about this?” He shook his head.
“Yes.”
“.............A long time ago, there was a vast empire in this world.” He went quiet for a while then spoke. “That empire was one of the oldest civilizations the world has ever seen. Within that empire, many noble families helped the palace govern the land. Our family was one such family. That's it.”
“So you are a real noble? Like actual descendants of aristocrats?” Yue nodded his head at my question. “The Aristocracy is awful. That's why the entire world got rid of that system. Your family doesn't seem like such people.”
“You are probably thinking about corrupt nobles you see in movies, but no one started out wanting to be evil,” Yue said with a bitter smile. “The truth is aggressively boring. Even when we were actual aristocrats back in the old empire, our family was just a normal boring family. We go to war sometimes when the empire needs us, but most of the time we govern our territory, and build roads and temples. Our main income is from our restaurants and inns. We were not even wealthy compared to successful merchants. Using tax money for personal purposes was illegal, but that never stopped most nobles aside from my family from doing that. That's where the corrupt noble stereotype comes from. It's not so different from political corruption today. Anyways, a civil war happened then our family was expelled or escaped depending on what you want to believe.”
“If your ancestors were normal good nobles, then why did they expel your family? Isn't it because a monarchy is an incredibly corrupt system so the people want freedom?” I don't understand the politics at all.
“I am biased, they are my family after all so whatever I say will sound like justification. Hmm, what would you use as a metric to gauge a bad system? Human suffering? Death? If we use those metrics, then it's not the system that improves those metrics on a massive scale. It's the advancement of technology. I would argue that governing systems have very minimal effects on human suffering. It's always the people behind those systems that are more important. Benevolent Kings and tyrant politicians exist after all.” Yue smiled at me. “Under our current system, we saw the deadliest wars the world has ever seen, slavery still exists, rampant corruption in politics, and even genocide. The system changed, technology advanced, yet bad leaders are still responsible for massive human suffering because only power-hungry people will yearn for power to lord over others.”
“But a good system creates good leaders, right? I think most people just want to make money and provide for their families. Truly evil people are rare.” I look at the sky outside. Who would want to get rid of freedom? When I looked back at Yue, a sad smile was on his face.
“I wish everyone would think the same way you do.” Yue kept stirring the pot of stew. “Humans only care about what affects them or what benefits them. Right now, most people see this system as sufficient. But what happens when something appears and upsets that balance? What happens when the world learns that sacrificing other people will grant them power?”
Right, I forgot about that. Those aliens or gods or whatever they are. They want us to kill each other for their game, for their entertainment.
“This world will not survive this game. Our current civilizations and society will destroy itself to survive, to gain power.” Yue pour the stew into two bowls. “The containment disappearing is meaningless. They only wish for us to see our world tear itself apart.”
“..........Hey, you are a good person, and smart, and now we also have the power. Can't we just change the world so people won't kill each other?” I walk over to Yue and lean on him.
“..............I don't want to.” His voice is shaking. I could feel fear. This might be the first since we were children that I have seen him afraid of something.
“Why not? If it's you, you could create a world that's more kind and less corrupt than what we have now.” I believe that Yue would be a great leader.
“I don't want to step over a mountain of corpses to gain power.”
“Didn't you kill almost a hundred people?” I laughed at the cute answer. Every human that became a player has changed, we no longer feel kinship to each other on the species level. We could instinctively feel, that we are different. Each of us is truly unique. Killing each other almost felt natural for us, but Yue is different.
“Only because they tried to hurt you.” Yue looked at me. I saw in his eyes, sincere feelings. No falsehood, not even lust.
I kissed him.
—------------------------
McCoy
“That's everything on the schedule for today, Mr. President.” The young aide took the piles of paper and walked out.
What a goddamn mess. I haven't had any free time to enjoy any of my mistresses. What the hell is the point of being president if I couldn't enjoy some luxury? Fuck those terrorists and fuck those dragons.
The terrorists are most likely people who were changed inside the jungle like that bug General Connors brought me. People are simple, they could have the power of the gods but we have many ways to deal with them. The problem is those dragons. The survey teams said they looked like they were desperately searching for something. If they can't find it, how long until they start turning to us? We need to settle this issue before they get angry. A mother bears anger and all that.
I never thought this job would be this bad. My predecessor just sat on their ass and got service from their assistants. But I have to deal with superhuman terrorists and fucking dragons? I have always been unlucky, but this takes the cake.
Thud!
Loud knocking sounds came from the hallway.
“What the?! Put your hands up! Who are you!?” Yelling came from outside. What the hell is happening now?
“Mr President, sir. We need to evacuate. There are groups of intruders inside the resident, sir.” One of my bodyguards ran in, his gun in his hand.
I am not stupid enough to argue. He was joined by 5 other secret agents and we ran out the back door. I could see the bodies of secret agents slumped in the hallway. No blood or wounds, they are knocked out? Who the hell is doing this? I soon got my answer as we exited the building.
A black car was parked on my lawn. I recognized this car, it belonged to a very influential person. He was one of my biggest donors last election cycle.
“Mr. Hei?” I yell at the car. The black door was pulled open by a young woman dressed in black, tight-fitting robes. The old man that I recognized walked out. Why the hell is he doing this? Does he want to be an internationally wanted terrorist?
“Mr. McCoy.” He never shows respect and calls me president even once. This asshole fossil. “I was made to understand that you gave the order to detain victims trapped inside the dome. You even block their communications with their families?”
“Put your hands up!” The Secret Service agents point their guns at him. You should show some respect, you walking corpse. I couldn't help but smirk. This guy did all this for that nonsense?
The old man dashes forward, too fast for my guards to react. He swept the legs of the first bodyguard, uppercutting him as his body fell. Using his limp body as a shield before pushing it into the rest of the guards. He got close to the rest of them before they could react. One guy got his throat punched, another guy was kicked in the jewels. The last three agents pointed their guns at him but he quickly moved to the side of one of the agents, using him as a shield. Seeing that guns were difficult to use in such a close quarter, the three guards pulled out combat knives. The old man smirks and kicks dust from the ground into the three agents. While they were coughing and tearing up from the dust, the old man punched all three in the jaw. His people subdued the agents on the ground.
The whole fight happened in less than 10 seconds. How old is this man? How is he so fast?
“Mr. Mccoy, we don't care what you do with the other victims. We only need three people.” The devil came to make demands, not negotiate.