The Order had an endless supply of soldiers, those willing to head into the thick of battle and either come out victorious or weaken the threat enough for the next wave of warriors to finish the job. But every military, especially in the case of the Order and the society it cultivated, needed the infrastructure and the industrial capabilities to maintain their combative capabilities. People say every Olympian is a soldier, but not all soldiers are tasked to fight. The Order needed builders, doctors, mathematicians, chemists, and teachers as much as they needed a guy with a gun. As the old saying goes, “logistics wins wars”.
Heading home from a hard day of work and after picking up dinner from a Greek restaurant made up of hobbyist cooks. Jayden Walker rubbed his tired eyes but smiled in excitement knowing that he would return home to play the latest Halo game on his jury-rigged Xbox One that he built using spare parts donated to him by his technician buddies. Jayden was able to program a functional operating system so his homemade console could run like any Xbox commercially sold, except, with access to every game for free. He wasn’t paid with any internationally recognised currency, so he had to improvise.
Walker was part of the Order Discovery’s cybersecurity branch. He was around 6”, he had sable skin, dark brown eyes, and short black hair. Jayden was skinny and unfit, which caused him to have constant run-ins with his boss about him not meeting the Order’s fitness standards, especially for a healthy 19-year-old. In truth, Jayden was lazy. He didn’t care about exercise or keeping his fitness up when most of his job was sitting at a desk.
To him, it was easier to say sorry than to be bothered to run a couple of laps around the building. He also knew he couldn’t be demoted from his position or be removed from his branch, due to cybersecurity being a newly formed entity within the Order Discovery. The world had changed, the security of information and the removal of dangerous knowledge was far more challenging and far riskier for how widespread it could be. New strategies needed to be employed for the survival of humanity, and to keep the Order hidden for a bit longer.
However, even Jayden knew it was only a matter of time before the world figured out the existence of the Order, everyone within the Order Discovery acknowledged that they were on borrowed time. No one could keep almost a thousand-year-old secret hidden forever, not when the average civilian had access to all sorts of information on their fingertips.
As he entered his small apartment home, two men sat inside waiting for him. Jayden smiled at them before he placed his dinner on his kitchen counter. ‘Hello fellas, what brought you here?’ He approached the man he knew as Kane, the representative of the Order Discovery. ‘Hopefully, that computer I fixed for you is working fine.’
An old bald Taiwanese man with yellow eyes raised a brow at Jayden, confused as to why he was happy to see two shadowy figures inside of his home without him knowing. ‘You seem happy to see us.’
Jayden shrugged after he opened his takeaway container and took a bite of his dinner. ‘This isn’t my first time having a secret meeting with the representative and someone from a different Order. I know the procedures, had this sort of talk with a guy from the Order Horrifica before.’ Jayden paused for a moment as he examined the yellow-eyed figure. ‘And what Order are you from? Oh, where are my manners!? My name's Jayden.’ He put down his fork and reached over the counter to shake the man’s hand.
‘Name’s Gay,’ the man shook his hand with a firm grip. ‘I’m part of the Order Diplomatics.’ Jayden’s tone changed. His face turned pale while his heart sank to his stomach.
‘Don’t worry, kid. You are not in trouble, he is with me to assess you. We came here to talk about something important.’ Kane said to calm Jayden’s nerves.
‘Okay,’ Jayden sighed in relief. ‘Well, how about we start with drinks before you give me the details. Do you guys want anything?’ Kane shook his head at the request.
‘Almond milk with a teaspoon of salt, if you don’t mind.’ Gay requested.
Jayden stared at Gay before he walked to his fridge and made the drink his quest requested. ‘That is strange, and how do you know I have almond milk?’
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
After taking a sip of his drink, he tipped the glass to Jayden. ‘I searched your apartment, made sure you weren’t hiding anything illegal.’
‘Is there something out of place?’ Jayden awkwardly chuckled.
‘I don’t know, is there something out of place for me to find?’ Gay replied with a stern voice.
Kane raised his hand to tell him not to mess with the kid. ‘Forgive my friend here. He has a habit of scaring people into line, he is just a standard Diplomatic as they come.’
Gay pointed at the Skyrim poster and the map of the game posted on the wall near the TV in the living room. ‘And you have a history of playing everything made or published by Bethesda. You have made mods for Fallout 3 and won the summer game jam last year. Even did some freelancing in your spare time programming for some indie groups without compensation.’
‘Um, sorry, how does this relate to anything?’ Jayden replied, unsure if the member of the Order Diplomatics was accusing him of socialising with the outside world without proper authorisation or with negligence that he made Olympus open to breaches.
‘Well kid, to put it simply, you have been drafted into the Order Horrifica.’ Kane sighed, knowing the news would distraught Jayden. ‘Service is mandatory.’
‘No, no, it ain’t.’ Jayden chuckled, trying his best to hide the fear that croaked his voice. ‘The Order Horrifica is a volunteer service. I am pretty sure they can’t just drag anyone from different Orders.’
‘Not unless it is the formation of a new or the revival of a Butterfly Legion unit.’ Gay pointed out before he finished his glass of almond milk. After he put the glass down, he lowered his voice to demand that Jayden choose his next words wisely. ‘And if I am correct, I have a suspicion you are refusing to join the unit. Am I wrong?’
Jayden shook his head, terrified of the elderly man. Jayden knew that refusing an instruction from the Order Diplomatics would mean death. The steaks were higher as Jayden realised he was talking to the Disciplinarian, agents of the Order who would ensure everyone in the Order obeyed and followed the commands delivered to them. ‘No sir, I am joining the Legion. I just thought that I had a choice in the matter, and I thought a representative of the Order Horrifica would be here to talk to me like last time.’
‘When humanity is threatened, none of us can choose what we must do. We either do our part or our kind perishes.’ Gay stood up and walked around Jayden’s apartment. ‘As for the representative of the Order Horrifica, she had to be somewhere else at this time.’
Jayden gave Gay a nod. ‘In that case, what am I dealing with?’
‘As of now, classified.’ Gay bluntly replied before he handed an envelope to Jayden. ‘Details will be relayed when you arrive on site. Bring your personal belongings and be there by 0800 on the 20th of June. Which would be.’ Gay checked his watch. ‘In two days.’
‘Wait, I need to tell my boss and…’
‘Already done,’ Kane interrupted Jayden. ‘Look kid, I’m sorry if this is sudden for you. But… well, you will see when you get there.’ Kane cut himself off before he could continue, but Jayden knew Kane was regretful for having to do this to him.
Gay made his way to the door before gesturing for Kane to stand up. ‘Don’t be late, mister Walker. We’ll know if you deliberately waste our time.’
As the two men left Jayden’s home, their absence and silence made everything deafening to Jayden as the weight and gravity of the situation weighed down his shoulders. He was called to fight a horror he didn’t understand, with skills best suited to fix security breaches. He slumped to the ground, his hands on his head like it was trying to hold up a heavy stone. To him, he was just sent to an early grave.