--- A'p'ostr'o'thu's the demon lord ---
Finally it was time.
A'p'ostr'o'thu's the demon lord had spent millennia preparing the invasion. Nothing could stop him now.
He cast the final one of the 666 spells necessary to align the Nether Sphere he created with the material world. Soon the gates would open, and all of Hyd would be consumed by his unending armies.
"Excuse me. This is really cool, but could you please explain what exactly you expect to happen here? I'm a bit unclear on the details."
What?
Who said that?
Oh. There was a pixie with a clipboard, standing just a few meters away.
"WHO ARE YOU?" He shouted at her in his best approximation of an indoor voice. "HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY PRIVATE SANCTUM?"
"Hi, I'm [Ecology]" She said, and A'p'ostr'o'thu's felt his ears ringing when she said her name. Normally it was him who drove other people crazy with his name, not the other way around. This being must be a force to be reckoned with.
"I'm trying something new, because it worked so well for [Adversity Regulator]: I made a super self-aware Avatar to experience the world with. That Avatar is me, by the way." She said as she pointed at herself.
"Normally I'm way more subtle, but now that I have an Avatar I can just be direct instead, which is great! So I have a question, and I figured I would just ask you about it instead of guessing and filling in the blanks myself. The question is: What do you expect to happen with the Nether Sphere?"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN? IT IS THE NETHER SPHERE! IT IS A REALM OF PURE DARKNESS AND EVIL! IT IS THE SOURCE OF MY UNENDING DEMONIC HORDES!"
"Hm. I see. There may be some cultural misunderstandings here, but I don't see how it can be a realm of darkness and evil. Like, is the evil a tangible thing? Or are you being metaphorical? And why emphasize darkness? Darkness is really more of a lack of a thing, than a thing.
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"Actually, let me ask a more practical question: I'm [Ecology], so I need to know what sort of creatures the Nether Sphere needs to be populated with. Right now it's just an idea that hasn't been instantiated yet, but once you finish that spell I have got to decide what kind of creatures spill out of it, and I wouldn't want to get that wrong. We have plenty of work to do getting the balance right!"
"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND! IT IS THE NETHER SPHERE! IT HOLDS UNENDING FORCES OF EVIL!"
"Well yes, but what kind of forces of evil?"
"NETHER ONES."
"...I don't think we are getting anywhere, here. Honestly, 'Nether Sphere' just sounds like a made up word to me. What even is 'Nether'?
"IT IS THE END OF ALL THINGS!"
"Right. Well, if you don't have any concrete suggestions then I think I will just go with the default creatures and put some wolves in there. Nether Sphere does sound like an adventurer zone, so it should have plenty of wolves."
"THERE ARE NO WOLVES IN THE NETHER SPHERE!"
"Are you sure? Well, alright then. How about slimes? They could be Nether Slimes. I'm not sure what Nether means as an adjective, but we can figure it out together."
--- Joseph Watson ---
"Don't you see? It's all connected!" Joseph shouted in glee.
"I have finally figured it all out! The last missing piece of the puzzle were the shamans, not the priests! I was looking in the wrong place all these years!" He laughed nervously.
"The shamans are the true power, because they control the spirits, and the spirits control everything else!
"The gods are a fraud, you see! They only look like they matter, but really it's the spirits who hold all the power. They are only humoring the gods!
"It took me so long to figure it out because Denissa Mardok is part of the conspiracy! She does not want us to know! Why do you think Common is spoken by everyone? It's how she controls people!
"It's all a plot, you see? And who makes plots? Tonos does! Tonos is the plotter. It was so obvious and none of us saw it! He is the only god who actually matters. The others are just a distraction!
"The government didn't believe any of this when I told them. But I hatched a plan. Proof by demonstration. So I joined on the expedition to the Library of Akash, and I made sure that the portal would send me into a world that is like the past.
"And I succeeded! This world is just like the one in Walmarts and Karens! I knew there was something to that game!
"And now I'm here, and I will finally be vindicated!" He shouted hysterically.
Then he looked more closely at the faces of his audience.
"You believe me, right? You simply must believe me!" He added.
The cashier sighed. "Sir. This is a Wendy's."