Selim collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain. He must have accepted the [Greater Brand] and was going through the immensely painful process of increasing every stat by 10. Honestly, it looked even more painful from the outside.

I looked over to Aiko and smiled awkwardly. She stared at Selim’s prone form with worry on her face. I was glad that I went first; the anxiety before the drop was always worse than the drop itself.

“The [Greater Brand] increases all of your stats by 10,” I said awkwardly. “The only downside is the burn mark. I’d have taken the deal even without the threat.”

Aiko sighed. “I have to do it, but I’m not looking forward to it.”

“It’s just like ripping off a bandaid.”

“That’s a lie, but thank you,” Aiko said. She took a deep breath and pressed the button in front of her that was invisible to me.

Aiko managed to stay on her feet for three seconds before collapsing to the ground. For the next fifteen seconds, she sobbed and screamed while curled up in the fetal position. The pain of the [Greater Brand] was so great that no one on Earth could possibly remain stoic during the process. At a certain level of pain, the body thought it was dying, and the animalistic part of the brain took over.

The moment Aiko stopped screaming in pain, Melkior began speaking once more, completely disinterested in the immense amount of pain and lingering trauma we had just undergone.

“Excellent. Now that you bear the [Greater Brand], you are forever marked as enemies of the Coalition of Light. More than that, your stats are now so much higher than any other player at a comparable level that they will give you away as a [Dungeon Lord]. You now have no choice but to work with the Conquering Horde.”

“Excuse me,” Aiko asked with a raspy voice. “What’s a [Dungeon Lord]?”

Melkior snickered. “That’s funny. You and the Twelfth don’t know even the basics, yet you bear the [Greater Brand]. I’ll explain.”

Melkior spent the next few minutes explaining the nature of Star Children and [Dungeon Lords] to Aiko and Selim in his typical over-the-top way. I didn’t pay much attention to this explanation, but I was aware of Aiko and Selim’s shocked reactions as they learned the true nature of the parasite that had latched onto their bodies.

“The [Greater Brand] marks you as the [Lord of a Greater Dungeon]. In addition to the power it grants you, the brand also grants you the right to mark one thousand other players with a [Lesser Brand], which increases every stat by 2. At our current level of power, we can only maintain a limited number of [Lesser Brands].”

All this talk of brands made me remember the reading I had done the previous day. In the book of Revelation, brands were mentioned. I snapped my fingers as I realized what Melkior was talking about and said, “Right, I know this one. Only 144,000 people can bear the [Lesser Brand].”

Melkior grimaced. “The Coalition of Light told you about that? They really put effort into the memetic seeding this time.”

Selim asked something, and the only word he spoke that I understood was, “Allah.”

“I was about to get to that, Twelfth. Why does the Creator command that we destroy the Coalition of Light? To answer that question, I have to go back to the creation of the universe.”

Melkior cleared his throat as he began to tell the story of Creation. “When God created the universe, He wanted to make it perfect. By its very nature, however, that was impossible. At the dawn of Creation, He made one inviolable law: Thou shalt not exceed the speed of light. There are times, however, when nature attempts to violate this holy edict. When certain stars explode, they form a point with such mass that anything falling into it would fall faster than the speed of light. This offends God, so he wraps such objects in a shroud of absolute darkness.”

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“Black holes,” Aiko breathed.

“Exactly,” Melkior continued. “God could accept a handful of these imperfections in His universe, but then something terrible happened. Intelligent animals, our biological ancestors, began to violate God’s one edict. They created ‘black holes’ and used them to travel across God’s universe. In response to these intolerable sins, God created the Archons and ordered them to stop the intelligent animals from violating His edict. In turn, the Archons created the monsters to destroy the Coalition of Light.”

Archons. That was the word Melkior used to describe the entities that sent the Star Children to Earth. Epsilon called them the Elders and Hellman called them the Elder Gods. I suspected that Hellman’s refusal to call them “Archons” was a strategy to downplay the connection they had to God.

“Hold on,” Aiko said. “What about the Revelation System? Who created that?”

“One of our ancestors - the Administrator - found a way to interact directly with God’s creation by taking a sliver of the Archons’ power and warping it into something that could be used by his tribe, the Naskals. Even I rely on the Revelation System to empower myself.”

“Does the Coalition of Light know this?” Aiko asked.

“Of course,” Melkior said lazily. “Anyone who reaches 30 [Reason] and 30 [Memory] will realize this independently of my explanation. Right, Fifth?”

“Yes,” I said quietly. This [Truth] was written on the tapestry of the universe; it was just hidden behind the opaque barrier created by the limitations of the human mind. With my mind expanded far beyond human limitations, it all seemed so obvious to me.

“Why don’t they work with you, then? It sounds like you’d leave them alone if they just stopped making black holes,” Aiko said.

“It’s the sin of pride, I suppose,” Melkior said sadly. “They would have to give up much of their power if we were to ever reach a peaceful compromise. Diplomacy is impossible, of course. This war has been ongoing for hundreds of thousands of years. It will only end when they’re dead or we’re dead.”

I sensed that Melkior was about to end the conversation, so I had to ask him one more question. “What about you? Who are you in all of this? Why did the Coalition of Light put so much effort into warning us about you?”

“Me?” Melkior asked with a smile. “I’m just an old Naskal who discovered the [Truth] and found the denial of God’s will intolerable. When the Archons came during the second iteration, and the Naskals fled their new planet, I stayed behind and pledged my eternal loyalty to them. Since then, billions of others have followed my lead and betrayed the Coalition of Light.”

A notification appeared in front of me.

[NEW FRIEND REQUEST: MELKIOR]

“Accept that,” Melkior said, gesturing toward us.

I accepted the [Friend Request], and Melkior nodded in acceptance a moment later. “Good. If I need anything else, I’ll be in touch.”

Melkior: Sorcerer, Lvl. 25

Elstine Priestess, Lvl. 6 Hellman Champion, Lvl. 25 Melkior Sorcerer, Lvl. 25 Pat Miller Knight, Lvl. 4 Pixie Chix Thief, Lvl. 5 Slader Knight, Lvl. 6

Melkior snapped his fingers once, and three portals appeared behind us.

“Are you sure?” Aiko asked, obviously confused. “Don’t you need us to do anything?”

“Not yet. We’re at our weakest right now. It will take another week before the other Star Children fully integrate their hosts. I’ll recommend a course of action in a week, but we’re equals, ultimately. If you have a plan that you think will help the Conquering Horde, you have the authority to carry it out.”

Melkior gestured for us to leave, and we walked toward the portals. I caught Aiko’s eye and was about to say something, but I ultimately decided against it. As long as Melkior was there, I didn’t feel comfortable speaking my true thoughts out loud. I was sure there would be an opportunity to speak later.

I walked through the portal and found myself in the forest surrounding Fort Bragg. In an instant, I left that Biblical scene and reappeared in the world of the living. The only thing I was certain of was that I would never be completely the same.