[Final stage complete. Nexus challenge ending. Calculating rewards based on performance. Please wait.]

Mason blinked, supposing he should have expected something like that. Though he doubted it would have changed how he behaved. He also couldn't help but notice there was no mention of 'success'.

Had they even done what they were supposed to do? Could the whole event have gone differently? Was it possible they'd actually...failed?

The world all around the players was starting to blur. Mason saw the birdmen soldiers coming down from the sky cheering and smiling, landing and shouting at the players, their voices fading away.

King Aixa was coming towards him, triumphant and grinning, trying to help Mason to stand. But he froze with all the others.

"Is everyone alright?" Mason shouted, trying to get closer to the others but feeling trapped in the air like it was water.

Also he almost passed out.

When he stood it was like he'd been sitting for two days without moving, without drinking. The world spun and he stumbled back to his hands and knees just trying not to lose consciousness, one hand on the still groaning Streak.

[Event objectives: Player casualties: none. Priest of Nephus: survived. King Aixa: survived. Dragon: killed. Dracolich: destroyed. Floating city: damaged. Temple of Nephus: protected. Nephalai history: partly examined. Player behavior: Defenders. Title reward tier: Exemplar.]

Mason read the text with some relief.

'Exemplar' surely meant they'd succeeded. They'd saved the Nephalai, hadn't they? That was the objective and he hadn’t seen it change.

Though he glanced at the options and winced at the ‘partly examined’ history. Were they somehow supposed to have challenged the king or the city about what had happened in their 'civil war'?

Was it about 'saving souls' as much as saving lives? Mason honestly couldn't begin to care. He wasn't a priest or a judge and had no intention of pretending he much respected either.

He blinked as the desert returned in full, glaring color, the yellow sand half blinding him with the mid-day light.

The sun kept on baking, the wind kept on blowing air so hot it didn't help. Mason looked up to see the ancient priest staring from his seat in the middle of the pyramid. All the others were blurring into focus beside him, but they looked still, frozen.

"Would you have saved them anyway?" asked the old man, his eyes sharper than they'd been in the fiction, his bearing stiff. Almost…robotic. "If you had known they were butchers? If you had known they could be monstrous and cruel?"

Who the hell are you to judge? Mason wanted to scream.

"Yes," he said without hesitation, and the old man’s head turned like a bird on the hunt.

"Why?"

Mason shook his head, not even sure who he was talking to or why. "Survival isn’t pretty. Every creature is a killer, a coward, a thief. We do what we think is best and choose. We make mistakes. We live or we die. Who decides when to judge?” He snorted. "Are you even alive?"

The old man stared and stared, as if the machine spirit inside were calculating some difficult equation. Finally he slumped and blinked, glancing at Mason and the now forming players with a slow smile creeping to his cracked lips.

"You saved them," he said. "I knew you would."

"And nothing changed," Mason said, going to Rebecca because she looked like she'd gone about three rounds with Mike Tyson.

She tried to wave him away and pretend she was alright, but he could tell her powers must have nearly been gone. Everyone else grinned and gave Mason a nod, both Carl and Phuong looking like they'd taken a brutal hit or two themselves. Streak just growled from the ground.

"Nothing," the old man agreed as he stood with a series of cracks. "But it could have. I know that now. If only we'd had champions like you. You have given a failed prophet hope." The old man's eyes glazed and he raised a bony hand to the sky. "And so you have earned your reward. Behold the power of Nephus, my friends. Behold the power of life."

White light flared from his open palm, blinding but not hostile. Mason squinted but didn't shield his eyes or try to cover his face.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

[Nexus: activated. Patron survival detected. Reward: issuing. Please do not move.]

Mason winced as he saw the last words, then his body stiffened and he felt as if he'd drop to the stone, but didn't move at all. Becky was holding him, screaming 'what's happening?'.

Or possibly 'wet saplings'. It was hard to hear and Mason wasn't much for reading lips.

[Group reward: determined. Please accept or reject as group leader: Danh Phuong: Prestige Class reward. Seamus Hayes: Prestige Class reward. Alexei Ostapovich: Prestige Class reward. Rebecca Weber: Additional Experience award (major). Carlton Walker: Additional Experience award (major). Do you accept?]

Mason hesitated, but ultimately accepted. The prestige class rewards were massive. He felt Becky and Carl were getting slightly ripped off but he was afraid if he didn't accept he might get screwed in some other way that was worse. At least they'd get the 10% extra (twice, assuming they’d all get xp for completing the challenge in the first place) for being part of his 'House'.

Anyway, they did badly need experience, so it wasn't exactly a loss. But he sure wished they'd all been given their own rewards and could choose individually. Why did everything have to be up to him?

The next bit of text, he supposed, helped answer the question...

The sky erupted with lightning, then a growing, swirling grey cloud. Mason felt his feet lift off the stone.

Becky was shouting and failing to hold him down.

The light grew brighter, then focused, shining down from the center of the cloud until it struck Mason in the chest. It was warm and not unpleasant, slowly covering him until he closed his eyes.

A booming voice echoed as if from some god in the heavens, somewhere between the old priest's voice and the machine that controlled the game.

Attention, Players and Civilians. Attention. The game world has momentarily been frozen.

[Baron Mason Nimitz, of House Mason, Patron of Nassau—has seized control of the Western Nexus. This marks the final stage of phase two.

A countdown to a period of system-enforced, zero player-to-player violence has begun, along with a universally accessible list of all surviving players, including their ranks and titles.

Further—all communication beacons will activate in three days. Biological imperatives will continue in phase three. World difficulty will increase. Planar activity will increase.

Congratulations on your ongoing survival. As ever, we are rooting for you.]

Jesus Christ, Mason thought, still trapped in his 'reward'.

All he'd ever wanted on Earth was to be ignored, to be left alone by the world’s controlling assholes, controlling governments—by civilization entirely.

Now here he was trying to re-build it. And his name was getting announced by God damn loudspeaker in the sky, no doubt making him a target for everyone and their dog. How the hell had he gotten himself into this?

He wasn’t sure, but he definitely blamed Blake. And probably Haley. Not that it helped him.

A vision formed before Mason's eyes, a city replacing the desert sprawled before him. A thousand buildings formed in ghostly silhouette, some small and squat like square houses. Others rose up like ancient towers, impossible with the engineering of the past.

He blinked and it became a city on a ghostly sea, half built like the floating city, as if into the water itself.

He blinked again and it was a forest, buildings constructed into the canopy itself. He smiled at this, imagining Nassau layered like multiple branches on ancient trees the size of skyscapers. Then the vision vanished.

[Title: ‘Desert Walker’ found. Leader reward: enhanced.]

[Primary Class: ALL remaining Tier 1 powers: upgraded to tier 2]

[Title gained: Nexus Founder. Added to House titles. See associated benefits.]

[Title gained: Protector of Life. Earned ‘Exemplar Defender’ in Western Nexus event. Enhanced resistances and power effects against the undead.]

[Founder Title gained: Protector of civilization. Your deeds in the Nexus event are a sign of your true nature. House and settlement choices may be affected by this archetype. +10% effect from the vitality statistic.]

[Experience awarded. Congratulations, you have earned enough experience to reach level 20! Please select your class upgrade.]

The light finally ended, and whatever force was levitating Mason in the air began to fade. He floated back to the top of the ancient ruin, his body no longer locked, all the apparitions and translucent cities completely vanished.

The priest of Nephus walked the few steps towards him, limping until he stood an arm’s length away. He held out a hand, and a small, pyramid-shaped stone rested in his palm.

"A gift, Champion," whispered the old man. "May it help you build a city worthy of God’s favor."

Mason eventually reached out and took it, and the old man smiled and closed his eyes.

[Item gained: Nexus Icon. Can be used anywhere on the western continent to produce a central hub. If placed in a pre-existing settlement, patron points may improve the settlement, or the Nexus.]

Wind swirled around the entire pyramid, throwing sand violently until Mason and all the players shielded their faces. It lasted only seconds.

When Mason opened his eyes, the old man, and all the surrounding structures, were gone. All that was left was the ancient stone pyramid, standing alone in the empty, lifeless dunes.

"Well, shite," said Seamus after a whistle. Then he grinned and looked at Mason. "You hear that bloody announcement? And the way it showed Mason’s mean lookin’ face and crest and all? I know the man and I damn near shite myself.”

The Irishman let out a snorting laugh.

“And I got a prestige class just waitin' on me! Picked the right boss, didn't I?" He slapped Phuong on the chest and looked at the others. "Eh, lads? Backed the right horse, didn't we?"

A lot of eyes rolled or squinting followed, especially since Seamus hadn't 'picked' anything. But Carl's whole face slowly curled into a smile, and he slapped Mason's chest the same way.

"Damn fine horse," he agreed, then laughed. Pretty soon Becky and Phuong were laughing, too. Even Alex's face twitched a little.

Streak howled excitedly, then looked at Mason, wondering why the others thought he was a horse, when he was clearly a hairless ape like them.

"It's a joke," Mason said with an exhale, trying not to think about his face being broadcast to the whole damn world. He knelt and scratched the wolf, checking to make sure he was OK.

"We hairless apes think we’re pretty funny,” he said, not sure how to articulate his thanks to the creature, how incredible it was to have his friend beside him, sharing his fight and struggle. The wolf panted and closed its eyes in pleasure, which Mason supposed would have to count as mutual appreciation.

"OK," he said, taking Becky's hand and looking at the others. "Let's go the hell home."