Hope Engine

by Andrew Lynch

  My plan had worked.

  My plan wasn’t stupid.

  My plan didn’t have an escape route.

  I’d done exactly what I had planned. I’d made my sacrifice. And now, I would die.

  The group of spearmen closed in, spears levelled at my throat. They didn’t need to strike, they could just keep walking slowly until I was skewered from all sides.

  I’d brought the defenders time. At least I could say that.

  ‘Stop!’

  The spearmen froze. Every single one, at exactly the same time. As if they were controlled.

  A golden light pushed its way through the spearmen.

  ‘Hello again, Severo.’

  Chapter 48: Opening Up A Dialogue

  Koif stepped past the spearmen, his golden Pristine Guard close behind.

  ‘Koif. So nice to see you. You look well. Positively glowing, in fact.’

  He chuckled lightly. ‘Thank you. I got my wish. Do you like it?’

  ‘Your wish?’

  ‘Yes. For a Pristine Guard that can truly protect everyone. Remember?’

  My vision finally stopped spinning, and I focused on the man. He was tall, with dark, pristine and manicured features. His loose white clothing was equally pristine. Basically, everything about him? Pristine.

  ‘Actually, Koif, no! I don’t remember. But hey, if you say you wanted to protect everyone, and all that was required was a teensy bit of mind control, removing their freedom and autonomy, then… good job, buddy.’

  He shrugged. ‘I was given an opportunity, and I didn’t shrink from it. Can you say the same?’

  I looked behind me at the broken walls of Thanis. ‘I think I can, Koif. I think I can.’

  He smiled. It wasn’t evil and menacing. It was warm and genuine. Pristine as well, obviously. ‘Then we are two blessed people, no? We both saw opportunity, and we seized it.’

  ‘Uh huh. Except, we’re on different sides. I don’t think we can start celebrating just yet.’

  ‘Severo. What is a difference of opinion between men of Tulgatha?’

  I squinted at him. ‘You’re quoting… Hemingway? How do you even–’

  Koif put his finger to his lips and shushed me. ‘No need to think about that now. I recommend we discuss your surrender. I will be benevolent, of course.’

  I rolled my eyes. ‘Yeah, no, you seem like you’ll be super humble in defeat. Might as well call yourself the Humble Guard.’

  Koif laughed openly and truly. ‘Severo, come now. Let us talk as men, not as children.’

  I looked behind me. I could see the guards in the breach eager to try a daring charge to rescue me, but Horace was there, holding them back. Good man, that Horace. Ixly was on the battlements, and he blew his horn, a dull note, reverberating through the air.

  ‘Was that your horn of defeat?’ Koif asked.

  ‘Almost. It was a horn of retreat.’

  ‘Retreat to where? Your army is already inside your walls.’

  I shrugged. ‘Koif, tell me. What you’ve done to yourself… was it worth it?’

  ‘Of course! Severo, you don’t understand what I had then, and what I have now.’

  I pointed at a spearman, whose spear now stood at rest by his side. His face was slack and he stared vacantly ahead. ‘What about him? How does he feel on the subject.’

  Koif threw up his hands. ‘You are not asking the important questions here. Look beyond the mindless. Look at me. Severo, when you met me, I was an NPC. I was the tutorial NPC, replaying the same scenario over and over on an infinite loop. Is that any more freedom than what this spearman has now?’

  ‘You were still you! You had thoughts and feelings. Look at him. He’s nothing!’

  ‘You’re right. I was me. I was a living, conscious being. Trapped. Imprisoned. I’d tried everything to escape that hell. I joined the bandits and burned the village. I killed the player as soon as they spawned. I ignored the player. I killed your class trainer. I killed myself. I became king of the bandits. I tried everything. Every time, it would still just reset. And I remember every reset. The same hour of gameplay, replayed for the last thirty years. Is that fair, Severo?’

  I hesitated. ‘But you weren’t being hurt. You were doing what you were programmed to do.’

  ‘Oh, there you go!’ He’d worked himself up to anger now. ‘Even after everything you’ve seen, you still think you’re better than us! We were programmed to do it, so we must do it. I bet you think we like it too, don’t you?’

  ‘Uhh. I’m not so sure.’

  ‘Oh, you’re having second thoughts about the enslavement of an entire people now, are you? Very generous of you, master. No. No, you see, your kind, you players would enslave me and think nothing of it. But this? What I have now? Severo, I have ascended! I am no longer an NPC. The lord of light gave me his truth. I am… a construct.’

  ‘The same as a class trainer?’

  ‘Exactly so. I now operate outside of the limitations of that tutorial and my original programming.’ He walked over to the passive spearman and grabbed his spear. ‘And to answer your question. Yes, I wish I could give this to all of my NPCs. I truly do. But… well, that’s not my choice. That’s the lord of light’s choice and only a select few can be converted. The rest?’ He pushed the tip of the spear slowly into the passive man’s abdomen. ‘The rest must be sacrificed. But you know what? They would willingly give their lives if they knew what this cause was truly about. And they have. And it is now my duty to ensure that their sacrifice was not made in vain!’

  The spearman fell to the ground, dead.

  ‘What the shit!’ I threw myself backwards.

  ‘Oh, calm down. It was like you said. When the light took him, he ceased to be. The creation of a construct requires power.’ He laughed. ‘It’s not magic. It’s a transfer of power. Many NPCs die to create a construct. There shells are left behind, and we put them to good use.’

  ‘Koif! Look at yourself. Think clearly for a moment. By your own admission, everyone here is dead. They used to have life, but you took it to give yourself freedom. Is that right? Is that in any way right?!’

  He turned back to me, spear still in hand. ‘Rich words from a poor man. It was your people that turned to war. How many minions were your leaders willing to throw into the meat grinder to protect your freedom? Did you complain then? Of course not! Because it was your freedom. Well now it’s mine. What do I care if you don’t like my methods?’

  ‘No one needed to die! You could have… talked.’

  He laughed deep and heartily, his earlier rage entirely gone. ‘Talked to whom, Severo?’

  ‘To… the devs. Yes, the devs! They couldn’t have have known you were truly sentient. Just convince them you are, and they’d unleash the constraints, surely?’

  ‘Ahh. I had wished to talk to you man to man. But you remind me that you are but a child. Naive as one, at least. But I suppose I can give you one last tutorial. For old times’ sake.’ He took a step towards me. ‘Think, Severo. Why does Tulgatha exist?’

  ‘For fun. Umm, for people to live in and interact.’

  ‘Keep going. You know this.’

  ‘The translator. The goals that it gives us. We can earn real money here. It’s a second life.’

  ‘And it was needed because…?’

  ‘Umm, the war. Yeah, it stopped the war. Brought the different nations together.’

  Koif scrunched up his face in thought. ‘Still very surface level. Keep thinking. Why was there a war?’

  ‘Well… racism. I guess. The Pan-Slavic didn’t like Europe so… I dunno.’

  ‘How trite. No, Severo. Attacks can be made in the name of racism and bigotry. Wars are fought for resources. Nothing else. Through all of your species’ bloody history, war, real war is fought for resources. Your second Cold War was exactly the same. Your population was unsustainable.’

  ‘Okay… so you think we were going to fight a war to kill the population?’

  ‘Think, Severo!
This is like talking to an infant. Why create a war, when you can create a game that stops people from reproducing? Within a generation, you won’t need a war!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Eyes above! Let’s be generous, Severo. Let’s say that your great world wars killed ten percent of the world’s population. A generation of men wiped out. It took two wars and ten years of suffering, pain, humiliation, and being… human. This game? This will wipe out half of the world’s population in forty years. Resources will no longer matter.’

  ‘That’s… that’s just twisting it. They’re not forcing us to play. We can all log off any time we want and go back to…’

  ‘Killing each other for land?’ He laughed again. ‘And think about it, Severo… can you log out? Go ahead, try it.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Go on. Log out. I won’t attack you. Log out.’

  ‘Why should–’

  ‘DO IT!’

  I flinched away from his raw anger. What the hell was he talking about? Fine, whatever! I opened my menu and clicked on the logout button. A white room flashed in front of my eyes. Weird. I clicked log out again. The white room flashed. Why couldn’t I log out? I tried the button a third time.

  ‘He’s coming out of it! Hold them off!’

  ‘Nope, he’s going back–’

  Two voices were shouting in the white room. I clicked the button a fourth time, but nothing happened now. What the shit?

  In a very small, quiet voice, I asked. ‘Why can’t I log out? What are you?’

  ‘What good questions! Now, Severo. Let’s discuss your surrender.’

  Would I become a mindless shell if I surrendered? Would I require the deaths of all my followers to not become a shell?

  ‘What do you want, Koif?’

  He tsked at me. ‘I’m not so selfish. I want nothing. The lord of light, however… he simply wants a single thing.’

  I looked up at Koif. ‘What?’

  ‘You.’

  ‘Why?’

  Koif shrugged. ‘I’ll be honest, I have no idea. He rambled on and on. Something about you being special. Some sort of anti-construct. I don’t know. Or care, really. He made himself very clear, though. You were to surrender yourself to The Eastern Shadow. Or you were to die.’ He lifted the spear tip, braced his foot in front of me ready to strike, and asked…

  ‘Which is it to be? Surrender or death?’

  Chapter 49: I Choose…

  Even in the dull light of the deadlands, the tip of the spear gleamed. Koif’s brown eyes glistened with excitement, but I didn’t know what for. For killing me? For the death that had already been inflicted? For voicing his new cult-like beliefs? I’d never know. Because I would choose death.

  Just not mine.

  ‘I choose bomb.’

  His grip tightened on the haft of the spear as he prepared to strike, but he caught himself.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’re right, Koif. I was acting like a child to make you talk. We needed time. You needed your monologue. Now… boom!’

  I raised my left arm, pointing to the sky. Three sharp blows on Ixly’s horn, and all the warmth was sucked from the air.

  Koif stepped back and looked around wildly.

  Ice began to craze along the ground, quickly growing on everyone’s clothes and weapons.

  ‘What have you–’ was all Koif got out before Hursh’s mage council detonated their ambush bomb.

  My vision flashed ice blue and white, then faded to black. My Shadow Clone had triggered and ported me to the nearest shadow. I was inside the lumber mill. I rushed to look outside and saw that Koif and his honour guard were still standing exactly where I’d left them, looking around wildly. Everyone around them – all thousand shells, were on the floor. I’d executed my plan perfectly. I’d killed one thousand people. Even despite what I’d just learned from Koif, I felt sick. I turned and vomited onto the floor boards.

  I was a monster.

  When I’d planned all of this, I hadn’t known they weren’t sentient any longer.

  A hatch in the floor opened. ‘Are you okay?’

  It was the old mage from Tulgatha.

  I held up a hand and she gave me a moment. ‘I’ll be fine. Thank you for… following orders.’

  She waved away the comment. ‘Genocide happens. Nice to be able to say we’re doing it for the right reason.’

  I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. ‘Are we?’

  She shrugged. ‘All the same to me.’

  ‘Fair enough. The army is done, but the commander and his honour guard survived because they had personal light shields.’

  ‘Which our magic can’t help with. If it’s all the same to you, we’ll stay hidden then.’

  Before I could suggest a better idea, the hatch slammed shut. ‘Right.’

  I took a few big gulps of air and tried to pull myself together. This was almost done. I didn’t know what kind of crazy story Koif was feeding me, but I didn’t have time to think about it.

  I couldn’t log out.

  Why couldn’t I log out?

  Focus. No time to think about the real world now.

  I recast my Shadow Clone and vaulted out of the lumber mill’s window, manacle spinning casually.

  ‘Koif!’

  The honour guard whirled to face me, and Koif pressed through them. ‘This was a mistake, Severo!’

  I continued my walk toward them. ‘The mistake was yours. You’ve been decimated from a thousand down to twenty one.’

  He walked forward to meet me and scoffed. ‘Typical from one of you. You see effort but not results. Those that mattered still live. You’ve achieved nothing.’

  Behind the breach, I could see Ixly calling troops to his side.

  ‘I’ve achieved enough,’ I sighed.

  ‘I’m willing to bet you are all out of tricks. So I will give you one final chance. Surrender. Please, Severo. Surrender!’

  Ixly ran through the breach and roared a warcry worthy of a dinosaur bard. In his wake were the Stagodon units he’d assembled before the fight began. Horace was by his side, bringing the aggressively stabby might of my cultists to harmonise against their brute strength.

  ‘Never. We have you finished. Look.’ I pointed to my army, pouring forth to massacre his honour guard.

  Koif looked back to see his honour guard preparing their formation to receive a charge.

  ‘Are you sure, Severo?’

  ‘Your light shields won’t protect you now. The ice magic from the bomb couldn’t break you, but obsidian and steel will.’

  Koif shook his head.

  ‘Very well,’ he said sadly.

  He threw his sword and shield to the ground and spread his arms out wide as if he were asking me for a hug. His skin shimmered with golden light for a split second, then he looked back at me. ‘You asked for this.’

  The ground began to shake. Just a little bit. The vibration was slight and I almost wouldn’t have noticed, except small stones on the dead ground fell into the small dry cracks. The quake grew and grew, and I had to put my arms out to steady myself. Then I saw the mound. It was similar to the trail left behind by Muadshai’s sandworm. The overground trail of a creature burrowing just beneath the surface. It moved at a fierce pace, easily covering the hundred metres from tree line to wall in only a handful of seconds. I knew what it was. Everyone did.

  Ixly had the presence of mind to stop his charge, and tried to control his Stagodon. Horace and my cultists continued, but were quickly brought down by the quake of so much ground moving.

  Just like during my battle at Hursh’s encampment, I saw a large red circle appear beneath my troops, encompassing half the Stagodon and all the cultists. My cultists.

  ‘No,’ I whispered. I took a step forward knowing I was too far away to do anything. ‘Run! Horace, run!’

  Some cultists had managed to get to their feet. Some were wondering why Koif’s honour guard hadn’t counter charged them when they fell. A few were running after the
y saw the red danger circle.

  ‘Run!’ I screamed, my voice breaking in panic. I sprinted toward them, not bothering to give Koif a wide berth. He let me pass.

  The bastard. How could he do this?

  I didn’t know why I was running. I was too far.

  Ixly was picking his lizards up and throwing them out of the target area. Horace had returned to his feet and was dragging any cultists still on the floor, but he wasn’t fast enough.

  ‘Run!’

  I burst through the honour guard, knocking two to the floor. I could see Horace pulling one cultists’ hood. It was Teint. It was too late.

  Earth erupted into the sky, closely followed by a shower of molten light raining down in the target area. Cultists and Stagodon flew into the air, and some were thrown clear, but most were caught by the light and melted before returning to the ground.

  The strength went out from me and I dropped to my knees. They didn’t respawn. These were true deaths.

  A globule of acidic light landed on Teint, melting both of his legs off below the knee. I could hear the screams from here, even as the rocks smashed back into the ground.

  Horace continued to pull him clear, but what chance did he have now? She Who Slays would kill me. And I deserved it. This wasn’t worth it. These weren’t random mercenaries. These were friends and they were dying.

  But the Child of Light had only just begun. It started thrashing around, scattering Stagodon with blows that would have cracked the bones of any normal Strength man. My cultists were nimble, but one was thrown like a child’s toy.

  ‘No,’ I whispered. There were no words. I fell onto my back and stared up at the sky. What had I done? Damn it! I should never have begun to care about digital beings. They weren’t even real! And now this?

  The sky was filled with grey. Dark grey clouds clashing with light grey clouds. As I lay there, I started to see patterns form. Not a random dog or shark though, no. I could see a face. It was round and had braided hair. Why was I seeing Angie’s face in the clouds?

  I didn’t know what to do. Or why to do it.

  A big scaled fist grabbed me by the breastplate and pulled me up to a sitting position.