121: And the World Turned Upside Down (Patreon)

Dahlia:

“Can I pet it?” Cynthia asked, staring wide-eyed at Bloodykee.

“Kee!”

“Yes,” Dahlia said from the driver’s seat. “He likes scritches behind his ears. Do that and he’ll kill anybody you want. Except me.”

Ben Lassiter was turned around on the passenger seat, looking at Bloodykee, who was rubbing his head on Cynthia’s shoulder while she scratched him behind the ears. As promised, the Fiend started purring happily. He sounded just like a chainsaw going full throttle.

Ben was a bit like Bob, and a bit like Barton: near-sighted, with a deep love for all geeky things, and, in the immortal words of Stephen King, ‘in dire need of Weight Watchers.’ Ben was much heftier than either of his fellow nerds, bigger than even another Stephen King character, also named Ben, from It. More like Harold Lauder from The Stand. Morbidly obese was the clinical term.

Maybe that was why Bob had left him out. Fatphobia. Dahlia, who had only recently had to deal with body image issues, felt some sympathy for Ben. Just because he was a little obnoxious, always tried to take more pizza slices than his share, and liked to play with little drones indoors, didn’t mean that...

Oh yeah, he’s kinda insufferable. Maybe I should have left him to rot.

Ben had been talking nonstop about what he would do with his new Class. After Dahlia explained the basics, he’d gone on a tirade listing every class in D&D, World of Warcraft, and other games Dahlia hadn’t even heard of.

About his only saving grace was that Ben had never tried anything with her. Maybe he was gay, asexual, or too much of a wimp. Probably gay, which at least would give their very vanilla group some much-needed representation.

“Maybe I can get a drone-using Class. Like a Shadowrun Rigger! Yeah, that’s what I want. I packed up my two best drones, did I tell you?”

“Three times,” Dahlia said through clenched teeth.

“What?”

“You told me three times already,” she said with heavy patience as she navigated the enormous penis-substitute war machine Roland had chosen through New Haven’s traffic, which was unusually heavy at ten in the morning.

She spotted no fewer than three moving vans. People running for greener pastures?

“I’ll be very useful as a Rigger,” Ben went on, undeterred. “What do you think I should do when the System offers me Classes?”

“Visualize what you want. Really hard. In silence.”

Ben closed his eyes, his lips moving. Dahlia didn’t know if that would help, but it kept him quiet, which was what she needed.

“He is so cute,” Cynthia said. “Do you think I can get one?”

“You never liked card games, did you?” Dahlia asked her, already knowing the answer. When Cynthia shook her head, she went on: “You kinda really have to love that game to get a chance at the Class. And that’s only because I was the trailblazer.”

“I really love Riggers,” Ben broke in.

“In silence, I said. Or you’ll be stuck playing a Troll Shaman.”

“Ugh, no. For the Alliance!”

“Silence!”

He shut up. Even Cynthia went quiet. Maybe she overdid the commanding voice.

For the Horde, she said silently to herself.

Religious arguments weren’t worth having.

“We’re here,” she said.

They were in a bad neighborhood, for sure. Half the houses were boarded up. People were lounging around their front yards. Loud music was playing somewhere nearby.

She parked in front of the address Roland had texted her.

“Wait here,” she told Cynthia and Ben. “Bloodykee, keep a sharp lookout.”

Javier was already on the porch, sitting in a wheelchair. His legs were both missing above the knee, and a pair of prosthetics leaned against the porch rail.

“Dahlia, right?” the guy said as she walked up. “Just need some help with the fake legs.”

“No need,” she said, producing two Rare Health Potions. “Drink these.”

“What’s this?”

“Trust me,” she told him. “Trust Roland.”

“Sure, why the fuck not,” Javier said, popping open the first bottle. He chugged it.

“Hey, chica, you got lost?” someone said from a nearby house. Dahlia saw a couple of ‘youths’ looking at her with wide smiles.

“Fuck off,” she told them.

The pair all but ran into the house without saying a second word.

Damn. I didn’t realize I was this persuasive.

Javier’s grunt of pain and surprise got her attention. He had fallen off the wheelchair and was clutching his left leg. He groaned when the stump’s skin tore open. There was some bleeding, but not as much as one would think. The sight of bones growing out and muscles extending into tendrils and creeping over the growing lower leg was still creepy and gross.

She watched it closely, fascinated. Behind her, she heard someone being sick inside the Humvee. Ben, it sounded like. She hoped he didn’t make a mess on the driver’s seat.

I’ll make him clean it with his tongue if he did, she thought.

“Ay bendito!” Javier was saying, over and over, looking at the bare foot that had grown out of the stump.

“Hey,” she said. “Here’s the second one, for the other leg.”

“Como es posible?” he asked, grabbing the other bottle and chugging it with a lot more enthusiasm than the first.

“Magic, my dude,” she told him as his second leg grew. “But we’ve got to hurry, because bad magic is coming too.”

*

“They’re on their way back,” Roland said as Elle finished packing.

She was convinced. He only wished she didn’t flinch whenever he made anything that might be considered a sudden move.

Leaving her to it, he glanced out of the front window. The CCP or secret sect – or both – operative was still there, looking alert. His buddies were apparently on their way. He definitely wasn’t going to let them follow him back to Salisbury.

As he considered how to prevent that without committing murder, something began flashing red on the righthand corner of his vision.

Time to Integration (Phase One): 0 seconds. Initializing.

Please stand by...

“Fuck,” he had time to say before the skies above turned red.

*

Gorman Acosta was coming back from the Richardson house when it happened.

The talk had gone well. Tom Richardson, a retired corporate attorney, had been convinced after a couple of demonstrations, after which he agreed to have his property absorbed into the Refuge Safe Zone. They still didn’t understand what that entailed, but that was all right. Plenty of time to learn the details of the new world order when Integration happened. Sometime before dinner, at the rate the clock kept jumping ahead.

He drove his Crown Vic – which would likely be retired soon – back to the property when the sky flared bright red.

Reflexes kicked in; he dove to the bottom of the car, no time to do anything other than hope the flash was far enough his vision would return, that the shockwave wouldn’t flip the car and bury him in debris. That he could get under cover before the fallout that followed found him and condemned him to a slow death.

None of those things happened. Well, not nothing, he realized. The car had come to a complete stop, although it had been going at about twenty-five mph when the sky changed. The engine was dead: all the lights were off, and when he tried to start it, all he got was a dry click. He got out, noting that the sky was still red.

He couldn’t see clouds or the crescent moon that had been suspended amidst the blue when he drove out. Just featureless red, deep red the color of fresh blood.

Words appeared in front of his eyes.

Your world is undergoing System Integration.

Please stand by...

Gorman abandoned the car and began running back to the main house. More notifications began to blink; he ignored them.

He needed to get everyone ready before the biggest catastrophe of history got underway.

Dahlia:

The sky turned red and the Humvee died. Traffic came to a complete, sudden stop.

Dahlia gave it more gas. Nothing. Dead.

Your world is undergoing System Integration.

Please stand by...

“Fuck a duck,” she commented.

She turned to Javier, who had taken Ben’s place in the front seat, at her insistence. The veteran was fondling a pistol he’d brought from his house and looking outside, while muttering “Puñeta!”

A glance at the back seat revealed Cynthia hugging Bloodykee, who contentedly hugged her back. Ben was staring out the window with his mouth hanging open. He was drooling a little. Maybe Bob had been right.

“We are like ten minutes away from Elle’s place,” Dahlia said. “We’ll hoof it. Fuck the Humvee.”

Before anybody could say anything, System messages filled her eyes. And she realized that she couldn’t move.

Induction has been initiated. All previously Inducted Ascendants not inside a Dungeon will be held in stasis until all sapient beings on the planet accept or reject the System’s Induction offer, or 10 minutes have transpired. Sophonts who accept Induction will have 8 hours of subjective time to make their selection, which will transpire over 10 minutes of local time.

Your 10 minutes in stasis are best spent examining your System information and accessing all notifications. After all System updates are implemented, quiet contemplation is suggested.

Quiet contemplation my ass, she thought.

*

WELCOME TO THE SYSTEM

This is not a drill. This is not a simulation. What is happening is very real. 

You are unable to move. This is for your own safety. If you were operating or traveling inside a moving vehicle, do not fear. All air, ground, and water vehicles are being held in stasis and will remain motionless until Induction is over. All vehicles will remain at rest or be returned to a secure location at that time.

This message and the subsequent instructions will remain available visually and audibly after the end of Induction. Simply think the word: “Intro,” and it will replay in the format of your choice. 

Planet Earth is being integrated into the System Network (Iteration 78.2). As a result, your world, your bodies and your very lives will undergo radical changes. Some of these changes started a few days ago, and many of the strange events you may have noticed are due to them.  

For reasons that will not be disclosed for the time being, Integration will involve a great deal of danger and hardship. 

Most of you have depended on your government or community for security and even survival. Soon, those governments and communities will be radically disrupted and will no longer be able to maintain law and order. 

Surviving will be up to you and your immediate friends and family. Building new communities will be essential to live through the times ahead. 

The System is immensely powerful and knowledgeable. While many of you will view the changes it imposes as arbitrary and cruel, there is nothing you can do to alter them. Its laws are as immutable as gravity or the speed of light, and just as indifferent to your feelings, desires, and opinions. 

The System will quantify your physical, mental and spiritual capabilities as well as any and all knowledge you have accumulated over the course of your lives. Based on that information, it will allow you to choose a Path that will provide the means to improve and enhance those capabilities.

You will be able to influence and even change the world in accordance with your skill, power, and will. All of you will enjoy capabilities beyond standard physical limitations. They are the product of arts and sciences far ahead of your own.  

Induction will start now. If you reject Induction, you will remain in stasis for 10 minutes, in which you will be allowed to change your mind. After that, you will be released as a normal human being. You will become eligible for Induction if you kill as System-inducted living being. Some Inducted individuals can also induct normal sophonts.

The System will respect your choices but will not spare you from their consequences. 

If you accept Inductions, your subjective perception time has been altered so that by the end Induction only a small fraction of a second will have passed in physical reality.

You will be offered several choices, based on your personal achievements, desires, and abilities. The process will superficially resemble the creation of characters in some tabletops and computer games. 

This similarity should not lead you to believe that the situation is not serious. While the System interface resembles game mechanics, the stakes are quite literally a matter of life and death. 

Regardless of your choices, Induction will grant you certain benefits automatically:

* Restoration to Full Health: any diseases, disabilities, and physical (but not psychological) addictions will be removed. Missing or damaged limbs and organs will be restored. The elderly will regain most of the strength of their youth and look much younger, but to fully reverse the aging process will require them to advance on a Path. Once enough progress is made on your Path, age will no longer matter, and your lifespan will be greatly extended. 

* Regeneration: After Induction, you will recover from injuries and fatigue much faster than before. A wound that might take days or weeks to heal before Induction will be healed in a matter of minutes or hours. Crippling wounds and dismemberment will require outside sources of healing to fully recover from, but those sources will be available.

Death will be final, however, unless a Resurrection Token is acquired via the System Store. 

* System Store: Your System Display has an entry for the System Store. Items such as weapons, food and equipment can be acquired there by spending Unbound Essence or System Gold. The Store also provides special enhancements such as Upgrade Tokens and Resurrection Tokens. The latter are very expensive and only available at F-Grade (and Tin Rank); beyond those power levels, your life cannot be restored except through certain Skills or Techniques.

Acquiring Unbound Essence is possible through the completion or Quests, participation in Events, Trials, or Dungeon Crawls, or by defeating or killing living beings. System Gold can be gained in the same manner, or by selling items in your possession to the Store. You will start induction with no Unbound Essence or System Gold.  

* The Rapture Protocol: This iteration of the System has deemed children (age 15 or younger) unfit to participate in this Integration Phase. They will be removed from the planet and placed in stasis until Phase Two of Integration.

During Phase Two, parents or guardians who are citizens or subjects of a Safe Zone can petition the System for the return of their children, at which time they will be returned to their care.

If the children’s parents or guardians perish, any surviving relatives will have the option to assume the care of the children when they meet the requirements listed above. Children with no surviving relatives will be available for adoption and will remain in stasis until a viable adoptive family or agency claims them. 

The well-being of your children will depend heavily on your success in the trials ahead. 

System Disclaimer: Although the System (Iteration 78.2) has godlike powers, it makes no claims or assertions regarding the validity of any religion or spiritual belief, or the lack thereof.

While the System acknowledges the existence of the non-physical entities that correspond to souls as defined by multiple belief systems, it has no knowledge of what awaits said souls when they move on from physical reality. Neither does it claim any knowledge of the existence of a universal Creator as envisioned by most monotheistic religions.

The System was the creation of intelligent beings whose existence does not predate the beginning of the current universe. It does not challenge any religious beliefs.

Paths that require faith as a component (such as Clerics or Paladins) may be aligned with one of three Orientations: Light, Darkness, and Balance (not to be confused with Affinities with the same names). Actual ‘gods’ from myth and legend may be selected as well; entities representing those deities exist, even though their power is subject to the System’s rules.

Light is the Orientation of compassion, empathy, order and charity. Darkness is the Orientation of selfishness, greed, and cruelty. Balance is located between the two extremes and holds elements of both, teetering in a delicate equilibrium.

Followers of those Orientations will gain abilities through their faith, but they will be provided by the System and not an actual deity. Those who choose a pre-existing deity will also gain their powers from the System. Invoking names with religious or mythological significance will provide power but will incur a price, sometimes not commensurate with the rewards at hand.

Welcome, System Ascendants: you will now be offered no fewer than two choices to follow, depending on your background, experience, knowledge, and psychological profile. Note that it is possible to alter those choices after Induction, although doing so will require a great deal of work, dedication, and some luck. Make your decisions carefully. 

Welcome to the System.