Chương 49: 48-Understanding the Enemy

"Can she understand us now?" asked Bob.

"Yes, I have imprinted English in her memory. She can speak it like a native," answered Jenna. Dawn gaped at them like a fish.

"It is okay, Dawn, you are among friends. I will try to explain it to you from the beginning…" Bob started to say.

"Save the explanations, Bob. Along with English, I implanted a few pseudomemories in her. She knows everything that has happened. I thought it would save time."

"You are all hugs-and-kisses, aren't you? Would it kill you to give the poor woman some time to adjust?"

"Sorry, Bob. I thought that speeding things up would actually serve a purpose—you know, with the end of the world and all that and all that."

"It is okay," Dawn said in perfect English, surprising them all.

"Things could not get weirder than they already are."

"Oh, yes, they could. Those memories I gave you are the PG-rated version."

"Not helpful, Jenna," Bob protested.

"I don't want to be a dick, Bob, but she is important; we need her functional as soon as possible."

"My world and everything I knew are gone, including my boyfriend. I seem to be this titanic figure who has somehow lost all her powers, and I have been locked in an eternal struggle all my life against Professor Arimel, who has become the leader of a pantheon of gods," summarized Dawn.

"I was also the first one to activate the Compendium, dooming all creation to a cycle of never-ending destruction. So Ahura, Arimel, and I basically destroyed the whole universe."

"What else have you left out?"

"Well, we gambled everything on the chance that you could destroy the Icosahedron, and you did not…" began Bob.

"So you basically destroyed the whole universe, twice," Billy said helpfully.

"Damn it," Dawn groaned.

"Told you so," said Bob. Twenty minutes later, the Losers, along with the Circle's inner council, listened to Corporal Browning's explanations. He was the Federation soldier Billy had rescued along with Dawn. He painted a tale of horror, even worse than anything they could imagine.

"They are testing the Reclaimers' powers on us—they are trying to find out how much they can be stretched."

"Why on you?" asked Dignity.

"Haven't they got any more Systemless?"

"I think we were basically guinea pigs. They want to extend the procedure to the rest of their population."

"How do you know that?"

"The Zealots never talked to us, except to punish us, but we also were in contact with Sinners and the Pure. They were more forthcoming." Browning realized they had no idea what he was talking about.

"Sinners are the members of the Answer who are still enhanced with a System. They are a new addition and are basically the pariahs of their society."

"A new addition?" asked Billy.

"The Answer used to kill everyone with a system. They would raid a village and leave only the unenhanced alive. They have modified that policy recently. We think it has something to do with the Reclaimer Class—it has given them the possibility of cleansing the system from already activated humans."

"The Pure are those who do not have a class, and are thus eligible to become Zealots."

"Zealots have been empowered by Mary Beth. They are the nobility." Bob listened intently. Billy had discovered that the process of turning a pure into a zealot involved destroying a dungeon with both the pure and another zealot present. Zealots gained powers based on the dungeon that had fueled their ascension.

"Listen, I know we are enemies and all that, but we are still human beings. Zealots are not. They are going to kill all my buddies unless someone does something."

"Surely you jest," said Elariana.

"You want us to risk the lives of our troops to rescue people who were trying to kill us as recently as yesterday?"

"It is not only us. They had twelve kids in the camp next to ours. They intend to do something with them." Bob knew the trooper was saying the truth. The kid who had become a zealot had come from that camp. A thorough interrogation followed, but the trooper had no further useful information. Guards took him away, allowing the Losers, the royals, Pob, Eleon, and Dignity to confer.

"We are at an impasse," Alarel started.

"If we try to rescue those kids, we will open hostilities."

"Not only the kids. The troopers, too," said Billy. Everyone looked at him.

"Browning was right. The Federation leaders made some very bad choices, and their soldiers followed them. Our enemies are no longer misguided humans. The Answer, whatever it truly is, is led by monsters. I won't leave those men at their mercy. I will do it alone if I have to." Jenna hit his shoulder, annoyed.

"Dumbass. Did you really think Bob and I were going to let you do this on your own?" The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Dignity talked slowly, as if considering her options. She did not even try to convince the Losers not to do this—their minds were already made up.

"I can see a small team operation working. Anything else will fail. If we go in force, they will probably kill the hostages before we can rescue them." Suddenly, a watchman shouted on the mind-link— "Incoming!" The whole group quickly went to the roof of the building. Jenna enhanced her vision. The Answer had left a huge message on the side of a hill, where it could be read easily. I WANT DAWN. Jenna swore.

"Those letters have been made by arranging human corpses. Her way of saying she is serious, I think."

"Why does Mary Beth want her?" Billy wondered.

"She needs as many Pure as possible. She clearly wants more Zealots. She needs dungeons and Pure to create them. With Dawn, she could expunge the system from all her Sinners in a few days," explained Bob.

"There they come." The Answer appeared at the far end of the field. They were a few miles away, but Jenna could still identify them.

"Shit!" she swore.

"They are all kids! The Answer is only sending underage zealots. Most of them are not even twelve years old. God, they are walking in unison, all wearing that creepy smile on their faces."

"What are we going to do? I don't want to kill kids, as long as there is even a remote chance they could still be human," Billy said.

"The Answer knows this. The question is, why hasn't it tried this tactic before?" asked Alarel.

"Oh, God," said Billy, suddenly realizing the answer.

"I let one of them go yesterday. It was a kid. I did not know what to do with him."

"This is a truly alien enemy," Bob considered.

"It has no notion at all of what it means to be human. It did not know that killing kids is hard for us until Billy showed it. I think it is a single mind, possibly some kind of hive consciousness."

"Yes," Jenna agreed.

"It is the only explanation that fits."

"That could actually work in our favor," Alarel added.

"It may commit more basic blunders. It can learn quickly, but it may lack basic knowledge of military tactics. The Feds did build dimensional walls protecting their encampments. It is a basic precaution to avoid your enemies using teleportation against you. Those protections are down now, after the death of those who created them."

"We could try to use a gate to rescue the hostages," Dignity agreed.

"But that monster is a quick learner. It will adapt as soon as we have done it. We will only get one chance." Bob noticed that no one had even considered the option of giving Dawn to the Answer.

"What are we going to do about the zealots? They will be within striking distance in forty minutes," asked Jenna. Dignity thought for a second.

"I am not killing kids. The only reason we held this place was to rescue as many refugees as we could, and we have already done that. We are retreating." She began issuing orders on the Blood Link. Within thirty seconds, the whole camp was a flurry of activity. They hurried out of the building.

"Oh, crap," said Billy.

"I forgot about them." The vigilantes, almost ninety of them, were stationed in front of the building, waiting for them." WE CAN'T JUST LEAVE THEM..." Billy started, not using the Link this time. Living Weapon stopped him.

"Lawman, stop. Do not say one more word," the young vigilante said in quiet, dignified tones.

"We are vigilantes. We serve. We uphold. We protect. We always knew this day could come. All of us are willing to die to cover your escape. We will protect our dungeons—they will not be used to create more zealots."

"This is our calling. This is our destiny. This is our…"

"Would you mind shutting your trap?" asked Jenna, to the horror of all present. Way to spoil a heroic speech.

"Can a dungeon be destroyed using physical force?" she asked very slowly, as if talking to a dumb child.

"Well, no, but…" Living Weapon began.

"What is the only way to destroy a dungeon?" Jenna asked.

"Killing its core and all its bosses?" Calamity Jane said shyly.

"Are you physically bound to your dungeons? You are not. You have the Hatchery tag. You are all coming with us. The only way the Answer could destroy those dungeons is by killing you, and we are not giving them that chance."

"The dungeons will stay, removing Rssence from the environment. Essence that could create new dungeons that would allow them to create more zealots. You will retreat. You will come with us. And your dungeons will remain here, doing your work for you."

"And sorry about that, I am sure it was going to be a very moving speech," Jenna added. Living Weapon hung his head sheepishly.

"Now it is our golden opportunity. With the zealots attacking our camp, security will be laxer around theirs. If we want to do it, we need to do it now," Bob said.

"How are we going to infiltrate their camp?" asked Billy.

"Teleporting is out of the question if we are going to use it to escape."

"I have been studying the terrain," said Jenna.

"I have one idea, but you are not going to like it."

"Do we ever?" Thirty minutes later, Dawn sighed as she watched the Circle troops move frantically, picking up their gear and assuming marching formation. The Answer was no more than a few minutes away—they had to leave soon. She entered the room she had been using for the past couple of days to pick up her meager possessions: a change of clothes and a sleeping bag. This was all she had. No money. No home. No belongings. No family. No past. No world. She looked at her reflection in the mirror.

She knew she should be in a hurry, but this was the first time since she had woken up in this strange world to pause and think for a few seconds. A tall, attractive woman, nearly thirty years old, with gray haunted eyes. A talented professor of a science that no longer worked. She had nothing. Even these memories Jenna had implanted in her mind were fake. Wrong. She had these strange powers. She summoned her stat screen, just as she had been instructed to do.

It listed thousands of different powers she could use to activate others or even herself. Nearly all were grayed out. She knew they probably belonged to strange systems, active in other worlds. She hid the grayed options just by willing it. Hundreds of abilities remained—Competencies. The powers that defined Avatars, the active system on Earth. She had nothing, but she was far from powerless. She could activate herself, gaining strange talents and developing them to almost their maximum possibilities in a few days.

And she would. If these monsters caught them before they could escape, she was going down fighting. Was it worth it? According to the Losers, she had become a demigoddess, but she did not look happy, crushed under the weight of her enormous debt to the world. She did not want to feel powerless again. She would explore these new abilities, she would grow, she— That's the spirit, dear. The strange voice sounded in her head as she studied her reflection in the mirror.

She jumped backward, falling on the ground as the mirror's surface rippled as if it were mercury, and three figures stepped through it. Three men, wearing that same fixed, lunatic smile that marked them as zealots.

"You will come with us, now," the three said, speaking in unison.