by Max Jager
The two purple-haired girls looked up at him as they spoke. Katy was the slightly smaller, quieter one who was wearing her headphones around her neck. Standing only an inch shorter than her more confident sister. They quietly awaited his next order.
"You two took out four of them? By yourselves?" Mendelen raised an eyebrow. "Huh, I guess there's a reason all the other Spartans were calling you two the lethal twins. Were there any high ranking or important Moderators there?"
"No. It probably wouldn't have gone as well if there were." Kathryn replied. "Just a bunch of ordinary soldiers. They seem to be unable to figure out our signet. So it always catches them off guard. Their items are in the storage room, as requested."
"I wouldn't bet on that, they will figure out that the two of you have linked senses soon enough, especially now that you two are becoming a threat." Mendelen replied. "Intel gathering is one thing they do really well."
Kathryn nodded "What will our next mission be then? We should deal as much damage as possible before they figure it out."
Mendelen thought about it for a moment. "I'm putting you two on defense. You'll escort the team that's searching the mountain." He said and he opened a door to the communications room to figure out where this group was. However as soon as he opened the door a bucket of water fell on his head. Not only did it soak him, but the wooden bucket also hit him over the head.
Katy couldn't help but to giggle a little. However the shy teenager immediately stopped when he turned around.
Mendelen sighed, then walked into the room and the twins followed him in. He turned on the radio and contacted the group that was in the mountains. Once he had their location, and informed them that he's sending guards, he sent the twins off to their next mission.
After the two girls left, Estellese walked into the room. "Did you see what was going on in the center of town?"
"No, why?" Mendelen asked, then he walked over to one of the many screens in the room. He pressed a few buttons on the touch screen, then it turned on and started showing what a camera watching the center of town was viewing.
There was a small crowd forming around a very nicely dressed, tall, brown haired man who was setting up a stage not far from a tree.
"Seems like he is setting up a stage show or something" Mendelen shrugged.
"You don't know who that is?" Estellese asked. "That's Zane, he's been holding these speeches daily trying to convert our citizens and soldiers to his army and city. And it has been working."
Mendelen tensed a little and thought about it. "Hearing that… I really want to go arrest him immediately. But I can't." He stated. "The people here are already giving up a lot of their rights to live here. People are already saying we are overstepping and being tyrannical. As much as I want to, if I start censoring people I dislike we will lose everyone. That would be tyrannical, and that is not what I want us to be." He didn't seem to be focused on what he was saying as he spoke though, his attention was elsewhere.
"What do we do then?" Estellese asked.
"We will need to hear him out and figure out why people are following him. Then fix those problems or reassure the citizens that it's fine." Mendelen stated.
"If you say so." Estellese replied unsurely.
Mendelen nodded, then the two of them waited and watched through the screen as the man set everything up. Once everything was setup, the man tightened his tie, fixed his suit, and cleared his throat before turning to address the curious crowd that had formed.
"Welcome, everyone. My name is Zane, I am here with information the Spartans don't want you to know, and an offer that none of you can afford to refuse. I must speak quickly, because who knows how long I'll be able to speak to you before the Spartans come and stop me, so please listen to what I have to say." He started, then gave the crowd a moment to think about it before he continued.
"I am the leader of Port Redwarren, another large city like this one on the southern coast. Just like this city, we have modern technology, but we also have radio and television working, making us even more technologically advanced then Belesara. Port Redwarren isn't always at war, we actually solve our problems instead of letting them go on. We aren't losing people on a nearly daily basis, we aren't playing games with people's lives. The people in Redwarren are truly safe, you can't say the same about everyone here. How long will it be before this war kills you? Or before the Spartans turn even more tyrannical and just take over everything. If they haven't already. They have so much control over your lives that nothing could stop them if they one day decided to just take everything." He stated. "That can't happen in Redwarren, we don't control you there, you're free in Redwarren."
He paused for a moment to let them take that in. "I came here saying I had an offer, and information. So I'll start with the information. Did you know that this whole war is nothing more than a game to the Spartans? It's just an excuse for them to take control over your lives, control that they have absolutely no right to!"
"They don't allow weapons or most magic in the city, because they 'need to protect us from the Moderators.' And in order to live here you have to give up your privacy! Ridiculous! They watch you at all times, they can hear your every conversation, just so they can 'protect us from the Moderators'." He went on, adding air quotes when he mentioned them protecting the civilians. "But are they protecting us? Spartan soldiers keep dying every day, what are they dying for? When will the war end?" He paused for a moment.
"Here's the truth, those Spartans are dying for nothing." Zane went on. "They take away our ability to defend ourselves, and our privacy to 'better protect us in this war', but they have absolutely no intention to ever end the war. Yeah, you heard that right. This war will go on forever, and they will control every aspect of your life, forever. It's pretty convenient right? But I don't expect you to believe me yet, I don't come here and make these accusations without proof to back it up."
The crowd looked a little shocked as he said that, and began talking amongst each other. Some people believed him, and agreed, others did not.
"The Spartans know where the Moderators' hideout is. They've known about it for weeks, they have been inside of it many, many times. They've been to Kaden's house many times. Did they attack the Moderators? No. Did they kill Kaden and end this? No. Because they don't want to end this war." Zane continued his speech. "Did you know? The leaders of both factions, Mendelen, Estellese, and Kaden are all close friends? Yeah, I said that. Mendelen, the leader of the Spartans, and Kaden the leader of the Moderators, they are both close friends. They are not enemies. It's all an act! They aren't really fighting each other! When they had their battle to take back Belesara city, Mendelen could have killed Kaden, but he let him go. This war is just a farce to control you people, to profit from your lives."
"And don't even get me started on the Moderators. They are literally terrorists who think they have the right to control our lives just because they are stronger. They are a group of murderers, and criminals. And they are working with the spartans! Do you really want to side with them? They are allies of the Spartans, not enemies, making them your allies too if you remain here"
Up in the tower, Mendelen and Estellese were still watching. Estellese tensed a little. "What do we do?"
"Nothing. We do nothing right now, and we let him talk." Mendelen said, looking tense. "This is Kaden's fault…" He grumbled under his breath.
"Yeeeah… I'll take credit for that one." Kaden laughed, scaring them both and making them jump. They turned to face him. "I didn't think anyone would have the guts to start an uprising. Probably shouldn't have goofed around so much publicly. That wasn't the brightest of my ideas."
Apparently, Kaden had entered the room through a portal without their knowledge, and he brought Zanath with him.
"Well, what did you two expect to happen?" Zanath stated. "I mean, I know what is really going on. But to any ordinary person on the surface, yeah, this looks like some sort of corruption. Like you two are actually working tog
ether and just pretending to be enemies."
"Well, we kind of are." Kaden pointed out.
Mendelen shook his head. "We are enemies Kaden. Until you stop attacking the Spartans and stop terrorizing my people. The only reason your army still stands is because you're holding that revival alter over my head."
Kaden grinned. "Still didn't find it, eh? What happened to the whole 'oh we'll find it in a few weeks' speech?"
Mendelen sighed. "No, we didn't find it yet."
"Told ya." Kaden laughed.
"I haven't seen you in ages Zanath." Estellese spoke up. "How have you been?"
"Same as always I guess. Still looking for a way out of this world. It's what lead to me discovering how to connect items like those cameras to your virtual keyboard." Zanath replied. "Haven't found any leads yet."
"You should get out of your lab more often and join us in our adventures." Estellese suggested. "We'd love to have the company."
Zanath shook his head. "I've had more than enough adventure for one lifetime. It's not my thing. Neither is all this political crap you guys got yourselves into. It's all one big headache."
"Why did you come then?" Mendelen asked. "Not that I want you to leave, I'm happy you're here. There's something I wanted to discuss privately later."
"Kaden said it was important." Zanath shrugged.
"It could be, if this guy is starting an uprising against us, we could be in for a real war." Kaden replied. "One where people actually die, that is. My soldiers always grab items from the defeated spartans to revive them in the future. These new people? I'm sure they won't."
"Oh, off topic but on the thought of that, Kaden." Mendelen spoke up. "My Spartans took out an entire party of Moderators. I have their items in storage. They will be returned after you revive all of my lost soldiers, and only after."
"Yeah I saw!" Kaden grinned and clapped for a moment. "If only all of your Spartans were that good."
"And about reviving my soldiers?" Mendelen pushed the issue. "When are you doing this? You keep saying 'in the future' but it has never happened."
"Well yeah, the future is still ahead of us." Kaden stated.
"Technically, there will never be a day when the future isn't ahead of us." Zanath butted into the conversation.
"Yep." Kaden replied.
Mendelen took a deep breath and shook his head. "So does that mean you're not going to do it?"
"Nope." Kaden answered. "They will be revived, when the Spartans are fully capable of defending themselves. Until then the fear of death must remain, so it will drive everyone to train hard and grow stronger."
Mendelen sighed and frowned at Kaden. "This is so wrong, your way of going about this."
Their conversation was interrupted when they heard the people on the screen suddenly scream. They hurriedly turned back to the screen to see what was going on, only to see a short woman wearing black spiky armor that resembled Kaden's armor jump out of the tree and onto the stage. She had a cape, like Kaden, with the Moderator's insignia on it. Her helmet covered her face and hair, making her near impossible to recognize.
"You've said more than enough Zane. We will not allow you to speak out against the Moderators like this. This is against our rules, and as per the rules set down by Kaden himself, anyone who violates our rules will be assassinated." The woman called out and drew her sword.
Zane jumped back and turned to the woman, then pointed at her. "Look at this! All I've done is come out here to talk to you people, to tell you all the truth! And the Moderators sent an assassin to silence me! They don't want you to know the truth! They are scared of those who know the truth!" He called out. Then he summoned his own rapier into his hand.
Mendelen looked very confused. "How the hell did they get weapons in the city?"
"Oh, yeah, about that." Kaden said. "That's actually why I came here. Before seeing this guy. I figured out that if you enchant a weapon with an anti-magic enchantment, similar to your anti-magic undershield spell, it cancels out the magic you have in place to remove people's weapons. Seems like they also figured that out."
Mendelen sighed and shook his head. "And why did you send an assassin? This is just making us look worse. It makes it look like he's telling the truth, like we are hiding something."
"I didn't." Kaden laughed. "That's not one of my people. Speaking out against the Moderators isn't even against our rules. She's a fake."
"What?" Mendelen looked even more confused, and turned to the screen. Zane and the woman were now fighting against each other in an intense fight on the stage. Neither of them were using magic, they only used their swords and their incredible speed.
"She is holding back." Estellese pointed out. "The woman is clearly a much better fighter then Zane. When she's on the defense her skill is really showing through, she's very calm and collected, even the tiniest movement she makes is calculated, but as soon as she's on the offense she starts missing every opportunity and attacking irrationally."
Mendelen raised an eyebrow and thought it over. "You're right, I never would have noticed."
"So this whole fight is staged?" Kaden asked. "That's a pretty neat idea, why didn't I ever think of that?"
"I think so, it looks like it's all an act." Mendelen thought out loud.
"We need to send in the guards and shut this down. They are breaking the law by holding weapons in the city, that's enough reason to arrest them both." Estellese insisted.
"No. We can't." Mendelen clenched a fist. "I see the game he's playing, he wants us to send in the soldiers to arrest him so he can defame us and claim we are censoring him and hiding the truth. If we do that he'll use it as proof that we are working with the Moderators to silence him."
"But if we do nothing, when these two are breaking the law in front of all of these people, it makes the city look unsafe and makes it look like we are not doing our jobs." Estellese argued.
"I know." Mendelen murmured, deep in thought. "Two can play this game." He immediately sent a message to Fate. "Fate, this is Mendelen. I am sure you are aware of the issues in the center of town by now. The man on stage and the Moderator attacking him both have illegal weapons. Please go confiscate both weapons. Arrest the Moderator, and give the man in the suit a stern warning about the rules of Belesara regarding weapons. -Mendelen"
"On it. -Fate"
"There, this shows that we are doing our jobs, but it won't play into his hand. It will just make him look like a liar in front of everyone." Mendelen stated, then turned back to the screen.
Back on the battlefield, the woman seemed to be winning the fight. She managed to cut Zane a couple times with her sword, but the cuts were all nothing more then little scratches. Then, suddenly, Zane's signet ring let out a bright flash of light, obscuring Zane from sight. When the light faded away, Zane was flying over the stage. He had grown pure white angel wings, a bright gold halo had appeared over his head, his hair had turned blonde and his brown eyes were now light blue. He now wore a intricate looking, cyan set of light armor and carried a much bigger sword then before.
"Leave evildoer!" Zane shouted down at the supposed Moderator. "This is my signet, this sword is a holy sword that can smite evil. If it so much as touches you it will burn you to death in an instant!" He flew down at the woman at blinding speeds, causing her to drop her sword and quickly run away.
Once the supposed Moderator had run away, Zane chased her off, then flew back to take center stage again. He turned to address the crowd, which had grown a lot bigger then it was when his speech started. "I had meant to keep this signet a secret, but it would seem the Moderators had other plans. So fine, all cards on the table." He started.
"This signet is a special signet, given only to the one true hero of Immersion. The halo, the wings, this special armor and sword, it makes me look like the typical hero in any other game. It's the perfect ability for the real hero of Immersion. This world, Immersion, it is a game. The Alphas all want you to believe that this is some alternate universe, s
ome other world, and you know why? They don't want you to leave this game. They want you to be trapped here forever, because in this world, they rule the world. The power has gone to their heads and now they will do anything to keep that power. They don't want to go back. I truly understand them, and I don't blame them." He continued his speech. "I'm sure they are good people, who were just corrupted by power. But that doesn't make it okay to keep everyone trapped in here for their own power fantasy."
"That is why you need to follow me, I am not like them. The game picked me to be the hero, because I genuinely care about everyone in this world, unlike the Alphas. They aren't the heroes here, they have become the villains. I want us all to get back to our homes and families in the real world, unlike the Alphas. And I, the hero of Immersion, am going to lead us there. Not the Alphas. I have my own city far to the south of here, Port Redwarren. This is where I have my own military, the Royal army, and we are working around the clock to get everyone out of this world and to keep everyone safe while they are in here. We aren't running around holding pretend wars to keep everyone under control and stuck in the game. I can promise you the same safety as the Spartans do in this city, only I won't take away your weapons, and I won't spy on you at all times like the Spartans do. It's a pretty good deal, yeah? It's better than anything the Spartans can offer."