The Land: Predators

by Aleron Kong

  Pug looked at him intently. The chaos seed had no idea what the archetype was seeing, but it wasn’t long before Pug’s eyes widened slightly in comprehension. The older man stared intently at him and, a moment later, the tsunami of feelings eased inside the chaos seed. Richter heaved a sigh of relief. His breath had even started coming faster without him knowing it in response to his worsening emotional instability. Being free from the maelstrom of feelings was a blessing and he looked at the archetype thankfully. He still felt his emotions, but they were coming at a more manageable level.

  “I apologize,” Pug told him with sincerity. “I have not existed in a corporeal state for several eons. It did not occur to me that removing the block could overwhelm you.”

  “The block?”

  Pug looked hesitant, “We can discuss that in a moment. For now, let me tell you that the beings that abducted you belong to an ancient race called the Dark Court.”

  “The Originals?” Richter interrupted.

  “Yes, and their offspring, the Dark Exiles. The Light Court may have been involved with abducting humans taken after you. There is much that remains unclear. Somehow, despite the protections the Lords of Chaos put in place, the Dark Court discovered Earth. As far as the Lords have been able to deduce, the Court had planned for the sparks of Chaos inside of each of you to be released upon your deaths. Over time, the amount of Higher Energy could accumulate and might very well have destroyed The Land. Of course, by its very nature, Chaos energy might do anything.”

  “Doesn’t sound like a solid plan,” Richter commented.

  Pug pursed his lips ruefully, “As I said, there is much that we still do not know. What I can tell you is that though the Lords could not stop the exodus of their children into The Land,” he held up a finger with a devilish smile, “they were able to delay it a bit. By bringing each of you here, to the Realm of Chaos, first, they were able to change you.

  “Some of you gained powerful abilities, others changed their race, all of you were given extra lives. The effects were varied, as every seed of Chaos within your people is, by their very nature, unique. The Lords could not stop your abductions, but they were able to gift you and your people with a chance to be more than just fodder. Finally, they found a way to stop at least some of the Chaos inside all of you from just being released into the The Land to wreak havoc. They ensured that if one chaos seed were killed by another, the chaos inside of them would be captured, rather than just released. Everything, except for the initial seed of Chaos that each of your souls grew from, could be harvested and used to make each of you stronger.”

  Richter’s eyes grew wide and his heart started thudding again, this time in anger, “That was because of you? You and your Lords? You say that like it’s a gift! I was almost butchered because of that! That piece of shit Heman killed, I don’t know how many others, because you set us up for some Highlander-Lord of the Flies bullshit!”

  Pug’s demeanor turned quick as a tornado. He bounded up from his chair, crossed half the five feet separating them and stabbed a finger into Richter’s face. The kind old man was gone. What was there in its place was the wrath of an immortal archetype, “Do not blame the Lords for your own choices! Each and every one of you signed the contract.

  “It was buried in the fine print of the game. You had to click past it each and every time you decided to play. Almost none of you ever paid attention and the few that did, thought it was a joke! A joke! As if a fear of such magical contracts had not been embedded in your very psyches! Do not deny it for I know that it was! Every single culture that evolved on your planet had cautionary tales about the dangers of making deals with higher powers. The Lords are not to blame for the careless arrogance of your people! You are!”

  Richter leaned back in his chair, stunned. He couldn’t deny the truth of the archetype’s words though. While many gamers hadn’t known about the “contract,” serious players like himself and his friends had deep-dived on forums and message boards. He and Crush had even had a good laugh about it. They had just thought it was a joke. After learning the importance of words since coming to The Land, that defense seemed beyond weak. Still, the archetype wasn’t done.

  “Even then, even with the pure stupidity,” he spat the word, “of nearly a billion of your people signing that contract day after day, each time laying the framework for the magic that brought you to The Land, the spell would not have worked. The lack of magic on Earth made it like a rune that had never been awakened. The contract was not enough.”

  The archetype leaned over Richter now, both hands on either arm of the chair, “Can you think of anything that might have powered their spell, young chaos seed? Anything that might have breathed life into such a magical construct? Anything that might have given the spellform access to the only magic that exists on your planet?”

  Pug stood there, staring implacably at Richter, not letting him hide from the truth. The answer was obvious. If the archetype was telling the truth, and in his heart, Richter knew that he was, then the only magic on Earth was Chaos. If that was true, then the only plausible answer was, “Me. It was me. I triggered the spell,” he answered quietly. The enormity of what he had done pressed him back in his chair as much as Pug’s unyielding stare.

  The older man’s demeanor calmed again and he stopped looming over the overwhelmed chaos seed. “Yes,” he affirmed softly, “You were asked if you would willingly leave your home. You were asked if, ‘as the agent of your people,’ would you ‘embrace a life of adventure and danger, love and betrayal, power and wonder’ so that you would ‘be among the first to move forward, preparing the way for others.’ Using your Choice, they could use the Chaos magic within you, and they bound it with the ancient magic of Three.”

  “‘Thrice heard and witnessed’,” Richter echoed in horror, remember the last words he had ever heard on Earth.

  “Yes,” Pug affirmed again, but gentler this time. His demeanor eased and he adopted the kindly expression he had had before. Anger was no longer required to help Richter see the truth. His tone was softer, but he did not protect the chaos seed from the truth. There had been consequences to the choice that had been made.

  “The fault does not lie with you alone,” the archetype continued. “Your single Seed of Chaos was not enough to power the entire spellform, though it was enough to ensure your transport. Others had to willingly make the same choice you made. Each of you fed the Dark Court’s spell with the very Chaotic spark that had been passed on to each of you through your bloodline.

  “You each chose to leave your lives behind, and, anchored for all eternity by the magic of Three, your choice, which is the very essence of Chaos, gave birth to a spell that could control your entire world. Once it was strong enough, your people could be stolen even if they did not verbally agree as you had. The Court was even able to steal their minds and souls when they were not in the game. Because of your choice, hundreds of millions of humans have come to The Land and have found miracles and nightmares alike.”

  Richter sat there reeling from the truth that had been laid out before him. They had done this to themselves. He had done this. He had chosen to leave his loved ones. When he had spoken to the voice in the Castle of Transition, he hadn’t spared a single moment, not a single thought, for his mother, or for his father or brother. He hadn’t spared a single thought… for her. A single tear fell from his eye.

  “As you have already found,” Pug continued as he sat back down, “one more thing was done to you before you arrived in The Land. It was decided that if you and your people were going to have any chance of surviving, you had to be fully committed to your new lives. For that reason, a block was placed in your minds. You would remember your lives on Earth and remember the people you left behind, but you would not be able to access the very emotions that you are struggling with right now.

  “Every abductee was altered in a small, but fundamental way, so that you would not try to return home. It was done to make you stronger.” Pug hung
his head, and if Richter did not know better, he would have thought the man was feeling shame.

  Quiet reigned for nearly a minute before Richter quietly asked, “You made me forget the love I had for my family?”

  Pug looked back up, staring the chaos seed in the face, before simply answering, “Yes.”

  Richter’s emotions surged again, once again threatening to overwhelm him. Even with whatever the archetype had done before, the chaos seed felt himself drowning once again. His body was overwhelmed by the emotions surging through it. His capacity to process them was met, then overwhelmed, forcing his body to weep. He stared at the older man, tears tracking down his cheeks, feeling as if he was being torn apart.

  “Forgive me,” Pug sighed, “I am blowing your mind.”

  The archetype stat forward and placed his hands together. “I know you have many questions. I also know, however, that the effect the answers will have on you might literally be more than you can survive. As it is I expected to have to reconstruct your mind after its having been subjected to the Realm of Chaos for so long, but your mind and soul seem more resilient than they should be. Luckily, I have a solution that will give you your answers and protect your essence. Please remain calm. This might feel… a little weird.” With that, he pulled his hands apart and Richter doubled!

  The chaos seed blinked. Both versions of himself. Somehow, in a way he couldn’t even begin to understand, he knew there were now two versions of the room he was in, two versions of the archetype, even two version of the soft rug beneath his feet. Additionally, in each room, there was a version of him.

  There was another effect to the doubling. The onslaught of emotions each Richter was feeling halved in intensity. Pug nodded to him, then both versions of the archetype placed their hands together again. Pulling them apart a second time, there were suddenly four Richters. The archetype did it again, and again, and again. Ten times, until there were one thousand and twenty-four versions of Richter, Pug and the wonderfully thick carpet under his feet. With that many copies, the emotional turmoil the chaos seed felt was nothing more than a low burn.

  “This will help,” Pug told him. “Your mind will remain connected to the variations of yourself, but the consequences of your questions and the emotional toll that comes with them will be decreased a thousand-fold. Ask your questions.”

  So, Richter did. Literally thousands of questions that were burning inside of him, each asked by a different version of himself. He learned that years had indeed passed on Earth since he’d been taken. He learned why the Age of Chaos had needed to come to stop the Dark Court. He learned the consequences of what would happen if either Court ever escaped their prison and why the Lords of Chaos needed him and the other chaos seeds to keep that from ever happening. His eyes were opened and he knew!

  One by one, the various Richters ran out of questions until the last one fell silent. Each Richter dealt with the emotional repercussions of his individual questions until each had them under control. Once that was done, Pug held his arms wide then slapped them together with a thundering CLAP! All one thousand and twenty-four rooms collapsed into one. The one remaining chaos seed grabbed his head in both hands, screaming, but after a word from Pug, the pain vanished. Once again, the archetype waited for Richter to collect himself.

  The chaos seed finally came out of his own head, and noticed that Pug seemed to be wrestling with something himself. Richter looked askance at him, and the archetype made a choice of his own, “I have a function to perform, given to me by the Lords, but I also have free will. I could not be an archetype of Chaos without choice. That is why I choose to give you this knowledge. All chaos seeds were changed in some way by their passage through the Realm, but others, such as yourself, were given special gifts.”

  “Why?” More questions spun in Richter’s mind, but he decided simplicity was best.

  Pug took a measured breath before continuing, “The Lords did want to protect your Earth, and the chaos seeds that were stolen from it, but they also saw a responsibility to protect The Land from their children. Hundreds of millions of you have left, or will soon leave, the Realm and descend upon that world. The Lords know well that choice allows for the noblest good, but also the most depraved evil. In a very real way, the chaos seeds could become the new apex predators of The Land.”

  Richter nodded. He had had that same fear since arriving in The Land, and his experience with Heman obviously supported that concern in spades. He was fairly confident that not every chaos seed would be like that, but then again, if they were given abilities like Heman’s, great power had always had a penchant to corrupt those who used it.

  “What did they do to deal with that problem?” Richter asked. “Because whatever they thought they were doing, they completely fucked up. Heman was a horrible person and I’m pretty sure at some point he’ll be reborn to commit even worse atrocities than he’s already done. Why didn’t the Lords stop him?”

  Pug sighed again, “They did. They used you.”

  Richter blinked in confusion.

  “You, and a select few other chaos seeds, were given abilities and gifts greater than the rest. You were given the potential to become truly powerful.”

  “Why? Do you think I’m a saint or something? I promise you I’m not.”

  “I know well what you are, Richter. I also know what you have done.” Pug waved a hand and one wall disappeared. In its place was a frozen image of Richter’s dragon form standing over Heman’s burnt body. The picture unfroze and Richter watched himself torture Heman to death. He saw the glee in his draconian eyes and heard the other chaos seed’s cries for mercy go unanswered.

  Richter watched the entire sequence, then turned to Pug, ready to defend himself and his actions. The man had tortured him. He’d been a monster! So, what if Richter had enjoyed the payback? He wasn’t a bad person! He protected people!

  The chaos seed was ready to shout all of that and more, but the expression on Pug’s face was not accusing. The archetype was not preparing to verbally attack Richter, he was looking at him in pity.

  “You were not selected because you are a good person, Richter. You were selected because you have a darkness inside of you. While you are not blatantly evil like Heman, you love battle and challenge. It is remarkable how you have channeled the beast within you, but it does not change what you are. You push at boundaries that were never meant to be crossed and ignore the consequences. You are someone who seeks power almost as fiercely as you seek freedom. You built a village and accumulate monuments that cannot help but invite challenge. Richter,” Pug spoke his name gently, “you were not selected to save other chaos seeds. In The Land your people could become horrible predators. The Lords needed a monster to hunt them.”

  Richter was flooded with emotions once again. He didn’t know what he was feeling. He’d been selected to kill other chaos seeds? Did that make him worse? Did that make him evil? There was no way he could make sense of the tumult, so he defaulted to anger, “You’re saying I’m supposed to kill the people that were brought to The Land? And what? I have to be a horrible monster to do it?”

  “No,” Pug told him, unfazed by the chaos seed’s anger. “You have a choice. You can choose a life of peace. The Lords would never infringe upon that. You have a choice.”

  “Then why are you looking at me with all that pity?” Richter cried out to him.

  “Because when you were given the option to be a man or a monster,” Pug turned toward the wall showing his dragon form slowly killing Heman, “you made your choice.” The archetype waved his hand again and the wall became simple brown wood once more.

  The two of them sat in silence as Richter digested what had been said. He still wanted to yell and scream that it wasn’t his fault, that Pug didn’t understand, but he remembered how good it had felt to make Heman suffer just a bit of the pain he had visited on others. Even now, he wanted to smile at the memory. Maybe it was for the best, he decided. Not every soldier for good could have wings. Some
needed to be able to live in the shadows. Only there could they serve the light. Maybe not shadows, he realized. Shadows weren’t the only thing that could hide you. Maybe he had always been fated to walk the line between good and evil, light and dark. Maybe he had always been fated to walk in the mists.

  The two men sat for longer than Richter realized, but ultimately Pug let him know what came next, “Your life is on pause right now. No time has passed in The Land despite how it has felt. We are now at your true moment of Choice.”

  “True moment of choice?” Richter echoed.

  “Yes,” Pug told him. “None of your people have ever made their way back into the Realm of Chaos without dying. It was thought to be impossible. You have only done so through an interplay of powerful magics. The likelihood of this one eventuality occurring was so unlikely among all the eventualities of the infinite curve that it was not properly accounted for. It was a glitch, if you will, that has now been corrected.

  “Once you awaken, this entire experience will feel like a lucid dream, and, as with all dreams, many of the details will be lost immediately upon waking and the rest will fade over time. In the end, all that will remain will be vague resonances buried in the deepest parts of your unconscious. And while it is true that each death will bring you back to the Realm, never again should your conscious mind perceive it unless you are invited.”

  Richter nodded, wondering where this was going. It felt like an ending.

  “While some of the Lords wished to destroy you utterly for the impertinence of invading their home, it was decided due to your CHOICE of Freedom being your core value and your status as the Catalyst of the Age of Chaos, that you would be given a Choice instead. You may now return to Earth.” Pug said it so gently that for a moment it didn’t even register to Richter. When he looked at the kindly looking older man though, the archetype nodded gently.

  With a simple gesture of Pug’s arm, a portal of black crystal filled with a brilliant green energy field appeared against one wall. Richter’s heart began thudding painfully as the archetype continued to speak, “You may leave The Land to its own fate, knowing that no matter what happens, it will not affect the Earth until your grandchildren die of old age. You must know, however, that the actions the Lords were forced to take to protect your world from the Courts have changed it. Things will be… very different now, and your life may not be the same.”