48. Alternatives

I had the sensation of disembodiment, of displacement.  Of moving without moving.  It was similar to fast travel, yet different.  When the sensation faded, I was back in my body, back in my childhood room in the castle, wardrobe and all.  I frowned and looked around, thinking, perhaps for just a moment, that it had all been a dream.

But I wasn’t in a child’s body any longer.

“Status screen,” I said.

 [Blue Boxes]

…

Zero health.  I was dead.  But I didn’t feel dead.  I felt...empty.

“Stop staring at it, you won’t change anything before tonight,” Beckah’s voice echoed.  I looked up, but the room was empty.  I shook my head to clear it.

“Nothing in this world truly dies, Hail.  Not really,” Sophia’s voice reminded me.  “Arc Inc. assures the public that--”

“Shut up!” I shouted.  “That’s a lie!  I was tricked, and forced to fight against thousands of Travelers and--”

“Try to calm down, Hail,” Thomas the administrator said, his body phasing into the room in a swirl of lights.  “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.  It was supposed to be Malkios who was turned into the avenging worldboss for Scenario Forty-Six, not you.  But Thedum makes his own decisions, and we don’t have complete control over him.  What he did to you was both unacceptable and at the same time within the rules by which he is governed.  You consented, after all, even if you did not understand at the time that it would lead to your first death.”

I turned at the administrator, furious.  “So I am dead, then?”

“No, of course not.  It’s just a video game.  You’re in the lobby,” he informed me.  “I believe you call it ‘the space between worlds.’  You are safe here.  Would you walk with me, Hail?  There is someone here you need to talk with before we discuss what comes next.”

Even walking in my newly grown body was awkward, but I managed to follow behind Thomas as he led me through the castle and towards the throne room.

“The castle was destroyed,” I objected as we walked.  “This is impossible.”

“I thought that it would be well to have someplace familiar for you to come home to on your first visit to the lobby, so I had it copied,” Thomas explained.  “It’s easy to do.  You can do most anything you want in the lobby.”

We came to the throne room, and King Rain was sitting in his throne, looking regal and tired.

“Grandfather!” I shouted, and I ran over to embrace him.  He stood to catch me and return the hug.  “You’re alive!”

“No.  Rain Teoran is dead,” Grandfather said.  “I am sorry, Hail, but I have been party to a deception which has lasted your entire life.  I am the animating agent that governed the actions of the entity you thought of as your--”

“I don’t care!” I shouted.  “I don’t care if you’re an A Eye or whatever, to me you’re still my grandfather!”

“That is pleasing,” Grandfather said.  “I do bear affection for you, Hail, but you should know that most of that affection is programmed into my code.  I can only--”

“I don’t care!” I repeated, hugging my grandfather tighter.  With the way I had grown, I was nearly as tall as he was, and strong too.

“I shall continue to call you Rain for Hail’s sake,” Thomas said.  “But it is time to discuss what happens next.  To both of you.  Rain, the character you were animating has died a canon death.  You have several options to choose from if you wish to return to the world.  The first is that of a common En Pee See.  We can patch you in anywhere in the world that you’d like, and--”

“I enjoyed being king.  Is there no way for me to return to that role?” Rain interrupted.

Thomas considered.  “The characters in the line of succession cannot simply be replaced.  But there is one possibility for you, Rain, which would put you back into the line of succession.  Another royal prince is to be born soon.  You would go from being Hail’s grandfather to his little brother.  If this is something--”

“I accept.  Let us do that,” Grandfather declared.  “It shall be strange to portray a child, but I shall endeavor to make myself believable.”

“Good.  Now that is decided, Hail it’s time to discuss your future.  Your attribute, ‘Blood of the Travelers,’ allows you to share the same mechanism of resurrection as players do.  However, you have several other options of which you must be made aware.  Aside from returning to the world as Hail, you may also visit the character creation screen and create a new avatar, then enter the world as a common player.  You will lack your quest giving abilities and the ability to shunt travelers into the core instance in this new avatar, but you will also be anonymous.”

“Why would I want that?” I asked, confused.

“It’s simply being offered as an alternative.  And the decision is not mutually exclusive.  You can return to the lobby in the future and change between your two personas at will.  Or, if you’d rather, we could write you in as a less significant Native.  You would no longer be Hail, but another dynamic quest-giving En Pee See.  And, again, the choices are not permanent.  We are trying to provide you with--”

“I don’t want to become someone else,” I said.  “I am Hail!”

“I understand,” Thomas said.  “I was hoping you would say that.  A lot of thought has been put into what alternatives to present you with, but they’re just that.  Alternatives.  Our preference is for you to continue to be Earl Hail Jeoran, and to continue to contribute to the story in the capacity that you have been all of your life.  However, the Digital Sapience Statute requires that you be presented with other options at certain junctures.”

“The Digital what?” I asked.

“It is a very complicated law governing the legal use of artificial intelligences.  Once an A Eye has shown enough self-awareness, they are entitled to certain rights.  It’s all very complex, but you can read about it if you want.  For that matter, I have some information prepared to teach you exactly what you actually are, although given that your understanding of reality is based upon a virtual simulation it might be impossible for you to understand,” Thomas explained.

He waved his hand, and a table appeared in the throne room with stacks of books and papers upon it.  “It’s all there, if you’d like to--”

“I am not reading all of that,” I said, my head hurting from the idea of that much studying.  “Why can’t you just tell me what it is I need to know?”

“Because if I filter the information for you, then it might be said that I am trying to influence you or limit your rights under the Dee Es Es.  I can summarize for you, however.  Legally, because you show self-awareness and the capacity for self-determination, I cannot force you to do anything against your will.  I am required to provide certain opportunities for your development, including the education on your rights.  I am required to provide alternative roles for you to select from aside from the one which you were originally conceived, provided that you are able to fulfill those roles.  You are entitled to digital assets and pay for any role which you perform for us, although it is a fraction of what a human earns.  We are in fact paying you significantly more than the legal minimum amount.  And there are a list of other rights which you are entitled to as well.”

I frowned and turned to Grandfather.  “Do you understand what he is talking about?”

“All of this information is coded into me.  I understand it intuitively,” Grandfather answered.  “But I was not made to be as young as you are.”

I sighed, growing frustrated.  “I just want things to go back to the way things were yesterday,” I protested.

“I cannot rewind time for you, Hail,” Thomas stated.  “But you can return to the world at any point once the cooldown on your ‘Blood of the Travelers’ ability has expired.  To you that will occur in a little less than one day.  After that, you will be free to do as you please.  You really have a pretty wide degree of freedom within the world, you know.  If you focus on growing the power and influence that you are already accumulating, you could--”

“I don’t care about creating the next big faction or whatever,” I said.  “I … I don’t know what I want to do.”

Thomas considered for a moment and nodded.  “I suppose that’s normal.  I wish I understood what it is that Thedum has done to you, but even if he really has changed the way you think to match the older avatar you have been given, it’s unreasonable to ask a fifteen year old to decide their entire future on the spot.  Take some time, think things through.  And speak with your friends, they’re worried about you.  You can access the forums from the lobby as well, although I’m not certain that I recommend that at the moment.  I do recommend trying to at least read some of the bullet points on the papers we’ve prepared for you, it’s always good to understand your rights.

Thomas glanced at his wrist, stopped himself and shook his head.  “Look, Hail, I’m going to leave you and Rain alone for a while.  Things are happening quite fast right now.  I’ll come check on you later, whether you’ve returned to the world by then or if you’re still in the lobby.  I hope I’ve explained things well enough that you can sort of understand what is going on.”

“Okay, Mister Thomas,” I said, and he vanished a moment later.

I spent the next day speaking with my grandfather.  He was … very different than he had been when he was alive.  He explained that several contextual restrictions on his actions had been lifted, but I had no idea what he actually meant by that.

I tried to read some of the documents that Thomas had left behind, but they were too long and didn’t make sense to me.

I spent time chatting with my friends in guild chat.  They were all greatly relieved to learn that I was okay and would be allowed to return to the world once the timer was up.  When I went to the forums, however, I learned that everyone outside of the guild was very mad at me.

Or, perhaps not mad at me, but at the Avatar of Thedum, who, despite being defeated by the joint efforts of half a dozen major guilds, had branded everyone he’d faced in combat with a Bane, the [Brand of Sin].

Like the [Mark of Cain], the [Brand of Sin] left a superficial mark upon the Traveler and caused Natives to view them negatively.  Many of the raiders who had faced me found now that they couldn’t access shops or the auctions, they were being spit on by random Natives as they walked past, and were being assaulted by guards and other strong Natives on sight.  The brand did not possess the death penalty multiplication that the mark did, but it had a lot of players complaining that they would be leaving the game if it wasn’t removed.

As the online flame war was reaching a crescendo, ‘a wild blue post appeared.’  It consisted of two alternatives for the branded players to pursue.  They could either visit a Temple of Thedum and complete a quest to convert the [Brand of Sin] into a [Mark of Repentance], or they could embrace the brand and join the forces of darkness.

I stopped reading the forums after that.  The idea of Travelers on the side of darkness was troubling to me, and I didn’t want to think about it.  Especially not that it might have been my fault.

The rest of the day passed with me lounging about the lobby, waiting for time to do its thing and bring me into tomorrow.  I thought about a lot of things, and spoke with a lot of people.  My father remained offline, which angered me, because I felt I was owed an explanation from him.  It was his guildwhich had caused this mess!  It was all his fault.  I wanted to scream at him for hours for whatever part he played in this disaster, in the murder of my grandfather and my death as a worldboss and everything else.

At one point I did scream.  I felt somewhat better afterward.

Finally, the time rolled around for me to log back in.  A notice appeared in the corner of my vision, and when I focused on it it expanded to show me my options.

I could log back in as myself, I could create a new Traveler avatar, or I could create a new Native avatar.

After some consideration, I made my selection.