Behind the Curtain

Overseer Zha Miya walked down the hallways of Framework Control. Her gait was hurried, and her mind occupied with spiraling thoughts. The cause was… familiar to her, once again, she was being called down to Control rooms because of an irregularity. Millions of years without any issues, and now this was a second time in a span of just a couple of decades. It concerned her, and the fact that the one who called her was Controller Marg’har, the same one who called her last time, was what made her anxious. Marg’har was in charge of looking over and transporting the Earth Iterations. And after what happened with the last one, she had looked into the Eight and Ninth Iterations.

Both were… aberrant. Not to the same degree as the Seventh had been, thank the Heavens, but there were still… irregularities. Problems that she didn’t need. Already she was trying to figure out what to do with the Eight Iterations, the arrival area had been taken over by forces thralled to the Dome, and she couldn’t just drop them there. She had considered many different avenues, dropping them somewhere else in the core, or even the Frontier, or even beyond it. None of the choices were acceptable. The first three Iterations had been chosen specifically, their aptitude scores and the ways that their old worlds had been shaped by the Framework had been designed to create people that could thrive and survive a wild Infinite Realm. The first three Iteration’s Rankers had been shaped to be the Vanguard, to carve an area of safety.

The second three had their old worlds pushed in the direction that would result in people with powers designed to support a growing civilization. Farmers and cattle tenders, monster tamers and herbalists. They were supposed to nurture and help the others create more factions, to specialize them. And that had been a success, the years following the arrival of the Fourth, Fifth, and the Sixth Iterations had seen the great expansion of territories, the exponential growth of population.

The last three Iterations were supposed to be focused on crafting and advancing the understanding of the rules of Infinite Realm, the sciences. To push the world into an industrial revolution, into advancement.

Safety, then expansion, then advancement—that was how it was supposed to be. The crafters of the current Infinite Realm had reached high, but they had only scratched the surface of what was possible, what will be possible. They lacked the tools and the rewards that the last Iterations would bring from their old worlds. The understanding and sciences grasped at some things, and missed others. The might of power ruled still. Of course, there had always been exceptions to the rules.

The cthul had pushed further than expected, the knowledge that all Iterations brought was put to use. But even they didn’t have all that was required, their best and brightest didn’t make it into the Infinite Realm.

And just as there had been aberrations in the Infinite Realm, the same was true of the Iterations themselves. The Seventh, the monsters that had survived to the end, the death of a world. It wasn’t planned, but freedom of choice and outcome was allowed.

Now, she had to place the Eight Iteration, and she was trying to figure out a way to satisfy her objectives. The had to arrive in a place of relative safety, their knowledge, Paths, Skills, and Classes, had to survive for long enough to be introduced to the larger population. Dropping them into the Taken territory would be the same as killing them. Dropping them anywhere else in the Core would be the same, wars still raged, and they would get trampled or conscripted. She still didn’t know what the best solution was, and there was no hurry, they were supposed to arrive at set intervals, but that wasn’t set in stone. She as the Overseer had a lot of leeway as long as she worked toward the final goal.

She reached the Control Room and put all those thoughts out of her mind, preparing herself for a new headache. Marg’har sat at his console, all six of his limbs working tirelessly.

“What is it Marg’har, and please don’t say Earth again,” Zha Miya said as she came to a stop next to him.

Marg’har turned his elongated head and grinned, showing razor sharp teeth and forked tongue. The once Aspect of Greed shook his head at her.

“Not Earth, but… related.”

Zha Miya closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Aside from being in charge of Earth Iterations, Marg’har was also tasked with keeping watch on the Rankers that still survived in the Infinite Realm. “Tell me.”

“You remember the Seventh’s two Rankers?”

“I do,” she said slowly, already getting the feeling that she wasn’t going to like any of it.

“Here, take a look,” Marg’har said.

Zha Miya read through the prompt that he made appear in front of her. She noted who it was, Zacharia Gardner, he had been the weaker of the two, but not by much. Both had been monsters, achieving what shouldn’t have been possible on the old worlds. They probably didn’t know or understand it, but the requirements and feats that they had accomplished on Earth colored all of their advancement in the Infinite Realm. They got better perks easier, they gained unique evolutions and advancement options because they had accomplished feats that no one else in the world had, or ever would be able to. It was not their power on arrival that had made them unique or monstrous. It was the potential of what they had done on Earth. And as she read through everything now she saw just how fast he had advanced and how far he had come. Midway through the report on Zacharia she turned away and asked Marg’har for a report on Ryun Nacht. She read and saw the both of them were advancing fast, and were gaining more power per advancement than anybody else in the Infinite Realm, which could all be tied back to Earth. The experience and its effects on them were long reaching.

“Their advancement is interesting, but not really a problem,” Zha Miya told Marg’har. They were taking advantage of the early Infinite Realm environment, advancing faster than they intended people to advance, but not by much. But this was the environment that they had created for them, and it would remain as it was now until the defeat of all Domes. It didn’t matter, others had more years and some would be stronger than they were.

“That’s not the issue,” Marg’har said. “Read Zacharia’s report to the end.”

Zha Miya frowned and turned back to the first report. It didn’t take her long to find what he wanted her to see.

“Sage of Aspect—Time, The First Dao—Way of Aspect, A Grand Perk,” she read the list of his latest achievements, just a few minutes ago in Infinite Realm time. Two of those were surprising, but nothing really too out of line. A Grand Perk was possible for anyone, the reason why most don’t get them is because they don’t put themselves in situations where they could gain them. It wasn’t always about combat or effort, sometimes it was just about state of mind, or overcoming something. It was a boon from the Framework, mark of distinction.

She could see someone like the Earth Seven Rankers gaining that. The Sage title was straining against the norm. Zha Miya’s job was to Oversee everything, but she didn’t follow the Infinite Realm that closely, she was working on other things. Design and implementation of things that were not yet introduced into the Infinite Realm, she didn’t have the time to look after the baby universe. Infinite Realm was still in its infancy, its people had barely scratched the surface of all that was granted to them. They didn’t understand the depth of what they could achieve. But that would come in time, in thousands, if not millions of years.

But she still was kept appraised of any notable developments. The Sage accomplishment was one such, only two people in the young history of the Infinite Realm had achieved it, and only one was still alive. The Sage of Bone who went mad and died hundreds of years ago, and the Sage of Frosted Moon who had gone further than anybody else had in the Infinite Realm, to the lands far beyond the Domes where he sat under the Frost Moon and cultivated his power. Only the very few exceptions existed, the best of the best. Those who understood the core principles behind their chosen Aspects, the parts that could not be changed by Will or anything else.

So, while someone achieving it so young was not only unlikely, but downright incredible, it was not quite out of the realm of possibility. The Ranker was a monster just as he was when she had first learned of him and the other. She had placed the so far apart away from the rest, because she didn’t want them to kill each other, or influence the others in any way. They were monsters, but they were necessary, what they had was necessary. And she could see that they had been passing on their understandings and knowledge, as was intended.

No, what was impossible was the third of his achievements; The First Dao—Way of Aspect. That should’ve been impossible, twice as much for an Aspect such as Time that was so powerful and highly contested. Their tamest predictions put the timeline for the creation of the first Way of Aspect somewhere between ten and twenty thousand years from now. Time enough for understanding, for contemplation, for immersion in a an aspect. It shouldn’t have been possible, no matter what.

She dug deeper, looked, tried to find the cause of it all. It didn’t take her long. Hastur, a Dome Leader, a being brought into existence by the will of the Three itself. A creation with a sliver of their intent. It had tried to punish Zacharia, it had succeeded. She looked through, saw the records of Hastur’s thoughts and conclusions, why it did what it did. It was created from the stories of Earth, a being meant to influence and shatter the minds of mortals. But these… they were not mortals. Any ordinary mind, a mind of a mortal from a world without the Framework would’ve buckled, but Zacharia was beyond that. He endured, while he suffered the punishment, he also gained something in return. The will of Hastur had constantly pushed on Zacharia’s, a will from a being that held the Essence of Mind and Time. A being that was created with an understanding of Time beyond any other being in the Infinite Realm. Hastur was ancient at his real birth, beyond ancient, a being beyond such concepts as Time. The punishment, the pressure, it had imparted part of that understanding on Zacharia.

And coupled with the sheer amount of time that he experienced inside, the time that allowed him to contemplate everything around him, to sharpen his willpower… it led to this. A man, a being that had willpower far beyond what anyone else had, not beyond his years, no, for his mind and soul did experience all of that time. A willpower of someone who was thousands of years old, put in a world where even the oldest were just over a thousand. Couple that with the potion he gained as a reward, allowing him to push his will higher still and you got what they had assumed would take them ten thousand years at least to accomplish. Not even an assumption, what she read here made her more sure of that than anything else. Zacharia’s five thousand years were compressed, he had spent it all alone and had not come out of it unscathed, it counted for more years of a more ordinary life, thousands of years more.

But he had done it, the first Way of Aspect was established. The first replacement for the role that she and the others of her kind had fulfilled in the old universe. And it was not only too soon, it would change everything that was to come. Others that contemplated Time would understand what had happened, that knowledge alone would spread, and then push others to focus on trying to achieve the same thing. Most would fail, but a few might be able to get close.

This was breaking away from their plan, and she—

A voice whispered inside her head, and she froze as she listened. A moment later she bowed her head in understanding. A feat had been accomplished, one that surprised them all, even the Dealmaker and the Three. An answer was required. And yet it had still gone against what they intended. So… a punishment and a reward.

“Good work Marg’har,” Zha Miya said. “But, we need to answer, I need you to prepare an event.”

She explained what she wanted, and Marg’har blinked. “I… I can do that,” he nodded. “Do you want me to choose or?”

“I’ll see which of them want to volunteer,” Zha Miya said and then the space twisted around her, a moment later she was somewhere else. An empty space filled with a blue mist. She reached out with her mind and hand sifting through the likely candidates. They had to be old, powerful, a good challenge. Out of countless choices, she narrowed it down to twelve.

The mists curled up as she brought the old ones out of stasis, their shapes taking hold. These were the ones that had refused the bargain, but who had accepted reality. Their power was too high for the Framework to waste them through other means, and so they remained here, in stasis, to perhaps be used in the future if they changed their minds.

The old universe cursed them, lamented that the word was broken. It wasn’t, in many ways the universe itself had been unable to live up to what the Three expected. It was a… learning experience.

The twelve woke up, and she saw eyes glowing out of the mist shaped like their old bodies. Then she spoke to them.

“You have a second chance now, to change your answer. I have a need of you,” Zha Miya started. Four closed their eyes, refusing to even listen, and she sent them back to stasis. Eight remained.

“I have a task for you, one that will probably mean certain death,” she had no illusion as to what would happen to them. They were going to be a challenge, they might rampage and kill many of the chosen, but the entire Infinite Realm? No, even if the Dragon’s Peak fell, there were billions of people in the Infinite Realm, eventually they would fall too.

A voice sounded out of the fog, old and respectful, two cold blue eyes of endless frost staring at her. “And what do we gain in return?”

“No matter the outcome, I will grant your people a reward. Your willing champions will be pulled out of the Infinite Realm, no longer serving as feed for their growth, and your people granted access to the second stage no matter their current standing.”

Two more closed their eyes, the reward not high enough for them, or they simply didn’t care for their people.

“That is a reward for our people, not for us,” another voice said and she looked in the direction of the pair of dark green eyes that felt like a deep forest, the voice arrogant and filled with the sound of grinding earth and crackling trees.

“If you survive, I can grant you… access to the current Framework, in this stage. A new life,” it was unlikely, but it might make some of them risk it.

“If we survive,” a third voice added as three more eyes closed, unwilling to listen further, leaving only three. “Yet, you said that it was unlikely,” the third voice, haughty and rumbling continued.

She turned toward the tall shadow where four eyes glowed with primal orange fire.

“I can grant you partial rewards, depending on your success. If you die, but don’t experience True Death, I will grant you rebirth and an existence based on your performance.”

“We still risk a True End,” the green-eyed shape said.

“What existence is this, that you value it so?” The blue-eyed shape added before she could.

“We are needed, this proves it,” the green-eyed shape answered. “Remain where we are, and there is always a chance for freedom.”

“Freedom, bah,” the orange-eyed shape argued. “There is no true freedom for our kind, we are forgotten by all, even our own kind knows nothing of us. They came too far after us, we are but stories to them, twisted and filled with half-truths.”

Zha Miya let them talk without interfering. They were right. These were the beings that had existed in the universe before the first version of the Framework. When power was unbound and unguided. They lived and died long before the Three implemented the Framework. But they were remembered, their souls preserved when most of the others hadn’t, because the Three saw worth in them. Their kind had failed the test, but there were avenues still for survival, for granting of the Mark of Chosen.

“Still,” the blue eyed one added. “This is a chance. Just accepting will grant our descendants the Mark.”

The others didn’t answer, and silence filled the area for a long while. Zha Miya thought that perhaps she would have to choose another group and try again, when they finally spoke. All three of them agreed.

And with that, their contract was made, and she pulled the three out of the world of Forgotten Souls. Preparing to send them into the Infinite Realm.