chikaidestroyer | ∞ 79: A post-battle report [written]

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∞ 79: A post-battle report [written]

Everyone drafted out to Desset City should be accounted for by now. My gratitude to those who successfully worked together while we were out there.

I am sure there are residents and recent arrivals who may have questions about the situation and what we encountered out there. As longer-term residents may remember, we first encountered an army of cultists last autumn -- these cultists are referred to as the Third Party. The members of the Third Party, unlike us, have the ability to fly and Shift their surroundings. The scientists keeping us in this barrier, the Malnosso, drafted several of us to head out to another settlement.

We have been told that Desset City, the location we were sent to, was one of several settlements outside of our village. It was unlike anything seen within our barrier prison. The troops we met were an occupational force, maintaining patrols and one major base of operations that became apparent towards the end of our campaign. Despite the Third Party having a greater number of troops, we prevailed. The arrival of electricity and appliances coincide with our successful return.

Of note is the fact that draftees who initially refused were dragged by force onto the battlefield. These reluctant draftees were given less time to prepare, and included the likes of children. If you are drafted in the future, be aware that refusal does not appear to be a valid option. You will be taken and put to work, or you will be killed out there.

The New Feather cycle should begin shortly, so everyone should be on alert and maintaining their patrol schedules. This is especially important with the heightened amount of conflict in Luceti. Patrols should be properly equipped for skirmishes by now, so I'll forgo any other needless reminders.

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I would like to have a word with the Organization's CEO.

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I am glad to hear you put such emphasis on efficiency, sir. But surely there is a reason why the practice is uncommon. [He pauses to consider.] Though I suppose that may be because we are not usually honored with your presence.

Hahahaha! That's the first time my presence has been called an honor. But yes, that's possible! Granted -and this is a sore thing to say, but it has to be said for saying's sake- your uses in the village as test subjects are preferable, but at the moment I'm a little hard-up for trustworthy individuals! And while I probably shouldn't count you -or any of you- among them, I'd rather remarkable people stab me in the back than the unremarkable!

You flatter us by considering us 'remarkable.'

Quite honestly, our limited view of the world leaves us with few people to stab you in the back for, sir. Most of the villagers are wary and have little reason to believe in any moralistic good that comes out of the Organization; they are being imprisoned and experimented on, and see only their own righteous indignation. Grasping the bigger picture seems beyond New Feathers.

The lack of understanding may even lead some to consider the Third Party--the cultists--as a preferable alternative over assisting the Organization.

[Insert some hearty laughter.]

The cult- oh goodness, do give me a moment. Please, just a moment. [He composes himself.]

What would you suggest, hm? I'd love to hear your opinions! You're something of a mayor-ish of the village, yes? The man they go do for answers?

[Yes, he is somehow not surprised by this reaction. He wonders just how the CEO views the cultists.]

I hold no formal title, sir, and with the fluctuations of Shifts and our noticeable ... impermanence in this world, I hesitate to be considered anything more than a war strategist. But I am the last of the initial test subjects that appeared three years ago, and I suppose that carries some weight here.

Some would wish for more 'transparency' in your Organization; there is so much secrecy to what lies outside ... Luceti, and how the cultists came to be such a danger to the Organization's well-being. All that we see, as test subjects, is side effect after side effect from your scientists' Shift research.

I know that the Organization has been around for a long while, and its motivations changed multiple times as it adjusted to this world's environment... Surely the cult was not always a problem.

Mmm, no. The cult is The problem, the only problem, the eternal problem.

...that was too dramatic! They're quite the hassle though, they are. I was entirely truthful when I stated that if they were gone, the Luceti Project wouldn't be necessary!

You make it sound as if they have always been a problem, even before your time.

[Churning all of these this gathered information... Especially the information they had been given by both John and ANI's creator...] And I was under the impression the Luceti Project's goal was to return people to their own worlds.

Oh, they have! Since the beginning of the Organization, from before the Organization, from before everything!

It is, it is. But what with the cult out to sacrifice all of us- hah! You can see why we're in a bit of a hurry! Now you lovely people, you're so much hardier than the rest of us, you are. You can handle the experimentation. Why- if I were to use normal citizen, people from the cities, I would be up to my eyeballs in lifeless shells!

[And yet they look very much like them.] So they must have been here at the same time as her. Perhaps even the original inhabitants of this ... limbo.

The Luceti Project seems like a fledgling project for such a long-lasting Organization. Other attempts to thwart the Third Party must have been made in the past.

Oh yes, many. We've lost some good people.

...some very good people.

And because of the nature of their sacrificial rituals, you cannot retrieve those that you have lost.

[SIIIGGHHHH] No, we can't. I feel more for their home worlds and their families and friends than I do our situation, but.

...but the Great One- Did you know?! He found a way to do it! Gracious, he's certainly amazing, a god among men! His sheer brilliance is stunning!

It is worrisome to think what the sacrifice's permanent death means for their home world.

[Of course he knew. He had stared at that conversation where one of the villagers had blatantly told the CEO the information.] While I do not doubt the Great One's skill and brilliance, I am concerned by the implications. Death and revival here already carry side effects; the revival of one from sacrificial death seems to have many more opportunities for things to go wrong.

Oh yes, I'm sure there are complications, but still! That he can do it at all! He might even find a way to untangle everything, can you imagine?!

Ahhhhhhhh. I'm so excited I need some tea. Beg your pardon.

Of course, sir. [He does hope you intend to return.]

Untangling... It seems like quite an amount of work to expect from the Great One. It sounds like there are no others of or near his caliber in this world.

[He does indeed return after a few minutes, and the clinking of porcelain dishes is heard.]

Oh, no! Not that I know of. He's a genius! And so talented! And so charismatic!

...I had never heard of him referred to as charismatic. You must see a side to him that we do not. But I imagine that you have known him for a long while.

Oh, if only I were so lucky! [Slurp. Someone has bad table manners.] Alas, I've only stories. But what wonderful stories there are! Well, granted, I've been following his research since my arrival and we're reasonably acquainted, but-

Well. Men change. Even great men. [He sounds very depressed.]

[He notes the terrible table manners and the downturn in his voice, and decides to go down a route he explored with ANI's creator.] It doesn't take long for one to change in Luceti, unfortunately. Loss has a great impact on people, even the Great One.

Mmm yes, yes indeed. [MOURNFUL SIGH.] It really is a great tragedy.

I have long suspected that the Great One had been close to the hero Tyr; they both earned a lot of respect, and the scientists demanded to know what had happened to Tyr specifically when people in the village disappeared two years ago. If the scientists showed such interest, the Great One would have as well.

But it seemed like he was considered dead long before he disappeared. The Great One must have known that.

Yes, yes, of course he would. So many terrible things happened that day...

Oh- but the Great One isn't to be blamed for it! Only naivete, and ignorance. Impatience. Why, if you can kill a man just by laying stones on his chest, imagine what you can do on him if instead your lay down your hopes?

[...What in the world did that mean?]

Naivete, ignorance, and impatience. He was reduced to a living shell. An experiment of the Great One's that did not work? [But that couldn't be right. Tyr had still been in the village when he arrived, and John did not kill him until months later. If it was John's fault, why would he wait so long to kill Tyr?] The other scientists had differing ideas from the Great One.

Oh yes, well, they wouldn't, wouldn't they? It's the difference between the sun and the stars. [Clink clink, sounds of him cleaning up his dishes.]

[Your hero-worship is showing again, Bil.]

They showed so much interest in retrieving Tyr, though. He in particular was not dispensable to them, even in his hopeless, lifeless state. By that point, they already had us as subjects for the Luceti Project, so it was peculiar that they were so aggravated by his disappearance. [Of course, he did intentionally rile them up to distract them, which only led to his abduction a short time later--at least, that was the rationale he had put together.]

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