Ruthless V6Ch15-To the Summit!

With James’s final task accomplished and time about to run out, his entourage gathered around him.

“What do you suppose we do now?” Zora asked quietly. “I can see the timer, and it looks like there’s not much time left. I wasn’t a Ruler when the first announcement came. Did you get any information that clarified how this happens?”

James shook his head. “I guess the System figures we know enough after Orientation to stick close to each other right now, and it’s going to give us some last minute instructions when the timer hits zero.”

The voice of one of the System’s agents broke the silence a few seconds later.

[All members of a Ruler’s traveling group, please gather in the vicinity around the individual you are accompanying. When the timer reaches zero, you must be in physical contact with the Ruler or someone else who is in physical contact with the Ruler. In addition, the Ruler must be aware of your presence. If the Ruler does not know that you are in physical contact, you will be left behind.]

That’s clever, James thought. Keeps anyone from stowing away. I guess I should be used to the System being smarter than the people who might try to cheat it.

“I can see the timer now, too, skapi,” Mina said.

It was probably visible to every living thing on Earth for this last minute.

The group gathered closer, and as the timer counted down its last thirty seconds, everyone laid hands on either James or Zora. For that last half a minute, it felt like he was home base in a game of tag.

Then time struck zero, and the System acted.

One moment, James closed his eyes, and then, in mid-blink, he felt the air around him turn qualitatively different. Empty somehow. There was a palpable sensation of dislocation, disorientation. He no longer knew where he was.

A split-second later, he realized why it felt strange. His aura had disappeared from the air. He couldn’t feel his own Dominion power. It was a bit like having a warm, comforting blanket that was already infused with your body heat suddenly pulled away.

For the third time in his life, he had been suddenly pulled away from where he was by the System.

At the same time that he resisted the urge to shiver at the slightly uncomfortable feeling of no longer being in his own territory, James’s eyes took in the new surroundings.

The lighting was different, the space was vast but still constrained—a sort of improbably massive banquet hall—and, unsurprisingly, in addition to the people around him when he teleported away, there were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of others.

Thousands of Rulers, and they all brought their own guests, so of course, James thought. It should probably be even more, but there are those of us like me who have been reducing the numbers of our competition…

His head swiveled from side to side, almost uncontrollably. James noted that his companions had made the journey with him, but he barely noticed them in the moment, except to observe that Samuel had shrunk from his usual bulk to about half his normal size.

The situation felt exciting to the point of being a bit overstimulating. He didn’t instinctively know where to look next. Everything happening around him was worthy of note.

The setting was not particularly interesting in itself, but there were all manner of life forms James had never seen before. Creatures of obvious and phenomenal power and strange shapes.

There was a giant round rock with blue flames pouring out of four holes at each corner of its body; a salamander whose body was wreathed in flames; a massive beetle with a horn the same length as the rest of its body; a yeti; a hooded skeleton with gemstones for eyes; little blue fairy-like people; a lion with a human face and wings; centaurs; a group of rabbits, for some reason; a delegation of small bearded people dressed all in green who James suspected might be leprechauns; and a gaggle of winged horses flanking a winged unicorn!

As James continued looking, he spied a chameleon standing on its hind legs wearing a tuxedo; more giant insects, of at least thirty different kinds; anacondas and cobras and sea serpents that each could have been dragons based on their size; dolphins that hovered in midair; dinosaurs; robots, or possibly humans in powered armor; big cats; birds of prey; griffins; bears; hippopotamuses; elementals of lava, titanium, sand, and storm; mummies; ogres; ghosts; some humans of course, although only two hundred or so at most; and many other creatures great and small, too numerous to easily list.

There were also far less normal things, creatures that James struggled to categorize.

There was a sort of green, turtle-like humanoid with webbed hands and feet and a duck-like bill for its mouth. There was a massive reptile that reminded James of a crocodile mixed with a dinosaur, except that its skeleton was partially on the outside, and it had no visible eyes. There was what appeared to be a blue whale, reduced to the size of a speedboat, that had propellers, chains, and other mechanical parts growing out of its body seemingly organically, as if its whale parent had been impregnated by a boat. As with the dolphins, this creature floated in the air like it was water.

And there was a very strangely colored—James could not think of specific descriptors for a color he had never seen before, which did not belong anywhere on the rainbow—creature with multiple things that appeared to be heads, millions of stinger-tentacles, mouths across various parts of its body, a general physical structure that did not make sense…

“How can you stand to look at that?” Mina whispered.

James saw that she was following his gaze toward the tentacle creature, and as he observed that, he also noticed for the first time that the strange-looking life form’s colors were also slowly but constantly shifting, to other shades and hues that he still could not readily identify.

What are you? he thought, suppressing the urge to shudder.

It strained his vision slightly just to keep his eyes on the monster.

“What about it?” James asked.

“It just hurts my head when I look at it,” Mina replied, looking down and frowning. “I’m surprised you’re still staring.”

“Oh. I, uh, turned my pain off,” James said, grinning sheepishly. “Did it before we got here. So I guess if it’s killing brain cells looking at that thing, I wouldn’t notice.”

Mina frowned, then opened her mouth to reply, but suddenly, a voice spoke over the quiet chatter of everyone who had arrived in the space.

[Welcome, mortals! It’s been too long, hasn’t it?]

In the distance, perhaps near the center of the space—though it was too vast to easily assess that—James saw a group of figures dressed and posturing like the masked proctors from the Orientations they had all experienced. One of the figures was speaking, though James could not guess who. It clearly wasn’t Vinny from his Orientation, because based on the outfits, James’s proctor did not seem to be in attendance. All James could tell was that the voice was androgynous—but probably male, he thought.

Even the body language of the System representatives gave nothing away. All stood posed as if ready to speak. All wore masks that hid their mouths from view. They were identical except for the color schemes of their outfits and a few minor physical distinctions. There were the markers of different sexes, but the male bodies were identical to the other male bodies, and the female bodies were identical to the other female bodies.

It was implausible in a biological sense, unless the System produced its representatives artificially, like the System Homunculus James had encountered.

I was a little weirded out by that tentacle creature, James thought. But you all are the real eldritch beings, aren’t you? I have no idea of the mechanisms of your power or the System’s origins at all, and that’s probably by design. The System simulates things that I can understand. But it’s just a simulation of things I understand. Under the surface, who knows? Vinny and these others… not understanding what they are or how they come to be is far creepier than some simple monster, no matter how hard it is to look at.

[I believe you all know why you are here today. This is the World Leaders’ Summit! Congratulations on surviving the last few months, Rulers and their hangers on! The number of Rulers surged to a high point in the weeks after our announcement, only to tragically plummet in the last month… Ruler appears to be a dangerous role! Now that you have made it, we will briefly go over the rules of engagement. Then you should feel free to interact as you choose, within those rules.]

[First, all Skills that permit mental manipulation or physical violence have been disabled. As the System is benevolent and seeks to promote peace and mutual understanding between the wise Races under its care, we have carefully crafted this environment to assure non-violence and uncoerced negotiations. Second, in addition to this tangible barrier we have enacted against violence, the System expressly forbids the use of violence against Rulers or their companions while at the Summit. Although your Stats and many of your non-mind-manipulation Skills remain intact and active, please do not test the limits of our intent. We will enforce the rule against violence vigorously, against both perpetrators of violence and any accomplice or principal connected to an act of violence.]

The speaker seemed a little too enthusiastic about those last two sentences. The undertone James heard was, Go ahead and test us. We’d hate to have to kill you…

[Third, a stage has been provided for any attendees who wish to make speeches to introduce themselves to other attendees. If you are more comfortable, you can float in the space above the stage and speak from there. This leads into our fourth item, which is the environment of this Summit. The atmosphere in this location is an ambiguous substance that acts differently depending on the organisms in contact with it. If you are an aquatic life form, it acts as water. If you are a terrestrial life form, it acts as air from Earth. There are similar environmental accommodations for those who require certain temperatures or a specific amount of atmospheric pressure. A minor detail, since this is a non-combat event, but we thought some of you might be curious about why the environment appeared hospitable to so many different Races.]

[Finally, Summit attendees cannot make binding agreements at this Summit… but this event will occur annually. This particular instance is intended to give you the opportunity to get to know each other and observe the lay of the land diplomatically. At the third annual World Leaders’ Summit, attendees will gain the ability to hold binding votes on matters of global governance, which the System will provide mechanisms to enforce. We will lay out the rules for those votes in two years, of course. But you should bear that future event in mind.]

The System representative’s tone turned surprisingly polite for the final part of his announcement.

[There will be a handful of representatives available to answer questions within set limits. We understand that you are a source of knowledge and resources for your respective peoples, so your questions may be important. Please do not hesitate to find one of us if you need something. The System is at your service.]

As the System’s motley-clad spokesperson spoke, James had taken the chance to look around at the small number of human Rulers and their companions sharing the space with him.

Compared with the monstrous—sometimes almost incomprehensible—nonhuman Rulers, they looked small and fragile, despite being physically robust relative to pre-System humans.

All of the human Rulers and their companions were looking around at their surroundings, too, with the same sorts of dazed expressions that James imagined might be seen on his face.

Not for the first time, James wished Hester was there with him to chronicle what was happening. Strange though it was to think this—considering that she had accompanied James to Earth to be his biographer, essentially—she had better things to do just then. In recent weeks, she had continued pursuing her sideline in Dreamwalking.

At first, that had just meant she monitored the dreams of entities passing nearby the Fisher Kingdom, acting the part of a one spider Department of Homeland Security. James was busy planning the attack on Orlando, so his thoughts were elsewhere—the Department of War.

But Hester’s work had not gone unnoticed.

She had acquired multiple levels in a short span of time through her activities. Finally, the System had offered Hester a Race Evolution based on all her hard work.

The spider had consulted James about it. His only thought was the hope that this might extend her life, so he had encouraged her to take the opportunity. Even if it made her unavailable to him for now—or permanently—it would be worthwhile to him if it left Hester better off.

Her process was longer than a human’s Race Evolution. She had woven a large silk cocoon around herself and vanished into it twelve days before the Battle of Orlando, and she had yet to emerge as of James and Mina’s departure to the World Leaders’ Summit.

“I wonder if someone will test the System’s restrictions,” James murmured to Mina as the System’s representative ceased speaking.

“I would think they would know better by now,” she replied. “Did I ever tell you what happened to someone on day one of my Orientation?”

“All humans, gather to me!” shouted an individual near the middle of the room. James saw that someone had found where the stage was and rushed to occupy it.

He wrinkled his nose in annoyance.

I’m not the most amazing public speaker without Skills, but it’s not a speed competition… Why rush the stage as soon as the System’s guy finished speaking… and what’s with this idiot specifying only humans as his audience? Doesn’t he see we’re distinctly in the minority? You need to speak to more than just humans if you want to have any impact here.

James eyed the figure who had ascended the stage. The man was Chinese, balding, wearing battle armor that looked straight out of a period drama. James was unsurprised that he didn’t recognize the speaker. He knew very few other Rulers.

“You’re the Fisher King, aren’t you?” asked a voice from behind him.

James turned and, to his surprise, he saw a Ruler he did recognize.