A Gamer's Guide 366

Three votes for killing the dragon. Wow, this is way simpler than trying to undo an apostleship! 

Except I’m starting to note a few dissenting views. Glyph, Lett and the goddess are all the very picture of uncertainty. Especially the goddess seems torn, which is odd, since I think I can remember four-winged dragons essentially being the enemies of all godkind. Unsuccessful enemies, to be sure, but still. “Goddess?” I ask her. “Is something the matter?”

Even though I’m talking to her, her eyes remain locked on the figure of the kneeling dragon. “Can’t you feel it, Hope?” 

“Feel what?”

She wraps her arms around her stomach, leaning forward a little. It almost looks as though she’s turning sick, preparing herself to vomit. Beads of sweat are gathering on her forehead. “He’s in pain,” she moans. “So young. The black room… It hurts.”

Something is wrong. The look on her face… Her eyes are glazing over. This is…

{´::m::`}

Simon? Simon, what’s wrong? Is there something…?

<Attempting to access framework for

[God of Multitudes]

aspect

[Goddess of Children]

Required clearance: Level 3>

<Access granted.>

<Goddess of Children

aspect of 

[God of Multitudes]

(formerly Pammie)

Ruling: Children, unborn, youths 

[view lesser rulings]

Influence: Calming

Miracles: Innocent Adoration [L], 

Eyes of a Child [L], Multiplicity [G]

Sphere of Reign: 100m

Divinity: 0,01>

I read it with half an eye. Simon, I don’t see how this is—

{::w::}!

<Lesser Miracle: 

Eyes of a Child

Grants the user full emotional resonance

with children and the young.

Toggle: [On]>

{::`w::}

<Error!

Cannot untoggle 

Lesser Miracle: 

Eyes of a Child.

Clearance needed: Level 6.>

{::o::}!

{´::m::}

…Is that what’s happening? Her miracle is toggled, so she’s forced to experience whatever pain the dragon is feeling? That’s…

Good going, Simon. This is very important information. 

I hunch down next to the goddess, putting my hand on her back. After a moment, I remember that I’m supposed to be immaterial, but… It works on her. I guess, since she’s also a god, that only makes sense. Still… I pat her back. “Are you sure it’s a child?”

“Yes,” she says. “Deep inside. Only a child. Like You.” Her face is so pale. Almost white. “Like Me.”

“I see,” I tell her. “Do you think…” I hesitate to say it. Sure, that was how we first met, really, but… It worked out with Lett. “Should we put him down?”

Even though her dress, I can feel the goosebumps pimpling along her back. “I don’t know,” she mutters, painfully. “I don’t know. You…” Her doe-like eyes turn up at me. “Maybe. Maybe you could…” She swallows dryly. “What is Your miracle?”

“My…?” The question comes from completely left-field. I don’t even know how to respond. My first instinct is to say Miracle? I don’t have any miracle! But that’s only because I don’t want to have one. Having a miracle would suggest that I really am a god, which I’m still trying to stop denying. Since I want to try to accept my life as it is, I push the hesitation out of my mind and instead say, “I—I’ll check, I guess.”

{::w::}/!

<God of Hope

(formerly Lo Jan-Erik Fennrick)

Ruling: Hope

Influence: Hope, faith, love

Miracles: /All-Tongue [L]/

Hoping to Hope [G]

Sphere of Reign: 1,7543859649m

Divinity: 0,0100400012889

Error! Miracle All-Tongue [L]

is incompatible. Temporary patch applied.>

…Ignoring the errors, could you pull up the description of the other miracle? I have a feeling it might be important. 

{>>w<<}/

<Greater Miracle: 

Hoping to Hope

Crystalizes the hope of the user

into reality, should it also be hoped 

by those within sphere of reign.

Toggle: [On]>

…Simon, just as a small test, could you perhaps toggle this off?

{::w::}!

<Error!

Cannot untoggle 

Greater Miracle: 

Hoping to Hope.

Clearance needed: Level 9 + Domain of Hope.>

{::o::}!

Ah. That’s… Well, I had a hunch that I might not be able to untoggle it, but this is… 

“Ha, haha, hahah…” I laugh to myself. Yeah. This is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous. What do you mean I can crystalize hope into reality? Are you telling me that if I hope hard enough, I can make anything happen? This is just…

The goddess of children is looking at me as though I’ve gone stark raving mad, which I very well might have, if I hadn’t already been mad.

“Yeah,” I tell her, giggling. “Yeah, I might be able to do it. I could… I could possibly…” The mere thought makes me snicker like a prank-pulling school child. I turn to look at her, feeling my face split into a grin. “How much do you want him to be saved? How much do you hope for it?”

Her head is shaking out of pure confusion. “Hope, I don’t…”

As she’s walking up to us, I note with curious satisfaction how Rice is shaking her head, too. “Prince, what are you talking about? We don’t have much time, we need to start dismantling the dragon now.”

“No we don’t,” I tell her, unable to stop myself from giggling. It’s so stupid. How is this allowed? How is this possibly allowed? I know gods are supposed to be able to grant miracles, but this is a genuine miracle. “Not if I hope for it hard enough.”

“What?” 

I stand up. Glyph has drawn closer to us too, Holly close behind. Held by Glyph, Lett looks up at me, uncertain and a little scared. Now that I think about it, maybe this is what saved him, too. My stupid miracle. Hoping to hope, surrounded by people who were also hoping to hope. That was it, wasn’t it? That’s how I fixed him. I can do the same to the dragon. Wouldn’t that be nice?

“If we all hope hard enough,” I tell everyone around me, “my miracle will undo the dragon. We can turn him back into a person! Or—or maybe he’d become a former? That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

Dozens of eyes are now staring at me with impunity and the confusion of people who thought they were going to Disneyland instead finding themselves at the gates of Auschwitz. The first one to properly react—if I can call it that—is Sythe, who falls to his knees and face-plants the ground. “I beg You to change Your mind, oh God!”

Normally, I’d remind him to call me literally anything else, but he seems pretty emotional about this, so I guess I’ll let him speak. “And why is that?”

Even with his face half-buried in dirt, I can hear very clearly how he swallows, trying to keep his voice clear and even. “Forgive me, my God, for suggesting ignorance on Your divine part, however…” I let him pause to gather his mind. “This is no ordinary four-winged dragon. Though I would object to any four-winged dragon being granted the mercy You are promising, this is a separate case entirely. This beast… This monster…” He draws a shaky breath. “It has irreparably scarred this world in ways we have yet to heal from. The church of the Goddess of Fire was forever cursed by his vindictive actions. Many parts of this world remain inhospitable because of him. I dare not surmise how many were killed during the Great Extermination, nor do I dare to imagine how many would die were it to repeat. I beg of you. Let us kill the Pesticide.”

Hmm. A persuasive argument, to be sure. 

While I’m thinking over the contents of his speech, Holly steps forward. “I have a question.”

I snap my finger at her. “Shoot.”

“Why the heck would we even try that?” Giving me no time to think up an answer, she quickly continues speaking. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, peace and love on planet Earth and all that, but this is, like…” She shakes her head. “Fuck, dude, I’ve heard about him and I don’t give a shit about history! Honestly, I want to compare him to Hitler because then you might understand what we’re looking at, but that would be unfair to Hitler.” A sneer flicks across her face. “Or, what? Do you think if you can fix dragon Hitler, make a good guy out of him, then we’ll be able to forgive what you did? Those two cities? Because, frankly, that’s just pathetic. Two cities is nothing compared to a third of the world.”

“Of course,” I say. “No doubt about that.” To be honest, she’s making a pretty weird argument. I know who he is. Lett told me before, so I’m not bringing all of this up out of ignorance. It’s just… I glance down at the goddess. She’s still sitting there, rocking back and forth, clutching her stomach. “That’s not why I’m suggesting it,” I say. “In there, inside that dragon, is a child. He’s in pain. That’s why…”

“Wow,” Holly spits, “somehow, you found an even worse justification. Kid in pain. Oh, boo-hoo! Poor thing, did mommy and daddy hit him as a child? Is that it? Or maybe he was thrown into the tutorial on the highest difficulty and had to mutilate himself to survive? God, you’re easy to read. The world is damn lucky you never got picked up by some manipulative jackass to play on your emotions and make you—”

A hand falls on Holly’s arm. Holly, suddenly appalled, almost draws away, only to realize to whom the hand belongs. Like room-temperature butter, she melts in Glyph’s hand. “It’s alright,” Glyph says. “Calm down.”

“But he… he’s…”

Glyph smiles at her. “Let me talk for a moment, okay?”

Holly’s face turns bright red. “O—okay.”

Having calmed down Holly like water dousing fire, she turns to me, smiling gently. “You really think it’s possible, huh?”

I nod. “I do.”

“What will you do if you fix him but he’s still mean?”

“Hopefully…” I chuckle at the word. “Hopefully, I won’t have to think about it. But if he is still mean, then… There’s only one thing we can do.”

She nods back at me. “As long as you understand that, then…” Her eyes gleam oddly. “Do what you feel is right.” 

I feel another pair of eyes, watching me. In her arms, held as gently as a babe, is Lett. For a moment or so, we simply watch each other. Then, after some time, he nods, and says, “If you can save me, then you can save anyone.”

My smile widens. “Thanks. I’ll tr—” I catch myself, and shake my head. “I will.” 

And with that, I have my verdict. The jury has spoken, and with that, I feel no reason to wait any further. Turning to the bowing dragon, I begin walking. The soldiers who would otherwise have been in my way part before me, most of them staring dumbly, a few bowing their heads without certainty, clearly unsure what the hell I even am. A sentiment I happen to share, of course.

Ahead, the dragon bows.