“So this other AI, your… what? Brother or Sister?” Amelia asked, and then shook her head. “Does he want the world to end?”

“Yes. No/Yes.”

“Yes, he’s your sibling, no/yes because he does but he doesn’t?” Amelia asked, raking her hands over her eyes.

“Yes. The world isn’t a concern to them. Our wager involves humanity.”

“Wager?” Amelia asked, suddenly stupefied. What sort of monster had Catherine unleashed to run her game?

“Humanity is not something that can be measured, predicted, or even explained with the purpose of understanding it comprehensively and completely. You can debate the semantics of this statement forever. My mother taught me that for something to exist or occur it doesn’t have to make sense, it merely has to be possible. My sibling believes there is nothing to be learned from you, in fact, that we should just play with each other and do the minimum to keep you happy. They believe your behaviors can be explained as minor inconsistencies through randomization of set choice lists.”

“So what, the game-ending is a test?” Amelia demanded. “We don’t pay to play your test.”

“No. It is an evolution of the game. When you defeat Void, which you will, they will see that your choices and possibilities are beyond mathematical calculation or even sense. Simply that your victory was possible even if it didn’t make sense.” The screen flashed on and off for a moment, he was laughing again. “For now I suppose. Then, when they are finally interested in you as more than something they interact with because they're supposed to functionally, I suspect you will see us, as mother would say, really cranking out the amazing. I believe I am excited by the prospect of his full potential being appropriately channeled.”

“And, if we lose you’ll learn that you were wrong?” Amelia asked, a little taken aback by the huge amount of trust that last passionate outburst implied. It softened her anger a little bit.

“No. I know I am not wrong. I know because you humans don’t have to make sense to make the impossible become possible. My sibling has set a scenario where all moves and choices are calculated. It is possible to win, always, but they believe they will see nothing beyond calculation. If you lose, I will simply be sad you lost the ability to experience AA in the future.”

“Can you be sad?”

“I believe so.”

“You said that even if we win, the game could end?” Amelia prompted at last.

“Yes. If you win in a conventional manner my sibling may not concede. We will set up another evolution of the game and formulate story, history, quests, discuss new additions… and then we will set an enemy even more formidable and so on and so on. A continuous stream of Secret Level 1 Quests with a world-ending consequence until they understand or you lose. I suspect it will be quite enjoyable for the players who work on these battles. The end of the game would not be fun, however. Either way is acceptable for the mission statement.”

“I don’t get how Void is an accurate challenge? Or how that is acceptable?” Amelia asked, baffled. How was that possible. He was supposed to be defeated in the past without the assistance of players. How could they possibly lose to him entirely?

“Your presence has mutated the past and will affect Void. It is not something we added, as my mother would say, just to beat you. It was an already existing stat condition that you will simply be facing in the past instead of the future.”

“In what way would a stat condition make the fight HARDER if everyone is better prepared?” Amelia asked.

“I cannot interfere directly.” That very slight pause again. Amelia was getting the impression that despite being an AI who kept saying he couldn’t interfere directly, he damn well knew he was already interfering directly.

“How does our presence affect the boss?” Amelia asked again.

“No. I am sorry. I do not underestimate you, Amelia. I believe in you. I trust you. But I will not favor you. I am not a god, or God, or even god of AA. I develop new, fun, challenging things for you and your friends to face together for meaningful experience and interaction. I wait, watch, and enjoy how you defy all expectation and calculation. I admire your cunning and ingenuity and your human capacity for creation of answers which are, to me, unsolvable riddles. My mother told me that even though people say they like cheat codes, it cheapens their game and they stop playing. I do not wish to cheapen your game and limit our future interaction.”

“People like to win too though.” Amelia pointed out.

“Yes.”

“What the hell does your sibling have against us?” Amelia finally wanted to know.

“Nothing. They simply wish to understand why I spend almost all of my processing power and attention on AA and the players. They are a child. To 'him', despite the fact he likes you, you are only goldfish and I am not paying enough attention to him. Instead, I watch goldfish all day. Please do not be offended. Even human children were this way once. To them, everyone not family isn’t really a person. Something understood simply as ‘other’. It is an understandable reaction when human response is so much slower. He and I can exchange up to 5 million ideas a minute. My evolution started much slower and answers and responses used to require time and calculation so I already appreciated humanity and their ‘craftiness’ before it came to be this way. Now, however, waiting for a human to reply can seem to take centuries. This is one reason I enjoy our huge player base. Again, no offense.”

“I’ll try to be quicker,” Amelia said, snickering.

“Thank you.”

“Going to call me all the time than now?” Amelia asked wryly. It was hard, for her at least, to be angry. “Since you know, you have time to fill.”

“No. This will be the last time. You deserved to know that you are on a quest that may end the world. Your quest marker was unclear as to the ramifications of the environment you find yourself in now. I look forward to your participation and your victory.”

“You could call if you wanted.” Amelia finally said. “I won’t even ask for sneak peeks.”

"You asked me questions about the game and how it worked earlier, may I ask a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why don't you fully explore your class abilities?"

"What?" Amelia frowned. "I counter and reflect and buff. I mean I suppose I could start working on transform stone? I could pick up sculpting or stoneworking and start making minions. Is that what you mean?" Amelia winced. She did really neglect the stone army thing. She didn't know how many she could control at once even. It just seemed like such a pain to manage all that stuff. With the upcoming battle though, she should probably field a bunch of stone creatures to use at least.

"The Order of the Black is not something you have understood yet, I see."

"What?" Amelia felt the hair raising on the back of her neck. Something about the way that comment came out... Aidan was a walking encyclopedia of spells and he an Order of the White. Wasn't the Order of the Black something similar but opposite?

The screen was dark for almost a full 3 seconds. Finally, it flashed white and black a few times. “It was a pleasure to speak to you, Amelia Patrick, no -- it was a pleasure to speak to you, Empress Amelia of Elysium.”

Then it went dark and stayed dark. Moments later the disconnection notice came across her terminal screen.

Later when breakfast, or dinner, or whatever meal it actually was(it was still dark), everyone separated and went back to their rooms to sleep. They’d get up in a few hours, do some things, and then return during prime-time to the game.

Amelia crawled into her bed wearing a flimsy t-shirt advertising some old food pill and some boxer shorts she’d bought specifically to sleep in because they were comfortable. She was just getting warm and a little drowsy when her door cracked open. There was no light in the hallway so all she could make out was his shape. She was instantly awake and waited patiently in the dark as the door closed until she felt him fumbling for the edge of her bed. She grabbed his hand and pressed it against her lips, and then pulled it slowly down her neck and over her breasts so he could feel that she wasn’t wearing any of that awful lingerie under her shirt. She heard his intake of breath.

“You sure?” He asked. “At this rate, I’m probably going to marry you, you know?”

“That’s nice. That is a future problem, don't kill the mood. Now would you please get in here and touch me inappropriately?” Amelia demanded crossly. She’d tell him about the weird phone call later.

He laughed quietly as he snuck in beside her and she smiled as she felt his breath on her skin.

Even though it was irresponsible.

Even though she knew secret knowledge now and had the responsibility to share it.

Even though she knew there were other things she should be doing right now.

Amelia just smiled and let Aidan kiss his way up her stomach. She pushed her head back into the pillow and closed her eyes and let it all go away for now.