Toby put down the first of the dossiers he had asked Alice to get for him down on his desk and did large stretch out with a big yawn.

Last nights socializing with the Draconian Liaison had taken its toll, but it was well worth it. The dossier on his desk told the very clear story of how well it was worth it indeed. 4 Draconians were paying a total of 10 grand for getting the privilege of playing as Dragons. When Draconian's really desired something, they paid well to get it.

He had also gotten some tips on other potential whales for their world if they needed. Some guy named Crachen who was well known for his joy for playing super-monster was a notable one. Toby had an idea for that one if they found themselves too short on funds again.

With this in hand, they were set to get a new world made and the first empires started before they would have to think hard about getting enough income.

“Hopefully Urist comes through with a good team for creating the world,” he mumbled out into the air.

“Don't worry, he will.” The musical voice of Ortho responded unexpectedly from the doorway.

“Ortho! Come in, will ya.” Toby called out to him. “Take a seat and tell me how the service staff recruitment is going.”

Ortho walked gracefully over to the plush seat on the other side of the desk and plopped down with a huff. “There's too many Damonians and Seraphon applicants.” He lamented.

“Is that a problem?” Toby asked with a raised eyebrow. This seemed to be connected with yesterdays reaction at the board meeting, making Toby a bit suspicious about what it was all about.

“I guessed I would have to explain my self sooner or later.”Ortho sighed. “Might as well be sooner.”

“Go on.” Toby prodded.

“I guess I will have to tell you a bit about my past to explain why I feel it's a problem.” Ortho began explaining.

“The first world I spent time playing in, had been going strong for a couple of thousand years by the time it started.”

“I was on my second life, getting on with a pretty nice life. Fooling around with friends, and you know. Having a good time.”

“You know the rule right? Never tell the reincarnated that it's all a game and all that?”

Toby nodded at that last part. Alice had been adamant about it, the system would ban you from entering another world for a serious amount of time if you broke that rule.

Accepting Toby's nod as a yes, Ortho went on with his explanation “Well, most of my friends were reincarnated people, That is usually how it ends up being for most of us.”

“We don't do time on worlds to become heroes or kings or whatnot, but to live a life with all the bells and whistles that come with it.”

“Immortality isn't really a good thing.” Ortho pointed out with a melancholic note in his usually cheerful voice.

“We get to remember who we are and what we have experienced for thousands of years. "

"Nay, We are going to experience this for millions of years. More time than we can even imagine.” Ortho finished in a near whisper.

It was as if he had suddenly become very old. Like he was some kind of ancient spirit, tired of existing.

It made Toby wonder just how old Ortho was, but before he could ask, Ortho had shaken it off and continued with his story.

“One day the Damonians showed up”. Ortho explained. “They didn't spend long before they tried to dominate all the other people in the world.”

“All of us players were called upon to fight them off, To retake power in the world so our reincarnated brethren could keep living good lives.”

“We even fought them to a standstill for quite a long time, but as is usual when there is continuous conflict, the world developed much faster than normal.”

Ortho was getting animated now. His voice getting a harsher edge to it.

“When I hit my fourth life, it was already past the steam age, and on its way into the space age.”

“The thing about the space age is that it permits people from other worlds to start freely entering yours through space travel."

"The whole world becomes a part of a larger universe that plays by the same rules.”

Toby nodded at that, it was all in the lectures that Alice had given him about worlds and how they worked.

Worlds working on the same set of physics would merge into a larger universe once it was mature enough to do so, adding it to a much larger universe.

“I guess this is where it went from bad to worse then?” Toby asked, having a pretty good idea of where this was going.

“Yes,” Ortho confirmed. “The Seraphons arrived in their glittering bright spaceships and started fighting with the Damonians.”

“My brethren and I was caught in the middle, forced to choose sides in a much larger war that we were wholly unprepared for.” Ortho continued with a grimace.

“We had to choose between slavery under the Damonian Hegemony, or as citizens under the so-called 'protection' of the Order of bright light.”

Ortho practically spat out the word protection in that last part. Making it obvious what he meant. There was more than one way to keep a population in servitude after all.

“How did they keep people in check then?” Toby asked. He wanted to know before he judged them too harshly.

“Religious brainwashing, propaganda about the righteousness of their cause,” Ortho replied with a sigh.

“I think you know what I mean Toby."

"I've met many species, and not many escape unscathed by such practices during their development into a modern society.”

“It's incredible what you can justify in the name of justice isn't it?” Toby replied with a shrug.

“We had enough of that indeed. And not only through abuse of faith.”

“Yes. Justice, pride” Ortho growled. “Sometimes they call it freedom, but it's always freedom of the few, not the many.”

“How about your kind then?” Toby asked, hoping to change the mood a little. This was getting a bit too heavy.

He could practically feel the grief coming off Ortho in waves.

“My kind was one of the rare exceptions,” Ortho answered. Sinking back into the chair and visibly relaxing again. “We were never numerous enough to fight over resources.”

“Curious and inventive, yes. But we never had any wars."

"We even split the atom and flew into space before the System assimilated us.”

“I didn't know your kind was some kind of hippie race,” Toby exclaimed amused. The whole concept of a race of pacifists was quite ludicrous. How could you get to the top of the food chain if you weren't willing to fight?

“Hippie.” Ortho seemed to taste the word as if it was a concept so alien that the system had trouble translating it for him.

Toby could feel a slight tug on his mind, then the eyes of Ortho widen for a second before he looked Toby right in the eyes.

“That thing the system does always feel strange when it happens,” Ortho said.

“But the concept is sound I guess. The word describes how my kind originally thought about the world, and lived, perfectly.”

“That felt weird indeed” Toby confirmed a bit unsettled. He hoped he wouldn't encounter too many alien concepts that defied the human language.

Having concepts pulled out of your mind was incredibly unsettling, having them forced into it would probably be even worse.

“So what happened after the Order of light intervened then?” Toby asked, trying to get the rest of the story out of Ortho now that he had gotten a chance to calm down a bit.

“We chose, then fought.” Ortho sighed. “Some gave up, and became the slaves of the Hegemony, and others chose to fight, and became part of the order”.

“For a while, the world burned.” Ortho winced.

“They took the majority of the population away, and burned the world to ashes.”

“They took most of the population away, and said it was to save them, but in truth, They just wanted more cannon fodder elsewhere.”

“So what happened after that?” Toby pushed. He needed to know more, a simple war was unlikely to put someone as collected as Ortho off his game.

Someone who had lived many lives already, and who was no stranger to death at all. When everyone reincarnates, death becomes nothing more than an annoyance.

A major one for the reincarnates true, but still not the final end that the real universe dealt with. It didn't add up.

“Most of us players went to new worlds in order to try to start again.” Ortho shrugged.

“It's quite common that new worlds get made when old ones are destroyed you know.”

“I've been to more than 10 worlds now.”Ortho continued with an offhanded wave.

“The same story has been repeated again and again. One or the other of them show up, with the other never far behind, and it all devolves into one endless war and the incineration of the world.” He finished with another deep sigh.

“There is more to it than that isn't there?” Toby pushed harder. This wasn't it. Ortho was trying to evade answering the question truthfully.

He might have let his friend off the hook if it wasn't for the nagging feeling in the back of Toby's mind kept telling him that there was something important involved.

Ortho gave Toby a long hard stare as if he was having an inner conflict about what to tell him before he simply sighed, and caved in.

“I do not know how or why.” Ortho began.

“but the longer time that has passed, the more of my brethren have turned towards serving either the order or the hegemony willingly, or at least it appears to be willing.”

That was going to be a worry indeed. Their world had to be protected against this fate at all costs, so keeping those 2 factions away was going to be important. They could ill afford to have spies and agents of either faction working for them.

“I understand,” Toby said in a decisive a tone.

“We will abstain from hiring anyone whose affiliation is with either of those factions until further notice.”

“Thank you, Toby.”

Ortho's relief was palpable as he stood up from the chair “I really appreciate not having to deal with the people from those factions right now. I simply can't trust them not to betray us.”

“You had really good point Ortho,” Toby replied more softly.

“I have trust in you to make certain, that we get trustworthy people working for us.”

“I will do my best,” Ortho replied with a smile, leaving Toby behind in the now silent office.

Toby closed his eyes and tried to think about the ramifications of what Ortho had just told him.

If this was going on with species after species and had done so for many millennia, then that meant that both of those factions were huge.

Possibly even having the majority of all the reincarnates in the System between them.

If what Ortho said about how they treated their populations, and Toby had no reason to doubt his friend at this point, then why did people keep choosing to be reborn into their factions?

It really didn't add up. Reincarnates were free to choose their next life when they died.

There was no discernible reason for them to bind themselves to one of these 2 factions in particular. There had to be something else going on here. Especially with species like the Eldarix who were pacifists at their core.

Toby's instincts kept screaming danger at him the more he thought about it.

Who could he consult with though? Alice? Maybe, but he had a hunch that she would not answer him at all on this subject.

She was clearly steering him towards fulfilling some objective of hers, but he had yet to discern exactly what that was yet.

So far, he had been the only one of them that had profited from all this. Despite her being adamant that she did indeed gain something.

But, how do you gain by pushing someone who was more likely to fail than succeed, into the role as a leader?

It made more sense for her to just use him for bragging rights and lead herself, but that was not what she was doing.

She had left him to actually run the guild, not just sit in the seat to look pretty.

Maybe the 2 things weren't all that unrelated? He pushed the thought aside. Pure speculation was less than worthless, it could be directly harmful at this point. He needed more information.

Maybe he could prod Urist a bit to learn more, or at least find someplace to start.

The Nexus was large, and there was bound to be someone willing to sell information at a price.

User:

Secret System quest awarded: That which is hidden in the shadows

Your realization has led to more questions than answers, and most of them too dangerous to ask publicly, lest you become the target of the powers you are putting to the question.

Be patient, and wait. TIME will bring you the gift of wisdom.

Reward: The gift of TIME

Toby's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected quest notification. A secret quest and TIME will bring him a gift. Was this a call from some unknown agent to make him shut up for now? And what is this business with the gift of TIME? It was in all caps, as well, so it had to be significant

Toby felt events move further out of his control than ever before. "Just as I was about to get a grasp on this new life and all." he lamented silently in his mind. Things were escalating in a manner that he had no idea about, Making him sweat with worry.

Toby sighed, and pushed the draconian dossier further aside and grabbed the next one in the pile.

While he might have to passively wait for answers to the questions raised today, he could at least learn what there was to learn about the people of the Nexus. That wouldn't put him under suspicion of doing anything illicit or whatever.