“So what you are saying is, you were ejected from a dying world, got sent here to try and save humanity, and now you are learning all about humans and trying to rescue them?” Max said after I had finished going over much of my story again, for the group.

I shrugged helplessly while Cody replied, “It doesn’t work. She wasn’t a baby, and she died and was reborn as an adult, or a mostly adult. She already has skills, she doesn’t really care about petty crime, she’s a girl, and she’s not technically an alien.”

I looked between Max and Cody in confusion.

“Oh, we were just thinking about what story you were playing in. There was one called superman that’s a little bit similar, but it doesn’t quite match.”

“You mean like a trope?” I asked, a horrible thought starting to form in my mind. We were all sitting at the table in the lounge near the food preparation area, and Cody was at the counter putting something together.

Max nodded, “Yes, tropes are the food of the mind and soul.”

I wasn’t sure about this, but I had to ask. “Humans create fiction, right?”

Selena nodded, “Yes, we create millions of them all the time. Even now, there are tons of amazing authors on places like Amazon and Royal Road writing stories, that hundreds of thousands of people read. Also, there are video games, most of which have storylines, and hundreds of movies come out every year.”

Max nodded, “Human creativity has always been our greatest gift.”

Oh no. Oh no no. this couldn’t be right. There’s no way that the system could have… no, it was utterly neutral, it could and would do whatever it wanted to advance a plot.

Quest Alert!

Quest: Plot search

You have discovered that The Game of War system has created a PLOT involving you, your worlds, the Sintar, The Game of War itself, and the greater galaxy. Discover the details of the PLOT and why it is vital to preserving the multiverse, even if your own part is very small.

Rewards: Class Rank advancement, Greater understanding of The Game of War’s purpose

I moaned and put my head in my hands, and those damned tears started again.

“No,” I whispered. The very idea that the game itself could have contrived such an implausible story was staggering, but even I had heard the story of the thousand-world threat. A very long time ago, there had been a small, stagnating world, and a single survivor.

James was patting me on the back, and saying “What’s wrong?” while Cody and Selena looked worried, Ahmed looked a little impatient, and Max looked like he had no idea what to do.

“I just realized why I am here. It’s too late.”

“Too late for what?” James asked.

“Too late to stop the plot. I think I formed a plot.”

“What’s a plot?” Cody asked from the counter as my sniffles slowed.

I tried to collect myself. “Every civilization has stories from their past of heroes, or of their own legends. There is some conjecture that The Game of War really is a game, and it collects these stories. Most people believe that it is a form of SI, and is not capable of creating these stories itself, so it creates plots. Specific confluences of events, set up by quests or rewards, to recreate these stories of excitement and heroism.”

James nodded, and Max looked thoughtful for a second, before saying, “Your world didn’t really have anything worth stealing, right?”

I nodded, “Yes, we had a bunch of organic compounds, but there was no reason for the Sintar to attack. They couldn’t use soul bond with their overmind, our solar system was mostly just rocks and dust, and they could have asked for it and we would have just let them take whatever they wanted since it was useless to us. Our world was… not considered pleasurable, since it was covered in an ocean of Boron. Our people were weak and useless for forced labor and would die if subjected to any real stress. We had almost no minerals, only a few trace elements, and they dropped comets on the rest. They wouldn’t even recoup their war investments in organic matter because they destroyed it all.”

Max nodded, “So basically this powerful empire destroyed your world for no reason at all. It wasn’t a vacation destination, so probably no one would notice, and there was just one, lone survivor.”

Cody said, “Oh shit.”

Max nodded, “Classic sole survivor story. Maybe even cursed with second sight, if telepresence counts.”

Cody nodded, “Yeah, I think so. There walked a lonely man or woman. Silent, mute, the only man. Not knowing how not knowing why he was the sole survivor.”

The two of them began singing together “Why should he be alive, breathing still while others died? And the only question, why was he the sole survivor?”

I was baffled. But James spoke up. “A song written for a famous movie long ago. It wasn’t used, but it’s a powerful song. The movie, though… actually makes sense. You were the sole survivor, sworn to end the threat against impossible odds.”

I nodded, “Yes, that’s the history. It has been repeated several times, through the system itself. When I asked The Game of War what race was in the best position… wait, let me try to translate from what I asked.”

I recited, “Is there a member of those races that is capable of delivering punishment on the species that destroyed my species? Not out of some sense of repayment for their loss of balance, but simply as a means of ensuring that they are no longer capable of performing such an act?”

“Honestly, I have no idea why I even asked for that. I should have asked for a species that could get as far away from the Sintar as possible. The second sentence I think was me, but the first one was beyond uncharacteristic.”

I sighed. “And it unerringly directed me here. It didn’t even explain why I was getting sent to a class D world rather than reborn on a class C or B that could stop them more easily. It never even offered any other choices, now that I think about it, and I was scared and traumatized I never even asked. Even if I was being rewarded for being the last survivor with a respawn, that technically I was entitled to, but it should at least have been on a nearby class C world, not out here in the middle of nowhere.”

Max nodded, “This hive of scum and villainy.”

I nodded, “By civilized standards, yes. The moment I arrived, it instantly gained access to all of your world’s electronic storage, records, and anything else it could touch. It’s a class S intelligence, reading all of your stories and fiction instantly would be beyond trivial.”

Selena said, “So you think it just dumped you here to gain access to all of those potential stories?”

I shook my head, “No, it never does anything for just one reason, especially not during a plot. The moment a major player enters, there are usually hundreds of others that get quests related to the plot.”

Cody sighed, “Does that mean a happy, peaceful ending is out of the question?”

I nodded, “I am not sure, but I think so. I mean, it’s called The Game of War, not the game of peaceful negotiation and trade.”

James looked shocked, “Did you just use sarcasm?”

I nodded, “Yes, I think so. Major players don’t get peaceful lives. If they have a happy ending, it’s not happy, it’s glorious, after enormous struggles and valiant sacrifices. Or they meet a similarly glorious and epic end at the hands of their enemies. I think that means that somewhere out there is a Sintar that has been declared my nemesis. The other players also think they are fighting the good fight or working for power and glory, so it might be a Sintar, or it might be someone else respawned right here.” I was whispering now, the sheer terror at the thought of someone, somewhere, with a quest to get me nearly overwhelming.

Max nodded suddenly, “There is a bright side.”

We all looked at him.

“Well, if there wasn’t a good chance to win, even with overwhelming odds stacked against us, sacrifice and glory ahead, it wouldn’t be a very good plot, would it?” he suggested.

I nodded slowly, “Yes, but it could be pretty poor odds, or it would also not be a very good plot.”

Max stuttered for a second with me watching him, and then coughed, and said in a gravelly voice, “Never tell me the odds.”

I looked utterly confused as everyone around me started laughing in relief.

James grinned, “He was quoting another story. Long odds, sole survivor, destroyed planet, evil nemesis, and a small band of rebels and outcasts utterly destroying a gigantic and seemingly unstoppable empire at the end.” he looked thoughtful, “And the hero had a little magic too. Although he also had a few things in his favor, like a light saber.”

“What’s a light saber?” I asked curiously.

“It’s a blade with a handle for fighting, about as long as my arm. Instead of an actual blade, though, the projector is like a flashlight, and the blade is made out of solidified light energy, so it burns and cuts through almost anything a laser could cut through.”

I nodded, “It sounds horrible and destructive. Not hard to make, but it seems like it would be as dangerous to the user as it is to the one who it’s used against.”

Max suddenly jerked up, excited. “What do you mean it’s not hard to make?”

I sighed. “The same magnetic containment of ionic particles could be reinforced pretty easily to create a cutting blade of whatever length you like. It would take a serious capacitor to store the energy to cut through most local substances, but if I had the right parts, I could probably whip one up in about 15 minutes. If you chose the right class, you could do it yourself, or I could teach you how if you learn microassembly. I am not sure if you could learn aural strengthening without a class, though, and without it, you would probably hurt yourself terribly with it.”

“What is aural strengthening?” he asked.

“Umm, it’s kind of a way of improving your aura, to help it deflect energy more efficiently. With telepresence, you can carry it with your ego, so if you are controlling a drone it helps protect it. It doesn’t stop projectiles, but it can help absorb kinetic energy so that only the mass of the weapon gets through. I mean, it won’t stop a comet, but it should stop a rail gun easily enough, because the projectiles are tiny, and their mass would be like… dropping a needle on you from a foot away. It should also stop the energy of a light saber so you don’t cut your propulsion appendage… leg off if you fumble it.”

“Who gets that?” Asked Max.

I shrugged, “My own class, Magician does. There are lots of others, though, but I don’t know anything about them. My people only allowed two classes. Magicians for the drone riders, and enchanters for the leadership. I don’t know much about anyone else.”

Max lifted his hand, “I’m in.”

Cody nodded, “Me too. You bet your ass I am in. Jedi and Wizards and monster hunting? I am in.”

I stopped a second, “Wait, monster hunting? You want to be an adventurer?”

James laughed, “Are you kidding? These guys have been hunting monsters every weekend for decades. Any human that signs up for the game is going to want to go hunting monsters, get as powerful as possible, and then go kick some alien locust ass. Hell, we have dozens of movies that are amazingly popular about that very thing.”

I didn’t know how to react. I mean, it was one thing to agree to join the game. There were rewards to it, but they wanted to be adventurers? That was completely off the rails.

“You know, a life of an adventurer is almost always hardship and often ends messily and painfully, right? Yes, you can get great rewards, but it might involve following quests to alien worlds, going into dungeons and strange dimensions to fight horrible beasts and steal their treasure, and always have an endless line of quests to pursue, maybe even getting involved in any major plot that the game throws your way?”

James chuckled, “I told you these guys are perfect.”

Finally, Ahmed spoke. “I do not wish to join.”

Cody looked at him in surprise, “Why on earth not?”

The dark-skinned man answered, “I have already devoted my life to my god. I am not going to give it to an alien god. If Allah decides I am to join the game, he will tell me.”

James nodded slowly. “I understand. Of course, now you know too much.”

Cody nodded and picked up a large yellow fruit from the bowl on their counter. “Yes. Now we are going to have to silence you.”

Max started chanting, “Give him the banana, give him the banana!” to be joined moments later by everyone except the desperate-looking Ahmed.

He said over the chanting, “But dudes, you know I can’t eat bananas!”

Cody gave him an evil look. “Then you have to give your word not to tell a soul about any of this. And you know the penalty if you break your word! You will have to eat the banana, right in front of all of us, and you cannot go to the bathroom for an hour afterward!”

I must have looked confused, because James whispered to me, “Ahmed is slightly allergic to bananas, they send him right to the bathroom with diarrhea. They are game designers. It makes sense to them.”

I nodded, a little relieved. “All I can tell you is that right now I have it set to respawn since currently, I am the only human in our faction. It’s also set up to provide custom classes if they are available and make a suggestion based on your personality, preferences, skills, talents, and potential. You don’t have to take the suggestion, but if you do it will ensure that you never wind up with a bad fit. You can change them later if you make a mistake, but it’s expensive and you have to be at least rank 5, and you lose a potential specialization class later.”

James nodded, and smiled a little, “I just realized that, if as you said, monsters can attack civilizations, wouldn’t that make plots more important? It would allow people to sort of assemble and be guided by plots to defeat threats that might otherwise be ignored or considered too dangerous, sort of like raid bosses. Is it possible that the game is designed specifically to make stopping threats as entertaining as possible to make up for having to do horrible things to stop universal threats?

I felt power thrumming through my fingers and toes and finally realized what that pleasure center was actually for, as the most delightful sensations coursed through my body. I had ranked up once before, but F’lok’nyran didn’t seem to be susceptible to this effect. I started gasping and moaning, trying to control my breathing as the feeling spread through me, and I could see a line of light sizzling from my center along my skin all the way out to my extremities as I sort of half-collapsed across the table.

Quest Complete!

You have completed the first plot-keyed quest, plot search, and have learned an important fact about The Game of War, your place in it, the reasons behind plots, and the Sintar role.

You have unlocked a sub-quest, assemble the pieces!

Like a game of chess, each piece in a plot has to be carefully arranged. You can assist this process.

New sub-quest, ‘assembling the pieces’

Complete the quest, ‘recruitment’.

Complete the quest, ‘reinforcements’

Complete the quest, ‘my own private army’

Complete the quest, ‘Humanity, Fuck Yeah!’

“Did you just orgasm?” Max asked bluntly.

“Did you just level up?” asked Cody.

“Are you okay?” asked James.

“Did you say Respawn?” asked Ahmed.

I held up a hand, slowly, “One. One at a time, please.” the little trills of pleasure were still running through me, and perversely, I wanted to enjoy them as long as possible. I looked at an interesting site using Max’s connection, and answered him, “No, I never tried folding paper, but I hear it’s pretty.”

To Cody, I nodded, “I think so, but I will check in a minute.” and then patted James’ hand. “I am fine, it just caught me by surprise. Humans are far more complex than F’lok’nyran.”

I looked at Ahmed curiously, “Yes, if you are above rank 1 in any class and you die through the actions of any game element, you can respawn if there is a local candidate or a respawn location with the right resources.”

“What do you mean by game elements?”

“Any action taken by another player or something controlled or set up by a quest in the game. Even if it is indirect like if you are traveling to a dimension for a quest, and you get routed into a collapse if you are rank 2, you can sacrifice a rank to be respawned at partial health. After you heal, you can go back and try again, but if you die at rank 1 you are just dead.”

“Wait, so souls are real?” Ahmed asked, “You know this?”

I smiled at him, “Of course they are real. Why wouldn’t they be? Didn’t you say your god will judge you for following another god? How would he do that if you didn’t have a soul?”

He nodded slowly, and I added, “The system isn’t a god. Everyone knows that. It mostly just acts like a really powerful synthetic intelligence. A computer, but it might not run on circuits and electricity. It might run on magic and sorcery or something in between. If you query it, it states quite clearly that it is not a god, although it won’t say what it is. What scares me is the idea that it might be a living mind that isn’t a god, with that kind of power.”

Ahmed nodded and got up. “I ask for a reprieve from the Banana. A one-time deal, to talk to my Imam.”

James looked at me. “His Imam is his faith leader. Can he talk to him for guidance?”

I smiled at James, “Sure, I mean, in a few years half the people on the planet might be players. It’s stupidly simple to do it once the Game is present, which it now is. As I said, you just need to make sure you are in a safe place and won’t fall or hurt yourself, and say “I wish to play The Game of War” Or something like it. You will get a psychic prompt asking for a positive or negative response, and if you say no, nothing happens. If you say yes, you lose consciousness while you get your class and a brief tutorial. It was very traumatic for me, even though I knew it wasn’t real, but humans might not find it nearly as bad.”

I sighed, “All you have to do is make sure something connected to the system hears you. Right now, that’s probably your computers, your cell network, your radio signals, or if you write it down, video camera networks. Or a player, of course. I guess if you go far enough into the woods or the ocean and say it then it might not work unless you write it out and there is a camera with a high enough resolution looking down on your area. Or maybe it could read your lips, I don’t know.”

“Something like that?” James asked, “What if I said it in a roundabout way? Like… The title with a lot of weird double wording?”

I shrugged, “I think it just matters that you use its name and then make a statement of interest of some sort. It’s better than any SI I have ever worked with, and understands innuendo, doublespeak, or even mangled words very well. There once was a Kikmathra whose drumming tendrils were glued down during a great convocation, and he joined the game by tracing a simple query mark with his… umm… reproductive machinery. He got a class and escaped and then went on to become a major factor in a Plot.”

“Did he survive?”

I shrugged, “I think so, I know he respawned several times, but I don’t know the plot, he might have been a winner or a loser, but I doubt he died permanently since ignominious death is a very popular tale as a warning for young grubs tempted to participate in a plot or become an adventurer. Mostly the story of what he had to do with his...parts, is what gets transferred. Also as a warning.”

Max was too impatient and immediately announced, “I want to join The Game of War.” and immediately flopped over in his chair, to be caught by his sister. “What the fuck?” she said.

I sighed. I should have expected that. “I guess Max decided to become a test subject,” I said. “He should be fine in a few minutes when he comes out. Unless he’s insane, but humans are a lot more resistant to trauma than my prior race.”

Cody glared at me, “That is not comforting.” and then he grinned a little, “I hope he’s fine. If he is, then that was comedy gold.”

I nodded, “Mine almost did me in, I had to telepresence control a drone and destroy others while it told me what I needed to know about combat. And then I had to feel it destroyed so I would know what I was in for. The destruction part was painful, but not physically. The fighting part… That is what almost got me, to destroy drones knowing that there are sapient minds in them. Even knowing it was totally simulated didn’t help much. Of course, later, I had to do the real thing and knew it wasn’t simulated, so I had to go through the tutorial to prepare myself, but it was horrifying the first time.”

“Wow,” Cody said. “You are really… umm… sensitive.” He was checking Max’s pulse, gave Selena a thumbs-up gesture, and added, “He’s fine. His pulse is a little accelerated, but it’s like he’s playing a video game, not having a heart failure or anything.”

I sighed. “You don’t have to be nice, I know that by human standards I am a total coward. If it helps, by F’lok’nyran standards I was utterly insane, a total daredevil, and nearly suicidal for my bravery.” And then I looked more closely at Max, “Why would he have a heart failure?”

Selena sighed, “When he was a baby he had a really silly accident, one anyone could have had, but he punctured his heart in three places. It caused some brain damage and is the reason he’s such a nerd. I mean, he’s still a genius, but he would have been more of one, and also wouldn’t flirt with heart failure if he ever exercised or got too excited. We have a crash kit and I am trained as an EMT in case something happens, and so is Cody, and we make sure one of us is always around just in case.”

“May I try something?” I asked, “I have a special ability I got for my respawn, It worked to heal an elderly lady with Senile Dementia. It’s called Rapid Regeneration. It’s not that rapid, since actual heal spells are much faster, but it still seems fast compared to normal healing.”

Selena looked at Cody who looked at me and then back at her with a shrug. “We already know she has superpowers, and the doc said he could go any time in the next five years, especially since he refuses to change his diet. I would say what’s the worst that could happen, but we both know.”

I said, “They aren’t superpowers. You guys get way better when you are born. They are just uncommon here.”

she nodded, “Well, umm...can you do what you plan to do while he’s under? Will it hurt?”

I shrugged a little helplessly, “I don’t know. The woman got a really strange expression and then freaked out, but later on, she was okay and talking sensibly to a helper at the shelter when all she was doing before was mumbling sentences that didn’t make any sense and sometimes barking? It might have hurt, but it seemed to help.”

She nodded, and then shrugged, “Let’s go ahead and try it then. If he gets superpowers and gets super-excited, he might die. If it hurts, well, he’s unconscious at least.”

I nodded and stood up from my chair, and then stepped over to where he was unconscious on the floor, kneeling next to him.

“What do you need to do?” she asked.

“I just need to touch his skin, but it might be better if I do it right over his heart. I don’t know exactly how it works, I just touched the woman on her arm before and she freaked out at first. Maybe it’s based on how close I am to whatever needs fixing? Maybe it would be better if I just touched his chest.”

She nodded and then chuckled, tugging Max’s shirt up to expose a barely-muscled and exceedingly skinny chest. “Go ahead, but if you are trying to seduce my brother, you get the banana.”

I shrugged a little, placing my hands approximately where the internet said his heart should be. “I don’t think I am allergic to bananas. Do they taste good?”

Cody grinned, “That depends on where you have to put them.” before his head jerked forward from where James had smacked him on the back of it.