The bells were tolling.
Flickers of memory crossed his vision. Flickers of what was, what could be, and what must never be. All these he had seen; all these and more.
Millennium Priest Karodius Somar, newly ascended Executor of Nakama World, looked over the world that was given into his charge and swore to himself that he would not fail. He swore it to his own pride, to the uncaring skies, to the Fox Zealots under his command, and to this land, this world, this Dreamworld copy of Gaia.
The bells were tolling and it signaled the dawn of a new day, a new era. They tolled for the danger that had permeated his domain. They tolled for the salvation that he had wrought, and salvation that he had brought.
"This…" the woman who spoke was one of dozens before him. She spoke in shock, in disbelief, but neither she nor any of their number could question the truth. Not any more. "This {can't} be!"
Karodius gave her a gracious smile. He could afford to be gracious to his new subjects. They were his to care for, after all, and with time and teaching, they would come to appreciate the generosity of his coming, and his rule.
"We sent protests to Dreamworld Admin over the Cult's actions at Skycrown Mountain… the mountain, the throne of the Mountain Princess and the hundreds of people they sank… and THIS is the result we get?!" she practically screamed.
"Larissa, take it easy…" a blue-haired girl with them grabbed her friend.
"Take it EASY?!" Larissa looked like she was turning purple. "This is… this is…!"
"Business." A bald man said, looking quite amicable about the whole thing. A sensible man, that one. In fact, he seemed to be the only man among all the Chief Breeders gathered here today. Perhaps if there were more men running things in this Dreamworld, all the chaos of the past week or so could have been avoided. But this was a Dreamworld for children to play with nature, and it was the way of women to care for the children. Whatever rules and freedoms Dreamworlds Admin allowed the Dreamers here had resulted in this mess.
"What is your name, my good man?" Karodius asked.
"I am Pan." The bald fellow said, quite politely.
"You are now appointed the Hand of Nature over this world, Pan. I give you charge over every Breeder and Comrade Home on this Dreamworld." Karodius said, magnanimously showing everyone how kind and generous he was to those who cooperated with him.
"You can't do that! You can't…" Larissa was almost throwing a fit.
"I can." Karodius assured her. "Of course I can. You've just seen the notice from Dreamworlds Admin. I was appointed Overseer of this Dreamworld an hour ago.
"As of tonight, Nakama World belongs to me."
***
"I can't believe it!" the same sentence was repeated a dozen different ways in a hundred different voices, but all of them were saying essentially the same thing. "This just can't be!"
The bells tolled again as Knight Lord Geoffrey exchanged serious glances with the leaders of the other Orders. Each led a guild of Knights standing up for law and justice in this world. Faced with the threat of an alien menace, and the criminal actions of the Cult of Gaia, they had formed an alliance that rallied the people of the entire Dreamworld into a single cause; to defeat, repulse, or at least withstand the Cult of Gaia in a united defensive front. Just until Dreamworlds Admin could sort things out and ban these otherworldly kidnappers for good.
Until five minutes ago, they were the ones everyone thought was in charge. The Three Princesses might rule the Wilds and their respective territories, but the Knights Alliance had been the ones the people of Nakama World had trusted to uphold law.
But what law they had was now thrown aside, spat down the drain by a higher power. Geoffrey spoke in a voice as grim as death itself. "This world has been sold to the Cult."
"Why?!" a smaller screen on the video conference showed the Coordinators in Geoffrey's Order. Voices asked the same question repeated a hundred times over on the faces of the knights taking part in this meeting.
"Money. Money and politics." Abby all but spat.
"Indeed. But that offers us a little hope, does it not?" Geoffrey pointed out. "If money was what the Gaians used to buy this Dreamworld, then perhaps…"
"We can buy it back?" Abby raised an eyebrow. "Buy Nakama World ourselves?"
"How much?" the same question arose on sixteen different lips at the same time.
"I don't know." Geoffrey admitted. "But given the complexity of this Dreamworld and the kind of effort required in setting it up… every detail, every object…"
"How much...?" Abby murmured. "How much does a starship cost? A space station? The planet itself must cost far more. Shall we spend that much?"
There were varied responses to that. "That's crazy!" "Man, I can't even afford a space shuttle!" "It's all I can do to manage the rent!" "I'm saving up for my kids' education!" "Where are we going to get that kind of money?!"
He'd expected as much. Money in Dreamworlds was transferable to and from the real world. There was a conversion rate but in the end, everyone knew they were talking about real money.
"How much do we have, Abby?" Geoffrey asked. "The entire Order of Justice. What do we have in our Guild Funds?"
"After all the spending we've been doing in this war?" Abby grimaced. "A hundred thousand or so. That's not even a scratch on the amount it costs for an orbital space station. We're in no shape to talk about buying a planet."
"We have to." Geoffrey said. "It's our best shot."
"Can't we talk to Dreamworlds Admin? Plead our case?" Abby groaned.
"We've been doing that. We've been trying to talk to them since the first kidnapping and the first attack."
"And this is the answer we get." Abby growled.
"This is the answer we get." Geoffrey said softly. "It's the same answer this Dreamworld itself has given us when we first faced the question of injustice in Nakama World. Don't you remember?"
"I remember." Abby's lips tightened. "In the end, the only way there could be justice in this world was for us to uphold it ourselves. We had to enforce law and order with our own hands."
"We still do." Geoffrey said. He saw a few nods in the conference and decided, better end on a positive note. This is as good as it gets, under the circumstances. "Let's think it over tonight. Tomorrow, we strategize. Meeting adjourned."
Faces winked out more quickly than he expected, more quickly than he feared. Inside, Geoffrey sighed. {They want out. I can't blame them. We've been fighting an impossible enemy from the start. We stood for what's right, even though it's been hard, so very hard… we've spent our resources and our time and our energies on this, and for what? We've been betrayed by the very people we hoped would save us. Just buy time until Dreamworlds Admin can sort it out, we thought. But this…}
A few faces remained. Grim faces, all of them, some determined, some looking lost. People who still wanted to talk to him or someone else while everyone else had left the meeting. People who wanted to talk in private.
Not surprisingly, the Knight Lords of each of the other Orders were among them. "Gentlemen, Ladies, if you could spare us some privacy, the other Guild Leaders and I need to talk. I'll be back on this channel in a few minutes."
Geoffrey switched to the Knight Lords' private channel. Three other faces appeared in the otherwise dark screen.
"Frey, what are we doing?" Simon, Knight Lord of the Order of the Chalice asked. "Fighting aliens was one thing. But this… this was decided by Dreamworlds Admin."
"It wasn't about aliens, Simon. It never was. It was always about what was right."
"Nah. We just wanted some fun." The girl who spoke led the Order of the Wind. Val, the Wind Knights' Lord (Lady?) grinned. "I think it's about to get more fun yet."
"Expensive fun." Argent, Knight Lord of the Silver Helms said slowly. "It's cost us all almost everything, and we have nothing but losses to show for it. You know, maybe this isn't such a bad thing. What Nakama World lacked in the first place was a proper governmental system. Until now we all just had to make do with what we had. But now there is someone in charge, and a solid authority structure in place. Maybe it's better if we worked with the system rather than against it."
"You want to be the Gaians' dogs?" Val asked.
"Everybody works for {somebody}. Even the Emperor works for the people."
"Until now, that's what we've been trying to do." Geoffrey mentioned.
"But you notice the people never pay us for taking care of law and order. They never donate to our guilds or set aside city funds for us. In fact, the only time they ever give us anything is after we do a job for them." Argent straightened. "And to be frank, with the war going on, we haven't been able to do many jobs. We're just too busy fighting. People are beginning to lose confidence in our services. We're losing clients, wasting time and money…"
"It's never a waste to stand up for what you believe is right." Geoffrey said.
"That's not the point." Argent said. "The point is, we've got what we wanted. We have a government. It's not a democracy, but it's got clear rules and it's stable. It's a system that we can work with, a system that can work for us."
"Don't you mean a system that you work for?" Val pointed out.
"Sure. That too. Why not?" Argent shrugged. "If they pay us…"
"It's all about the money." Simon sighed. "Guys, it's been fun fighting this war with you but I'm afraid I'm with Argent on this one. We're already broke and if we keep at this, we're going to get ourselves in debt. And I'm not talking about just the guild here; I meant us, the Dreamers ourselves, are going to be in real-life debt. We just can't afford to go on."
"You're surrendering?!" Val burst out laughing.
Argent turned red. "It's not surrender. It's just… following orders. This is the decision of Dreamworlds Admin. This is adherence to due process and the proper authorities. This is the right thing to do."
"There is law, and there is right and wrong." Geoffrey said. "Usually, they're on the same side. But this time… this time the law is siding the ones who do wrong."
"You can champion justice all you want, Geoffrey. Me and my knights… we uphold the law. And the law says the Gaians are now in charge." Argent said.
"This is the end, then." Geoffrey closed his eyes. "This is the end of the Knights' Alliance. The Four Orders can no longer work together."
"Relax, Frey. I'm with you on this." Val said. "As far as services go, we'll courier for anyone, but this war's been the most fun I've had in Nakama World all year."
"I'm with the money." Simon admitted. "We're broke, and the Gaians can afford to buy this whole world. For the sake of my people… I have no choice."
Geoffrey gave them a slow, serious nod. "Then I wish you well, gentlemen. The next time we meet on the battlefield…"
"We'll probably be enemies." Argent said grimly.
"That's even better. PVP with knights who play by the same rules." Val's grin broadened. "It'll be fun."
"Right. Fun." Simon said, but he didn't look too enthusiastic about it. "You're not the one who's going to have to tell a few enthusiasts that we're changing sides because our pockets are empty."
"That's your own fault." Val snorted. "It's because of the way your Guild works."
"Leave economics for later." Argent cut in. "Simon's problem applies to us all. Some of your knights might agree with me, and some of mine might agree with you."
"Then let's give them one night to figure it out." Geoffrey said. "We'll announce our intentions and our reasons, then let the knights transfer over as they wish."
"That's practically inviting spies in." Val pointed out. "Or did you forget we were about to be on opposite sides?"
Geoffrey shook his head. "They don't need to come in. It'll be just as easy for a knight of mine to side the law rather than justice and spy for Argent. All he'd have to do is stay put and keep quiet. I don't like the idea of spying, but if they're serious, short of turning totally paranoid, there's really no way to avoid it."
"I wouldn't worry about {my} knights spying. They're in it for what they think is right. Not for… say… {money}, for instance." Argent didn't look at Simon but Simon turned red anyway.
"One night, gentlemen." Geoffrey said again. "Then we end the Knights' Alliance."
But they never had that chance.