When the event finally ended, we received messages from our parents and assembled on the Bridge. I was surprised to find my Gramps and Granny there as well. By then, most of the Gamers that had come for the event had returned home.
"What is it you wish to talk about?" Saito asked.
"We've told you about the events that occurred in the battle against Zanböngfar all those years ago right? Well, there's a bit more you should know" my Dad said seriously.
I glanced at Ciella. She looked a bit concerned but appeared to have steeled herself for what was about to be said. I understood why my Dad had decided to call this meeting without excluding her. Ciella now had an awareness of the Dream World. If she was an aspiring Dream Knight, then she was gradually becoming a threat to Zanböngfar as well as a potential target, the reason certain features of the game were closed off to those who lacked an awareness of the Dream World and those that had an awareness but refused to access the special functionalities. It would be wrong to involve one who didn't want to be involved but equally wrong to exclude one who was aware of the risks but was willing to take them.
"In the battle against Zanböngfar, he achieved full strength after taking control of your Dad's body by exploiting emotional vulnerabilities. Zanböngfar's serpent headed tails possessed the ability to siphon fear from the Real World and channel it into sustaining its form. This ability granted Zanböngfar immense regenerative capabilities as well since there's no human completely devoid of negativity. In fact, back then, the world was a more pessimistic place to live in than it is now" my Mom explained.
"In the midst of battle, something akin to a battle of wills occurred and each of your Dad's comrades, one for each element were summoned into Zanböngfar's body to defend the Dreamweaver. For every loss, Zanböngfar would gain the upper hand in battle and human negativity would be amplified proportionally. For every win, your Dad would gain the upper hand in battle and human positivity would be amplified proportionally. We won that battle and your Dad was freed from Zanböngfar's body however Zanfar killed your Dad and Zanböngfar incinerated his body" Concordia's Mom explained.
"Dad…died? Then how is he here now?" Saito asked.
"That part is still a mystery. Only your Dad knows the answer to that. However, when your Dad returned, he channeled his emotions into the Stone Of Light, the only stone that had not been assimilated by Zanböngfar. It's the same stone that was created after your Gramps purified the horn of Ziri. By channeling his emotions into the Stone Of Light, he also by implication channeled the emotions of all of mankind into the Stone since the Dreamweaver is the Ultimate Defender Of The Dreams Of Mankind. The result was that Zanböngfar's strength and regenerative abilities reduced drastically and a new constellation was created that purified the hearts and minds of the Human Race. Your Dad destroyed Zanböngfar's body but Zanböngfar's spirit attempted to escape. To prevent Zanböngfar from escaping to an unknown place where he could regenerate and reenact the calamities we'd just faced, your Dad dived into Zanböngfar's spirit, channeled his positive energy into Zanböngfar's and neutralized Zanböngfar's, then absorbed it into himself. The greatest portion of Zanböngfar's spirit is currently sealed within your Dad as a neutralized accumulation of positive energy" my Mom explained.
"Wait…WHAT?!" we all exclaimed in horrific shock.
"For the past twenty three years, I've been keeping Zanböngfar's energy neutralized. The side effect of absorbing his energy was that I became extremely sensitive to his schemes and could accurately detect where he was attempting to regenerate himself. By channeling my own energy through his own now trapped in my body, I could weigh down and neutralize most of the hotspots he was attempting to regenerate himself in. True, Zanböngfar was beaten and I can neutralize his energy but man still has free will so ultimately, Zanböngfar's return is not dependent on me but on mankind. That is why we've been trying to discover the motivations behind most modern crimes and instead of putting in place measures of apprehension and punishment, rather focus on measures of prevention, mostly by eliminating the motivations for these crimes. Most modern crimes are committed more out of necessity or lack than pure malice. By satisfying lack in a healthy manner, we can at least mitigate the conditions that may facilitate Zanböngfar's rise. Hence peaceful negotiations and treaties amongst various companies and nations are some of the measures we intend to employ. You guys have been assigned the noble task of building that bridge" my Dad said with a smirk.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?! WE'RE JUST KIDS!" I yelled angrily.
"Precisely, for that reason you're less likely to be weighed down by the formalities that limit the creativity of adults. We are responsible for supervising you to ensure no third party influences your decisions in any way" my Dad said with a smirk.
"BUT YOU'RE THE ONES DOING THE INFLUENCING!" I yelled.
My Mom smirked.
"Exactly, each Gamer, if they are underage must play under the supervision of a Parental Guardian or an adult, who is a Dream Knight as far as Dream Knight Duties are concerned. Those not exploring the special functionalities don't have to worry about that since I've severed the special functionalities from their Gameplay via the Pyrostellis Luminares to protect them. Besides…it is the duty of a parent to supervise their kid. We're not there to interfere with or limit your actions but to supervise you. We will only interfere in situations that are beyond your capacity to handle so feel free to explore. Spoilers: The next level is all about battling Nightmares. If Ciella has concerns, we could act as her Guardians unless she doesn't want that of course" my Mom said.
"I have no objections" Ciella said.
My Mom smiled.
"That's good to hear" she said.
"This is how XCalibur AOP 2! Union Of The Worlds works. It's similar to the strategy San implemented utilizing Arlene's and Concordia's sigils during the three hour Nightmare Rampage that occurred during the Solar Eclipse. The Levels are organized according to varying degrees of difficulty that correspond with various eras in human history. Abraham Mothers-Laws Needs Theorem has been integrated as well. You just completed the Basic Level. The problems you encounter in each level are mapped to various Real World and Dream World challenges that Dream Knights face daily in Realtime via a Geographical Transliteration Legend Scale or the GTLS System. The data gathered from gameplay is then converted back into representations that can be understood and implemented by various Dream Knight Organizations in the Real and Dream Worlds. As you solve the problems in the Game, the Dream Knights use your decisions as a guide to resolve their own issues and implement decisions that complement flaws in your decisions in their various geographical or organizational settings. It's fun for kids and productive for adults and you learn basic survival skills along the way so in a sense it's also a school" my Dad said with a smirk.
"I will admit I'm impressed" I said.
"A lot of humans have an awareness of the Dream World but most view it as an illusion. An expressed idea is a Dream brought to life so in a sense we've been staring into the Dream World all our lives through self-created portals but lack an awareness of it. We are also able to see the Dreams of others in expressed forms such as Science, Art and Literature. We want to raise the awareness of humans for the Dream World but we must do it at their pace, not ours. We don't want them to feel threatened. While doing this, we must suppress all Nightmares that desire to create chaos by exploiting the emotional vulnerabilities of humans. Humans get the fun part, we the Dream Knights and Gamma Knightmares get the hard part" my Gramps said.
"Count me in" I said with a raised fist.
Everyone agreed as well. After that, we all returned to our various homes to rest for the Night.