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LOCATION: THE WINKING SERPENT INN
CITY: GRIMWATCH
DATE: ??? | TIME: 1:30 AM
As soon as the crowd saw the members of the Round Table enter The Winking Serpent, the room erupted in a cacophony of questions and shouting.
The members of the Round Table had opted for plain, casual clothes—jeans and sweaters, chinos and button-down shirts.
Outfits you might wear out to a casual Thursday night dinner.
No armor. No weapons.
They had decided it would be better — more human — to meet the second cohort not as warriors, but as people.
Mallory gave it a minute, letting the chaos burn itself down.
Then she did something that surprised even herself.
She raised her hands.
And a wave of presence—subtle, calming, undeniable—rolled through the room.
A side effect, perhaps, of what it meant to have a Charisma score above 50 now.
It wasn’t magic.
It was simply... influence, made manifest.
The crowd stilled almost immediately, settling back into their seats, all eyes lifting to her.
Next to her, Graham leaned in with a low murmur:
“Damn, girl. You need to teach me that trick...”
Mallory smiled faintly—and stepped forward.
This was the moment she had wrestled with for days.
She had drafted speeches. Scrapped them.
In the end, she chose what Elliot Voss himself had always preached:
Speak truth. Speak from your heart. Trust your instincts.
She took a breath — then began.
“Everyone,” Mallory said, her voice carrying clearly through the hall,
“I’m sorry for what must be a shocking turn of events.”
She swept her gaze slowly across the room — dozens of faces, many nodding already.
“We told you about Vitalyx and Rejuvenex all those months ago. You’ve worked tirelessly on directives that probably made little sense at the time.”
Another pause — anchoring them.
“The System,” she said, opening her arms to encompass the tavern, the town, the world beyond,
“is the culmination of over six decades of Elliot Voss’s life’s work.”
A hush fell over the room.
“The ultimate purpose of everything you're about to experience here — and afterward, back in the real world — can be distilled down to one simple truth:
Human evolution."
Darian Sirova stepped forward next, his voice like a quiet blade through the thick air.
“Elliot Voss and I spent years in conversation — philosophy, ethics, evolutionary biology.
Those ideas, paired with your companies’ technological achievements, have brought us here.”
He looked around the room, calm and certain.
“You are not passengers in this story.
You are architects.
You are pioneers.
And you are now part of something that will redefine humanity’s future—forever.”
Graham Thorne followed, stepping up with a soldier’s easy steadiness.
“Your bodies are asleep back in San Francisco,” he said.
“Our team has full access and is checking on you periodically.
You are safe.”
He paused, letting that settle.
“But here... in Grimwatch... you will be tested.”
He smiled slightly, a challenge glinting in his eye.
“Physically. Mentally. And maybe in ways you can't even imagine yet. Push yourselves. You’ll be astonished at what you can do.”
Elise Draven took a step forward next—smiling warmly, her voice a soothing balm after Graham’s steel.
“If you’ll allow me to geek out for a moment...” she said, and a few chuckles rumbled around the room.
“The two compounds you received—Vitalyx and Rejuvenex —did far more than heal disease and reverse aging. They also completed your neural augmentation—linking your brains and optic nerves to The System itself.”
She nodded, pausing for a moment as everyone thought about the screens that had overlaid their fields of vision.
“That’s what you saw when you first approached the fountain.
It may have been unsettling—but please believe me when I say:
You are safe.
You are whole.
And your lives are about to become richer, stronger, and more extraordinary than you ever thought possible.”
Finally, Ronan Vale stepped forward, arms casually crossed, a mischievous glint in his eye.
“We might have had a little too much fun designing pieces of this place...”
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Light laughter rippled through the room.
“But everything you see — everything you will face — was created with care, and with love.
Not just to test you.
But to prepare you for a world where you are no longer bound by yesterday’s limits.”
His voice softened.
“So yeah — push yourselves.
Fight hard.
Laugh often.
Stay true to who you are.
Because the future’s waiting — and it’s bigger than anything you can imagine.”
Mallory stepped forward again, gathering them back to her.
“Thank you,” she said simply, nodding to the others.
Then she turned back to the gathered crowd.
“One final note—Vanessa Cho will be joining you tomorrow night to guide you through your next steps.
But for now?
Explore. Ask questions.
Get to know one another.”
She smiled—warm, strong, proud.
“This is the beginning of something greater than al of us.
Now—questions?”
She raised her arms—inviting the tide.
“And please,” she added with a glint of humor, “let’s keep it calm. We’ll answer everything. One at a time.”
A beat of silence followed Mallory’s final words.
Then a voice — sharp, dry, unmistakably self-important — cut across the tavern.
Damian Crestwell, CEO of the nanoassembly company KephraTech, stood up from a table near the back, one hand resting lightly on the chair as if he were still expecting to be running the meeting.
“Well," he said, loud enough for the whole room to hear, "this is certainly the most elaborate team-building exercise I've ever seen."
A few chuckles rippled through the tavern.
Graham and the other members of the Round Table laughed too.
But Mallory met Damian’s gaze without flinching.
He smiled thinly — the kind of smile that never reached the eyes.
"My question is simple," he continued, voice pitched just shy of open challenge.
"Who exactly governs this... 'System' now that Mr. Voss is no longer with us?"
He let the question hang.
The room went very still.
Several heads turned toward Mallory — and to the others standing with her.
Ronan shifted slightly—not aggressive, but alert.
Graham’s jaw tightened.
Vanessa smiled faintly, almost amused.
Darian merely folded his arms and watched.
Mallory simply smiled—slow, deliberate—and stepped forward.
"We're glad you asked," she said, her voice cutting clean and true through the tension.
"Because that question — power, and who wields it — was at the center of every decision Elliot Voss ever made regarding his grand vision."
She let the words settle — then continued.
“This group behind me was appointed by Elliot Voss earlier this year. Each of them leads a core pillar of what comes next.”
She swept the room with her gaze, steady and sure.
“There are five areas of focus for the Round Table:
- Health and medical advancement, overseen by Dr. Elise Draven.
- Combat Classes and their evolution, overseen by Graham Thorne.
- Profession development and specialization, overseen by Vanessa Cho.
- The future of human evolution itself, overseen by Dr. Darian Sirova.
- And The System’s architecture and safeguarding, overseen by Ronan Vale.”
She paused—almost done—when Damian interrupted her again.
“And you?” he asked, his voice sharpening. “What’s your role in all this? Queen? Overseer?”
Vanessa’s hand twitched toward the black baton she wore at her hip—the one piece of gear she had refused to forgo—but Mallory lifted a hand, calming her without a word.
Mallory turned back to Damian.
"Mr. Crestwell," she said evenly, "you seem to believe that you stand apart from everyone here—entitled to something more."
Her voice never wavered.
"If there's one principle Elliot Voss held sacred, it was this: Strength through merit. Not through privilege. Not through ego. Through earned excellence."
She let the weight of that truth settle over him — over everyone.
“KephraTech is a great company. No one here would dispute that you’ve achieved extraordinary things at its helm."
Heads nodded around the room — even among the Round Table.
"But every person here—yes, even those without corporate ties—is part of something so much greater than you can yet imagine."
She took a breath, steady and sure.
"So I ask for your patience. Challenge yourself. Push yourself. You will find The System rewards true merit—in thought, word, and deed."
Her voice dropped to a low, resonant intensity.
"We all stand equal at Level Zero.
From here, what you build—what we build—is up to each of us."
For a long moment, Damian said nothing.
Then—to the surprise of many—the stocky man exhaled.
"I’m sorry," he said gruffly. "This is twice now that I’ve directed my frustration at you, and you haven’t deserved it either time."
His shoulders sagged slightly, some of the entitlement draining away.
"You’re right," Damian said, voice rougher now.
"We’ve all been working hard. For months it felt like we were driving blind—moving toward something no one would explain, just hoping it would all make sense someday.
I guess... I just hope it's worth all the effort."
Mallory smiled—small, genuine—and inclined her head.
"It will be," she said simply. "I promise. And we’re glad you’re here, Damian."
She let the words settle for a moment, then added:
"In fact, you’ll learn a lot more tomorrow. Vanessa and I will both be back around this time to continue the discussion. If you can place your trust in Mr. Voss one more time—just one more day—you’ll understand."
The Round Table fielded questions for another hour, weaving between tables, answering cautiously but candidly wherever they could.
Finally, Graham called it.
It was well past 3:00 AM, and while the Round Table members needed little sleep anymore, the newly inducted cohort still did.
"Alright, everyone," Graham said, raising his voice above the lingering conversations.
"Let’s call it a night. Mallory and Vanessa will be here tomorrow to pick up where we left off.
You’re going to want to be sharp for what awaits you."
Two more people shouted questions—but Graham simply pointed toward the door, and the matter was settled.
Gradually, the tavern emptied, leaving only the core group behind.
Ronan leaned against a nearby pillar, arms crossed casually.
"That went about as well as I expected."
Vanessa grinned. "Yeah, it’ll all click after their first Trials tomorrow.
Most of them will do fine.
A few, though...
It’s gonna be a real test of humility."
Darian’s voice was quiet but certain.
"It’s just a mirror.
The System shows you who you truly are."
Graham chuckled as he pushed away from the wall.
"Yeah—but not everyone’s ready to look into that mirror yet."
A few minutes later, Mallory and the five members of the Round Table awoke back in the real world.
After checking that all was well, each of them drifted back into sleep—this time for real—letting the night carry them toward the morning.