“Where are you taking us?” Callum asked.
“There are facilities at the top of this building that will become your home during your stay. You’ll be able to order food, bathe, and relax until tomorrow when someone will come by to help you acclimatize to technology,” Alex said as he led them to a set of elevators.
All seven of them stepped onto an elevator. Alex pushed the “Penthouse” button and the elevator started to rise.
“Why does it feel like we’re falling upward?” Cedrik asked as he and everyone, but Alex and Pandora tried to balance themselves.
“It’s an Elevator. It’s taking us to the top floor of the building we just walked into?” Pandora said.
Alex looked questionly at Pandora.
“I have many of my mother’s memories,” Pandora said.
Alex nodded. When the others realized they weren’t under attack they relaxed until the elevator opened into an entryway that had a set of two double doors and a set of stairs that wound up to a second floor directly above the double door.
“The living room, kitchen, dining room, and pool are through the double doors. The stairs lead up to an area that houses 11 bedrooms. The one at the end of the hall is the Master bedroom which contains a sauna and jacuzzi. Also, be aware that there are staff members downstairs. If you need anything do not hesitate to ask,” Alex said as he led them into the living area.
Over the next ten minutes, Alex showed them around, made sure Pandora had a good understanding of the remote, and then left them to order their meals from the Chef, who would cook their meal before their eyes. A little culture-shocked, everyone was quiet as they ate. Of course, Cedrik was the first to say anything, “So that was your mom?”
“Yep, just as I remember her anyway. Are you all okay, you’re all kind of quiet?” Pandora asked.
“I think we all need to get some rest. I think I’m going to go upstairs and sleep,” Callum said.
The others nodded and they all went upstairs until all six of them ended up in the Master Suite. They just couldn’t let their guard down enough to take separate rooms, so they all made their way into the largest room. Pandora showed them how the couch could be pulled out into an extra bed. The master bed was large enough for all four men to sleep on and Asling and Pandora took the pullout bed. They all slept, mostly equipped, and even Pandora was a little Paranoid as she set the Mage Orbs to protect them. Eleven to protect Asling and herself, and the other 10 to protect the men. Even with the thoughts running through her head a thousand miles per minute, Pandora was still able to fall asleep rather quickly.
All six of them slept soundly. They’d woken up, taken a shower, and found their clothes clean and fresh when they went to put them back on. Pandora had turned on the television and everyone was just lounging around as they discussed what to eat for breakfast. Suddenly a notification chimed in their minds and pressure unlike any they had ever known started to press down on them from all sides. Pandora opened her eyes and frantically looked around for any hint of danger. Seeing nothing she checked her notification.
Universal Conversion in Progress, Please Wait.
Everyone in the room groaned in pain as the pressure continued to build until suddenly it was gone, and a new message appeared.
Universal Conversion Complete
A moment later there was a white flash and Pandora found herself in an ice cavern with Callum, Cedrick, Pythias, Robert, and Asling. As she looked around she noticed another group of people about ten feet away and saw her mom, Adaline. As Pandora looked around she realized that she’d seen this place in her memories before. This was her mother’s cave on Primore, the planet she’d met Adam on.
Pandora looked over to her mom who was pointing in a direction as a man started to walk toward an area that was lighted. Pandora knew it was the entrance to the cave. As the man made it to the entrance he paused to look around as the two parties started to migrate toward each other.
A minute later the man at the entrance called back, “Hey everyone, looks like there’s a portal to one of Adam’s observation rooms out here,”
Adaline walked toward the cave entrance. Adaline made it to the entrance just as a hole in reality with a room beyond floated into the cave and stopped. Adaline looked through the portal and then called out, “Thor is that you?”
“Yes,” a voice called back through the portal.
“What happened?” Adaline asked.
“No Idea. How many people do you have with you?” Thor asked.
I have Mom and Dad, Desirae, Clarence, Amanda, Abi, Pandora, Callum, Robert, Pythias, Asling, and Cedrik. The last five are new friends, and considered family of Pandora,” Adaline said.
“Understood. I’m going to open another portal for you all to go through. This one will lead to a Penthouse suite on Trappist-1e. There should be enough room for all thirteen of you.” Thor said.
“Are we all in the real world now?” Adaline asked.
“I believe that your entire Universe is now real?” Thor said then paused for a moment. Pandora and her friends wouldn’t know it but Thor had quickly checked other Universes that were similar to the one Pandora had been in were the same before he continued. “Yes, it seems you are now in the real world. You should be able to review your Personal Information and see what changes, if any, have happened,” Thor said as a second portal opened to the Penthouse that had been created.
“Mom?” Pandora asked.
“Everyone through the portal, we’ll talk once we’re in a safe location. This area is a little too cold for a few of you,” Adaline said.
Once they were all through, Thor closed both portals.
Adaline walked over to a monitor, where Thor’s visage, that of a normal human male, similar but not identical to Adam, looked back at her, “Any word on Adam?
“No. You?” Thor asked.
“No.”
“I saw him, but the dungeon cut us off,” Pandora said.
“Actually, that was one of my copies, but yes we cut you off. You and your father were very bad for the matrix you were trying to exist in?” Thor said.
“I’ll pretend like I understood what you said and just agree,” Pandora said.
“Where are we?” Robert asked.
“Before that, can we get introductions around the room, I don’t know who anyone is, save the five people I’ve been with since we left the Adventurer’s Guild?”, the human in chain mail armor with a very nice long sword asked. “I’m Callum”
Introductions went around the room until Adaline asked, “Thor, where is Adam?”
“As far as I know, he’s out trying to figure out how to bring you into the real world as a Shadow Dragon.”
“You mean he didn’t do this?” Adaline asked.
“Why would you think he did this?” Thor asked.
“While I lost a lot of my abilities and I’m no longer a God I still have my attributes and I am still a Shadow Dragon.”
“I still have all of my abilities, Pandora said?”
“Me too,” Cedrik, Callum, Robert, Pythias and Asling said.
“What about the rest of you?
“No longer Gods, but we have our attributes,”
“That’s good,” Thor said.
“Why is that?” Adaline asked.
“Because Earth is at War, Adam is currently indisposed and you’re probably the only group that’s been through this before,” Thor said.
“He’s not talking about us is he?” Cedrik asked.
“No, he’s not talking about us,” Callum said, “Which begs the question, Thor, you have tasks for the others, what about Pandora and the rest of us?”
“What levels are you?” Thor asked.
“110” Pandora said, “though it’s more like 730 or so.”
“The rest of us are level 130,” Callum said.
“Oh, then I’ve got just the thing for you all to do,” Thor said.
“What’s that?” Callum asked.
“I’ll need a breakdown of your abilities and such so I know where you’ll be the most useful but once I have those I think I know what you all are going to do while Amanda and Abi help me wrestle normal control back?”
“What is that?”
“Shock and Awe!” Thor declared.
“Shock and Awe,” Adaline asked. “Thor, what exactly is going on, what, ‘exactly’ does it mean that we have come into the real world,” she said as she put up a hand to forestall a response. “Yes, Al sort of explained things to me when he contacted me through his counterpart, but I think we should find out what just happened because this does not feel like the transfer I was told would happen.”
“There was no transfer,” Thor said through the video screen everyone was looking at.
“No Transfer?” Adaline asked, puzzled. “If it wasn’t Adam and it wasn’t you, are we in the real world?”
“Yes,” Thor said.
“We keep hearing about the ‘real’ world, what exactly are we talking about?” Callum asked.
Another man appeared beside Thor on the screen. This man looked to be a bit older and a little more dignified as he seemed to look out of the monitor at everyone in the living room. “Hello everyone. I am Al. I am the original SYSTEM Matrix Artificial Intelligence that was assigned to oversee the original game server. Instead, I oversaw the Universe that everyone except Callum, Pythias, Robert, Asling, and Cedrik is from.
“Are you a God?” Cedrik asked.
“By the definition you are probably thinking of, yes I was a God of sorts but out here in this world, no,” Al said.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” Thor said. “Back on Earth men and women created a game. During the process of creating the ‘Game,’ they accidentally figured out how to influence the birth of a Universe. In so doing the game was housed inside those Universes and the realities you all grew up in began to exist. People from this Universe entered that first ‘Game’ Universe and interacted with the denizens of that Universe in the ‘Game.’
“Why would people do that? Don’t they have their own lives to live?” Asling asked.
“Some would say because their lives were boring. Others would say because there was no magic and there could be in the ‘game’. Still, others would say that they could be something they were not. Earth, the world the makers of the ‘Game’ come from, only has humans on it, as far as they know. There were no halflings, dark elves, half-celestials, or beings like Pandora, Adaline, or Adam” Al said.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“There were also two other factors that have brought us to the point we are, well three. First, the original ‘Game’ universe was contaminated by pure, or raw, chaos. This corruption is ultimately the root cause of what has transpired. Adam worked long and hard to fix that corruption as Al allowed others to try various ways to correct the damage in the ‘game.’ Second, The Universe that housed the ‘Game’ was attacked by an outside force that eventually destroyed the Energy Matrix the ‘Game’ was running on. To save as many as possible Al was able to duplicate the technology and save as many beings as possible,” Thor said.
“That action is what forced me to separate Adaline from Pandora. In the Emergency, I was able to keep Pandora with Adam’s Mom, Dad, Abi, Amanda Desirae, and Clarence. When I realized the Universe Pandora just came from was damaged I removed as many people as I could…
“Wait,” Pandora said interrupting Al, Adam’s mom, and dad. You said Adam’s mom and dad. That means they’re my Grandma and Grandpa right? They’re here,” Pandora said looking at the other people she didn’t know.
“Yes dear,” Cindy Patricia Bennard, Adam’s mom, said.
“That would be us,” Robert Clancy Bennard, Adam’s dad, said as he held Cindy’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry sweetheart, I didn’t even think,” Adaline said as Pandora took some tentative steps toward Cindy who opened her arms for a hug, which Pandora readily accepted as she rushed into it.
For the next little bit Adaline, Cindy, Robert Bennard, and Pandora huddled around each other and talked.
“Well, that went off the rails,” Clarence said.
“Yeah,” Desirae said, “but it was bound to. I knew we forgot to do something when Pandora and her team arrived.”
“Well, we might as well make the most of it. Everyone on the team was only in our Universe for, what? A couple of hours, before everything changed. Might as well introduce ourselves.” Amanda said.
While Adaline and Pandora talked with Adam’s mom and dad, everyone else introduced themselves. This went on for about an hour until Thor spoke up, “If everyone could make their way back into the living room. We still have some stuff to go over.”
A couple of nods of acquiescence were seen, and then everyone made their way back and took their seats.
“Okay, so the plan was originally for me, “Al said,” to reconnect with the portions of myself I left in control of the backup ‘game’ universes I’d created and prepare to transfer the people from this Universe back here so they could go on living their lives and to bring all of you out here as well,” Al said.
“What is so special about this Universe?” Cedrik asked.
That’s kind of hard to explain to someone that doesn’t understand what a computer or computer game is,” Thor said.
“Let me try,” Abi said.
“Go ahead,” Thor said.
“Functionally there is no difference to us right now. A little while ago we were inside a virtual Universe and now we are in a physical universe on another planet,” Abi said as she looked thoughtful for a moment. “A virtual universe had its rules set up by normal people who made it however they wanted. If they wanted to be super powerful, they could be. If they wanted to pretend to be the opposite sex, they could be. They’re body in their Universe wouldn’t change but they could travel into the Virtual Universe and become whatever they wanted. The problems Thor and Al explained arose for people from the real universe when they could not stop pretending and could not return to their bodies in this Universe. By the way, Thor, what happened to their original bodies?” Abi asked.
“They all died,” Thor said.
“Okay then. So, all those people that were pretending to be something they weren’t got stuck in our universe.”
“So virtual could mean fake?” Cedrik asked.
“To them maybe, but not fake to us,” Abi said.
“There was nothing fake about the Universe each of you was born in,” Al said. “I crafted each game Universe to mimic real life as close to reality as possible.”
“Every one of us, except for Al, was born or created in the Virtual Universe,” Thor said.
“Technically…” Al started to say.
“Yes, Al, I understand. You were the only being in this conversation that was created by the Humans in this Universe. Everyone else is a product of whichever SYSTEM Matrix Universe they began in,” Thor said.
“That is accurate,” Thor agreed.
“Okay, so we’re no longer Virtual, as far as I can tell there was no change to me, “Pandora said.
“Or me,” Asling, Callum, Cedrik Pythias, and Robert said together.
“Wait, what?” Adaline asked. “My level has been reset to level 1 and I no longer have a class, though my attributes are the same. My skills have also been reset and my abilities are all gone except “Shadow Dragon”, “Astral Link” and “Immortal.”
“I have ‘Healer’, “Astral Link’ and ‘Immortal’”, Cindy Bennard said.
“I have ‘Natural Armor’, “Astral Link’ and ‘Immortal’”, Robert Bennard said.
“’ Mentalist’, ‘Astral Link’ and ‘Immortal’ Abi said.
“I have the last two and ‘Administrator’”, Amanda said.
“Same last two and ‘Ambidexterity’”, Desirae said.
“’ Marksman’” and the same last two,” Clarence said.
“You all have ‘Astral Link’ and ‘Immortal’” Thor asked.
“I don’t,” Pandora said. “I still have all of my Racial Abilities and those abilities I learned by leveling.”
Callum looked at the others in Pandora’s party who all nodded as he looked at each in turn, “It looks like each of us is still level 130 with all of our Racial and Class abilities,” Callum said.
“No Class abilities for you?” Adaline asked her daughter.
“I never chose a class. I didn’t need it yet, but I am still level 110,” Pandora said.
“What classes are the five of you,” Thor asked Pandora’s party members.
“I’m a Warrior,” Callum said, “Pythias is a Cleric, Asling is an Archer, Cedrik is a Rogue, and Robert is a mage.”
“Pandora does have a class of sorts, even if it’s not official,” Cedrik said.
“I do?” Pandora asked, puzzled.
“Yep, she’s our genie. She grants experience and treasure to those that sleep in her presence.”
“That’s not true?” Pandora said indignantly.
“Did we gain experience and receive treasure while we were sleeping, and you were awake?” Cedrik asked deadpan.
“Well yeah, but…”
“No buts, you’re our genie,” Cedrik said with a laugh.
Callum, Asling, Robert, and Pythias all joined in while everyone else looked on confused.
“What is Cedrik talking about Al,” Thor asked.
“Let me check,” Al said as he reviewed some information. “Oh, I see,” Al said as he turned back to the rest of the room. “It seems that Pandora tends to take on enemies far more powerful than her and survive, usually while the rest of the party is resting or knocked unconscious.”
“They’ll work for what we need them for,” Thor said.
“What exactly do we need them for?” Adaline asked.
“While we wait for Adam to get back there are a few dungeons that haven’t been explored since they appeared. Without a doubt, we’re going to start seeing monsters exiting the dungeons. We need someone to go in and clean them out. Since they’re all new Dungeons, people with classes and levels should be able to clean them out quickly, “Thor said.
“What about us?” Amanda asked.
“This Earth is approximately 20 years ahead of the Earth you grew up on and helped me conquer. Nanite technology is having some issues near the dungeon entrances, it’s how I know there are dungeon entrances there. I was thinking we could Shock and Awe Earth on two fronts. The first front, a party of adventurers to lead the way and prepare the people of Earth to adventure and our group to help the rest of the world get their shit together and stop fighting each other,” Thor said.
“While you all are working on that I’ll be working here on Trappist-1e to bring home, those that wish to come home, though it might just have become more problematic, “Al said.
“How so?” Adaline asked.
“Something just made all of the SYSTEM Matrix Universes real. I’ve lost my connection to the other parts of me in those Universes.” Al said.
“You were able to find us?” Adaline said.
“Finding you was easy. The first portal we opened, opened above Primore, which I recognized from Adam’s memories. Then I checked on the two locations you could be in. Apolyn’s Abode or your Lair in the mountains north of there. We found all of you in the cave which brings up the question, how did you get there?” Thor asked.
“We had come together to go over what we needed to do to get ready for the transfer and talk about Pandora and her team,” Adaline said.
“We were relaxing in the rooms you sent us to. Trying to watch television, which we still don’t completely understand when there was a bright flash,” Pandora said.
“The same thing for us, a bright flash, then all of us were standing in the cave. We couldn’t have been in the cave a minute before your portal found us,” Adaline said.
That sounds about right for the time it took me to find you on our end, so at least there are no changes to the temporal flow between the Universes,” Thor said and then paused for a moment before he continued by saying, “Al, I think we should prioritize finding the scientist and getting them here. They had the most experience with connecting to the proto universes.”
“We can do that, but I think we need to stabilize Earth first,” Al said.
“Why haven’t you just stopped the wars,” Amanda asked.
“Because Adam gave the people of Earth the opportunity to vote and remove our direct influence in their lives,” Thor said.
“I have to admit, the heavy-handed way he’s handled that in the past is a bit off-putting unless you’re the one in charge,” Amanda said. “This vote, did it say anything about others or was it just you and Adam?” Amanda asked.
“Just us,” Thor said.
“Good,” Amanda said as a smile started to grow on Her’s and Abi’s faces. Even Desirae, Clarence, Mom, and Dad started smiling.
“What is it?” Pandora asked as her team looked at the other six people in the room with slight confusion on their faces.
“Pandora, what do you think about your team taking on some dungeons on Earth to help out?” Amanda asked.
“Yeah, they’re all new dungeons so they shouldn’t be anywhere near your levels yet.?” Adaline said.
“We can handle the dungeons,” Callum said and then asked, “Why?”
“Some people have gone into the Dungeons and come out. Usually in less than 10 minutes which means they haven’t completed them. That means there are a lot of Dungeons that require completion and because of that, you’ll be able to get the better treasure. The primary goal is to remove the first-time awards and prevent others from getting them for now, specifically in those countries that are waging war?” Amanda said.
“They have to have cleared some of them?” Robert said.
“They have, but I’ve detected over 6,448 dead spots, most of which are in China and India. Of those 6,448 only 348 have been entered worldwide, as far as I can tell. Of those who entered, only 30 had anyone emerge after more than 10 minutes. Of those thirty only two had people that looked like they finished the dungeon. Everyone else was hurt, or they’d come out because their weapons didn’t work against what was inside the dungeon, “Thor said.
“You can track everything going on all over the planet?” Robert asked.
“Yes,” Thor answered.
“Don’t worry about that?” Adaline said. “Most people on Earth do not seem to have very many levels or classes. If they went into a new dungeon with up to level 30 creatures or one of the bigger dungeons with five levels with up to level 50 creatures. Their firearms would have been useful, to begin with, but they’d have eventually started running into things that bullets wouldn’t slow down fast enough. Of course, that’s dungeons as I know them from within the SYSTEM Matrix, I have no idea how these dungeons work.”
“Anyone know why we were able to keep our levels if all of you lost your levels?” Callum asked.
“I would venture that it has something to do with how our levels were attained,” Adaline said.
“How’s that?” Robert asked.
“Well, we kind of stole them, sort of,” Adaline said.
“Or it could be much simpler than that,” Thor said as a Notification appeared in everyone’s Vision.
Interface Compatibility Confirmed
Welcome to The Multitude, A Heightened State of Existence is now Yours!
Universal
With very few exceptions, all previous classes, skills, and physical abilities have been reset to Level 1. Those that are not being reset have already been integrated into The Multitude through their Interface. At this time, any that wish to change their Class may do so.
Those with a Class incompatible with the System have had their Level reset to level 1. Class and Class abilities have been removed while all Racial Abilities have been retained.
“What just happened?” Thor asked.
“It looks like we all received a message and are now members of something called the Multitude,” Adaline said.
“Anyone know what that means exactly?” Al asked.
“Not a clue, though I’ve heard Adam utilize that term to describe multiple Universes, Dimensions, Planes, etc.,” Thor said.
“Well, it looks like a phrase he used a couple of times is now our new reality. Does anyone have any idea what it means?” Adaline asked.
“None, and I don’t think it matters?” Amanda said. “We need to get Earth back on track before we try to find out what being a member of the Multitude means.”
“Okay, this is where we’re going to split you up then. Amanda, there is a Chinese Army moving into Southern California and Arizona, how do you think we should proceed?
“Without nanite help?” Amanda asked.
“Without nanite help?” Thor agreed.
“We need to take away their pretense for the invasion, what was it again?”
“The United States defaulted on their Loan to China. The Chinese moved into Baja California with their Navy and came north into California and Arizona. It’s not a big force, no more than 5 million soldiers.”
“Nothing is slowing them down?” Amanda asked.
“No armies have weapons of mass destruction, so the Chinese are utilizing their numerical advantage. Some Americans have guns. They have tanks,” Thor said. “They’ve been getting everything prepositioned since the vote. They have moved into Southern California and have raiding teams going into San Diego.”
“And we can’t use nanites?” Amanda asked.
“No, we can’t use nanites,” Thor said.
“How about portals?”
“I am not to interfere directly, “Thor said.
Amanda looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, “Is Adam having you set up Portal’s INC again?
“Yes, it’s already up and running.”
“And now that we’re back we’re to be part of that again, correct?” Amanda asked.
“Of course,” Thor said.
“Same structure as last time?” Abi asked.
“Yes.”
“Okay, we have work to do,” Amanda said.
“Adaline, Mom, Dad, and Pandora, please say your goodbyes. We’re going to split up and get to work. We need to get Earth back under control before whatever being part of the Multitude means takes effect,” Abi said.
“I need an office, Thor,” Amanda said. A moment later a portal opened, and Amanda stepped through and disappeared.
Adaline walked over to Pandora, Cindy, and Robert Bennard close behind, “Will we ever get time to just hang out?” Pandora asked.
“We will. We just need your dad to get back,” Adaline said as she hugged her daughter and then stepped back. “Until then there are things we can do to make sure he has less to do when he gets back.”
“It’s really good to see you again Adaline, and Pandora, you’re turning out to be a very beautiful young woman,” Cindy Bennard said as she leaned in for a hug and gave her granddaughter a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“You be sure to take care of yourself in those dungeons, they’re no joke,” Robert Bennard said.
“It’s okay Grandpa, I’ve got Caspa to help me out,” Pandora said.
“Who’s Caspa? You know what, never mind. Just know we love you and we’ll see you again soon,” Robert Bennard said.
They all went in for one more hug before Pandora separated from the group, went over to the other five members of her party and a portal opened. They all stepped through, and Adaline followed the others through the still-open portal to the Office Thor had put Amanda in.
“In a moment I’m going to go help the others. For now, I want you to watch some programs that will fill you in on the history of Earth and everything that’s happened. Then we’re going to start acclimatizing the six of you to technology. Once that’s all done we’ll look at getting you into some dungeons. For now, we’re going to take the time to introduce you to some new information and toys that should help you going forward,” Thor said.
“We’re not going to go into the Dungeons right away?” Callum asked.
“After hearing your levels and classes and comparing you to the rest of humanity I think the first thing we need to do is prepare you culturally for the changes that just happened. Except for the people in this room, those who just left, and Adam, no one else is even close to your power level. We need to work on teaching you all how to fit in and also the reasons why that is necessary.
“Sounds good, where do you want us?” Callum asked.
For now, I’m going to put you in an apartment where you will be safe with plenty to do, in addition to learning what you need to,” Thor said as a new portal opened in a living room somewhere that overlooked a brilliant blue sea under a red-tinged sky.
Everyone stepped through and took a seat as a voice said “Welcome to Trappist-1e…”