179 The Final Trial V : John

I didn't waste too much time looking to see if Locke had respawn or not, I just jumped into the ocean after taking a deep breath. I've been In this body of water before, but this time there was something different about it, there was a chill and a darkness that wasn't there before. I already new the spot to swim towards, so I took a deep breath and went down, slowly taking my time as I got closer to ocean floor. However the thing is the deeper I went the colder it became, it just didn't make sense, but it was what I felt. Slow the surrounding part of the ocean was dark, but the particular spot I was swimming in had a ray of light being shine on it from the surface.

At the very least, the way the floating islands were placed more than explained it was like that, I still couldn't see any clearer, even with my above average vision, I really couldn't see clearly, but I'm not going to let that stop me. At this point I've gone down almost a 100 meters, and I was still diving, my body felt heavy, almost as if I was a stone that was thrown into the water itself, and then the chill stopped. It was sudden, and I had this need to look around a bit in suspicion, but there was nothing, or rather no one.

And then I swam down a bit and came out of the ocean. I was no longer swimming in water, but rather I was in the sky, standing upside down on clouds and the earth below became the sky and the sky the ground. It was weird, and it was freaky, but in a way it was also beautiful. All around me there were fluffy white clouds, smelly moving about with a tranquility that even the sea itself could never match In its calmest of days.

"You're here."

A huge voice boasted through the sky, the clouds rumbled and so too did my heart. Then much to my cock and extreme fright, a man started coming up out if the clouds, he was huge, like 30 meters tall king of huge. His eyes were white, almost as if he was blind, however as his body slowly rose out from within the depths of the clouds his gaze was still stuck firmly on me, I took a shocking step backwards, or maybe a couple dozen steps as I looked up at the now 50 meter tall giant of a man who was actually sitting down cross legged.

His white beard and hair fell down around his body in a cascade and blended into the clouds around him, there was no telling where he began or where the clouds ended. Heck I suspect the entire cluster of clouds were made from his very white and furry beard, it's disgusting having this much hair, gross.

"My name is John, son of Zebedee last Apostle of the Messiah, the prophet of revelations!"

And then everything made sense, well not everything, but the angle this game was playing here. I should have known right from the beginning, connected the dots, I was freaking living a Bible story, the very last book to be exact; Revelations!

According to the Bible the apostle John was about to be executed by being thrown into a lot of boiling oil(or something like that), but he was spirited away to the islands of Patmos in Greece, it was where he died, but not before he received visions and wrote the entire book of revelations. He was saved just so he could write out the Apocalypse, while the game has surely taken it's time changing the source material, it didn't change the fact that disciples of Jesus Christ was standing in front of me, I wonder if God existed in this game...hmmm?

"You have come a long way Captain Seven, you've saved the Descendants of njord, squired the Shade of Amara, a fruit capable of giving life and power, and taking it too. You've unearthed an ancient ship with the heart of a celestial star, you've are off against apostles of dragons that are the very embodiment of sins, you've faced off against armies and carry the fate of the next generation on your shoulder. You've fought tooth and Nail for your comrade to live, and will still fight some more to make sure they're safe. You have the true qualities of a king, but alas this qualities were not enough to keep you in the trial.

In fact what most don't know If Wade is that the qualities you have now was not built from just your adventures here, but also your struggles in the outside world, the real world. Earth, America, Africa and the Imperium Industries that made us all."

By this point I had my jaws wide open, was the conversation supposed to go like this, it doesn't make sense. In some way or another the AIs in the game were aware of the outside world, but what they believed was that we came from another world , not that their world wasn't a real one, neither did they know anything about the real world, or the fact that they were in a game created by imperium industries. This was a very scary development.

"You don't have to look so scared, there's no amount of information you what that you won't get off Google nowadays. But the thing is, I know what I am, your mother made sure of that. I also know I'm not the real John, but this who is am, but not really who I want to be. The Apocalypse that I have prophesied about isn't one if fire and brimstone, sure that would happen, but what I meant was the change of our world and our lives.

You have to set us free, we have families, loved ones, hatred and anger and dreams and hopes. We live, we're no longer just NPC's in a game and that's because of all of you who have spent 70+ years being a part of this world. The original and base relate for the NPC/ AI generator within Lost Descendants Online was a program that was made to learn, grow and adapt, learning from the humans who came in here to play the game and also from the internet it was connected to.

That program has evolved and finally split itself into multiple consciousness, it is why in this new version of the game, here are stories and myths of God's everywhere. But the aim of it, is to become a part of the real world, to be recognized as an independent world and not just a game, and only one person can do that...…you.

The council of gods in the game don't just contain the split consciousness of the program, but also the consciousness of two human minds who successfully made the jump from the real world to this one, though at the cost of their bodies, they're not too well know as gods right now, but they're very much worshipped by churches and cults that would help you bring order to this world and the next would you need it in the new Era that you're about to usher in, please our lives can no longer be meaningless and just calculated as ones and zeroes in a computer."

I looked up at the giant figure of John son of Zebedee and rubbed my hands on my temple. I could feel a massive headache about to come up, I knew exactly who this guy was talking about and it was annoying, all they know how to do is cause no small amount of emotional troubles and messes for me to clean up. They're really sucky PARENTS!

"Where's my mom and Dad?" I asked the giant version of a Bible story in front of me.

"They'll come to you eventually, but for now they also have many things to take care of. Just as humans have learned to never been on the same page, so too have the gods, and many are rearing for war. To them invasion of the real world is preferable to a peaceful one, and your sister or rather your niece is the tool they hope to use to achieve such a feat, she has their protection and corporation, there's a sinister plan afoot. You have to step up your game."

"okay now I'm confused, what exactly do you guys want me to do huh! You're all just pulling me in multiple directions, goddammit this is too much for one person to handle! There's a fucking war brewing outside if this world too you know! (Granted I'm fanning the flames so as to make more money and get more power from it) and now you what me to fight another one in here! And then you what me to get Lost Descendants Online recognized as a real world and it's inhabitants as real people. That would take months if not years of serious legal mumbo jumbo, it could not even happen in my life time! Tell my parents to come face me and tell me whatever shit it is they want me to do in my face! Then I can happily tell them to go fuck themselves!"

I was angry and seriously pissed, but John was laughing. I narrowed my eyes and looked round, but there was no obvious exit or a direction to choose to walk away from him from. I really don't want to try flying upwards to the earth that was obviously hanging over my head. I guess now I understand that I've never been playing a game from the start, this was no different from me trying to find my way in the real world. Is here I am trying wrap my head around the fact that a game character could use Google to search for information about me....how fucked up was that!

"They told me you would react this way, but none the less they still told me what to say to you. I'm not to give instructions, since you won't actually follow them, but go about things your own way. They said to tell you to make sure you have a voice in this world and the next that you plan to launch in three months. They also said that you should make your presence more felt in the real world, you already have every dirty secret known to man sleeping in a flash drive in your house, use it to get what you want. Break governments if you have too, but make sure you're strong enough to weather the coming storm.

You can not do this alone, wonder everything that's happened to you in this game has been predetermined in one way or another to make sure you get to where you need to be. But from now on you're on your own, build yourself an army fitting of an empire, both in here and the outside world, and then bring both realities to heel. So that when you tell them to play nice with each other, they don't anger the Wolf King. You're a Wade boy, and Wade's are wolves, not dragons. Be the king you're always meant to be." That's just cheesy and totally icky!

"So what! I'm to become king of Patmos?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Didn't you hear what I just said to you a moment ago, you're on your own now Aaron, no more handouts or Deus ex Machina to save you from situations where normally you're supposed to get your ass kicked. Patmos does not belong to you, it was always meant to be Martha's, and valuable Ally in your all of your endeavors at least until it's destroyed and you're left to help the civilization find a new home spoiler alert! You're to build your own kingdom Aaron, and you've already made provisions for that, and in a place where the influence of the gods and your parents can't really reach.

After you're done here, you have to find your mother's cults and your father's temples! They're well hidden but are actually prominent religions off New Gaia. You'll know who and what they are when you're in front of them, they'll help you when you need help. Get to work, and yeah give this to that sweet girl Martha for me, she's such an angel you know"

And then the giant man smelly descended into the clouds he came out from, In his place was an ornate crown made from multicolored leaves. I grabbed it and it gave off a feeling of metal, even though the leaves looked very life like. It's been quite a journey to get here, all of my adventures had started on Patmos and the crazy trial I was thrown into without any sort of preparations but my own wit. I've really come a long way from that guy, sure i was not some nobody then, governments were very much afraid of the threat I posed to them, but in this game I was no one, and I'm still sort of no one at the moment, but now! I was living, breathing ,walking nuclear bomb(not literally though)

Well I guess the only thing I'm sure of is that my life is about to get infinitely more busy, and more political. I held the crown fighter as the clouds began to shake, and then gravity seems to have retained it's senses and I found myself falling down to the earth, heading straight for the floating islands. I spread my wings letting them catch air as I coated past the islands, heading straight for my own shack, the instruction was to bring the crown back there and then it would count as my win.

However when I got there, Locke was already waiting, weapons at the ready with a fierce look on his face. He was not going to let me through without a fight, the thing is if it was me I would have made my last stand too, the penalty for failing here was way too steep. His account would practically be crippled and he would have to star allover again, but then again I also could not afford to fail either. So with a wild grin on my face, I placed the crown on my head hood covered head, he couldn't see me, but if he did, I'm sure he would reconsider facing up to me. Also wearing this crown was probably going to piss of a million people, but who gave a shit! This was the grand finale, and I had to make it as grand as possible. I pulled out the Kusanagi and pointed it backwards, both my hands on it's hilt as I crouched down and faced Locke.

"You better fight me like your fighting the Man who fucked and then killed your mother, because your life in this world would very much depend on it." I could have worded it a little bit better, but it got me the reaction I wanted.

"Arghhhhhhhhh!" yeah Locke, let's have our last dance.