//------------------------------// // Chapter #: EHMSlfd DSIFHOcjviaoenNE (story is officially dead, btw) // Story: Guardian of the Dawn // by Borderline Valley //------------------------------// AN: So, I lost my data for the first half of chapter two something like... half a year ago? Also lost the data for my other story. Anyway, it's time I stopped kidding myself and switched their statuses to 'dead', instead of 'hiatus'. I doubt I'll manage to ever come back and finish them. However, this one chapter here was written before I ever started working on Chapter 2, and I still like it, so I figure I'll toss it up here anyway. Eventually Chief was going to get tagged by the Elements of Harmony. Hadn't quite worked out when or how or why, but that was the plan. This chapter would have immediately followed that event, and was going to function as something of a dream sequence. It was meant to be a little confusing at first, but as the voices talk you're supposed to gradually understand what's going on. Not sure if it does that as well as I think it does, but since it's never going to be a complete story, I figured I might as well post it since I don't want to regret never getting to show it off. Anyway, here you go: “Well this is just fantastic, isn’t it? I’m not entirely sure that this can get any worse!” “Oh relax already. There aren’t any contradictions and the exposure to the natives is limited.” “Not exactly. In case you haven’t noticed, they’ve stumbled right into the middle of the Game, and they’ve brought the intent to kill with them.” “So? It’s not like they can break our system, right?” “No, but you just know he’s going to take advantage of this.” “You know I was skeptical about choosing this one as an anchor. Sure the differences help keep us isolated, but just look; now that we have an infection, it’s become so much harder to keep the contamination under control!” “And you know that isolation is the only way the Game can truly advance. As it is, we’re going to have to clear out this infestation before it can properly continue. The increased potency of contamination is the price we pay for lowering the frequency of each incident.” “Have you taken a look at the profile of these natives though? They’re just the beginning; if we’re not careful with them, we could have a long-term situation on our hands!” “So what would you suggest?” “We need to find a new anchor. This infestation carries too much of a risk to the Game.” “I’m inclined to agree, but there’s nothing we can do so long as the infestation remains.” “I know it’s not ideal, but would it not be easier just to simply burn out the infestation?” “Easier in some respects, but think about what He would say; there’s no way he’d let the opportunity to gain so much ground slide.” “That’s true… So what’re we to do? For the moment we’ve got root access to the natives in question. If we aren’t going to remove them, can we at least nudge them in the right direction? The sooner they leave the sooner we can start looking for another anchor.” “Their profile looks too fragile for direct tampering… Wow. We might have already damaged it!” “Can it be repaired?” “Doesn’t look like it; they got in through a loophole we didn’t anticipate, but it looks like that loophole was meant to be used somewhere else. That resource has already been spent.” “We’re so screwed…” “Can we restore the resource?” “We could try, but it’d require some… no… we’d need to invoke a paradox.” “What kind of profile is that fragile?” “One that’s been tampered with before.” “You think this was His work?” “We’d have noticed if He was expanding us through the anchor. It’s going to take a lot of work to separate from it as it is. If He started to merge us fully, the safeguards would have been broken.” “So what are we supposed to do with the infestation?” “We can’t tamper with it and we can’t remove it…” “We could try talking to it.” “You’re forgetting Rule fourteen of the Game.” “So what’s left? I mean, we have root access, we literally have to do something.” “Perhaps we can make our next move a little sooner? The Crystal Heart ought to be a good catalyst for removing the infection.” “Awwww, I liked it where it was…” “I can’t help but agree. If we want to get back to the Game without losing too much ground, it’s the fastest option.” “But the question remains, how are we to get it into the hands of the natives? And if we’re changing our plan, how are we going to deal with His pawn?” “I think I can answer that. All the natives need to know is that the Crystal Heart is what will get them out of the system. The Game already has a function in place we can use to let them know this.” “Really? Which function are you talking about?” “All we have to do, is be Honest with them.”