Prophecy Approved Companion

Qube had braced herself for the next round of interrogations, but instead the outsiders nodded and put down their slates.

“We’ll conduct the analysis portion back in — thank you for your time today, everyone,” Major General Coyle caught herself and nodded at the party. “It’s been enlightening. We’ll be in touch.”

Brigadier Kennedy leant back in his chair, massaging his neck. “Finally. My head’s killing me.”

“Why do you think they tested these sets on grunts?” Thompson asked, rubbing his eyes. “No offence, kid,” he said to Alex.

“If you’ll just follow the instructions appearing before you, you’ll be able to log off,” Alex said frigidly. “I’ll be joining you shortly.”

One by one, the outsiders vanished.

“Is Alex a grunt?” Qube asked the Chosen One. The Hero grinned, as Alex grew even frostier.

“No,” Alex replied coldly. “We’re separate from them.”

“Are you, though?” the Chosen One asked teasingly. With the removal of the outsiders, a lot of his tension also left, and he sagged in his chair.

“I think that went remarkably well,” Alex said, ignoring the Hero. “The war’s far from over, but we’ve completed the first skirmish.”

“Again, mate, you gotta stop using idioms,” the Chosen One said wearily. “They’re gonna think they’re going into an actual war.”

“I’m familiar with a variation on that saying,” Sencha Bard said.

Qube was not. But she was preoccupied with the odd, loose feeling that comes after a period of prolonged concentration.

“We did it,” she said faintly. “We’re going to the Devs’ realm. We’re going to get to explore, and research, and help others.”

She started laughing, unable to stop herself. She covered her face, muffling her uncontrolled laughter until it almost sounded like sobbing.

Alex abruptly stood up, snapping her out of it. “I’ve got to go to the rest of the meeting,” he said. He hesitated, then turned to the Chosen One. “After having so many avatars active in one space, we’ll want to run diagnostics. See how the system handled it in the backend. I’ll tell them to start the process, although with me in the meeting it might be delayed. Say, half an hour to an hour?”

“Noted,” the Chosen One said. He gave Alex a genuine smile. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Alex said, waving a hand as he turned away. “Say your goodbyes.” He glanced over his shoulder and looked at the party, all still seated at the table.

“And say your hellos, to what the future holds,” he said, and vanished.

The Chosen One looked at where his friend had disappeared from. “That line probably sounded a lot cooler in their head,” he observed.

"Speaking from experience?" Sencha Bard asked politely.

The Hero merely grinned in response.

"What did that mean?" Qube asked.

"Means the recording part is going to be shut down," the Chosen One said shortly. “It’s part of running diagnostics. So there won’t be any record of anything we discuss now.”

"So there was a record being kept," Definitely Bad Guy lit up with interest.

"Not in the way you're thinking, Sparky," the Chosen One said with a small laugh. "Anyway. It means I can tell you that the legal stuff is well on its way to being ready."

Qube blinked. This was the first she was hearing about “legal stuff”.

"Excellent. I take it their treatment of us today was a strong thrust towards establishing personhood?" Sexy Screamy Spider Briar didn’t seem at all surprised about the mention of legal stuff. In fact, she was absentmindedly massaging her thorax in deep thought. "I've been studying the texts you gave me, and I'm ready and willing to work long and hard with these people you've found to protect us. After all, I'll have plenty of time on my claws."

Ah. This was what those books had been about. And some of the hushed discussions various party members would have.

"Phrasing needs work, but yeah. They either treat you like people, or they get slapped with an injunction until we can establish personhood. You probably won't get full human rights, not straight away, but the people I've talked to are willing to go toe to toe with them until they acknowledge you’re human." The Chosen One spoke with careless power, as if the things he was talking about were a given.

"But we're not human," Qube pointed out, instantly spotting the flaw in this plan. "We're human-adjacent."

The Saviour of all Human and Human-Adjacent Beings stared at her blankly, before bursting into laughter. Like Qube's earlier, it was slightly wild, with more than a little manic relief in it.

"You're right!" he said, nearly crying from laughter. "It'll have to be human-adjacent rights!"

It wasn't that funny, but soon the entire party was laughing hysterically. Giddy with freedom and fear, each of them found themselves swept up in the moment.

Against all odds, it was the Chosen One who brought them back.

"Okay, as much as I'd love to just go fully insane with you guys, I am gonna have to leave soon," he said. “I know recording’s paused until the end of the meeting, but I dunno how long the meeting’s going to be, and I don’t want to get booted mid-sentence.” He stopped, visibly gathering himself.

"Will you be safe, when they discover you've been working to block them?" Sencha Bard, who’d once held such anger, looked at the Hero with genuine concern. “I feel these are people one should not lightly cross.”

The Chosen One looked at Sencha Bard with a small frown. "If they play nice, hopefully we won't even have to do anything. I know there'll be internal pushes to get you guys protection. But if they step out of line…” the Chosen One ran a hand through his hair. “Well, I promised to protect you guys,” he said with a shrug. “So if it comes between breaking a bunch of NDAs and getting on their bad side, versus keeping you guys safe, then I’ll do what I gotta do. Think of it more like a worst case scenario."

Sencha Bard stood, and gave the Chosen One a deep, deep bow.

“Know that, regardless of the outcome I, personally, see you as a man of honour, and know the depth of your dedication to us.”

The Chosen One gave a lopsided grin.

"Each of us will work to ensure the safety of the group," Definitely Bad Guy entered the conversation, passion ringing in his voice. "I have already thought of several contingency plans to circumvent the restrictions they have placed on us. If they attempt to act in bad faith, then we shall be ready to respond in kind. While it will take some time for me to learn the realities of how your world functions, I shall be tireless in my efforts to uncover as much knowledge as possible, to keep us safe."

“In truth, you would be best placed to strike at them if they betray us,” Sencha Bard said earnestly to the Mage. “You appear to hold their trust the most. Naturally, I shall attempt to feel out any weaknesses in the boundaries they place around us, but I’ll do my best to appear content with my life, and avoid arousing suspicion.” The Bard and Mage, who’d once been mortal enemies, nodded at each other in perfect understanding.

“I’ll also do my part,” the Hunter added. “From what you’ve been saying, love, these legal people will need all the evidence they can gather about our personhood. I’ll make sure to try and help as many people from our kingdom as possible emerge, to strengthen our position. The more of us there are, the harder it’ll be for anyone to try and control us all.” She smiled, and the children’s faces on her stopped screaming long enough to join her. “Not to mention the more people I establish personal connections with from your realm, the more people’ll be willing to fight to the end for us if needs be.”

"Family," Squiggles happily contributed.

The lopsided smile on the Chosen One’s mouth twisted even further as he looked at his party members.

"We're family, all right. I want you each to know that I'm really proud of you," he said, unexpectedly serious. "It's been a wild journey, but…" he broke off, swallowing hard.

"It sounds like you're trying to say goodbye," Qube said. She didn’t remember moving, but she was standing in front of the Chosen One, looking at her best friend. She didn’t have any plans for how she could keep them safe in the future, or any plans for the third or fourth steps in this strange negotiation dance with the outsiders.

She wasn’t dwelling in the future, or the past. She was just being herself, as hard as she could be.

"We'll still see each other. After all, I am the official liaison," the Hero said with false pride. He dropped the attitude a second later. "But it won't be the same."

"It could be," Qube said quietly, knowing even as she spoke that it wasn’t what she wanted.

The Chosen One reached out, and pulled her into a hug.

"It can't," he said, his voice rough. He pushed her away.

“I know,” she replied, stepping back.

The space between them had never seemed so large.

Qube took a deep breath. Then several more.

This was it. This was the start of the next step. She didn’t know who she’d be afterwards, so she could only be herself right now.

"Well," she said, not knowing what she was going to say next, but determined to keep talking. "In that case, you'll be our guiding light in the Devs' realm. I expect you to take your role seriously! We'll be relying on you."

Yes. This felt right. She was still herself, even through all this madness.

"And you'll be the Chosen One of emergents!" The Chosen One sounded extraordinarily pleased by this role reversal. The strain on his face eased, and the distance between them shrank.

"I'll make sure to be worthy of the title," Qube said, a small smile peeking out. This was her friend. This was her life. And she was going to live it.

"Nah, you gotta be a true Chosen One. That means chaos and breaking things! You must make your teacher proud!" The Chosen One lit up.

Qube puffed out her cheeks in fake indignation, before a sly expression took its place.

"Then you have to have learned from your teacher," she said triumphantly. "On how to be the best guiding light possible!"

Joy filled her. This was it.

"Hm, yeah, I'll definitely take your examples on board. So I just gotta yell at and kick powerful people, steal a bunch of stuff, and when the going gets tough, bust out a tee-hee." The Hero grinned at her.

"Wha— that's not what I taught you at all!” Qube cried. “No! You have to be Good and kind and understanding! Not that! Chosen One, stop laughing. Chosen One!"

This was the next step in her glorious adventure.

The End