The group did not resist when more than a dozen other officers showed up, all seeming prepared for a fight. They peacefully allowed themselves to be escorted through back passages to avoid excessive contact with other citizens. After about fifteen minutes of walking, they were brought to a secluded bunker and left alone in a black room. The six of them sat around a single table, waiting.
By the time that anyone else came in, the group had gotten bored and started playing cards. The person that entered was a man in a gray suit, his eyes faintly glowing green. “My apologies for keeping all of you waiting for so long.” He said, before noticing the game that they were playing.
Quickly, Petra grabbed the cards, and threw them into her shadow, clearing her throat. “Sorry, we weren’t sure when you would get here. Is there a test that we have to go through now, or something?”
The man shook his head. “All of the testing equipment is embedded within the walls of this room. Had any of you been infected, it would have been detected within minutes. My name is Rajul Kor, the minister governing this territory. Once I heard of your claims, I came to personally discuss matters with you all.”
“Oh, sweet, we get to skip the first representatives!” Lifre grinned broadly. “I’m Lifre, Servant of the Keeper.”
“Jack Dane, God of Insight, and a delegate assigned to this mission.” The halfling male said with a nod.
Petra and the others looked among themselves with a smile, before Thelsa spoke up. “I am Thelsa Whitefallow, and these are my team.” She said with a gesture towards the others. She was being careful with her words, so as not to lie, or even appear as though she was withholding information. Without going into extra detail, what she said was accurate.
Rajul nodded his head in greeting once more. “Now, I heard that one among you said that you came from another land, outside of the City?”
“That’s right, that was me!” Lifre nodded her head quickly, Jack deciding to speak up to elaborate.
“Specifically, we came from beyond the black gate. I understand that it is a tourist attraction in your city. This world is divided into many layers, and certain races can travel between them by passing through the gate.”
“Certain races… does that mean that it is impossible for my kind?” Rajul asked pensively, but Jack shook his head.
“This is left to the will of the Keeper. The Keeper is–” He began, but Rajul lifted a hand to stop him.
“The Keeper is a supreme being that governs all lands and races, the origin of life.” He said, the others all staring at him in confusion. “My apologies… did I get that wrong?”
“No, no, it’s correct… but…” Petra started, unable to finish until Lifre spoke up.
“How did you know that? Nobody has ever known that when we met them for the first time.”
Rajul simply smiled again. “Quite a long time ago, we began to receive information from the realm of the thought bugs. Knowledge from a distant place, which introduced foreign terms to us. Among these terms was the concept of the Keeper.”
“But you didn’t know about the gates…” Lifre muttered under her breath.
“To be precise, we know that there is a gate, but we didn’t know its exact form. It is incredibly difficult to decipher the information obtained from that space. If I may ask, how is it that you are able to speak with us? According to our understanding, people from other places should have their own method of communication.”
Hearing this, Lifre beamed. “That was me! I came here earlier and used my power to get a look at the common knowledge of this city. Speaking of… why didn’t I learn that you already knew about the Keeper?” She tilted her head as she came to that question, but Rajul simply chuckled.
“It is quite simple. In order to prevent unrest within the populace, the existence of certain information is not made public. The existence of the Keeper is only known to a select few researchers, as well as those at the minister rank or above.”
“That’s why you came here as soon as you heard about us.” Jack said in a tone of realization. “You must have understood that we were connected to confidential information that most people wouldn’t have access to.”
“Indeed.” Rajul showed no intention to deny it. “Theoretically, the information could have come from the thought bugs, so I made sure to wait until the tests were complete, but it would appear that wasn’t an issue. So, back to the previous subject, it is up to the whims of the Keeper whether or not my people will be able to traverse the gate?”
“That’s right!” Lifre nodded her head. “Whenever we meet a new race, the big boss man evaluates them, looking at their abilities and general culture. If he believes that the race is a good fit to integrate with the rest of the races he governs, he will make it so that this little blue orb thing appears somewhere within your city. In order to let your race pass through the gates, this orb has to be taken to the very center of this world, where it is absorbed into the central mana spire.”
“From there, you’ll have access to the full system that the world operates under.” Petra added on, Lifre rapidly nodding her head.
“The system…” Rajul closed his eyes in thought. “I believe you are referring to the concept of levels?”
“Among other things.” Jack spoke with a nod. “It’s helpful that you already know all of this. We haven’t met another civilized race in our exploration for quite a while. I believe the last time, it took a few weeks before this information was so readily accepted.”
Rajul simply smiled. “If I may ask, why does this Keeper not simply allow all races to travel freely? Must they be restricted to the area where they were born?”
“Oh! I can answer this!” Lifre said, holding her hand up. “It’s actually really easy! You see, not all races are friendly. For instance, we’ve done some calculations, and the race that appears on the other side of the next gate is extremely powerful. Additionally, the last information that we have received from them is that they are highly aggressive. Imagine a living storm that can sweep across an entire district, and then give it a temper.”
Rajul hesitated upon hearing this. “I see… I had not considered that. In that case, may I ask what I can do to help my people gain access to this system?”
Jack and the others all looked at Petra, making it clear to Rajul that only she had the answer to his question. “It’s really up to the Keeper. For instance, he’ll look into your race’s past and such. I doubt this is the case, but if you were an aggressively expanding race that devoured all land in your path to build your city, it might be harder to get approved. On the other hand, everyone I’ve met from your people seem really kind! It shouldn’t be hard for the Keeper to make his decision.”
Rajul let out a relieved sigh when he heard this. “There have been monsters in the past, but we have long since taken steps to remove them. We discovered that they will only spawn outside of the city, so we spread our city over time to cover the entire world. After that, the only monsters that we had to deal with were the thought bugs.”
“Is it alright if I ask a question, minister?” Jack spoke up, Rajul looking at him and nodding his head. “If you’ve kept the information of the Keeper silent until now, how are you planning to reveal it to the public? If the system appears, it will appear for everyone at once.”
“No need to worry. We have long since been prepared for the time when we would release this news. Admittedly, it will surely cause confusion for some time, but I believe that this is a preferable situation for all parties involved.”
“Right.” Petra nodded her head in agreement. “By the way, what does your race call themselves? If it’s fine for me to ask.”
Rajul simply smiled. “The people of the city are the Hajit. Is there anything else that you would like to know?”
Jack paused briefly, before asking. “How long are you planning to keep us in this room?”
“Ah, not to fear. You are free to go at any time after this meeting. I merely wanted to speak with you personally to understand your intentions. Whether you were interested in setting up diplomatic relations, or if you were not intending to be here for very long.”
“I’ll need to talk to the Keeper when we get back, but you all seem to be really nice!” Lifre smiled brightly. Rajul’s eyes turned towards Lifre and Jack nodded his head.
“The Keeper and his Greater Pantheon are able to see everything that happens. I’d be surprised if some of them aren’t watching this meeting right now.” He said, causing Rajul to blink in surprise.
“I see. In that case, I do hope for you to put in a good word with us.” He said with a smile, turning to walk back towards the door. After he left, he left the door open, a clear sign that they were free to go.
Lifre hopped up from her seat, but Jack put a hand on her shoulder. “Thelsa, can you take us to the gate directly?” He suddenly asked, causing the others to look at him in confusion.
“What’s the matter?” Thelsa asked, but did create a black portal next to them.
“I’ll explain when we’re gone.” He said, without elaborating. He turned to walk through the portal, the others quickly behind him. Once they passed through Thelsa’s portal, they continued to walk through the black gate.
On the other side of the gate, Petra turned to look at Jack with a serious expression. “So? What was it?”
“We can’t let them through so easily.” Jack spoke in a solemn tone. “From my understanding, the ‘thought bugs’ have infiltrated the higher echelons of their society. Rajul was planning to pass one to Lifre, before I pointed out that we were being watched.”
“How do you know what?” Lifre asked, eyes wide. “Aren’t the thought bugs the public enemy of the world? If they had already taken over, why would they still work to cure the infected?”
“Because they know that they need a public enemy.” Jack explained. “The first clue was the fact that they had learned about the Keeper through the bugs’ lair. This implies a deep connection through study. Thought bugs can be considered a form of memetic entity formed via mana. If you study them deeply enough, it is safe to say that they are studying you as well.”
“When I had this suspicion, I began watching him more closely. When he was asked about his race, he deflected by talking about the ‘people of the city’. We learned before that omitting facts can be easily revealed by the energy used to communicate. However, there are still ways around this.”
“Finally, after he said this, I probed him with my divine power in secret, and discovered that there were three minds within his body. One of them should have been the true Rajul, while another was the thought bug controlling him. The last one was waiting within his hand. He should have been hoping to infect the one with the highest chance to directly encounter the Keeper.”
Lifre let out a low groan. “That’s a shame… he was really nice… does that mean it’s time for a crusade?”
“Not necessarily.” Petra shook her head. “They have methods of cleansing the thought bugs. We just need to use those same methods on the infected people.”
“First, we should make sure those methods really work, and it’s not just the thought bugs playing along. That shouldn’t be hard to do, at the very least.” Jack said with a firm nod of agreement.
