Apocalypse respawn

"Woah! I'm flying!" said the voice in his head. "Stop making your silly plans and come fly with me! It's funnier! You'll see!"

Rargnes woke up to the sound of a knocking on the door. He left his tiny room and followed a person wearing a mask to a meeting room.

This large room housed a small island of chairs where Sengrar, the commander, an elderly person, the commander, and the guy in the suit and mask were seated.

Sengrar motioned for him to come over, and he sat with them. The ensuing silence made him uncomfortable. No one had explained anything to him – they had brought him here yesterday, along with the others, then led him to his room – given the power of the masked man, the presence of the commander, Sengrar, and the absence of portals, they had agreed to follow them.

He glanced at Sengrar several times. Something was off about this situation as if someone should have been present but wasn't there. The person in their fifties also made him particularly uncomfortable.

Gradually, the room filled up. A dozen humans and goblins sat on the sides of the masked person – including Yurs – followed by about twenty of the commander's former men, as well as the goblin mage and goblin administrator sitting next to Sengrar. His former colleagues arrived last, along with other group members, including Truckdriver.

Sengrar stood up, and the sound of the creaking chair made him the target of everyone's gaze. He also seemed, according to the arrangement, to be the center of this coalition. Rargnes remembered the mage's proposal to Sengrar.

Was this where he had been all this time? Next to him, the commander truly seemed weak, as did the fifty-year-old. He detected no energy from them.

"Well," Sengrar began, "We've gathered you here to choose those who will kill the noble with us."

"You want to kill the noble?" asked a member of Rargnes' group. "But that's suicide! He's almost omnipotent and has an army with him! We can't face the noble! Not with so few people! And besides, we can no longer obtain energy since this world has become a wasteland!"

A cold silence penetrated the room.

"A new world has opened up recently," said a female voice near him. Rargnes turned. The voice came from the person in the suit and mask.

"And," Sengrar added, "it's not about defeating him, just recovering resources in those territories, then you can do whatever you want."

"And who believes that?" His former comrade met each of their eyes in turn, letting his gaze linger for a few seconds. Some looked away, others looked at him impassively. "Honestly! That's your hidden intention! You're planning to do it, yes or no?"

"It's just a resource heist that will strengthen us; you don't have to follow us to fight the noble."

"Yes. Yes, we will be forced to," he said, raising his voice. "When you open a door, you never know when you can close it again - a foot could get in the way. The same is true for war: you can decide the beginning but never the end; if we follow your plans, then he will target us, and we will be forced to continue. So it's not for me."

It seemed that with the loss of memory, a devotion was created in their hearts. Rargnes also felt the absurdity of such a plan – as if it were not natural or correct, as if he had already had and wasted his chance. But the number one rule was to never be left alone or in the minority.

A considerable portion of the audience nodded in agreement.

"Who's with him?"

A sizeable portion of the commander's former soldiers joined him.

"But what choice do you have if you don't fight him?" Sengrar continued to ask.

"Well, for example, to see the noble and repeat all our plans," said the masked person.

"She is spitting fact; we can't let them leave," Rargnes suddenly said. The bosses had spoken.

The man who had just talked against them swallowed and stepped back a few paces, bumping into a table. He trembled and briefly turned around before looking at them again as if he was afraid they would attack him.

"There's no energy to kill in this world. You'd gain nothing; you'd just lose; in any case, there's no teleportation."

"Oh, you know, moving you when you're unconscious is easy, and besides, it would set an example. I find that useful enough."

Sengrar nodded.

"The noble must be killed. Everyone here has different dispositions and different reasons. It doesn't matter if it's for power, wealth, protection, revenge, to save someone, or for a nation. And I believe you should choose one, it would be better for you.

"But do you have a plan?" one of the soldiers asked weakly next to the one, trying his best to go unnoticed.

"We can't beat him immediately, we know that, but as long as we get enough resources, we'll be able to. We won't be alone. Goblins and humans will join us; alliances are underway with the locals," said the masked woman. 

"And we have a major advantage: we can recover all the tokens from the wastelands."

"But who can stop the noble?"

" Together, we'll be able to, and at worst, I could distract him long enough," said the masked woman.

By herself? Rargnes blinked his eyes.

The discussion ended with Rargnes' team being stolen from their token - though Sengrar did let him keep half. Then, a team was formed to track all the class advancement tokens in the wastelands before they disappeared from the lack of magic.