Primer for the Apocalypse

The Patriarch of the Epikairos Sect watched as his first personal disciple in nearly five centuries methodically killed the group of bandits who’d dared attack her. She’d given them two opportunities to leave in peace, which was gracious, in his opinion.

He was elated to have made it in time to witness such a moment. He’d only just reached the village a few hours prior. The young-looking Tier Ten Time Mage hadn’t even bothered checking in with the Gatekeepers who managed the town yet. Since his junior sect brother had already handled the logistics of his stay, he’d been able to immediately access the holofeed that allowed him to monitor his disciple.

He’d been watching ever since.

He was pleased to see the training she’d done with the young Space Mage had been worthwhile. His disciple had balked at the training at first, claiming she was not a ‘rogue’ and had no desire to learn how to fight as one. But she’d given in easily enough once she was reminded that entities like Harbinger Cultists and bandits existed.

When the last bandit fell, Emie glared at the body with a look of fury. Henlen Kairos doubted the girl’s companions would realize how little she’d wanted to take such action, but he understood her thoughts quite well.

They’d discussed the appropriateness of killing in self-defense several times, especially after she’d opted to let the newly awakened natives of Earth live after their assassination attempts.

His disciple preferred to show mercy whenever possible, but he was glad to see firsthand that she was capable of acting decisively when necessary. The little island prison she’d created had been an amusing alternative, but such things didn’t exist within a dungeon. The only real options were to let the bandits continue robbing and murdering other challengers or cut them down.

The latter was the only real option in such a situation, and he’d made that clear to her before she entered the dungeon.

Emie was well aware that bandits were practically kill-on-sight throughout the Alliance. Part of that was because they all inevitably violated the Accords. Those who hadn’t yet managed to cross the line were still sentenced to death under most kingdom’s laws, making their deaths justified as far as the system was concerned.

The dungeon’s segregation by tier made it possible for bandits to exist without violating the Accords, but they’d never survive leaving the dungeon, or even climbing very high. Nobody wanted a high-level bandit running around. Henlen did not doubt that some of the new elites entering the dungeon had orders to ensure that such individuals progressed no further.

“Have any sect representatives contacted you?” the Patriarch asked his junior sect brother, Elder Ammon.

The Tier Eight Elder and his wife had been given the assignment to observe Emie as a reward for their contributions to the sect. The pair had enthusiastically accepted the assignment, and Henlen suspected they planned to use the opportunity to raise a couple of children away from the politics of the sect.

Not that the sect was a bad place to raise a family.

Ammon and his wife had already raised three children within the sect, the youngest of which was more than a century old. However, the assignment gave them the rare opportunity to do something different, and both had mentioned wanting more children multiple times over the last few decades.

“Not personally,” his junior brother replied. “But Lizbet has been approached a few times. Most seemed surprised at Emie’s presence more than anything. I’m not sure if it’s her status as your personal disciple or that she comes from a previously mundane world that’s piqued their interest more.”

The Patriarch nodded and watched as his disciple tried to convince her companions to take the items ejected from the fallen bandits’ inventories upon their deaths. It was obvious none of them wanted any of the ill-gotten goods.

The senior Time Mage shook his head at their naivety and turned to his fellow sect member. “Is there anything I should be aware of?”

Ammon shook his head slowly. “No. None of the elites are on the third floor. It looks like the trend has shifted to enter at the start of Tier Four, so none of them have interacted with her yet.” He hesitated before adding, “I would not be surprised if some of the newer elites are informed of her presence, though.”

The Tier Eight Time Mage didn’t elaborate, but the Patriarch understood the implication. As sect elites, it was expected that they would test themselves against each other. Knowing their actions were being observed would curb the worst of it, but some elites truly had no understanding of their place in the wider universe.

“I will reach out to the Gatekeepers and inquire about potentially obtaining a few more slots for our sect elites now that the restriction has effectively been lifted,” the Patriarch said thoughtfully before returning his gaze to the holographic projection of his disciple. “It may be good for Disciple Emie to get to know some of her sect brothers and sisters while she has the chance.”

Before he could task his Interface Assistant with researching potential candidates, the priority message icon began flashing on his visual overlay. Splitting his mind, he reviewed the message as he observed his disciple. It was from one of the few Patriarchs he’d developed a long-term friendship with.

How fortuitous. Doesn’t old Heph have a descendant around the right tier?

The old man smiled as he thought about his friend. The Hephaistos Sect was renowned for their skill at Smithing. The two sects had been allied since their inception, back when Heph and Henlen were still relatively unknowns.

While pushing for more Epikairos Sect elites might ruffle some feathers, nobody would balk at the addition of a Hephaistos Smith.

The Time Mage grinned and began drafting a response to his friend’s message.

Faith collapsed on the bed after the mess about loot was finally settled. Emie had outright refused to keep anything from the bandits, which was good. Had she decided to keep their items, it would have made her no better than the bandits she’d cut down in cold blood.

It was bad enough that she planned to keep the money from selling it all. While Emie’s explanations made sense, Faith found herself deeply conflicted about the entire situation.

The dark-haired girl shivered at the memory of her companion killing the bandits. Their lifeless bodies fell one by one like marionettes with their strings cut. It was horrifying.

Intellectually, she understood the other girl’s actions. There was no government, no police or prisons. There was nothing they could do to stop the others’ actions aside from forcing them to stop. Quite frankly, only killing them would accomplish that since you didn’t necessarily need hands to cast spells.

But that didn’t stop Faith from inherently rejecting such actions. They went against everything she’d been taught. Now that she’d had a few minutes to process everything, she found herself struggling with her own culpability in the bandits’ death.

We could have run, her mind insisted.

Another part of her mind pushed back, claiming the bandits would have just killed someone else. Emie’s comment about not wanting the bandits’ future victims’ blood on her hands had been enough to get Faith to go along with it, even with her doubts. But now, she wasn’t so sure it had been the right thing to do.

Aiden seemed mostly okay with everything that happened, which was also concerning. When had he accepted murder as an appropriate response to conflict? Were there deeper implications she should consider?

When they were attacked outside one of the Trials on the second floor, the bandits had run away. Part of her had expected the same thing to happen this time.

But it hadn’t.

The worst part was, it was mostly her fault. She was the one who pushed Aiden and Emie into doing the Trial, all because she wanted her own meal-making device.

She knew the others could sense her struggle to keep up. It couldn’t be a secret at this point. The Alchemical Bombs helped a little, but they were by no means an equalizer. And she outright refused to be fully reliant on the other girl for manatech weapons.

If she was honest with herself, she was somewhat surprised she’d made it this far. She probably should have quit back on the second floor. At least it was built up more than the third floor.

She definitely didn’t want to be stuck here for the rest of her life. That was her biggest motivator for continuing to progress. She wanted normality and amenities. If there really was a city on the fourth floor like Emie said, maybe she could be happy there.

There was another village somewhere in one of the zones. Emie had mentioned it before, and she’d often seen people who didn’t live in the village coming to sell things at the Trading Post. Not all of them were human, which she’d found interesting.

What had disturbed her was hearing about the ‘dungeoneers’ who were supposedly born and raised in the dungeon – a concept that made her shiver.

Was that what would happen to any children she had? Would they grow up thinking that living in the dungeon was normal? What kind of future was that?

“What are you thinking about?” Aiden asked as he sat beside her on the bed.

“Nothing much,” Faith replied. “I was mostly wondering if the next floor would have a real city worth staying in.”

She eyed her boyfriend, gauging his reaction. She brought up the possibility of settling down a few times, but he’d never seemed very interested. He was much more focused on pushing ahead and eventually escaping the dungeon.

“I’m sure it will be better,” Aiden said confidently. “The fifth floor is supposed to have two decent-sized cities. Real cities with thousands of people,” he clarified.

Faith sighed. “Yeah. You mentioned talking to one of the natives about that,” she said, letting the conversation drop.

They were silent for a few minutes before Aiden asked, “Are you sure you’re okay? You can talk to me if you’re having a hard time with what happened.”

“Aren’t you?” At his look of confusion, Faith said, “You don’t seem to be struggling with the fact that Emie basically murdered five people in cold blood.”

Aiden’s brows furrowed as he looked at his girlfriend in surprise. “Emie didn’t murder anyone, and it certainly wasn’t something she did without consideration,” the Fire Mage said. “She killed them in self-defense and to protect us. There’s a HUGE difference.”

“She could have taken us and ran away. She didn’t have to kill them,” Faith argued, though it felt hollow, even to her. “Is it really self-defense if there was another option?”

“What if we ran away and they killed someone else? You heard what Emie said about that, right?”

Faith shrugged and looked away. “Yeah, but that wouldn’t have been on us, no matter what Emie said,” she replied, rejecting the hypothetical blame. “What gives Emie the right to decide who lives and who dies? How does that make her any better than the bandits?”

Aiden withdrew the hand he’d placed on his girlfriend’s shoulder and stood up. He stared at Faith in confusion. “There… Faith, we aren’t on Earth anymore,” he said slowly, watching as his girlfriend’s eyes started watering again. “The dungeon doesn’t work the same way. Hell, I’m not sure Earth still works the same way. I thought you realized that by now.”

The dark-haired young woman sniffled a few times and wiped her eyes roughly. “I understand we aren’t on Earth, but that doesn’t mean we should throw rules and laws out the window!” she practically yelled. “Laws were developed for a reason. One person should not get to decide the fate of someone else like that.”

Faith narrowed her eyes. “Emie murdered those people… and we helped her.” Her voice broke at the end, and she started openly sobbing.

Aiden fought the urge to step forward to comfort his girlfriend. Instead, he took a few steps back and bumped against the door. He shook his head slowly. “You’d rather she let them kill us?”

“I’d rather she let us run away! We could have told someone!” she countered angrily.

“Who? There is no authority here. Who would she tell? The golems?” he asked. “She told us what she was going to do if they attacked. If you had such a problem with it, you should have said something!”

“I didn’t think she was actually going to kill them!” Faith screeched. “Maybe we should have told the golems! They’ve ejected people for breaking the rules before. If they thought the bandits deserved it, they could kick them out. My point is we shouldn’t be the ones making that decision,” she said, making a triangle shape with her finger between the two of them and the direction of Emie’s pod.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Aiden said with a frown. “I think Emie made the right decision. We’re in a dungeon. Those bandits were robbing and killing people for their loot. They shouldn’t be allowed to prey on others, and the only way to stop them is to kill them. That’s the reality we find ourselves in. You need to adapt sooner rather than later,” he said coldly.

Hearing his declaration, Faith’s tears began to flow freely once again. She turned away and faced the wall, no longer wanting to look at someone who disappointed her so deeply. “I just want things to go back to normal,” she said to herself.

She didn’t react when the door to the pod slid closed behind Aiden, and he left without responding. While he’d comforted her when she felt homesick or wished for things to go back to the way they were before, he never really understood.

To Aiden, gaining magic was a dream come true.

Sure, Faith had enjoyed playing Atlas Online, especially when the sect expansion was introduced. But that was a game. This… this was real. Death was real and final. There was no respawn mechanic and no starting over.

The thought was terrifying. Yet, Emie had casually cut down real, living people, then taken their loot like a bandit herself.

She claimed she was going to sell everything to the Trading Post, but didn’t that make her just as bad as the bandits? Sure, it would get the weapons and gear back in circulation, but they would be benefiting from killing other people.

Faith refused to be a hypocrite and decided to reject any proceeds from the bandits' belongings. Further, she would look into getting her own apartment when they returned to the village. There was no way she could sleep beside someone who thought casual murder was okay.

Emie and Aiden could justify it all they wanted. It didn’t change the fact that Emie was a murderer, and Aiden supported that kind of behavior.

With her decision made, the weight on Faith’s shoulders lessened, and she quickly fell asleep.