Chapter Seventy-Seven – Proceedings – Part Three

Perception is reality, and reality is rarely perceived.

- UWO Lieutenant Colonel Averant -

"First order of business," Haethur begins, sitting up straight, a placid look on his face, "Whether or not the Anomaly shall be allowed to live. State your arguments."

I look over at Sage, the expression on his face tells me that he lives for moments like these. Though in truth, trusting my life to a system entity who calls me meatsack… hard pill to swallow. Still, if the verbal ass whooping he gave Kodah was any indication of what to expect, I like our odds.

"First and foremost, the Anomaly should not have been in the situation in the first place," Sage slants a gaze up toward the Red group, specifically looking at the woman with deep crimson eyes, "If they had not been breaking rules, my client would not have had to allegedly take matters into their own hands."

"Allegedly?" Kodah snorts, "This nameless cur is clearly defective."

"Because?" Sage asks with an eyebrow raise.

"It is not even up for debate whether he did or did not break the rules by leaving a designated quest zone without authorization."

"Impossible, quest zones are made to be extremely difficult to escape from, the Anomaly does not possess any skills that would have allowed them to, nor did they…"

"Are you fucking serious right now?" Kodah seethes, "We know that he walked through the gate and came to Azeroc's prime world in the Oranak system. That is not up for debate, it is a fucking fact, you malfunctioning line of idiocy."

"Doesn't seem likely that a mortal could recalibrate a gate by themselves, so again, allegedly."

"We recalibrated the gate, obviously you fucking…" Kodah stops speaking, as though his mind has just realized something, he swallows deeply as his eyes slide towards Haethur.

"Let the record reflect that a rule break has been admitted to," Haethur says, swiping his hand through the air.

"Now that it has been established that my client did not in fact recalibrate the gate, we are willing to admit negligence by way of accidental relocation during a quest."

"Unbelievable," Kodah says through gritted teeth, "Objection."

Haethur leans in toward one of his aides, giving them some kind of instruction. Within a few moments a holographic display spills into the center of the courtroom and the lights dim in the oversized room. As it shapes, I realize it's a display of me, just outside the gate, when I decided to enter willingly... allegedly.

"You would argue this was accidental?" Haethur asks, tilting his head sideways a little at Sage.

"As is our right to do so. If you do not feel it is within the bounds of what you believe to be accidental, then we would request the right of consensus."

There's a murmuring in the crowd, Haethur looks around for a moment before nodding.

"That will stall the proceedings," Kodah states, slamming his hand on the desk, "Let us not forget why we are here, someone helped a mortal slay a god. No matter what is argued, there is only one outcome that will be acceptable. Death for the mortal, reprimand for the god or goddess that helped them, and the complete resurrection of Azeroc."

Haethur doesn't even blink as he ignores Kodah's statement and replies to Sage, "You are sure that you wish to open the proceedings to a consensus?"

"We are."

"Then I shall requisition it."

Sage nods, breathing out slowly.

Haethur bangs his gavel, "Adjourned until a consensus is acquired."

I look over at Sage, then at Haethur, and back to Sage, "What does that mean?"

"It means the proceedings will be evaluated by a higher authority than Haethur."

"So, we'll get a new judge?"

He shakes his head, "He'll still be in charge of the proceedings, however, any action that he would normally review must also be reviewed by his superior."

"How long will that take?"

He sighs, "Longer than normal, but this isn't a normal situation. I'd wager it won't stay a proceeding for much longer, in fact, I'm surprised they haven't elevated it yet."

"What's the benefit of what you requested?"

"In the long run, it will ensure that you don't get railroaded by Covenant Tokens."

"You never did tell me what Covenant Tokens are," I look at him sideways, "Didn't you say you'd tell me next time I died?"

He gives me side eye for a moment, "I suppose you should know, as they may still try to use them," he shifts in his seat, "They're like… how shall I put this, like a currency that can be used without needing a vote to change minor rules and outcomes. The more severe the rule bend or break is, the more tokens required to do it."

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"Is that how Red recalibrated the gate?"

"Clever, meatsack."

"So, they're like favor coins or something?"

"Exactly like that. It forces us system entities to discreetly change the rules to suit their wants. However, admitting to the action during a formal review or higher removes the shroud placed upon it."

"So that's why you wanted him to admit to them recalibrating the gate?"

He nods, "You're catching on quick, meatsack."

"Is it possible to override an action that was done with a Covenant Token?"

"The only way it can be overridden is if another entity uses more Tokens, or like the case with Witherbrand, which had been previously saved due to a Covenant Token, the cost increases to such a staggering amount that no deity can actually afford it. A balancing mechanism made by the Grand One."

He pauses, swiping through an interface or something in front of him, I can't see it, but I recognize the motions. His eyes squint at something for a few moments before he lets out a sigh.

"We are permitted to traverse the lower Nexus ways," he picks up his suit jacket as he stands, slinging it over his arm, "Come on, meatsack, let's find a change of venue."

I look up toward the area where Ulana was sitting, she's gone, I didn't even see her leave though. Must have done a portal or something.

Following behind Sage, we move out into the place between places, hundreds of ethereal doors and thousands of people marching to and fro. What the hell is this place anyway?

"Ah, this one will be adequate," he says, opening a new door and stepping through it.

Light bends around us as we walk through a tunnel of shifting gravity, it feels strange, yet not uncomfortable somehow. When we reach the other side, there's a large room with glass panels that stretch nearly a hundred meters above. Behind them are glowing waters that swirl with bioluminescence or something.

"I used to love coming here," Sage says nostalgically, putting a hand on the glass and watching the churn of light. "The café is admittedly quite shit, however, seeing life in such a primitive form where it belongs, rather beautiful."

I blink at him, "You say some strange things sometimes."

He doesn't reply, he simply looks out at the waters, like he's an emperor of them, his chest puffed out strangely. He lets out a slow breath before turning to a small man with murky grey eyes that barely illuminate a faint glow.

"Haven't seen you in a few cycles," he says, putting one hand on his hip, "Your usual?"

Sage nods, giving the man a small smile, "Good to see you."

"Aye, and you."

The small man snaps his fingers and an ornate chair forms next to Sage, then a table, then another… what the fuck… is that supposed to be a chair? It's full of spikes and looks like it belongs in a torture museum.

Sage coughs, "I know you don't like mortals, and normally I would think it quite funny," he pauses, looking at the chair that the man conjured for me, "However, this meatsack is my client."

The man slowly blinks, then gives an eyeroll, snapping his fingers again, it shifts into a regular chair, not fancy like Sage's, but it no longer looks like it will impale me.

"Sit, meatsack, we have much to discuss."

I give the man a wary eye before I sit.

Sage looks at the man, "Two spots of tea and some biscuits, please."

The man nods, showing some kind of deference to Sage. With another snap, there it is, in front of Sage there's now a fancy tea cup with a neat bag and string hanging over the side. I turn and look at the one meant for me… for fucks sake. Looking at the tea bag, it's very clearly a pair of hairy balls. What the fuck is wrong with this guy?

"Cheeky," Sage sighs, shaking his head.

The man groans, snapping his fingers again, the balls and cup disappear and a new normal teabag and cup take its place. The man limps off after scratching his junk and muttering something under his breath.

"Drink, meatsack, it's part of the ritual."

"Ritual?"

"To make us invisible whilst inside this place."

"Do I have to drink it?"

He nods, "It's not like that's a real body anyway."

He's not wrong, everything still tastes like mint chocolate for some reason, I sigh before taking a drink… bitter as hell. My ethereal eyes dilate as I do, my perception slowing down. Light blossoms all around the room as insanely complex spell circuits trace the ground. A dull thudding hum pulses for a few moments, and then silence follows.

"Finally," Sage says, stretching his arms, "Terra had every single square centimeter of me monitored. She's so unbearable. Never, and I mean never get involved with a purple, all of them are… what they are, except Mythren, he's different, he actually abides by rules. They are sacred to him, as they should be. Anything made by the Grand One should be adhered to."

I blink at him.

"What?" he asks, tilting his head.

"Nothing, just… yeah. Wait, so Terra's a purple?"

"She was a purple at one time, quite formidable in her prime, now, she's just a thorn in my side."

"So, blues are normal admins and purples are bosses?"

"There are multiple stages of each, but yes, basically that."

Just like I thought, interesting, thinking about the man from before, I ask, "So who was that guy? And what's his system rank?"

"Oh, meatsack, he's not an admin, he's a washed-up god. However, he's not the worst companion, and he doesn't mind shielding us. Be polite if he speaks to you."

"Okay… who is he?"

"Doesn't matter. Right, well, let's continue our talk from before," he cracks his neck audibly, "I hate meatsack bodies, anyway, due to the shroud of secrecy, one cannot know how many Covenant Tokens were used for an action, and if you request to make an action, it cannot be refunded if your offering was found lacking."

He really meant right where we left off.

"So… wait, if someone was to try and override something, and they didn't give enough Tokens in the first attempt, would it stack with the next attempt?"

"No, what is lost is lost. Another balancing mechanic made by the Grand One. To prevent deities from spending the minimum to override each other constantly."

"So, because I exploited it to stack damage they upgraded the cost for Witherbrand?"

"Don't forget that you also broke the balancing mechanism on it to use your class ultimate without being level one hundred."

"Right, so because of that, they changed it somehow?"

"They upgraded its classification to extremely unbalanced. Which means it automatically gets removed and it can be reevaluated in one hundred cycles."

"Is that to make sure people like Red don't inbox spam you with requests to reactivate it?"

He peers at me, crossing his arms, "Meatsack, is there a residual intelligence buff still clinging to you?"

I roll my eyes, "I'll take that as a yes." I pause, thinking for a moment, if broken classes get recycled every hundred cycles, I wonder if any are up for review right now. If so…

"Meatsack, you have that devious facial expression again."

"Which one?"

"The same one you had before you killed a god."

I half grin, "Just thinking of potential compensation."

"Ah, there's that famous optimism of yours."

The grin becomes full, and we sit in silence for a few moments, staring out at the endless waters of swirling colors.

"Do you like my odds for winning this?"

Sage doesn't answer for a time, he stews in the question, "I will like them better if the consensus is approved, if it isn't," he lets out a strained sigh, like he's stressed about it, "Then you'd better hope Ulana has a massive supply of Covenant Tokens."

"Doesn't she?"

He shrugs, "I don't know, in truth, meatsack, I don't think anyone knows much about her."

"Is that normal?"

He chuckles, "If it were redacted, sure, I've seen plenty of Gods and Goddesses use Covenant Tokens to redact their own files. It's smart, the less people know, the better."

"Then what's the problem?"

He swallows, "Her file isn't redacted, it's empty."

"Maybe she deleted it?"

He scoffs, "Meatsack, I know you're unfamiliar with our customs and ways, which admittedly might be my fault, but a God does not simply delete things from a file. It's not possible, even with a ridiculous amount of Covenant Tokens, that cannot be done."

"Yet… she did?"

He shrugs, "Honestly, I have no idea, meatsack."

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