The air is thick with the heavy scents of clove and orange, accented by light cinnamon. It penetrates through my nose and into my brain as I take a tiny sip from the paper cup. I let the liquid spread evenly on my tongue, then swallow. Its sweetness is permeating.
Suddenly, I’m looking at trees. Perhaps my eyes are seeking the color green. I’m exhausted.
It seems exceedingly fitting that the discussion of a mission that could affect the very fate of the world would be held in such a meeting room. It’s so quiet you could hear a speck of dust drop, and there are computers all around.
Dragon Demon RPG, huh?
That’s the name of a video game released into beta by an unknown developer. Their plan seemed to be to release it in early access in order to build funds before launching a large-scale marketing campaign. Despite the bullish sales method, the game became quite popular in Japan.
The world has never seen a bigger computer virus.
It started by gaining control of customers’ consoles and computers and using their collective processing power to completely take over the biggest cryptocurrency network with extreme speed and sophistication. It was most likely the work of an A.I. designed to attack such systems. This gave it control over the world’s mining machines, increasing its processing power until it eventually had multiple super A.I. under its influence. And what did it do with the greatest amount of processing power in history, you ask?
It made this. The fantasy world displayed on the tablet screen; this map of a continent. At first glance, it seems like an in-game map, but it is completely different. This is reality, not fiction. It is the scene of the crime, as well as a battlefield. A world existing in a different space from ours. In other words, a parallel world. To meddle in such an absurd phenomenon and attempt to gain demonic powers... Only a criminal so heinous that even God Himself doesn’t scare them would think of such a thing.
Perhaps I should call it a grand scheme to fool even God.
Whoever they are, they call themself Demon God. They created the vampires, a monstrous alien species, and set about the barbaric task of exterminating the native species. It is difficult to describe just how truly evil this is. Their ultimate goal is to threaten the world order... Something our country cannot allow.
I see blue. From the courtyard of the U.S. Department of Defense I look up at the sky, cut into a blue pentagon. I see white clouds, too. Blue and white. Beautiful. The same as the elves’ national colors.
The elves. They are a native species, and intervene in this crisis with the full might of their republic. Not to mention their fair skin. Truly, they are the righteous dealers of justice. Guns and magic are different, of course, but their focus on long-range battles makes things quite convenient. They are a beautiful people too.
Uniting and educating them will give me my best chance of succeeding at my mission. With the Earth’s network infected, anything else would be only temporary. It’s too late to hope for any results from spreading around the “deluxe version,” which is bundled with the anti-virus.
I suspect the Demon God is lurking somewhere in Eastern Europe. This is information I got by analyzing their signal-noise patterns—talk about hard-earned. The ex-communist bloc... Depending on how things go, there’s the very real risk of a certain button being pushed, but for now, the situation is tolerable. By imitating the Demon God’s strategies, I’ve pushed the elves and vampires into a struggle for supremacy. This mission has been years in the making, but my efforts are finally being rewarded. My connection instability has been getting better recently, as well. Then again, considering I’ve only been able to intervene once every decade or so of their time, it’s quite astounding how easy things have been. I’d love to shower the IT department in champagne for it.
Wait, aren’t they out at Ground Zero Cafe? I’ll just raise my paper cup to them in respect. Heh. It’s already lunch, huh? Let’s use the peace and quiet to focus on the item of concern below me.
Just as we’d stabilized our connection, frequent “interference clouds” started cropping up. I should probably assume that the Demon God has gained the ability to smoothly intervene and create interference again. The proof is in how they’ve taken control of small groups of soldiers to cause havoc on the front lines. Vampires aren’t capable of military tactics requiring such fine decision-making and direction. I managed to delay things by placing unique units in each area... I never in my wildest dreams imagined that would lead to the destruction of the vampires’ strongest unit.
Golden. She was a master of lightning and earth magic; a fearsome combat resource. I couldn’t believe my own eyes when she repelled Dragon all on her own. After that I gave up on trying to micromanage our resistance, instead focusing on controlling many things at a macro level in order to suppress her attacks. That was just how much of a threat she was.
But who could have envisioned that Shield would kill Golden? Shield—Sakiel, a master of wind magic; a unique unit only useful for defense. She was so imperfect that I couldn’t help but yell at her to get it together, although perhaps that was a blessing in disguise.
I sigh and take a sip of hot cider. Was it a bad move on their part, or a smart move on mine? I can’t tell. And speaking of confusing... the humans. No, let’s call them subhumans. They’re natives that live on the southern tip of the continent, barely squeaking by. I was sure it was only a matter of time before they were wiped out.
So why did they start amassing forces in the north of their territory?
It would be understandable if they were gathering at the fort to the south—one could explain it as them fearing the aftermath of war—but they are doing completely the opposite. Their army is moving all the way to the northern fort, to the Frontier. Even if they end up standing there doing nothing, it could still stoke the territorial dispute. Could this have been triggered by our war with the vampires? Is this pitiful gathering of soldiers an attempt at brandishing their own strength?
No... it can’t be. These subhumans are only good for watching us battle while they try to not die in the process. If anything, I should be focusing on this “treasure of our species” that the elven elder has identified. The subhumans must have some sort of ancestral tie like the elven Spirit Tree—something that can create events that would be called “miracles” even in a world full of magic.
Miracles...
It’s only a miracle because it’ll never happen. If it does, it becomes merely a phenomenon. Even this Parallel World War that we find ourselves in and the loss of the vampires’ strongest unit were all born from accumulated phenomena. Nothing more. We must analyze, strategize, and take the best measures possible.
This feeling of hesitation doesn’t come from nowhere, though. I hate to admit it, but I am forced to. It’s fear. I’m afraid of going on the offensive. I’m practically shivering with fright. No matter how many strategy meetings we hold, in the end, there must be a hero who actually moves to action. The isolation of a meeting room is far too cold of an environment to reflect the horrors of this Parallel World War. Recovering from even the slightest of our mistakes takes a hundred years in their time. Now that the vampires have lost the greatest of their three unique units, the elves should go on a full-on offensive campaign... and yet...!
I swallow the last drops of my hot cider. Crushing the paper cup, I toss it at the trash can. Urgh, it’s going to miss... wait, the wind’s correcting its trajectory... Yes! Score! The IT department cheers, and I wave at them.
Now, to head towards my lonely workplace. It’s time to end this Parallel World War. Everything is for the sake of world order. For the sake of our country, above all. For the sake of good people all over the world.
I spin the handrims of my wheelchair in a gallant and cheerful manner. It doesn’t matter if I’m only pretending, the wheelchair lift’s right over there, after all.