Hero by Design: The Old God's Game [Rewrite in Progress]

Stories

### Chapter 1: 2 Hide Your Concern Youre Here To Write Notes

The bathroom door locked behind Bliss. Leaning over the sink, he exhaled and felt his throat well up. Blood filled the basin as he coughed until his lungs were empty. He looked up and his amber eye glowed back at him in the mirror; the golden script had crept up to his face and surrounded it. His entire body was infected, but his body wasn't enough. Letters pried their way into his mind and spoke in a gentle, sickening whisper.

Stop fighting. Embrace peace. I will solve you.

Disgusting.

He slammed his face into the mirror and a drizzle of blood mixed with glass shards fell to the floor. Not enough. His head went for the wall next. Skin got caught on every rough surface, tearing away whenever he jerked back. No. Not enough. He picked up a piece of broken glass and started slicing at every corner of his body, trying to peel off the infected skin.

“Get off, get off, GET OFF!” Each plea was more intense than the last.

His blood washed the words away. He finally dropped the glass and fell to the floor, letting himself rest against the cold tile wall. A strained whisper pushed its way out of his throat. "One, two, three..."

When he reached one hundred, he sighed and entered his non-physical form. His body turned translucent, outlined by a white glow. His severed skin meant nothing anymore. He saw the pale-pink waves of existence floating and twisting around him. The cracks in the universe were clear to him, and in moments like these, he desperately wanted to crawl into one himself. His vicious thoughts casually addressed the words. He needed them to think they didn’t matter.

On the first day of my senior year? Rude.

No response. He slowly stood up and returned to his physical form, his injuries gone as if they had never happened. He found a magnetic sheet sitting around the office and stuck it to the door with the message "Out of Order."

Lunai almost split the bark at her waist twisting towards the door when it opened. Bliss walked in, his face now free of blood. Her eyes tracked his every movement back into his chair.

“Who’s ready for an interrogation?" His voice warbled with an unsteady tone. "I'll even let you two take the lead!"

Lunai understood that Bliss would not be taking questions about what just happened. She accepted his desperate attempt to redirect the conversation. “Yes, of course!”

“I am ready to begin as well. Lunai got me signed in with the case,” said the metal-man. “Please let me give you a proper introduction. My name is Argalax; no surname, sir.”

“Perfect, surnames are so hard to remember.” He turned back to Lunai. “Since you’ve already gotten some practice on Argalax here, why don’t you present to me before we leave?”

Like a good intern, she got right to the summary. "Olken Ido, 67-year-old male from the Cretella system. He was an engineer that stopped going to work six months ago. Last night he appeared outside of his workplace shooting from a rocket launcher. Heroes were called to the scene and Surfrista was able to capture him. Our goal is to gauge his motive and see if he was working with anyone.”

“Impressive presentation. Next time I want it at a senior level.”

Huh? What does that even mean?

Bliss rushed the interns outside and flew them to the interplanetary transport ring that connected the Rebirth System. They stepped on a platform that accelerated through a glass tube in the direction of planet Emendatio. When they stepped out of the ring, they were greeted by blue and purple lights floating across a rigid path to another mega-building. There were security guards lingering outside in front of some people in blue jumpsuits enjoying the artificial rays of Rebirth.

“Not that I think either of you are the type, but when we go in there I do not want to hear any yelling or intimidation. The goal of this center is rehabilitation and we aren’t here to antagonize these people. Most of them, including the man we are speaking to today, had some sort of psychotic break and need services. It’s very common to see people snapping like that in the more dictatorial empires." He smiled at the inmates as they walked by. "Supervillains are another story and we keep them separate, but the people at corrections could become your colleagues one day.”

The group entered the building and passed through the security scanner, confirming access through their ID chips. They took the elevator up to the sixth floor where the most recent cases were processed. The color scheme remained the same, but with paler blues and purples. Lunai could've watched them dance all day without a drop of eye-strain. The computers in her resident room were not so gentle.

Bliss met a guard in front of the elevator who escorted them to the correct holding cell. They found a light purple man with hooves for hands and two curved horns coming out of his head hunched over in the corner. His face was down in his hands.

“He’s been minimally responsive since being brought here. The main concern is if he was hired to make weapons.” The guard opened the cell door.

Bliss stepped in front of them. “Let me see how calm he is before you guys start.” He pulled up a chair and sat next to the man in the room, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, my name is Bliss. What’s your name?”

The man slowly looked up with glassy green eyes and rectangular pupils. “Olken, I think.”

“Hi Olken. I see that you don’t look too well. My friends here are going to talk to you for a few minutes, is that all right?”

The man nodded his head. Bliss gestured for the two interns to sit down. Lunai gave the man a smile while Argalax's face did not move.

“Hello Olken, I’m Lunai. We’re here to ask you about what happened yesterday.”

“I understand...”

“We want to know exactly what happened that led to you doing this. Were you hired?”

“No? I don’t think so." He was picking at his nails. "Do you know how many people died?”

Bliss checked his CellPulse. “Thanks to the efforts of our heroes, there were only some minor injuries.”

There was a heavy sigh of relief. “Thank you. I’m glad to hear that. I’m still so confused about it all. They said I’ve been gone six months, but I can’t remember any of that. It sounds stupid, but I just woke up one day in space with Surfrista...”

Bliss was now leaning in, getting a closer look at the man's face as he told his story. Lunai looked to him, unsure of how to proceed with this new information.

“This happens more than you might think." He walked over and knelt down next to the man. "I believe you, Olken. Besides, no one lies to me .” Bliss gave the man an endearing look, staring into his eyes.

Lunai's found herself getting closer to her senior as well. She saw the faint ring of darkness that seemed to outline his every move. It felt as though she was staring off of an endless cliff. The dark void below called to her; it needed to be explored. She could hear it. She could hear that sickly sweet voice dripping with danger.

Jump.

Her heart followed the void's orders and snapped her back to reality. Olken was now gripping Bliss's shoulders.

“Of course not! I really don’t remember anything." He was trembling. "Please help me, or figure out who did this. I’m begging you.”

Bliss stood up, gently pushing his hands aside like an amused deity. “We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

The three left the holding room and walked back to the elevator. Bliss made sure to send an update on the case with Olken's account of events. He received the same response the agency always gave when backed up with requests: We will investigate this as soon as we are able.

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“Nice job for your first interrogation.” He turned to his other intern. "Argalax, you'll lead the next one."

"Yes sir," he said. "I only hope I can follow Lunai's performance adequately."

She smiled at the compliment as they left the building. Security met them at the transportation ring, confirming their identities once again. It was harder to leave the planet than to arrive. Any heroes had to be checked for appearance modifications. A platform found their station and returned them to planet Ammini.

The interns worked together to write up the note for the interrogation. While they were in the middle of a sentence, an app called CheetahChat popped up on her desktop, indicating a time-sensitive message was delivered. A group chat including many unknown usernames flashed on screen. The small-scale combat team was tagged as a role, including both interns and Bliss in the chat.

[Agent Vorn]: URGENT. Detractors on apocalypse planet number 404. Stabilization protocol potentially compromised. Seeking force authorization.

[Fail-Safe--Always Apocalypse!]: Authorization granted for use of force for TRANSPORT to educational services. DO NOT HARM. This shouldn't have to be said. Read your protocols!

Detractors? I guess the GSA still has to deal with ruffians when they're trying to save a planet! That's probably what that means, right?

Bliss clicked around on his computer and the group chat disappeared from her feed. Lunai peeked over at him curiously, getting a glimpse of the same chat she was just removed from. Bliss was furiously typing something in the chat bar before he noticed her gaze and turned around.

"Sorry about that, they added my entire team by mistake. I was stationed on that planet a while back so I guess they thought my input would be valuable."

Lunai gave a reassuring smile. "I understand! Is everything all right?"

He grimaced. "You really shouldn't concern yourself with it. Details are need-to-know. Victims' privacy takes precedence." He turned away from her, preventing further questioning.

Argalax went back to business, but Lunai frowned. Her neurotic mind needed every question answered now. Loose threads drove her insane, but they were a regular part of this job. She sat in her discomfort, finishing up the interrogation note.

The rest of the day was spent restlessly scrolling through MyUniverse study questions on her CellPulse. The clock struck 1800 and they switched out with the night team. Bliss and Argalax left the room while Lunai stayed to pack up her bag. When she stepped out of the room, she peered at the office worker closest to their door. Her mind wasn't prepared to handle two unknowns today. She walked over to her.

“Excuse me, did you see Bliss walk by here earlier with a bloody nose?”

The worker looked conflicted. “Yeah...he ran into the bathroom." She scanned the room to make sure he was gone. "He put up that sign, but don't tell him I told you!”

Lunai gave a thumbs up and walked over to the bathroom door. She slowly turned the knob and pushed it open, revealing a broken mirror and blood on the sink and floor. She gasped in shock and fell over.

Bliss…what is going on with you?

The office workers stared at Lunai on the ground. She got up and dusted herself off, trying to process the sight in front of her. Bliss must have been responsible for the bloody scene. The office workers all turned around; they didn’t want to get involved in Bliss’s business. The workday was already over, and everyone just wanted to go home.

Something’s wrong with him, but he’ll never just tell me if I ask.

She waited around for the office workers to leave the room. Once they were gone, she walked over to a janitor’s closet and grabbed some cleaning supplies. As she walked back to the bathroom, the fanboy from the tour emerged from the healing team’s room.

No, not him!

She turned her back to him and tried to shuffle towards the door, but it was too late.

“Hey girl!" He rushed towards her. "How was your first day?”

Lunai tried to hide the cleaning supplies behind her back. “Boring. Just going to the bathroom before I leave.”

He looked at the bathroom door. “That one says out of order.”

“Right, right. I’ll use the other one.” She stood still.

He watched her for a few seconds, but she did not move. He started walking towards her and she moved to block the bathroom door. His flippers trudged forward and they crashed into each other. Lunai was shoved to the side as he pushed the door open.

His eyes widened, “Our Old God above! What the hell happened here?!”

She scratched her head. “Well, you know. Sometimes I lose control of my roots." She threw them around as a demonstration. "I hit the mirror by accident."

He started to jog his thoughts out loud. “You hit the mirror…and you bled everywhere? You’re a Win-gel, you don’t bleed red blood.” Immediately after uttering the words, he had an epiphany.

“Humans have red blood.” He turned to Lunai. “What happened, is Bliss ok?”

She shushed him. “He’s fine! He had a nosebleed in the morning and left the room. I don't know anything else!”

He crossed his arms. “See! I was right; he needs our help.”

“Look, I’m not saying he doesn’t, but asking will only push him away. If you really want to help, you can take this.” She handed him a sponge.

He reluctantly took it. “Fine. By the way, what’s your name? I don’t think I got it before. I’m Kelang.”

“Lunai. Sorry if my scolding yesterday seemed harsh.” She rubbed her arms. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t overstep.”

They began cleaning the bathroom in silence. Lunai sorted the trash carefully before taking the sign down.

“Thanks for helping; I can handle the rest." She turned to him one last time. "If you want Bliss to like you, don't ask about his personal life."

“Yeah, I got it. See you tomorrow.” Kelang waved goodbye and disappeared down the winding hallway.

Lunai started walking up and down various floors looking for proper biohazard bins. The refugee center treated many injuries, so she figured there would be an exam room she could pop into. She found the room she was looking for, marked with a planet surrounded by a heart. The room was thankfully empty, and she quickly put the broken mirror in the biggest sharps bin she could find. When she left the room, she saw a few Win-gel refugees and waved at them. They smiled and called her over.

“It’s a beautiful evening today, my sister." She held her hand up for Lunai to touch with her own. "You're dressed like a hero; are you an agent here?”

“Yes, I am! It’s good to see you. How long ago did you arrive here?”

“We moved here last week, but we’ll head back home once the agency stabilizes Ya’ar. People are getting sick from the rot; it's getting worse.”

Lunai held her conviction despite the trouble brewing in her mind. “Don’t worry, we'll take care of the weed without altering the planet. I can help make sure the people of Ya’ar get treated for the rot.”

They exchanged a few prayers for the jungle planet. Lunai gave them a hug before leaving the refugee center. On the way to the elevator she passed a room with the door cracked open and heard Bliss's voice.

“This one is done, sign here.”

The next sound was a woman in the room groaning and shifting papers around. She peeked in to see a woman with a familiar costume leaning back in her chair. A helmet covered her entire head, fastened securely over a full-body jumpsuit. Arrows moved in every direction from the center of her chest, a symbol that only meant one thing at the GSA.

Entropi?! Right in front of me?!

Bliss looked up, his eyes widening upon seeing his new intern. “Lunai? What are you doing here? I hope you’re not trying to stay late.”

“No, I was just saying hi to some Win-gel refugees. My father can’t update me from home, so I wanted to know what was going on.”

Entropi dragged herself up from her chair. Despite her mighty reputation, the woman only seemed to be a head taller than Bliss. Her physique was nothing to gawk at either, looking fairly below average even for her small size.

“Oh yeah, the GSA's on that planet right now. Hopefully, we'll stabilize the weed soon. Apparently, it’s rooted so deep he’s not sure if they can even remove it at this point.”

Bliss nudged her shoulder. “It’s a bad situation, but we've dealt with worse. Your people are in good hands.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m so glad we don’t have to go through this alone.”