Chapter 321: Earth Archives
Rubedo leaned toward his console and interlaced his fingers. "Search your real-world historical archives. Look for a mass disappearance in Miami, Florida, during the year 2024. An entire high school class vanished during a ten-year reunion."
Radiant Monarch went silent on the video feed. His golden halo hovered in place as he apparently minimized his game window to access a browser. Ignisar, Nyxara, and Iron-Arbiter watched their own monitors closely and waited for the results.
The cosmic crystal console illuminated Rubedo’s face as he observed the grid.
"I found an old digital newspaper article," Radiant Monarch finally announced over the audio link. His golden hands animated again and gestured wildly. "It says thirty people vanished from a banquet hall in Miami without a single trace. The local police closed the case after finding absolutely no evidence of foul play."
Gorr stared at the grid and gripped the handle of her spectral pickaxe. Sylara covered her mouth with trembling hands.
The keyboard clattered again. "I just opened an old internet forum dedicated to unsolved mysteries. There is a massive community research thread about this exact type of phenomenon."
"Read the thread," Rubedo commanded.
"These people compiled a list of mass disappearances sharing the exact same characteristics," Radiant Monarch explained. "Entire groups of people vanishing from isolated locations with zero explanation. The earliest recorded event on this forum happened in 1969. Then the list continues into 2001, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2022, 2024, and 2029. The timeline just keeps going."
Ignisar stepped closer to his interface. "The developers have been kidnapping people for decades."
Nyxara shook her head, sending a spray of dark water from her obsidian eyes. "Think about the timeline. The game officially launched in 2065. How could the development team possibly be blamed for disappearances happening nearly a century ago? The original creators would have been children or not even born yet in 1969."
Iron-Arbiter ground the metal gears in his hands. "She makes a valid point. A video game studio cannot abduct people decades before computers even reached that level of technology. This has to be something else entirely. Maybe it is a natural anomaly or a supernatural phenomenon the studio discovered."
The Radiant Monarch crossed his floating arms over his halo. "The developers still built this specific digital world. They manage the servers and sell the premium events. Even if they did not personally start the disappearances in 1969, they definitely figured out how to monetize whatever is causing them. They are completely responsible for trapping those people here."
Rubedo observed the four avatars as the players debated the impossible logistics of Project Civilization. The true origin of the game remained a terrifying mystery, but the immediate reality required action.
"Regardless of how the developers operate, you understand the current situation," Rubedo stated declaratively. He brought his focus back to the center of his screen. "You are participating in an active slaughter. The mercenaries currently hiding in your cities are the very people abducted from that banquet hall."
The Radiant Monarch dropped his floating hands in defeat. The truth dismantled his defensive arguments completely. He stared at his interface and realized his premium purchase doomed real people to a digital nightmare.
"We will help you," Iron-Arbiter said. He looked toward the Radiant Monarch’s quadrant on the grid.
Radiant Monarch gestured with his floating golden hands and sighed over the audio link. "I would really like to go into detail about this mystery and find more information on the developers. Right now I simply lack the time to waste on an investigation when my final exams start next week."
Ignisar nodded his crimson head in agreement. Nyxara and Iron-Arbiter voiced their assent across the grid.
"Whatever we decide to do about the missing people, we will do it after a few weeks," the Radiant Monarch declared. "We just need to finish our school exams first."
Rubedo stared at the four teenagers through his cosmic crystal console. "Nyxara just stated that one month in your world equals ten years inside this server. A delay of a few weeks means I will have to sit here and wait for nearly a decade. I refuse to do that. I will simply continue taking over your continents."
"If you want our help unlocking the divine realms to get your classmates back, you have to stay put," Radiant Monarch warned.
"The Fourth Continent is already entirely doomed," Rubedo countered. "Sylara poisoned your water supplies and ruined your faith generation lines. My Vanguard armies occupy your capital cities. Staying put provides absolutely no strategic value."
Radiant Monarch and the other three players argued with him over the logistics of the server mechanics and the survival of their remaining digital assets. Rubedo negotiated the terms with them directly to ensure he maintained his advantage.
They eventually reached a mutual compromise.
Rubedo agreed to halt the active slaughter and spare the remaining followers of the Fourth Continent’s gods. In exchange, the teenagers promised to cooperate fully and grant him access to the celestial realms once their exams concluded.
The Radiant Monarch waved a golden hand to signal his departure. The four teenagers ended the transmission simultaneously.
Their quadrants vanished from the display. The massive communication grid collapsed back into a three-way split. Rubedo sat in the silence of his sanctuary and looked at the two remaining video feeds showing Sylara and Gorr.
Gorr rested her spectral pickaxe against her shoulder and looked directly at Rubedo. "We now face an entire decade of downtime. How do you want to manage the newly conquered territories while we wait for those kids to finish their school exams?"
"We consolidate our power," Rubedo answered. "We will completely militarize the Fourth Continent and fortify the captured cities. We agreed to spare their remaining mortal followers. We will integrate those citizens into our infrastructure and put them to work. We simply avoid launching any direct assaults against the locked divine realms until the teenagers log back in to open the gates."
Sylara pulled her white hood forward and shifted on her wooden throne. She looked at Rubedo with clear curiosity in her eyes. "You mentioned you were summoned from Miami in the year 2024. What exactly did you leave behind on Earth? Do you have a family waiting for you?"
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