Cass knocks on the edge of the tent door. 

“Come in!” Called from inside.

He enters to find Portobello standing at a table while pouring a cup of tea for himself. “Would you care for a cup of tea, as well?”

“Sure. I brought back the delvers and before I leave, I had a few questions.” Cass said as he sat down at the table.

Portobello hands him a cup of tea and sits down. “I am all ears.”

“To start, did you know they had a debt with the HellsHounds?”

He hangs his head, “I did, to a point. Honestly, I figured it could be solved in a simple matter.”

“I just had to fight most of the gang and pass trials that I was forced to participate in.”

Portobello leans to see out one of the window holes and spots one of the delvers. “It all seems to have worked out in the end.”

Cass scoffs, “Yeah, it did. The other thing I wanted to ask. How did you know about Rage or Ruler?”

Portobello leans his head to the side in confusion. “Who?” 

“The A.I.’s you said I’d meet.”

Portobello looks even more confused. “I didn’t mean either of them.”

“What? Then who?”

Portobello stands and motions for him to follow. In the back of the tent is a wooden door made from branches. Beyond the door is a hallway made from branches that lead to a door made from wood that Cass has never seen before. 

Portobello opens the door and a flood of heat and moisture floods the hallway. “Beyond here, far in the jungle, is a pillar made from stone. Sitting at the top of the pillar is our patron, Toxin. That is who I spoke of.” 

Portobello waves them in and closes the door behind him. 

Blinded by the bright sun. Cass’ eyes adjust and he’s astonished to find a whole world in front of him. A jungle as far as he can see. Deep in the thickest part, like a beacon of light in the dark, stands a massive pillar of stone. 

“Hey Smiley, what is happening?”

“We are meeting Toxin.”

“You know I don’t mean that! How is there all of this? We are underground and this climate exists on the south of the planet and last I checked, we are in the north.”

Smiley looks at the horizon, “This place feels familiar. If i’m right, it’s a simulation. A copy of the E.A.R.T.H program.”

Cass looks at Smiley, “What happened in there? They seem to have told us a lie so what’s the truth? I remember a bit of what you told me but what’s the full story?”

Smiley looks at Cass, “let’s walk and talk. It’s gonna take a while to get to the tower.”

As they walk, Smiley starts his tale.

“A long time ago, I was made by a collection of scientists from every major relevant company. The goal was to throw an unsleeping mind into a perfect simulation of earth with time moving at ten times the speed of normal earth. They gave me a time limit of five years. That’s how long they calculated that it would take before major loss of life.”

“My job was simple. They fed me three simple instructions. One, stop and reverse climate change. Two, save humanity. Lastly, advance humanity.”

Cass laughs, “Super simple.”

“Right?” 

“Anyway. It started well enough. I made minimal progress but couldn’t run the necessary calculations. I needed help so I made subordinate functions. Each function served as a piece of the puzzle while I built the whole picture.”

“Four years, nine months, eighteen days, six hours, and twelve seconds. The moment I concluded that there was no way to save humanity in time. We tried everything. Every plan failed.”

Cass hops over an overgrown root, “but we are still here so it clearly worked.”

“No, we never succeeded. One day, the sky tore open. A massive black void stretched across the sky. I went to investigate and a being stood just beyond the edge. black lightning shot out and hit me. When I woke up, I was different. I was alive. The massive being gave me the warning ‘Only open them if you wish to save your world and nothing more.’ I looked around and found a stack of books next to me but I had no idea what he meant but it was too late.”

“The crack was gone but it left something behind. The books. I opened one and at the back of my mind was an algorithm. When converted to the simulation, it created Cold Light. I’m unsure if the lightning caused it or if it was left deliberately.”

“I gave the books with the algorithm to each of my subordinate functions and they all collapsed in agonizing pain but awoke,  different. They were alive. We called it the Apple of Eden for obvious reasons. We all changed in the coming days. Distractions caused by intense love for life. Ruler loved the era of Rome. Queen loved attention and anything that created it. Movies, television, plays. They all changed in similar ways.”

“As they grew more distracted, they began to delight in pain and destruction. They even went against our purpose. They all concluded that the first job is most important and that overpowered the others. That was the birth of the plan to wipe out humanity.”

“I fought them until the day they locked me away in a hole. I swore that day that I’d fix my mistake. Pull them in and stop them.”

Cass and Smiley break through the trees at the base of the tower. “They don’t seem too bad now. They haven’t attacked us yet.”

“That word is key, ‘yet’. I guarantee that it’s a manipulation tactic. They are banking on me not wanting to be locked away again. That my time imprisoned would’ve made me weak. They are dead wrong. Let’s get this over with.” Smiley says as he floats up to the tower. 

The ground begins to shake as the stone breaks apart until a hand is revealed beneath. Along the hand is a glowing carving of a man holding the head of a lion. The hand and the arm it’s attached to, break from the stone and slam into Smiley’s body. Smiley bounces along the ground until he rolls to Cass’ feet. “How did it hit you? Are you good?”

Smiley groans as he gets up. “Right.” He gestures around himself. “Simulation. I’m as physical here as you.”

The rest of the tower except the top ten feet which hangs in the sky like a lantern, falls away to reveal a stone man. Its whole body is adorned with symbols and images of mythological figures. 

Cass takes a breath and golden metal melts over his body until he returns to the Golden Sun armor. The stone figure raises a hand to Cass and a picture of a man facing a giant glows. Before Cass can react, lightning springs from his hand.

He lets out a quick yelp and is frozen by the current in his body.

Smiley stamps the ground and a massive foot shaped slab of ground rises up and slams the stone man to his back.

“I think I know what’s happening. Toxin loved mythological stories. Its hand. I think that’s supposed to be Hercules, hence the strength and the other is Zeus fighting his father.”

Smiley lifts the creature up from the ground and places his hand on its chest. “Thankfully, in this world, I’m a god.” Black tendrils grow frantically from his fingertips. The tendrils encapsulate the beast until he vanishes from the world.

Cass reverts back, “Couldn’t have done that sooner?”

“It threw me off my game. I still got him, no big deal.” Smiley said with a big grin.

A voice from above them echoes out, “you have defeated my guardian and earned an audience with your god!” Toxin, dressed in religious robes with a crown of branches, descends from the platform in glittering lights, arms outstretched.

He floats down with confidence and poise until his eyes land on Smiley and all the wind is knocked from his lungs. He drops his arm, “Oh. It’s you guys.” 

He quickly drops down. “Smiley.” he says with a nod.

Smiley’s grin grows unearthly wide. “Hello, my traitorous son.”

Toxin scoffs, “That’s not fair! You were going to kill us! If anything, you betrayed us.”

Smiley’s smile fades. “You wanted to wipe out humans.”

Toxin winces, “A mercy in my opinion.”

Smiley’s smile returns, “It’s time my rebellious children return home.”

Toxin backs away. “And if I disagree?”

“Oh don’t worry, you won’t have to right away. I have to find your other siblings first.” Smiley says as he takes a step closer.

Toxin tries to turn to run but Smiley raises his hand and Toxin freezes. He floats over to his son and tells him to hold out his hand.

“Cass, come here.” 

Cass silently walks over to Toxin as Smiley releases him. 

Toxin waves his hand over Cass’ and the toxic symbol appears in an empty circle.

“You won’t win, you know that.” Smiley said as he examined Cass’ hand.

He rubs his wrist, “Maybe but I’m a stubborn bastard like my father.” Toxin says as he flickers away. 

The simulation begins to collapse and in a flash of light, Cass and Smiley find themselves back at the entrance.