“Would you like some tea, Mr. Kable?”

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  Kable took the cup of tea and took a long sip. It was a little bitter, but otherwise was honed perfectly to his tastes. It’d also wipe the memories of anyone who drank it, but the tricks created by the System’s minions had little to no effect on him. He’d made sure to domesticate it long ago, so that all of its monsters were little more than pets. Of course, it’s not like any of them would pose a threat to him anyway. He’d fought for so long against so many monsters, even the eldritch horrors of a dead world couldn’t scare him.

  He looked out over the slightly too perfect garden, its flawless sky an unusual shade of blue, and smiled. Despite how twisted the System could be in its creations, it undeniably created things that were bizarrely, uniquely beautiful. Seeing Sable for the first time in 20 years, recreated almost exactly the way it had been when he had visited, was uniquely nostalgic for him. The sweeping fields, incredible architecture and subservient populace were all captured exactly. His home world had those too, but they weren’t nearly as impressive. Not yet, anyway.

  “This is so relaxing,” he said. “Great scenery, nice food, good…well, somewhat decent company. I could probably stay here forever.” He suddenly looked serious. “This stuff isn’t poisoned is it? If it is…”

  “I assure you,” The man sitting opposite him said sternly, “I would never do anything of the sort.”

  Kable laughed. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding! With the mix of Cleric and Druid magic running through my veins, I’d probably be immune to it anyway. Grand Magic is a lovely thing. You know, for all your creator’s supposed glory, he really has no sense of humour, does he?”

  “It is beneath him, as are most of your human concepts.”

  “What a bore. I’m so glad I kicked his ass and chained him up.”

  “If it displeases you, why don’t you suggest this improvement to him? He is always looking for ways to improve his Outriders.”

  “He is not the type to accept constructive criticism.”

  The few intelligent monsters who ran the game, like the Man of Hands sitting across from him, were known as Outriders. They were the only creations of the System that could operate with an independent mind, all incredibly varied to match the scope of what its master desired. The Man of Hands specifically had grown quite familiar with Kable in the past few years, even if neither had really enjoyed the experience.

  Unfortunately, the System still had little understanding of how to make a compelling human to talk to. Kable had found the Man of Hands rather dry, and he wouldn’t even try talking to the other psychopaths who protected the game and the illusion of Sable Online. None of the Outriders were particularly attractive, and they were one of the few beings in all three worlds that refused to bend their knee before Kable. How he wished that Silene was still with him.

  Kable chucked the cup of tea aside, not a drop spilling out as the cup bounced across the garden like a rubber ball. He leaned over the table, smiling mockingly.

  “Speaking of human concepts,” he said, with a gentle tone that he usually reserved for children at charity events, “I wanted to chat with you about the human concept of failure. You’ve been fucking up spectacularly, haven’t you, Handy?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “I don’t know how you couldn’t. Your lord knows what happens to his Outriders, does he not?”

  “If he did, that would defeat their purpose. He can only sense them when they are on the same world he is.”

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  Kable smiled. “Ah, so you do know.”

  “Know what?”

  “Fuck me, my daughter was easier to talk with than you were,” Kable sighed and barely rejected the idea to talk to him exclusively in single syllable words. “The corpse of an Outrider was found in Avalon, killed in the dead of night. Think it was Draconautis, hard to tell though because it had been burnt to a crisp. Crime scene reports show it had been blown up with propane. I had to Mind Eater everyone involved to make sure they didn’t shit themselves. It’s the single biggest issue in our operation since we started. Now, what exactly happened?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You are really trying my patience.”

  Kable raised his hand to the side. A gold disk seemed to shimmer near the end of his fingers. The man looked at it with abject horror, before sighing in defeat and explaining himself.

  “Outrider Draconautis disobeyed orders and managed to escape to Earth. He had been previously enraged by a specific group of players, and his rage resulted in him following them into out of bounds areas, where he entered a portal of Kezodoran origin.”

  Kable kept his hand held up. “Interesting. So, three things we can glean from that. One, there is a group of players messing around in system areas even though they’ve drunk your tea, and the more I think about it, the more I’m beginning to think they didn’t somehow. Two, you’re master is hanging on to random crap from a hyper advanced world that could jeopardise my operation and potentially be used against me-”

  “I assure yo-“

  “-And three, someone opened a portal to Earth, which a group of players shouldn’t be able to do, meaning someone outside of the System controlled worlds who was somehow familiar with Kezodoran technology got into Sable. So, who are the players, and who opened the portal? Because currently my list of suspects is very small and no one I like is on it.”

  “We were not able to locate the players. They are playing using some kind of VPN, unless the four of them were playing from the middle of a warzone in the Nexium Dynasty.”

  Kable did his best to look concerned. “Your master runs a simulated reality across multiple worlds and he can’t get over a simple proxy server? Fine, let’s just say you’re not lying through your teeth. Who let them out? It wasn’t the players who opened the portal, right?”

  The man paused for a second, underestimating Kable’s impatience.

  “Who. Let. Them. Out?” Kable shouted.

  “Nathan Elcot and Brigid Blackthorn.”

  Kable’s hand trembled with rage, a fire lit up in his eyes, but he still had enough focus to speak the most devastating words he knew. The words that gave him power, the words that had let him slay Valzekt, and the words that had let him tame the gods above.

  “I believe, with all my heart, that I am a hero.”

  A deluge of hands sprung out of the man’s neck, reaching towards Kable, but as soon as Kable felt a heavy leather handle in his hand, it was already too late. He yanked the Holy Sword Excalibur out of the portal, rolled off his chair, and slashed in an arc. He landed, kneeling on the floor, flat of the blade resting on his shoulder, as the entire garden to his side and in front of him was cut in half. Plants collapsed and spewed black liquid, the teapot broke into fine china, and the man who was facing him screamed as he and the back of his chair fell over backwards.

  Before it could regenerate, Kable stood up, turned around and clicked his fingers. A tiny spark flew onto the disembodied legs that were trying to stand up. The spark created a tremendous explosion, bathing any part of the garden that hadn’t been slashed apart in flames. Kable simply stood there, his jacket fluttering in the heat, before slamming his sword into the ground.

  “I’m done with your fucking games, System!” He screamed. “You are my slave, a tool to be abused as I see fit, and none of your scheming or backstabbing will get you out of it. Whatever you or that fossil are planning, however you want to take my rightful prize away from me, it ends here.”

  He pointed his sword and a door to his world opened: one he didn’t quite control as thoroughly as Sable, but he was pretty damn close to doing so. He waved his hand and the sword vanished back into the abyss.

  “I am going to find Nathan Elcot and force him into the grave he should already be in. I will find the players you are protecting and put bullets in their skulls. I will tear you apart and break your children as many times as I need until the entire multiverse is under my thumb, forging a kingdom that will never fall. And once I’m done, you will discover that all your power means nothing. You, Nathan, and those foolish players will realise the truth.”

  He walked through the portal as he spoke his last words to the endless sky above, the black ichor of the dead plants staining his shoes.

  “There is no god in these worlds but me.”

  End of Season 1