Cody and Stevens were jogging on the forest side of the rocky strip of terrain between the forest and volcano area and the flatlands and sinkholes area to the north. According to Eli during previous discussions, if they followed this they would run into a dungeon, and then past that they would come to another safe zone. Neither of them knew how long they would be traveling and they had stocked up their inventory before leaving. Despite their mission being totally unknown, both of them were in high spirits looking forward to their adventure out in the wild.
The first day, they killed a few monsters under level 30, which was nothing for the two of them being both over level 60 with rare and epic classes. But they had noticed one thing, the monsters seemed to shy away from them like they didn't want to fight. This was worse the lower the level so when they set out the second day, they decided to only fight the monsters that were aggressive towards them. Even after a day's travel they could see the volcanic ash in the sky pushing out where the volcano was and going into the ground where the crater is. The look they shared was one of weariness due to the scale of what was happening. They both essentially worked for a man who could change maps on accident.
"You have known Eli longer than anyone here, the scale of what is happening, is he someone we can trust," Cody asked Stevens with a worried look.
"I don't think it's a matter of trust, also, the version of Eli that I have seen since the tutorial has ended is not the same one I knew. Before the system came and changed everything, he was an emotionless machine, worked hard and never socialized. That's part of what made him good at his job, but there was always an intense presence around him."
"Presence?"
"Every room he was in, every meeting we attended, it always felt like he was in charge. Generals and intelligence officials would speak but give him looks like they were seeking permission. And us in his unit would do anything he asked, any mission, any plan, anything. Before the system, it was like his will would override ours."
"You didn't answer my question."
"Let me finish, even though all those things were true, he never used it to his benefit. He always had us plan missions together, never asked us to do anything we wouldn't normally do. In one case I know specifically where he refused a promotion because he felt he was credited for something I had done. So I don't worry about him having new power and abusing it, he has had power for a long time and it's never been an issue."
"Was he aware of his power before?" Cody asked and then looked at the ash cloud, which currently looked like a giant horseshoe in the sky. "Because he definitely is now."
"Huh," Stevens said, "I'm not sure."
"You said that it wasn't a matter of trust, what do you mean by that?"
"I mean that I trust the ground I'm standing on to not open up and swallow me whole, but that's not the same thing as trusting someone. Everyone trusts things won't happen until they experience them. You could go into a basement everyday of your life and not mistrust them, but.."
"If something bad happens in a basement, you would no longer trust them." Cody finished, then started walking slower while he was thinking. "So you think we should trust him until he gives us a reason not to?"
"I watched him take a bullet for Tara, then he denied it and said he got hit because he made a mistake. Everyone thought it was because they had a thing for each other, but I think he felt like we were his responsibility. And, being honest, I've been trying to subtly remind him of that."
"You think he is doing that with us, making us his responsibility? Is that good for us?" Cody asked with a worried expression.
"I think it's good that he wants to protect us, kind of seeing us as a pseudo military unit with him as the leader. In theory it should keep him grounded so his comparative level of strength doesn't go to his head. The biggest problem I see is that others have power and will see his strength as a threat, which might lead them to try and get to him through us. Essentially, we will be helping him maintain his humanity."
"I think I get it, I just want to stick to my morals, what was good or bad before the system is still good or bad now. I won't stick around if he becomes a bad person."
"I'll leave with you if that happens, but like I said, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he caused the volcano to erupt on purpose and I do believe that he is working on a way to make it as harmless as possible to other people." Stevens said as he started to smile. "He was always like that, trying to minimize the impact of mistakes."
They moved in silence for a while as both of them thought about the state of things. Both of them felt like part of the group but they were more social than the others and were feeling isolated. During the trip south for training they had spoken about it, but the conversation didn't come to anything. Stopping for the second night high up on the rocky terrain, they could see orange glow from the volcano that's erupting in the distance. They sat on a rocky outcropping looking over the forest zone, neither of them had said much after their previous conversation and they weren't talking now.
With another day of travel to get to the other safe zone, if not more, Cody and Stevens were enjoying the slower pace of things just resting and taking in their current surroundings. From their high perch they could see the forest side with the volcanoes and the flatlands side with the sinkholes. The divide was almost cartoonish and led to an eerie unnerving feeling where they felt like they were in a story book or fantasy movie. Everything in this new world was surreal and different with no traces of their previous life or previous existence, like it never happened. Stevens has always been the type to roll with the punches, but Cody seemed like he really wanted to hold on to the morals of his previous life.
"What's on your mind?" Stevens asked, finally breaking the silence.
"I want to be good, involved with good people doing good things. I see the power you all have and I want to push all of that towards good, but I just can't see how. I don't see you doing evil, but you could be doing more for good. Why did you turn away that family?" Cody asked with a very serious look on his face.
"I think you are looking at things on the wrong scale."
"What does scale have to do with it? Good is good and evil is evil." Cody said with every confidence that he was speaking an absolute truth.
"Ok, I'll give you an example. Is it better for us to help 5 people a day for 12 days, helping a total of 60 people or for us to train and fight the monsters during the horde event saving thousands of lives in that same time?" Stevens asked him, trying to keep any mirth out of his voice. He loved talking about ethics and philosophy, but knew he could come off as terribly smug. He had lost many friends in high school after such arguments.
"Well, are we helping 60 people that can then defend the same thousands we would have saved, except now there are more people capable of defending themselves. Then if we do it again, another 60 people are now also capable."
"That is a good response, if you think that is what's best then we can bring it up to everyone when we get back. But I think you fail to see what the biggest difference between those two options is."
"Enlighten me," Cody said sarcastically.
"When we save the people, they get to live how they want, if we train them, then the responsibility for saving themselves falls on them. Even if it's to tell someone to save themselves, Eli won't tell people how to live their lives. It's actually something he is sensitive about, so I wouldn't bring it up, but you can ask everyone."
"They won't go for it," Cody said, shaking his head. He wanted to ask more about this thing that Eli was sensitive about, but decided that would be changing the topic again and Stevens would keep getting off track.
"I agree, but can you tell me why?"
"The girls want Eli to keep getting stronger so they won't do anything that slows that down."
"Again, I agree, but can you tell me why?" Stevens repeated in the exact same tone.
"I can't explain why, but it feels selfish to me, like they only want him to be stronger because of how it benefits them. Maybe it's so they can feel safe, I don't know."
"You are partly correct, in my opinion," Stevens paused to collect his thoughts on how to put them to words. "I think everyone is just scared, this new world isn't even real yet for most of us. In a chaotic and anarchic time like this there are several options for people to push themselves forward. They can grasp the hand that fate has dealt and try to make the most of the new life, embracing the change as an opportunity, this seems to be at least half of what Eli is doing. Another option is to find someone that is doing the first thing and cling to them as stability within the uncertainty. The third option is to be paralyzed by fear. Everyone will be doing some version of these three I think."
"So you think the girls cling to him to feel safe?"
"Wouldn't you like to feel safe? Why are both of us not out there in the world alone crushing things with our bare hands while saying manly things in a gravelly voice?"
"So they do what he says so they feel safe, sounds like a lot to give up to feel safe." Cody said. He was making a confused face now. "What if he wants to do something bad? I worry about Audrey being so young and Tara treats him like his word is law so…"
"Don't worry about that," Stevens said, "He would sooner massacre millions than hurt a child, especially a girl."
"Ok, yes, right, trust him until he gives us a reason not to. But how do we know we are doing the right thing?"
"I would argue that we don't have enough information to decide what is right yet. This new world operates on different rules."
"Have you figured out what any of the rules are?" Cody asked with a bit of hope in his voice.
"There is only one rule I have managed to figure out, might makes right, I mean could you stop Eli if he decided to kill everyone or start a harem of tall, leggy, red heads or something? I know for sure that if it came to a fight between all of us versus him, we would lose badly. I'm sure the other lords out there are similarly strong."
"Leggy red-heads? That's a pretty specific harem Stevens."
"If you are going to have a harem, why not focus on what you like."
"I'm a one woman kinda guy, I wouldn't know about that stuff."
"You have to have one woman to be a one woman guy Cody."
"True, who knows maybe I'll get along with the new girl."
"I called dibs on her."
"You can't use dibs on people."
"I just mean that I get my first attempt at dating her, if I fail like I usually do, then you can have your shot."
"I think we should both be friendly and make our intentions known so that she can decide if she walks to talk to either of us."
"Fair enough," Stevens said, sighing, "You could let me day dream about sweeping her off her feet a little you know."
"Thoughts become actions, as my mom would say, be careful what you let yourself day dream about."
"Anyways, did I answer your questions? Still think you could be doing more good outside of the group?" Stevens asked.
"For now, I just want this new world to be a good one."
"I think you would be surprised how similar you and Eli's goals are, Cody. It's really just a matter of scale."