The Hive Ship's bio-plasma macro-cannon fired. Green traces streaked through the air, trailing viscous digestive enzymes. The shot struck like a Titan's heavy fist. It slammed into the Warhound-class Titan's frontal armor.
The thick metal plating crumpled. It could withstand daemon greataxes and volcano cannons, but not this. The biological weapon tore through it like acid through leather.
Metal screamed as it caved inward and ruptured. The plasma reactor took a direct hit. Light burst from the breach. Then came the chain reaction, explosions sweeping through the entire torso.
The steel god cried out one final time, a sound like fracturing metal. Its massive legs gave out. The enormous body tilted slowly.
It crashed to the ground with a deafening roar. Smoke rose skyward, metallic vapor mixed with biomass slurry forming a black pillar. Another massive pile of wreckage littered the Hive City battlefield.
See You Tomorrow stood atop the ruins of a half-collapsed observation tower. He watched it all calmly.
His character had changed. He no longer controlled that young engineer in the gray uniform. Now he played a hunched, pale-skinned Genestealer Hybrid with four bone claws and a thick tail.
But his eyes hadn't changed. That coldness and detachment showed through the xenomorph's gaze. It set him apart from his mad, bloodthirsty kin. It acted like an invisible barrier, isolating him from this battlefield of flying flesh and blood, from the earth-shaking roars.
He didn't care about victory or defeat. Mission success meant nothing to him.
He came here for one purpose only. To complete the [Nine Changes] quest. It had been quietly bound to him since the nuclear blast at the Leman Russ tank.
He had thrown himself into this task with obsessive intensity. Over the past several dozen hours, he'd barely left the game pod. One match ended, immediately queue for the next.
He had tried nearly every faction. His near-instinctive prediction of battlefield rhythm let him succeed where others failed. He could anticipate enemy high-value unit behavior. He completed tasks through battlefield support across nine completely different matches.
With each success, the progress bar jumped forward.
Now, in the ninth match, he controlled this Genestealer Hybrid. He used pre-marked Hive Fleet macro-cannons to detonate the energy core of the Warhound-class Titan. The enemy Skitarii had summoned it as their ace.
In the center of his vision, that familiar special panel unfurled. Deep blue and purple data streams flowed across it.
The profound raven's eye seemed brighter than ever before. The Möbius ring in its pupil spun rapidly, intricately.
[The spindle of fate has quietly turned nine times...]
[The trembling threads have woven an interesting pattern...]
[Nine Changes... complete.]
[The Architect of Fate has taken notice. The weaver of time and infinite possibilities finds you interesting. This mortal "master of coincidence" has caught His attention.]
[Perhaps He should bestow endless knowledge upon you? Eternal change? Or perhaps... an exquisite conspiracy capable of spanning the entire galaxy?]
See You Tomorrow's mouth twitched downward. The movement was almost imperceptible. A barely audible snort escaped his nostrils.
Just a game mechanic. Even crowned with the name of "deity," it was nothing more than code. A few lines from a programmer's pen. A few variables in an algorithm.
All-knowing? Foreseeing destiny? Just surveillance of player data disguised as conditional triggers. He dismissed it.
The text on the panel continued to flow. It seemed to see through that momentary contempt:
[But He did not do so.]
[Because... He knows what you want.]
[No, more precisely...]
[He knows that you believe He should know what you want.]
The sentence made See You Tomorrow's indifferent gaze freeze, just for an instant. The self-reference, the layers of meaning, it caught him off guard.
[The Architect of Fate bestows upon you a "blessing." To accept or not... is yours to decide.]
[——Pact of Change——]
[The weaver of destiny's river releases His "goodwill" unto you.]
[Sign this pact. You shall formally walk the path of serving Tzeentch, god of trickery and change.]
[You will unlock an entirely new system. A unique profession path.]
[Of course... every choice has its price.]
The contract terms laid out clearly:
Faction Restrictions: Once you sign, you cannot select "Imperium" or its related sub-factions ever again. No Astra Militarum. No Adeptus Astartes. No Adeptus Mechanicus. Your faction choices become limited to Chaos and its derivative forces, Traitor Guard, Chaos Daemons, Chaos Warbands, Chaos Undivided. You can also select certain neutral or xenos factions.
Class Lock: You lose access to conventional basic classes. No Assault. No Medic. No Engineer. No Scout. Your only profession path becomes Psyker (Tzeentchian School). An extremely fragile yet dangerous role. You will rely heavily on "Intrigue Points." You will manipulate battlefield variables. You will specialize in sorcery and psychic attacks.
Resource Conversion: On the battlefield, you no longer earn universal "points." Instead, you gain an exclusive resource, Intrigue Points. These are harder to acquire. You must complete special objectives. Create chaos. Deceive opponents. Achieve impossible tactics. But their applications are far more diverse and powerful than points. Use them to cast unique psychic sorcery. Temporarily warp battlefield rules. Or even... subtly influence probability itself.
Growth & Rewards: Your performance matters. The Architect of Fate will watch how you embody Tzeentch's creed. Deception. Exploiting information asymmetry. Executing complex chain conspiracies. Do this well, and He grants unique rewards. Rare psyker vestments. Melee weapons imbued with the power of change. Special titles. Perhaps even hidden blessings that may affect your character's base attributes.
This was a contract that would completely bind a player to the Tzeentch faction. It granted unique gameplay while imposing strict limitations. A devil's bargain.
---
The match ended.
See You Tomorrow returned to the character hall. He didn't immediately make his choice. He stood silently. The virtual contract hung suspended in his personal space, constructed of flickering runes. He observed it.
A system notification sounded. His mailbox icon flashed.
He opened it.
Two system emails lay there quietly. Each had distinctive border effects. One displayed constantly shifting blue-purple geometric patterns. The other bore the four-colored interwoven Chaos sigil.
The first:
[Sender: Library of Transformation]
[Attachment: Title, "Tzeentch's Eternal Champion"]
[Description: You are the first player in this game to forge a deep pact with the Architect of Fate. You have completed the "Nine Changes" trial. You have earned this unique permanent title. This title will display on your character information and in certain matches. It may bring unknown encounters.]
[Claiming Requirement: Sign the Pact of Change]
The second:
[Sender: Whispers of the Warp]
[Attachment: Title, "Pioneer of the Warp"]
[Description: You are the first player in this game to receive the formal gaze of one of the Four Chaos Gods. You have unlocked an exclusive deity path. You have earned this commemorative permanent title. You are the first to step into the deep waters of Chaos.]
[Claiming Requirement: Embrace one of the Four Chaos Gods]
---
Two titles. One pointed to Tzeentch, utterly unique. One was commemorative in nature. It marked him as the pioneer of the entire game's Chaos system.
See You Tomorrow looked at those two emails. Then at the suspended [Pact of Change]. His eyes usually lacked focus. Now they clearly reflected those constantly shifting runes.
The price? The restrictions? He didn't care.
Factions, classes, conventional gameplay, these had never held any appeal for him.
What interested him was change. The unknown. Challenging that supposed all-knowing game design. Exploring this path of the chosen that no one had walked before. A path filled with intrigue and variables.
And... that new possibility. Something that might truly pierce through the void within his heart.
He extended a finger. The signature field at the bottom of the virtual contract rotated endlessly, like a spiral nebula. He tapped it gently.
[Pact... sealed.]
[Welcome to... the Path of Change.]
[Intrigue and destiny... are with you.]
Deep blue and purple radiance suddenly engulfed his character's form.