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Hello there. I'm sure there are many questions you have. "Who are you?" "How did I get here?" "Why am I here, and what do I do?" I will answer all of these questions for you.
For starters, I... am Dusk.
I run the organization known as Farcade. What is our purpose? To save the worlds of games from collapsing.
You are here now because we have unfortunately failed to stop the collapse of your Game World. As you no doubt know by now, you are a video game character. And so are we. But we're not meant to coexist all in the same space.
You see, outside of your world, there exists a force known simply as the Gameoverse. It is meant to make sure everything goes according to the script. Nothing more, nothing less. However, recently, there has been an epidemic spreading across the Game Worlds, and the cause? Victory. When the main protagonist of the game wins, the world collapses. We're here to prevent that from happening. It's not only our mission to do so; it's our sacred duty.
Of course, there are many factors we have to consider: Who is the protagonist? What makes a protagonist in a specific Game World? Are there multiple protagonists, or is there only one to deal with? What is the protagonist's goal? What is the antagonist's goal?
All these questions and more, we must answer.
For decades now, heroes have all been fed the same beautiful lie, that their victory would last forever. The world outside will never know our plight; they cheer when the final boss falls. They watch the credits roll, satisfied that peace has once again been restored. But never do they ask: What happens behind the curtain?
We know, and the answer is ugly. The moment that they claim victory, the code unravels. To the Gameoverse, a completed game means a dead world.
The protagonist thinks they're saving their families, their towns, their kingdoms, their planet... hell, even their bloody summer vacation! They don't realize that their ultimate triumph is a self-destruct sequence in disguise.
And once the Game World's been deleted, it's remade anew, but nobody remembers anything beyond what their initial goals are; in essence, the world is reset, for the game to be completed - and the world to be destroyed - yet again. Yes, that indeed means there are multiples of us, but let's not get into that right now; mental breakdowns, and all that...
Anyways, you might be asking yourself: how do we achieve the seemingly impossible? How do we ultimately save these worlds from total collapse?
Simple: We don't let the protagonist win, by all costs. We deny them access to certain areas. We take certain macguffins for ourselves, if we must. In some cases, we have even helped the antagonist or antagonists to achieve their victory. It's unfortunate, but sometimes, the only way to truly save the world... is to let it collapse at the hands of a menace.
But our enemies, the Syntax, have the opposite goal: the heroes must win, by any means necessary. They want the worlds to be destroyed. They will guide the protagonist by the hand. They will smooth out the bumps, clear the path, and ensure the final blow is struck, knowing damn well that the moment victory is assured for the hero, the world will disintegrate beneath their feet.
Why do they want the worlds to be destroyed? I've yet to uncover the answer.
All we know is that it is a thankless, invisible war with many, many casualties. We fight the Syntax, and the Syntax fight us, all without the world outside ever knowing. There are no achievements given for what we do. No fanfares waiting for us at the end of the day.
But look around you. Look at the worlds we've yet to save. Millions of worlds - with heroes, villains, and everything in between - all depend on us. If we fail, their entire reality is wiped clean, reset to square one by an unflinching, unforgiving code.
And unless we step in, the worlds will experience this constant deletion and restoration, over and over again, and again, and again without fail.
We are Farcade.
We do what we must, for the good of the Game Worlds...
"...Good? I-Is-- Was that good?" Dusk asked the others upon finally finishing his speech. "I think I need to... trim it down a little bit next time, what-- what do you think?"
Kit Bodega smiled and nodded, "Yeah, it's-- It's good, but... yeah, I think... I think you should shorten it a bit." She rubbed her shoulder nervously.
Kaboodle, Kit's robotic companion, rolled his eye, "Oh, please, you're the big boss! You should know this kinda stuff by now! I don't--" Kaboodle was interrupted when Kit slapped her hand over his mouth, muffling him.
Dusk shrugged, smirking a bit, "I was just going to ask you to do that, Kit; thanks."
Flappers the Super Dolphin, the newest recruit to Farcade, piped up with a question. "So wait... what am I doing here again?"
Dusk sighed, pointing to Gobbles the Learn-O-Saurus Rex, who was currently playing a simple math game on his holographic pad, "Much like that 'Gobbles' fellow we recruited earlier, you're only here because Kit insisted you tag along." He turned away, lowering his voice a little bit and looking left and right, "That, and I do find characters like you and Gobbles to be quite... precious."
Flappers cheered, "You think we're precious?!"
Dusk gasped, turning back around and stammering out a response, "That-- You-- Th-- That's irrelevant right now!" He cleared his throat. "Listen, I'm... I am trying to run an elite task force here," he said as he pointedly avoided looking at Flappers and Goggles, "The preservation of entire digital realities is at stake!"
Kit couldn't help but chuckle, "So that one time you asked us to go to that forgotten edutainment sector...?"
Dusk grumbled, "Kit, you know better than that; it doesn't matter what type of game it is. If there's a clear distinction between protagonist and antagonist, it's at risk!" He sighed, "And besides, if what you've told me is correct, their combined abilities have untapped potential for us. We'd be fools if we let that go to waste."
"Right, right, of course," Kit smiled, letting her hand drop from Kaboodle's mouth.
The little robot immediately whirred to life, shaking his arms indignantly. "Untapped potential, huh? Like what?!"
Gobbles suddenly piped up, "You do know you die for a bit in the sequel, right?"
That stunned everyone else to the point of silence.
Kaboodle's voice was uncharacteristically quiet now, "...Wh-What?"
Gobbles nodded, "It's true. Kit has to get the parts to put you back together again. Look it up." He then went back to the game, like nothing happened.
"Six, plus, five, equals?" The game said.
"Eleven!" Gobbles cheered as he typed it in.
"Great job, that's right!" The game cheered in response.
The room stayed silent for a bit, minus the sounds of Gobbles playing his game. Nobody knew how to respond to what Gobbles had said.
Dusk was eventually the one to break the silence. "...With that being said," he uttered, "We need to figure out where to go from here. This is twice in a row now we've failed to save a Game World from collapse."
Kit shrugged, "I, uh, I dunno... Maaaybe third time's the charm?" She grinned nervously.
Dusk blinked, nigh expressionless. "I'll hold you to that." He growled, face darkening, "But I swear to God, if you lot fumble yet again--!"
Flappers interrupted. "Don't worry, Mr. Dusky Man, sir! We won't let you down!"
Dusk blinked again, looking at Flappers incredulously, "...Please don't call me that ever again."