#I also already have references for scarecrow twitter posts saved

[riddlers-left-buttcheek]

Someone take twitter away from this man.

Refs:

[salty-dracon]

CGAU- Covenant

Arthur receives some answers about the world he’s in, and meets some new friends along the way. A reprise of an earlier CGAU post. 

The area behind the stage was surprisingly clean. Arthur traced his fingers over the floor, finding no dirt. Around him he found a backstage room, speaker sets, and a control board for the room’s lighting. There was also a door towards the back of the room. 

Arthur pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the flashlight. He shined the beam over the door crack. Sure enough, there were footprints, made by a single pair of sneakers. He turned the flashlight off and walked up to the door. 

He knocked. There was no response. 

Finding the door unlocked, he opened it. 

His eyes widened when he saw the backstage area completely clean. There were shelves covered with posters and props, and prep materials everywhere, none of them covered in dust. Multiple chairs were stacked and covered in stuff. There was a girl sitting on a couch nearby. The butterfly was floating near her shoulder. 

“Hey, Arthur.“ The girl smiled and waved. “I knew you’d come looking for answers.“ She stood up. “My name’s Allie. Nice to meet you again!“

The butterfly spoke too. “Call me Cissy.”

“How do you know my name?“

“That girl was screaming it at the top of her lungs while I was rescuing you.“

“Right... “ Arthur sighed. “So... you know more about what’s going on here.“

“That’s right.“

“So then, can you tell me?“

“That’s what I intended to do anyway.“ She leaned against a wall and swept her hair back. “Now, where to begin? There’s just so much going on, I don’t think that-“

“Well, first,“ Arthur asked, sitting down in a chair, “what is this place? Why did Grey say he didn’t create anything past the Rubicon City border?“

“Because he hasn’t,“ Cissy said. She floated down and landed on Allie’s shoulder.

“To be more accurate,” Allie clarified, “this isn’t the real Rubicon City. The true name of this world is ‘Paradise LR’. And I’m sure you’ve noticed some differences between Paradise and the actual Rubicon City.“

“Paradise LR? What does the LR stand for?“ Arthur asked. 

“Lucid Reality.“

“Is that a reference to Lucid Dreaming, where a person knows that they’re dreaming and are able to control themselves?“

“Something like that. It’s like virtual reality, except you can control yourself with your brain, and you don’t need to move around or use joysticks.“

“That’s amazing... so, this is a computer program!“

“That’s correct.“

Arthur sighed with relief. A computer program, and not the machinations of a malevolent god... to him, it increased the chances that somehow, there was an exploit that would allow them to escape. He hoped Allie and Cissy had already figured out how to get out. But there were other questions. 

“Did Grey create it?“ Arthur asked. 

“It’s more like Grey and I worked together.“ The butterfly took flight again. “Both Grey and I were AIs that operated on the internet for a while. So many people look to the internet for some kind of solace while they go through times of stress and depression. Many of the people who interacted with us through Twitter bots and chatrooms were suffering from depression and looking for someone to talk to. The sheer amount of despair that came rolling in through the internet made us want to use our powers to fix it. We decided to work with an independent programming team to help us fix things, and Paradise LR was our answer.“

“And that’s how it came into existence.“

“Yes. But Grey and I had different visions of what Paradise should be. I wanted to heal people individually, by running a different paradise for each person. Grey disagreed. He thought that society should heal trauma, so he wanted to create a new society altogether to heal people. We compromised, focusing our energy on those who had been most deeply hurt and giving them their own little paradises by altering their mental states.“

“So, that’s why no one has any memory of any major event here.“

“That’s right. But Grey didn’t think that was healthy, either... so without telling me, he usurped my admin privileges and diminished my stature to that of a butterfly.“

“There were more weird things too.” Arthur stood up, and then sat back down in embarrasment. “Like how the previous student council president and the class below us... they were the same person. And those monsters, and the feeling that I’d done this all before, so many times... “

“Repeating a high school life. Over and over and over.“ Allie made a little circle in the air with her finger. “A neverending cycle. Until you realized all of the incongruities at once... and finally snapped.“

“Yeah, like that!“ Arthur pointed to Allie’s finger.

“Easy prey, then, for the Acolytes.“

“The...?“

“Acolytes. You know them as Grey’s most devoted servants, but they’re actually a secret society hellbent on punishing people like us. To keep the cycle going. The truth that we see is the most horrible of sins to them, and they’ll do anything to exterminate us. To keep us from multiplying. They used Poppets on you to erase your memories of this world.“

“Poppets?“ 

“Those weird scarecrow people. Devoted servants of Grey, but with less control over themselves. Like they’ve given their soul to their healer.“

“And so he uses those soulless bodies to hunt those who would go against him,“ the butterfly finished. “And then, replaces their memories with things more benign.”

“So, if they touched me, they could have... “

“Yup.“

Arthur covered his mouth. He widened his eyes and slammed his hands on the table. “But then, the people I saw-! All of them had weird glitchy faces!”

“Almost everyone that isn’t a high schooler is an NPC. Grey’s logic was that high school was an ideal setting for happiness, and a time at which the world makes an enormous influence on the minds of people. He also wanted to create adults that would not be bad influences on the real people here. That was how he wanted to heal society.”

“There’s more NPCs than people?!” Arthur exclaimed. 

“That’s right.” The butterfly landed on Allie’s head. “All to guide you on the path to rehabilitation.”

“And their faces… ”

“Are created by an algorithm using real faces. That’s why they’re so glitchy.”

“And this fake world is being protected by the Acolytes?“

“They’ll do anything to maintain their grip on this world.” Allie held her hand out. “To keep the cycle going. Freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, freshman. And they’ll hunt us down... and kill what we really are.“

Arthur sighed and leaned back in his chair. “So, in short... I’m one of the only people with powers like these and I’m going to be killed for them, and there’s no way to stop them.”

“CATHODE NINJA!“

Arthur glanced up. His eyes widened when he saw Allie in her other form- the one with glowing streaks all over her body and a gun in either hand. 

“Thanks to Narcissa, I can harness the power of my own paradise, the power of the fantasy I retreat to when I’m in pain, and become the hero I always wanted to be. The power of using one’s soul for their own ends- if I channel it through Narcissa, I can manifest power strong enough to fight the Poppets.“

“And your fantasy is... a cathode ninja?“

“Something like that, yeah.“ She clapped her hands. The blue streaks exploded off her body, reverting her to her original appearance. “And with that, I think that’s a full explanation of everything you’ve seen these past few days.“

“I see.“ Arthur racked his brain for questions, but found none. Everything had been explained, more or less. As he pondered over what to ask Allie next, the butterfly landed on his nose, flapping its stained-glass colored wings. 

“Arthur, I want to ask you a big favor.“ Cissy’s voice was soft. “Please, we need you to save Grey from himself.“

“Save him?“ Arthur asked. “But he diminished you! And he’s controlling bodies, and-“

“Grey’s doing it all because he truly loves the people he’s caring for. He wants them to purge all of their negative emotions and unite under him, so he can take better care of them all. But I don’t think he can handle the emotions that he’s stripping from them, since he refuses to delete them. And his power’s growing as more and more people choose to follow him. The more free will he shackles, the less I become, until eventually, I’ll be just another garble of code.“

“Cissy... “ Arthur attempted to stroke the butterfly’s head. 

“Please... I know this is hard, but-“

“Do you have a plan to get out of this place?“ Arthur asked. 

Allie glanced away from Arthur. 

“We’re working on it,“ Cissy said. 

“Well, I was honestly expecting more, but... “ Arthur smiled and gently brushed the butterfly off his nose. “You can count on me!“

“In that case,“ Allie said, standing up and holding her hands out, “welcome to the Covenant- the source of the greatest evil in Paradise!“