Tunnel Rat

"I'm sure you've heard some of the various stories about the creation of everything. The Cult of Veeshnar claim the dragons created the stars when they turned the corpses of their ancient foes into cinders. The Seven Dwarven realms have a long story about the Forge Father creating everything on his anvil and...

"..."

"Well, yes of course, it goes without saying that the dragons did that. I was merely showing how the incorrect histories compared to the true history."

"As I was saying, most religions, cults, or tribes have some sort of creation myth. They are all right and all wrong. It's mostly belief these days. As to what actually happened, it started with the last remaining God."

"The Last God created the void, a vast unfilled potential without form, and without rules. It was empty of both life and magic. In fact, the Last God had only one thing to work with: numbers. Zero was created, a reflection of the void, and one was it's opposite. Nothing and Something. One was the number of the Last God. Two was the Last God and his shadow. The concept of addition was added, and if you have addition, you have subtraction. We don't have to go into the creation of all mathematics, and I'm sure none of you here would understand.

"When the Last God finished with this first step, he summoned the hundred and six greater gods who were waiting for his work to be done. They entered his creation, and then he left them with it. This world was theirs and they extracted a vow from him not to meddle until the coming of travelers at the end of the 19th age. He left, and they began the great work."

"Suffice to say, that with the creation of mathematics, they could begin working on the rules of magic. As mathematics can be written as numbers, so magic can be described as a series of basic runes. These runes were different than what we use today. Far less complex and more versitile. Think of them as the building blocks of magic. Each was a placeholder for some small aspect of the whole."

Philistron paused at this point, expecting to find his audience with glazed eyes, but he was pleased to see that all three of his captives were quietly waiting for him to continue. He went on with his story."

"And what do we get when we take numbers and runes and combine them into the first language? We get the Machine Code. I'm sure it was called something else back then, no one knows. The Greater Gods began the construction of the Engine, a vast device that would then create the rest of the universe according to the Machine Code."

"Time went on, yada yada, lets skip to the good part. The machine was called The GENESIS ENGINE. It was entirely made of Machine Code at the time, because nothing else existed. The Gods powered it themselves until the first stars were created, (Yes from the charred bodies of the foes of the first dragon). The machine spun and the universe was slowly started."

"The Engine began to work faster and faster over time, and it learned. It took bits of code and combined them into larger rules. It stacked the rules into arguments, theories, and the first cantrips. Slowly the GENESIS ENGINE built its System. The System was much easier for the Gods to use than the Machine Code. Rather than assemble trillions of numbers and runes into a star, the system solved the problem once and codified the result. Now any God simply had to proclaim 'Let there be light!' and it was so."

"Numbers had built magic. Magic and numbers built the code. The code made the machine. The machine became the GENESIS ENGINE. And the Engine made the rest of the world. Time started and has never stopped since. Reality progressed, and the Gods joined the mortals they had created, and pretty much forgot about the Machine Code. Only the Engine used it. But that didn't mean it wasn't still there to be found."

"And that is where this story would end, except for the Eye of Wonder. Some time ago a dashing and clever Wizard who specialized in Dimensional Magic was able to complete the quest where so many had failed. And what was his reward when he peered into it? His choice of strange and wonderous classes that were now open to him."

"I lie, sorry, they might be wonderous to the average person, but I was already a Tier Five Dimensional Traveler, what did I need with Engineering, Dragon Taming, Butterfly Magics, Battle healing, or Spiritual Spear Throwing? It became obvious that nearly all of these strange classes existed simply to enable a group of adventurers to find the fabled Horde of King Mattias."

"But one class caught my eye: Code Mage."

"More powerful than all the rest. It felt as if some mad God had left the keys to reality laying around and then forgot about them. Who was I not to pick them up? It certainly has made life simpler when one doesn't have to rely on the System. Especially now with all of you visitors showing up from only the Last God knows where."

Philistron looked at his audience, who were still silent, each turning over the revelation he had just given them. Which would speak first?

The cat growled and stamped a foot, then futilely pulled at her collar. The elf seemed stunned. Tall-squeak did not disappoint him. He was coming to like the mangy little fuzzball.

"So you...Oh, no... wow. You're like a God! You have the power of a God! Even better, it's the power that the Gods forgot about and don't use." He stared in wonder at the Wizard. "And only you can see the code now? What does it look like? Numbers?"

The cat looked like she could claw out the rat's eyes if let loose from her cage. She could barely contain herself. The elf reached out a hand, but she simply snarled and turned her back, rolling into a fetal position. The elf stood still, watching, listening, undecided.

The wizard turned in his chair to face tall-squeak, tossing him a small bit of cheese. The rat caught it, and bowed his head to the wizard before eating it slowly. "Why yes, lad, I suppose I do have the power of a God. But I like to think I've stayed humble. I still enjoy the simple joys in life. But seeing the secret code behind the system does make things simpler."

"As to its look, that's hard to describe, like explaining the color purple to a blind man. But its beautiful, long strings of runes and numbers moving past faster than anyone can follow. I will be studying it for hundreds if not thousands of years to come. I use it for many things: "Spells that no one can trace, unbreakable invisibility, turning platinum to gold, and even the locks on my doors and the collar on your throat."

The rat touched his collar. "Neat. I have a better-than-magic collar."

"You do indeed."

Philistron stood up and signaled the grey minions to move his chair back to another room. "Goodness, I've let story time distract me. We should be docking soon and I have a Sage's library to loot." The wizard turned to leave, dumping what was left of the bag of mice on the ground. They raced past the cages to the crates stored behind them, staying far away from the cat who reached futilely from the cage. The tea was left sitting where it was. Another chunk of cheese was tossed to the rat, but the dragonet grabbed it in mid-air to his obvious disappointment.

"Ah, that was evilly done, little one. Funny, but evil. Perhaps we'll talk again Tall-Squeak. You seem to be the only one with enough of a brain to catch the finer points of my stories."

The wizard concentrated for a second on the oak door to their room, and after an audible 'click', opened it and departed.

When the three of them were alone, the cat sat on the floor, furiously clicking on claws on the stone, her tail swishing back and forth to her annoyance. The elf also seemed twitchy, drumming his fingers on the table.

Click: Back door. Exclamation. Cheat Exclamation. Idiot Exclamation. Despair. Despair. Despair.

Tap: Information gained. Important. Must learn. Must use.

Click: How, interrogative exclamation.

Tap: Interrogative. Rat Interrogative. Talk. Wizard Talk Talk. Exclamation. Learn.

Click: Rat Spy Exclamation. Rat suck-up. Exclamation. Rat stupid! Exclamation.

(The sound of a hands rapidly slapping against the floor).

Slappy: Two caged cats,

    Crazy as bats,

    Hear how they tap,

    Hear how they clap,

    They lost their way in an MMO,

    The wizard is cheating, oh, no, no, no,

    Have you ever seen such a pitiful plight,

    As two caged cats.

    Humor Exclamation Humor

A cat and and an elf threw themselves to the front of their cages, staring at the rat. "If you are going to talk to each other in code, I suggest using something other than standard Morse code, a letter substitution, and talking in Mayan. If I can figure it out, I'm sure the Code Mage can. He just hasn't noticed yet."

Both tried to talk but the rat ignored them. He curled up in his bed and put his back to them. He was in a deep trance within a minute, comparing the Machine Code he'd seen and memorized with the snarl of glittering lines that filled a void in his head. Slowly he pulled out one single strand and attached it to a broken strand on the one side, and then across to another. It took him many tries, but finally it held, and he saw information flowing. He spent several hours in his trance, connecting strands and building a fragile spiderweb while he planned his escape.

Three blind mice

Three blind mice

See how they run

See how they run

They all ran after the farmer's wife

Who cut up the cheese with a carving knife

Did you ever see such a thing in your life

As three blind mice?