New Game+

Seeker\'s alternate future was full of many pains and failures. But regardless of how great the despair of the humans had, the victories they achieved were also shocking.

Meryl realized just what forms of horrors Zeraphine had unleashed towards the Presiders by saving their group. If Zeraphine didn\'t save them, the Unlocked army would not have surfaced. The Overcomers would be left to fight on their own.

"Imagine being the person who creates entities that could kill Presiders. To these Aragarians, a Pioneer killing a Presider is just unthinkable. And Earth could have been seen as a generally Planted to Pioneer level existence. Suddenly, a Presider dies." Seeker explained.

"And Zeraphine is at the center of it all..." Meryl finally understood it.

"This timeline allowed me to understand more and more of what the Aragarians planned and wanted. The reason why they didn\'t flat out kill us was that they must have gotten curious. It seemed inconceivable at first, but now that we have experienced a great surplus of techs, I think the Aragarians were curious just how far we can go. They wanted to see what techs we could develop. It was hard times, and our armies fought every day just to survive. And in this, we were able to hasten the growth of the Unlocking and made more and more advancements in technology than what we could have accomplished in decades!"

"I see... Just like us." Lynd added.

"Yes. I used to think it was just a war for them and that they didn\'t want to wasted resources. There may have been more. They wanted to see what techs we can create, which they could later reap for their own! And that\'s where I think Zeraphine\'s treachery and conflict began." 

"Treachery and conflict? She became a spy to the Unlocked?!"

"Yes. She was very... convincing. She saved me and even used her connections, wealth, and techs to combat the enemy army. Her support allowed us to win and kill thousands of enemies. That made her an important figure to our team. But of course, looking back, it was foolish of how we believed her to be an ally. She has killed thousands of our enemies, but what was that in the bigger picture?"

"Right. We are already throwing the world into chaos and will be killing off many of our nation\'s soldiers for the sake of Unlocking and experimenting with our techs. What are several countries to them? Zeraphine became the perfect spy. She was already communicating with me even before the war."

"I see. She just so happens to be associated with us without us knowing or suspecting her! She was there from the beginning and, therefore, was the most inconspicuous of all!" Charles marveled.

"What irony. We could say that she is now in the inverse position right now..."

"It is ironic. But you could imagine how far she went in to gain our trust and even presented herself and her family as a chess piece to sacrifice. Her entire \'family\' was burned down by Harker\'s army. Her anger and devotion to the destruction of Pangea seemed real. But of course, we all know that the lives of a country are very much expendable. With the power we have, it even changes the moral code that we should live in."

"So this is what Arthur meant by changing our perspective as we grow stronger..." Meryl finally understood one of the many lessons that Arthur broadcast to those who are Unlocked.

"We used to fear guns and weapons, but not anymore. We used to be afraid of Exoskeletons, and soon it became trivial. And as our strength grew, our perception to the political, social and even military aspects of this world change." Charles explained.

"I can now bring down a country with diseases if I want to. You three could easily conquer states and other small, independent countries if you wish. Seeker and Lynd could conquer a continent if they wanted to! And because of this, our view of the sacrifices we make changed. You believed Zeraphine to be your ally in your other life because you witnessed the deaths that she encountered."

"Right. I saw the bodies that surrounded her. I saw how she survived and how she cried in anger. But in truth, it was very trivial for her. Of course, the only person that she did care for was us three. She said the first hard decision she had to make was to kill Charles Lindmitt, who she considered a friend." Seeker recounted.

"I\'m not sure if I should be honored or disgusted!"

"Because of that start, she was able to assimilate into the armies of the Unlocked and even became soldiers."

"Did she get the Unlocked technology from us? But how? If we fought them and they have Unlocked, how could we win?" Charles was confused.

"That\'s where the Progenitor\'s arrangement came in. In my future, the possibility of your drugs to Unlock people had a very dismal rate. If it weren\'t for the many biological warfares that our enemies used against us, we wouldn\'t have been able to figure out and focus on which person to use it on."

"That was the drugs we saw in Malay-Pangea, correct? The ones that affected my Twelve Disciples?" Meryl confirmed.

"Yes. I\'m sure Charles can easily find a way to transform and cause that plague to afflict more painful sores than before." Seeker smiled.

"Indeed. Eagle should be excited with that Plague that I have in mind. But I\'ll leave the details out for later." Charles smiled mysteriously.

"Anyway, the fact was, even if they had the drugs for the Unlocking, they wouldn\'t be able to do much with it. Because in the first place, it won\'t work on them. The Progenitor\'s arrangement in the seeds he scattered after the World War were sprouting. For some reason, the Progenitor had made his arrangement that only those people who had intermarried with the factory babies after World War 3 would have them."

"If that\'s the case, then whatever Zeraphine got from Charles wouldn\'t be useful to the Aragarians. At least... at the start of it. This means... she stayed within our ranks to spy on this technology even after Charles died." Lynd guessed.

"Correct. Zeraphine was still around by the time I became the first confirmed Unlocked. When the Realm King found me and when our armies finally managed to create a line of communication, we initiated a daring plot that managed to deceive most of the world. At that time of the war, the nations who sided with the Aragarians received the perfected bio-warfare that was developed in Malay-Pangea. When Master and the other organized groups led by the Overcomers began to attack and ransack medical facilities, most countries didn\'t think much of it."

"They thought you guys were simply gathering medical resources to heal the sick. But in truth, we were looking for ways to mass-produce the Unlocking drug." Charles smiled.

"Exactly. At that point, I was just an ordinary soldier. It was there that I met Kristine. Zera wasn\'t someone who managed to become an Unlocked because she doesn\'t hail from a lineage of the Progenitor\'s seeds."

"So you and Kristine began to fell in love?"

"Wrong." Seeker smiled.

"At that time, I proposed to Zera."

"What?!" Everyone was startled.

"As Lynd just said, the End of the World was there. I asked Zera to marry me."

"You guys got married?"

"That\'s the thing. She said no."

"Why?" Lynd asked.

"She didn\'t love you?" Charles asked as well.

Meryl rolled her eyes.

"Men." She sighed in exasperation.

"Think about it on her perspective. She loves Seeker for sure. But she\'s an Aragarian. She\'s already deceived Seeker so many times. The one thing she can\'t do was deceive Seeker by saying yes to her!"

"Right. Meryl nailed it on that one. You guys need to learn more about the ways of women."

"I\'ve got several medical degrees and is an Inhuman. Yet I can\'t understand women." Charles shook his head.

"Meryl is right. Zeraphine was guilty. In some twisted kind of love, she could not betray me in that area. I bet Meryl can guess what happened."

"Let\'s see... I\'m guessing that you proposed to her because she was getting jealous of Kristine. I\'m thinking that you two make a good team. Zera wasn\'t Unlocked, and it would blow her cover if she tried to use techs to bridge the gap. So she watched in jealous anger. And then... BOOM! You proposed to her!" Meryl clapped, surprising the two men.

"Uncle Seeker wanted to tell Zera not to worry and that she was the love of your life!" Precil suddenly butted in.

"Precil. What shows have you been watching?" Charles asked curiously.

"Right! I can almost imagine it! Wow! Zeek! You do have a romantic side!" 

Seeker chuckled.

"But that proposal must have been painful to Zera. She found out you loved her, but she was betraying you." Precil gave a saddened moan.

"The only obvious reaction was that... she pushed you away! She said no! She wanted you to be with Kristine! Because her heart couldn\'t bear to betray you!" Meryl was tearing up.

Charles and Lynd rolled their eyes at the cheesy turn of events.

"That\'s exactly what happened. I was heartbroken, but I had to fight a war. So we went on with Kristine. Kristine... sort of liked me at that time, but I still had Zera in my heart."

"Let me guess... Zera got married!" Meryl answered.

"Oh no! Not married! But she loved Uncle Zeek!" Precil wept.

"She had to do it, Precil. She wanted the man he loves to move on. I\'m guessing, based on what Seeker said, Zera thought that the Presiders were interested in these techs and were planning to let the war continue for decades! That would have given Seeker a full life, defending half of the world! That\'s why she did this. She wanted to see Zeek happy! But then... The unexpected happened! A Presider was killed! The Aragarians couldn\'t afford to keep the war going and went full-force in trying to wipe out the Unlocked!" Meryl deduced.

Charles and Lynd turned to Seeker.

Seeker had an amazing expression.

"Wow. If it\'s a love story, you sure know how to deduce it and reach that level of intelligence! You\'re exactly right, Meryl!"

"So that means, when Auntie Zera got married, Uncle Seeker pursued Kristine! But Kristine was so bitter that she went with stupid Uncle Lynd!"

"Wait! Why am I stupid?!"

"Because you\'re a baddie! Auntie Kristine clearly loved Seeker but was hurt because she was just a second option. So she went with you, and you pursued her! Idiot Uncle!"

Lynd\'s mouth was wide opened.

Seeker was chuckling to the side.

"Precil. Don\'t call Zera Auntie! She\'s an Aragarian!"

"But she can\'t be bad! She\'s in love!"

Charles facepalmed as he didn\'t know how to respond to that statement.

"Kristine and Lynd were together... But you guys never married. Because the world was in peril, we both had to set aside our differences and our strained relationship and worked together. It was then that we\'d heard reports that the armies of the Tyrant Empress killed two more Presiders. The Aragarians initiated the plans to kill our army and used Zera.. It was at that moment that Zera reared her true colors."