NOCTURNAL FRACTAL

An emergency meeting is called between the Department of Dreams and NOCTAL. Denia waits with her superior - a man known as Dr. Andula, the director of the Department since it’s inception. On their own time, NOCTAL’s CEO, Nox Awvin, finally walks in as if he had not a care in the world.

As a young CEO, Nox had built quite the reputation for himself, good and bad. He was called a genius, a visionary, but also ruthless in the pursuit of profit. He had no social media presence. It wasn’t easy to catch him in a meeting. All in all, an enigmatic figure.

The two of them reject a handshake from him.

“I am sure you know why we’re here.” Dr. Andula starts.

Nox smiles. “I can hazard a few guesses.”

“Excuse me, sir,” Denia interrupts sharply. “But you seem rather blasé for the severity of this situation.”

“Me? And what have the Department of Dreams done about all of this? You knew about the risks-”

“-and couldn’t talk about them!” Denia shouts.

“…and now we have two suicides on our hands, one successful. Tell me, what are you doing about that?” Nox counters.

“We have referred people to the appropriate authorities.”

Nox laughs.

“I’m sorry, but I fail to see what is so funny.” Dr. Andula states grimly.

“You don’t get it, do you? We are the most appropriate authorities here. There is no one else. NDA or no, they’re going to sound like they’re talking nonsense.”

“None of this is acceptable.” Denia slaps down files of all the players on the table. Nox raises an eyebrow.

“I would agree.” Nox says.

Dr. Andula lets out a frustrated sigh. “Look, let us cut to the chase. What is it that you are not telling us?”

Nox smiles. “Absolutely nothing.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Denia asks.

“What I mean is, it’s all there in the game. This is information that should be made public so we made it public. Too much in this city is kept behind closed doors.” Nox explains.

“So, what you’re saying is, you are fictionalising confidential information to be able to present it to the public. This is why you included the players in the game’s story?” Dr. Andula concludes.

“Don’t you think the public deserves to know?”

Denia scowls. “At the cost of their privacy?”

“Yet no one is stopping us.”

The meeting reaches an impasse. The files on the table, Nox takes a quick flip through one of them for a moment, then throwing it back where it came and casually leaning back in his chair, hands crossed behind his head.

“All we did is save secrets from the fire. And Lastelle’s fires burn hot.” Nox explains. “We’ve being doing this all along, all our games. It’s just surprising that no one has caught on yet.”

Denia tides the files into a neat stack. “There’s still the matter of NOCTAL knowing that beast would appear.” She says.

“Just a prediction based on our data. Or perhaps a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’ve even noticed it yourselves. the more interaction there is, the more they evolve. It’s too late to stop now. It was already too late the moment your team started meddling in dreams.”

Nox stands up, deciding to be done with his part of the meeting. “We’re planning more teams, with or without you.” he says as parting words.

The Department of Dreams would be left to pick up the pieces.