No Such Thing as a Perfect Utopia

✧₊⁺

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. An impossible request, two pleading eyes, and a man full of regrets left to make an important decision regarding the life of someone else.

“You’re kidding, right?” I scoffed. Digital or not, it was a heap of responsibility for a total stranger. “And you want me to—!? No, I couldn’t! And even if I wanted to, you’d have to be one of those things for it to even be possible. Tell her what you told me, Archie.”

When I was met with silence, I heard the young woman chuckle to herself.

“Archie?”

“Supporter, please tell your Hunter… what I am now.”

“The Eternal—this young woman—has been corrupted, and now contains over 50% of the characteristics required to classify her as a level 2 threat. Meaning that, in principle, she has already turned.”

“‘Already turned’?” My voice wavered. “Tell me this isn’t another one of your jokes…”

“No jokes… Mister.” She said, “I’m asking you while I still have control of my mind, before… I hurt anyone. Please…”

Her eyes had become completely whitened and there was a black substance oozing from her tear ducts, streaking down her face. The sight caused me to wince, and she appeared self-conscious of it as she pulled away from me to lean up under her own power.

“I…” Shaking my head, I stood up and stepped back slightly towards the exit. “I just can’t, I…”

“You must. It’s your job, after all.”

My job… But I didn’t have a choice, did I? I wasn’t hired, I was extorted. And now I’m in this damn mess.

I heard a loud knock at the door.

“We heard shooting, is everything alright in there!?” The mayor’s voice sounded from outside.

I was petrified in place, mind racing, and so Archie flew over to the door in my place.

“Please step away from the entryway, citizen, the hunt is still in progress. Jiro will knock three times when it is safe to enter.”

I looked down at the hand carrying the revolver, one final round loaded into the chamber. I must have mulled it over a thousand times, debating on a way out of my duty, but I finally came to a decision.

“I’ll… do it.” I declared.

“Thank you, Mister… I mean it.”

“But… Might I ask your name first, Miss?”

She looked surprised, even as she strained to stay upright. It was the most human thing I could think to ask. I had never had much of an interest in people, and I rarely cared to ask their names. However, this woman had risked her existence to preserve those of her son, and the others. That much commanded my respect.

I pointed my pistol at the woman, still nameless. Of the millions of possible scenarios, this was one I hadn’t expected and hoped I would never have to experience again.

Some first hunt this turned out to be.

The cruelty of it all exceeded my wildest expectations for someplace billed as an idealistic afterlife. As far as I was concerned, this hellish world fell well short of that designation. To me, there was no such thing as a perfect utopia.

“My name… It’s… It’s t…”

“Jiro, I am receiving internal reports that the threat level has increased, and Hunters in the surrounding towns have been alerted to provide backup.”

“Alerted of what?” I paused just as I had finally worked up the nerve to pull the trigger.

“It’s too late!”

A tentacle shot out of the woman’s chest, wrapping around my midsection. Lifting me high in the air, I saw a warped smile paint her face from ear to ear. Above her head was a nameplate that read ‘Wendigo’.

“Archie, what’s going oooooooon—!?” I swung around and around, wrapped up in her grasp.

Another tentacle shot out and grabbed the carcass of the polymorphic spider, pulling it closer to her. Meanwhile, the woman—the monster—drew me in until we were practically nose-to-nose. Her face had changed unrecognizably, grotesquely, and she began to eat the carcass right in front of me.

I felt like throwing up at the sight, but the fear gripped me even harder than the nausea. Mandibles emerged from her cheeks, as did another pair of eyes, akin to the spider she was consuming.

“What… are you..?”

She took a break from chewing to speak in a gritty, almost hushed voice.

“Three knocks, was it?”

Her eyes panned over to the door, and the magnitude of the moment hit me.

“Archie, don’t let her knock! She’ll—!”

“I have no use for you, Hunter. Begone.”

“…—!?” I heard a squelch, and my eyes widened, wavering.

For some reason, I couldn’t speak, a dull pain droning in my abdomen. However, my eyes were pulled downward and the horror truly set in. The woman’s hand pierced through my chest, emerging out of my back on the other side.

In my mind, I cried out in agony, my stress meter shooting up as it quickly reached the crux. I finally closed my eyes as I was released from my torment, turning into a bunch of ones and zeros that wisped away.

It wasn’t a few moments later that there was a soft sensation beneath my head. I re-materialized, now in the grassy plains in the far outskirts of Placita. Archie was correct that I didn’t die, but…

“I felt every bit of it…” I held my head in my hands, getting into a bit of a fetal position. I remembered the horrifying visage of the monster that young woman became. Tentacles, ashen skin, milk-white eyes, and needle-like teeth.

It also seemed to have the ability to take on characteristics of things it eats, and it was called a ‘Wendigo’, according to its nameplate. It all happened so fast, and because I hesitated. I knew that all too well, but I also knew that unless I rushed back there…

All those people could be in danger right now if that monster hasn’t already killed somebody.

I remembered something else.

“Archie!?”

“Yes, Jiro?”

“Wait, how the hell did you get here?” I assumed he would still be back in the saloon, but I looked up to find him floating right next to me as I sat there in the grass.

“What silly questions humans ask. I am your Supporter, am I not?” Archie said matter of factly. “I go where you go. So what is your plan, Jiro?”

“I have to make the plan?? My hands are still shaking, why don’t you make the plan, Supporter? Or is ‘Observer’ a better title for you?” I prodded. “I broke my promise to that kid, the least I could do is finish what I started.”

“You really are shameless, but she did program me with that knowledge already. I will assist.”

She?

“The situation has evolved into a level 7 threat. That creature is something of an anomaly, even for an Eternal that has been corrupted. You cannot defeat it alone.” Archie warned. “So I would advise creating a diversion until other Hunters arrive to assist. But you will be racing protocol...”

“Racing what now?”

“HUNTER PROTOCOL HAS BEEN INITIATED. ALL HUNTERS WILL BE RETURNED TO THE LAUNCH BAY FOR PROVISIONING IN T-MINUS TWENTY MINUTES. PLEASE COMPLETE YOUR ASSIGNMENTS PROMPTLY, AND PREPARE FOR RESUSCITATION.”

As I thought about what Archie might have meant, a broadcast played from the direction of the crystal spire in the center of the Digiscape, loud enough for me to hear even on the outer edge where the town was.

Returned to the launch bay… to my actual body...

It dawned on me.

“So if that thing isn’t taken down before protocol is finished…?”

“There will not be a Hunter left to stop the corrupted Eternal until working hours begin again tomorrow morning. In all likelihood, the town of Placita will cease to exist.”

I had forgotten completely that I was on a shift timer, as were all the other volunteers and non-volunteers who entered this place. Provisioning meant eating, using the restroom, and getting some real sleep. Easy things to forget in the shiny bells and whistles of the Digiscape.

“Well, that ain’t good,” I stated the obvious. “To even have a chance at making it in time, I’d have to have my motorcycle...”

“Ask and you shall receive, Jiro.”

Archie scanned my motorcycle back into existence, proving me wrong in my early insinuation that he was useless. Without a moment to waste, I hopped onto the seat and the machine roared to life.

“Let’s go!”

. . .

We arrived at a picture of total chaos, like a scene out of a movie. Half the citizens of Placita fled, passing by me as I ran into town. The other half bizarrely stood frozen in the town square, staring up at the sky like they were in some sort of trance.

A woman ran up to me, it was Aya, the young boy’s aunt and the sister of the woman who became a monster before my eyes.

“What are you doing out here, Hunter!? You weren’t there when they opened up the saloon, and then all hell broke loose.” She appeared distraught. “I lost Ryo in the chaos, I..”

“Just get to safety for now,” I replied. “This is my fault, so I’m gonna fix it. Where is it—erm, I mean where is she?”

“So… that thing really is my sister then…” Aya chuckled sadly. “She chased the mayor to his mansion down the road away. She never did like him, even in life.”

“I guess we’re making our stand there then, Archie,” I said. “By the way, what’s going on with all these people frozen in place?”

“They’re stuck in an advertisement break,” Aya replied. “Now get going, Mister. And may the light of Memoria guide you for all eternity.”

An ad break… I definitely have plenty to unpack, later on, that statement not least of all.

Archie and I continued on our way, in the direction Aya pointed us towards the mayor’s mansion. When we arrived, the target of my hunt held the mayor in one of her tentacles. She had grown to be quite large in size and had a bunch of terrified faces grafted onto her skin. I recognized them as some of the town’s folk.

“Help me, please!” The mayor called out to me as we made eye contact, but it was too late. The monster tore him apart and he joined the growing number of faces on its skin.

“I told you not to interfere, Hunter. Leave me to my meal, or face elimination.”

“Sorry, but I ain’t much for listening to directions.” I pointed both my pistols at the monster, shaking a bit as I remembered the pain from before. “Give yourself up, I don’t want to hurt you, and you don’t want to hurt anyone else! That’s what you said, remember?”

Something emerged in my peripheral vision that gave me pause.

“Shit…”

Of all people, what… is HE doing here?

“Mama?” The young boy, Ryo, walked up to the Wendigo, abandoning all caution. “Mama, is that really you?”

“…”

He couldn’t have known in his innocence that any trace of his mother was gone. However, the hopelessness that plagued his eyes before was similarly vacant. I watched, helpless as the creature wound up crushing the boy who only yearned for her embrace. However, there was a flash of pink and the boy disappeared just as the creature slammed into the ground.

As the dust settled, a singular figure stood, holding the boy in her arms. Pink hair styled in twin tails, cyan hair ties, and a glowing staff with a star in the center. It took me a moment, but I finally exclaimed.

“The cosplayer!?”

“I’m not a cosplayer!”

Well, this… just got interesting.