Sciman101

theyve been too busy moving posts to everyones browsers, but if they had a moment to think...hm....its probably taking Numbers off of social media. they live in the computer so they can do that

The young rookie sat down at the table, the wooden chair scraping against the stone floor as he pulled it up behind him. He didn't know why he was even allowed to sit with a team of veterans such as these. Everyone breaking bread here was ten times his senior at least. Everyone except...

"C'mon, dig in, don't be shy!" said the stout mountain of a woman, giving the rookie a hearty slap on the back. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"It's just... I..." the rookie stammered as he sheepishly plucked the smallest chunk of bread from the platter and deposited it into his bowl. "I've never, you know... been addressed by anyone with a Prestige Rank, much less—"

"PAH!" croaked the wire-thin man as he got a second helping with a hand the rookie didn't even see him move; one moment the stew in the communal pot quivered, then the bowl in front of him was full. "None of that External nonsense here, kiddo. Leave your level at the door."

The rookie looked around to the others. "T...truly?"

"Truly," replied the diminutive lady old enough to be his grandmother. She pushed her pince-nez glasses further up her long nose with one hand, using the other to scratch under the nose of the tiny winged lizard perched on her shoulder. "Haven't you heard? The guild's under new management now. All of them are."

The young rookie shook his head. He looked down with a start; his own bowl had gained an extra spoonful of stew, if not two. "Since..." he finally managed to say, "since when?"

"Lemme catch you up," the stout woman began, cracking the knuckles of her good hand with her thumb. "It all started a few moons ago. Remember that dust-up at the capital?"

"The Baron of Dragons!" the rookie exclaimed, looking at those assembled around the table. "The Scales of Terror? The Yellow Eye of Doom? You were the ones who stopped him?! But he had an External Level in the thousands! I heard last time it took an entire army to—"

"LET HER TELL THE STORY!" the thin man yelled between bites.

"Sorry," the rookie sheepishly whispered back, shrinking in his seat.

"Bwahaha, no sweat!" continued the woman as she palmed the communal stew pot and poured herself another helping. "Anyway! Yeah the Baron of Dragons shows up, paralyzes everyone with his glowing eye trick, big speech, give the drakedoms their due, blah blah blah. So we all figured we were done for, yeah? But we could at least give everyone in town a show they'd never forget. And then out of nowhere, there's a big... what'd you call that sound again?"

The old lady shrugged as she fed a piece of bread to the lizard on her shoulder. "Oh, what was it. A roar? A squeal? Somewhere in-between. Sounded like a brass volcano."

"Anyway, that—that's the sound that shut everyone up. Stunned the ol' Baron in his tracks. Apparently some kind of runaway wagon, a big one—"

"A METAL ONE!" the thin man interrupted.

"—hit someone so hard they got knocked out of their whole world and into this one. And wham, they landed right in the middle of our fight! Even bounced off the Baron's nose, or snout, or what have you. Interrupted a big ol' fire breath, so that was pretty good timing for us."

"And... and the Baron let that happen? Didn't he just squash the, uh... the...?"

"The newcomer? Nah. Oh he tried, sure, but our new friend—we make friends fast in this party, y'know—our new friend just... stopped his big ol' dragon claw with a hand. Pulled something right out of it, like a wizard trick! Some sort of flat, thin book."

The rookie was on the edge of his seat, eyes wide. "And then? What did they do with the book?"

"BURNED IT!" the wire-thin man replied with a shrill laugh.

"On account of the fire from the breath," the large woman continued, "Y'know. That stuff sticks around a bit. Anyway yeah, it caught in flames. And the Baron of Dragons? His External Level..."—she waved her good hand upward—"...disappeared."

The young rookie blinked. "His... his External Level disappeared?!"

The old lady nodded sagely as the lizard slithered over to her other shoulder. "Like it never existed."

"But... but... that's impossible."

"Tell that to the dragon," the old lady said with a smirk as the winged lizard on her shoulder stared at him with a single glowing yellow eye.

"...No," the rookie managed to say despite his disbelief. He quickly looked down; moved one arm, then the other, making sure he hadn't been rooted in place. He looked back up. "Is that... the Baron of Dragons?"

"Say hi, Barry!" The old lady scratched under the lizard's chin, eliciting pleased coos from what remained of the one dragon to unite all drakes under a single banner.

"But... his External level..."

"LIKE I SAID," shrieked the wiry man, "doesn't matter anymore. None of it does. Soon as our new friend gets a better handle on their powers, Barry ain't gonna be the only one to be freed. Just the first."

"Fr... did you say freed?"

"Sure!" the stout woman said with an ear-to-ear grin. "Curses, ailments, miseries, damage... they're all based on your External Level. Sure, lil' Barry here can't exactly break mountains in half anymore... But he also can't get sick, either. Doesn't he look happy? Fulfilled?"

Try as he might, the young rookie couldn't dismiss the large woman's words. All he could focus on was the beatific smile of the creature on the old lady's shoulder, or the eagerness with which the small dragon snapped up a piece of bread.

He looked around, for the first time getting a good look at the unassuming figure seated at the head of the table. "Is that...?"

The stout woman gave the figure a pat. "S'right! Our new leader. The age of External numbers is over! No more of that meritocracy crap, no more my-heraldry's-bigger-than-yours tripe running our lives. There's a new way to do things now, and they're gonna show everyone how! Gonna share all those juicy secrets with all of us."

The old lady smiled. "And oh, how many secrets there are! But that's fine by us. Plenty of time to learn, after all."

The young rookie smiled in spite of himself. There was a part of him that paled at the possibility that all his efforts had been for naught, that the lofty goals he'd set himself would be unreachable, or at least unquantifiable... but he couldn't deny the appeal of a fresh start. A new beginning, unfettered by a system that earlier had felt as inescapable as the march of time. He raised his hand in a greeting that turned into a salute, bowing his head in respect to the figure at the head of the table. "I'm... I'm so very honored to be here! What's this new order, that goes against the Extern? How do we learn its secrets? Please, ah, please enlighten me, uh... what... what's your name?"

Intern Secretary Eggbug looked up from their second burger, mouth yet watering, eyes still sparkling from the meal that was to come. They blinked. "Hm?"